Summary: Link to MP3 Lecture:<br> http://www.nakcollection.com/uploads/7/7/7/4/7774039/the_man_of_two_<br> gardens-nouman_ali_khan.mp3<br> Transcribed By Muhammad Talha<br> (A Uni Student From Pakistan)<br> Note From Transcriber: I've tried my best for a word-to-word transcription but<br> still I've put a few phrases from the lecture, that were oblivious to me, in round<br> brackets. For smooth reading of text, I've also put punctuation marks in the whole<br> transcribed lecture below. In fact, I've put my own, very few comments, in round<br> brackets for the same reason.<br> Also note that instead of quoting the actual Arabic of Quran in this text, I've put<br> english transliterations taken from Quran.com. I recommend you to actually read<br> the Arabic from Qur'an wherever a transliteration is mentioned.<br> (From 2:26 Onwards) I was very conflicted about what to share in this Khutbah<br> with you today but I decided that I would focus my attention on one particular<br> passage from Surat Al-Kahf and I'd like to start by expressing my appreciation<br> and my uh... just pleasant surprise uh leading this community for the first time.<br> I've been travelling across the country for some time now Alhamdullilah but<br> this is the first time I've been to Wisconsin and obviously this city also. May<br> Allah Azzawajal Bless this community and the efforts that are being made in<br> this community.<br> So what I wanted to share with you is some reminder for myself and for all of<br> you from Surat Al-Kahf, the surah we are supposed to recite every Friday. And<br> before I start talking about a little bit of these ayat, I want to share with you an<br> observation that I've been sort of on the side (of) making about our community<br> and communities across the world in general uh sociological fact that there are<br> a lot of lot of families in the world it doesn't even matter if they are Muslim or<br> not but they push their children to be successful. This idea of wanting your<br> children to be successful is very common. Doesn't matter if you are a hindu<br> family or a buddhist family or -you know- your'e a Western european family or<br> an American family or -you know- Arab family it doesn't matter, we want our<br> children to be successful. And we define that success in very specific or very<br> similar ways... for instance in Chinese culture, they are considered successful at<br> the point where your children (have) obtained a high degree in education<br> they've obtained a career they own a property they own some part of real<br> estate -you know- and they've made it and they've paid those things off and<br> now they are considered successful and they work and they work and they work<br> towards those things.<br> And actually in some aspects of that culture, families compete with each other<br> and the parents, they get together and they share notes on their kids; "well my<br> kid already finished law school" and "my kid is in the middle of med school but<br> he'll finish soon" and "he has already bought this" and "he has already bought<br> that" so actually they compare with each other and when they find out one of<br> the sons in the community has gone further, they all humiliate their own<br> children saying "Why can't you be more like him?" but you know one thing ! I<br> realise; that's not just Chinese culture, that's Muslim culture too now. Across<br> the border and across ethnicities and cultures, we push our children to be<br> successful, we look at other families and their kids and what they've obtained<br> and what schools they went to and what degrees they got and where they<br> bought a house and how leveraged their wedding was and we want ours to be<br> the same or we are in this competition all the time and actually the more you<br>
