Qur'an Connection by Good Tree Academy Good Tree Academy

Good Tree Academy Senior and this year's valedictorian Faizan delivers Jummah Khutba about following the example of Prophet Muhammad (SWS). 
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Whatever is best doesn’t come easy. It takes work.
For those who love, study and learn the Qur’an, upon entering paradise, angels will don these believers with garments and crowns, including their parents who fostered the best learning.
Allah has given us some illustrations of the rewards He has prepared in paradise, and they are like nothing we’ve seen. Paradise will have mansions which will look like stars they are so high. 
And who will these mansions be for? Principal Wadud Hassan explains it is for those who will be told to recite Qur’an. The more you recite, the higher and higher levels the reciter will rise. When the reciter stops determines the level of his or her home in paradise. 
Heaven will contain tents like hollowed pearls 60 miles from each side. 
These rewards are especially for the believers who apply the perfume of Qur’an to your soul. It’s a smell palpable to angels. 
Earning paradise means hard work, worship and deeds like fasting, reading Qur’an and exhibiting good character. The next time you face a challenge, like waking up on time for Fajr prayer, think of the treasure Allah has waiting for you and work hard in this short life for that eternal happiness. 


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In Surah At Tariq, Allah prompts us to consider our origin: “Let people then consider what they were created from!” (At-Tariq 86:5 The Nightcomer) 
Ustadh Michael Wolfender uses this ayat along with examples like IKEA furniture, cow stomachs, birds’ eyes and stomachs to consider advanced design and our purpose.
Our purpose is to learn about and worship Allah, as we will return to Him. This life is a test of patience and gratitude for the bounties Allah provides and withholds. 
In the second half of Surah At-Tariq, Allah advises of the guidance He has sent in His Book: “Surely this ˹Quran˺ is a decisive word and is not to be taken lightly.” (86:13 - 14) The Qur’an advises us of our purpose, in our faith and path in this life with guidance for earning eternal happiness.
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If you saw a treasure chest wide open permitted for you, would you not take? Ustadh Michael Wolfender presents the reality of the best night of the year with a wild example worth paying attention to.
In Surat Al-Qadr (97 The Night of Power), Allah repeats three times which He doesn’t do anywhere else in the Qur’an in this manner. Allah reveals He sent the Qur’an on a night in Ramadan called Laylatul Qadr - the Night of Power. 
Then Allah asks the reader to consider what exactly is this night that has so much power. This is where Ustadh Michael uses his outrageous analogy to help us understand the rewards for worship being accepted on this night.
Laylatul Qadr includes a special visitor who only comes to earth once a year now. Angel Gabriel brought Allah’s Message to prophets, concluding with Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.  In the fourth verse of Al Qadr, Allah describes the earth filling with angels on this special night.
How can you take advantage? We don’t know which of the last ten nights of Ramadan exactly is Laylatul Qadr. Instead, we search for it. It might be one of the odd nights, particularly the 27th of Ramadan. The best way is to worship each of these nights, give charity, pray, read Qur’an and make dua, asking of Allah. He is The Most Generous. He is The Creator. He is All Powerful. He can grant us everything we wish for and it would not decrease Him in any way.
The treasure and reward is available one night a year. It’s up to us to avail ourselves of Allah’s Bounty.
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Principal Wadud Hassan shares some of the rewards from fasting, including: 
Allah has created a special gate in paradise called Al Rayyan for those who fastFasting is a shield which will protect you from hellfire on the Day of JudgmentCharity and night prayer extinguishes fireFasting and the Qur’an will intercede for believers on the Day of JudgmentFasting one day removes a believer seventy years away from hellfireWhen those fasting are in the company of those who are eating, angels send blessings for those sacrificing for Allah’s SakeThere are levels of fasting beyond abstaining from food and drink, such as staying away from what’s forbidden in bad behavior. Those fasting can then focus on good values like cleansing your heart by forgiving others and seeking forgiveness.


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Once a year, the earth is crowded with angels. Allah announces: “That night the angels and the ˹holy˺ spirit descend, by the permission of their Lord, for every ˹decreed˺ matter.” (Al Qadr 97:4 The Power) This night is in the last ten nights of Ramadan and it’s among the ways Ustadh Michael Wolfender shares how we can get close to angels and earn Allah’s Pleasure. 
Jummuah means congregation in Arabic and Fridays are when Muslims meet together for the congregational prayer in the middle of the day. Muslims attending jummuah can earn the rewards of a mountain of gold in blessings as angels take attendance of who comes to jummuah and pay attention to the weekly reminder. 
Angels are made of light and they look for where believers are worshiping so they can join. But if you get distracted, they’ll leave. We can’t see or hear angels here, but everyone entering paradise will. In Surah Ghafir, Allah shows how angels supplicate for believers saying: “Our Lord! Admit them into the Gardens of Eternity which You have promised them, along with the righteous among their parents, spouses, and descendants. You ˹alone˺ are truly the Almighty, All-Wise.” (Al Ghafir 40:8 The Forgiver)
When you make dua or ask of Allah on behalf of others, angels make the same request for you. They listen to our duas and report to Allah all of our actions. 
Back to that one night when Allah crowds the earth with angels. It’s called Laylatul-Qadr or the “Night of Power.” Allah sends a special visitor: the archangel Gabriel, the angel who brought revelation of the Holy Qur’an. Knowing how humans would question how or whether one of their own could see or meet an angel, Allah sent revelation affirming how Prophet Muhammad ﷺ did see Jibreel, declaring in Surah Takwir: “I do swear by the receding stars which travel and hide and the night as it falls and the day as it breaks! Indeed, this ˹Quran˺ is the Word of ˹Allah delivered by Gabriel,˺ a noble messenger-angel, full of power, held in honor by the Lord of the Throne, obeyed there ˹in heaven˺, and trustworthy. And your fellow man is not insane. And he did see that ˹angel˺ on the clear horizon” (At-Takwir 81:15 - 23 The Overthrowing) 
Since revelation completed with Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, Jibreel only visits once a year. Search for Laylatul Qadr in the last ten nights of Ramadan to be in the company of angels worshiping with you. 


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