Ahmad Arshad – Discourse 1445H
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So the month of Ramadan is over,
and now
we find ourselves in
similar situations as before. We are
slowly and steadily the flood starts to creep
in,
and it tries to take hold of our
heart, tries to take hold
of the desires of our nafs.
And if you don't keep it in check,
it will result in what really happens every
single year
that it overcomes us. And
before we know it, we are falling
into the same sense that we are addicted
to, that we are used to all over
again.
And we'll forget what beautiful time
that we had in the Ramadan, this beautiful
gift from Allah.
It is really owing to us not looking
at our life in the proper way.
As we keep on saying, this is not
a rhetorical
tool when we say that this life is
a gift and every day is a gift.
And every day has to be taken on
its own
without any baggage from the past
with renewed and.
It's called.
Vigor, energy,
intentionality,
focus, concentration.
Because if we remain stuck in the past,
2 1 of 2 things will happen.
Either we'll
become depressed because we have committed too many
sins in the past,
and we lose hope that something can be
done in our present or future.
Or second,
we have done something something good in the
past and we become complacent. Oh, my shell,
I did this yesterday. Just like on the
day of Eid or the the next day,
we start feeling, oh, I just came out
of
for
30 days.
I deserve to rest. Who told us that
we deserve to rest?
Where is it written that we deserve to
rest?
Where is this usool coming from? I don't
remember reading in a sull effect.
There is no such thing that we deserve
to rest. There is no rest.
We only rest when we go into our.
Is called the resting place. Even in English,
they call it the resting place.
That is the final abode for us. And
before that, there is no rest.
It means 'id comes with it. A renewed
sense of worship and a renewed sense of
remembrance of us. What is the zikr of
Allah we are doing right from the get
go?
That Allah is greater than whatever we think
is great. Allah is greater than that. Allah
is greater than that.
And I
slaughter and I slay everything with the sword
of meaning every boot, every idol that I
have inside, I destroyed
like Ibrahim Every praise and every
this be and glory only belongs to Allah
alone.
That is a renewed sense of
a new that we do in in. You
know, this
you don't pray any other time other than
the.
Again, with extra 6 takbira.
Extra takbira in the that you read
all about the Allah is greater than the
that we did.
So a, don't become complacent
thinking that we achieved something.
And don't second, don't become,
you know, heedless for your future.
Okay?
So it's something that we have to be
cognizant of. And so I want to bring
our attention to 2 terminologies that are used.
1 is called
You know, there's
a a Bab by Imam Abu Mirhamd.
And the other is called.
So
This is something that we really need to
bring into our lives.
Is to
hurry and rush in whatever
or the door of
opens
for. Any mock
up, any opportunity that gives us. So for
example, if you have a dahi, dahi has
this inspiration in your heart, oh, you should
be enough. Do it.
Do it right then and there.
If your heart is saying, okay, you know,
I should be doing zikr, do it.
Okay? But that is
to rush into action.
Why? Because that
is coming. And
let me Allah be pleased with him. He
used to say that it is like a
guest.
You know, when when a guest comes to
your house,
you honor the guest. You don't ignore the
guest.
And so when this dariya comes into the
heart that I should do it, I should
go visit my shayef, I should do tikr
of Allah subhanahu wa'ala, I should pray.
I should read the Quran. Don't be
happy. Look at like what good emotions and
intentions are coming into.
Those are openings of tawfiq coming.
We have to walk through the door. So
meaning you have to bring into practice.
This whole Ramadan, we have been we have
been reiterating
again and again about bridging the gap between
intention and action. What does it require?
Intention.
Intention
and action.
Would you reach me again?
Usually, we have a lot of good intentions.
I want to do this, and I want
to do that. I want to spend the
life of.
It doesn't become an action because we don't
put him at
the
We have to bridge the gap.
So as, you know, Mufti Shafi Sablahum Tullahi
used to say,
if you dishonor the guest, the guest will
leave and it won't come back again.
And so the tawfiq don't think
that the is going to come back again
and again and again. That is just not
the case.
It is just not the case.
Okay? So maybe it is today. Maybe the
tawfiq will be gone. Maybe circumstances
will change.
And our masha' used to tell us that,
you know, we're going to slip through your
hands like a fish slips through your hand.
So that will happen to us as well.
And, you know, before we know it, it
will be gone.
So we have to, you know and people
who say I'm too busy,
you know, again, Mufti Shafi Saab used to
say, k,
you know, you have to fit things between
2 things that you are doing.
You're never busy. You just have to, like,
squeeze things in.
And I've seen that in the life of,
Mufti. Thank you, Smaliza
and Carlton as well. That he's an extremely
busy schedule.
So if somebody asked him, can we also
do this? Can you, like,
time We don't have the time. But, you
know, I have time while I'm driving from
here to there, and I will squeeze this
with him.
So as always, you know, he'll be reading
the Quran, and then he'll be writing something.
And so there's no time
of what we call leisure. What we say,
It's always just squeezing
work of between
2 things.
That's what we have to do, and we
have to keep our minds
empty.
Hardly you say, don't, like, plan things and
not do it. Because that's a good intention
and without action.
That's all we do. It's like plan, big
plans. I have to do this and I
have to do this. And then we don't
do anything.
When the time of action comes, just do
it.
Don't dwell on it afterwards. Don't think,
Now I can go to my bed. Now
if some more time, what else can I
do? What else can I do? What else
can I do?
Okay? And we have to become haris. Is
very a guna, but only when it comes
to duniya.
When it comes to deen, we have to
become haris because our time is limited.
Our lives are limited. And the amal that
we can do are also limited.
And what we are seeking is unlimited and
eternal life.
Okay?
Using something limited, we are seeking something unlimited.
Using something finite, we are looking for infinite
or infinite.
Okay?
So temporary to eternal, this transformation can come
if we are able to
do the majmu of Ahmad and really rush
into action and not
slow our pace down.
Okay. So whatever we were doing in Ramadan,
it's just another day now.
Don't get deluded. O shaitan is out and
this is out.
Fast for Shawwa.
Okay? Come into the practice of fasting on
Mondays Thursdays,
13, 14, 15. If you want to follow
that schedule or if you want to, you
know, do 6 so, you know, fast together,
that's fine as well.
Okay? And then just
because fast is is is you know, as
we we saw, it was Marshall, it's such
a purifying effort
to do. We were sitting down here doing
zikr. Now it's the same time.
Zikr is zikr.
Right? We were doing zikr before. Now we're
going to do zikr again.
We were doing
before. Now we will do again.
We were reading Quran before. Now we'll be
reading Quran
like we're spending time in Hanukkah, in the
of others and you know, we will continue
to do that. So, don't
let,
you know, us be deluded into this like
times have changed, that something has changed. The
only thing that will change is if we
allow ourselves to change.
And that is
something that, you know, I I must reiterate.
We must not allow our nafs to take
over again. We must not allow this nafs
to take over again.
If you feel and
gave us this insight over Ramadan,
that every time the nafs was kind of
moving around, we saw its movement. Right? We
had the muhasiddah.
We're able to keep it in check. No.
I'm not going to let you
deviate me from the right hand. Right? We
saw the bezari too. We we saw that
we're going to look inside,
And if you feel that the nafs is
feeling
washa, bezari,
susti, procrastination
in doing that, we'll we'll look at that,
and we'll see why it's coming. And we're
going to meet the evil in the bud.
Okay. So this is where the dua comes
in. This is where the mujaata comes in.
No.
You don't feel like doing this? Why?
Why are you putting me back into that
spot that I don't want to be in?
Why are you forcing me to that position
again where there's just despair and hopelessness?
There's this sukuni. There's lack of sukoon. There's
no, like, future.
Everything looks bleak. Everything looks darkened.
Why for, like, a couple of minutes of
madah and enjoyment and pleasure?
You want to destroy your you want to
destroy your
You want to displease
the only one who actually cared about you,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
You want to let Allah down again?
Do we have to hold on to it
and we have to grab it by its
neck
and not allow it to control the sun
anymore?
Okay?
That's one
thing. And, you know, it's Ajib, you know,
that
you know, in the matters of of duniya,
we do jaldi.
We rush towards things and we do mukabbalah.
Right? Just tanafus and mukabbal and
and we try to do this musabakat.
Right?
Try to musabakat means to try to get
ahead of others.
And this is why it is not recommended.
There is a hadith of Nabi says that
mentions that, you know, when it comes to
don't
look at people above you. Because yes, they're
going they're always going to be somebody. Look
at karun. How much did karun have? Right?
There's always going to be a karun there.
There's always going to be somebody who has
more, who has a better house, a better
car, a better this, a better that.
There's always going to and if you spend
too much time in their company, Abdullah ibn
Bari Fatima said that, that in the beginning
years, I used to spend time with other
Dalatwali people. People with wealth.
And he said, it did not bring me
alirahat. Because there's always this competition.
You know, you just wanna competing, you know,
oh, look at that. You know, this, this
house is better. And now you want a
better house, and you get that better house,
and then you find somebody else's house that's
better, and then you want that. It never
ends.
And so the, you know, hadith tells us
that you should be looking at people below
you. So the
not of the
but
You
have given me everything.
And that's what we need. We need that
contentment
of heart if we want to achieve anything
in this today. Because as we saw,
that without,
it is com it's it's a complete joke.
So Luke is a joke. Is a joke.
Our idea of being a is a joke.
Our idea of being a is a joke.
All of this is a big joke.
Okay. That without the disconnect from the journey.
And so we need to look at that.
So when it comes to, you know, who
are we spending time? The of people. And
Abdul Ab Nabayik said that later on, I
spent time with
people less fortunate than me. And then, you
know, Allah opened up, like, wisdom and hekma
in my heart. And shukka in my all
these good qualities
started to come in. So we need to
do exactly the same. Don't look at other
people,
and, you know, who
for this little life, this little dunya may
have achieved something. We're not competing with it.
So this and
this
this is not with
them. But when it comes to deen, yes,
Allah wants to see the
wants us to
see
get ahead without the
without the It's not like a
This is established from from
Like, look at the example of
who
is
a very simple person.
He was just intoxicated in love of Allah
and love of his Umarazza. His whole life
just revolved around them.
And so,
he wasn't necessarily the one doing
the Musabitat because he was always ahead of
everybody anyways.
But others, Sahaba Khan, Usmanullah, had men certainly
tried to compete with
him. They could have competed
with Usman
Al
Ghani, they were very rich in the world.
No. It wasn't about that at all.
They were competing in Neki,
VirtuSats.
So the famous example of Tabuk,
when Tabuk was a very difficult expedition as
we know. It was, like, dead in the
middle of the summer, extremely hard.
That's when the, you know, the Ansar of
Medina Munubra had their their,
all the dates matured at that time. So
it was time for kind of reaping the
benefit,
lack of water,
all of that. And the hookam came for
tabuk. And tabuk was, like, all the way.
You know, you're talking, like, a 1000 miles
away.
And so Nabi says, some does this that,
you know, spend the time the path of
Allah.
Right? And Nabi says, you know, I you
know, I'll guarantee Jannah That I'll make dua
of Jannah for people too. Now this is
where the mindset differs. If a person is
focused on the duniya,
saying this will not move you.
But if you have you have this this
mind
and this belief in this
then you will jump to that occasion even
if you have nothing.
And Sahabaqam, of course, every single one of
them.
They just went out and spent anything that
they could. Now we all know that Umri
Farooq who
went home,
and he looked around,
and he gathered half of his belonging. Everything
that he had, half of his belongings, and
brought it in the
presence of resources.
I give this in the path of Allah.
Babi Sallam asked him, You Muhammad,
but did you leave for your home?
And he said that, you know, I divided
everything, I left half for my, you know,
family, and I bring in the half, the
other half.
Gave him to us.
And,
and, you know, he came
with what whatever provisions and asked him,
yeah, Abu Bakr, where did you leave at
home?
Yeah. Rasool Allah
and his Rasool
Allah He brought every single thing. Even,
like, you know, took his hand and brushed
it against the wall that even if there's
a needle that I can spend in the
path of Allah, I'll do that.
And then Murufar Uqazi Yatan said that, you
know, in the mantras of Neki, I cannot
surpass imperialism.
So, you know, this kind
of was
there. It was healthy. It was without hasad.
It wasn't that I will pull this person
down and No, it was Masha'Allah!
It you know, the the word that we
use is called rashq.
It's the opposite. It's like a positive jealousy.
It's not the negative hasad jealousy.
Positive, oh, subhanallah,
this person has been blessed with this. May
Allah also give me this. And
this is why Al Dhumri Farooq came
to But Abu Bakr Siddiq said, you know
that I have a favor to ask you.
He said,
yes. He said that take all of my
virtuous acts from all of my life, and
just give me that one night that you
spent in Harithor with Usuba Nasir.
So this is this is this is the
shock,
the Urdu shock.
Shock and shock of of
getting
ahead in terms of virtues acts, virtues acts.
And that is okay. So this and
this,
both of these things are necessary for
this.
That's not what we're looking for in the
duniya. We do in duniya. We do sabar
in duniya.
You know, we make
in duniya, but the duniya should not consume
us
like it has consumed us.
Okay? So this is this is something that
if we hold on to these two things,
jaldigre,
Don't wait.
And that is what shaitaan does. Remember we
said that shaitaan has some trickeries.
What is the first thing he does? He
makes us
delay.
Delay.
Delay.
Delay. Delay.
Oh,
you're so tired and that's it, you crash.
From tomorrow. I'm making a from tomorrow. But
tomorrow never comes.
When we were kids, they used to teach
us, what was that English?
Don't put off until tomorrow what you can
do today.
That's very true in Hadeen as well. There
is no tomorrow. Nobody has seen tomorrow. Tomorrow
never comes. There's only hal. This is why
the the sufia,
they work on the hal of a person.
Not the not
the you can only do and that's it.
If you dwell too much on it, then
you will become Sheikh Chili.
Sheikh Chili meaning you're fantasized
daydreamer.
You you're just given halal. That's it. That's
all
gives you every day. And so you have
to focus on how do I make myself
better
today.
If you're saying, I'm going to start doing
it in
one day, 2 days, 3 days, it's never
going to come.
And our mashaikh wrote this. They actually said
that
if you have made a niyah of change,
but if you delayed, it will never happen
because you've already delayed it.
You've already delayed it.
Now this Amal itself is a delayed Amal.
It will never come into your position.
Unless
pushes people into that situation
where the heart is broken
and, you know, the Museeba comes out, and
the Museeba is a gift from Allah that
you're not waking up.
Sometimes when kids don't wake up, you know,
people will drop some water on them. They
actually do that. I was just told yesterday
that,
Melissa girls actually do that. In the morning,
they have a spray bottle,
and,
you know, these young girls, you know, they
they work really hard.
So at the time, if they can go,
one girl just goes around to spray water.
So that's that's
pretty much, you know, what we need as
well. We need that wake up sometimes if
we're not waking up.
That we we have that job.
So shaitan, otherwise, he'll keep on delaying. And
again, we'll be stuck in the good intention.
Because every day we'll look in our heart,
do you still want to do this? They'll
say, alhamdulillah, I still want to do you're
so happy, Masjid.
I still want to become worthy of Allah.
I still want to do I want to
do zikr.
It's not like I don't want it.
See, shaitan will never force you or put
in your heart to hate something because, no,
he knows you're a Muslim. Of course, salat
is a good thing. Of course, we did
Quran and zikr.
Every moment wants to become a bully. You
just
made you delay it. Keep on delaying it.
Keep on delaying it. Keep on delaying.
Till it's too late. You're you're too weak.
You're too sick. There's no more time.
Something one thing or another will come.
And so if I ask, you know, does
everybody want to become a worthy of Allah?
Are we doing the amaal to become wilyah
for Allah?
Why not?
Do you have the intention? Yes. We all
have the intention.
We have the inte isn't that why we
become beya in the first place? Because the
intention was there.
Now what's lacking is that Himmat,
you know, the Mubadirat and, you know, masabaqat
and, you know, putting putting it into action.
That's what because shaitan keeps on delaying
it.
Months go by before we meet our and
months go by before we get to sit
down and do a good.
And why? Because we were happy we had
a good Ramadan.
And so we're gonna carry this Ramadan in
our
yes. I had a good Ramadan. At least
I and before you know it, shalaal is
gone. Did we fast? No.
Are we still on the same schedule as
Ramadan in, like, you know, zikr and and
Quran and all? No. But
but you know, that was just the barakah
of Ramadan. This is what we keep telling
ourselves. You know, that was just the barakah.
Yeah. Of course, there's barakah and Ramadan.
But it doesn't mean that Allah is taking
the away outside of it. No.
Yes, shaitan was changed but doesn't mean shaitan
is so harpy on us outside of Ramadan.
No. It only
if we allow it to become harpy.
When we start doing, of course, is good.
Whether it's in Ramadan or in southern people
commit sense in Ramadan too.
Right? Even
so that just means that even small.
Right? Like, baby devils, even they will change
the system. If even if the big sheytans
are gone, the small shetumas can can make
us do sins even in Ramadan. People will
say, oh, sheikh, I did this, and I
couldn't control myself, and I
and so how do I just
what has our situation become?
That even like a baby devil comes and
touches us and, you know, it's like fire.
So don't give shaitan too much credit. It's,
you know,
Alhamdulillah, Allah is with us
till we walk away.
Allah is with us. We have to take
the step.
Allah
is
with us.
My servants and my slaves asked about me?
Tell them I'm I'm close.
Verily I'm close. There's no doubt I'm close.
We are the ones running away.
So don't let this happen. Okay?
This is what, like, 2nd day after Ramadan,
Eid? When was Eid?
Wednesday.
Yeah. It's okay. 2nd day.
If if we're
enough of the resting,
enough of the, you know, just procrastination,
you know.
Make your schedule again.
Ramadan,
Allah gave us a nazam,
a discipline.
Follow-up this. Wake up early in the morning,
do tahajjud,
you know, do your adzkar,
at least half an hour of muraqba, read
your Quran, do your list of
but keep an eye on the Zarkin shop.
If you feel that you're not just
I don't know the English of Bezari.
But if you're, you know, if your nafs
is like Bezari,
go and
take it in this.
Getting tired of something.
Not tired in terms of, like, it's,
you know, it's like too much effort. Tired
tired, like, I don't feel like that that's
what bizarre is. I don't feel like doing
this.
I'm tired of doing this. I'm I'm, you
know,
I don't want to do So if you
start feeling that your nafs is doing that,
you know, then you have to, like, with
Himmat, you have to, like, crush it.
Okay? Bring your
and not
not I I can't live with this. I
cannot live with this.
I cannot live with the heart that doesn't
yearn you, and I cannot live with the
heart that doesn't ache for you
Allah, I see this not doing this again
to me. And I've seen it last year,
the year before, the year before, the year
before, the year before.
I've seen this for 10, 20, 30 years
of my life, and I cannot keep living
like this. Oh, Allah, you can save me.
Only you can save.
Go into the sajdah, cry. Cry for this,
whatever this bayzari is.
This this tiredness of or this lack of
vigor or lack of interest in Allah and
and whatnot.
Okay?
Now it doesn't mean that you don't need
the free.
It's Raja, it's a force you do.
You bring that into your life, but disciplined
way.
A little bit of this, a little bit
of that,
a little bit of ill, a little bit
of zikr, a little bit of dawood, a
little bit of getting together,
eating
my affluent caterers.
Or whatever the new name is.
So,
or Maharab Aflacate
High passion,
setting high goals for themselves, and showing it
that they can do it.