Abdullah Oduro – Nightly Reminder 18-04-2024
AI: Summary ©
The segment discusses the signs of Islam's greatness, including the deeds of those who commit sin and those who seek forgiveness. The importance of striving for excellence in one's religion, not just in public spaces, is emphasized. The speaker also discusses the use of hesitation and cold baths in breaking boundaries, and the importance of following behavior and behavior behavior. The main point is to pursue the middle course of Islam, which is not just pleasure but also an integrity agenda.
AI: Summary ©
We will commence and continue
with the book that we were covering
regarding,
the book by Ibn al Qayyim or Jozia
entitled you can find it in English called
the Invocations of God. And in Arabic,
which literally translates to mean the showering of
good utterances and uplifting the good the good
word.
Should we translate shower of good utterances? It's
like
plentiful
amounts of water, copious water that comes from
the sky, like heavy rain if you can.
Good that brings
good. So we ended where Ibn Taym was
talking about
a particular issue of those that commit a
sin,
and then they seek forgiveness for that sin.
After they seek forgiveness for that sin, are
the previous deeds that they had before that
sin, do they receive a reward for it?
Do they receive a reward for it? So
you did an action of good,
and then you committed a sin.
And that sinful practice, you sought repentance for
it. Do you receive the reward from the
previous good? And Ibn El Qayyim was mentioning
how this he has difference
and if he now
he didn't. It wasn't really anything that the
scholars talked about it, and at length at
length. But he brings the proof
of the hadith of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam and Hakim
ibn Khizam when
he said
when he said,
that he was
before Islam, he freed a slave, and he
was good to
his his his parents. He was good to
his relatives and righteous. And he did that
in the days of shirk.
This is when he did it, when he
was a polytheist, when he wasn't a Muslim.
And the prophet and he said,
said, that you have accepted Islam with all
the previous virtues from before.
Okay? So that's where we end it. And
Ibn al Qayyim goes on to talk about,
the signs of the greatness of veneration of
the religion.
Veneration of the religion of the divine law
is making the deen of Islam great in
your life.
Okay? So what are the signs of that?
Ibn 'Okaim
continues on and he says
He says
From the signs of of veneration of the
deen
of making
Allah great is to have anger if the,
the orders of Allah
or the prohibitions
are taken for granted. So, I mean, obviously,
we see what is going on in Al
Khazah. This is a clear sign that by
that individual's lives are being taken unjustly,
that international law is being violated, and these
laws were set up to maintain harmony amongst
a people. And it is just totally being
violated and is being seen in front of
everyone, And people are not, you know, helping,
quote, unquote.
So that anger for the violation of Allah's
creatures,
human beings,
is something that the Muslim,
is angry for. But for the sake of
Allah.
And then he says,
And then he says, and he finds he
or her finds within themselves
sadness.
When
the,
if Allah is disobeyed on the earth and
not obeyed, and his his his his boundaries
are not
complied by. People do not. There's no compliance
with his halal and haram. So when someone
sees a sinful practice in front of them,
it makes them sad,
and their heart breaks. And I think I
talked about this and gave the example
of with our children, the first thing. And
I'm mentioning how some children, subhanallah, and I've
talked about, you know, when our kids go
to college, you know, sometimes we're seeing or
many times we're seeing that children are being
affected
by a lot of the isms of atheism,
feminism,
misogyny.
They're being affected by this. So when we
see this
online or offline,
it should bring a form of sadness and
makes our heart break.
Because we see that the prohibition of Allah
is voluntarily
being practiced
on a wide on a mainstream level. When
it's mainstream,
When you see the way a person act
or dresses a certain way, this is something
that causes sadness
with the within the within the human being.
And then he said, he said the person
is sad because they're not able to change
it. They're not able to change it. And
even if we were to go on the
hadith of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
when he talked about,
the ordering the good and the forbidding the
evil, he said the first the highest the
highest level is what? Is to change it
with your
with your hands. If you're not able to
then with
your
tongue.
And then what did he say?
That's the weakest form of faith. So let's
translate it over to what's going on with
Gaza now.
We're not able to do anything with our
hands per se because we are not there.
Okay? Not able to fight, for example. We're
not there. Okay?
But if we were here,
us being here, the second level is what?
The lisan. What's something you could do with
your lisan?
Lisan. Lisan is tongue. I told you we're
gonna take Arabic lessons along with this. Right?
Protest.
Protest. Speak. Right? Okay. In what avenues? Like,
which way can you speak?
Media politicians.
Media.
Speaking to writing a letter to politicians, speaking
to them, being organized,
you know, to to speak about this, being
organized
when having
a rally rally, right, and speaking the truth
or speaking your position or speaking giving a
point of view that's not in the mainstream
media. Right? So when someone says and I
found a lot of colleagues coming to me.
They're like, I'm I don't feel that I'm
doing enough.
You know, they're very they're very you know,
it is that iman that is there, and
they just come from the rally, and they're
asking, I'm not doing enough. No. You reached
the second level.
This is a good level, the prophet said.
If you're not able to with your hands,
then with your tongue. And if you're not
able to with your tongue, then with your?
In which situation may is where where would
it be that someone's not able to do
it with their tongue?
Not allowed to speak. Right? If you are
in certain countries,
you're gonna be able to do that. Right?
But hating it in your heart, and that
is the weakest of faith.
Notice,
if you're able to do the others, it
is important for you to strive to do
the others.
Not to just hate it in your heart
and you have the capacity to speak about
it.
Especially if you're amongst family members or if
you're amongst coworkers.
You speak about it in a conducive fashion,
you don't get yourself fired again, but you
speak about it in a way that is
representative in of the integrity of what you
believe.
And this is important because you will find
that many people that may have their opinion
in these public spaces, when they see someone
that speaks out and differs with them with
respect and with education,
they respect that. They may not agree with
it, but they respect it. And some may
agree with it
because they've never been enlightened from a Muslim.
And that's sometimes where we fall short to
think that everyone
knows about Islam. No.
There may be people that don't know about
Islam. And some of them, they may know
about Islam, but from
they know about it from an an incorrect
way or approach. So Ibn Khayim, he mentions
that and he says that the the generation
of their religion
is as such. They they they do not
like seeing the impermissible practice or it being
widespread. And then he says here, he brings
important,
card. He says,
And this is beautiful. He says, from the
signs of veneration of their religion or making
their religion great is that they do not
take license with certain permitted acts.
They do not take license with certain permitted
acts. They're not overzealous
on the, on that which is permissible for
them to do. Let me give you an
example. And then he says,
They do not do this to the degree
to where the individual falls into excess.
They go beyond the bounds. And he says
and
with that being the case, they are not
upon the straight path or on the middle
course, not taking the middle road, not trading
the middle road. And he says, again, example
of that,
He said it's the sunnah
to delay
the prayer or to to
comes from to
to find a source of coolness or to
get cold. And what the Saba used to
do is they used to take cold baths.
Okay? Use cold water when it was very,
very hot.
Right? Or,
they would delay
the lord prayer.
They would delay the lord prayer because it
was too hot outside.
Right? And then he says,
He said, so the the the excessiveness
in finding the license of the permitted acts
is to wait till the very
end of that time,
to where the time of Dur almost elapses
and Asar comes in. And he says,
oh, where it's very close to the exit
of that time. The time of what? The
time of. He says.
And so in this case, they are,
going beyond the bounds and being excessive in
the licensing. And then he says, when Hikma
when Hikma too had
He said in the wisdom behind the delaying
this lower prayer
is,
because it prohibits the individual from humility and
being present because they're so hot.
Right? Which gives a general guide and wisdom
as well.
And he says
here,
And he does this action of worship. I
want you to listen to this, especially our
youth. He does this he or she does
this action of worship
with reluctance and annoyance.
Let's stop and just think about that.
How many of us do actions of worship
with reluctance
and or annoyance?
This is what we have to think about
sometimes. Each and every single one of us.
With reluctance and or annoyance. So sometimes the
time of is coming out or the time
of is about to leave, and the only
option you have is to go into an
area. People may see you, like, for instance,
at the airport.
You know, the time of is leaving, and
and there's boarding they haven't boarded yet. And
then there's places the chapel is in terminal
d, I think. No. Terminal
c.
C.
There's one in every terminal.
There's like a lock in. I didn't know
that.
Well, I didn't know that. Yeah. Send a
list on the WhatsApp group. That'd be great.
Right? So
if if you don't find it or the
time is not enough and you see there's
other,
what do you call them, boarding areas,
there's no one there. Go over there and
go pray.
Go pray. Go go by the chairs and
go pray.
Right? People are gonna walk by and see
you pray, but you know how many Muslims
work at DFW
that pray?
And and sometimes, I remember when I was
a new Muslim and I was reluctant to
do this. I remember one of my my
Ojib, my one of my mentors, he said,
why are you ashamed to pray? And there's
people walking around looking dressed like that, and
they're not ashamed. You're ashamed to pray to
God, and there's people dressed like this walking
around.
So Ibn Qayyam, he mentions this and is
very, very beautiful when he talks about the
person
that is excessive in the licensing,
and that is where, it can prohibit someone
from, being humble or or present. And then
he said, or they do they do the
with reluctance and annoyance.
And this is from
So from the wisdom of the of the
legislator, Allah
is that they can delay it until the
hotness or the heat is broken. Basically, it
gets a little cooler and colder.
Then he
says and he or she prays
with a present
heart. They're present.
And the goal of the salah
from the,
humility
is arrived because they they reached the goal
of fushur,
and standing in front of Allah
And he gives the second part and then
we'll go in here. It
says, Now he's talking about the other types.
So the first type was the one that
takes all of
the licensed acts that we're allowed to do,
and they go too far in it.
Is everyone with me? They go too far
in that. Like, they they take that license
or that concession that Allah has given us,
and they go too far in it. Okay?
And then he says here the opposite. He
says, well,
but, as far as the one that is
in opposition
of the order and the prohibition,
by being obsessively
strict.
It's the other side. Right?
He says, this is like the one, and
I've encountered this with some some some brothers
in my life, that the one that is
finding a lot of whispering
from shaitan
when they make wudu,
and they make wudu over and over again
until the time of salah passes.
I ran into 2 people like that.
They They
make and then they said, no. No. Is
not correct. They go back and make they
go back and make
until the time of the sun is about
to leave.
K? And he says, may Allah protect us.
He says,
oh,
He says or he or he or she
will repeat Allahu Akbar Allahu. They will repeat
Takbir al Hikiram
until the imam
he reads Fatiha. Like, he's read Fatiha because
he says, Allahu Akbar. Oh, my name was
not correct.
This is in because the imam is reading
Fatiha, but he keeps saying it over and
over again.
Right?
And then he says here, oh
or
the imam reads the Fatihah or the rakah
is about to be performed.
I've run into this as well.
He says,
or
the one that is harsh too harsh in
their,
what are is like,
humility or asceticism.
Right?
Like not being a person of the dunya.
Right, aesthetic.
They're too harsh in that. They they go
too far in that to the degree that
they do not eat food from the general
Muslims
in fear that there are doubtful matters in
that food.
I'm just gonna be quiet on that one.
So that's what Ibn Khayyim is saying.
Play it. This is what he's saying.
He's saying this is the opposite. So the
first one that was lackadaisical,
and they use the ease that Allah has
given us, and they go too far with
it. This one is going too far in
the permitted obligatory acts.
Right? And that's where he says and then
he mentions,
we call we call it we call it
we
call it we call it we call it
Then he talks about that there were some
of the the worshipers that they did not
have knowledge,
that they prohibited themselves from eating from the
the the land of the Muslims. And they
would wait and save or travel to the
land of the Christians
to eat their food.
And,
So this is what caused them to have
bad thoughts about the Muslims because they went
too far in,
seeking
and seeking the the pleasure of Allah
but with
having the doubtful matters that were too far
in that.
So when talking about that, he ends it
and he says,
And then he says in conclusion, he says,
so the reality of the veneration
or making
Allah divine law great
is not to have excess be excessive in
the licensing
nor to broaden the
the obsessiveness
and strictness.
This is
the the way to the straight path to
Allah.
That's the straight path. So when we ask
Allah
guide us to the straight path.
Not the ones that will say everything is
permissible.
Don't worry. That was for the time of
the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. It's not
for our time. Right? Or our culture does
not accept it. Or, no, you need to
understand the culture before we can incorporate Islam
into that
and not doing the opposite, which it should
be. Or they'll say,
no. No. No. The dean orders
this. This is impermissible. That is impermissible.
And they are understanding is the only correct
understanding
of this fiqi,
this issue in Islamic fiqi. This is where
we have
examples in many. So we have the examples
of ISIS taking it too far, going beyond
the bounds. Right? And we have examples of
those that are very modern in their understanding.
In the name of modernity,
they compromise
the integrity
of the issues that are immutable, the issues
that have consensus
in Islam
about that. So we ask Allah
to bless us to be on the middle
course. We ask
Allah to make that middle course of that
which is pleasing to him.