When You Don’t Give Charity | Nouman Ali Khan

The Quran is talking about something that happened thousands of years ago, this actually

still happens now.

You can have the very rich, next to the very, very poor.

You can have, you know, in New York City, you can walk into the headquarters for Merrill

Lynch downtown, or you can go midtown in some of these corporate buildings, and you see

a bunch of homeless people outside.

Right?

So the extreme rich and the extreme poor are right next to each other all the time.

Some of you are from Pakistan, for example, and recently when I went to Pakistan, they

have these walled cities.

They have these complexes that are gated with security guards with machine guns, and

once you walk in, you're basically in America.

There's malls and nice houses and all, and outside, there's guys selling fruit on the

street.

There's a guy riding the bicycle on the opposite side of the highway.

There's a bunch of donkeys and this, it's crazy.

It's two different worlds separated by a wall, that's the, that's the reality.

Now these guys, they have, they have their garden back to the story.

They have their garden and they're about to make a lot of money from this garden, but

they have to drive through or they have to take their horses and their carts and everything

through the poor neighborhood, and then they have to obligate and get inside and pick

all the fruit.

And when they go through the poor neighborhood, the poor people are going to see that they're

going to pick the fruit, that they can't climb the wall, but they can see the oranges

from up the, on top of the wall, right?

They can't access the fruit, but they can see it.

So now when they're coming out, they're going to see children crying, they're going to

see an old, you know, they're going to see a mom who's husband died and their babies

are starving.

They're going to see some old woman or old man that barely ate for two or three days.

They have to walk by all those poor people and they're going to feel like here have

some oranges, have some apples, have some bananas, have some of this, have some of that.

And they're like, by the time we get out of town, we're not going to have any money left.

That's going to be a problem.

So they came up with a scheme and this is the scheme recorded in the Quran.

When they took an oath with each other that we are going to reap all of our fruits, we're

going to collect all of our fruits tomorrow morning.

That's it.

One strike.

We can't go little by little because every time we go, we end up giving some things

away and that's not working.

We got to go one time, get it done before the poor, you know, the show up, before social

services shows up, before we get taxed by the public, let's just go get it done quickly.

And there will be no exceptions.

Now, this exceptions, there's different ways, Mufassalullah, look at it.

One meaning of that is that it's Ertiraat, meaning let me akulu in Sha'Allah, La Yastatunaun,

i.e. Allah and Ya Sha'Allah, right?

So the one meaning is they were going to go in the morning and they didn't say in Sha'Allah.

But actually the more contextual meaning also is, they were going to make no exceptions.

In other words, every one of them is going to show up.

They're not going to delay this any further and they will make no exceptions from their

plan and what's the plan we'll see in a second.

By the way, you'll notice so far, they haven't done anything wrong.

If they decided to pick their fruit in the morning, no problem, go pick it up in the morning.

You want to make no exceptions and go there early, fine, no problem, go get it, La Yastatunaun.

But Allah sent something that is an encircling sort of punishment.

You could call it a tornado, Allah didn't, Allah wasn't specific about what came, maybe

a group of angels came or a fire came that surrounded it or a wind came or a hurricane,

you know, a tornado landed, something happened to the garden while they were asleep.

So they're sleeping early because they all made a plan, you got to get up early tomorrow.

And while they're sleeping, their entire garden has been, Allah will describe the Aspahad

Qasladeem, it became as if it's already been picked.

So you know what a, what trees look like in the winter season with no leaves on them, right?

That's what it looked like.

Alright, and they were going to go to a fully green garden, but they're going to end up

at a garden where there's no greenery, no fruit inside for Aspahad Qasladeem.

But they have no idea, they were sleeping.

So they woke up, one of them woke up and they're like, hey, hey, hey, you guys are still

sleeping.

Get up, get up, get up.

Tannado, that means they start calling each other, come on, get up, get up.

It's morning, we're going to get late, our plans are going to get messed up.

So far, even so far as you're reading this story, there's nothing wrong, they didn't do

anything wrong.

So okay, let's get up in the morning and go.

But Tannado must be here and he'll do ala harthikum in Qumtum Sadi mean, hurry up and

march to your crop if you're going to collect it.

You better do this.

In other words, if you still keep sleeping, you're not going to get your share.

Some of us didn't say it like that.

Like some of them, I don't want to get up and the other guy is okay, I guess you're

not going to get your share.

We're going to take yours to fine, fine, fine, and he gets up.

And they all go in Qumtum Sadi mean, fantalakum, now the crime.

Now they're projecting in a straight line towards their objective, wahum yata khafatun.

Khafatun Arabic is actually like hums and it's also al harakah al khafiyah, it's a very

subtle movement.

So they're walking and they're barely whispering to each other and they're trying to be as

subtle and as unnoticeable as possible.

So even when they're talking to each other in the ear, even though they're walking on

the street.

So now the first confusing thing that happens is why are they being so secretive?

Fantalakum, it's their garden, they're not stealing it, they're heading for their own

business.

Why are they so quiet and secretive about all of this?

What is the secret thing they say to each other?

Allah yadu hulana hal yawma alaykum miskin, it's almost as though one of them whispers

to the other and the other says, listen, why are you whispering?

Because I don't want to wake up any poor people.

If any of them wake up, no, no, no poor person should show up over here, right?

Which you can even imagine use your imagination here if they went through the main gate and

they opened the gate, right?

The gate makes a sound and when the sound happens, the baby wakes up, a sound happens, somebody

just looks outside their window, everybody's going to wake up.

So maybe they're trying to go from a different route, maybe climb the back wall, put a ladder,

climb the back wall and get into their garden and get all the fruit out and the people will

never even know that they came into the garden, right?

They're trying to be secretive about collecting their wealth, right?

So Allah yadu hulana hal yawma alaykum miskin, right?

So this is their plan, today we're not going to give any opportunity of any miskin, any

poor person, any helpless person to even come into your company and if you open the door,

maybe some of them will walk in, some of them might, we're not going to give them even

a single chance.

This is the only ayah in the entire story that's their crime, there's no other ayah.

Everything else, if you take this ayah out, it seems like a totally halal experience.

If we're just going early to work, they were just going to go pick fruit that belongs

to them.

Nothing wrong with any of that.

Waghada wa ala hardinqa, if you could argue one thing, maybe they didn't say in

Sha'Allah, if you looked at that, that's a scene, but even that's not a major crime.

That's just nisyan, that's rafla, that's forgetfulness, that's heedlessness, but you can

make it so far from that and that's the end of it.

It's not like you say, oh my God, I'm late for work, I got to go and you don't say, I

got to go in Sha'Allah and now your business is going to burn down and you know, you

're going to lose your job, I shed a sad in Sha'Allah, all of it's gone.

There's one time I didn't say it.

That's not what's happening here, right?

So the only crime is they're trying to keep the poor from even finding out or getting

any access, right?

That's the idea.

Or perhaps this also means as they're leaving, maybe people do see, by the time they're

done picking all the fruit, it's not going to be 3 a.m., they might be 6 or 7 a.m.

by then, it's a lot of work.

So now people will notice the trucks full of fruit and produce leaving and they might see

just even some people just looking at them, just staring at them, right?

And just that look, they might, you know, Baghadahu ala hardin qadirin actually suggests

some khasirun argue about this ayah that they, they, Ghadah, Ghadah and Arabic is to go

in the morning but also go with aggression.

In other words, they'll have a certain look on their face that if people see them, they're

not going to ask.

And sometimes you want to ask your dad when you're a kid, you don't want to ask your dad

for something.

Can we go, can we get a burger, can we get some ice cream?

But you check the face first.

And if your dad has a certain kind of face, you're not going to ask for ice cream, you're

not going to ask for kebabs because you might become the kebabs, because they look on

the face, right?

So they're, they're like, let's have a kind of face that when people come, they're not

even going to think about asking.

Wasadahu ala hardin qadirin, you know, like, you know, when I was teaching the detailed

of the Surah, I was talking about how sometimes in in boxing or in UFC and other sports, before

the guy comes out of the locker room and comes out into the ring, they pump him up.

Let's go, let's go, take him down, right?

He's just pumped up and adrenaline, adrenaline's rushing, he's going to kill his opponent.

You're a killer, right?

You're a killer.

This is the kind of pep talk they're doing to each other.

They're the attitude with which they're coming out, baghada wa ala hardin qadirin.

Falamar a'oha.

And so they, let's imagine they climb the fence or they climb the wall, they went from the

back roads and they get there, qadirin ala wa'ad doin.

They start the place, man, we jumped the wrong wall, this can't be our place, we're lost.

So the first, the shock of seeing their garden was so heavy that they couldn't even believe

that it was their garden.

You know, if you, if you study in psychology, the stages of grief, right, the stages, the

first, first stages denial, and they're experiencing it, they're like, this is not happening,

this is not our garden.

You guys jumped the wrong wall.

No, no, no, this is the address, look, Google Maps, this is the one, this is the place.

And then we were deprived, we've been deprived, something we deserve was taken away from us.

This is the meaning of the word mahrum.

It's so ironic that they want to keep everybody else what?

Mahrum.

And now they're saying it's so wrong that we are mahrum, right?

This is ironic language, but we are mahrum.

But the, I actually wanted to give you this goodbye, I didn't even get to the point.

And the point was the beauty with which Allah describes insincere apology, insincere apology.

Of course, the Qur'an teaches us Tawba, the Qur'an teaches us this Tehrfar.

But there is such a thing as convenient as Tehrfar.

And this is actually a story about convenient as Tehrfar.

I don't tell you a little bit about that.

The one in the middle, the most balanced among them.

Instead of crying, this is in fear, we must be in the wrong place.

Oh, somebody must have robbed us.

Mahrum can also mean somebody must have robbed us.

Or these poor people, they're jealous, they burned our garden down.

They must have done it.

You know, this is their response.

But the most balanced among them said,

didn't I tell you, Laulat al-Sabbi Haroon, didn't I tell you, how come you don't do this being?

Didn't I tell you, how come you don't do this being?

This was not a problem of this being.

This was a problem of infaq, of Sadaka, of giving.

But they understood something.

When you do this being of Allah, you declare the perfection of Allah,

then part of declaring that perfection, they understood originally,

being good to Allah means part of your this being is actually giving to humanity.

So he didn't even say Laulat al-Firqon, Laulat al-Sabdaqon, he said, Laulat al-Sabbi Haroon.

But what's really interesting here is, he didn't include himself.

The guy who wants the garden burnt down, he's like, I told you guys, you should have remembered Allah, it's like that.

Bro, you were with us a minute ago, you weren't doing the remembrance of Allah.

You were among us saying, hey, don't keep it quiet, some poor people might find out.

A second ago, you were on our side, the moment you see the garden burnt down,

you start giving us a khutbah, it was convenient.

You know, before that you were quiet, before you were on their team, right?

So this is, you're already starting to get a glimpse of,

an instikh faar which is too late.

And even then, is he including himself?

No, he's blaming somebody else.

Now keep this in mind, he's not taking responsibility himself,

and he's making mention of something that's too late now.

So they say fine, fine, fine, it was our mistake.

Subhan, our abina innakunna, we were wrong.

We were the ones who were wrong.

They admit it.

But then in the very next ayah,

they start blaming each other.

They start, you know, you're the reason that we went this morning.

If we had gone yesterday, this wouldn't have happened.

The storm came tonight.

We should have gone last week when I was telling you.

The other one says, you know, if we gave a little bit of Sadaka,

maybe Allah wouldn't have been so angry with us.

For the three oranges, we wouldn't have to give so much,

you know, two and a half percent.

What's the big deal?

But you're the reason.

You're the capitalist.

So they start blaming each other.

Here's the problem.

If you admit you're wrong, which they did.

Subhan, our abina innakunna, volumine.

They admit it that they're wrong.

Once you admit you're wrong, why are you finding somebody to blame?

Either you're wrong or somebody else is wrong, right?

So the first contradiction was,

the guy didn't include himself.

He included them.

They admitted, but they after admitting, who did they blame?

Each other instead of taking responsibility, themselves.

And then they say,

asa rabbuna an yubdilana khayra minna,

maybe Allah will give us something better than this.

Right?

So they say, maybe because next year,

maybe we'll grow the garden again.

Right?

Now watch this.

What does Allah say?

Acquat.

This is how punishment works.

But the punishment of the akhira is much worse.

It's much bigger.

Allah is now saying,

this garden story should teach you something about judgment day.

That's what Allah is saying.

What is it going to teach you about judgment day?

On judgment day, some people will come.

And they will say,

it's not my fault, it's his fault.

Didn't I tell you you should do this?

And you find in the Quran scenes,

in which the person, instead of taking responsibility,

they said, this is our abat, did this.

Or they didn't listen.

You know,

we were weak, they wouldn't listen to us.

They're not taking responsibility.

Then you find people in the Quran on judgment day,

like in Surat Al-Ambia.

We were wrong.

We were wrong.

And those same people in the Quran will blame others.

These are our leaders.

They were the ones who misled us.

And then later on,

again, on judgment day,

they're going to turn to Allah and say,

you know, hopefully next,

we'll get another chance and we'll be better.

Right?

Just give me some extra chance.

Just like these gardeners are saying what?

Hopefully, Allah will give us a better.

By the way, if they were truly resentful

and, you know, ashamed of what they did,

wouldn't the words be Allah

if we had another chance,

we would give Sadaka.

We would give to the poor.

But instead, what did they ask for?

They said, oh, if only we could get a better garden

than this one next year.

That's what they're asking for.

Khairon Min Hal.

Still don't care about the poor.

Still don't mention of the poor.

So Allah says this scene of this kind of apology,

that's too late.

And this is hoping that things would turn out different.

This is actually going to play out

and the Ahir al-Alsaf.

This is going to play out in the Ahir al-Alsaf.

Now, what does this have to do with the puration?

Remember the beginning?

In the Balauna home?

Qama Balauna?

As-Hav al-Jalla.

It's as if Allah is saying,

judgment day will come.

And a lot of these kufar are going to make the same excuses

that these gardeners are making.

And it's going to be too late for them.

That's not going to count anymore.

They're going to hope that they were Muslim back when they get there.

Then they'll say,

oh, you know,

ab-Sarna.

You know, we now we see.

Now we're ready to believe.

We're ready to, okay, okay.

Let us go back.

Now we'll do good.

Isn't that the case?

So Allah gave this story not just as a reminder for us.

For what is the reminder for you and me in it?

We better be apologetic before the garden burns down.

Right?

And we better realize that our relationship with Allah

is directly connected to our relationship with those who are in need.

And if we don't even want to experience the discomfort,

the discomfort of acknowledging somebody's suffering,

I don't want to return.

I don't want to answer their call.

Send them the voicemail.

I don't want to watch this video clip.

I don't want to see this message, right?

If we just ignore it,

then we can live our life, right?

If it can ignore the suffering,

then we can just be comfortable in our own,

you know, in our own garden, if you will.

Allah says,

if that's your attitude,

I will burn your garden down.

If that's your attitude.

And that's the warning that Allah has given all of us.

And Allah is going to truly make us a people of this being,

a people of care for the rest of Allah's creation.

And a people that are sincere to Allah,

and may Allah make us all able to make us the Father,

and to Him before it's too late.

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