How To Deal With Tyrants In Your Life | Khutbah by Nouman Ali Khan

0:00 Allah is teaching you and me the importance of when you are about to face a big challenge, you will need support. Your Iman, we cannot compare with the Iman of Musa Alayhi Salaam. We cannot compare with the closeness he has to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. He's speaking directly to Allah. I mean, how much closer do you get? And yet even he needs support. Sometimes the people who do oppression, the people who do wrong, they have a lot of power. They have a lot of resources. They have a lot of influence. They have a lot of strategies. But they're missing one thing. They're disobeying Allah. They're missing one thing. And when you're disobeying Allah, you can have police protection, you can have money protection, you can have

0:46 government protection, you can have social protection, you can have people around you, you can have your tribe around you. You are not safe because you're not safe from Allah, because you're you're a criminal against Allah. Allah Azza Wa Jal has given us um stories in the Quran that are also in the Bible. But the stories in the Quran are much more brief. The Bible stories are much more detailed. So, the story of Musa Alayhi Salaam in the Quran might fit 50 pages, 70 pages, and that's it. That's the whole story. The story in the Bible is hundreds, if not thousands, of pages. The same story. In much, much, much greater detail.

1:31 So, the question arises, why is there such little detail in the Quran when the people who knew these stories before us had so much more information? Why reduce the information to so little? The purpose of the Quran is very clear. It is not to tell the story. The purpose of the Quran is to use the story to teach guidance. The objective is guidance. The objective is not the story. If you have a tool in your hand, the tool is not the objective. The tool is used to meet the objective. The tool is used to accomplish the objective. The story in the Quran is one of the tools Allah uses to accomplish an objective. So, every time we read a story in the Quran,

2:17 we have to remember that we're not just reading a story. Every detail of the story has an objective. There is no detail mentioned without a purpose. And that purpose is for me and for you. It's not a purpose just for just for scholars. It's not a just just a purpose for some academic detail. The purpose of every one of those of those details in the story, even though they're so brief, the objective behind them is to impact, to affect something that I do in my life. So, we're going to look at a few moments in the life of Musa Alayhi Salaam. According to Surat Taha, this scene is described elsewhere also, where he was about to face Pharaoh.

3:05 So, this is mentioned, for example, in Surat Ash-Shu'ara, Surat Al-A'raf, but now we're going to go through some of the ayat that belong to Surat Taha, where he's about to face Pharaoh. And the first thing I'd like to start with today is what Allah said to him. He said, "Idhhab anta wa akhuk li-ayati." You go and your brother go with my signs. You and your brother go. Now, this is interesting because Musa Alayhi Salaam was alone. He was on the mountain talking to Allah by himself. Harun Alayhi Salaam was not there. And the entire conversation so far was just about Musa Alayhi Salaam and Allah and his life. There was no mention of Harun Alayhi Salaam so far. But when time came to go, now Allah says, "Go with your brother."

3:50 Go with your brother to my sign, you know, with my signs, with my miracles. Allah didn't even say yet where you should go. He first basically said how you should go. You should not go alone. You should go with your brother. Allah is teaching you and me the importance of when you are about to face a big challenge, you will need support. Your Iman, we cannot compare with the Iman of Musa Alayhis Salaam. We cannot compare with the closeness he has to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. He's speaking directly to Allah. I mean, how much closer do you get? And yet even he needs support. He needs someone with him to go and stand in front of Firaun. Because in the end, we're human beings. We need support. But even when you have a human being

4:35 with you, even that's not enough. Then you need the help of Allah. Bi Ayati, "Idhhab anta wa akhuk." Bi Ayati, go with my Ayats. So, we need two things. We need human help and we need Allah's help. And we need both. Now, what happens sometimes? People get more religious than Islam and say, "All I need is Allah's help. I don't need anybody's help." Other times people say, "I have a really good friend. He's a really He's a police commissioner. I have a really good friend. He works in the government. I have a really good friend. He's a lawyer. I have a really good friend. He's got a lot of money. I don't need anything else." So, they they rely on the human help and they forget about Allah's help. Or they rely on Allah's help and they forget about the human help. What is Allah teaching Musa Alayhis Salaam? You

5:22 will have to balance both. You need the human support. You need your brother, but you also need my Ayats. Then he says, "Wa la taniya fi dhikri." Both of you better not get lazy in remembering me. Another important part. When you are facing a challenge, he's about to go face Firaun. Maybe you're about to face a bully. Maybe you're about to face a big problem in court. Maybe you're about to face a big problem with the government. Maybe you're about to face a face a big problem in your family. Everybody has a different problem. When you have a big problem, all you think about is the problem. The only thing on your mind is what's going to happen, what are they going to say? What if they win? What if they do this? What if they say this? What if they lie

6:07 about me? What if they you know, and you're constantly spinning in your head, what if what if what if what if? What is the vicar in your head? The vicar in your head is your enemy. The vicar in your head is your fear. The vicar in your head is your anxiety. Allah says, you're about to go face Firaun. Musa man, what if they kill me at the border? What if one police officer gets excited and shoots me? What if they What if I go there and the first thing he does is take his head off? What if they kill my brother? What if what if what if there's a million what ifs? Because he's going to go from the mountain and he's going to go all the way to the castle of Firaun. That's a long journey. And along that journey is the entire army of Firaun and

6:52 the entire government of Firaun and you don't just walk into his palace, you have to get to the gate. And when you get to the gate, there's security. And after security, you have to get inside and maybe some general stops you or some other officer stops you and you can't go. How many people here try to go get an appointment with somebody and they say he's not available. Come back tomorrow. Or they get inside and say, oh, I don't want to hear this and he dismisses you. There's nothing you can do. There's so many barriers. So you're thinking about that all the time and he's telling him and his brother, don't get lazy and remember just remember me. Don't be overwhelmed by these thoughts. Don't be crushed by the thoughts of your challenge, of your enemy, of Firaun, of

7:39 his power, of his strategy. Concern yourself with remembering, I am sending you. I am sending you. So, the the thing is what's beautiful here is Allah didn't tell him it have it out for on. My a freak. Let me open that leak. And then you're going to be Muhammad. Let me open that and have it out for on. But I will be going for fun with it. Have fun with it. I will be out of here with a tiny a freak a freak. And have it out for on. I don't know I'm going to find him. That's the That's a secondary. Yeah, you're going to find him on. Sounds like that's the main objective. That's the main mission. No, that's not the main mission. Your main mission is don't forget Allah. That's your main mission. That's the

8:24 easy part. That's That's not going to be the challenge for you. So, now when Allah sends him and says, you know, and have it out for on. And the whole thing he is the one who has disobeyed. All this time Musa Islam is thinking Musa Islam is wanted as a criminal in Egypt. And then Musa Islam the whole thing. He's the one who killed someone. And he ran away. And he's wanted for a crime. Allah is telling him, "No, you know how you're scared that you're a criminal? Let me tell you, you're not the criminal. Pharaoh is the criminal. You're not the one in trouble. He's the one in trouble.

9:10 You're not the one who's supposed to be nervous. He's supposed to be nervous. So go. And the whole thing. And so, what What do we learn from that? We learn from that that sometimes the people who do oppression, the people who do wrong, they have a lot of power. They have a lot of resources. They have a lot of influence. They have a lot of strategies. But they're missing one thing. They're disobeying Allah. They're missing one thing. And when you're disobeying Allah, you can have police protection, you can have money protection, you can have government protection, you can have social protection, you can have people around you, you can have your tribe around you, you are not safe because you're not safe from Allah because

9:56 you're you're a criminal against Allah. You're a criminal against Allah. Musa Alayhis Salam is teaching him the only one who's not safe right now is him. You're safe, you're with me. He's the one who's not safe. It's a change in mentality. This is why not forgetting Allah is so important. We forget Allah so easily and when you forget Allah easily, you feel unsafe. When you remember Allah, then you're you realize you're you're under the security of Al-Mu'min, the one who gives safety. Al-Muhaimin, the one who protects. There's nothing for you to fear. They still say and and then Allah says, "When you go to him, faqula lahu qawlan layyina." Both of them. He says to them, "Speak to him softly.

10:41 Speak to him nicely, gently. Don't get angry. Don't get upset. Firaun killed many babies. Egypt killed many children. They made slaves out of the Muslims of the time. They did all kinds of oppression. And when you see him, you remember all the zulm. All the wrong that he did. It should make you angry. And when you get angry, it's going to show in your tone. Right? And on top of that, Allah is telling him he's not just hurt humanity, he is a taghi, he's a rebel against Allah himself. And then I even though he's a rebel against Allah, go there, speak softly. Don't let your emotions and your anger and all the injustice that he has done,

11:28 don't let that change the way you speak. Don't write in all caps. Don't start cursing. Don't start yelling and screaming. No, that's not for you. You speak softly, and this is not just about Rahma. There's something more strategic here, too. You see, we as believers, when we say we submit to Allah, the one who surrenders his face to Allah, and he is excelling. He recognizes the presence of Allah. What does it mean to surrender your face to Allah? One meaning is you do sajda, you surrender your face to Allah. Another meaning is this, when you look at someone and your face changes. You see Firaun, you're like,

12:15 it's on your face. Aslama wajhahu lillah, you don't just do go like this and say, "How are you? How's your day?" I'm going to speak to you nicely. That's not nice. Your entire emotions are under control by Allah. Just like, you know, when when we make salah, our movements are controlled by Allah. We don't just move our arms anywhere we want. We don't we just move our body anywhere we want. The Imam says, "Allahu Akbar." We go in ruku. He says, "Sami'allahu liman hamidah." We get back up. We're in we're in complete control physically. Allah is teaching us that when you face your own Firaun, you have to control your emotions and stay soft. You have to stay soft. Let the enemy get loud. Let the enemy get crazy. Let the

13:01 enemy do, but you stay soft. You have to be cool as ice. And then you say la Allah says la allahu yatazakkaru aw yakhsha. Maybe there's a possibility that he might become someone who actually listens. Maybe even he will change. Now, there's two lessons here, very briefly. One lesson Allah is teaching us is just because you're nice does not mean someone will change. Allah did not say that there's a cause and effect. There's no sababiyah here. He didn't say qul lahu qawlan layyinan li annahu yatazakkar. La'allahu yatazakkar. Maybe. That's a possibility. Allah is not giving a guarantee. So, you don't say,

13:47 "Man, I was so nice and he still I tried the nice way. It didn't work." Allah is not saying the nice way is going to work. Allah is saying, "I'm going to leave that possibility and you need to be humble. Allah controls the possibilities." Your behavior does not control the possibilities. Your behavior is just about you. It's not about the possibilities. It's not about the results. When I'm facing a challenge and I'm being kind and I'm being met with ignorance and I'm being professional and I'm being met with unprofessionalism, if I'm being respectful and I'm being met with disrespect, something in my head says, "Why am I Why do I have the gloves on? I should take the gloves off, too." If they're talking like this, I should talk like this, too.

14:34 Allah is telling us to control that. You stay composed. This is an amazing lesson for another reason. If you were watching the debate between Firaun and Musa alayhis salam, if you were in the room, and Musa alayhis salam remains calm and Firaun keeps getting louder and louder and louder. As you're watching, who do you think is winning? You don't think that the quiet one is losing. You think that the loud one is losing because the quiet one is completely unmoved. Is completely relaxed. The loud one is showing his weakness by getting loud. The loud one is showing that he's starting to lose by losing his

15:20 composure. And this is actually very strategic. So, Allah told told us, this is how you really face an enemy. Speak softly, and maybe they will go through a change. That's a possibility, but that's up to Allah. Both Musa Alayhis Salam and Harun Alayhis Salam they mention a concern. It's very realistic. Ya Allah, we will obey you. We will be kind. We will speak to him. But he doesn't have He doesn't follow any rules. We follow your rules. He doesn't follow any rules. In your life, you will have challenges. You will have people in your life that will create a problem for you

16:07 that don't have any rules. Nothing is haram for them. Nothing is too low for them. They will lie with a smile on their face. And they don't have to be a pharaoh. They could be a Muslim. They could say wallahi, and then they can cry, and then say the biggest lie in your face. Without And you you'll be shocked like how could you How do you How do you do that? No, no, no. You'll see that. Because they have no restrictions. And so, how do you fight an enemy if you're in a in a in a boxing ring and the other guy has a chainsaw? If you're in a boxing and somebody the other guy has a gun, it's not a fair fight. What just happened? So, now they are telling Allah Azza wa

16:53 Jal, both Musa and Harun are telling Allah Azza wa Jal, that we're going to enter this ring. We're going to enter his court, and he will yafruta alayna. He's going to He's going to commit every crime against us. He's going to cross every line. He has no limits. He has no rules. He is not bound by any restrictions. He's going to do whatever he wants with us. And so, how are we supposed to defend ourselves? And they're right. Firaun has no rules. Firaun has no restrictions. What is Allah's response to him? It's actually quite quite an amazing response. Musa Alayhis Salam is told when he says this

17:44 Neither of you need to be afraid. I am with you. I am with you. Now I'm going to conclude this khutbah here, but I want you to understand the visual here. Imagine somebody who's talking very badly with you. Yeah? Even ready to commit a crime. But they don't know that behind the door there's a police officer. They don't know. The door is open. Behind the wall there's a police officer. There's 10 police officers, but they don't know. And they're talking, "I'm going to kill you. I'm going to do this to you. I'm going to do that to you. What are you going to do? You can't stop me." "You see this gun right here?" And he's there talking talking talking talking. And they have no idea that there's somebody behind the door listening and somebody's watching. Because they don't remember the

18:29 authorities, they become very brave. They become very loud. They become very scary. But because you know that there's police on the other side and there's a camera on, you know you're completely calm. Because this guy, the more he thinks this person, the more he thinks that they are winning, they're actually digging their hole. Allah says, "Why are you afraid? When you're in the room and he's doing these things, who else is in the room?" I'm with you. I'm listening. I'm watching. You don't have to be afraid. You don't have to be afraid. As much power as Firaun has, he has nothing compared to Allah. He's got nothing.

19:15 So, just remember my presence. This mentality is very difficult. It's very hard to be in the room with Pharaoh. And at that time, all you can think about is Pharaoh and his words and his attacks and his power and his soldiers and his his position and his advantage. That's all you can think about. And in that time, you think Allah is in this room. May Allah bless you and Allah bless you. There's no secret meeting ever that happens of three people, the fourth one is Allah. Allah says. When the believers took a bear. You know, you have Allah with you. They put they put their hands on each other. Allah says their Allah's hand is above their hands. Allah's presence changes everything.

20:03 Now, Allah is always there. His presence is always there. In my mind, it disappears. In my mind, the the moment it disappears, I don't know how to deal with the Pharaoh in my life. But the moment I bring Allah back, then my fear disappears. My anxiety disappears. My ability to control my emotions comes back. My ability to navigate this challenge comes back. My ability to see that they're breaking all the rules, I recognize Allah is giving them in the name of Allah. If men Allah says there's a rule. Sometimes people get do a lot of bad things and nothing happens to them. Pharaoh did not die in one day. Pharaoh did crime for many years. So, though you could look at that and say he keeps getting away with it.

20:50 And Allah has described in other places in the Quran, Allah only gives extra leash so they can earn more sins. You know, if you stop the recorder now, they only confess to one crime. If you keep them talking, they might confess to the other murders they committed, the other crimes they committed. So, let them let them keep talking. Don't arrest them yet. You know what police do these sting operations? Where they could arrest the guy right now, but they want to let him go cuz they need to know if there's more going on. Or let him get even bigger a bigger sentence a bigger crime that they get caught for. That's the logic that Allah describes in the Quran for criminals. Allah sometimes gives them a leash. An extension. So, they can do some more damage not to you. Actually they do some more damage

21:36 to themselves. When you and I understand this, then the biggest challenges in our lives become easier to deal with. They become easier to deal with. Allah gave us this extreme example of one man and his brother standing in front of the most powerful dictator of that time. He's standing in front of him and he's telling him don't be afraid. Allah is there. If Allah has given us that lesson, then we should know that we can face any challenge with the remembrance of Allah. It's so remarkable. We we think of the vicar of Allah as something so simple. It is one of the most powerful tools that a believer has in their life. May Allah make us a people truly of his vicar especially in difficult situations.

22:29 This was a glimpse of a few reflections, but I've actually done quite a deep dive into all of these ayat and I'd really encourage you to study the full-blown study of these ayat along with me, which alhamdulillah by Allah's grace is available on the revealed app now. You can just select whichever aya and look at all of my notes and listen to the concise commentary also. So, I'd really like to encourage you to become part of the revealed app family. It's a remarkable project of anyone who is engaged with the study of the Quran or is curious about the Quran reading any part of the Quran and just wants to know, I wonder what this aya is talking about. I wonder if, you know, Nouman's done some work on this ayah or has some thoughts on it. You can just hold down the ayah and you'll get my notes and you might even get or you also get my concise commentary on it. You can also post questions [music] on there, which many of you are starting to post,

23:15 masha'Allah. So, I'd really encourage you to become part of this revolutionary study and this revolutionary resource that can really help develop a very good bond between you and the Quran and also a really great way for me to gain insights on what kinds of things are on your mind as you post your questions. Thanks so much and I hope to see you at the Revealed app.