Abdul Rahman Chao – 3 Tips On Steadfastness
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happen to know also also cinema, Allah, Allah Allah He was bad. So I wanted to share with you three tips regarding steadfastness. And the the word being steadfast refers to the idea of sticking to something persevering to something, making sure that you are staying the course and doing your best. So when you look in the Hadith and the verses of the Quran, Allah subhanaw taala always tells us about the importance of being steadfast. The Arabic word for steadfast is st karma, L is the karma. Now, even this phrase is the karma. It comes from the word the root word of standing up. So when you are seeking uprightness, right, because that's what the verb means is the karma, you're stopping to
seek uprightness. When you are seeking uprightness. It's a process. And that's the first point. And that is when you are trying to stay on the right path. It is a continuous process that you have to endure. It is not a one time deal. It's a process that one has to go through.
And I can't help but think of the example of you know, you probably know circuses, and they have, for example, Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey, you know, like they recently announced that they're not going to do any more circus shows. And one of the things one of their acts or Cirque du Soleil, whatever it is, one of their acts is they have someone on a tightrope, and usually the person who's on this tightrope
is very slow,
very, very balanced, they probably have a beam to hold to, to, to, to hold on to, right. It's a long beam, and they walk very, very slowly across. And that is, and i when i when i when i
see this site, in a circus, when you see this in a circus, you can't help but feel that steadfastness is not just simply a process. It's something that takes time, you cannot rush through it, right? And so a man came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and he said, messenger of Allah. This is a sorry, Hadith he said, messenger of Allah,
tell me of an advice that,
that will suffice me, right. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he says, We are meant to be law, he must say that you believe in a law and be firm and steadfast.
The second point of steadfastness or a tip to steadfastness is realizing that the daily struggles in life
you will inevitably make small mistakes here and there. Right? And so, it is from the mercy of Allah, Allah that He has given us something to rectify our little mistakes and that is through his default. Right?
And what is his default to seek forgiveness of an ally? So that means saying stuff for the law that means to repent to Allah subhanho wa Taala to ask the law for forgiveness, this process is linked very, very closely to steadfastness. What does Allah say in the Koran?
First step, the mu Li, he was still Pharaoh, be be be steadfast in your way towards Allah subhanho wa Taala and seek His forgiveness. Why? Because whenever you make a mistake, you are going to deviate a little bit off here and there. So by seeking forgiveness in the last part of hautala, you are actually recalibrating, you are actually re adjusting yourself to bring you back on the straight path. And this process of seeking forgiveness is why Allah subhanho wa Taala says, All sons, the prophets of Salaam, excuse me says, All the sons of Adam are sinners and the best of sinners are those who repent to a loss, right khulumani Adam hapa
right, all sons of Adam, all people male or female, they they are fallible, right, but the but the best of these fallible individuals are those who repent to Allah subhanho wa Taala. Right. So the idea of them the process of them saying that the best of those means that there is a
a range there
is a process and that is every time we get up, we pray, whereas LS pantalla to what guidance to the tree path, right? He understood almost nothing, right? Oh Allah show us the straight path. So it's something that when we ask Allah for forgiveness, we are recalibrating ourselves. last count, Allah also tells us tells us that when you sin, Allah subhanahu wa taala not only forgives you, but his relationship with you is restored. So he is actually pleased with you. He's happy with you. What's wrong, Tyler doesn't remind you about your sin right here. Well, whoever fool was a dude, that Allah, Allah is the most forgiving and the most loving, right? So
being steadfast requires one to do a lot of self reflection and requires one to think about how they can be a better person. And when you realize that the mistakes that you you make, and the inevitable reality of the human condition that is that we sin, therefore seeking forgiveness comes hand in hand with steadfastness. So that's the second point. So last point that I want to share with you
is
you find this debate among certain Christian denominations, and that is, are we justified through faith alone? Or are we justified through actions? So you will find some groups for example,
Baptists, more of these evangelical movements, they will say that we are justified through faith. In other words, we are rendered righteous, through God's grace and through
God, God's mercy, and therefore nothing else can change that. Nothing else can change that. No matter what you do in life, you are good. No matter how you sin, you are okay, because you are justified through mercy of God.
And then you have some other Christians that say, No, we are justified not through faith and God's grace alone, but we are justified through deeds, right. And
you look at this concept in Christianity, where they look at Jesus as being the Redeemer of their sins as being the one who forgives all of their sins, and all their mistakes because he died for their sins. You compare that to the Islamic notion of grace and sin, and you will find that Islam does not teach us one way or the other. In fact, it's a combination of both. Yes, our faith, right? Yes, our faith
justifies us. It is what brings us closer to Allah subhanaw taala. It is that faith alone, that renders us believers in Toronto with Allah. But at the same time, Allah always juxtaposes in the Quran between faith and action. Every time I was found, Allah says,
In the Lydia, Amina Amina solly had those who believe, and they do good deeds, those who believe and do good deeds. And so the point is, is that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was one time saying, with he was he was saying to his companions, none of you will enter agenda by their own deeds alone. And the companion said, messenger of Allah, Allah anteros Allah and not even you must have a lot. He says, not even me. In other words, actions alone your good deeds, alone by itself, will not deliver you and justify you to go to agenda. But it is the mercy of Allah, it is the faith, it is the kindness and compassion of Allah, that Allah admits you into gender. So what am I trying
to get to here? That is, we as Muslims never ever are confident or arrogant or belligerent, by saying, Allah has forgiven us, Allah has redeemed us, therefore, we can do whatever we want. And Allah subhanho wa Taala loves us no matter what, and there is nothing else right? Because actions don't mean anything, right? No, but here the Prophet sallallahu Sallam is say, faith, the mercy of Allah on one hand, is what delivers us into gender. But on the other hand, you can't say the actions are not important. actions are what I would consider them to be a proof of your faith, right. So
what does this mean? How does this tie into steadfastness? When you cannot firmly say that your action is accepted by Allah, therefore you are more likely to be sincere
Therefore you are more likely to say,
I'm not sure. I tried as a law for tofi as Allah for guidance. And I don't know, if Allah, Allah accepts it, I hope Allah accepts it, I hope I was sincere enough, I hope I'm less violent out of rewards me, so on and so forth. But you do not give up hope and as well by saying, well, what's the point of doing it, if I don't know if I'll accept it or not. So it's that balance that you want to have, sort of hoping that I'll accept your deed, but also fearful that Alice punctata might reject your actions, because maybe you weren't sincere enough. So not
going on either extreme. But being in the middle, is what keeps one from being is what keeps one in being steadfast. So the three points that we have covered is that steadfastness is a process it slow, you cannot expect someone to be just steadfast all the way since day one from day one. It's a process it's going to take time. It's not.
It's not easy, right? And it's something that we have to constantly
evaluate ourselves. And that leads us to the second point that is steadfastness requires us to constantly seek forgiveness and the last part of God, which leads us to the third point that is, steadfastness is something that is better achieved, when we are not so smug about the actions that we do. And that we accept the fact that Allah is our free will to accept or reject our deeds, but our deeds prove our faith. And our faith enhances our deeds. The more faith we have, the better our deeds are, the more deeds you do, the more faith you have. So by not thinking that your deeds are automatically accepted that you're going to strict agenda, like the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wasallam teaches us this, and that is when the prophets I send them sent mark in general to Yemen.
He told them that, you know, command them to believe in a lot as tell them to establish prayer, you know, blah, blah, blah, this and that. And then he says, So show after they do all of that, shall I not give them the glad tidings of gender? The prophets Allah so Allah says, Do not give them the glad tidings so soon why, or else they will become lazy. They'll be like, Okay, well, that's all has forgiven us, right. So these are the three points I want to share with you. On steadfastness. These are three very important tips. Monica lahoma prediction