We Begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala and bearing witness that none has
the right to be worshiped or
unconditionally obeyed except for him
and we bear witness that Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam is his final
messenger we ask Allah to send his peace
and blessings upon him the prophets and
Messengers that came before him his
family and companions that served
alongside him and those that follow in
his blessed path until the day of
judgment
dear brothers and sisters one of the
most difficult lessons that the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam had to learn
very early on and in fact it was
simultaneous to the initiation of that
Divine communication
was that you are on Allah's time not on
your own that Allah is the one who
chooses time
and it could be very painful
to not be in the loop and understand
what is happening with the inner
workings of that time
but at the same time you trust Allah to
do what he does best and that he knows
what we don't know and that he decrees
in our favor so long as we remain in a
state that is pleasing to him even when
time goes on and on and on and on and we
feel a great void
sometimes that means the onset of a
trial early on in our lives when we
didn't expect it sometimes that means
the delay in the alleviation of that
trial in the case of the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam looking for
clarity wanting to know what was next
and
when this initiation happens with
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
goes through what is known as al-fatra a
period in which he waits for
another explanation another Revelation
another appearance and Allah is the one
who decides when to send his angel
and so he waits
and he's mocked
that you have been abandoned that your
shaytan has forsaken you they said to
him and Allah says
Allah swears by the foreknown that your
lord has not forgotten you nor has he
abandoned you he does not despise you
that this isn't repulsion and as time
goes on the prophet saws develops a
connection
and Allah holds once again for some time
and the prophet saws says to him and we
know that this is still within Quran
because Surah Maryam was revealed early
on in Mecca the prophet saws says to him
that stops you from coming down more
frequently
when he comes to him he says to him
that you came to me after I have missed
you I was longing for you to come down
responds and Allah azzawajal
encapsulates that in a verse
that we're only allowed to come down by
the command of Our Lord we come when he
says that we come
to him belongs what is ahead of us being
the Dunya and what is after being the
this present life and the Hereafter
and everything in between the two blows
where we will be resurrected on the day
of judgment
but the end of the verse is what I want
to spend some time with today
your lord does not forget
this is the most comprehensive
way in which Allah captures
that he has not lost sight of anyone no
matter what circumstance they are in in
any part of the Quran you know if you go
through the ayat of the Quran many times
they are specific
to very specific situations very you
know uh
uh pointed events that take place with
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
or things that may even happen in our
lives so for example the one who is
being wronged
don't think Allah is heedless in regards
to the oppressor in regards to the one
who commits acts of Oppression it can
hurt us to see an oppressor walk free
and proud and Allah is telling you don't
think that they have been forgotten
because there's this idea of time that
is everyone just going to move on you
know Bashar al-assad parades once again
amongst other heads of state as if
nothing happened you asked the Syrian
and the refugee camp or the person who's
been through all of that does everyone
just move on is it just like that he
walks once again amongst the people you
ask the people of Palestine as they
become forgotten and as the news
coverage in the United States always
tries to silence and marginalize that
voice and you have a young voice of
Courage a young sister from Yemen Fatima
that speaks at her Law graduation and
uses that as an opportunity to shed
light on the Forgotten and they try to
silence her
don't think that Allah doesn't see what
oppressors do don't think that he has
forgotten every oppressor will have
their day
Allah is delaying them
on that day everyone's head is going to
be down
and the person who will have the most to
worry about
the one who has oppression that they
have to be asked about on the day of
judgments
they may have even forgotten their
oppression because the consequences of
this world no longer existed by the time
they left it but Allah has not forgotten
And when they see the proceedings
happening on the day of judgment that
Allah even takes Justice for the animals
on the day of judgment the bird that was
unjustly treated the prophet saws says
that anyone who harms a non-muslim under
my protection I will be his prosecutor
on the day of judgment as all of this is
unfolding in front of you
you start to remember
and if you harm someone that was even
beloved to Allah you have a war on your
hands and it's not over
on the other hand the one that's been
oppressed Allah
says where is I
hear you I will help you
but it's not going to be on your time
there's something else to consider here
Allah knows what he's doing and in this
particular Ayah
your lord does not forget there's a
saying that's attributed
it's a saying that passes through the
books of wisdom
that is
there is one verse in the Quran that
serves the purpose of being an arrow in
the heart of the oppressor while being a
source of great tranquility and comfort
to the heart of the oppressed what is it
your lord does not forget
your lord does not forget your harm he
doesn't forget your pain he doesn't
forget when you are alone he doesn't
forget when no one had your back your
lord does not forget you
he has not forgotten it could feel that
way and it's very painful to feel that
way but your lord does not forget
subhanallah you see this even play out
on the day of judgment with when the
prophet stands and their people are
there and Allah says you as an ummah
will bear witness on that day Anu who
was rejected by his people
950 years
and only has a handful of followers when
Noor has asked that he deliver the
message
and those that deny from his people will
say no Allah will call you you used to
recite the Quran Surah
you used to recite the ayats about and
you testify
Allah did not forget
and Allah has appointed you to not
forget that as well imagine in
ummah of billions of people
witnessing on his behalf
and saying no no we remember
that we sent Noah to his people
so you testify on their behalf and that
is
Allah said that sometimes you forget a
harm that you did because the person
that you harmed is very forgiving it
might be that you know you did something
and someone just took it and that person
had their own relationship with Allah
where they were just trying to
internalize that in a way that they
would Elevate themselves in his sight
and so
they swallowed their anger
they moved on
and you thought that because that person
was not responding to you as viciously
as you were to them that it's all done
with because that person's not
mentioning it
sometimes the person forgives you but
Allah has not forgiven you sometimes
a person seeks forgiveness from Allah
for a transgression they do against
someone else but they don't go back to
that person and that's not appropriate
either you have to go to that person
that you wronged and seek forgiveness
and try to make things right because
your forgiveness now involves not just
God it involves the person as well
sometimes
the opposite can hold true to where a
person does their is and they say you
know what it doesn't seem like this
person really cares they don't remember
they don't bring it up anymore but you
need to go Rectify things and make sure
that you've been forgiven
because on the day of judgment you don't
want that to come back
your lord does not forget
now your lord overlooks
your lord forgives your lord turns sins
into Good Deeds your lord takes the most
hopeless person and grants them the
greatest forms of Mercy all of that is
true but he doesn't forget
and that is something that has to
resonate with you in a very specific way
you say something carelessly you do
something carelessly you don't look
twice and you think that this will not
confront you once again it may very well
confront you once again on the other
hand oh you who have been wronged your
lord has not forgotten you
oh you who has seen your transgressor
your oppressor walk your lord has not
forgotten you o you who seems to be
under the crushing power
of another creation of Allah know that
the Creator will take them and take you
and you will one day stand in front of
your creator together and all of that is
going to be litigated
don't forget your lord has not forgotten
that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt that
doesn't mean that we don't feel pain
that simply means that we remember that
Allah has not forgotten us even when
everybody else has forgotten us and at
the same time we seek to remember Allah
when others have forgotten him and we
seek to remember those who others have
forgotten for the sake of Allah
so there is the remembrance of Allah and
there is
remembering someone else for the sake of
Allah that's been forgotten
don't forget people
as a community
we have to ask ourselves who's missing
we have to ask ourselves who's still
hurting
and we don't forget people we don't
forget causes even when they become
deeply unpopular causes dear brothers
and sisters I want you to think about a
very prominent name that was very
prominent in America his name was aitra
brown Imam Amin
head of the Black Panther Party there
are schools named after this man this
was one of the most prominent faces
of the civil rights movement in America
and he's a Muslim and he's an Imam
and the person that committed the crime
that he's jailed for has already
confessed for it
and he's been forgotten and subhanallah
one little protest one little
demonstration in front of his prison
in the middle of nowhere in Arizona
and he had to have a cataract surgery to
just restore his eyesight and just the
pressure that was created by a hundred
or so people
to go out there and to remember him put
some pressure on them to do a surgery a
year later and now he can see
alhamdulillah he was shocked people
remember
people remember
here in Fort Worth Dr Alafia Siddiqui
we don't bear the crime of those who
claim to act in her name unjustly but we
do bear the responsibility to remember
that there is a woman who has a case in
which she is wronged and framed and
she's right here
our sister is right here
and resides in one of the worst prisons
in America and has been mistreated
and if her nation of Pakistan and I
don't say that in any derogatory way
because obviously it's a political
establishment if her nation of Pakistan
has forgotten her
then we humbly remind them that your
sister is here
and that we want to help send her home
because she deserves to be in peace and
she deserves to be with her kids I want
you to think about the most unpopular
causes the most forgotten people in your
community the most forgotten causes and
say I'm going to remember them for Allah
you know I remember when the rohingya
crisis broke out
you know usually causes are only
manipulated by political powers
for the sake of gaining a leg up on
someone else right
and so you know America did not take on
the cause of Bosnia
we might have felt it
but we don't expect people to do things
for the sake of any goodness
we know about our oil brothers and
sisters we don't have to abandon that
cause but we know that sometimes people
are going to use it to get a leg up on
China and and some American
establishment that's fine we remember
them for the sake of Allah we don't care
about those geopolitics we think about
the people that are being harmed and I
remember with the rohingya
I remember one brother saying to me
especially
he said
and he said it in his language and it
was translated to me he said you know
we're not worth
upon peace
no one needs to use us as a pawn
painful
and ugly
that a human being has that recognition
of themselves
that I serve no use to anyone's
political agenda right now so our cause
will be forgotten very quickly
how often do you hear about the Burmese
and the rohingya today
we take up forgotten causes we take up
forgotten people and we remember that
Allah does not forget and we hope that
Allah remembers us in a good way and we
hope that on the day of judgment that
when we stand
we will not have to worry about the
crimes that we may have forgotten coming
to confront us but instead the criminals
and those who may have wronged us being
brought forth and at that point the
inventory is Good Deeds and the prophet
saws said be the servant of Allah that
is wrong not the one that wrongs when he
told the story of Cain and Abel abir and
Habib be the one that's killed don't be
the one that kills
because your lord does not forget
may Allah remember us in a way that is
praiseworthy may Allah allow us to not
be amongst those that forget him or
forget those who he has not forgotten
may Allah allow us to take up the causes
and the people that often become
forgotten I mean
foreign
brother