Abu Bakr Zoud – Overcoming The Difficulties Of Worship
AI: Summary ©
The importance of understanding the meaning and significance of surahals in the Quran is discussed, as it is the central message and common thread across the entire title. The speaker emphasizes fulfilling individual worship and sharing it with others, as it is the key to achieving one's goals of becoming a slave. The speaker also discusses the struggles of worshiping Islam and the importance of remaining committed to it, as it is a struggle for individuals to achieve spiritual success. The sermon also describes a woman who has surrendered and given up everything to pray for, and is now focused on pursuing success and showing her love for Jesus.
AI: Summary ©
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين
والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وصحبه
أجمعين All praise and thanks belongs to Allah
سبحانه وتعالى And may the peace and blessing
of Allah be upon his servant and final
messenger Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم As to
our followers my dear respected brothers and sisters
in Islam السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته I
ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى To accept from you
all and to grant you success and goodness
in this life and in the afterlife My
brothers and sisters in Islam There is absolutely
no doubt that the greatest surah in the
Quran is surah al-fatiha النبي صلى الله
عليه وسلم he said الحمد لله رب العالمين
هي السبع المثاني والقرآن العظيم الذي أوتيته He
said that surah al-fatiha is the greatest
surah in the Quran that was given to
me And it was the greatest surah in
the Quran Because within this surah Allah سبحانه
وتعالى in a few words He mentions what
our purpose in life is Why were we
created and why were we put on earth
and that is found right in the middle
of surah al-fatiha and it is known
as the central ayah and The central message
of surah al-fatiha and that is قوله
تعالى إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين You alone we
worship and you alone we seek your help
My brothers and sisters in Islam the entire
Quran is an explanation of this ayah إياك
نعبد You alone we worship and the entire
Quran is Explaining how one worships Allah سبحانه
وتعالى and we are supposed to read this
surah 17 times a day at least and
So 17 times a day we are reminding
ourself of this great fact إياك نعبد وإياك
نستعين So indeed it is a calamity if
you read this 17 times a day and
up until now You haven't understood its deep
meaning and you haven't pondered over it So
in the minutes that I have with you
I wanted to share with you this ayah
What it means and how this ayah can
connect us to Allah سبحانه وتعالى As I
said to you, this is the central message
of the Quran If you understood everything and
you never understood this ayah, you really did
not understand the Quran So it is worth
that we go through this ayah and explain
what Allah سبحانه وتعالى Wants from us and
what are we supposed to understand my brothers
and sisters in Islam This ayah is made
up of two parts I'm going to first
explain the first part then the second part
and then I'll connect the two parts to
you so that you can see how they
connect in the correlation between them and By
the way, when we're reciting إياك نعبد وإياك
نستعين We're making this declaration You alone our
Allah we worship and you alone we seek
your help we're making this declaration in a
Salat which is the most noble deed in
the sight of Allah عز و جل and
in a Salat all the reasons for focus
and concentration combines Because in a Salat you're
upon wudu, you're facing the Qiblah.
You're looking into your place of prostration You're
not allowed to move left and right you
don't eat you don't drink you don't talk
to anyone and these matters if combined Then
a person is at the peak of concentration
and at the peak of focus So it
is at that position That Allah عز و
جل would command us to recite Surat Al
-Fatiha and from there We're saying إياك نعبد
وإياك نستعين So that means it is incumbent
upon the believer to understand Allah put you
in a position where you are freed from
worldly distractions So you can understand this covenant
between you and Allah عز و جل So
the first part إياك نعبد and that my
brothers and sisters in Islam is the purpose
of life This is the purpose of life.
We were only created to worship Allah سبحانه
وتعالى The word نعبد it comes from the
word عبد And عبد also comes from the
word عبد and عبد is a sleeve So
نعبد doesn't only mean that we worship you
O Allah It means another thing we are
going to worship you alone also comes from
the word عبد and عبد is a sleeve
So نعبد doesn't only mean that we worship
you O Allah It means another thing.
We are going to worship you alone, and
we will enslave ourself too.
There's a difference between being a worshiper and
a slave.
A worship is a service.
It is a specific deed done at a
specific time, like al-hajj.
Al-hajj has a start time, it has
an end time.
As-salat has a start time, has an
end time.
But being a slave is not restricted to
any kind of deed.
Being a slave, you're a slave 24 hours
of the day, 7 days of the week,
non-stop.
So iyyaka na'bud, you're saying, oh Allah,
I declare that I will worship you alone,
and in the times I'm not worshipping, I
declare that I am a slave of yours.
This is a full-time job.
One of the ulama, rahimahumullah, mentioned that la
ilaha illallah muhammadur rasulullah is 7 words, and
it is made up of 24 letters.
Because la ilaha illallah muhammadur rasulullah is a
24-7 job.
Iyyaka na'bud, this is the purpose of
life.
We will worship you, and worship you alone.
And my brothers and sisters in Islam, we
were created for the worship of Allah.
The heart was created for the worship of
Allah.
That's what it was designed for.
It was created to fulfill la ilaha illallah.
So the more you fulfill the purpose of
life, the more you adhere to the worship
of Allah, the more you adhere to la
ilaha illallah, the more you will get out
of your life.
Because you're living your purpose.
And the further away you are from your
purpose, then the more anxious and worried and
concerned you will become.
Like a fish.
A fish was created so it can be
in the water.
If it was removed from the water, what
happens?
It begins to tremble and shake.
It's out of its environment.
It wasn't made to be outside the water.
And if the fish was put back in
the water, it glides and it sails smoothly.
It is relaxed and it's comfortable and it's
at peace and tranquility.
Why?
Because it's in its environment.
And in the same manner the human being.
When you are in an environment of iman,
in an environment of worship, when you hear
the call to as-salat, you pray.
When Ramadan commences, you begin.
When al-hajj is called and you finally
have the means, you go.
When it's the morning, you make dhikr of
Allah.
When it's the evening, you make the dhikr
of Allah azawajal.
When you're in consistently in that environment of
worship, you're like that fish in the ocean.
Your heart is at peace, tranquil, and things
are good.
And if you're away from worship and you
decide to turn away, abandon as-salat, abandon
al-hijab, abandon the fasting, and abandon the
many types of worships that we have, then
you have chosen to be that fish outside
the water.
The anxiety you got and the worry and
the concern and the troubles and the sheiks
and the tribulations are because of what your
hands has done.
You brought this situation upon yourself.
You alone we worship.
The heart was created for worship.
My brothers and sisters in Islam, na'bud
is a present tense.
And present tense in the Arabic language, it
implies continually.
It means, oh Allah, we will continuously worship
you and insist leave ourself to you.
This is not a matter of today and
tomorrow and then I'll take a break and
then after that I'll jump back on.
Na'bud, continuous.
The question is, until when?
Until when are we going to continuously worship
Allah?
Allah azawajal, He said in surah al-hijr,
wa'budu rabbaka hatta ya'tiaka alyaqeen.
Worship your Lord until certainty reaches you.
What is certainty?
There is nothing more certain in life than
death.
So keep worshipping until death arrives to your
door.
Once malak al-mawt arrives to your door,
worship is no longer required.
My brothers and sisters in Islam, wallah, there
will come a day where you will no
longer hear adhan al-fajr.
There will come a day where salat al
-dhuhr is no longer required from you.
Wa'l-asr is no longer required.
Fasting Ramadan is no longer required.
Dressing Islamically is no longer required.
And all the worships are no longer required.
That is the day your soul comes out.
So there is, there is a day where
you'll have a long break from a salat.
But until then, wa'budu rabbaka, worship your
Lord.
This is iyyaka na'bud, continuous worship of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
My brothers and sisters in Islam, what we
understand when we read iyyaka na'bud, we
realize that this is going to be a
difficult task.
I need to worship Allah until the day
I die.
Allahu akbar.
That seems very difficult.
It seems very heavy.
That's going to be a struggle.
I can't even plan for it.
If I wanted to sit and think, am
I going to pray five daily prayers until
the day I die?
Imagine I die at the age of 60
or 70 or 80.
Meaning from now until then, how many thousands
of salat am I going to pray?
If you think like this, you really do
come to the realization that worship until death
is no easy job.
This is a difficult matter.
It requires a lot of commitment and patience.
So the idea is, how many people do
we know that have given up on righteousness
and given up on steadfastness and given up
on a salat and given up on al
-hijab and turned to this worldly life and
its desires and its glitters and its glamors
and its distractions?
How many people do we know, right?
What happened to them?
They found worship a struggle and a burden.
I can't do this.
This is not for me.
So they left al-Islam.
And I ask, did that solve any of
your problems?
Did leaving Islam pay your debts?
Did it solve your calamities?
Did it get you married?
Did it relieve you from the problems you
had when you were in Islam?
Well, it didn't do anything.
It absolutely did nothing.
So you abandoned Islam.
You've abandoned your purpose.
It is going to bring you a lot
more trouble in your life.
So you realize this fact that it's going
to be a difficulty to continue to worship
Allah.
And my brothers and sisters in Islam, Allah
Azza wa Jal chose for the Kaaba to
be built in Mecca, in a rough terrain,
rigid, sharp and jagged.
No vegetation, no crops, no nothing.
Why?
This is to teach you and I that
if the road to the house of Allah
physically is a difficult one, then the road
to Allah spiritually is also a difficult road.
It's a difficult road.
In Nabi ﷺ he says, حُفَّتِ الْجَنَّةُ بِالْمَكَارِهِ
That the paradise has been surrounded with hardships
and difficulties.
It is a struggle to make wudu every
fajr and get up and pray.
It's a struggle to pray five times a
day.
It's a struggle to continuously wear al-hijab
every day when you come out of your
house.
It is a struggle to fast Ramadan every
year.
It is a struggle to give zakat every
time.
There is difficulty in these matters.
Even when Allah spoke about worship, He used
very big terminology and heavy words.
He said, وَجَاهِدُوا فِي اللَّهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِ He
said, strive and struggle in the cause of
Allah the way He deserves it from you.
See the word جَاهِدُوا.
In Surah Al-Ankabut Allah says, وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا
فِينَا Those who strived and struggled for us.
See the words He uses.
When Allah described the Salat, He said, وَإِنَّهَا
لَكَبِيرَهُ He said, indeed the Salat is huge.
It's a massive burden.
إِلَّا عَلَى الْخَاشِعِينَ Of course, except upon those
who have attained khushu' in their hearts.
But otherwise it's going to be a heavy,
difficult matter.
If the Quran itself, Allah described it and
said, إِنَّا سَنُلْقِي عَلَيْكَ أَنْ تَقِيلَ If the
Quran itself, Allah described it and He said,
O Messenger of Allah, we're going to reveal
upon you a heavy word.
Imagine, if the word is heavy, imagine then
applying its laws and legislations.
How heavy and difficult is that?
And the worship of Allah doesn't only mean
to obey His commands.
It also means to keep away from the
prohibitions.
keep him away from a zina, that's gonna
be difficult, because the nafs desires woman, it
desires the opposite gender, it's gonna be difficult,
that's also part of worship.
Allah SWT, Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, for
example when he described a man that gets
up at night and makes wudu, he said,
يقوم من الليل يعالج نفسه إلى الطهور, يعالج,
he fights and he struggles against himself to
get this wudu going, even when reading Quran,
Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, وَالَّذِي يَتَتَعْتَعُ
فِيهِ وَهُوَ عَلَيْهِ شَاقٌ لَهُ أَجْرَانٌ Nabi sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam said, the one who stutters
when reading the Quran, seen Nabi sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam acknowledged, that even reading the Quran
will be a difficulty, then he said, وَهُوَ
عَلَيْهِ شَاقٌ and reading the Quran is a
burden, it's heavy, it's a difficulty upon him,
for such a person there's two rewards, but
the idea I'm telling you, is that all
these words about worship, were very hard words,
teaching you and I, that the worship for
Allah SWT, is indeed going to be a
difficult matter, but my brothers and sisters in
Islam, I get amazed at some people when
they ask, brother I'm struggling on the Deen,
I'm struggling to pray, I'm struggling to commit
to Al-Hijab, I'm struggling, I answer and
I say, well congratulations, whoever said it was
going to be easy, of course it was
going to be a struggle, what did you
think?
What did you assume?
You assumed otherwise, you are wrong, you're now
feeling a burden, because you had a wrong
understanding, of course it's a struggle, most definitely,
there's a lot of blood and sweat and
tears and pain and suffering, but I tell
you something, see these words I used, replace
them all with the word Sabr, for Allah
SWT, every worship you commit to, and you
feel pain and struggle, that's actually what Sabr
upon the worship looks like, and the people
of the paradise only enter the paradise because
of their Sabr, that's it, Allah SWT He
says, to the people of the paradise, He
greets them, Salamun alaykum bima sabartum, peace be
upon you because of the patience you had,
and patience is upon the worship of Allah,
and you need patience when keeping away from
sins and prohibitions, yes lowering the gaze requires
patience, and that patience is rewarded for, don't
think that if you lowered your gaze, a
moment of pleasure and satisfaction I just missed
out on, but you took reward, that required
patience, the woman that wore the hijab and
came out of the house, and then the
drops of sweat that rolled down her neck
in the summertime, while wearing this hijab and
covering this body for Allah, these drops of
sweat could be the reason for why they
extinguish the fire for this woman, these are
sweat, these are drops that are being rewarded
for, each one of them is being recorded,
and that my sister is what patience upon
the worship of Allah looks like, so don't
leave your deen because it's difficult, obviously it's
difficult, obviously there's a struggle, but the reward
is great at the end, the reward is
the paradise, the reward is meeting your maker
and your creator, and seeing him subhanahu wa'ta
'ala, at that moment every struggle you went
through will feel like nothing, would feel like
it's the best thing you ever did in
this life, on the day of judgment you'll
realize that the best investment you ever made
for yourself, were the moments in which you
worshipped Allah, were the moments in which you
remembered Allah, were the moments in which you
sat between you and yourself and you said
astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, were the moments in you
sat by yourself and you cried from the
fear of Allah, remembering la ilaha illallah Nabi
sallallahu alayhi wasallam says, seven categories are under
the shade of Allah on the day of
judgment, one of them is a person who
cried from the remembrance of Allah, and the
greatest remembrance of Allah is the Quran, crying
when reading the Quran is a reason for
why a person is placed under the shade
on the day of judgment, my brothers and
sisters in Islam, that's the first part iyyaka
na'bud, now we realize that this ibadah,
and this consistent ibadah that is required from
us, it's a struggle and it's a difficulty,
so the next part of the ayah, wa
iyyaka nasta'een, that is the means of
how you're going to remain steadfast upon the
purpose, iyyaka na'bud is your purpose, but
oh Allah how, how am I going to
remain consistent upon the worship, Allah gave us
the key, wa iyyaka nasta'een, and you
alone we're going to seek help from, even
when you seek help from Allah, the worship
will become easy bi'idhnillahi ta'ala, you
will manage, there is difficulty, but you will
manage to worship Allah azza wa jal, and
remain committed upon this, wa iyyaka nasta'een
is the means to attain the purpose, the
means, wa iyyaka nasta'een is teaching you,
if you believe that you're going to face
this worldly life on your own, and rely
upon yourself, and if you believe that you're
going to worship Allah relying on yourself, and
materialistic matter, if you believe I'm going to
rely on my alarm to get up for
al-fajr, that's not going to happen, you
will fail miserably, you have to learn, wa
iyyaka nasta'een, we're going to seek Allah's
help, I will never rely upon myself to
worship Allah, then if I do so, I'm
relying upon myself, and myself I'm a human,
and the human is weak, so I've relied
on something weak, so I will be a
miserable failure, never I'm going to rely on
Allah, the source of all strength, the source
of all knowledge, the source of all wisdom,
the source of all might, Allahu Akbar, then
you will find that the worship becomes an
easy matter for you, and I want to
teach you something, nasta'een comes from the
word a'oon, and a'oon means help,
nasta'een means we're going to seek Allah's
help, listen to how important this matter is,
to the point where Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam watch his attitude and the great importance
he gave this matter to the companions, he
one day comes to Mu'adh radiallahu anhu,
he holds him and he says Mu'adh
I love you for the sake of Allah,
he's preparing him for some huge advice, he
says, do not leave out after every obligatory
prayer that you say Allahumma a'inni ala
dhikrika wa shukrika wa husni ibadatika, please Mu
'adh, always after every salat, make sure you
say, oh Allah, grant me the strength and
the ability and the power that I remain
in remembrance of you, wa shukrik, and grant
me the ability that I'll always remain grateful
to you, wa husni ibadatika, and oh Allah
grant me the ability, because on my own
I can't do it, grant me the ability
that I remain in perfect worship of you,
allahu akbar, you need the help of Allah,
wal'ulama rahimahumullah, differed in terms of when
this dua is supposed to be said, some
say it's supposed to be said at the
end of the salat, just before you make
a taslim, and some said you say it
immediately after the prayer, no matter what the
case, it is both correct, the main thing
is you say it, while acknowledging that, oh
Allah, I could have never prayed this salat
if you did not give me the help
and the aid and support to do it,
allahumma a'inni ala dhikrika wa shukrika wa
husni ibadatika, my brothers and sisters in Islam,
wallahi, worship, it requires spiritual strength, not physical
strength, I give you an example, there could
be an 80 year old and a 20
year old young man, the 80 year old
made wudu today for fajr, prayed salat al
-fajr on time, read Quran after a salat,
fasted that day, allahu akbar, the entire day
was worship, and our brother, the 20 year
old young man, full of muscles, didn't get
up for salat al-fajr, no Quran, no
fasting, no worship, but he's more stronger than
him, I tell you worship has nothing to
do with physical energy and strength, has nothing
to do with it, worship has everything to
do with spiritual strength and nothing, no one
will be able to inject the heart with
strength and ability to worship, other than the
maker of the heart, Allah Azza wa Jal,
that's why you're in desperate need to ask
Allah to allow you to continue to worship
him, allahu akbar, that's the idea, worship is
all about spiritual strength, not the physical strength,
a person can build physical strength, pump into
your body steroids and drugs and GH and
what you like, did that enable you to
worship Allah, did it change anything, it got
you closer to Allah, it didn't do anything,
you need strength of the heart and there's
no there's no there's no medicine that you
can inject in the heart that will give
you spiritual energy to continue to worship Allah,
the only injection for the heart is wa
iyaka nastaeen, to say oh Allah, grant me
the ability that I continuously worship you, so
that's number one, do not forget this dhikr
and this dua, if you miss this dua,
look at its importance after every obligatory prayer
five times a day, if you miss it,
allahu a'lam what happens in your situation,
but if you want that strength to pray
the other prayer and the next, continue after
every salah, allahumma a'inni ala dhikrika wa
shukrika wa husni ibadatik, another dhikr that an
Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam taught us, that injects
energy and strength for the worship in the
heart is la hawla wa la quwwata illa
billah, la hawl meaning there is no way
I can transfer from weakness to strength and
from despair to hope and from whatever it
is to strength, wa la quwwa and there's
no strength except through Allah azza wa jal,
and you know what's interesting, when the adhan
is called, we are supposed to repeat after
the muezzin what he says, except in one
part of the adhan, we say something different,
what's that part, hayya ala al salah, hayya
ala al falah, the muezzin is saying come
to salah, come to success, you don't say
hayya ala al salah, because then that will
mean you're saying to him come to salah,
but he's calling you come to salah, rather
what do we say, la hawla wa la
quwwata illa billah, what do we say, say
it aloud, you know why, in context this
is what it means, the muezzin is saying
to you come to salah, you're told to
say to him la hawla, then impossible, I
can't come to salah, I can't transfer from
this lazy state I'm in into strength to
getting up to a salah, and then you're
saying to him wa la quwwa, I don't
have any strength to come to a salah,
and then you say illa billah, except if
Allah was to give me the strength, and
that's why you say la hawla wa la
quwwata illa billah, and just imagine this, that
the muezzin makes adhan in the masjid right,
so this is someone sitting in the masjid,
in the front row, he's already there, before
the adhan, he hears the adhan, and from
the front row he's saying la hawla wa
la quwwata illa billah, Allahu Akbar, look you're
there, you've come early, you're definitely going to
pray, even then sit and say, acknowledge your
weakness, acknowledge your need for Allah, and say
to that muezzin, I can't do it, I
don't have any strength whatsoever to get up
to a salah, except if Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala was to give me permission to
do so, Allahu Akbar, la hawla wa la
quwwata illa billah, when the prophet sallallahu alayhi
wasallam he said, whenever the servant says la
hawla wa la quwwata illa billah, Allah would
say to him, aslama abdi wastaslam, my slave
has submitted, he's surrendered, he's given up, that's
what al hawqalah, which is la hawla wa
la quwwata illa billah means, in terms of
your relationship with Allah, it means you have
submitted and surrendered, you know the arsh of
Allah azawajal, there's something on top of it
written, and there's something underneath it, written, on
top of the arsh, Allah azawajal wrote, inna
rahmati sabakat ghadabi, my mercy has overrides my
anger, that's what's written on top of the
arsh, you know what's underneath the arsh, the
prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, la hawla wa
la quwwata illa billah, kanzun taht al arsh,
la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah is
a treasure under the arsh, now you know
what all this means, what is written on
top of the arsh, is how Allah deals
with his servants, he deals with us with
mercy, so if you had mountains of siyyaat
and you turn to him, he has promised
upon himself, that he deals in mercy and
forgives our sins, and underneath the arsh, it
is how we are supposed to deal with
Allah, and the way we deal with him,
is to declare and to acknowledge to Allah,
that la hawl, we have no ability to
move from laziness and weakness to strength in
worship, and we have no power except by
your will, when Allah hears this from you,
he loves it from you, and he says
to you, you have surrendered, you have given
up, as a result, he grants you the
ability to worship him, being granted the ability
to worship Allah, is a gift that Allah
only gives to those who want his help,
so that they continue worshipping him, so never
ever think that you can do the worship
alone, you always need the help of Allah,
after the prayers say, Allahumma inni, Allahumma a
'inni ala dhikrik wa shukrik wa husni ibadatik,
and continuously throughout the day and the night,
la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah, we
ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to accept
from us all, wallahu a'lam, wa sallallahu
wa sallam wa baraka ala nabiyyina muhammad wa
ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in, wa jazakumullahu
khaira, wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.