WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:03.399 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. 00:00:03.399 --> 00:00:11.560 Within the embrace of Allah, happiness pours into the hearts. 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:15.689 Seek ever-greater closeness to the Most Merciful. 00:00:15.689 --> 00:00:18.690 The Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Musa Mosque. 00:00:18.690 --> 00:00:21.690 Proudly presents: 00:00:21.690 --> 00:00:24.690 The Musk of Discourse. 00:00:24.690 --> 00:00:27.690 By Sheikh Usama Bahr, may Allah preserve him. 00:00:27.690 --> 00:00:35.689 Everyone who obeys the Divine dissolves into the sweetest of feelings. 00:00:35.689 --> 00:00:37.689 What has passed is gone. 00:00:37.689 --> 00:00:44.820 I do not know why some insist on clinging to the past, 00:00:44.820 --> 00:00:48.820 And persist in weeping over what has already transpired, 00:00:48.820 --> 00:00:53.920 And dwelling in prolonged sorrow over the griefs and pains that occurred therein. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:57.920 Why, then, this attachment to what has elapsed and vanished? 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:02.920 Is it rational for a person to remain imprisoned in the cell of the past, 00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:05.920 Forgetting the freedom of the present and the future? 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:12.109 Islam always calls upon the Muslim to look forward, toward the Hereafter. 00:01:12.109 --> 00:01:15.109 For what has passed is finished, 00:01:15.109 --> 00:01:18.109 Serving only as a lesson and a warning. 00:01:18.109 --> 00:01:22.109 The door to the past must be bolted shut, never to see the light, 00:01:22.109 --> 00:01:24.109 Because it has passed and ended. 00:01:24.109 --> 00:01:26.109 Neither sorrow can restore it, 00:01:26.109 --> 00:01:28.109 Nor can anxiety mend it. 00:01:28.109 --> 00:01:32.109 It is impossible to reverse a tear that has fallen from the eye, 00:01:32.109 --> 00:01:36.109 Just as it is impossible to return a child to the womb of its mother. 00:01:36.109 --> 00:01:38.109 Some wise people say: 00:01:38.109 --> 00:01:41.109 "The past is to be folded away, not recounted." 00:01:41.109 --> 00:01:45.109 So why do some people abandon work and diligence, 00:01:45.109 --> 00:01:50.299 Claiming that the past justifies their stagnation and surrender? 00:01:50.299 --> 00:01:54.299 Reading from the ledger of the past is a waste of the present, 00:01:54.299 --> 00:01:56.299 And a tearing apart of one's efforts. 00:01:56.299 --> 00:02:00.299 Allah the Almighty mentioned in His Noble Book 00:02:00.299 --> 00:02:02.299 The accounts of the nations of old, 00:02:02.299 --> 00:02:04.299 And He, the Almighty, said: 00:02:04.299 --> 00:02:12.300 ﴾That was a nation which has passed on. It will have [the consequence of] what it earned, and you will have what you have earned.﴿ 00:02:12.300 --> 00:02:19.490 ﴾And you will not be asked about what they used to do.﴿ 00:02:19.490 --> 00:02:21.490 From this verse, we understand 00:02:21.490 --> 00:02:24.490 That the past has passed and ended, 00:02:24.490 --> 00:02:27.490 And there is no benefit in dissecting the corpse of time 00:02:27.490 --> 00:02:30.710 Or trying to turn back the wheels of history. 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:32.710 Whoever returns to the past 00:02:32.710 --> 00:02:36.710 Is like one who grinds flour that is already ground, as the saying goes. 00:02:36.710 --> 00:02:40.740 Rational people do not look backward, 00:02:40.740 --> 00:02:42.740 Nor do they turn their gaze to the rear, 00:02:42.740 --> 00:02:46.740 Because the wind blows and moves forward, 00:02:46.740 --> 00:02:49.740 Water springs forth and flows forward, 00:02:49.740 --> 00:02:52.740 And the caravan travels forward. 00:02:52.740 --> 00:02:54.740 These are the laws of life. 00:02:54.740 --> 00:02:56.740 So for those who oppose them, 00:02:56.740 --> 00:02:58.740 And for those who turn backward, 00:02:58.740 --> 00:03:00.740 Nothing in life changes; 00:03:00.740 --> 00:03:03.740 Rather, it is we who must change. 00:03:03.740 --> 00:03:05.740 Allah the Almighty said: 00:03:05.740 --> 00:03:10.740 ﴾Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people﴿ 00:03:10.740 --> 00:03:15.740 ﴾until they change what is in themselves.﴿ 00:03:15.740 --> 00:03:18.740 Therefore, fix your eyes upon what is in front of you, 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:20.740 And do not cast your gaze backward, 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:23.740 Lest you stumble on the path and fall. 00:03:23.740 --> 00:03:26.740 Let hope be connected to your footsteps, 00:03:26.740 --> 00:03:29.740 To guide you along the correct path, 00:03:29.740 --> 00:03:32.740 And enable you to set forth with full confidence, 00:03:32.740 --> 00:03:35.740 To reach your goal and your objective. 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:38.740 Would that every worker, youth, and striver, 00:03:38.740 --> 00:03:40.740 Every patient and persistent soul, 00:03:40.740 --> 00:03:43.740 Would direct their gaze toward the distant horizon. 00:03:43.740 --> 00:03:46.740 There is no harm in taking lessons from the past, 00:03:46.740 --> 00:03:49.740 And there is no harm in taking from history 00:03:49.740 --> 00:03:51.740 An opportunity to correct one's mistakes. 00:03:51.740 --> 00:03:53.740 The harm lies only 00:03:53.740 --> 00:03:56.740 In imprisoning ourselves in the corridors of the past, 00:03:56.740 --> 00:04:00.159 Instead of setting out toward reform and construction. 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:03.159 These are concepts that have faded in an age 00:04:03.159 --> 00:04:06.159 From which the sun of the future never sets. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:09.159 Yet some among us wish to block 00:04:09.159 --> 00:04:12.159 The light of the sun with their own hands—but how could they ever do that? 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:15.159 For every morning, the sun calls out: 00:04:15.159 --> 00:04:19.160 "This is a new day, and tomorrow is a promising future." 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:22.160 So leave behind the tales of bygone times, 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:24.160 And turn toward life, 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:26.160 For what has passed is gone, 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:28.160 And what has passed will not return.