Abdullah Oduro – Giving up to gain more
AI: Summary ©
The law is crucial to achieving Islam's de cycles and the importance of the sharia of Islam, which aligns with the creator's values. The de cycles are recognized as a result of actions of worship, and individuals are encouraged to pursue their values in a healthy and rewarding manner. Prepping for worship is essential, and one should avoid clueless behavior and make one thing uncomfortable. rewarding one's behavior for others' happiness is also crucial.AI: Transcript ©
Assalamu
alaikum
Alhamdulillah, we praise the law, we seek his
aid and forgiveness.
We seek refuge in Allah from the evil
of ourselves and of our bad deeds.
Whomsoever Allah guides, none can disguise.
And whomsoever Allah allows to be led astray,
none can guide aright.
And I bear witness that there is no
one worthy of worship except Allahu, subhanahu wa
ta'ala, the exalted. And that Muhammad, peace and
blessings be upon him, as his last messenger
and servant.
All you who believe, be mindful of Allah
and die not except in a state of
submission to him alone.
All humanity, be mindful of Allah who created
you from a single soul and from that
created his mate, and from that scatters many
men and women. Oh, humanity, be mindful of
Allah and do not cut off relations
with your kin, with your relatives.
Indeed, Allah is Ar Raqeeb. He is a
monitor over you. All humanity be mindful of
Allah and speak the truth
in order for him to accept us accept
us of our from our deeds
and forgive us for our shortcomings.
And whoever obeys Allah and his messenger has
indeed achieved the greatest achievement.
As to what follows, indeed, the best speech
is the book of Allah,
And the best guidance is that of Muhammad,
peace and blessings be upon him. And of
the worst affairs in our doctrinal system of
Islam are the newly invented ones. For every
newly invented affair in this situation is an
innovation,
and for every innovation is a form of
going astray, and for every form of going
astray is in the fire of *.
I am a Louisville based RN going to
Huza in 2 weeks, Insha'Allah.
Would love to be able to take letters
of love and hope from kids in our
community to the displaced
orphans in
Could we please make this happen through one
of the masjid programs for kids, JazakAllah?
This was a text that was sent to
me
in the middle of April
by a nurse from our community, Masha'Allah Tabarak
Allah, wanting to receive letters from the young
men and women
of this community
out to the young men and women, young
brothers and sisters, young jewels
that are currently in Gaza.
Letters from us to give to them.
Emotions poured out.
Duas made
on paper to give to them,
to soften their hearts. Their hearts were already
soft, they're so resilient.
But to brighten their day to make their
days brighter,
to where they can feel that there are
people that are thinking about them,
that are calling on Allah for them.
And Alhamdulillah,
many of you sitting here answered the call.
But there was a challenge
because there was a letter, there was another
text that came in May.
She was still there, from April,
and this came in May, in the middle
of May,
and it is as follows. Shir, we are
stuck
we are stuck in raza.
Because of the IOF because the IOF has
control over the Rafah border, the border between
Gaza and
Egypt.
We're running out of fuel, food, and water.
Please make dua.
The
the bombs and gunfire and tank shelling is
non stop.
The people of Rafa are suffering and being
killed. They relentlessly bomb all the places they
are told that are safe.
Then, alhamdulillah,
in May 18th, which is 8 days later,
a text again.
Assalamu alaikum, US state department evacuated us out
of Gaza and we are now in Al
Quds, alhamdulillah.
Thank you for sharing my stories. Our hearts
and our hearts are heavy to have to
leave our brothers and sisters in Gaza. Now
we are experiencing
IDF aggressions,
sharing on my story. Sharing stories on on
her Instagram.
Brothers and sisters, this is from a sister
from our community that we had the privilege
to even come and listen to live when
she came here after Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
brought her back.
But there is one
excerpt that I want to take from
our conversation
that was in front of many of you
upon her return.
She mentioned something in passing,
but I stoke up to her. I stopped
her to capitalize
on a point that I want us all
to remember that has a significance to these
beautiful days.
She started to talk about the day
when she was leaving Tughazah back in April,
when she wanted to collect the letters,
or when she collected them and she was
about to go,
and how it was a moment for her
husband,
her family,
to see her off.
This shit proceeded on to talk about her
trip, but I stopped her. And I said,
hold on.
Brothers and sisters, I turn to the audience,
and I'm turning to you now
as though you were there.
I said, brothers and sisters, do you realize
this sister is leaving
to Gaza,
and she does not know if she will
return.
She is going there to help.
She is an RN.
She is using the profession that Allah has
given her
and her hard work
to go and serve people that with common
sense we know need
it
and
more.
Her husband,
they don't know if she's going to return.
You heard her say, we hear constantly hear
the whistling and bombs.
When you hear a bomb, you don't know
exactly where it's going to drop.
As a matter of fact, as she mentioned,
as I've heard before, when the people in
Gaza hear the bomb, it's a sense of
relief because they know it's not going to
land on them. But when they hear the
whistling sound, you don't know where it's going
to land.
But capitalizing on the fact that she was
leaving,
not knowing if she's going to return, the
bombs can land on her. Bombs are indiscriminate.
It doesn't care who you are, what nationality
you are, what profession you are, it doesn't
matter.
But if you're in that area,
you're susceptible, you're able to be hit by
the bomb.
What's the significance of this?
When we see in these beautiful days that
we are in, these 10 days
of Dhul Hijjah,
the first ten days of the last month
of the Islamic calendar in which the Hajj
is performed, particularly
the 8th, 9th, and 10th day.
We are currently
in the 8th day.
Now, your brothers and sisters, roughly, it is
10 PM over there.
They are in a place, a camp called
Mina.
And at this time, the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam would join his prayers.
He would join Zuhr and Asr, and then
Maghrib and Isha.
And he would stay, and he would recite
the Quran. He would make zikr,
and he will remember Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
To further get up the next day and
head to Arafah,
which is 9th,
which is tomorrow for us, which is if
one fasts, they receive the reward of the
year before and the year after.
But for them, they are an Arafa, and
that is the day that some say is
Hajj al Akbar, and some say 10th Eid
is Hajj al Akbar.
But I want us to ponder over 2
things.
First of them,
the wisdom
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
being that he has given us this deen,
this religion.
And even when we look at the word
deen, subhanAllah,
as the Arabic is of the richest languages
to exist.
They say, adeen hu adayn.
The religion is like alone. It is something
that Allah has given you. It is a
virtue that he has given you. And what
do you quote unquote owe him from that?
The deen, the religion of Islam is a
virtue. It's a fable. It is a gift
that Allah has given you. And the way
that Allah gives you this gift is by
putting something in your heart
to quote
unquote, spiritually awaken you,
or spiritually
renew you.
Wallahi, we are in a time right now,
particularly in these days, of being reminded
of the 10 days because we just recently,
about a month and a half ago,
were spiritually uplifted
of any time of the year. Now this
is the time
through the wisdom of Allah.
An opportunity for spiritual renewal enrichment.
To where you think of these 10 days,
and if you haven't heard the message of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
where he said that there are no days
that the good deeds are done and days
better
than these 10.
These are the best 10 days of the
year. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
He swears by the daybreak and he says,
I swear by the 10 nights. And scholars
say, Ibn Abbas'ul UHNma says it's the 10
days of Dhul Hijjah. The best 10 nights
are the 10 nights in Ramadan.
So when looking at this
blueprint
of the Sharia
of the Deen of Islam
and how it's quote unquote on purpose,
that it is structured this way,
brothers and
sisters, it is
incumbent,
important,
crucial for us
to know
and to try our best to keep alive
and renew within our hearts
that the Deen of Islam is here to
make us better people.
Simple.
We don't want to trivialize or complicate it.
The religion of Islam,
praying 5 times a day, reading the Quran,
greeting your neighbor, getting to know their names.
If you punch in late, you mentioned that
you punch in late with the intention to
punch in on time, knowing that Allah is
the one that has given you this job,
thinking of the name of Razaq.
All of this
is part of the fabric of Islam.
And when one incorporates it internally being their
belief system,
The introspection,
thinking about themselves and their deeds, what they've
done, good, bad, and ugly.
And they hold themselves accountable for the bad,
and they thank Allah for the good, not
attributing it only to themselves.
This is Islam.
You don't attribute it to another prophet,
to another person. You give thanks to Allah
This is Islam.
When you do this in your prayer, you
prostrate,
you pray at least 5 times a day,
you give 2.5 cent percent of your annual
earnings if you are eligible. This is Islam.
That 2.5 percent can alleviate
alleviate the suffering of the world, not a
nation, of the world.
This is the intention of the Sharia.
When we look at the word Sharia, it
even means that which is nourishing of the
soul.
Sharia means like a water hole. So what
is the connection? That when one practices this
deen, the Sharia,
it nourishes
the soul, the fitra.
It aligns and refines it. So every single
thing that we do in our daily practice,
it's an opportunity
to be nourished.
We sitting here now listening to the message
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, listening to the
message of Islam, staying silent because the kids
we know we're supposed to.
But if we alter that intention and say,
you know what? I hope Allah is pleased
with what I'm doing.
Oh, Allah be pleased with me. That is
how the soul is nourished.
Instead of thinking that it's a burden,
that is how the soul is nourished.
You seek the prayer because you know that
is the key to nourishment and fulfillment of
the soul.
Not finding the prayer burdensome.
And that is where Hajj
has so much wisdom in it. Wallahi.
Those of you that have made Hajj, you
know probably one of the hardest days is
the day of Muzdalifa,
or the day of Tawaf al efadah, where
you circumambulate in the middle of your ceremonial
practices on the day of Eid. The day
of Eid, the 10th day, you're doing many
different deeds. You're leaving for MENA, coming back
to Mecca,
and everyone particularly
is making,
tawafs or commambulating the Kaaba at that time.
But there are certain wisdoms that we see
within the sharia and the deen of Islam,
So we thank Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for
it. When we look at this day today,
the 8th day is called Yomut Tarwiyah.
The Anhum Yirwoon,
Wayas Hadoon Filma.
They on the 8th day, the pilgrims would
leave Mecca, and they would go to Mina
in this encampment,
and they would gather water.
They would gather water because on their journey
to Musdelifa Arafah, there's no water in that
area, so they would gather the water,
Iruwa, yani nourishments,
Iruwa, Arwa, to to nourish themselves.
They call it Yomatarwiyah,
which is interesting
because in actions of worship, Allah gives sometimes
the introduction.
For example,
wudu.
An introduction
to the salah.
Although wudu in and of itself is worship.
When we look at SubhanAllah,
the day of Musdelifa,
for example.
When the pilgrims leave Mina,
and then they go to Arafah,
and in the day of Arafah, that is
the 9th day, that is the day the
prophet said, Al Hajj
is Arafah.
They stayed there, and it is recommended
to do your best in making du'a,
to think of anything and everything, and think
of a name of Allah associated with it,
and call on him profusely.
Be uncomfortable
with it.
Say whatever.
This is the day. As we say, 27th,
if we tried when we tried to find
it, that is the day along with other
days, but these days are special
when one calls on Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And they call on this beautiful day. At
sundown, they go to Muzdalifa.
When he says, then go and rush as
all the people are rushing
And seek forgiveness from Allah
And one wisdom
All the men are in 2 garments called
eharam.
Two garments, 2 big white towels if you
will,
and they're all sleeping.
Wallahi, this is the closest that you will
see of people in their graves.
When they're buried in ihram.
If you ever had and I use the
word opportunity, because in Islam, when one dies,
you bury them in ihram or you bury
them in a white shroud.
You bury them in a white shroud. When
you see 100 of people
laying down, sleeping in white, wallahi, that is
a reminder.
And that's from the hikm,
the wisdom of the deen
of Islam.
And lastly, we're looking at this sharia, which
is the first point when we ponder over
this religion, as we mentioned some points,
is the fact of welcoming
uncomfortability.
It is important that the Muslim knows that
life
should not be comfortable.
There should be spurts, if you will, of
uncomfortability.
Waking up for
Fajr in the cold weather, and some of
us our hot water doesn't come on until
a couple of minutes.
In the cold weather, uncomfortability.
But there's reward in that.
When you are in Hajj,
from the wisdom of it being impermissible to
to shave your head or to to pluck
your hair when you are in the state
of Ihram, or to cut your nails, or
to put out any fragrance is to, for
lack of better words,
bring you back to your essence.
And that's why Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
that they When
Allah says, when they when they perform the
Hajj and then they cleanse themselves,
that they cleanse themselves, the tafeth. And the
scholars say that it's clipping the nails, cutting
the hair, cleansing themselves from the practice of
Hajj. Because probably 2 or 3 days, you
haven't taken a bath.
Some of us may see that it's blasphemous.
But if it's for something greater, you're focused
on something to the degree, brothers and sisters,
to where you don't even take a shower.
You are feeling the moment. You're present within
the moment,
that uncomfortability.
And that is what is important in the
life of the Muslim. So firstly, looking at
this wisdom of the Sharia, as we see
on this beautiful day of 8th,
preparation for worship. As we see in Islam,
there's preparation for worship, which is worship in
and of itself, and the uncomfortability
is a condition for us to reach to
the next level.
So what was read earlier in this message
by our beloved sister that was the RN
that went to Gaza, and she was trapped
in Gaza for about a month, and then
came back, Alhamdulillah.
And she was able to get the the
letters to our brothers and sisters in Gaza
that some of the young men's brothers and
sisters in this community wrote to them, Alhamdulillah,
they received it, was
the issue
of what we see on the day of
nahar,
of the reenactment
or doing what was done
from one of the prophets being Ibrahim alaihi
salaam.
And that is when Ibrahim alaihi salaam
mentioned to his son, we find in the
chapter of Safat,
when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, iftaa'udu billam
in a shaitaanarajeen.
When Ibrahim alaihis salam,
he said to his son,
Ibrahim said to his son, oh my son,
I see in a dream I was ordered
to slaughter you.
And what did his son respond?
What was Ip what was his son's response?
Oh, my dear father, Ebeti, not Abi. In
Arabic, Abi means my father. Ebeti means my
dear, respected,
honorable
father.
And if you notice,
this is the same way that Ibrahim called
his non Muslim father that tried to kill
him,
Ebati.
So Ismail said, oh, my dear father, do
as you have been ordered. You will find
me of the patient.
So
pondering over this, brothers and sisters, we hear
this story all the time.
This is a symbol of Ibrahim ordered to
sacrifice his son. But think about it.
Islam does not rely on the tangible things.
The things we can encounter with our senses,
where we can touch, smell, feel.
Islam does not rely solely solely
and initially
on our intellectual
exercise.
What do I mean?
What kind of God would order a man
that is his his best friend Khalil to
slaughter his son? Intellectual exercise.
What kind of god and it is though
you're asking a rhetorical question to say, that's
not god,
or that's not mercy, or that's not love.
What kind of test is that?
It is not upon us to rely solely
only on our intellect, our mind
when it comes to the choice of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Why do we raise our hands here when
we pray? Why do we pray 5 times
a day? Why do we wash past our
elbows? Why do we wash our whole body?
Why is it 2.5%
for zakat?
Why?
I don't know. Allahu'alam.
And I'm fine with not knowing because my
lack of knowledge in these particular issues relies
on the creator.
And that's what's so beautiful about Islam,
that that is your source.
So we see here, brothers and sisters, that
when Ishmael said that, you will find me
as a patient. Then what is Allah Subhana
with the Odyssey?
After Ibrahim told him, I saw in my
dream, I was ordered to slaughter you. Ishmael
said, Inshallah, oh, my dear father, you'll find
me from the patient, and it's interesting from
the patient because one could say, hey. My
dad won.
Then Allah, Subhanahu, Wa Ta'ala, reassured all of
us
with a verb that is magnificent.
Now
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, after Ibrahim and
Ismail made that exchange,
he said when they both submitted,
Aslamah.
Both of the how did they both submit?
Ibrahim stayed
in in allegiance to the message of God
even though it may have seemed to us
intellectually
incompatible.
Ishmael with his patience with what his father
had ordered him, sons,
daughters,
patience with his father.
He said, you will find me at the
patient. Insha Allah. Insha Allah from the patient.
Trusting in Allah
and an emotional response. Look at that.
Then Allah said when they both submitted and
then Allah gets a little more descriptive. And
he laid him down in his little jabin.
And then Allah called out to him, Yeah,
Ibrahim.
Stop.
Didn't say stop. He said, Yeah, Ibrahim.
You have fulfilled the dream.
And then Allah tells all of us,
This is how we reward the doers of
beauty. And I love the word beauty for
mursin. Why? Because Hasuna
linguistically
means that which is beautiful.
And Ihsan
means excellence. Meaning,
that when one does their best, when they
know it is for Allah, and their initial
reason is God, I just want you to
be happy with me. I don't care about
anything else.
Everything else is secondary.
Everything and everyone is secondary.
God,
I just want you to be happy with
me.
That's my primary concern.
That's the Mursin.
That's the Mursin.
And that Allah says, this is how we
reward the Mursinin. Now notice,
which is the second theme. The first one
was pondering over this deen and its beautiful
signs.
The second is sacrifice.
Ibrahim
sacrificed what he knew when sacrificing
his for his about to sacrifice his son.
When we sacrifice
from ourselves,
for ourselves,
this is worship.
Sacrifice from what we have
to give for Allah
for the pleasure of Allah, for the reward
of Allah
Brothers and sisters in these 10 days,
and that is how we are from the
Muhsinin Insha'Allah.
In these 10 days brothers,
one thing one thing in these 10 days,
I ask and request
myself,
all of us
to do one
thing that is uncomfortable. Just one.
If you haven't prayed with her,
pray with her. If you have not
knocked on the door of your neighbors and
introduced yourself, do it.
One thing that is uncomfortable.
Send a text to the person that you
have problems with. 1 of your coworkers that
you don't get along with, say a good
word to them. Call them by their first
name as something.
One
uncomfortable thing that you know Allah will be
pleased with. Do it.
Because these are the best in days. And
what can help you is pondering over the
beauty of this religion
and knowing that that sacrifice
from yourself is for something much greater.
Oh, Allah help our brothers and sisters destitute
Help our brothers and sisters
Keep their hearts firm with
and make them from the patient. Make us
from the make us from the patient with
your predestination
Help our brothers and sisters in all of
the far east and far western parts of
the world
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