Ramadan Ruminations Lesson 1: Taqwa (God-consciousness)

ismillah r-rahman r-rahim assalamu
alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatu
inshallah i hope to do a series of
reflections on very short verses or
statements from the quran that will help
us better understand some of the
fundamental principles kawari the quran
those foundational principles of the
quran one of the extraordinary aspects
of the quran is that because it's a
non-linear book when you read it unlike
for instance the bible or previous
dispensations that have come to people
it's it's it's constantly pulling you
back into these core virtues so there's
verses that will come in different ways
again and again one of the most
important concepts in the quran is the
idea of taqwa and this is why it's
foundational in fact the very first
verse that gives a command in the Quran
is that we are told in in surah Baqarah
ayah ibrahim in shaitan regime bismillah
r-rahman r-rahim
yeah ayyuhan s Abu Turab become Oh
humanity worship your Lord and Lady
Harpo Kamala dinamarca become Lana come
that Taccone so worship your Lord
humanity and know that he created you
the one who created you and those before
you so that you don't think you're in
some kind of infinite regress or
circular type of reasoning there was a
beginning to all this there was a first
parents Adam and how Adam and Eve and so
it's a reminder that you had a beginning
your species had a beginning although
you came from your parents your parents
had parents who had parents all the way
back
there's no infinite regress and there's
no circular reasoning there's you have
to arrive at a first cause so allah
subhanaw taala is reminding us that once
you determine once you understand that
you have a lord you have to worship that
lord
and the purpose of that warship is to
achieve what the Quran calls land to
come to own that perhaps you might gain
this piety taqwa is a difficult word to
pin down in because it has a semantic
field that gives a lot of nuanced
meanings but primarily it has to do with
prevention with kiya is prevention and
so when you when you when you tucky when
when you you ward off something you're
warding off harm the word in Arabic for
believer Moltmann
means the one who secures and Mortman is
one of the names of God because God
secures us and means to secure something
from Amina Yacktman who means to be
secure so Amanda means to secure
something how do you secure something as
a believer belay I meant to be laughs I
have secured myself through God in other
words with God I find security and this
is at the essence of what tuckle is it's
a way of protecting yourself from harm
through your devotion to your Lord and
so no matter what comes to you you will
be in a good situation so for instance
when we read the Quran in in in a very
interesting hadith about the latter days
in which say now Ali heard the Prophet
SAW I said him say that the the
calamities civil strife sedition fitna
would continue and become so constant
that eventually it would become like
portions of a dark black night and
that's certainly the case in some places
right now in the world there are Muslims
that their lives are like portions of a
dark black night and the prophets allies
to them when he said that say said now
I'll eat all day long who said to the
Prophet SAW Allah and he was sending
them what's the way out of that how do
we get out of that situation and this is
one of the interesting things about the
Companions they always ask the right
question if you see hadith where they
ask questions they always ask the right
question he didn't say oh how terrible
that day is going to be no he wanted to
know
what's the right helped Mahalo so how do
we get out of that situation and the
reason that he asked that question in my
estimation is because he knew a Quranic
principle wom a year tequila yonder home
Maharaja
whoever has taqwa of God God will always
give him an exit strategy God will
always give him an exit away out of a
situation always this is a promise
Romania tequila yonder ho Maharaja this
is known in Arabic as a Joomla Sharia or
a conditional sentence if you fulfill
this condition then this is the result
and so if you have taqwa you will have a
way out and so when the prophet saw him
said it was the book of Allah Keith
Hubble law he told them fee he never
Omaha become or how about all my bad to
come it tells you what happened in the
past and it gives you insights into
what's going to happen in the future
what that means is there are many
stories in the Quran that are sacred
history while we can't prove them in
some historical account that
archeologists and others go through we
believe them to be true because they've
been revealed but the historical nature
of them is not what's important
it's the lessons that are important and
that's why it's sacred history in that
way so we could never prove the Garden
of Eden or what happened in the Garden
of Eden but we know that it is sacred
history in order for us to understand
the lessons of the beginning of our
species the most constant story that we
find in the Quran coming in different
ways with different nuances is the story
of pharaoh and moses of firown' and musa
this conflict between good and between
evil between humility and between
arrogance between the divine revelation
and between one's own independent
thoughts free of Revelation the
difference between those who exalt
themselves and those who exalt their
Lord
difference between those who serve
others and those who have others served
them this is the fundamental problem on
this planet and the people of the
prophetic tradition the mosaic people
the Jesuit people the people
so the law I do send them and present
peace be upon all of the prophets these
are the people of service and that's why
if even if you look at the religious
iterations that exist today the people
that take their religion seriously are
people of service whether they're
Christians or Jews or Muslims you will
see that this is a fundamental hallmark
of profoundly religious people is that
they serve others they don't serve
themselves and the reason they're
serving others is because they're
serving their Lord but the reminder
through the service of others but the
reminder in the Quran is a laughable to
the taqwa that the end of farewell our
people to the top of the end affair is
for taqwa and so inshallah in the next
session I'm going to talk about taqwa
and its meaning so I hope you join us
again assalamualaikum warahmatullahi or
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