Abu Bakr Zoud – Overcoming Spiritual Struggle
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of understanding the concept of worship and the struggles of worship and spirituality. They stress the importance of achieving ultimate focus and paying attention to actions, avoiding sin, and staying in a state of peace and calmness. The speaker emphasizes the need for constant faith and a desire to be patient with worship, finding personal connections to spiritual strength, and avoiding unnecessary deeds. They also stress the importance of praying on time and avoiding unnecessary deeds.
AI: Summary ©
All praise and thanks belongs to Allah
And may the peace and blessing of Allah
be upon your servant and final messenger, Muhammad
sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
As to our followers, my dear respected brothers
and sisters in Islam,
It is from the blessings of Allah
that we meet yet again.
We ask Allah
to gather us in a better place than
this place.
That is the paradise and we ask Allah
to accept our gathering, to forgive our sins
and our shortcomings.
My brothers and sisters in Islam, tonight's lecture
lecture is titled
overcoming spiritual struggle.
So,
the aim of tonight is to explain
what is worship, what does Allah
want from us,
and the struggle that we experience
along the way. How how do we overcome
this? How are we supposed to think about
it
in order to remain encouraged
and motivated to worship
Allah until the day we meet him.
That's our,
aim.
My brothers and sisters in Islam,
I begin first and foremost
with a fact,
and that is that the greatest
surah in the Quran
is no doubt Surah Al Fatiha.
This is the greatest surah in the Quran,
and it is the first surah in the
Quran.
And Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he said,
He said that
is. It is the 7 repeated ayaat because
we continuously
repeat it in our prayers.
And it is the greatest of the Quran
that I was ever given.
Surat al Fatih is the greatest surah in
the Quran.
And why is that the case?
Because within Surat Al Fatiha,
right in the middle of Surat Al Fatiha,
Allah
in a few words tells us what our
purpose in life is.
Therefore, it was the greatest surah.
And that is
You alone we worship. That's how I'm translating
now.
You alone we worship,
and you alone we seek
help from,
as a loose translation.
We're going to get into this ayah.
And then the entire Quran
is an explanation
of this one ayah.
You alone we worship.
The entire Quran,
from Surat Al Baqarah onwards, is about how
do we worship Allah, Asoashal,
Mahu Akbar. This is why Surat Al Fatiha
is the greatest surah.
And we're supposed to read it 17
times a day at least. The one who's
praying sunnah, the one who's reciting Surat Al
Fatiha for treatment purposes and so on, he's
reading it a lot more.
Nabi
in one day and night, he would pray
around 40 raka'at.
That's the obligatory prayers, the
9 prayers of and so on. It equals
about 40. 40
Whoever's committed to that prophetic
lifestyle,
he's reading it at least
40 times a day.
So it is an absolute
calamity
that if you're reading the surah 17
times a day, from the day you started
praying until now,
and you still do not understand
what is involved in this ayah.
What is Allah's message to mankind within this
ayah?
As a calamity?
So our efforts
tonight
is to understand this
in order to draw nearer to Allah
That's our intention for tonight.
Brothers and sisters in Islam,
this ayah is made up of 2 parts.
We're going to first begin with
and explaining what our purpose in life is.
And then we're going to explain the second
part,
And then we're going to do the big
job
of tying the 2 together,
and we're going to see how do we
overcome the struggles of worship and spirituality.
That's what we wanna do.
The first part,
You alone, we worship.
Omar did not say
The ayah could have been like this.
But Allah Azzojl, he said
It means
you are alone, we worship.
Iyaka coming first, then Naboth coming second implies
exclusivity.
In other words, we worship you alone and
no one else.
We don't worship our nafs. We don't worship
what we desire.
We don't look at what
community standards are and then follow and worship
that.
We don't worship a shaytan. We don't worship
anyone but Allah
That's
And we are taught
to declare this faith
in the most noble of deeds,
which is.
So Allah is
teaching us.
I don't want you to just sit down
on the corner,
on the side
and then say
Allah brings you to the position of
And the position of a salat
or the salat itself,
all the reasons for focus are combined within
a salat.
You make
you face the qiblah,
Allahu Akbar.
You look in front of you or to
your place of sujood. You're not allowed to
talk in a sunnah, you're not allowed to
eat, you're not allowed to drink, you're not
allowed to look left and right, you're not
allowed to look up.
Every single thing you need in life
to pay attention and focus deeply upon a
matter
are all combined in a salat.
The way the salat was designed and taught
to us
is the ultimate way in how a person
achieves
ultimate
focus and pays attention.
From that position,
when you're paying 100%
attention, from there, Allah wants you to say
So that you can't complain that I was
distracted.
Allah
put us in a position where there is
absolutely
no distraction whatsoever
so that your mind could be clean, your
heart is clean, and you're focusing on that
which you have to say and declare to
Allah
in the most noble of deeds.
When standing and praying
has a different hit as opposed to when
you're sitting and reading it from the Quran.
The best best best position to be reading
Quran in throughout the day and throughout the
night is when you're standing
and reading. You know that?
That is the best because
your physical character
is in praise of Allah because because you're
standing for his sake,
and then you're reading his word on your
tongue.
So your body is praising Allah and your
tongue is praising Allah.
The best way the best way to read
the Quran is while standing.
Allahu Akbar. And that's why it's haram to
read the Quran in and sujood because that's
now you're going alone, and the word of
Allah
is not recited when you're in a lower
position.
From there, you declare the prince of Allah.
The word of Allah is a high word,
so you only read it when you're standing
up.
That's the respect we give the word of
Allah
He said, we haven't even started. I'm just
explaining to you where we are. And from
that situation, from that position, you're declaring
that relationship with Allah,
So it's a calamity.
You're doing all this. You got no clue.
Let's keep explaining.
Brothers and sisters in Islam,
we said, you alone we worship.
But means a lot more than worship.
The word comes from
it comes from the word
and means
a slave.
So
now means you alone we worship and you
alone we will enslave ourselves
too. What is the difference between worshiping Allah
and enslaving yourself to Allah? There's a difference.
Worship is a kind of service.
It has a start time, it has an
end time.
Like when we fast Ramadan,
that's a worship.
It has a beginning, which is the beginning
of Ramadan,
and it ends with the end of Ramadan.
That's it.
Has a start time, stop time. And it's
focused in a in a in a type
of worship. So for Ramadan, it's fasting.
Al Hajj has a begin beginning time and
end time, and it's focused in certain actions.
That's worship.
But enslaving yourself to Allah
is not limited by time. You're always a
slave 24 hours of the time.
And you're not limited to a specific action.
A slave has to do whatever his master
tells him. Right?
So now when we say,
we're saying, oh Allah, you alone and no
one else,
we're going to worship.
And before and after these worships,
we're going to enslave ourselves to you.
Whatever you want us to do and whatever
you want us to keep away from, we're
going to do and also
keep away
from. Also the word Nabud, it comes from
the word
and it makes it shares the same root
letters as.
What does
mean?
When the Arabs would describe a flat road,
they would say
meaning a road that is flat.
So
means you alone we worship. We're going to
enslave yourself we're going to enslave ourselves to
you,
and we're also going to flatten our nafs
and our ego and our pride for you.
We're going to be humble.
The word
includes the word
and the meaning humility within it.
This worship that we offer Allah
and
this slavery as well to Allah
has to have the impact of humility within
our lives.
Worship can never ever lead to arrogance.
Anyone who's doing proper worship
automatically becomes humbled. The worships are like this.
It just keeps hitting the enoughs until it's
flannened like a road.
So these are now three things within the
word.
You alone, we worship. We're going to also
enslave ourselves too,
and all along the way, we're going to
remain humble
before your majesty.
Also, the word nabud,
you realize that it is in the present
tense.
Allah said,
It's a present tense.
It's not past.
That would have been
means I worshiped you.
Means I am continuously
worshiping you. Present tense in the Arabic language
implies continuity.
Right? If I said
I'm
eating, that means now I'm I'm eating. It's
present. It's continuous.
If I said I ate,
you understand from that that that was a
past event. It happened hours ago.
Means you alone, we are worshiping.
Yeah. In present tense, we're going to continuously
do this. So far, what do we have?
You alone, we're going to worship,
and you alone, we're going to enslave ourselves
to.
And we're going to flatten our nafs and
humble ourselves
to you alone,
and we're going to do this continuously.
Worship is not a matter of,
I prayed yesterday. I'm a have a break
today, or we're gonna jump back on it
straight tomorrow. Oh, and it doesn't work like
this. Now I would continuously until when?
When am I expected to stop the worship?
When do how do how long do I
keep going? Allah
answers this.
In Surat Al Hijr,
he
said, Worship your lord
until certainty
reaches you.
And there is nothing more certain in life
than death.
Another name for death is certainty
because it's the only certain thing that is
waiting you. I think you can have a
million plans for tonight and a million plans
for tomorrow.
All of them are in doubt.
You you plan to go home after this
lecture, but it's doubtful. It might happen. It
might not happen.
You plan to go to work tomorrow, to
go to a park tomorrow. It could happen,
it could not happen.
But death
is not a doubtful matter.
It is a certain matter, sister, about time.
So worship your lord until certainty comes, until
you die.
Then after that worship is no longer required.
Brothers and sisters in Islam,
there is going to come a day when
you no longer have to pray anymore.
There will come a day where you don't
have to make anymore.
And there comes a day where you don't
have to fast, you don't have to make
the spear, you know, think, that is coming
and that will begin
on the day your soul comes out of
your body.
So you're going to die between 1 of
2 prayers.
If your last prayer was salat al fajr,
then from that point onwards,
is no longer required from
you.
The first night in your grief
is the first night you will never ever
hear the adhan ever again,
and no worship is required for it.
But now,
as you're still alive,
worship is incumbent upon you. It is obligatory
upon you
until you die. That's.
And as you're standing praying and saying,
you're supposed to reflect
that as you're standing praying, this is how
I am implementing.
Don't detach
this air from your salat.
When you're saying
and then focus and ponder over the fact
that I'm standing praying whatever salat it is,
and that's how I am practicing
This is it.
This is it. I'm praying, and that is
a a practical implementation of.
His purpose in life is.
To worship Allah
And I'll tell you something.
The more you fulfill your purpose in life,
the more you live the best version of
your life.
You know, today, there are a lot of
courses that are offered
Value that
this $1,000
$500 income,
and we'll teach you how to live the
best version of your life.
But all of that is useless
if you did not understand
that worship,
worship itself is what will make you live
the best version of your life. You know
why?
Because you're implementing your purpose in life.
And if you do what you are created
for,
then you are living the best version of
your life.
And now,
look at this. This here is a microphone.
Its purpose is to record, that's its purpose.
If I continuously
use this
just for the purpose it was made for,
it'll stay in perfect shape and condition. It'll
last me a long time.
But if I use this for other than
it was manufactured
for,
let's say I used it
to to scrape dirt from a table or
scrape dirt on the wall.
Few months, and the entire system is ruined.
You know why? Because I used it for
other than what it was made for.
The human being, you are made to worship
Allah.
If you remain committed upon the worship of
Allah,
you'll remain in good shape.
Faith wise,
mentally,
physically,
spiritually.
Of course, there are calamities, but you know
how to manage because you're living the best
version of your life.
And if you use your body and your
nafs and your tongue and everything about you
for other than what it was made for,
That's when all the sicknesses
and the illnesses
come raining down upon you
because you're destroying it. You weren't made for
sins.
We were not created for sins.
We were not created for this.
We were not created to worship the shaitan
and to follow these lusts and desires that
are out there in the community and in
society.
We weren't.
So if you took that path in life,
you're abusing yourself.
You're destroying your nafs.
And every single consequence, you'll see it in
this life, in the grief and in the
afterlife.
It's gonna come after you. It'll haunt you.
It's very easy to repay yourself.
Pull the handbrake on the sins,
turn back
and go to where you belong.
In the environment of Islam and iman and
worship,
then you begin to heal. Naturally, Allah will
heal you.
This is the idea of worship.
If you fulfill this purpose,
life will have a sweet taste to it,
have beautiful taste to it, despite the calamities
you experience.
You'll have multiple
multiple calamities all around you.
But you will say,
I'm managing.
This is only given to the one who
understands and implements the purpose in life.
You know, people that implement and understand worship,
sometimes they get confused.
They say that if I worship Allah I
should never be tested.
And some people say the day I did
a Tawba to Allah, all I saw in
my life was tests and calamities. Why?
I thought Allah wants me to worship Him.
Look, He hit me with all these calamities.
Now you need to understand. Look, Adam, alayhis
salaam, made a Tawba.
Immediately after his Tawba, he was struck with
a huge calamity, and that was he was
removed from the paradise to Earth
as a huge calamity
that came immediately after
He says, oh messenger of Allah, I complain
of severe pain in my body from the
day I accepted Islam.
He was a disbeliever. The day he accepted
Islam, he was hit with a calamari
in his health.
It was so severe, he almost died.
Yet he never abandoned and left his faith.
And Islam taught him how to manage and
how to deal with calamity.
The closer you come to Allah,
the more calamities. That's the equation.
The closer you come to Allah, the more
and more calamities.
Why?
Because your faith is being tested.
Are you genuine?
Are you honest in that relationship with Allah?
Or you're playing games?
Saying if you're honest and you're genuine, you'll
preserve you. You'll persevere. You'll continue. You'll keep
going. Because, you know, one day, when I
die, all these calamities will mean nothing. They'll
all come to an end,
and I've met my lord, lord my father.
The one walking to Allah,
it's like he's walking against a strong wind
that is blowing. It's a difficult walk.
That's the purpose in life. The heart was
created for
So if the heart is always doing
it settles. It relaxes.
Look. You know a fish? A fish was
made for the water.
If the fish is in the water,
he's calm,
he's tranquil, he's peaceful, and he's swimming along.
Take the fish out of the water, what
happens?
He becomes anxious,
and he flatters,
and he flaps.
Violently, he shakes. He's out of his environment.
Put him back in the water, he's alright.
The human being.
If you leave your environment of iman and
worship
and go to that which you shouldn't be,
that's the state of your heart. It's gonna
shake. You become anxious. You become worried, and
you weren't created for that environment of filth.
Come back to the environment of Iba
and you begin to calm down. The heart
becomes
in a state of peace and calmness. Allah
said
That the house, they find rest and tranquility
in the remembrance of Allah.
Not in the sins against Allah,
in the remembrance,
in the worship of Allah, in a salat,
in fasting, in a zakat, in these matters.
Now despite the calamities,
SubhanAllah.
Doesn't just mean to worship.
And slavery to Allah
is 2 things:
to do what Allah commanded
and to keep away from what Allah prohibited.
Every time
your nafs challenges you to a sin
and you hold back,
you are worshiping Allah.
If your nafs is desiring
a zina, will I ask
Allah to save us.
Is desiring to gaze at that haram in
your social media.
Hack.
Then that's the biggest fitna for men
as said.
The men desire
to gaze lustfully at the woman,
But you fight your knuffs,
and you say, I'm not going to do
this. Turn off my phone or put it
in another room.
I'm not going to sleep while the phone
is next to me.
I'm gonna get rid of this fitna. You
know all that? All that is a worship
you're being rewarded for.
Said,
if you fight your nafs the whole night
to keep away from a sin,
you are much better
than
spending the entire night
praying solat and layl.
Oh my God. Did you hear that? You
know why?
Because keeping away from a sin is obligatory.
Praying the whole night
is a sunnah, it's our voluntary act.
And obligations
take precedence over the voluntary deeds.
Lawaqaqarah.
And don't ever ever ever assume
that if you left a sin,
that, oh, that's a moment of pleasure you
could have
enjoyed a little bit.
Don't ever think you missed out on something.
When you put every effort in your life
to keep away from a sin, that is
And you're being rewarded for it, the highest
form of reward because you're doing an obligation.
And that is exactly what taqwa looks like
when you keep away from the sin.
So on the two ends, it's worship. Doing
what Allah commanded of the obligations of salaat
and everything else.
And keeping away from the Haram is also
and
there's immense prizes and rewards given from Allah
to the one who keeps away from the
sin.
From them,
Allah, he says,
Allah
said, if you keep away from the major
sins,
we're going to wipe away your minor sins,
and we will admit you into a generous
abode, the paradise.
In this area, how do you achieve the
paradise?
Just by keeping away from the major sins.
Amazing.
The mercy and the generosity of Allah
Just because you're keeping away from the sins
while you're able to do them,
automatically it's wiping away your minor sins. Assist
with the it's been wiped away.
And
in the end you enter the paradise
And the paradise was primarily done for those
who fight their nafs from the sins.
Allah
says
Allah who he said whoever feeds the standing
before Allah,
if you see that deed, then you will
stand before Allah.
And as a result, your thought you fought
the nafs from its sins and desires.
Such
people, the paradise will be the final abode.
What was mentioned in there? The fact that
you kept away from sins.
Doing righteous deeds is is easy.
Give a salah kana. It's very simple.
Get up and offer 2 akhart. It's easy.
The challenge is to keep away from him,
from the prohibitions.
Actually, the real challenge is.
And so now you need to be focused
and aware and alert
that is also to keep away from sins.
Now, my brothers and sisters in Islam,
that you know,
Nahbud.
That's what it involves.
It seems to me there's difficulty involved and
a struggle.
I need to be worshipping Allah until the
day I die. Allahu Akbar.
When is that gonna happen?
Seems to be a long road.
Yeah?
Worship is difficult.
It's a struggle.
It's not something easy.
How many people
do you and I know
that
left the path of Islam and left the
path of steadfastness?
How many people do we know used to
pray and don't pray anymore?
How many people do we know, and now
we know a lot through social media,
That used to wear the hijab and then
abandon the hijab and left it.
How many do we know?
Teaching you and I that the path wasn't
easy.
Whoever's still upholding the path that's because Allah
is giving him aid and support.
The road is very difficult, my brothers and
sisters, in Islam, and nothing guarantees us that
next year you will be sitting here with
your deen and your iman. Nothing guarantees us.
Ask Allah to grant a steadfastness.
And, you know,
who has been Tahaj and Omar?
The journey to the house of Allah is
a difficult
one. Like,
if if you travel anywhere in the world,
it's very easy.
But why when we go to Mecca and
Saudi and we want to do a Hajj,
subhanAllah, things just become very complicated and difficult.
When you get to the airport, by time
you come out, processing the visa, moving along,
the services there, the people that just the
heat that
why is everything difficult?
You know, there's a reason for this.
Allah made
the route to his house difficult.
And he commanded for his house to be
built in a dry desert land.
In a valley where there is no vegetation
whatsoever.
Why?
Why wasn't the house of Allah built back
on the shorelines?
Somewhere like a nice beautiful resort island there
where we can we can drink some drinks
and sit down and be happy and relaxed
in our worship in a place where there
is beautiful weather. Why?
To teach you and I
that if the physical road to the house
of Allah was an extreme, difficult, jagged, struggling
road,
then the spiritual journey to Allaah, Zohr al,
is going to be the same one.
Getting to Allaah, Zohr al, has a mighty
task.
There's a lot of difficulty involved.
And this is why, when we observe Sunnat
and Nabi
and the words used in the Quran to
speak about worship,
we find that the words
that describe worship
imply difficulty and burden.
Allah says,
Allah
described the salat in the Quran as being
something
huge burden.
It's a mighty task. It's difficult
except upon those who have attained for sure.
It'll be easy for them. Where are we
at for sure?
And the the companions in their time,
they used to say that it is
about time that you will enter a masjid
and no one has to show in it.
That's what the companions used to speak up
in their time.
Imagine now.
Haydee al Quran is describing a salat as
kabeerah.
Look at this word now, Allah
when He describes
our worship for Him, He says,
Strive and struggle for Allah the way He
deserves it from you.
Struggle. Worship Allah. Struggle.
The word
it's a heavy word. It implies that the
road is not gonna be easy. It's gonna
be a struggle.
It has to be difficult.
And Nabi
said,
The paradise, it was surrounded with hardships and
difficulties.
Meaning,
whoever wants to enter the paradise,
the things that get him in are going
to be difficult and heavy.
That's the nature of worships.
And contrary to that, prophet The
hellfire has been surrounded with desires and lusts.
Whoever wants to go there follows his desires
and his lusts.
Nabi in a hadith, he says he describes
a person.
He says
could be any person.
He gets up at night,
See the word
it means he fights his nafs, he struggles
to get this going
from the morning.
I don't wanna continue the hadith, but we're
focusing on these words.
The struggle is real when making.
Allah, zajal,
he says,
When Allah described the Quran,
he said to Nabi sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, we're going to reveal a
heavy word upon you.
If the Quran is heavy, just its word
is heavy,
imagine then implementing its laws and its rules
and what Allah will tell. How heavy is
it gonna be? It's just the word. The
word. The word is heavy.
Implementing is gonna be heavier.
When Ravi
acknowledging the struggle and difficulty in worship, he
said
He says
Risa Salamu alayhi wa sallam says, whoever reads
the Quran
and
See that word how it has the repetition?
Meaning he stutters.
He stutters.
He can't read fluently.
It's not his his mother tongue.
And the mister says, if that's your case
with the Quran,
and it's burdensome. It is difficult upon you.
Throat becomes dry, tongue becomes dry.
Why is difficulty?
Then for such a person, he earns 2
times the reward.
As for the as opposed to the one
who reads fluently.
And the Risa He
he acknowledged your struggle.
He acknowledged your struggle.
And the earth and the mountains. What does
that mean? What is Al Amanah?
The responsibility
is the responsibility
of worship and saying
You know, the idea of worship
was first presented to the mountains, to the
heavens, and to the earth. Here, take it.
Are you willing to take the worship
And you'll be burdened to worship Allah.
They said, no. We can't take it.
We are willingly submitted to you, Ya'op,
but we will not take the package of
worship
knowing that we need to worship. And if
we worship, we enter the paradise, but there's
a risk. If we abandon the worship, we
enter.
The human being carried the responsibility of worship.
He's a
The human being is a complete is a
is a continuous wrongdoer,
and he is always ignorant.
By the mercy of Allah, we are aware
we are.
If you think
you are
in your deen and in your faith where
you are because of your own efforts, you're
mistaken, my brother and sister.
As by the mercy of Allah that we
are where we are,
and we are clinging onto the mercy of
Allah to remain
committed until we die. You know?
You know?
How was this done?
Anyone?
What was the first surah revealed in the
Quran? Surah Al Alak. Yeah?
What's Alak?
Alak
is described as a blood clot.
Allah created the human being from a blood
clot.
So in the first early stages of embryonic
development, you are a blood clot
there in the womb of your mother, and
then you grew from that.
You became the one you are,
and then the flesh
dressed
the bones, and then you came out.
You know this stage of alak?
You and I think, oh, hey, we passed
that.
We were once a Allah. Yes.
Physically, Allah. You know, Allah comes from the
word Allah.
Allah means to hang something
because that blood clot is hanging into the
womb.
They say to the woman that is pregnant
in that stage, don't carry anything heavy
because
you risk losing that child.
But you and I, in the spiritual sense,
are still hanging
onto the mercy of Allah.
Still hanging. We're still alak in our relationship
with Allah.
We pass the physical stage of alak and
blood call in that womb,
but spiritually, we are still
Allah hanging on to that mercy of Allah.
Wasn't for the mercy of Allah, would never
be him.
So don't think that you are he because
of your own efforts.
That's the nature of worship. It's very easy,
praying 5 times a day.
It's not going to be easy adhering to
the Islamic dress code,
or especially for the sisters
that need to cover the entire body,
except the face and the hands according to
one opinion. It's very easy
because that's a worship in and of itself.
It won't be easy.
Some people, they ask me,
how do I hold on to my deen?
It's getting difficult.
I owe the hijab, how can I stay
steadfast upon the hijab? It's getting difficult.
What do I do? I say, well, congratulations
brother and sister. You've just recognized something that
is in our deal. Who said the worship
was going to be easy anyway?
What do you mean how can I
Yani, the the question is I'm finding it
difficult?
I'm finding it difficult to pray.
How can I make it easy? It's gonna
be difficult.
That's the first way in how to overcome
spiritual struggle.
To fix your mind, your mindset, and to
know that worship was never meant to be
something easy.
It is difficult.
There's a lot of struggle in them. There's
a lot of hardship.
There's a lot of agony, and there's a
lot of pain. There's a lot of sweat.
See all these words I used?
Convert them all
into the word
patience.
See all that struggle that you feel on
your
and all these teas and all this sweat
and all this agony and all this pain
that's actually called sabr in Islam,
and you're being rewarded for
it. Allah
in the Quran, he said,
Worship Him
and be patient upon his worship.
Allah told us be patient.
There's intense patience required
from you on this path to Allah
All the pain in the worshiping, getting up
in the morning and making wubu, and standing
and praying and doing it again and again
and again.
All of that congratulations
brothers and sisters in Islam, that is what
Salar looks like.
And leaving the house and wearing the hijab
and coming back and all this all that
congratulations.
Once again, that's what looks like.
I said, that is what Surah is.
And the people
on the day of judgement enter the paradise
because of their Surah.
That's it.
Allah
says, The believers are greeted on the doors
of the paradise,
peace be upon your law,
because of the patience you had.
So if you invented Islam,
what patience did you have?
Worship has a struggle and it requires absolute
patience from you.
I tell you something.
Every person that left the path of Allah
abandoned,
abandoned the hijab,
abandoned the masjid,
abandoned
the teachings of Islam.
Everyone who did that told me, did that
solve his problems in life?
Did that pay off his debts?
Did it or not?
Did it make his life easier?
Did it fix his relationship calamities?
Did did he get married as a result?
What happened? Nothing.
Leaving Islam is not going to make an
empty of problems in life.
Rather, it's going to add misery to misery.
As Allah
says,
Anyone who abandons My remembrance, anyone who abandons
he shall
face a miserable life.
Brothers and sisters in Islam, I tell you
something.
Look at our attitude in this worldly life
and how it is. Watch this.
In this life, when you have a goal,
let's say it was a gym goal,
say, I'm gonna go to the gym for
a few months, and there's a certain goal
you want to achieve.
Or there's a business you want to open,
so there's a certain goal you want to
achieve or whatever it is. Watch this.
The human being,
you notice?
He has mental strength.
When you want to achieve above all, you
become committed,
disciplined, determined.
You persevere, you sacrifice,
you cry, you sweat, you fail, you get
up
It's ash for a dunya, we do it
We know these attitude and these qualities for
a dunya
Like Anna,
what I'm saying, in order to overcome spiritual
struggle,
that same attitude you had for worldly matters,
Put it into your religious matters
Some people say I can't
I can't I can't commit to my salat
Yeah. But here, you have commitment somewhere in
your heart. Look,
you want to achieve a certain lifestyle,
you start cutting your food down, calories, you
starve, you whatever it is. You go to
the gym, you wake up in the morning,
you're persevering, you're struggling, you're committing, you're sacrificing.
Say it's in you. You have the mental
strength.
What I'm saying is put all that attitude,
put half of it in your worship.
What excuse are you gonna have on the
day of judgment?
You will stand a proof against your own
self.
You have that mental resilience.
You have that mental strength. You knew what
commitment was when you wanted something of this
dunya.
You knew what sacrifice was when you wanted
something in a dunya.
You knew what perseverance was.
You knew it all.
What excuse are you gonna come with on
the day of judgement?
This is one of the greatest means to
overcome this spiritual struggle.
Put half of what you put to achieve
for this worldly life in your religious matters,
and you'll find the road is easy.
Sometimes,
Zach, you observe
life of certain people that,
they're professional athletes.
And they sit down and they tell you
what kind of struggle they go through, you
think Allahu Akbar, that's not for me. I'll
never do be able to do that. Yet
in his worship, he struggles. But you have
those mental strengths. You only put them somewhere
where it's a it's it's okay. No problems.
Go to the gym. Do what you want.
But at the end of the road, what
do you achieve here? You got the body
you wanted.
You achieved the weight you wanted. Yes. That's
important.
But then at the end, you've just tenderized
your meat for the worms that will come
and eat it at the end. What what
they achieved?
What they
achieved?
Meanwhile, the soul you neglected
you neglected the soul,
and it was the soul that's going to
live on and keep going.
So wasn't it worth it to put that
commitment and that patience and that struggle
for the sake of that soul?
The body go,
by the time you die,
finished.
It's gone.
And that soul comes out of the body.
That soul now. What have you prepared it
for? Is it prepared is it ready to
meet Allah's version?
Is it worthy of entering the paradise?
Is it worthy of seeing Allah?
What have you prepared it with?
When you start understanding things like this, you
begin to overcome the spiritual struggle.
My brothers and sisters in Islam,
The only thing that will be of benefit
on that day
that doesn't have an end
is whoever comes with a pure heart.
And to achieve a pure heart,
you need to be on this road of
worship, on the road of and
die upon that.
That's what will be of benefit. So it's
worth the sacrifice. It's worth the struggle.
SubhanAllah,
isn't it worth it my brothers and sisters
in Islam?
Some people they come and they say that
Allah hasn't guided me yet.
What have you done to deserve Allah's guidance?
Have you asked for it? Have you sought
it? Have you gone that path?
Have you have you have you put that
endurance,
that commitment,
that sacrifice? Have you done these things? Have
you done them in the same way you're
doing for adunya? Meaning in Tabri mean, Allah
hasn't guided me.
Now correct this statement and say I chose
not to take the path of guidance.
And be serious that maybe the words are
hurtful.
But if you're honest with yourself,
then the better it is for you because
then you'll realize the importance
of turning to Allah
and remaining committed upon that path.
Omar Zohrul in the Quran, he said
Those who took by the path of guidance,
Allah would increase them in guidance,
Then you move
1st. Commit to the path of guidance, and
then that's how you become guided more and
more, and that's how your taqwa increases.
That's how it works
it's not gonna make dua for me SubhanAllah
Allah has chosen to guide me
but how do you know what Allah has
written?
And Allah revealed the book to you and
show it to you exactly what's in it.
That's not an excuse.
So
you have to have that mental strength
attached to the path
and keep going, then the guidance of Allah
will increase in your life.
Brothers and sisters in Islam, the second half
of this ayah,
and you alone were going to seek help
It comes from the word
means help.
Means seek help.
At the beginning
means we're going to seek help continuously.
Now I told you the biggest connection between
these two parts. Focus. Focus. Pay attention.
Is the purpose in life.
You and I have realized that this purpose
is monstrous.
It's huge. It's a struggle.
How are we going to remain Naboth?
What
is the means to that purpose.
We're going to seek your help continuously.
That's how we overcome spiritual struggle,
by continuously
seeking the help of Allah.
This is why
from all the worships,
Nastayin was mentioned.
Allah could have said
There are many warships.
Why from all the worships, Nastain was mentioned?
Because that's the key to start all worships.
Strength, you surrender. So I can't do this.
I need your help.
If you don't give me your help,
I'm going to be a failed cause.
That's what nastayin is.
You cannot be
firm upon nabut
without the help of Allah. Absolutely. It'll never
happen.
If you rely upon yourself to worship Allah,
if you think you have the strength to
worship Allah,
if you think you can rely on your
alarm to wake you up to
if you rely on everything other than Allah,
you will fail. Why? Because everything other than
Allah is weak. It's doomed. It's destroyed.
The human being was created weak.
So if you think you can do this
on your own, you've already failed,
and you will never be able to overcome
the spiritual struggle.
The human being's weak. Never rely on yourself.
In the hadith, Dua, Nabi
teaches us to say every morning and every
evening,
And do not entrust me to my own
self even if it was for the blink
of an eye.
If you think
you can get to Allah
on your own without his help,
you have failed from the moment you fought
back.
That's how you're going to overcome the spiritual
struggle.
You need to understand the importance of
seeking his help in order for you to
remain upon Nabub.
This is why let's see the efforts of
Nabi
teaching the companions the importance of musta'in and
seeking Allah's help,
such as the hadith that I just read
to you. He taught that dua to who?
To his own daughter, Fatima.
He said, Fatima,
I need to teach you something.
Say this to her all the time.
So he instills within her mind
a mindset that is teaching her, you can
never do this path on your own.
And if you are left to yourself, a
blink of an eye, you will perish.
Every second of your life, you need to
be seeking Allah's help.
Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam comes to
He says to him,
He says to him, I love you for
Allah.
He's taking his attention
to teach him something huge in his life.
And he started off with this compassionately.
He says to him, do not leave after
every salah that you say along, but
comes from the last time.
Which means oh Allah
help me
Help me that I continuously
remember you.
And help me Shukriq, that I am continuously
thankful and grateful to.
And help me that I am Husni Ibadatic,
perfect my worship for you. He said to
him, say it after every salat.
After salah, the obligatory prayer.
Brothers and sisters, listen to this.
He's telling him
after you've prayed it.
You just prayed it. Why do you need
to say it?
You just prayed. Why do you have to
ask Allah to help you upon His worship
after you've just prayed?
Teaching you and I to remember.
I prayed because Allah helped me do it.
And say it so he can give you
that energy and strength for the next salah
that's coming.
How can one listen to this and never
understand and memorize this hadith and this tikr?
Memorize it
and say it after every salat.
There is a difference of opinion, should it
be said at the end of the salat
before the taslim
or after we make the scream then we
say
it both opinions are correct no problems do
what you like
and if you said it at the end
of the salat before you leave it it's
even better
So that when you finish the salat, you
just
say
3 times, and you continue with the 6th
adkar that are recommended.
SubhanAllah.
I tell you, worship
is all about
spiritual
strength.
Yeah?
Strength that is in the heart.
Worship has nothing to do with physical strength
at all.
0.
It's all spiritual.
And no one can inject
strength into the heart other than Allah,
And the only way is by asking him.
See, this body of yours, you can inject
that with whatever you want.
People
that do whatever they put in their body,
has it helped them worship Allah?
Even if if you physically cannot stand your
salah,
you have walls. Sit down and pray.
If you can't
lay down and pray.
Physically, you can't fast? No problems.
Feed a poor person, it's all over and
done with. You permanently cannot fast.
There's there's fiqh. There's rulings that deal with
that side, which is proving the point that
worship is not about physical strength.
There are rules that cater for each and
every single person's situation.
Worship
needs this.
That's why Zakariyah alaihis salam when he's standing,
nineties
of age,
Bones are weak and frail.
The head is entirely white, his bead, his
eyebrows, his eyelashes, his hair, all of him.
He is allowed to die.
He is saying
My bones are weak.
My head is all white.
He never once said, and my heart has
become weak. The believer's heart is always strong
by the permission of
Allah. I give you this example.
If we get an 80 year old man
and a 20 year old
young built brother.
And we observe their life and we see
that the 80 year old
old, he prayed the night prayers, he prayed
the before he sleeps.
He's fasting the next day, he's praying a
5 daily prayers.
On the other hand, this 20 year old
young brother,
built strong.
He prayed nothing at night.
No wither.
Did not fast the next day. Couldn't pray
one of the 5 prayers.
Tell me, who's physically stronger?
20 year old.
How come he was able to worship and
he wasn't? I tell you again,
worship is all about spiritual strength,
And no one could give you this
except
the And had he attained it, asked for
it. Had he asked?
Say that dua in the morning and the
evening.
Don't entrust me to myself even for the
blink of an eye.
The seeking Allah's help is absolutely
important
if you want to remain on the path
of.
There is no way to stay on if
there is no
in your life
look at the dua of the messenger
messenger
the role model for all of mankind.
He makes a dua,
He says, oh, Allah,
I am asking you that you give me
the ability
to worship you,
And I ask you to give me the
ability to keep away from the disliked matters.
I ask you a question. If Nabi salallahu
alaihi wa sallam can worship Allah without the
help of Allah, why is he asking Allah?
Why you ask him?
Because even he knows he will not be
able to worship Allah without Allah's help.
So that's from his frequent dua as well.
Another frequent dua of the messenger sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam
Yeah?
That's in the Quran as well. And that
was frequent on his tongue
My lord, grant me a hasala,
a good hasana,
in this life.
What's the hasana of this life? Who knows?
And the Ramayana said many things. He said
the hasana of this life is a pious,
righteous wife,
or it could be a pious husband if
there's he stays making this.
The hasana of the world, the life could
be halal off. Could be among anything. Could
be righteous children.
But one opinion that tends to
be covered, that not preached as much
The hasanah of this worldly life
is beneficial
knowledge
and worship.
So now when you say,
in this meaning, it'll mean, O Allah, grant
me the ability grant me beneficial knowledge that
will lead me to righteous action,
to righteous worship.
Once again, that is a form of istivana.
You know, even in
an adhered,
when the Muaddhdin calls the Adhar, I always
like to repeat this example because it just
it just stands out
When the Mu'adhim says Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar,
you and I are supposed to repeat after
him the exact same words, nothing changes.
But where does it change?
Stop. What are you supposed to say then?
Why?
Why did it change all of a sudden?
And the Mahindin is saying
He's telling you, come to pray.
See the word
means what?
It means high high at life because of
is life
come come to life
come to success because is success
so it's inappropriate for you to say the
same thing
so you don't sit there and say
he's telling you come
you don't say to him you come He's
calling
you. Rather, what we say
is
why? What does that teach us?
Means I cannot change my situation.
Means
I cannot go from weakness in worship to
strength in worship.
I cannot go from misguidance to guidance.
I cannot go from laziness to strength
and I got no power whatsoever
except by the will of Allah so shall
Allahu
Akbar. In context, listen to this.
If the Mu'adhin is making adhan on time,
that means you
are in the masjid early,
and that means you're sitting in the front
row. If you're repeating after him, that means
you're here on time. You didn't come 5
minutes before the. You're here.
You're most likely sitting in the front row.
You're ready to pray.
From that position,
you are saying no way.
Impossible
for me to pray.
I didn't even have the strength to pray.
Except if Allah wants to give me.
Do you understand how huge
is?
It is the biggest part of your life
because it is the means to the purpose.
It's like I say to
go to Sydney.
The only way to get there is by
train. There was no other transport whatsoever.
Sydney will be like the worship, and the
train will be like.
You that's the only road you can get
to.
You cannot get to
and remain committed and patient and keep going
and tomorrow and after tomorrow,
except
by How much
of do you exercise in your life? That's
the question.
Every time you feel
doubts creeping into your mind, into your heart,
abandon
this. Abandon this.
Leave a kijab. Come on. Ramadan. 30 days
is too much. 2/20 is enough.
Well,
the Rabbi, why are you?
It's
not fun.
I'm gonna sit at home, pray at home.
That's what happens right after 5, 6 days
and it all
drops.
You don't want to have that drop this
Ramadan?
Include the in your life.
In the morning, you start off with a
which is that dua I told you about.
And throughout the day, be conscious.
And when you're reading nastayeen, how Paul's ask
Allah, give me this steadfastness,
give me this help.
Allahu Akbar.
Allah
said, if the slave says by
the way,
is an unrestricted dhikr. You can say it
whenever you want.
It is one of the greatest dhikr
to inject strength in the heart.
You know, there are physical needles if a
person injects
something in his body.
You wanna inject in here that strength?
That's the
Keep saying it, keep repeating it. When you
feel lazy,
when you feel enabled,
when you feel like you're in doubt, when
you feel like I want to pray
Keep saying
inject
more and more of that strength into your
heart.
Say
Can you imagine?
And Nabi
the prophet of guidance,
everything we know is because of him. He
is guaranteed paradise, guaranteed
guidance. Absolutely.
Allah guided him already, you know, from his
dua?
Allah
guide me.
Not only that,
and make guidance easy for me.
Because if you don't make it easy, it's
gonna be
Hard and difficult.
We know this hadith
when we're struggling with a worldly problem.
Say, brother, he says, and I'm going to
call tomorrow. What do I say? Say, brother,
I'll guide you.
Yes, sir. May Allah make make it easy
for me.
How about the 100 salawat you missed? Did
you ever think of sitting and saying, oh
Allah, make guidance easy for me?
How about the many days that went by
and you tried to memorize Quran but it
was too difficult and you left it did
you ever sit down and say Make guidance
easy for me?
Did you or not?
There's no there's no tricks in our deen.
This is it. There's there's a law that
Allah has placed for us. There's a way
to do things.
Worship without
is not gonna happen.
And you might say, well, the first time
I've heard this,
So
how have I been steadfast and still praying?
I tell you something. Believe it or not,
you might have not even paid attention to
it. But the greatest dua to seek Allah's
help
is straight after
What comes after
that?
As the greatest dua in how you seek
Allah's help. So you've been saying it and
it's it's keeping you going for all this
time.
Now when you understand things,
it's gonna enhance your spiritual matters with Allah.
You're gonna overcome the struggles
of worship.
And even if you dislike certain matters, right?
Sometimes a person might say, 'I
dislike to pray.'
I dislike to wear the hijab
when I could have been like many other
women that are walking out there and flaunting
their beauty to society.
What do we say to that?
And Nabi
said everything for everyone and advised every situation.
There's a man that came to the messenger
and
he said, You Rasulullah.
When Nabi said to him, He
said to him, embrace Islam.
He said to him, You Rasoolallah,
I
dislike it.
Nabi
Ibrahim
Islam
said
to him, For indeed Allah will grant you
sincerity and true intent.
It'll come.
Do the worship.
Even if you find it really dry and
dull in your life,
do the washing.
Some people, they struggle with spirituality
because they think that
it hasn't hit me yet.
I haven't
felt any. So he says, I don't know.
Am I wasting my time?
I'm not feeling nothing.
I don't cry. I don't these people speak
about sweetness in worship. I don't even know
what they're talking about.
So,
you know, I'm kind of
heck, I'm I'm doubtful.
Should I keep going? Because I'm not feeling
nothing.
Have you overcome that feeling?
We say,
we we were not commanded to worship a
feeling.
Islam is not about worshiping a feeling or
waiting for a special feeling to come.
Worship Allah
whether you feel something or not, you
fulfill the obligation.
And that counts, of course, it counts.
But remember Allah said,
be patient.
So, yes, you're upon and a guided path.
When you still worship and you haven't felt,
that feeling, that data needs a long time.
This is this is you need to learn
about Allah,
develop that attachment to her worship and then
it becomes
easy.
And it has a sweet taste to it.
Some of the 'uraba'
these are scholars.
He said, I think it was Sofia Nothory,
he said, I prayed 20 years at night.
I felt nothing but tiredness,
and sleepless nights would go by.
Absolutely nothing. 20 years.
All I got from his salat is tiredness.
He said, in the next 20 years I
enjoyed it
Couldn't sleep without it
it. It takes time.
It takes time.
And the point the point in life is
not to reach where he reached.
The point is to just die on the
path. Whether you're feeling a sweetness or not,
just just die on it. Be committed to
your deen.
You know, Al Qutbir Rahim Allah,
he gave he explained why Nabi salallahu alayhi
wa sallam would describe the believer like a
palm tree.
You
know, described the believer like a palm tree.
The thing is, you know the palm tree,
where's the goodness on the palm tree? Where
is it? Oh, right up the top is
where the dates are. Where the sweet beautiful
dates is right up the top. In order
to get up the top, you need to
climb the tree. Now climbing the tree,
very difficult.
You might scratch yourself. You might bleed. You
might fall and break a bone. You might
keep going, but eventually,
you'll taste the sweetness of the date.
But you won't get it before all the
struggle.
So understand
overcoming spiritual struggle.
Understand,
you're not worshiping feelings.
You're worshiping Allah, whether you feel something or
not.
This is how you overcome spiritual struggle when
it comes to these matters and these obligations.
Sometimes people complain and say, 'I find it
difficult to pray'
Well, my advice is this:
If prayer becomes difficult,
then pray.
When salat is difficult
and you don't wanna pray, pray.
Because Allah said,
seek Allah's help through patience
and because when you feel you don't want
to pray,
you're going a step closer to the path
of the shaytan
What's going to save you? Other than doing
a u-turn and going back to the path
of Allah? How do you do that prayer?
You can pray, you can pray, you can
get up and pray
But there's a shaytan who's playing too much
in your mind that you start to I
don't feel like praying
And I give
you a trick.
As soon as you hear Allah
pray,
all that struggle's gone. Finished.
Some people
They feel they struggle with us salah and
the washing It's because you delay it
try praying a solaat on time, on point
that's it
everything that is on I'm gonna pray a
little difficult. It's all gonna be finished the
day the very second you pray
you don't experience all that anymore
The more you delay it, the more difficult
it becomes.
Because it's there in the back of your
mind. What's your prayer?
The next 5 minutes or after 2 minutes
I'll pray, and then you keep until you
know what? Forget it. You would have saved
yourself a headache if you just prayed it
on time and finished.
Your struggle would have been over. That's how
you overcome the spiritual struggle for salat.
And by the way, if you do that,
as a bonus. You've earned Allah's love, and
you've done something Allah loves. And
that is praying on time is beloved to
Allah. Number 1 on the list. Number 2
on the list is obedience to your parents.
Number 3 on the list is.
You
know? Some of the sisters with the hijab,
they struggle. How do you overcome this struggle?
Understand
the system that Allah
obligated
this dress code upon you.
So when you wear it, first and foremost
correct your intention.
When you wear your clothes,
you're wearing it because
Allah
commanded you to cover your,
includes your hair and everything else.
Now when you wear it with this intention,
by Allah,
every second
you spend outside the house, you're being rewarded
because you're wearing it because Allah commanded you
to
You're being rewarded.
Every adjustment you have to do for the
hijab during the day as it slants and
it goes down, every adjustment is a reward.
It's a reward.
The drop of sweat that is behind your
neck because of this hijab and the heat
that is being captured
inside,
these
drops of sweat
could extinguish the hellfire.
Because you're doing it for Allah
He's the one who commanded
that you cover for His sake.
And we're not picking on anyone tonight.
We are motivating and encouraging one another upon
the worship.
At the end of the day, I don't
see you. You don't see me. It's you
and your Allah, Suraj.
So this is how we overcome certain things.
My brothers and sisters in Islam,
5 more 4 more minutes, I share with
you one more thing.
We all do the obligations,
and that is the most important thing in
life.
But we need to excel in our relationship
with Allah and add to the obligations,
sunnah deeds.
Voluntary deeds.
How do we overcome the struggle
when it comes to voluntary deeds?
Because for some people yes. Okay. 5 daily
prayers, I can pray. Oh, my god. Once
a year? Okay. I can do that. 2.5%
of my work, once a year? Yeah. Alright.
I'll struggle, but I'll do it.
Hajj wants a lifetime? Allah. So the words
I have that said, Alhamdulillah, finished.
But this person is really scared
to even think of voluntary deeds.
Voluntary?
Fast Monday or Thursday?
I'll take care after salaab.
Read Surat Al Mulk before I sleep every
night.
Night
prayers
or charity every
obligation.
I tell you something.
If you're committed to the obligations
that's enough
But you need a defense system
You need something that defends and protects your
obligations.
The purpose of the voluntary deeds is like
a gate. It's a barrier that defends your
obligations.
So that if you have a routine
in involuntary deeds, and you become lazy,
well, at least you won't become lazy from
this
from the obligatory deed. But if that's the
only thing you have in life,
obligatory deeds the moment you feel lazy you
risk
missing an obligation
because you got no defense.
Sunnah is a defense system.
Sunnah.
How do you overcome
the spiritual struggle with Sunnah? Let me explain
it to you. 1 minute
By far the best principle I've ever come
across, it's inspired by the words of an
Imam Ahmed. He said
For every worship, you do this.
Let's say it was for Sunan prayers.
Set a standard for yourself.
So say:
From now on, I'm going to pray to
O'Kath before I sleep. That's it. Nothing else.
That's your standard.
If on certain nights you have energy and
you feel like you can go for 10
raqaat,
take advantage of that energy because it doesn't
last. It comes and it goes. Take advantage
of it, pray your 10.
And if on
nights, you don't have any energy to do
anything, then you don't drop under your standard.
Just do the 2 and go to sleep.
Set a standard for yourself.
You see, when it comes to fasting, I'm
gonna fast Mondays.
House for now. Every Monday in my life,
I'll fast.
If you have energy during that week and
you feel like you can do more, it'll
add Thursday to it, add another day. No
problems.
And that week, if you're absolutely tired and
lazy, well, at least you don't drop from
your standard and you do that Monday.
The of the morning and the afternoon
set a standard,
say that
in the morning, in the evening, I'm going
to read
3 times each. That's a That's
my standard.
On days where you have time, like a
Sunday sitting at home, there's no work, read
the whole thing. Go through it all. I've
done an entire lecture series on it. It's
called shield,
explanation of the morning and the evening. Go
and learn it.
This is medicine medicine. And there's a there's
a pill that you're taking once in the
morning, once in the evening.
If on these, you have to say them
all. If on these, Monday turn out I'm
rushing to work well, at least don't drop
your stand
That way you have a consistent routine and
a habit with
sunnah, and you've overcome that spiritual struggle. Ask
Allah Azza wa Jal to accept trauma so
ask Allah Azza wa Jal to forgive our
sins and our shortcomings in the holy Udal
called Qadurai