Abdullah Oduro – Nightly Reminder 09-06-2024
AI: Summary ©
The importance of remembering the prayer and not just the individual actions of individuals is emphasized in Islam. The speaker discusses the need for parents to be treated as minor children and not let them stand in front of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. The distinction between praised and rewarded activities is emphasized, along with the importance of striving for one's pleasure and control in one's life.AI: Transcript ©
This book, Wabodosia, that we cover on Sundays
Thursdays,
Inshallah to addah, into the the time.
We we spoke about the last jelsa or
the last gathering. Haib al Qayyim was talking
about the virtue of the salah, and he
was, you know, covering the hadith of,
where Yahya and Asa were speaking to each
other. And Yahya ordered the people of Bethlehem
with 5 things. From the second thing that
he ordered was the salah.
So here, we we we ended on one
point where to where Ibn Qurayim mentions
about the prayer, which is he hones in
on. He says, for yesterday,
So he finds ease in it, with it,
not away from it, which shows the importance
of the prayer.
That the prayer is the means for
tranquility. It is the means for finding ease.
It is the means for finding comfort,
not from it. Meaning that the prayer should
not be a burden, which should leave us
to ask ourselves a question. The majority of
times that we pray or that when we
remember prayer comes in, is it burdensome for
us? Is it something
that just, you know, tampers with our plans
or has some type of negative effect on
on even our psyche of the salah. Is
it is it something that is,
gets in the way of what we want
to do rather than it being the way
of where we want to go?
Ibn Utayim comes after that
and he says
He said, and the two ways that actions
are accepted
are 2 types. An an accepted action is
of 2 types.
And
He says where the servant prays,
and does actions, and all of his actions
with his heart connected with Allah, Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, remembering and, you know, remembering him and
mentioning him,
Aza wa Jal, and and continuous. Continuously remembering
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And he says,
So he says, so the actions of this
type of servant will be raised in front
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or be shown
to Allah Allah
until,
until
until he stands in front of him or
it's being shown in front of Allah
So Allah will look at these actions.
So then Allah Subha Tahir that Ibn Quray
mentions in this situation.
So Allah Subha Tahir will look
at they they will be in front of
him, the actions.
And
Allah will look at them,
those actions.
When he sees them and he notices that
they are they were sincere for his purpose
and therefore his pleasure,
that they emanated the actions. The the the
driving force behind them was from a pure,
sincere
heart that loves Allah
and wishes to get close to him.
And he loves them and is pleased with
them and accepts them. So notice
that the individual
had Ikhlas
and loved
Allah wanting and desiring to get close. So
let's stop here for a minute. When one
does an action sincerely for Allah,
means that the motivation
behind the action
was because of the love of Allah
And the destination
that is desired
is for it to be accepted by the
beloved.
So the reason you do it is because
Allah loves it and you love Allah
And there is no other motive behind
the
intention. There's no other motive.
The reason is simply, and I say simply
for this purpose, that Allah loves it and
that I want his pleasure.
That's it. That's the epitome.
And that's what he's saying here when he
says,
sincere. He when he looks at the heart,
the pure heart that is sincere and loves
Allah,
When he wants he does it to get
close, Allah loves it and he is pleased
with it and he accepts it. That's the
first type. The second type, he says
He says, where the where the servant does
the actions, performs these actions
just out of habit
and absentminded
Out of habit and absentminded.
And this can be simply a simple example
of this is the salah.
So we make the salah. We know the
time comes in. The adhan clock goes off.
We go and we say, but our mind
is not there.
The actions are there. The actions are correct.
If we look at it from an Islamic
law perspective, are they fulfilling
the pillars? And even
the recommended acts,
Are they doing it? Yes. They're doing it,
but his heart
is not there. Remember when we talked about
earlier when
the turning of the heart and turning during
the salah. Right? So here is of a
lesser degree
where he says the the slave does the
actions out of ad,
just of habit
and of absent mindedness.
And he he he intends
to do it out of obedience and coming
closer to Allah.
And then he says here,
So his or her limbs are busy with
obedience.
My hands are busy. My feet are busy.
My knees are busy. When I prostrate, when
I walk to the masjid, my limbs are
busy in the ta'a, in the worshiping Allah,
the
or the the action of worship of Allah,
of the limbs. We're making this distinction.
And then he says here,
And his or her heart is totally distracted
from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Totally
distracted.
And this is the real test, especially
with our youth that just come into the
age of puberty
and they are told or they know that
they are held accountable for their actions now.
Now you're an adult. As a parent, I'm
not responsible.
I will not I will be asked in
front of Allah, but you will as well.
Let's say that. You will be asked in
front of Allah for the actions you are
negligent on.
Oh, 16, 17, or those that have experienced
puberty. And that is from the wisdom, from
the wisdoms
of puberty,
that Allah transitions you
biologically,
meaning
psychologically,
okay,
physically
from the traits that you have, physical traits,
the things that change, your hormones,
spiritually.
And this is the part that we have
to remember. When one experiences puberty, we don't
just think about it from a visual perspective
or what our senses encounter. We see that
he's growing a beard. Okay?
We see that he is get he's he's
growing. His physique is coming out. We see
that he started to think of things as
an adult would.
He wants his independence.
She wants her independence.
Right?
But also, spiritually,
Allah gives them
the the instruments or gives them the traits
of understanding
God and
gives them the traits of understanding responsibility
towards Allah,
also gives them the wherewithal
to bear the responsibility
of that knowledge. So when you tell them,
look, so after the fajr is wajib upon
you, you're an adult now.
That's why it's important when speaking to them,
we speak to them as though they are
becoming a man. We speak to them as
though they are as they are a woman,
are a man in preparation.
You see, this is important. So that's why
he says that his heart is is is
totally negligent.
They may be doing the actions, but is
their heart there?
We're saying that their kids
Especially if they're at the beginning ages of
puberty, it's important that we treat them
as minor adults, that they are that they
are entering the world of adulthood. And then
Abraham says,
And then he says, not only the prayer.
This is with all actions. Even though he's
talking about the prayer here, it's analogous with
all actions.
Reading Quran.
Okay?
What else? Fasting.
They may be doing it, but their heart
is not
there. And that's the seed of all actions.
That's where the Ikhlas,
sincerity, emerges from. And then he says,
He says that these actions were raised, they
will not stand or, yani,
hold weight in front of,
Allah Subha'ala.
And Allah Subha'ala will not look at them.
He will not look at them.
Rather, they will be placed in a place
that will be placed amongst scrolls of actions.
It'll just be in the line, and it'll
just be with the other actions.
And he says, until they are placed in
front of him, Yom al Qayyama, on the
day of judgment where the scrolls will be
all the actions will be put in front
of him, for Tumeya Yazun, they will be
distinguished, and then will reward him upon
what he was rewarded, whatever what,
whatever he did for his sake.
And his reward and he will be and
the other actions that were not for him,
they will be rejected
for whatever
his face was not,
desired. Basically, the actions that were not for
Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, they will be rejected.
But those actions that there was a level
of sincerity
that they will be they will receive the
reward from it. Then in Mukham concludes here,
he said,
So this type of action, the second type,
the person that did the actions,
but their heart was not fully there, distracted,
he says they will receive reward from the
things of this world. They may receive reward
from the objects of this world,
from his creation. He says
with He says,
will accollect from eating and drinking and receiving
things of this life. Right?
And even mentions,
like, those that are were were some, you
know, the the wide eyed, women of of
Jannah that he mentions here.
And the the reward for the first one
is the gaining of Allah's pleasure. Notice,
the second type where it was deficient,
Allah will give you something in this life
as a reward, possible.
But the first
type is the pleasure of Allah.
The pleasure of Allah.
This distinction is important. And then he says
here,
So Allah will be pleased with the action
and the actor.
And he says
and drawing near to him.
So he talks about the first type, the
first type that did it for his pleasure,
and he said that he will receive he
will be pleased with him and pleased with
the action
and,
drawing nearer to him and raising the levels
and his maqam, his station
This type of person,
the one that was present, the one that
did it with sincerity,
he gives him without any, what,
limits,
the lady, hesab.
He says,
So there's there's a clear difference between the
first and the second type. There's a clear
difference between the first and the second type.
So what we get from he from this,
even though he makes a small distinction,
the one that does an action whose heart
is attentive,
present,
desiring
the pleasure of Allah
and nothing else, by the way.
And this is a very important distinction.
We may do an action of worship for
Allah
and want something of this life. We want
something in this life. Is that Haram? Jamah?
Is that Haram?
So if I come in and I say,
you know, I want to pray for Allah's
father, I want to receive Allah's pleasure, but
will lie, I do want another job.
And then he makes dua
Or Allah, in the sujood. Or Allah, bless
me with another job.
Is this okay?
It's okay, Jamal? Yes?
This is fine.
If someone comes to the salah and say,
you know what, you Allah, I just want
your pleasure. I don't even want anything else.
I don't desire anything else.
I want your pleasure.
I just want you to be pleased with
me. And during the salah, he starts to
think of his or her sins.
Oh, Allah, forgive me. Oh, Allah, forgive me.
There may be something that they want. We
all want something, but
the prayer is a much higher maqam.
If Allah gives it to me, Allah gives
it to me. That's not my main concern.
My main concern is his pleasure. And whatever
he gives me, I know with his pleasure,
he will give me that which is better
for me. Maybe what I want is not
even good for me.
You see the difference?
Maybe what I want is not even good
for me, so I will not desire it
to the degree
to where I know if I don't get
it, I may be what?
I may be what?
Disappointed.
Yeah. Right. Soft a soft disappointment. I don't
wanna say unthankful,
but that's what it ultimately could be. Getting
inside, you say, you you know, if I
really didn't get this, how would I how
would I well, I'd be very upset.
We have to add, this is the process.
But if you do it only for a
lot of pleasure, it's a much higher maqam
because
if you don't receive what you subconsciously or
maybe consciously want,
you're not really concerned with that to where
there is a burning intense desire
to get it.
There's nothing wrong with having the desire and
striving for something.
But if you don't get what you strive
for,
what is the result of that? What is
your behavior? What is your attitude?
That's why he says the one that
has a sincere heart wanted to come close
to Allah
asking for forgiveness, thinking of his beautiful names
and attributes.
This is the best, and Allah will be
pleased with him and pleased with the action.
But the other one
that just does the action, his or her
heart is continuously distracted.
They're doing the action correctly,
In the beginning, they did it. They they
drove to the masjid. They wanted to please
Allah and they wanted to they wanted to
receive reward,
but they were distracted
and they're not really wanting the pleasure of
Allah. Ibn 'Qayyim says those are 2 distinct
differences.
2 distinct differences. You notice how before he
was talking about how shaitan will try to
influence you to lead the prayer or shaitan
will cause you to remember things that are
not haram during the prayer? Now he's saying
the accepted actions are of 2 types.
The accepted these are both good,
but there's even a higher level.
And that's what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in
the sharia of Islam always pushes you to
be better than you currently are. And that's
why it's important for the Muslim. And that's
why the aqidah, the belief in Islam, is
so
rich
because
it says,
be pleased with what you have,
make the effort
But that doesn't mean that you are totally
content to where you don't strive to be
better.
Because some would say, you work hard and
you strive to be better.
Yes?
But you don't hope for the pleasure you
don't hope for the the help of Allah
or striving to be better can lead to
reliance on the self.
No. You strive to be better
and you trust in Allah that he gives
you the strength
to do that.
But at the same time, the fact that
the fact that you are striving
does not mean that you're not what?
Content.
The fact that you are striving
does not mean that you Here's an example,
and I'll end it here. My parents came
to this country. I was born in Arlington,
Texas. My parents came from Ghana, then went
to Chicago, then went you know, father went
to UTA,
striving.
Some of us may come to this country
and we're not pleased where we're currently at
because we want to get the degree to
get the job, but it's taking so long.
Or we want to get the green card,
and for some reason, they're not accepting the
lottery, haven't gotten accepted from the lottery, or
whatever it is. We're not pleased,
although we're striving.
Islam says, you strive,
but you're content with where you're at. And
that is the the the the the the
beautiful union of the 2. So when Ibn
Khayyim is talking about this individual struggles for
the sake of Allah,
but they're pleased where they're at. And throughout
this process, they want the pleasure of Allah,
and that is the highest level. May Allah
make us of those that strive for his
pleasure.
Allah make this struggle a blessed struggle and
allow any pain or anguish or trial that
we face to be an expiation for our
shortcomings.
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