Abu Bakr Zoud – Qualities Of The Righteous
AI: Summary ©
The importance of remaining patient and steadfast during difficult times, as it can lead to health and family problems, is emphasized. Prayerers are encouraged to focus on their promises until they see the fruit of their accomplishments in life. The importance of testing their faith and belief in Islam is also emphasized, as it is a great level of Ihsan. Prayerers can take whatever their Lord gives them, whatever Allah gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of, whatever their Lord gives them of
AI: Summary ©
My brothers and sisters in Islam, all praise
and thanks belongs to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala and may the peace and blessing of
Allah be upon his servant and final messenger
Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam.
In these few minutes that I have with
you, I wanted to share with you a
few reflections from Juz al-Dhariyat, more specifically
from Surah al-Dhariyat.
But at the very beginning, we all know
Juz al-Dhariyat in the Qur'an, the
predominant message of Allah azza wa jal in
Surah in Juz al-Dhariyat, the central theme
of Juz al-Dhariyat is discussing the promises
of Allah azza wa jal, the promises of
Allah, the inevitable promises of Allah in this
life and in the afterlife.
So Allah azza wa jal in this Juz
he'll speak about the provision of mankind and
how it's a guaranteed matter, your rizq will
get to you.
In Juz al-Dhariyat Allah azza wa jal
speaks about the promises of the afterlife, the
day of judgment and how it will unfold.
He speaks about the paradise and that the
fact this will be the dwelling of the
believers.
He speaks about the hellfire and how this
is an inevitable fact for the disbelievers and
those who rejected Allah azza wa jal.
You see this in Surah al-Dhariyat, in
Surah al-Tur, in Surah al-Najm, in
Surah al-Rahman, Surah al-Waqi'ah and
so on.
I wanted to share with you a few
ayat that are found in Surah al-Dhariyat
itself.
And brothers and sisters in Islam, before I
share with you these ayat, the believer should
question and ask, why does Allah azza wa
jal always tell us about his promises?
Why is it important for you and I
to read Juz al-Dhariyat often and to
connect with the promises of Allah azza wa
jal?
Because when we're reading about the promise of
Allah, what does that do?
It prepares us, it helps us prepare for
the afterlife and the meeting with Allah azza
wa jal.
That's what it does.
So now let me take you to these
ayat in Surah al-Dhariyat in where Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Allah azza wa
jal, he said, and inna is a word
in the Arabic language that suggests certainty.
So whatever comes after inna is a certain
guaranteed fact.
Allah azza wa jal, he said, inna, verily,
certainly, al-muttaqeem, the righteous, the pious, they
will be immersed and surrounded in gardens and
in springs.
That's the paradise that Allah azza wa jal
promised the believers, Allahu Akbar.
Who are al-muttaqeem, my brothers and sisters
in Islam?
Al-muttaqeem are those who uphold Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala's command.
Anything Allah commanded you to do and you
do it, that makes you al-muttaqeem, a
person of taqwa and piety.
And everything that Allah azza wa jal forbid
us from and you keep away from, that
is what makes a person al-muttaqeem.
So al-taqwa is to do what Allah
azza wa jal commanded, hoping for his reward
and to keep away from what Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala forbid, fearing his punishment.
This is al-taqwa.
Brothers and sisters in Islam, the question is,
how can a person remain steadfast and patient
upon al-taqwa?
How?
Is there something that will enable us to
remain patient upon the commandments of Allah azza
wa jal?
Getting up every single day five times and
offering as-salat five times a day and
fasting your Ramadan and giving the obligatory zakat
and doing the deeds Allah azza wa jal
wants you to do, that requires a lot
of patience.
And abstaining from al-haram, especially with social
media in the hands of people and the
opportunity for haram has become rampant and widespread.
How can a person continue to find strength
in remaining patient away from al-haram?
And then also we have the many calamities
and difficulties in life.
How does a person remain steadfast and patient
during these times?
The answer is in the words, that you
always focus on the jannat wa uyun, focus
on Allah's promise.
When I know, when I know that if
I was to pray five times a day,
Allah would reward me with jannat wa uyun,
it makes as-salat easy.
When I know every time I'm tempted to
do a sin but I keep away from
it in hope that Allah grants me al
-jannat wa uyun, I will be able to
remain patient and keep away from al-haram.
When I'm struggling in this worldly life through
its various tests and calamities and trials and
difficulties, right, people experience so many difficulties, relationship
problems, health problems, financially related problems.
But if I know that at the end
of all these patients I will have jannat
wa uyun, gardens, not just one jannah, jannat,
gardens, wa uyun and many springs, then I'm
able to remain patient upon the tests and
the trials that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will send my way in this worldly life.
Brothers and sisters in Islam, believing in the
afterlife, believing in the promises of Allah makes
the tests in this worldly life bearable and
easy for the believer.
Worshipping Allah is a test, Allah is testing
your faith.
Keeping away from the sins is a test,
Allah is testing your faith towards Him.
And saying inna lillahi wa inna ilayha raji
'oon, walhamdulillah in times of difficulty and calamity,
these are also tests, Allah azza wa jall
is testing your steadfastness in these moments.
So inna al-muttaqina fee jannatin wa uyun,
and we have many examples in the Qur
'an and in our salaf and in our
sahaba to show us how this is done.
If you looked at the case of Asiya,
the wife of Fir'aun, can you imagine,
the wife of Fir'aun, she's living in
his palace, and this person was a tyrant
on another level the world has never witnessed
and seen before.
And he would persecute and torture his people,
and when they were torturing, when his army
were torturing his wife Asiya for her belief
in Allah, the question is how did this
woman remain stable and steadfast upon her deen,
how?
It is found in her dua that she
made.
As she's being tortured, she was saying, she
would say, my lord, build me, me, you,
a house.
You see where her eyes were?
Her eyes were on the house in the
paradise, her eye was on the promise of
Allah azza wa jall, and she was able
to remain steadfast, firm and patient, unwavering in
her iman and in her faith in Allah
azza wa jall, despite the immense torture she
suffered under the hands of her husband Fir
'aun.
You see this?
And she mentioned Allah before the house.
She didn't say, my lord, build me a
house, me, you.
She said, build me, me, you, a house.
Allah azza wa jall is the goal, Allah
azza wa jall is the purpose in life.
When that is your vision, and this is
what you're working for, and this is what
you're living for, every test becomes easy, and
every obligation becomes easy to do, and every
sin, it becomes simple upon the believer to
abstain and keep away from.
You find also in the case of Ghazwat
Uhud, there was a companion, Anas ibn An
-Nabr, he's on the battlefield.
That takes a lot of courage to be
on the battlefield, fighting the disbelievers, the enemy
of Allah azza wa jall, takes a lot
of courage.
So he steps on the battlefield, and he
says, وَهَلِّ رِيحِ الْجَنَّةِ إِنِّي لَأَجِدُ رِيحَهَا دُونَ
أُحَدٌ He said, in a moment where he
can smell something, he said to the companions
around him, I smell the fragrance of the
paradise, and he didn't see the paradise with
his eye, he can smell something with his
nose, and he went forward, and he fought
until he was martyred.
His sister then picked him up, she couldn't
even recognize his body.
He had about 80 stab wounds and spears
that had entered into his body.
And at that occasion, Allah azza wa jall
revealed, مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ
عَلَيْهِ From among the believers, there are people
that were true to what they promised Allah
azza wa jall.
We promised لا إله إلا الله, we need
to abide by this promise until we see
Allah, and until we meet the reward that
He has promised us.
That's how you can get along in life,
that's how you can get through life, by
always focusing on جَنَّاتٍ وَعْيُونٍ What a beautiful
ayah, إِنَّ الْمُتَّقِينَ فِي جَنَّاتٍ وَعْيُونٍ You want
to remain steadfast upon التقوى والإيمان, keep your
eyes focused on الجَنَّات وَعْيُونِ الله أكبر, today,
today, النفس, نفس of mankind desires to enter
a garden full of lush and greenery, and
we desire to look at rivers and oceans,
this is a desire for the human eye,
we find peace and tranquility, imagine then Allah
is telling us about جَنَّاتٍ وَعْيُونٍ That is
مَا لَا عَيْنٌ رَأَتْ وَلَا أُذُنٌ سَمِعَتْ وَلَا
خَطَرَ عَلَىٰ قَلْبِ بَشَطٍ The gardens and the
rivers in the paradise is something the eye
has never seen, the ear has never heard
of, and the human mind can never comprehend
or imagine.
الله أكبر إِنَّ الْمُتَّقِينَ فِي جَنَّاتٍ وَعْيُونٍ Allah
عز و جل then, He says آخِذِينَ مَا
آتَاهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ So these believers have entered the
paradise, have enjoyed الجَنَّات وَعْيُونٍ and Allah عز
و جل says about them, He says something
about their attitude in the paradise, He said
they will take whatever their Lord has given
them, whatever Allah gives you of الحور of
mansions, of castles, of fruit, whatever He gives
them in the paradise, they will take and
say الحمد لله.
But I want you to understand this, آخِذِينَ
مَا آتَاهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ It implies that this was
their situation in this worldly life, you see
this آخِذِينَ مَا آتَاهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ, it implies contentment,
that the believers in the paradise were content
with what Allah gave them, they took it
and they never complained, you know why?
Because that's how their attitude was in this
worldly life, in this life they were content
with what Allah gave them, of health and
wealth and blessings, they didn't say Oh Allah
I worship you day and night yet my
rizq is still limited and restricted, why?
No they didn't do this, they did not
look around and say Oh Allah such and
such person is a sinner, he's a مفسد,
he's a corrupt person on earth and you've
given him so much, why?
They weren't like this آخِذِينَ مَا آتَاهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ
They were content with what Allah gave them,
of their spouses, whatever Allah gave you of
children Alhamdulillah, what Allah gave you of a
spouse Alhamdulillah, what Allah has given you of
jobs Alhamdulillah, what Allah has given you of
provision Alhamdulillah, be content, train the heart upon
contentment because the believer when he enters the
paradise his behavior in this worldly life will
show in the afterlife, he'll be content with
what Allah gives That's a major major quality
that should reside in the heart of believers,
contentment, brothers and sisters in Islam be content
with everything Allah gave you except for two
things, be content with everything Allah gave you
except with two things, that is knowledge and
worship, never ever be content with where your
knowledge is today, always strive to increase your
knowledge and gain more and more and never
be content with your worship, no matter where
your worship is every day there is an
opportunity for you and I to improve, every
Salat we pray there's an opportunity for you
and I to improve, don't be content with
these two matters, that's why from everything in
this worldly life the very one thing in
Nabi ﷺ would always ask Allah to increase
him in was knowledge Allah Azzawajal he says
about the believers much before this, meaning much
before they had entered the paradise in this
worldly life they were they practiced Ihsan in
their worship and in their jobs and in
their actions and in their words Muhsineen, what
is Ihsan brothers and sisters in Islam, Ihsan
is to worship Allah as though you can
see him and if you cannot see him
then you are very sure that he ﷺ
can see you brothers and sisters in Islam
how does a person enhance his Ihsan, how
can we reach the level of Ihsan which
is a great level of the Muttaqeen, how
do we do so in the next ayah
Allah Azzawajal tells us these Muhsineen the
quality of this that made them and enabled
them to reach the level of Ihsan which
is a high level of Iman was that
they would sleep a little at night, they
would sleep a little at night a very
incredible powerful language Allah did not say they
prayed a lot at night he spoke nothing
about their Salat pay attention he said they
slept a little at night why there's three
things to reflect over here number one Allah
is praising their sleep he is praising their
sleep and if Allah is praising something that
means it's an action Allah loves so why
is Allah praising their sleep because they slept
with an intention of resting this body for
a couple of hours then I will get
up and pray at night so now their
sleep was praised and it was loved by
Allah and pay attention he did not say
you know the word means to sleep also
means to sleep but there's something extra in
the word it refers to the sleep at
the beginning of the night so Allah Azawajal
praised the fact that they slept at the
very beginning of the night why did they
sleep at the beginning of the night because
they know the last part of the night
is a very virtuous time how can a
believer sleep the end of the night when
he knows that Allah comes down to the
first heaven and he asks is there anyone
that is requesting anything from me so I
can give him is there anyone that is
bothered and choked by his sins that wants
to seek my forgiveness and I will forgive
him is there anyone that has any need
brothers anyone have any need is anyone in
a health dilemma in a financial dilemma in
a very bad situation when it comes to
his relationship with his wife and children Allah
is calling at that last third of the
night get up and ask and he's not
just saying ask he's saying I will give
I will give you well I believe my
brothers and sisters in Islam the vast majority
of our problems still remain with us because
we haven't taken advantage of this time Allah
praised their sleep at the beginning of the
night because they are intending to get up
at the end of it then Allah did
not say that they pray at night he
didn't say anything about salat he just said
they sleep at the beginning of the night
that is so that he can conceal their
deed which implies sincerity they were sincere about
their deeds and this is a moment to
practice ihsan in your life Wallahi brothers and
sisters in Islam imagine today here in London
Al-Isha is at 6 p.m imagine
you slept at 6 and you slept I
know I know no one does this no
one does this but let's just say for
example let's say you slept at seven max
eight o'clock you slept at eight you
slept eight nine ten eleven twelve one and
two and you got up at two o
'clock you slept six hours and you got
up and you have the rest up until
6 a.m till adhan and fajr to
worship Allah you know some people ask how
can it even be possible to sleep a
little and then find the energy to continue
the rest of the day until the night
al-barakah brothers and sisters in Islam wallahi
al-barakah one hour that you sleep at
the beginning of the night is equivalent to
hours that you sleep at the end of
the night that's the secret this is how
the muhsinin used to achieve this type of
salat at night and this is the secret
Allah azawajal alludes and gives our attention to
saying yahja'oon to sleep at the beginning
of the night then wallahi four or five
hours would be enough for the body to
rest and you make the most of the
night afterwards then the third thing in this
ayah Allah did not say that they prayed
at night he didn't say anything about salat
we said number one because he's concealing their
deed number two he did not limit it
to salat it's open to many other worships
you get up you pray you read al
-quran adh-dhikr ad-dua even woman the
woman that is menstruating it is recommended for
her also to get up and observe that
blessed part of the night in dua in
dhikr in something that she's able to do
of the worships the doors open for everyone
I'm going to conclude by bringing your attention
to something very important in terms of what
you can make the most of when it
comes to the night wallahi my brothers and
sisters in islam let me give you this
you know the most beloved deed to Allah
azawajal is as-sujood right we all know
this this is the closest Allah will be
to a slave when he's in as-sujood
Allah loves this position from the entire salat
the most beloved position to Allah is in
as-sujood because your body is prostrating to
Allah and your tongue is praising Allah azawajal
is a worship on a different level as
-sujood I show you this if we lived
60 years on earth for example 60 years
then out of 60 years let's say you
prayed five times a day and nothing more
just the wajibat you would have made 17
there's 17 sujood or there's 17 rakat in
the five daily prayers and every rakat has
two sujood that's 34 34 sujood in one
day if you're just praying the right if
you live 60 years take the first 10
years out 50 years you would have made
right this is in one if you pray
30 34 sujood every day let's say you
took 10 seconds in your sujood people don't
do 10 seconds they do six not like
that three four let's say you took 10
seconds in every sujood 10 seconds 34 sujoods
a day that will equal to about six
minutes of sujood a day if you pray
one whole year that's equal to 1.5
days of sujood in 50 years of your
life it will equal about 75 days of
sujood 0.3 percent of your life was
spent in sujood are we ready to stand
before allah having dedicated 0.3 percent of
our life in the most beloved deed to
allah i don't think anyone is ready so
what is the solution the solution is as
allah said and from the night prostrate to
him prolong your sujood in as-salat at
night the night prayer is an opportunity to
make up for this sujood so that you
meet allah azza wa jal having done a
lot of the most beloved deed to him
subhanahu wa ta'ala and so at night
in your sujood prolong five minutes no problems
get used to it maybe you want to
start with one minute sujood increase it to
two until you increase it until wallahi there
was a sheikh that spoke about a person
in al-masjid al-haram he said wallahi
i finished my umrah and i sat next
to someone who made a sajda for 40
minutes he did not raise his head which
sheikh said to himself by allah if he
wasn't enjoying his sujood he wouldn't have spent
40 minutes in it but this is how
we enhance our worship and always keep your
focus visualizing jannah and that should increase your
strength and patience upon worshiping allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala