Why Pre-Islamic Arabs Drew Lots at the Kaaba

To believe in but also teaching the companions what to believe in and what to expect from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so these beliefs with respect to luck and bad luck, it made its way all the way to the Kaa. So imagine there are these seven ceremonious lots there at the Cabba. Each bag has three arrows without their heads in the bags. And one arrow would have do not do it. And the other will have do it. And the third will be empty. And another one will be with respect to lineage. Lineage. A woman has a child. Whose child is this? We don't know whose child it is. We don't know whose father who's who's who's the father of this ch child. So what do they do? They have another three arrows in a bag written. They have he is of the lineage of the asker or he is to be adopted by the person asking or he is not of that person's lineage. And so there were sed there at the Kaba. There were quote unquote devotees there at the Cabba. And if you were un clear with respect to whose child this is or if you were unclear on whether or not you you'd to go on this journey, take this travel, then you would ask these sticks. So you would go there, you would pay the seda, you would pay the devotees that are in charge of these lots. You give them money and then they would make all of these prayers to their idols and they would have you draw these lots and they would base incredible things on them. And now the way that a shaitan works is he cannot change reality itself. He can only interfere with a person's perception of reality. And so what does he do? If a person goes to a fortune teller and one thing out of a hundred things that that fortune teller said happened to be correct by by way of chance, then a shaitan will make the person hyperfocus on that one thing that was correct and ignore all of the 99 other blunders and incorrect things. And a shan does the same thing with respect to the Muslim. It will come at a person or people when they receive their messenger. They are looking with a microscope. Shaitan will have them only notice something that is perceived to be as a mistake and ignore the other 99 correct and qualitative things etc. And this is how a shaitan was placing his fear into the hearts of the mushri at that time. The idoltors and this is why Allah refers to them as having worshiped a shaitan because they feared when he told them to fear and they loved whom he told them to love and they hated whom they he told them to hate. And this is the nature of worship. This is the nature of worship. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam he said so they were superstitious about times, places, numbers, people, animals etc. And so the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam tried to or did eradicate all of these superstitions from their from their hearts by the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So he said that all superstitions with respect to owls are not real. They're not true. What is an owl? What's the significance of an owl? It's an animal that flies around at night and eats mice and snakes. That's it. That is the extent of it. Nothing else. It's not some wise creature. It is not the incarnation of dead or murdered or wronged souls. What is a black cat? It is a cat that is black. That is it. What happens when a black cat walks across your path? Nothing. That's it. A black cat walked across your path. A white cat walked across your path. And notice how superstitions are usually negative, right? Because the purpose behind these superstitions when a shaitan teaches them to people is to kind of instill this very uncomfortable feeling and with respect to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala only has bad things for us in store right and as if to make us expect only the bad and the worst of things. He says well they used to believe that the month of Safar which is the second month of the calendar they would believe that that was an unlucky month. If you were to get married you should not get married in Safar. If you're going to build a house, you should not build that house during in the month of Safar. If you want to go on a on a journey or travel, Safar is not the month to do that in because that is unlucky, right? And anytime a person is unaware or uneducated with respect to the rulings and the sunnah of the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam. These superstitions may make their way back into a person's heart but take an Islamic image to them. So for instance, if we go back to the issue of the drawing of lots that they used to do, right? They would go and they they want to go on a journey or they didn't know what to do in a particular issue. So they would you know go and pay the devote at the shrine or at the the seda or do it at on their own and they would draw one of these lots and this would help them to make their decision. All right. This is a type of shik and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala refers to this asan. It is a filth from the handiwork of a shan himself. Now this can take on a kind of Islamic an Islamic outward appearance. How? So for instance, a person is having a problem or a person is unaware as to what they should do or what decision they should make. They take the musaf and they think of a particular issue and they have a particular question. They open the musaf to a random place and whatever verse they find there then that's the verse. The scholars of Islam have mentioned that this is a type of Islam. Just because a person is using the musf to do it doesn't make it correct and permissible. Doesn't make it Islamic. the same beliefs and superstitions are behind this that I can somehow peak into the future by way of randomly opening the mus or I say if if something good is going to happen or something bad is going to happen that's going to be judged by the next person that walks walks through the door or the first phone call I get right these kinds of things are the same belief system that was in the time of he says he says and there is no nothing significant about the positioning of the stars. the positioning of the stars. The concept of astrology that the stars reflect or foretell by their positions what will happen on the earth. or that a particular star when it appears it will bring rain with it and when it disappears it will not rain. Right? Or astrological symbols. We look at the stars, we see their positions and we start to imagine that if this star lines up with this star under these circumstances then it means this. Astrology. We call it astrology, right? The prophet sallall.aii Wasam says.

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He says whoever learns a portion of astrology then this person has learned of the disciplines of magic. a that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala prohibited in Islam. And for this reason he says if the ideas of astrology are brought up then do not delve into those beliefs. And so here in this narration he says no. And then he says what is al you know I believe that the Palestinian brothers around that perhaps grew up in Palestine as I did would remember we have the concept of but it's not a we call it a right and we actually had a whole many kind of fairy tales of the adventures of a young boy named we called it and it's a bunch of stories about howun this young very clever boy he was always pursued by this this monster and he would always outsmart this and how he outsmarted her how he would swindle her and she would want to try to eat him and try to you know use his bones for this and that and and so the prophet sallall.aii wasallam here in this narration says but this doesn't mean that doesn't necessarily exist. It doesn't exist in the way that they believed in in the time ofah. So perhaps we will discuss that at another time. Allah Subhanahu.

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I am a son.

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H I Allah will.

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Alhamdulillah.

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Muslim itch. forch.

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Foram.

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For.

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Alhamdulill. verses that we are all familiar with that are the first verses that any of us learn from the Quran. These are the verses that Allah Subhanahu Waaala found fit and most appropriate to begin his book, the final revelation and his final book to mankind. The greatest of all miracles that has ever been given to any prophet or messenger. and the book that would be humanity's resource and their rope extended from the heavens down into the earth into their hands. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala deemed that the first thing any reader of the Quran upon opening the Quran should read is Alhamdulillah. And notice there the purity of this belief system and how the human being is to proceed. not only proceed with reading the remaining the remainder of the Quran and that all subsequent verses that the reader sees of the Quran are to be understood through the lens of these first verses. But this is how a person is to proceed through this world. We are to proceed before we do something. We begin with the ethos, the belief, the statement of and upon completion of that and when looking to the past we are to say alhamdulill this is how the Muslim this is how the Muslim walks that fine line between hope and fear. fear between what he wants and what Allah wants for him, between what he is to do and what Allah is to do with him. It is all on the scales of that's the first lesson of the Quran. What do these words mean? Allah Subhanahu Wa'ta'ala says, I begin in the name of Allah. I begin in all of the names of Allah. So what is the meaning of the name Allah? Allah means the one who is worshiped out of love and exaltation rightfully. Allah literally means the only rightful one who is worshiped out of love and exaltation. That is Allah. Why is Allah rightful to that worship? because he is alman alim alman the generally and expansive the extensively merciful and the particularly merciful. You notice that ale in the Quran is to always follow alman because alman is more broad more general. No one and nothing of the creation of Allah is ex is excluded from the from the implications of alman. Alheim is an additional portion of mercy that is allotted to those who are believers. Those who will not just be shown mercy in this life but in the hereafter. those who have obtained eternal mercy from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So he is alman alim. What's interesting about the name Alman, the way that the word is structured, it articulates an unimeaginable, unfathomable, unmitigated, expansive mercy that is beyond imagination. This is the meaning of alman. the one who is more merciful than anyone's imagination. His mercy extends far past the imagination of anyone. And what's very interesting about this name of Allah Alman is that if you look into the history of the Arabs and you look at the names that people had, you would see Abdim a lot a slave to ale. You would see Abd Aziz a slave to al Aziz just today they named the Arabs named their children Abd Abdul Rahim and Abd Aziz and they named their children Abdullah and they named their children but you will scarcely find the name Abdul Rahman. This became a proprietary name used only by the Muslim. Why? Well, the Arabs understood that the structure of this word alman, immeasurably merciful, one who has a mercy that knows no bounds. that this was too extreme of a description of mercy even for Allah himself. They couldn't imagine that anyone would be described as a not even Allah himself has that amount of mercy. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made one of his primary names Alman and he made belief in the name Alman a defining feature amongst the Muslim that we believe in the eternal boundless mercy of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. And so the prophet sallall.aii Wasallam tells us the most beloved of names to Allah are Abdullah and Abdman and Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala tells us worship Allah or worship alman All of these are names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so it became a point that we would affirm the name alman for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the prophet sallall.aii wasallam went to great lengths to articulate the level of mercy that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has. And when describing himself rising above his creation, rising above his throne, his throne being the ceiling of of paradise, Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala always used the the name Alman. Alman rose above his creation, rose above his throne. Subhanahu wa'ta'ala. This is to articulate that not one thing that Allah has brought into existence exists outside of the implications of Alman. Everything exists. Everything exists. Muslim, non-Muslim, animal, inanimate object, the heavens themsel themselves and the earth all exist under Alman and none is exempt from his mercy. And so the one who is particularly merciful, he is alman to all, but he is ale to the believers. Those who hold in their hearts, those who uphold in their lives. Those who accept and receive the messengers of Allah, those who worship Allah alone without any without any partners, they are to have an additional portion of mercy. Even on top of alman, even on top of the mercy that is received from existing under the canopy of alman. It's really breathtaking actually to imagine the extents of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's mercy. Our prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam tells us in the narration of Salman Pharisee and others alkari Muslim he says says, "Butch.

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The prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam tells us that Allah has designated a portion of mercy that he will show to this creation and the people in the hereafter. And he tells us that he has divided those mercies into a hundred portions and he has taken one portion and he has placed that one portion on the earth between the creation. He said, "And every mercy shared or experienced or shown by any creation of Allah from the inception of the creation of the heavens and the earth until the day of judgment, every mercy is shared amongst those creation of Allah from that one portion. every mercy. He said even animals when they show mercy ex instinctively to their offspring they are drawing from that one portion of mercy from the beginning of creation until the end. All the mercy that is shown in this life is from that one portion of mercy. He said and he has reserved the other 99 portions of mercy that he will show his believing servants on the day of judgment. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. unimaginable unimaginable the amount and the extent of the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on the day of judgment if all of this mercy is one portion imagine that 99 other portions of mercy that Allah has to show his creation. The prophet sallallah.aii wasallam once saw a woman who had been separated from her child. The narration is in Sah Bkari. And when she found her child, she ran up and hugged this child very tightly, dearly. And the prophet sallall.aii wasallam said to the companions that were with him, "Do you see that mother there? Could you imagine her taking that child and placing that child in fire? He said of of course not. We could not imagine this woman who was so you know so attached to that child to place her child in fire. He said, he said, "By Allah, Allah is more merciful to his believing servant than this woman is to her child." The prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam tells us and Muslim this narration was a narration that Ibas one of the scholars and reciters of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and one of the first to ever believe in him in the days of Mecca Abdullahbas Abu Abdman he tells us an irreration in Muslim in the book of Eman he says I know the last person that will be delivered from the fire and admitted into paradise. He said a man who will be on the bridge as trying to cross it. He said, "And on his journey across the and people will cross the surat with the speed and the and the balance based on their deeds in this life. If they were fast to good deeds, then they will be fast across this bridge." The prophet sallallah.aii Wasam tells us that some people will cross this bridge in the blink of an eye. Others will cross this bridge at the speed of lightning. Others at the speed of a fast horse. Others will walk. Others will run. And some will crawl on their bellies across this surat. a bridge that in order to enter into paradise, you have to cross this bridge. And this bridge is bridging over the hellfire. And there are hooks meat hooks that will swing across and knock people in to the fire. Those who are deserving, the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam tells us that the last person across that bridge will be a man that got there tediously. On some portions he was able to balance enough to walk a few steps and in some parts he had to crawl and scoot on his belly across this bridge. And in other cases, the fire would slap him in the face on occasions as he is crossing this bridge until he reaches the end. This man will then turn to the hellfire after placing both feet on the other side and said, He said, "Alhamdulillah that Allah has rid me of you. Allah has given me something that he has given no other person this gift of of anyone else. I am the lucky I am the most fortunate person in existence." And then an oasis will appear in front of him. An oasis, a place where there's some running water in a tree. And he will stare at this oasis and stare. He's not been permitted to enter paradise yet. He believes that being saved from the hellfire, I'm not going to ask for anything else. But the human being has a very short memory. The human being is in desperate need of Allah. And so this oasis will appear and he will stare at this oasis and stare at it and then he will say you will say oh Allah please let me go into this small oasis here. Let me drink from that water and be in its shade. I promise if you give me that I won't ask for anything else. You won't hear from me again. And so Allah will take his promise that he will not ask for anything else if Allah lets him go into that oasis. And so he will. But when he gets to the oasis, there's another oasis ahead of him. This it's clearly better than the one that he's in. But he will drink from the water and he will be under its shade and he will stare at this other oasis. It's nicer. It's bigger. It's more comfortable. It smells better. And so he will muster up the audacity to ask Allah to give him that oasis. And Allah will say, "Didn't you promise me that you would not ask me for anything else if I gave you this one?" He said, "Yes, I did. But I promise I will not ask for anything. This is all I want. This just this one." And so Allah will take his word that he will not ask for anything else. Allah will then allow him to go to this next oasis. And he'll enter this oasis. And there's just one problem with this oasis. There's another oasis. You see that's it's clearly better than the first two. But he will drink from its water and he will be in its shade. and he's staring at this next third better superior oasis and he will then muster up the courage to ask Allah to give him that last oasis. This final third oasis is right outside the gates of paradise. And so he will ask Allah and Allah will say, "You are so treacherous. Didn't you promise me? Didn't I take your word, your solemn oath that if I gave you this one, you wouldn't ask for anything else? He will say you did. But I promise that if you give me this one, you won't hear anything out of me again. You won't hear a peep out of me. Just this last thing, this one thing. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will allow him to advance to this third oasis. But as soon as he enters this third oasis, the problem with it is evidence and that is that it is right at the gates of paradise. And now he smells paradise. He can peek into paradise a little bit and he hears what's going on in there. And he will continue to listen and continue to smell and continue to peek and crane his neck until finally he will ask Allah, "Please let me just go into paradise. Just let me go in there. Just give it to me. Let me go in there, please." And Allah will say, "You are so treacherous. Minka, what will get you to stop asking for more? He will say, and then he will say, "Will it satisfy you and quill your thirst for more if I give you the likes of the dunya and twice fold in other narrations, if I give you the likes of the dunya and 10 times the best that the dunya had to offer." And he will say, He said, "Now you're making fun of me. Are you making fun of me and you are what do you want with a a little creature me to make fun of?" And the prophet sallall.aii wasallam laughed and mentioned that that is the last person that will enter paradise. The last that is the least of the people of paradise. Subhanah.

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Alhamdulillah.

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All Muslim. Allah Sudan Kashmir. Allah.

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Allah. All.

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Inch. Allah.

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Alhamdulillah. Sh. Holy diplomat.

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Stand shouldertosh shoulder. Align your shoulders and feet with the shoulders and feet of your two neighbors, both men and women. They line their rows up in exactly the same way. Please double check your phones. Ensure that they are silent. Ensure that your row or your part of the row is as straight as possible. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam tells us.

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Alhamdulillah.

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Amen. inel.

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All even though.

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Allah.

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Alhamdulillah. Fore! Foreign! Foreign! Amen. Fore! Foreign! Foreign!

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All me Allah Oh, exhale.

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Allahel. The Lord. Oh, the.

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Step. Brothers and sisters, asalam alaikum. Couple of reminders. Fudgerama is at 5 a.m. Fajama is 5:00 a.m. Inshallah. there's a mil potluck tomorrow at Ka Awaken Park and it starts at 7 a.m. and lasts until 100 p.m. So come prepared for the hiking and I think there's the coordinators are looking for some confirmations. So please look up on our website, see if you can sign up and make sure your name is recognized. Also want to congratulate one of our youths. She is in our Sunday program. Her name is Stella Morrison. She earned the third place in the 400 meter race at the Phoenix Invitational meet. Takir, congratulations to her parents for that achievement. MCCT summer program will start in June June the 1st and will last until July 1st. So please make plans your vacation plans or summer programs accordingly. It will be for the ages 9 plus and the theme will be mas ala and that is going to be run by Imam Ali inshallah and the kids will benefit tremendously. So please make sure you make the plans to to join. Please donate generously on the way out. Also one other achievement that the community has made the Rahma Academy the Arizona state tax that we have been asking for. Alhamdulillah here at Bilalam we have achieved $125,000 mark again we have achieved $125,000 mark for the community. It's tremendous thanks to you and this process does not stop it. You can continue donating and if it is not for this year, it will be the next year. So, brother Jabber can explain to you how this works. But the process continues. We'll keep asking for this. It helps our to our program at the Rahma Academy. Donate generously on the way out.

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There you go. You made me cry today. Mr. Fas, how are you sir?

[Arabic recitation]

The wires. We need another extra wire. That's all. I'll figure it out.