Omar Suleiman – What About Your Promise To Allah
AI: Summary ©
The importance of fulfilling promises and finding one's own success in life is emphasized in these segments. The story of Jesus's actions and the importance of witnessing and respecting promises are also discussed. The importance of diligently identifying qualities and finding one's own success is emphasized. The conversation also touches on the global situation and how many doctors in their community were hit by the pandemic. The speakers provide advice on renewing promises and handling people who are always growing in their path towards Allah.
AI: Summary ©
We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
and by bearing witness that none has the
right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except
for him.
And we bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi
wasallam is his final messenger.
We ask Allah to send his peace and
blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that
came before him, his family and companions that
served alongside him and those that followed in
his blessed path until the day of judgment.
And we ask Allah to make us amongst
them, Allahumma ameen.
We're all waiting for the promise of Allah.
But how many promises have we actually made
to Allah?
Everyone asks when will Allah fulfill the promise
that he has made to this ummah?
When will Allah fulfill the promise that he
has made to me should I abide by
this set of conditions?
But have we fulfilled the many promises we
have made throughout our lives at certain junctures
to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala?
Dear brothers and sisters, when you look in
the seerah of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam
and his blessed biography and the biographies of
his companions, one of the things that you
always find is that for every hero, there
is a parallel villain, meaning there is a
person who reached their full potential and then
there is someone who was full of potential
but because of the deviation in their hearts
and because of the diseases in their hearts,
they took a different path.
The most obvious one that we speak about
because the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam included them
in a singular supplication with Umar ibn al
-Khattab radiallahu ta'ala anhu and Amir ibn
Hisham, Abu Jahl, when the prophet sallallahu alayhi
wasallam said, Allahumma izzal Islam, O Allah give
victory to Islam, Bi haq al-umarain ilayk,
with the more beloved of the two Umars
to you because Abu Jahl had potential but
he took the route of becoming the Pharaoh
of this Ummah, the Firaun of this Ummah,
whereas Umar radiallahu ta'ala anhu became an
emblem, a symbol of what just rulership looks
like, a leader who found his full potential.
But one of the lesser known parallels is
the parallel to Waraqa ibn Naufal radiallahu ta
'ala anhu, Waraqa was a biblical scholar before
the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam arrived.
He was someone who had studied the Torah
and the Injil.
He is someone who had studied the lives
of the prophets of Bani Israel from Abraham
to David to Jesus, peace be upon them
all.
He studied it all and he waited for
the moment of the arrival of the foretold
prophets in so many biblical scriptures, the foretold
prophet that had tribes from people of the
book stayed out in Medina waiting for him
sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the foretold prophet whom priests
in Damascus, in Syria waited for and in
Palestine waited for.
And when the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam arrived,
we know the story and I'll get to
the end of it.
He recognizes the messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi
wasallam, but he was already at the end
of his life and he knew it and
you can imagine how many times he had
rehearsed in his mind and in his heart
that if the prophet of Allah that has
been foretold in the scriptures, يَعِفُونَهُمْ كَمَا يَعِفُونَ
أَبْنَاءَهُمْ They know him like one of you
would know their own children.
There's no mistake in identity with your children.
That if I live to see this man
and I am a part of his advent,
then I will support him with everything that
I have.
Can you imagine how he felt then when
the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam arrives at his
door as the messenger of God and he
can't even stand up anymore.
He's walking on a cane.
He doesn't have any energy and he says
to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam immediately لَيْتَنِي
كُنْتُ حَيًّا إِذْ يُخْرِجُكْ لِقَالْهُكْ I wish I
was alive when your people run you out.
I wish I was young.
لَيْتَنِي كُنْتُ شَابًا I wish I was young.
فِيهَا جَدْعْ I wish I had the energy
that when your people inevitably run you out
the way they ran out every prophet that
came before you.
I could be there to support you.
And he was truthful and that indeed he
would not live except for a few days
after recognizing the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and
the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was asked about
waratah about his state and the prophet sallallahu
alayhi wasallam said إِنِّي رَأَيْتُ لَهُ فِي الْجَنَّةِ
I have seen for him in Jannah a
Jannah or Jannatan a degree of paradise or
two levels of paradise reserved for him and
the two levels of paradise as some of
the scholars mentioned is what was mentioned for
the people of the book who believed in
Moses and believed in Jesus peace be upon
them and then completed their belief by believing
in Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam that he comes
from that background.
Some of them said that perhaps it was
the intention that he had that Allah rewarded
him for his prior belief and what he
would have done had he lived to be
with the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam even in
the days of hijrah waratah in his mind
knew I would walk out on I would
do the hijrah with the prophet sallallahu alayhi
wasallam.
I would take the beatings for the prophet
sallallahu alayhi wasallam but he didn't live long
enough.
There's a parallel villain.
His name is Abu Amir al-Rahim.
He was in Medina a man who was
deeply studied in the scriptures a man who
knew that a prophet was to come and
he aligned himself to Abdullah bin Ubaid bin
Salul the chief hypocrite who was on his
way to be the leader of Medina for
purely materialistic reasons.
Their kids were married to each other and
I'll talk about them inshallah time a little
bit.
But when Abu Amir al-Rahim heard who
the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was and recognized
that he would not have the benefits the
material benefit of being on his side all
of those years of worship al-Rahim all
of those years of being a month-light
figure of being a scholar without the window
and he said I will oppose him because
he's not from us.
He's not one of us.
He's actually the man behind Masjid al-Darar
that Allah mentions in the Quran a masjid
that was built upon falsehood to compete with
Masjid al-Rustisah al-Taqwa a masjid built
on piety which was Masjid Quba.
He was the parallel of waraka but instead
he becomes a loser in the full sense
of the word all of those decades of
study when he was actually tested with the
moment.
He fell short.
He could have been like waraka instead.
He became a nobody a failure someone who
tried to use his spiritual prowess to support
Abdullah ibn Ubaid bin Saloon a hypocrite who
didn't even believe in God just so that
he could have that material benefits.
He had a son.
His son was named Hamzah ibn Abi Amir
radiallahu ta'ala alayhi was married Jameela radiallahu
anha bint Abdullah ibn Ubaid bin Saloon and
when Uhud came Hamzah the young man who
embraced Islam despite his father partly because he
heard his dad talking about a prophet to
come.
Why are we rejecting him now?
He embraced the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasalam as
a young man Jameela the daughter of the
chief of the hypocrites embraces Islam.
We know who he is.
We've been told about him.
Hamzah and Jameela got married the night before
Uhud.
Hamzah was intimate with Jameela for one night.
He came to Uhud before he could even
wash himself before he could even do ghusl.
And he is known as the seerul malaika
the one who was washed by the angels
because the companions saw his body lifted and
washed showered by the angels bathed by the
angels before they could clean his wounds and
the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasalam said that I
saw him on a silver platter between the
heavens and the earth and his body being
washed his ghusl, his washing was done by
the angels.
There's a twist to the story as well.
Many of us saw in the people of
Gaza these ayaat of Allah, these signs of
Allah, Ayman al-Jaddi rahimahullah the journalist who
was on his way to the hospital to
be with his wife while she would give
birth.
He married her during the genocide.
Maybe he and his wife Dana got married
during the genocide.
And then he was on his way to
the hospital to welcome his child.
And the Zionists bombed his van and set
him on fire along with four other journalists.
His wife was inside giving birth to his
child.
She had no idea that her husband had
just been killed outside.
The boy's name was Abdullah.
He is Abdullah.
May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala allow him to
rise up to be one who brings greatness
to this ummah.
May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala see through him
a glorious promise.
Allahumma ameen.
Haldalah left and he didn't know that Jameela
was pregnant.
She gave birth to Abdullah ibn Haldalah who
grew up to be a shaheed just like
his father.
There are promises that are made in the
midst of darkness.
There are things that you say that you
would do if the moment confronts you and
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala will test you at
times with the words that you say.
We've all been thrown in our lives.
Oh Allah, if you give me this position,
I will do this.
If I achieve this financial goal, I'll do
this.
You give me this person.
I'll do this.
Once this is solved, I'll do this.
We make these empty promises time and time
and time again.
May Allah make us from the truthful.
Allahumma ameen.
And I want to actually walk that back
and see how Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala spoke
to that behavior of making promises to him
that go unfulfilled.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam mentioned ayatul munafiq
3.
The signs of a hypocrite are three.
When they speak, they lie.
And when they make promises, they break their
promises.
And when they are entrusted with something, they
betray that trust.
There is no greater lie to tell them
to Allah himself.
Those that lie to God, those that break
promises to Allah, those that betray the ultimate
imamah from Allah to them.
And so it's important to actually interrogate ourselves
with those qualities.
Say, do I have some of those qualities?
You see, most of us are familiar with
a surah in the Quran, surah munafiq, the
chapter of the hypocrites, but this actually wasn't
the first surah about hypocrisy.
Rather, there's a narration from Abdullah bin Salam
radiallahu anhu, the chief rabbi of Medina.
His name was Abdullah bin Salam, and he
embraced Islam as soon as he saw the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, and he was the
most knowledgeable rabbi in Medina.
He said, this is him.
And he says in an authentic hadith in
musliman ahmad, We said to ourselves, Which deeds
are most beloved to Allah?
Let's ask the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, if
only someone would ask the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, What does Allah want most to see
from us?
Sincerity.
He's the opposite of those who knew the
book and then betrayed it.
He wants to know and he was amongst
a group of people who said, Give it
to us.
We'll do it.
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala revealed surah as-saf.
Allah revealed the whole surah.
Oh, you who believe, Why do you say
that which you don't do?
It starts with this.
The word munathiq was not used yet.
Allah didn't call anyone a hypocrite yet.
But the behavior was pointed out.
Why have you gotten yourself used to saying
things that you're not actually going to do?
Be careful of making claims that you have
no intention to fulfill.
Be careful of making lofty statements that you
have no intention to back with your actions.
Beware.
Surah Al-Baqarah was revealed right at the
beginning of Badr, In the beginning of Madinah.
Allah dedicates a whole section.
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala talks about those who
say they believe but they're not really believers.
They have a disease in their hearts.
So they're reading the Quran.
The prophets, my son, entered into Madinah.
He said, yeah, let's do this because it
looks like this is the most favorable political
stance to take.
Let's attach ourselves to the believers and read
the situation.
Allah did not use the word munafiq yet,
hypocrite.
Yeah, but Allah identified the behavior of hypocrisy.
Surah As-Saff, Allah identified the behavior of
hypocrisy and the prophets, my son, wanted to
root it out of everyone's heart to the
maximum ability, to the point.
There was a man by the name Abdullah
Muamir Ibn Wali'an.
He said that my mother said to me,
I was a young boy when the verse
was revealed.
I was playing outside and my mother said
to me, Come home.
Let me give you something.
Trying to entice him to come inside the
house and the prophets, my son, said, do
you actually intend to give him something?
He heard her call her son out.
Did you actually intend to give him something?
And she said, yeah, tell him, I was
going to give him a thing, something to
get the child back into the house.
And the prophets, my son, said, had you
not been telling the truth, Allah would have
written a lie upon you.
We don't do that in this community.
Don't say things you don't intend to do.
Allah hates, finds it repulsive that a person
makes statements that they have no intention to
actually fulfill.
And then surah al-munafiq one came.
Allah called out the people who insisted on
that behavior.
And then the most detailed expedition, the most
detailed exposition of the hypocrites surah al-tawbah
comes down because now it is al-fadihah.
It is the exposure.
Your hypocrisy is as clear as night and
day.
The whole community can see you for who
you are.
Too many times you've failed the test.
It came and you failed the test.
You keep making statements that you have no
intention of putting your heart behind, that you
have no intention of putting your deeds behind.
So when the battle of Badr happened, how
many people said, Oh, you know, we wish
we were at Badr.
Glorious moment, Allah gave victory to the small
band of believers against a ruthless army, ill
-equipped, outnumbered.
If I was there, I would have been
there too.
There are a lot of people that make
these claims.
But there is a man who comes forth,
an innocent mother.
And he says, Ya Rasulullah, I misrepresented, but
if Allah gives me another chance, Allah will
see what I will do.
His nephew, Anas ibn Malik says, This was
revealed about the likes of my uncle, from
those who have been truthful as believers.
Are those who are truthful in their covenants
to Allah.
Some of them have the opportunity to fulfill
their covenant right away.
And some of them are delayed.
They don't relinquish in any way that state
that they're in.
You know what that means?
You know how many times Anas ibn Malik
sat in his house and rehearsed, if I
get another chance.
He already played it out in his head
over and over and over again.
If it comes, I will be there.
And when Uhud came, when others fled, he
went forward.
When others ran, he ran forward.
And he pushed people back to the battlefield.
Until Allah subhana wa ta'ala granted him
shahada.
He was truthful with Allah.
So Allah was truthful with him.
He made a promise.
And Allah tested him with that promise.
I want to bring this to our time
and conclusion, first and foremost, with the global
situation that's around us.
So many of us see what's happening in
Gaza right now.
And we say, if only I had a
meaningful way to help, I would do so.
And you know what?
There was a large group of doctors in
our community that were tested with those words.
Because the only people that could get in
from our communities were the doctors.
And may Allah bless those doctors that have
put themselves in the middle of a genocide
where hospitals are targeted just like military bases.
May Allah reward them and elevate them.
They were tested.
We're all sitting back and we're saying, if
I had the chance, then I would do
this and I would help.
Then I feel emasculated watching what's happening in
Gaza right now.
I do this and I would do that.
Careful.
Careful.
Be truthful.
Allah can reward you like waraka and you
never actually have a moment to prove your
heart.
Or you could be tested with your words.
And I'm only giving Gaza as an obvious
example because of those doctors in our community,
subhanallah, who had to make that decision and
Allah bless them.
Here we are, dear brothers and sisters, and
we see the global climate shifting rapidly.
And Allah will test you.
Allah will test you with your wealth.
You said, if you get this much money,
you're going to do this.
You said, if you find yourself in this
career, you're going to do this.
You said, if you get this taken care
of in your life, you're going to suddenly
be this.
Where is it?
Don't be those people who say things that
they don't intend to actually do.
Renew your intention.
Now, on a personal level, what about all
those times in my life where I've dropped
the ball?
I said, oh Allah, I will repent from
this sin.
Oh Allah, I will give this.
Oh Allah, I will do this.
Oh Allah, I'm going to become this person.
If you see me pass this obstacle in
life.
I want you to leave with the following.
Number one, renew your promises to Allah.
Go back, take account of your life.
I don't care if you were 13, 14
years old and you're 40 years old now,
thinking back to the promises you made Allah.
And see if you can renew them.
Number two, repent for the times that you've
dropped the ball.
Repent for the promises that you failed on.
Number three, identify the root causes of why
you keep dropping the ball, of why you
keep fumbling on your promises with Allah subhanahu
wa'ta'ala.
Why does it keep happening?
Because remember Allah identified a mindset of behavior
before it became full-blown hypocrisy.
You might not be a munafiq.
May Allah protect us from hypocrisy.
Allahumma ameen.
But perhaps as Abdullah ibn Umar r.a
said, if you have a trait, khasla, if
you have one of these qisas, one of
these traits, then that's your share of hypocrisy.
You could be one-fourth hypocrite, one-half
hypocrite, three-fourths hypocrite.
You could be a hundred percent hypocrite as
far as your behavior is concerned.
So identify the root causes and then deal
with those root causes.
Number four, surround yourself with people who are
always growing in their path towards Allah, who
are hitting the next step, the next step,
the next step, who clearly are on a
journey, a covenant with Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
Surround yourself with those people of excellence that
are pursuing Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala so that
they can be contagious with you as well.
Number five, ask Allah for firmness.
The most frequent du'a of the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
O turner of hearts, make my heart firm
on your way.
Oh Allah, do not let our hearts go
astray after you have guided us.
Don't let them deviate because they can't deviate.
Oh Allah, we seek refuge in you from
being a people who say what they have
no intention to do.
Oh Allah, make us a people whose intentions
are even better than what they were able
to materialize in their outfit.
Let our tongues match our hearts and let
our deeds match our tongues.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala to write
us from as-sadiqeen, people of truthfulness.
May Allah make us truthful in everything that
we say that we plan to do.
May Allah allow us to fulfill our promises
to him and may Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
fulfill his promise to us as Allah subhanahu
wa'ta'ala never betrays his promise.
Allah does not betray his promise.
May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala grant victory to
this ummah and may Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
make us a part of that victory and
may Allah guide us towards all good, forgive
us for our shortcomings and may Allah subhanahu
wa'ta'ala allow us to be immersed in
that good in every element of our existence.
And
make us a leader for the righteous.
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.