Finding Sweetness in Worship

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Yeah, you have Latina I'm an otaku. Hola. Hola. Hola. Golden City then use la Malecon. Well, Phil, welcome to overcome, or main user la hora Sula, who forgot further frozen Alima a mother differ in estoppel ha de Karim Allah. Mohammed Al had you had you Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was your role Ohmori more data to her Akula more data team but I couldn't live without him but Allah, Allah Allah Allah, Allah to infinity.

We praise Allah subhanahu wa taala we praise Him we seek his assistance and we seek his forgiveness.

And we seek refuge in Allah subhanho wa Taala from the evil that is within our souls, and from the evil that results from our

cins whomsoever Allah subhanho wa Taala guide, none shall misguide. And whomsoever Allah subhanaw taala allows to be led astray, the nunchuck them back to the correct path. I bear witness that there is no God worthy of worship except Allah Subhana Allah to Allah. And I bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa early was a lump is his final messenger and Prophet, Allah tells us in the Quran, Oh you who believe your Allah subhanaw taala be God conscious, and do not die except as Muslims. All mankind for your Lord was created from you from Who has created you from one soul. And from it, it's made and from it, many men and many women and for Allah subhanho wa Taala through the

rights that you ask of one another, and by the wounds that bore you. Verily Allah subhanho wa Taala is ever watchful over over you. Oh you believe be God conscious fear Allah subhanho wa Taala and speak the truth, he will render your deeds righteous, and he will forgive your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has achieved a great victory. rarely the best speech is the speech of Allah subhanaw taala. And the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the worst affairs are those that are of innovation, for all of it is misguidance and all misguidance leads to hell.

In the fifth year of Elijah,

the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had sent out an expedition towards the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula or East compared to where Medina was, but it was located in the central region of the present day Arabian Peninsula so dia,

known as a niched.

And so the province of Salam had sent about 400, if I'm not mistaken, fighters, and they had won the battle. And so in the evening, the Prophet SAW Selim camped, or he encamped

his army in a valley.

But the Prophet SAW Selim was also acutely aware of the dangers of ambushes and surprise attacks in the middle of the night. And so he

ordered that there'll be people that will stand guard and make sure that ambushes and surprises surprise attacks don't happen.

So these two companions were Ahmad ibn acid, and the other companion was ibid aebischer. Amara vinyasa you might be familiar with at the very onset of Islam, his mother was killed, his family members are killed and tortured and persecuted for their beliefs.

I bad even Bishop. This companion had embraced Islam when he was in his teens. He had heard the Quran from Musab Nomade, another companion of the process alum whom you might have heard of, that he used to, he had grown up in the in a life of luxury in the lap of luxury. And he gave all of that up.

So I begged him ambition and Ammar they agreed that they would take turns watching and standing guard

remote.

So Amar was tired.

So he said, I'm going to sleep first, the first half of the night. So that said, Okay, I'll watch the first half of the night, and you can go to sleep.

So, I'm out of quickly goes to sleep, and then my bed is thinking well, I can get to reward watching the army of the process in them. But also I can use this time to pray the MLA to pray the night prayer.

So he stood up and he started praying. In the darkness, an enemy soldier spotted this silhouette of this person about praying he didn't know what he was doing. So he took out a bow and arrow and he shot him and it hit that Ben Bishop

without missing a beat without even crying out loud or making the noise ibid just simply took the arrow pulled it out and continued his law.

And I don't think any of you here has been shot by an arrow Millis Montana protectors. Pulling an arrow out is not something that is enjoyable. It has barbs on it. It's going to tear as you pull it out. So he just simply pulled it out.

And he continued his salah, this enemy soldiers looking on and he's wondering what is going on here.

A person didn't react. So he takes his bow and arrow, he shoots another arrow at him, and it hits up that bishop for the second time.

And again, he pulls it out, throws it away and he continues to slow. Then this person shoots a third arrow at the abandoned Bishop.

In this time, it proved to be too much for him. So he woke up his friend finished his solo and his friend Ahmad was shocked and explained, you know, you could have woken me up at the first onset of this attack.

But it's really about the words that I've that Ben bishop said that we should take notice.

Come to at Lu V. Solidarity, I mean Al Quran. Mala at Neff see around falam or hip and Akbar ha. I was reading some verses from the Quran, and my heart was filled with all and inspiration.

And I did not want to interrupt this experience with Allah He Lola and are we Sandra Amarante Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam be heavily lethargic to nota Allah and Okta till Can I add a lot he can to a true her

if it wasn't because that the prophets I send them had commanded me

and instructed me to commit these verses to memory, which by the way, was sorted to curve as we can all read on July.

If it wasn't because the person said them had asked me to commit these verses to memory, I would have preferred, I would have preferred to die

than to interrupt my recitation of the Quran.

I want you to think about what this means.

He was willing to forego

his life, he was willing to give up his life, which would have been justified if he had broken his salah. But he said I would have given up my life

and not interrupt this divine experience that I'm having that I'm reading the Quran.

But then sisters,

this is a companion of the Prophet SAW syndrome.

This is not even the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam.

And this story highlights for us

this goal that we should all try to attain and that is how do we get to a point in our spiritual and religious formation where we come to enjoy the sweetness of the worship of Allah subhanho wa Taala

for this person,

his connection was salah, and Quran.

You look at the life of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam you see that the Prophet SAW Salem used to say to be like his mother then

be solid billet give us is

any bring the salah call the economist so that we can start the salah that that's going to give me ease that's going to give me joy. That's going to give me relaxation.

The process Salim you should pray,

I know night until his feet would swell

until his feet in some narrations were cracked. And his wife Aisha Radi Allahu Anhu asked messenger of Allah. Why do you exert all of this effort when Allah subhanho wa Taala has forgiven you of your previous sins

and for the future? He says a fella Hakuna absentia kura shall it not be that I am a grateful servant?

So brothers and sisters, what exactly is causing what are some of the reasons why we find the worship of Allah subhanho wa Taala difficult and as you know, Ramadan is coming along the way and I am sure that majority of Muslims are excited for the festivities.

Sometimes this excitement is because they get to eat nice food.

And sometimes this excitement is because they get to stay up at night.

For whatever reason, it is brothers and sisters

these acts of worship that Allah subhanaw taala has asked you to do to fostering, do they

to abstain from food and drink, and relations with one spouse?

And to stay away from what is haram? All of these things have a purpose.

And so do you find it a burden? Or do you find it to be something that you relish and cherish

the scholars of the past have have strived to decipher the mysteries of the human condition.

And they have written 1000s of pages regarding the human condition, and why we as people are so not acclimated and and and used to worship and why we do not find the Salah, Malay and extra acts of worship to be enjoyable. And the first thing brothers and sisters is that you have to first check your heart.

If you want to know why you cannot do something you have to look inwards, not look outwards at people look inwards to the self. And ask yourself is my heart in a state that is hardened?

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Allah subhanaw taala has not given a greater calamity and punishment and a test on a person except what that they have a hardened heart. In other words, they're stubborn and they don't listen to the truth and they don't want to obey.

So this hard brothers and sisters, is something that we have to first empty out the vices, as we say in the hutzpah at the beginning. Now the lady should already own fusina womyn sejati Anna Lena that we asked Allah we seek his refuge from the evil that that is within our hearts, evil feelings, evil thoughts, jealousy, hatred, etc, arrogance, and from the evil that results from our sins.

One of the scholars of the past, he gave a very good example a great analogy. And he said,

When your body is not feeling well, your body lets you know

by sending pain signals, right, your body will let you know that you are not feeling well by putting pain in your body.

And in the same way,

when your iman is hurting, when your spirituality is hurting, how do you know that is hurting

by your indulgence in sins.

And so just like when a person is ill, and is presented with his favorite food, he has no appetite for it. In the same way, when a when a heart is afflicted with sin.

When worship is presented to it, it has no appetite for it.

So we have to first purify our hearts first button sisters.

Number two

brothers and sisters

is is that sometimes

we have never actually applied ourselves.

We think that by doing the bare minimum

that we are going to get to the highest level. You have to apply yourself. You have to exert more effort so that you take yourself to the next level. Athletes will tell you about this. The reason they get to the certain point in their career is because they didn't settle for the bottom statistic they settled for something that was unimaginable.

And before we conclude for the second quarter

another reason why sometimes we find that ritual worship is not our strong point is because we have made our culture into religion.

And so when a person does not identify with their culture anymore, they because they're been brought up to associate their culture as religion. Once they feel the alienation towards that culture and that how it is foreign to them.

They will think that this Salah is just something that you do on the body and you have people that are saying

Ain't that now, brother, it's just in the heart. This Salah is not important. This acts of worship is just robotic, monotonous work or less pantalla doesn't need it. Sure, Allah subhanaw taala doesn't need these acts of worship, but you need them.

And so when a person says it's all just I'm focusing on the heart, I say to them, you are composed of flesh and spirit of body and spirit. And so Allah subhanaw taala gave you Islam to compliment, body and spirit. So these acts of worship these movements that you do,

they have benefit.

Allah subhanaw taala would not have legislated these five prayers

if it didn't benefit your body.

A border collie hada was Sahil Allah

hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam ala Ashraf al Ambia your mousseline Nabina Muhammad while early he was here today.

After talking about some of the reasons why

we find it difficult to enjoy and enjoy the sweetness of worship. Let's talk about some of the practical ways that we can implement in preparation for Ramadan.

Number one,

there is nothing wrong.

There is no sin in admitting and acknowledging

that worship is not a cakewalk. It's not an easy thing. The Massoud Radi Allahu taala. He was praying with the Prophet SAW Salem, the MLA. And he said so late oh man Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Leila philam ESL ca EMA had to Hashem to be a Marine su

wama Hemant Bala Hammam to an alcohol, what other Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam?

The Massoud said I was praying with the process Selim clear Malay and I was standing by him and the process Selim had stood for a very long time practically all of the night.

And I at that moment, at that moment of weakness, I wished I had thought about doing something bad. So the people asked him sort of what is this thing that you thought of doing bad he said, I wanted to sit down.

I wanted to sit down, that's what he considered to be bad.

So, number one, we have to accept that Islam. When we say Islam is easy as a religion of ease. We also have to accept that Islam requires your devotion, and practice and to develop healthy habits so that you become used to these acts of worship.

Even though play him in his book methodic, a Salah keen. To summarize, he said that the traveler if there's a traveler embarking on the road of worship,

what are they going to see, the first thing they're going to experience is fatigue. They're going to find that these obligations are difficult. They're going to find difficulty associated with these acts. Why? Because the heart is not yet acclimated to servitude and worship.

Number two brothers and sisters, is is that we have to really examine deeply within ourselves

and put our iman to the litmus test regarding do we really love Allah subhanho wa Taala do we love Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam

the Prophet SAW Selim tells us in Asahi narration, he says that earthen men couldn't Nephi wotja The Hala with an EMA three characteristics that if they are in an individual, they will find the sweetness of faith and their ultimate they have said that the sweetness of faith refers to finding the sweetness in worship, enjoying worship. And the first thing he says

that you will love Allah subhanho wa Taala and that you love Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam more than anything else in the world.

And number two, is that you love a friend for the sake of Allah.

It's not for some casual benefit, because you happen to like the same sports teams. But because you have no problem having a relationship where you tell the truth to each other that you call one other out, you encourage what is good.

And the third thing the process Selim says is that the person hates to go back

To disbelief. He hates to return to disbelief after Allah subhanaw taala saved him from it.

So let's talk about this first part quickly. love for Allah subhanho wa Taala it will pay him also comments in another book and he says

when you really love something, in other words, the summary is when you love something, all the obligations and responsibilities that are associated with it doesn't become a chore anymore in the person who loves what they do. It becomes an act of devotion.

When you have football fans and you ask them Don't you find it really or basketball fans? Don't you really find it difficult when you're keeping your bracket? Isn't that just like way too much tracking is a no they don't find it difficult? Because they enjoy it.

You tell the bodybuilder Don't you find all of this working out and stretching and sleeping at certain times and eating it? Don't you find that it's too much work to them? No, because they enjoy it because that is their passion. The process Selim says that primal Eman mineralia Billa Hera Ben will bill Islami Dean and will be Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam rasool Allah, that person will taste the sweetness of faith when they are pleased when they are proud of being Muslim when you are pleased that

Allah is your Lord, that Islam is your religion, as Muhammad wa Salam is your profit.

Do you see the obligations that Islam brings to you as a burden? Or do you see it as guidance from Allah subhanaw taala as a blessing from Allah subhanho wa taala.

Number two,

your friendship with people.

Sometimes it's okay to cut back on your social events. You don't have to go to every single diet Azima that people invite you to.

The reason why is because sometimes you need time for yourself to connect with Allah subhanho wa taala. And if every day you're working in your nine to five, working, working, working by the time you get home, you're tired. And on the weekend, that's your only free time spending with your family. Take some time to read the Quran.

And that is why picking your friends is paramount. You want friends that will encourage you to do good, not just simply friends that will distract you from the worship of Allah subhanho wa taala. And the third thing the process, Selim said is that a person hates to return to disbelief.

They hate to return to disbelief after Allah subhanahu wa taala has saved them from it.

And what does that mean? It means that you really cherish this Islam that Allah has given you. You don't take it for granted. You don't take it as a joke. It's not something you do when it's convenient for you. It's not something you do when you need Allah subhanho wa Taala but then when you don't need Allah subhanho wa Taala you don't come to Allah subhanaw taala the process Salam, he said, Remember Allah in times of ease, Allah will remember you in times of difficulty.

The Prophet SAW Selim in a few more, two more points. The process Selim also taught us about how we need to prioritize. And then you know how many times you read the Quran where Allah subhanaw taala says isolated a Brunel Quran Do they not ponder of the Quran? Brothers and sisters? How are you going to ponder over the Quran if you don't understand what the Quran is saying? For those who do not understand Arabic And for many Arabic speaking people, if you ask them certain words upon they don't know what they're saying, do you understand the Quran? So, if you want to be able to ponder of the Quran, you have to understand it. And if you want to enjoy the recitation of the Quran, you have

to be able to ponder over it.

So, make that a personal goal for yourself. connects back to Allah subhanho wa taala. The Prophet SAW Salem also tells us about a person who has misplaced priorities in which he says, And be careful of this narration he says in Allaha, your believable color Jhaveri Jawaban Sahaba us work dzifa To be laid him out on Bihar. Alleman be Amrit dunya Jacqueline the umbrella. This hadith gives me a chill when I read this hadith. It really makes you think about what is your priority. The pastor Selim says Verily, Allah dislikes these following characteristics. He says

Java, Java in Arabic basically means the person who's arrogant and doesn't listen to advice.

Joe well basically means someone who is obsessed with food and drink and is ungrateful. Sahaba will swap loud and obnoxious in in the marketplace. dzifa wouldn't be laid like a corpse at night. In other words, they don't get up and pray, Hey, Mom wouldn't be near her like a donkey during the day. In other words, they are just working, working, working, working, you know, when the donkey is around the mill and just going in a circle non stop

slaving away. I only want the emirate dunya.

Very knowledgeable about the affairs of the of the world, Jahan, completely ignorant about the affairs of the IRA.

So brothers and sisters, this hadith is not condemning people who are well versed in their careers. It is saying, do you know about the ACA, as much as you know about the dunya finally, button sisters.

One time the prophets I seldom

missed praying at night he didn't get up.

And he asked his wife who had folded my mattress. So basically the prompts to sell them is mattress. It was very, very thin. And so what the process LM used to do is I used to fold it in half like this.

But his wife almost said she folded it again in half.

So make it four layers to make it comfortable for the processor love compared to our beauty rest and you know, Simmons, whatever's mattresses that we have, this is not even anything, she folded it again. You know, when the person said lamb gotta he was frustrated and he said,

Well, who did this You said I was just folding into make it more comfortable for you. He says, fold it back, return it to its state because I miss my soul out because of it. In other words, don't indulge your body in too much luxury and enjoyment and eating and sleeping because that body becomes lazy and you will not be able to perform in Allah Homolka who is alone Allah in the BI Alladhina amanu Sallu alayhi wa sallam Mata Seema la Bettina dunya husafell Astrati Hasina Okinawa Banagher Allahumma Salli ala Muhammad Ali Muhammad Gemma Selita lab Rahim Allah Allah Ibrahim in the Camino Majeed of Africa Muhammad Allah Allah Muhammad Khanna Barak Talib Rahim Allah al Ibrahim in the

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