[0:53]Adam!
[1:22]What are you doing till now? We have to evacuate the place. Hurry up! Come on, get up! Where should I evacuate to? There is a nearby area next to my uncle's house. We will head to it. Come on, hurry up! But I don't want to bother you. No bother, sister, let's go, get up. Get up! Evacuation notice.
[1:40]Are you alone or do you have anyone else with you? Adam! Did I tell you to stay in the car? Come on, get up. Don't make me repeat myself. Get up, let's go!
[1:57]I am telling you, come on, get up, don't give me a hard time.
[2:03]Hey, take it easy. What are you doing, man? None of your business, old man. I'm talking to you. Listen, he's my nephew, he's just a little stubborn, that's all. Answer me, boy, do you know this man?
[2:20]Say something to him, what is wrong with you? What are you saying? And where are you from anyway? We are from Jerusalem, I'm his uncle. Maybe he just didn't understand the language or something. Jerusalem, huh? One more time. Do you know this? Yes! They actually did understand the language. He doesn't like you much, does he? Well, neither do I. Why are you not responding, Youssef? I've been trying to reach you. You know that it is very difficult to get an internet connection. Anyway, listen, we are now trying to move to a safer area than the one we were in. When I arrive and get internet connection again, I will call you, okay? But I am begging you, Youssef, I am begging you, to keep an eye on your phone when I call. I don't want Adam to think that I don't call him or forgot about him.
[3:23]Ar-Rahman, taught the Quran, created man. The Most Merciful, He taught the Quran, He created man. You see, before He even made you, He gave you a very specific way to know Him. Think about how much first impressions matter. What are the first few words at the top of your profile? Because those few words tell the whole world what you want to be known as and known for. And 113 surahs in the Quran begin with this header from Allah Himself. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. And even before the Quran was revealed to us, Sulaiman Alayhi Salam introduces Allah this way to a pagan queen and nation. Verily, it is from Sulaiman, and it begins in the Name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. Out of all of His Names, He chose Rahman and Rahim because mercy is the first door to get to know Him. And before even Sulaiman wrote it in his letter, it was written by Allah above the throne. Verily, my mercy prevails over my wrath.
[4:45]As if to say that His mercy is the governing principle of everything beneath His throne, which serves as the roof of all of creation. So what does that functionally mean? Ibn Al-Qayyim Rahimahu Allah said, It means He made forgiveness more beloved to Him than vengeance. And mercy more beloved to Him than punishment, and grace more beloved to Him than justice, and giving more beloved to Him than withholding. So He framed His entire creation with His mercy. And then not only that, His mercy frames all of His other names and attributes. Ar-Rahman can be added to every other name because He's Merciful with His knowledge. He's Merciful with His sight. He's Merciful with His power. So He introduces Himself as Ar-Rahman before Al-Aziz, Al-Jabbar, or Al-Qahar, because even when His might shows, He never stops being the Most Merciful. And after He wrote mercy on Himself, and then into the scheme of the cosmos, He then programmed it into our very creation. When the soul of Adam Alayhi Salam entered his body for the very first time, he sneezed. And the very first words he heard from his Lord: 'Yarhamukallah.' May Allah have mercy on you. So mercy was humanity's welcome into existence. And then before He sent us to Earth, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala created these sacred bonds of families from the Throne. And He hung them and He said, I am the Most Merciful. And I created the sacred ties of the womb. Then He placed you in that womb, which He calls Ar-Rahim because it's derived from His Rahma. It's a sanctuary of mercy, where every single one of your needs is being met without you having to do anything for yourself. Your mother gives you everything she's got to sustain you with nothing in return from you. It's the selfless, one-sided love that's the closest thing that reflects Allah's mercy on His creation. And then you come out of the womb into this world. And Allah immediately and perpetually surrounds you with a mercy that encompasses everything. The Prophet said, Allah created mercy in one hundred parts and He retained with Him ninety-nine parts, and He has sent down upon the earth one part. Through that 1% of mercy, the entire world is sustained. And it includes the entirety of mercy that creation is capable of showing to each other, whether it's human beings, Jinn, or even animals. I want you to imagine the ocean's depth, 35,000 ft down, which by the way, is the same altitude that your plane flies at. And in the darkness of that ocean, there's a fish that's cleaning the parasites off of another fish, while Allah is adjusting the temperature of the water itself. And then in the height of the open sky, a bird is signaling danger to another bird, while all along, no one is holding them up except for the Most Merciful. Then think about your own life and every interaction of mercy that you've ever known, whether it was your mother's embrace, or maybe a friend's forgiveness, or even the random act of kindness from a stranger. All of that is from one drop of Allah's mercy. But then someone says, well, why is there still so much cruelty on Earth? And it's for the same reason that hunger exists in a world that's overflowing with food. Not because we have a shortage, but because we fail to share. We're not short of Allah's mercy, we're short of the mirrors to reflect that mercy. Allah sent one percent of mercy to this earth, and we're supposed to be the trustees of that mercy. And where the trustees fail, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala stores the debt for the day where He saved the remaining 99 portions of His mercy to be dispersed. And still look around, even in the midst of the worst human cruelty that we see. His mercy keeps manifesting. What more powerful imagery than the famous story of a mother who runs between swords to pick up her child after battle. And she holds that baby tight and she starts to nurse him. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam captures the moment and he says to the companions, You see that mom with her baby? Allah is more Merciful to you than she is to that child. You know why? Because the one who created the mother's mercy is certainly more Merciful than her. Her love is just a tiny drop of His mercy. And that's why Hamad ibn Salama said to Sufyan Ath-Thawri, Wallahi, if I had to choose between my parents or Allah judging me on the Day of Judgment, I would choose Allah. Because He is even more Merciful to me than my parents. Then someone says, wait a minute. Then how come that Merciful Lord does throw people into hell? Because Allah is not limited in His mercy or by His mercy. Even that mother on the Day of Judgment would flee from her child at some point out of fear for herself. And His mercy doesn't cancel His justice. Think about it, wouldn't it be cruel to the victims in Gaza and Sudan and elsewhere if the oppressor and the oppressed were treated the exact same way? So no, Allah is not going to treat them the same, not because His mercy is limited, but because it's perfect. So when someone says, how can a Merciful God throw people into hell, respond and say, why would people choose hell over a Merciful God? As Umar ibn Abdul Aziz Rahimahullah said, verily only a loser misses out on the mercy of Allah that encompasses all things. Like how bad do you have to be to be punished by Ar-Rahman? And that's why Ibrahim Alayhi Salam said to his father, O father, I'm afraid you are going to be punished by Ar-Rahman. He didn't say Al-Jabbar. He used the name Ar-Rahman to say, to get to a point where you're punished even by Ar-Rahman is a scary spiritual place. And you know who's in that place? Verily, the Shaitan was disobedient to Ar-Rahman, a Lord so Merciful to him. And Subhanallah, Al-Harith ibn Suwayd, he says that at some point on the Day of Judgment, even the Shaitan himself will prop his neck up and look up, hoping that the mercy of Allah will reach him, despite all the evil that he's done. But he's disqualified himself. So if that's how much mercy Allah has to where even the worst disbeliever would still think he has a chance, then how do you think Allah will treat His believers on the Day of Judgment? And that's when you get to encounter another layer of mercy, but this time from Ar-Rahim. Where the 99% of His mercy is reserved for you. You see, Ar-Rahman is the Entirely Merciful. Ar-Rahim is the Especially Merciful. Ar-Rahman pours His mercy all over creation in this Dunya. Then Ar-Rahim personalizes that mercy for the believers in the hereafter. While Ar-Rahman is for the deserving and the undeserving, Ar-Rahim is exclusively for the righteous. And He is Raheem to the believers. Ar-Rahman is mentioned in the Quran 57 times. Ar-Rahim 114 times, exactly twice that. As if to say, Ar-Rahman is for all creation. Ar-Rahim doubles the mercy for those who believe. And He does so when they want and need it most in the hereafter, where they can enjoy it forever. But someone might say is there a special exclusive mercy for the believer in this life as well? And the answer is yes, and that is the meaning of His name Ar-Ra'uf, the Tenderly Merciful. The scholars say that Ra'fa is the highest form of mercy in the Arabic language. And Ar-Ra'uf has a special care for the believers even while they're still here. Al-Ghazali Rahimahu Allahu Ta'ala explained that Ra'fa is when Allah protects you before you even know you needed protection. Like a parent who places a coat on a child before the cold sets in. It's Allah averting something from hitting you, or maybe making you miss a turn so that you don't turn into something that would have hurt you. It's the small things that are happening inside your body, or maybe in the environment around you, to make things pleasant for you, with processes you have no idea are even happening. It's the highest intensity of mercy, but it operates silently in the background, out of Allah's love for the believer. Ar-Rahim has a different layer of mercy in the hereafter for you. Ar-Ra'uf has a deeper layer of mercy for you, even while you're still here. He is Ra'uf with His decree in this life, and Rahim with His reward in the next. There's the mercy that guards before and the mercy that heals after. And that's why almost every time the name Ar-Ra'uf is mentioned in the Quran, it's paired with Ar-Rahim. Now how much you're going to receive of any of these names, depends on how much you're going to reflect of those names. The Merciful will be shown mercy by Ar-Rahman. And if you want more mercy, then Ibn Al-Qayyim says that the nearest to Allah are those who combine the traits of Ra'uf, Rahim. So look at the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam, he was sent as a mercy to the worlds. But then he was described as uniquely tender and merciful to the believers. Reflect of Allah's mercy what you want of it. Mercy surrounded you before you could even speak. So speak with mercy, and act with mercy, and beg for His mercy. Thank Ar-Ra'uf for the mercies you never even noticed. And ask Ar-Rahim for the mercies you can't even yet imagine. And then when all that fails, resort back to Ar-Rahman. There's this beautiful story of a man that was appealing to Allah's mercy after feeling so unworthy. And so beautiful, he makes this dua and he says, Ya Rab, oh my Lord, you say that whoever repents after his wrongdoing, Allah accepts his repentance, and Allah is forgiving and Merciful. And here I am, repenting from my wrongdoings. So, oh my Lord, have mercy on me.
[15:16]And if you don't find me worthy of that category, well, you say, oh my Lord, and my mercy encompasses all things. And I am something, so have mercy on me.
[15:47]And if I fail to even achieve that, meaning I'm a nobody, I'm nothing, then what a tragedy it is. But, oh my Lord, you said, those who, when afflicted with a tragedy, say, surely to Allah we belong and to Him we will return. They are the ones who will receive Allah's blessings and mercy. So here I am saying, surely to Allah we belong and to Him we will return, so have mercy on me. You see, dear brothers and sisters, mercy is not Allah's mood, it's His constant name. And wherever you are right now, it's not out of your reach, because you are something and His mercy encompasses everything.
[16:38]Oh Ar-Rahman, from Your Throne You wrote mercy upon Yourself. You were Merciful before there was anyone to receive mercy. Embrace every part of me with that mercy, my past with its scars, my present with its needs, my future with its uncertainties.
[17:09]Oh Ar-Ra'uf, cover me from storms I don't see coming. Mend me before I break.
[17:18]Spare me from trials of every kind. Let Your mercy reach me in ways I'll only understand when I finally meet You.
