Abdullah Oduro – The Invocation of God 09-05-2024
AI: Summary ©
The dunya of the life of the dunya is when the sun declines, and selling afterlife for this life is a fundamental mistake. hedonism is a lack of passion for the thing that is being offered, and the importance of letting people understand the actions of the dunya is discussed. The speaker discusses the importance of providing a degree to show one's Islam, and the use of the past tense to show that the time is near. The importance of working together to achieve the solidarity of the brotherhood and sisterhood is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Last the last lesson we talked about in
this book
entitled
the Gardens of the Righteous.
We spoke about how Ibn
Uqayim,
mentioned ayat,
that deal with the,
the shortness of the time span of the
dunya of this life.
And he gave a comparison. Whoever was the
comparison that Ibn Qurayim or that he mentioned
that the prophet
an authentic hadith, that he mentioned the time
span of the life of this dunya.
Does anyone room? I'm just staying here. I'm
just a.
Sorry? I'm just staying under the.
Well, that's a hadith of the. Yes.
He said that the the he said that
the he said,
what is for me in this life? For
verily, I am like a wayfarer that is
sitting under the shade of a tree, benefits
from it, then gets up and continues on
his mission. But in this in this book,
Ibn Uqayyan mentions another hadith of the prophet
of the prophet said, the little time left
in the little time left in his dunya,
and it was when the sun was declining
upon the rus al jibar. And he said
the time left of this dunya is the
time that is left of this particular day.
So showing the shortness of the time span
of the dunya, of this life, which also
reminds us that we should and and how
this life is something that is cherishing it
is something that is despicable and being that
we should not sell our
for this life, being that we sell our
akhira for this life. What does that mean
when we say we're selling the the akhira
for this life?
What does that what does that mean? Because
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions it numerous times
in
the
Quran. Right? Just
Exchanging, like, infinite time for, like, a temporary
moment.
Okay. But what how would you explain that?
Let's say there's a non Muslim that say,
okay. I read this in the Quran. What
does that mean?
Selling the selling the afterlife for this life.
What does that mean? Like, what with an
example.
How would you explain that?
Okay.
Haven't fully explained it yet.
That's that's what we just mentioned, but explain
it. Like, if you were to explain it
to
someone that's coming back to the religion, someone
that's non Muslim, they want you to explain,
okay, the the love of this worldly life
for the next life. How would that manifest
in action?
And you said love you said love of
this life. Okay? That's now we're talking about
an inclination,
but give me an
example.
Example. Yes. You're getting closer.
Okay. So you're doing things in this dunya
and sacrificing your for
doing the thing in dunya. Give me an
example.
Skipping
fried. What's fried?
All the prayers and, you know, to all
You're talking to a non Muslim, guys.
Yeah. Consumerism. No. Talk talk to your non
Muslim friend. Skipping for this who's Fred? What
is Fred? What is it? Consumerism
or humanism.
What is that?
Sins. Yeah. I'm I'm asking y'all a simple
question. Y'all I want y'all to explain it
to me to a non Muslim. You see
how difficult this is for y'all? It's give
me an example.
Hedonism, you're there. But what is that? It's
a Ibu. Ibu. What is hedonism?
I don't know.
Explain that. I bet you half of them
Muslims don't even know what hedonism is. Explain
it to me. Life of sin.
Explain. Give me an example.
You got something. I'll give I'll give you
I'll give you one what? Prayer. Prayer. Prayer.
Salah. We came to the salah. Oh.
What did we sacrifice?
Did is this is this an action of
the or an action of the?
What action of the could we have done
that would have sacrificed an action of the?
Watching.
What's that?
You're watching TV. You're watching television. And somebody
says, you hear the azan go off in
your house.
You hear the azan go off. All of
us have the azan whether
it's the old one with the red lights
or whether it's the new TV screen one.
Right? Or whether it's the app.
Right? It goes off, and we're watching the
NBA finals. Right? Not finals yet.
Cricket finals.
Right. You're watching some okay. Is this watching
the television? Is this Ibadah?
Is it Ibadah? Is it worship of Allah?
Most likely not.
Okay?
But then in action of the akhira,
particularly salah, because there's no reason you would
do this except that it is. You would
not do this action. Eating can be and
it can also not be
Taking a shower can be but
not really.
Right?
Along with the fact that you say, okay.
So where is the sacrifice here? Now we
give an example.
So the example is that what? You say,
I'm doing I'm doing this is much more
important. You have just sacrificed that for that.
You see what I'm saying? That's what I
mean by an example. All of you are
giving me some definition as a but an
example because sometimes you're gonna have to explain
it to someone that is
very ignorant
and does not understand and does not know.
You should be able to tell them in
2, 3, 5 minutes.
Yes, sir.
Yeah.
Right. So they chase all this money, women.
Right? And they chase those things
in exchange for
what?
Okay. I I do do we do most
of you here at work. Right?
Yeah. Work?
Do you is it charitable?
Yeah.
Are we working for charity, or do we
receive a paycheck?
Okay. So some of those things that we
that we do, it depends on our what?
Intention.
Intention.
Some of those things is your intention that
could be ishira. It could be purchasing the
afterlife
for this life. Right?
Let's give another example. A degree. A
degree. Right? If we go in to get
a degree, but we want a degree
because we want that to a degree to
be
manifestation or a way to use what Allah
has given us to help people.
And helping people is something that is Islamic.
We want to give back to society
by by by bringing forth something that is
halal or something that what when we do
it as a Muslim, it will shine the
light on Muslims in Islam
much better
and much more honorable and much more moral,
etcetera.
Right?
So this is how even with our intention,
it could change in that essence. So that's
why we were in this dunya, every single
thing that we do with our intention, it
could be something that is a reward or
it could be it could be for us
or it could be
against us against us. And there's a famous
hadith of the prophet
that the one he mentions those 3.
He mentions one of them as the one
that reads the Quran so it can be
say,
Or the one that fights for the sake
of Allah so it could be say,
The one that reads the Quran for the
purpose of people saying, oh, he has a
beard. She has a beautiful voice.
Right?
So what their intention was ria. And ria
is what? What is ria? Show off
because of pride. Right?
But what is it how does that tie
into Ibadah? How does that tie into the
prophet
made a comparison of riya?
Showing off.
It's, that's a form of shitting.
It's a form of polytheism.
Yes. It's a smaller form of polytheism. What's
the comparison that he made with
it?
Who remembers the comparison the prophet made with
Ria? He compared it to what? Black
ant on Yes.
Like a black ant on a black stone
in the middle of the night.
It's so. It it it will creep into
your heart showing off, but it is a
particular will say showing off. Are they showing
off? Okay. I have the new shirt. I
have the new
and I want people to say, this is
not that's not ria. It's
not riya.
Riya is where you do an action of
your Ibadah,
so people can praise you in that action
of
Someone says, is there that that's urgent. We
know it's showing off. That's urgent.
Is we do an action of
leads. So you can be praised or be,
looked at and, you know, the main focus
of that is because the action of should
be towards Allah
but you're doing it to be seen by
the people and praised by the people when
the action itself should be for Allah.
Allah. So we're going to just cover the
small the small by Amr ibn Abdul Aziz.
It's about 5 lines, inshallah, 6 lines. And
that's where we can conclude the first portion
of this book
where where Ibn Uqqayim mentions says,
Umr
ibn
Abdul
Aziz, some of whom they say he's the
second armor after
Right. I mean, Al Khattah, who was the
2nd caliph of Islam. I mean, Abdul Aziz,
they say he was the the the second
Umar because of his authority. He came from
a rich family.
His father was from Egypt,
and he was in the I think he
was born in 60,
64 Hijidi
64 Hijidi.
And he was someone that was known. He
became the emirate of Al Medina, and he
was a student of,
Anas ibn Malik
and, he was someone that was, subhanAllah, was
a was an exemplar of the deen. He
became the emir at the age
the age of 25.
The emir of Medina at 25.
No?
Just think of that of our young men
today.
He was a governor of Medina at the
age of 25.
Imagine how he was raised. Imagine that the
masculinity in that rajud
rajah. Now so he says here, oh, mankind,
verily you are not created in negligence and
you are not left
you are not left without any care. And
verily, you
there
and verily, there will be a return that
Allah will gather you all to judge between
you
and to to to separate you all.
Means to separate. So he's basically saying there
will be a time where you will be
gathered and you will be you
will be gathered together, and then Allah will
differentiate between you.
He said, and the one is ruined and
saddened for these servants that Allah
takes him out of his mercy that encompasses
everything.
He's basically saying that person is the loser,
the one that does not have the mercy
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And then he says
here,
And he says in his heaven, which encompasses
and envelopes these heavens and the earth.
He says, and verily,
the safety for tomorrow is for the one
that that,
that fears Allah and
is mindful of him and who barters what
is small for what is
large and what is everlasting
everlasting.
Okay? And we just talked about that. Right?
So the things of this dunya that you
do, they're temporary. If there is nothing connected
to it with your niyyah, being that you're
doing it for the sake of Allah, then
it may be something of this dunya.
He says
and suffering
for happiness
and suffering
selling that suffering or going through that suffering
with the intention again, with the patience of
the color like what we're doing dealing with
right now, which is
1 millionth of what our brothers and sisters
are dealing with in Palestine and
and around the world. May Allah bless their
hearts with with patience and with firmness,
with with impatience and love with the law.
And then he says
He says, do you not see
that all of you
are in the ranks of that which perishes
and Allah
will have people that will follow you. You
know what he's saying? Like, your life is
temporary.
You will you will eventually pass away. And
then he says
here,
He says, do you not see that you
will be every single day, you will be
from the people
that will take people to the grave to
shay your own.
The one that is heading and and and
journeying to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And his term has been fulfilled
and his future has been shortened. His future
and his hopes have been shortened. Basically saying
that, look, you are do you not see
that there every day you're praying a janazah,
you're taking someone to the grave, and that
person you're taking to the grave, their hopes
and desires have been cut off,
and they are journeying to Allah
It always reminds me of the statement of
He said,
he asked someone, come, Many of you in
the message know I was I I love
this statement. You know, he says,
he asked him how old he was, and
then the man said,
I'm 60.
He said,
He
said,
He said, it's 60 years that you've been
journeying to your Lord, and you were almost
there.
Look at how he viewed his life.
The man said, I'm 60.
And he said, 60 years old. So you've
been journeying to Allah for 60 years. So
whatever your age is, know that you are
journeying to Allah. You are on a journey
to Allah
That is how Fudaylah minayal and he was
a known aesthetic, by the way. That is
how Fudaylah minayal viewed life.
It is just a journey. And that's when
we mentioned the hadith of the prophet.
I'm I'm a traveler. I take the shade
of a tree, and then I I continue
my journey. The shade of a tree is
a dunya. The prophet grabbed Abdullah ibn urb
by his shoulders. What did he tell him?
He
said, be in this world as though you
are a stranger or wait for her passing
by. Well, it's beautiful. The prophet said He
said that the glad tidings are for these
strangers. Some scholars say these strangers, the one
that is strange because of his aqidah,
because of his real belief in the oneness
of Allah. You know, the sheikh
mentioned hedonism.
Hedhenism is basically where you live a hedonistic
lifestyle and you just live, you know, life
means nothing or you just fulfill your desires.
As they say, obey your thirst.
There is no ultimate purpose. There is no
connection with the actions that you are doing
with something that is eternal. It is something
that is temporary, something that is worldly, something
that is tangible. But in Islam, everything that
we do, we want to connect the tangibilities
to the intangibilities,
and that's what makes life purposeful.
So here when he says here
And then he's creating a scenario. He's saying,
you know, do you not realize that you
are taking people to their graves every single
day, those of whom their hopes and dreams
have been cut off
and that,
people will follow you and,
that they will be placed
in the depths of the earth,
in the depths of the earth that is
neither,
cushioned or soft,
basically, in their grave.
And then he says, and no means in
all their means
He says here, and all of their their
means have been stripped from them, and they
separated from their loved ones. And now they
are about to face their reckoning. So he's
reminding us here that we arrived only to
return, that we arrived only to return.
And that is exactly what the man said
to.
He told him, 60 years you are traveling
to your lord and you're almost there. The
man said, verily, we are for Allah,
and to Allah, we will return.
So reminding us as he concludes this, he
says here,
And then he says here, and the goal
and what is meant by all of this?
Everything that we talked about from before.
Remember we mentioned the army, the inner battle,
and how he prepares you with the castle
and the armor and the army. And he
mentioned he talked about
that there is the and the and the.
These are the things that shaitan will try
to come through. And then he mentioned also
that there is the and the and the
Burhan. Right? There is the light and there
is the insight and that there is the
clear evidence that he gives you. All of
this, he says,
This is to know that Allah, subhanahu wa
ta'ala, Allah has given him
what he needs in this short time frame
with the army and the preparations
and the help. And he has made clear
to him how to protect himself from his
enemy
and how to release himself from any type
of servitude or servitude for other than for
shaitan if there happens to be that. So
it is in conclusion to show that Allah
has given us what we need in order
to fight against shaitan that wants to take
us away
from our ultimate purpose. And that is why
in this dunya, remembering that the time is
near, the time of the is near, which
is why
Allah says
He says that the time of Allah
has come, and do not rush it. What
is very beautiful about this this small verse
when he says
he uses the past tense verb
to show that the time is near. And
then he says,
do not rush it.
Do not rush it that the time of
the end of times is near. It is
close.
As the prophet even mentioned, that is closer
than the strap of the sandal to the
foot, that it is a close time frame.
And that what should that put in the
mind of the Muslim? What am I doing
when I know this? And this is knowledge.
This is not speculation.
This is knowledge because it's from Allah.
So it is
a confirmation for us that the day of
judgment is near. And the fact that we
don't know is from the wisdom of Al
Hakim. It's from the wisdom of the all
wise. Our responsibility
is to do the best that we can
with what we have
internally
and externally, from our iman internally,
from our our our love and our trust
with Allah
and our obtaining of knowledge
and externally by coming together as a jama'ah,
coming together as brothers and as sisters, and
working together for the solidarity of the brotherhood
and sisterhood to make us stronger individually and
collectively.
Allah make us to those that recognize his
greatness and allow the knowledge of his greatness
to permeate our hearts and to be of
that which is increasing us in our worship.