Journey of Love to Allah
Date:
Channel: Ali Albarghouthi
File Size: 104.41MB
Episode Notes
THE AWAKENING CONVENTION
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AI Generated Summary ©
The importance of love in relationships is emphasized, including its use in context like Islam, the return of theSAed plant, and the return of the God. Prayer and behavior is also emphasized, along with forgiveness and avoiding addiction. embracing challenges of life, avoiding distractions from media consumption, and avoiding distractions from technology leads to positive experiences, and healthy lifestyles and working on one's health.AI Generated Transcript ©
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Smilla Rahmanir Rahim Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah E or barakato. Begin by praising Allah azza wa jal, Alhamdulillah, Allah Amin, who had facilitated this meeting, and had allowed us all to come together and to listen to what I hope benefits us in the hereafter and in this dunya and we send Salam Salam upon His Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa at he was sitting down, and we asked Allah so did all but I mean to make us of those who are worthy to be among his among his followers, those who honor his sunnah internally and externally, and those who will follow him
with devotion, till their death and we'll meet him when they are resurrected and will will we be with him in gender to infer dose I mean, all but I mean, like to thank everyone who had helped put this conference together, the qualia of Economics and Management Sciences. The dean professor, Dr. Hudson, a dean, revivals, everyone who was involved, whether we know about them or not, whether they are visible whether they are anonymous, me Allah as they've done to reward you. Purify your intention except your deeds, and put this in the scale of your good deeds on the day of judgment and benefit you with it more than he benefits you with money in this world benefits you with it, as far
as good deeds are concerned in the hereafter. We ask Allah azza wa jal to fill our hearts with His love and love for His Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa early he was salam. So, the question of today's lecture is, basically, do we love Allah azza wa jal?
And I mean that do we actually love him? subhanaw taala I know that we can, as a reaction, say, of course we love Allah azza wa jal. I know we can say this. But the question really asks us to go deeper than that, deeper than a rehearsed answer, or the answer that you and I are supposed to give. Just like when you ask a child, are you supposed to listen to your parents? And the child knows that he has to answer yes, but it's more so the behavior of the child that indicates whether he listens to his parents or not. So not looking. And we should not be looking for rehearsed answers that you and I have learned to repeat. Because these are the expectations of people around us. We know that
we have to see these things. So we say these things. We're not interested in that. The question is, do we love Allah subhanahu wa Tada. Now, if we want to answer this question, let's ask ourselves, what do we do when we love something? Or someone? Okay, so put religion aside for a minute, forget that we're talking about religion. Today. Just think about if you love someone or something, what do you do? Now, if you love something, you try to be close to it. If you love a place, you try to visit it, right? Love a location, a country, a spa, a city, you try to go and visit, stay there as much as possible. If you love a restaurant, you go and visit there, and you eat and you frequent, and you
talk about it, and you blog about it, and you take pictures, and you publish them. If you love food, you make it and you eat it, and you recommend it. If you love someone, what do you do when you love someone, you try to be close to them, right? You try to make them happy. If they want something, you bring it to them. There's always an act that demonstrates our love that expresses it that in a sense proves it, even if the other person is not asking for proof. But it is a sign of that love and without it. A person with may actually question whether you love that thing or not. Whether you're interested in it, whether you have even any affection for it or not. So we run based on emotions. I
mean, we love and we hate our life is based on things that we love, and things that we hate things that we want to be close to, and things will be one to run away from. So we're operating on emotions. So when we ask, Do we love Allah subhana wa Tada. The question is, what is in our life?
If what is it that we do that naturally not artificially, naturally shows that we love Allah subhana wa Tada. Now, the question here the second question that I want to pose for all of us to think about, and I'm more interested in you and I thinking about it, rather than coming up with an answer, and again, a rehearsed answer, just thinking about it. Now, do we need to love Allah oxygen?
Now, if you think about it, we are constantly loving something or another, as I said, and love we can say,
Now you think about it is the most important emotion we have? Or is this something better or more important?
If you think about it, we fear we hope.
We doubt we suspect we have kind of myriad of emotions. But among all of them, if you want to look at the basic, the very basic emotion. Love is a great basic emotion, and all other emotions, really, if you think about it emanate from that and from that they come from it.
Why do you hope?
You hope because you want something that you love? Why do you fear something, because you hate it.
You know, it's harmful, you fear it. And because you fear it, you hate it, and it's connected to love. There's lack of love there. So we hope because we love and we fear because we hate, and we hate because we love and we hate love, because we hate So love is the most basic emotion that we have.
And in fact, if you want to,
again, think about how powerful that emotion is, look at the bulk of movies that are produced in the world today. And songs,
and books.
And a common or the most common theme in most of them is love the most popular movies, especially among the young, if you're a person who is not not married yet, right?
Or if you remember those days, what are the movies and the songs and books and the novels that attracted most of the young and do still attract most of the young. They're all about love.
And the battle and they're about love, because those who produce them understand very well, that when they make these movies they sell, and people want to watch them. And people react to them, you and I react to them, even Subhan Allah, even after you get married, and after he had kids and these still resonate,
the unrequited love, lost love.
Going against the odds and winning your love. All these themes resonate very well with us. And if you ask yourself, why do they resonate so deeply with us? Why is it that a person, especially at a young age, but some of us never even give up that whole thing that the ultimate purpose of their life, the only thing that they should live for is to see that one person that can love them unconditionally, and can just change and transform their life because of death, love. And they we kind of latch on to that idea of unconditional, all consuming love. And it's so intoxicating, and it's so attractive. But why is it again, so intoxicating, and so attractive.
Why does it sell and continue to sell? And they'll continue to make movies like that, that attract every generation. Until then until the Day of Judgment unless the movie industry stops and infamous people stopped singing? Why is it
so important and so deep? And the answer to this? And that is a really important answer that I want you in sha Allah to keep in mind, because it connects to everything that we're going to be saying today is that all of us at a very basic level, are looking for love.
We get married because we're looking for love. We have children because we're getting for love. We're looking for love. We have friends, because we're looking for love. We look for it everywhere from our parents, from our spouses, from our children, neighbors, coworkers, even strangers, sometimes we smile on their face, and we want them to smile back because we are looking for some signal of love and acceptance everywhere around us. So we're constantly looking for it, and when frustrated when we can find it. And we're devastated when we lose it, isn't it
and we are enthralled and inspired when we think somebody loves us. Or there's that potential that somebody may be in love with us and could accept us and our life could be wonderful and rosy. These are strong emotions. And they're strong emotion
Since because Subhan, Allah,
Allah azza wa jal had embedded that in us.
But why again? Why is it embedded in us? And here is the journey that we want to talk about.
Why is it that Allah azza wa jal had put us on this earth? Why is it that Allah had created us? Why does Allah azza wa jal want from us on this earth?
Why did he send us the Quran? Why did he send us His Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, for what purposes, all of this. And if I were to summarize all of that, by saying, Love, I hope that that will not surprise you. Or in fact, I hope it surprises you, depending on where you're at in life. I hope it surprises you if you have thought of religion only in terms of obligations, you know, like in Arabic, and this had been criticized by someone like ignore him, Rahim Allah. In Arabic, they sometimes that some of the focal heart have developed obligations, take a leaf.
Take leaf, this is tech leaf, so Salah is exactly fasting is it's a cliff. And tech cliff is kind of like a burden or a task.
And he is saying that these things are not tech leaf. They're not intended to be burdens. They're in fact liberators. They are in fact when they are approached in the right mindset in the right way, are an expression of love where Allah azza wa jal is asking you to do something and you're doing it to Allah as though don't for Allah azza wa jal out of love.
So, if you've ever thought of Islam as only obligations, or you burden,
something that I have to do not that I want to do, but I have to do, I want you to rethink that or start rethinking it because if this is not why Allah azza wa jal had put this and sent it, Allah Allah did not do that. For that, just to simply burden.
Allah azza wa jal when he created, He created all this universe out of love, Allah loved for it to exist, and Allah loved the outcome. And the outcome of this universe is for Allah to put humanity and the jinn included as well and to Allah to extract from them. Their love for him, the love of humanity and the love of the jinn for Allah Zoji willingly
the scholars when they say what is a bad
you and I are Ebola a bell go rock man, Abdullah Abdullah Rama what is a by the worship
they say it is complete surrender to Allah azza wa jal
out of complete love
and they say that if one of these two are missing it is not worship anymore
and I hope that both or either surprises you and
what is the word I had a word in mind and then I lost it both surprises you and makes you happy? I had a better word but I just lost it so makes you happy it's gonna have to work for where for now. But I hope it's just delights you delighted to better I hope it delights you and surprises you
that if you just surrender to Allah azza wa jal right and you're resentful that's not a bad it's just like submitting to a tyrant you're doing His will not because you want to but because he forced you see that's not a bad uh, is there has to be willful submission to Allah willful surrender to Allah. voluntary, but voluntary based on loving him SubhanaHu wa Tada. That is what a bad it is. And some of the stuff some of the early settlers among the target in an order and what have you, when they interpreted Allah was saying in the Quran, when Mahalo to Regina, well, INSA Illyria will do and I only created
Elgin, and it's only for my eBUY therefore my worship, they interpreted that to mean what I'm set to know me and accept to love me more than anyone else.
That is Allah as though that puts you on this earth. Here Imagine yourself on this earth
and he had given you other things to love as well. had given you money had given you property, other humans yourself, other desires, good desires, bad desires, food, drink, birds, animals, he gives you a lot
A lot of things a lot of beauty around. And Allah has also put in your heart, the desire to love him subhanho wa taala. And what he wants through all of that is for you to go through this life through all of this life from infancy till death, and choose him Subhana who are to add more than you choose your spouse and your child and your money and your house and all of that.
Choose him and have him be the first and most in your heart. That is the sign of the believer. That is the video of Allah azza wa jal, the one who is close to him SubhanaHu wa Tada. The closest to Allah are those who love Allah azza wa jal more than they love anyone else.
So Allah Azza wa did when he created this earth, this universe, He created it out of love,
because He wanted it to exist, and there is benefit in its existence. And he created you and me out of love, because Allah who loved for us to exist, and Allah says that it wants the best for you and for me, and that is why Allah has the census in his book, not as a burden, not to restrict, not to complicate your in my life. But Allah as though didn't want it to tell you, here's what benefits you do it Allah loves that for you. So Salah benefits, you fasting benefits, you had general benefits you and benefits those who are around you, when you give sadaqa for the sake of Allah xojo It benefits you It purifies you and it benefits the recipients of this sadaqa it benefits everybody
who's involved in society as a whole. So Allah loves that. So he commands it. And when Allah tells you not to do something.
When Allah tells you not to do something, does he simply want to complicate your life deny you things that you like, oh,
he thinks he says you like this thing. And I know that you like this thing, but I gave you a substitute. There is this haram? Yes, you like it? I know that you like it. But there's this Hello. And do you know why I have prohibited this harm? Because it's harms you.
Because it is bad for you.
You know how a concerned parent, father or mother would say to their child, don't eat this. And I know you're like it, don't eat this, eat that. And they may scream and protest. But the parents will say because this is not good for you. And this is what is good for you.
It is never the case that your parent hates you. And they want to deny you and more so that it's never the case that Allah hates you, and he wants to deny you. But if he says there is no alcohol, you shouldn't drink alcohol. It's not that it is most beautiful drink and Allah simply doesn't want you to enjoy it because it's harms you physically and emotionally and spiritually and those around you. So Allah says this is bad for you. So don't do it. So out of his Rama, Allah azza wa jal says no.
But Allah azza wa jal wants to give you the choice,
not to restrict you, not to force you, not to compel you, but say choose or my servant, whom I have enlightened here. And here, intellectually and emotionally. I taught you, the universe around this teaching you and I've sent you my message. Now out of choice, choose me instead of that, choose me instead of your desire. Choose means to the Haram and if you are weak, I've given you the halal but be patient and strong and choose me and love me more than that. And by that, you discover the love of Allah azza wa jal and by that you win his love and buy that you achieve or you win Jenna.
So Allah azza wa jal on that journey.
He takes us through different stages in life. And throughout those different stages were young than we grow older, we grow older, we go from one job to the other, one station in life to another
that God wouldn't have thought about and on top of, as Allah, Allah says in the Quran, you're gonna go through different stages in life poor and then rich, and married, unmarried, healthy, sick, old, young. Throughout all of these things. You encounter different situations that test you educate you and enliven the love that you have for Allah azza wa jal and if you choose to love Allah azza wa jal
so
we said that we all of us are looking for love, right? Remember we said that
and remember that this was an important thing to keep in mind that all of us are looking for love
And in fact, it is a never pursuit, never ending pursuit of love.
Right? That is
when you eat right, if you've just finished your breakfast or your dinner, depending on where you are, is that it? Do you say that said, I've eaten eaten my dinner? I will never had to eat ever again. Or I've eaten my breakfast, Never again will I eat? Or will you get hungry later on, and then you'll have to eat again. And then eat again. And then eat again.
That's the same with love, by the way, except once Appala.
That is when you love one human. Yeah, you can love them.
And you may think to yourself, especially if you believe all the movies and novels and the songs, that I can find this one. Love that soulmate. That's going to be everything.
Everything that I want that is going to be so fulfilling, that I will not need anything else. After that love, ever he or she will make my life complete. That's it. Once I have this, I'll be happy. Once I have this, I'll be fulfilled. Once I have this, there will be no more pain, no more agony, no more pursuit. That's it, I will have everything. The problem is that when you have this thing, no matter what that thing is, you will find out that it is never enough just like your lunch and your dinner. It's enough for now for one hour or two. But later on you get hungry, because every other love other than Allah azza wa jal remains incomplete. No person, one single person or all of
humanity, no single object on this earth can give you everything that you want, and can answer all your questions and can fill the gap that you and I have in our hearts.
A gap that needs answers and gap that needs assurance, and only the eternal can fill that gap. And that is Allah's origin. Only the eternal, the never ending can answer those questions and give satisfaction. Because this human being that you think and give me everything, when you just grab onto them, you'll find that they're incomplete. They find that sometimes they may like you, and sometimes they may not. Sometimes they like you enough. And sometimes they don't. They don't have all the answers. They can't satisfy all your needs. So yes, Alhamdulillah if you have someone in your life, whom you love, and who love you back, thank Allah for that nema. It is definitely a NEMA.
But they're not enough.
And so that's the that's the thing with everything in life. You think that once I graduate, I'll be happy, then you graduate and you move on to something else. And graduation was not enough. Once I get this job, I'll be happy. And you get it and you discover which was not enough. Once I get once I get married, they'll be happy. And then you get married. And then what? No, that's not enough. Once I have children, once I have another child once they graduate once, and there's always that expectation that I'll get something and that thing will be enough, I'll buy something and their thing will make me happy. But once you get it, get it, you'll find that you're dissatisfied.
Except Allah Allah.
And Allah is the Greatest Love.
Allah is the Greatest Love in existence. And this is what Allah wants you to discover, through your life, and through Islam, and through Sharia, to discover that Allah is greater than any other love. And I want to tell you why Allah is greater than any other love, and why you should love Allah more than you love any other human being. First of all, think about the person that you love most in this life, I want you to actually think about it could be a parent and that parent, could be a spouse, could be a child that is right next to you could be a child that has not been born yet, but you expect that they will. And you are going to love them more than anything in this dunya
whatever love is or will be. Ask yourself, who has given or will give that love to you?
Who made it possible? Who made it possible for you to experience love, who had put in their heart, the desire to love you back? Who had kept this love alive?
If not for Allah, we would not know what love is. If not for Allah, no one would love you back
and you would not have the ability to love anybody. So if you've loved anybody, none understand that Allah gave that to you. If you love a mother or a father or a son or daughter or a son, Allah gave them to you. So Allah is the source
and the source of every love that you have and will have is Allah azza wa jal. So if you love someone, won't you love the one who gave that love to you?
And not just one love or two loves or three loves every single love around you, comes from Him subhanho wa Taala
just the ability of consciousness and that you experienced that emotion in your heart, at this particular moment is an animal from Allah azza wa jal.
So once you love Allah, more than any other love
that is why Allah Allah is the Greatest Love.
Allah is also the greatest love in our hearts and in our lives. Because ask yourself, why is it that I love people, one of the reasons that you love people is because the good that they give to you, they do to you the benefit that they bring to you, your parents give you a life, through Allah's permission.
Somebody gives you a gift, naturally you like them because of the somebody says something nice about you, they praise you, you like them, because of it.
If you really think about it, just like with the first point, every benefit had come to you from Allah has zoton
He's the one who had given you, your parents, and everything your parents gave to you they gave because of Allah azza wa jal.
He's the one who had given you those children. He is the one who has given you, your friends, he is the one who has given you everything that you love, even the food that you like the drink that you like, the ability to enjoy, and be delighted. Allah gave that to you.
Now, unlike everybody else who benefits you in this dunya everybody who benefits you, they benefit you, and they get something back from you.
Right most people most people, right, except for very few among us. And only at limited times. But all of us, all of us without an exception. When we do something, we want something back. It is impossible for us to continuously do without any expectation. But I want to love my spouse but I also want him or her to love me back. I love my kids but I also want them to love me back I want something from them. Because as a human being I have needs
who is the one who does not have needs its Allah Allah. Allah gives you and He does not want anything back from
everybody else they give but they want something back. And they're giving will be affected by the lack of reception by like they will buy, if you don't give anything that they're giving is going to be affected. They can continue to give you if you don't give them anything back.
Except Allah Atsuta
he gives you and He does not want anything back.
He said Wait, doesn't Allah azza wa jal wants stuff from me? And Zika and fasting and all of these things isn't something that Allah wants back from me. He says he doesn't want that for him. He wants that for you.
And what is Allah azza wa jal you know, what does he get when you pray?
Subhan Allah, and this is another way of thinking about salah, and I know there's another lecture, there's going to be about salah and sha Allah, I hope that you pay close attention to it.
What is Allah is Able to get from my salah, like when I'm going into Loku and sujood or what have you, in like doing Allah favor somehow. He's not asking for him.
He's asking for me, that is I am doing my salah because it helps me connect to him Subhan Allah to Allah, so it benefits me. So none of the things that Allah is asking for his he's asking for for him. So he both blesses you and asks you to do something in return to bless you as well.
So that's why the Scholars say, Everybody asks you or everybody does good things.
For you, too, in order to get something back from you did receive some benefit, which is natural, natural, right? We need that. Except Allah azza wa jal, he does not to receive but to give you he doesn't want anything from me.
So if you start thinking about the netmeds of Allah that He continuously gives, the net amount of health security, the NEMA of family the net amount of money, the net amount of consciousness and the net amount of Eman and the net amount of knowing him. And you keep thinking about all these small and big numbers. You would love Allah Zulu had given you all of these things without ever before it asked me for anything. It was non conditional. He didn't say I will only give it to you if you pray, even those who
reject Allah azza wa jal and this
Believe in Him are still being blessed. It's not a conditional on your email.
Yes, your email will bless these numbers. But even those who disbelieve in him still are alive and they still eat and they are still healthy.
So Allah as it blesses everybody, and he wants to these blessings for them to notice who is the one who had blessed and why he had blessed and why he wants to continue to bless them.
Allah azza wa jal is
the greatest love because and this is you know, it will take us time to explain it.
We love because we love another because of their attributes and qualities, when you will know that someone is honest,
has integrity. If we know someone is beautiful, or something is beautiful,
we love because of these noble qualities or beautiful qualities in a thing or a human being. Allah Azza wa Jalla has the best of attributes of quote unquote, qualities. He is the most forgiving, He is the Most Merciful, He is the Most Generous, no one is as generous as Allah has Zota No one is as forgiving as Allah azza wa jal consider a human being and Allah as it did in terms of forgiveness. You could be friends with someone, and you do one mistake, and it could be a big mistake. And it could be a really big mistake and they will never forgive you for the rest of their lives. Yet with Allah azza wa jal, you can commit the most heinous of Acts. And if you sincerely say your Allah,
forgive me, take me back, Allah takes you back. No questions asked. He just wants sincerity from you. He just wants you to feel sorry for you and make up for those mistakes that you've done. And Allah takes you back and you keep doing met one mistake after the other. And as long as Allah knows you're sincere, and you are weak, but you keep asking for forgiveness. He keeps forgiving you.
He never leaves you never abandons you, and he's never too upset to take you back. Subhana wa Tada. And in fact, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that Allah loves your repentance and repentance of a human being more than a person. And he gave the example of a person who had lost his camel and lost an honest camel. He had his food and his drink in a desert. And that person had now resolved himself that he had died, he's going to die, preparing himself lost my camel, my food, my drink, and lost now completely lost. It just resolved himself to the fact that I'm going to sit here and die. He takes a nap wakes up and he finds his camera with his food and his drink. And he says,
and he's happy and he says, Subhan Allah, He says, Yeah, Allah, I am Europe and you are my slave. He said he had made a mistake, out of extreme happiness
is that Allah is happier than that person when you repent.
And if that example, right, is that example, is difficult to relate to. Right? Consider, you know,
somebody had gone to the doctor.
And the doctor tells them unfortunately, you have terminal illness. You have about a month or two to live. That person leaves.
In a day or two, the doctor calls him back and you say, You know what? You were born misdiagnosed. In fact, you're absolutely 100% healthy.
Imagine the happiness, the new lease on life, as they say that that person has just received for the past two days he was getting ready to die. Getting his affairs in order distributing his wealth. That's it. That's it, life has ended for him. That's it, it's over for him.
And now after two days he feed finds out I don't know I have months and not months years to live now. I'm healthy. Imagine the rush of happiness that goes into his heart and body. Now imagine that Allah azza wa jal befitting his Majesty Subhanallah what the other is happier than the happiest feeling that you and I could have when we discovered that no, we're not gonna die.
This is how much Allah Azza loves it when you and I repent and come back to him Subhanallah with that, and this is how he is close to you. Because why does he love your in my repentance so much? If he does not if he's not very close to you and me
Subhanallah a lot of us
think of Islam and think of a Bader and think of Salah as do it or you'll be punished.
And by the way, fear of punishment is important, because without it will not get we're not going to walk a straight path. It is really important in a balanced relationship with Allah azza wa jal, you cannot do away with fear.
I think that you're going to have a healthy relationship with Allah azza wa jal. But what has happened is that there had become or we have experienced a shift where Salah is only about punishment, pray or be punished, pray or Allah will punish you or burn you in hell. So I'm praying to run away from something. And Salah is not only about that, and in fact, if we think about it, right, it's not and should not mostly be about that. It's about a connection with Allah azza wa jal is about loving him. Subhana wa Tada. It's about getting closest to him.
And that it was it was comfort for a sort of lice of Allahu Allah yo Salam, when you treat Salah as a burden, you want to run away from it. Because it's just it's so hard. I'm doing it because I have to not because I want to, I'm doing it because I have to, and I cannot wait till I'm done so I can do the things that I want to. So I do it as fast as I can. Okay, thinking about the things that I like while I'm doing it physically, so that I can just run away from it and do the things that I like, is because I do not understand Salah that are treated this way. For Rasulullah he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
can either has ever who Amarone
Salah he says when he would be distressed over something he prayed.
So ask yourself, just so that you will understand
the different approach to a bad and a different relationship with Allah azza wa jal when you're stressed out what do you do?
Okay, and some of these things are permissible and that's fine. But when you're stressed out, what do you do? So I go and I drink tea, I drink coffee, I go out, eat in a restaurant they call a friend.
I go and exercise
strategies right? Things that make us feel better. I plan a trip i i Go online, I buy something, it just makes me feel better. For Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam the thing that make him made him feel better is praying.
And another one famously right, when beloved was about to call the ad and he would sit at 100 Biya Villa
that was his would that would then or the karma, bring us bring us comfort through it he OB then bring us comfort through it. Yeah Billa meaning bring the solder on, so that we can be comforted. So the prophets Allah Allah Adi was in them, found his solace and found his comfort and found his peace in the Salah. And it is because he did not worship Allah as urgent Subhanallah to add as a burden, he worshipped 10 out of love. And that is why rasool Allah is Allah Allah who it was in them was Holly Lulu kalila the Helene is the closest friend, closest friend, and only two people in existence, from the time of Adam till the Day of Judgment, deserve that designation. Rasulullah
sallallahu, ala you earlier was inland and Ibrahim Alayhi Salatu was Salam. These two
so the relationship of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam with Allah azza wa jal was
what that of love
and when he was standing in Salah, right when he was standing in Salah at night, okay
and he Some say it was an obligation on him. So Allah Allah wa salam Salah to clear will lay some say it is now but the extent and the length of that Salah that had left his feet swollen up because of how long he would stand up in Salah.
He did not have to do that. And so when I showed him the Allah we're gonna ask the prophets of Allah why didn't you early he was salam.
A nice Allah Allah Allah laka Mata hunt them in them because our Medaka didn't Allah Allah will forgive you all of your sins, past and future sins. You know this is something that only rasool Allah He said Allah Allah was in them how you know on the Day of Judgment when all the prophets of Allah will be asking each other or the people will be asking the prophets of Allah come and intercede on our behalf come and intercede our behalf so that Allah can start judging on the Day of Judgment because Allah is not judging yet and people are waiting and waiting and waiting.
So when they go from one to the other one to the other one they signal Muhammad Sall Allahu Allahu alayhi wa sallam, they say in Hebrew, you know, Hamid, go to Mohammed Abdullah vafre Allahu Allah.
Manhattan Amin, then bu Ahmed Aha. He is one whom Allah had forgiven his past and future sins, meaning he is sinless. He comes to Allah azza wa jal without a sin, he's all is forgiven, no one else has that by the way.
So I should ask him, you know, such a lengthy a burden that is affecting you physically in this manner, and Allah had forgiven you all of your sins like that. Why do you pray so much then? And for so Allah is Allah he was in them, he said, a fella called or Abdun ship or shall I not be a thankful servant? So he wasn't praying out of fear, I want you to, you know, keep that in mind is not that he was not afraid or in Allah azza wa jal, absolutely he is an everybody is and everybody should be. But the length of that a god and the devotion of that a better he wasn't running away from a sin because all of that were forgiven. He was doing it for Allah.
Because of ALLAH because ALLAH deserves it. Because the more he does it, the better he feels. So Allahu alayhi wa sallam, the closer he gets to Allah, and the more joy that he feels, as he gets closer to Allah, so he does not want to get rid of that he doesn't want to let go of it. So he keeps spraying and he kept spraying and that the better become sweet.
That a better becomes joy, joyful,
than a better second, something that you look forward to.
Because the more that you do it, the closer you are to you feel to him, Subhan Allah to Allah and you when you feel Allah is close to you, you feel at peace, you're not at loss, you're not anxious, you're not looking the love of Allah azza wa jal has entered the heart and when the love of Allah enters the heart, as the Dhikr of allah does talk to me in Norco lube Allah biddick Rila he taught in Colombia, as Allah says in the Quran, to the remembrance of Allah azza wa jal, the hearts settle.
As if, as if Subhanallah Imagine your heart as a ship, right? Okay, turning left and turning right.
As as the sales as it go through the waves, there's uncertainty of the sea, until the anchor, which is what the vicar of Allah and the love of Allah comes, and it stabilizes it and it settles down, and it's not anxious anymore, and it's not disturbed anymore, and it's at peace.
And that is what Allah Azza did wants us to feel.
I had more Subhanallah to say, but I mean, I know I'm only supposed to speak for 40 minutes.
Let me just quickly, just go through this in sha Allah, we can leave more time for kind of the interactive sessions in sha Allah.
Allah as noted is there wherever you need him. And that is not something that we can say about all of humanity. But Allah zodia Is there wherever you need him, and it's there to completely satisfy all of our needs. And for that Allah Azza deserves our love. Why is it that we need Allah's love because if we don't have it, we can never be happy.
And if you have it, even if you lost another loves Allah xojo will keep you happy. So the basis of happiness in this life is finding the love of Allah. And the basis of misery in this life is losing the love of Allah azza wa jal even even tried to accumulate other loves, there will never be enough will met never measure up to the love that Allah can give you and the answers and satisfaction that Allah azza wa jal can view.
When you have the love of Allah, a bar that can become a pleasure
can become can transform into something you look forward to, rather than something that someone has to remind you that you need to do. You'll be reminding yourself and others Hey, Salah is coming. There is the then there is Ramadan, there is Hajj there is Amara because when you do it, you feel it. Anyone you feel it, you're close to Allah azza wa jal and you want that feeling, and you miss that feeling when it's not there. So you want that evader to keep you close to Allah azza wa jal right
this point when shall I will leave it to this discussion.
Now I'm in sha Allah and then we'll talk in shall end discussion about how we can get more of Allah's love in sha Allah and then about pain and suffering and all of that. We'll leave that in sha Allah to the interactive session in sha Allah. But I hope I asked Allah as I've done that I've been able at least to present a glimpse of what it means to love Allah azza wa jal, and I'm open sha Allah be able to do more as we answer your questions in sha Allah, Baraka malefic.
I cannot hear you.
Oh, sorry about that. Does that Kamala Hi Ron
Welcome back to coffee calm, color fake. Dr. Ali, thank you for enlightening us on the topic of journey of love to Allah. And first of all we'd like on the behalf of the team, we like to greet you and our salon. Thank you for making time for us for this convention, the awakening convention, Baraka Luffy it's always good to see you barnacle Luffy Zack likewise Alhamdulillah Hamdulillah I believe it's almost 11pm where you are right now, isn't it? Yes, yes, yes, exactly. Why Shala Washa, Elijah Kula Iron Chef.
Che Masha Allah, thank you very much for enlightening on the topic of our journey of love to Allah. I think one one very striking point that was sometimes we tend to forget about the, how Allah loves us is that everything in our lives, everything good in our lives, all the love that people around us, gave us whether it's our parents, our teachers, our friends, our siblings, those that that all of that love was a result of Allah loving us, because Allah was the one who put those people in our lives in the first place. And I think we tend to forget that. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I think we just we focus on all the negative things in our lives. Because we've got grown grown, kind of
used to all the good things, right. As long as we're healthy, we don't think Allah has a good for our health as long as we have friends. But we noticed the loss of notice when I got sick when
I noticed when I lose a parent and so you just highlight and exaggerate that loss, right? Get the fact that for such a long time have been enjoying their company. Allah had been blessing me with so much in my life and then as soon as they just experienced loss, what I experienced loss I'm at loss trying to understand why it happened. But Subhanallah if I even
look at it with a within the right lens or with the right lens, I'll understand that even that loss itself has in it and is in a sign of Allah's love also. Even right is a sign of Allah's love I did as difficult as it may look, or difficult to understand. It is also a sign of Allah, masha Allah, as you were sharing this, something crossed my mind people like to use this language and say, What have I done to deserve this when a calamity strikes? But I was thinking about when you look at it from the perspective of blessings, right? Wouldn't it be great if we use that same same sentence? When it comes to blessings, we will look at the great things in our lives like what have I done to deserve
this because we never ask Allah for these things. Give it to us. I'll give you a nice parent. I'll give you a nice food. I'll give you a nice clothing. And so how do I use that sentence in that context? Like, Oh, what have I done to deserve this one? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. You're right, you're right, you're spot on. Because we don't really ask ourselves. Why did we what did I do to deserve all of these good things? Absolutely. Right. And we don't even thank Allah for them. We don't even acknowledge we're not even aware. But we just received them as granted as if this is a rite of mine, that I should have all of these things, forgetting that there are a lot of other
people who don't have them yet as somebody that I enjoy them, but somehow I feel that I deserve it, forgetting that it's not a right. It's actually something that Allah blesses people with. And so
and there's another point Subhanallah I mean, we there's a kind of a self righteousness to us sometimes when we ask why do I deserve this right as if I haven't done anything wrong right to deserve
whereas in fact, the right attitude of a Muslim should be come on I mean, we all know how bad we are right? Know how many bad things we do almost every single day. And if Allah azza wa jal you know were to actually you know, hold us responsible for it. He would wipe us out completely right he would wipe us out, but Allah mercy you it was that way if one Kathy, okay, as Allah says, unis panel if Allah were to hold us responsible, what are you asking Allah Who and NASA behind me him? Metallica, Allah hurry me there. But if Allah were to hold us responsible, as Allah says in the Quran, for our injustice, he would not leave anything alive on this earth.
So hon Allah okay. But Allah says but he forgives a lot Allah forgives a lot. So if something bad happens to us, right yeah, I mean we did a lot of bad things so so let's thank Allah as though just that it wasn't even worse right? Wasn't even worse than Allah was so merciful with us. And Hamdulillah I continues to be merciful as Masha Allah, masha Hamdulillah.
So she, we got some feedback from the participants, right. So one of the things that they say is like, I want to know everything about Allah. So they have this kind of excitement, right? So but perhaps maybe you can advise some tips, right? How do we begin this? How do we even start this journey to
To begin to know Allah better, yes and hamdulillah it hamdulillah if someone wants to know as much as they want to know about Allah azza wa jal, it's wonderful. But one is one, understand also that it's a process, you're not actually look Albina in a relevant story experience, just know everything that you're going to know. Once you learn, right, you have to learn and you have to put the effort, and you have to conquer your desire and conquer your own ignorance, right? So that's the first thing, understand that it's a process and be ready for it. You know,
you know, as as Allah Azza Geosystems prophets have a lot he was sitting them, what a halo two Halo like I mean, and all that and one interpretations of it is that the more that you've progressed in life, the better you will be.
So when Halo two meaning the hereafter, that's one interpretation, the Hereafter is better for the dunya. For you. That's one interpretation. But what it says here, it means the more that you progress in life, the better that you will be. So the prophets will a lot he was in them towards the end of his life is better than the prophets a lot. He was in them compared to the beginning of his revelation, because he had learned more and he has done more and got closer to Allah as the origin more so understand that it's a process. So it's actually the literal word of Africa as opposed to here after a thorough interpretation.
Exactly. So be ready for it be ready that it's a struggle, be ready that is going to happen every single day, every single Ramadan every single year. So that's one thing. How do we get to know Allah azza wa jal, what is the best way is through what he said, Subhana Horta, you're not going to know that Allah better than what he had said in the Quran, right? You need to listen to Allah in the Quran, and not just read the Quran for baraka and we know that there's Baraka in the Quran. There's Baraka, but if we're just sitting and using the Quran in gatherings where we just sit reading it for dead people or you know, on special occasions that said, that's our connection to the Quran, you're
not going to know Allah azza wa jal like that we need to experience the Quran, experience and live it. So read and understand and contemplate and ponder and translate into your life. That's how we will get to know Allah azza wa jal from Allah Himself. And then from the Prophet sal Allahu Allahu alayhi wa sallam knowing it from the Sunnah. So listen to Rasulullah sallallahu sallam, what did he say about Allah? What did he say about his names and attributes about what Allah loves? But what Allah hates? How about how you get glows close to him? How did he SallAllahu Sallam got close to Allah? Notice it right? Because you're following his footsteps. You're not following anything new.
He already had walked that path. So just follow his path. And the path of his Sahaba, who noticed the Prophet and imitated and taught His way is if you do that, you do that and you're patient, you will get to know Allah azza wa jal, better in sha Allah. So we have to stress both knowledge. And then the application of this knowledge and knowledge that is pure, coming from the book of Allah and the Sunnah was prophets of Allah, it was taken for action and implementation as a living knowledge in sha Allah.
Allah, Allah feature.
So I was wondering on this point about names and attributes of Allah, as widely known that there's a hadith, Allah has 99 names, whoever memorizes them knows them, then he is forgiven, if I quoted that correctly.
So sometimes what happens is people feel like I don't really know all the names. So there's this feeling of guilt. And is this guilt sometimes a trickery of Shaitan says, Oh, you don't really know Allah. So it's trying to prevent you into becoming a better Muslim and so on. Is that one potential disease that's happening around us? Well, I mean, it's for sure that the more that you know the names of Allah azza wa jal, and you know what they mean? The more that you will know Allah, just like when you meet a person, let's say I mean and and a comparison is incomplete but just for sake of clarification, when you meet someone and you know, their name, and their father's name and their
grandfather's name and where they come from, and their profession and all of that, all of these things describe different aspects of their life right.
Because because you know, different parts of their life. So 2019 method Allah Allah you know, is above comparisons, Allah azza wa jal, right when you know Allah has zodion as a Rahman and then you know as Kareem and the gnome as it will have, and you know, as Al Kawi and you know him as an as an each one has a different aspect and a different, let's call it flavor or a meaning what? Meaning that you know, the better that you will know Allah azza wa jal, and in fact, the scholars have said, one of the gates and botica lofi, Kunal for bringing this up. One
of the gates that open the love of Allah are the names of Allah and the attributes of Allah. Because when you know that Allah is the One who I'll call him, the one who's close, because a lot of people may complain Allah as distant, Allah is distant. But if you know that Allah is Allah curried, meaning as soon as you speak, he hears you. And before you speak, he knows what you're going to say. And he answers your DUA, you know,
and he cares about it. Subhanallah just a couple of days ago, there was the famous Hadith where the Prophet sallallaahu Salam was was praying at night, and he was praying for his own man, he was saying Almighty Almighty, my ummah, my ummah, and then Allah has devoted since Gibreel. And he said unto the Prophet, sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and he says, Ask him and he knows and he says, ask him, Why is he crying? And you will ask him, Why are you crying? Oh Mohamed Salah audio salami says My Ummah, my ummah. So he says to Gibreel he says in some of the coffee or mitico and and so he says, we're going to make you happy when it comes to your Oma. And we're not going to sad and you
just look at that interaction with the prophets of Allah Azza wa salam, is that an image of a God that does not care?
The profit crying, so there's the end, the profit is crying over you and me. Right? Right. Right. It's like It's like your mother who is absent and is sitting what happened to my son, what will happen to my son is sitting in crying over and you and me, right? We may not cry over our parents or our children as a prophet Allison was crying over us our our fate in the Hereafter. And is it the image of a God who is absent or doesn't care who sends debrief to Mohamed Salah he was sending them to ask him Why are you crying? And then satisfies him because he was crying? And he Subhanallah It's
mind boggling how he loved Mohamed Salah it was a no seriously, you only the prophets for changing of the for the Qibla he would just in the image Subhanallah he would just look at the sky like this. Right? And then Allah says another article about when she Kofi sama. He says we will see you at the sky.
It's like it's really deep man because he says we see you're looking at the sky like this. Who is he looking at? Right? Yeah, who is he looking at? And Allah sees it right? So
this is how you love Mohamed Salah Ali, you and you are similar. And this is the love that is available to all of us right?
It's Pamela share he just mentioned to Hadith about how the prophets of salaam love this ummah, that just knowing this by itself already adds a dimension of gratitude and love to Allah. We haven't even talked about names and attributes of Allah that were even even greater than that. So I think these are very good practical tips. And I think what I gather from this as well is that I think like for example, the ayah you mentioned Honorata Calabogie he Kofi sama sometimes we recite it without looking at this perspective without looking at the perspective of love. Like you said, Okay mashallah we recite for Baraka, which you will get Inshallah, but that that double that aspect that
Allah is so concerned of his slave And subhanAllah that's, that's just amazing chef. Allah. I mean, this is why when we're reading the Quran, there is that layer of love in it, that we miss, right? Because we just want to finish the surah we want to just focus on we're just focusing on what does this word mean? What does that word mean? But once you understand the meaning of the ayah, then just feel that the prophets Allah syndrome was sitting there, and the emotions that are involved in all of this and the promises of Allah azza wa jal, and all of that all of all of that there are a lot of emotions in the Quran, there are a lot of emotions in it. And it's waiting for us to discover them
and shine a light ask Allah to help us do that. I mean, I mean, Allahu Akbar. Okay, so now we're talking about obstacles. So we know this idea about love to Allah we want to do our best to earn Allah's love and sha Allah or sometimes we know different periods of our lives we do feel this love but there's this thing share our addictions to sins a lot of our participants are sharing that they are facing the struggles and you know that they have these desires and you know, sometimes is a case where you know, something is clearly haram and yet you still tend to follow fall into it even in Ramadan when by right you know, the Shire being locked up. But so how do we fight this addiction?
And how do we reconcile that with our love to Allah? Right, right. And it's actually it is it is closely related to the topic of love. Because at that moment when we are doing something,
we're committing a sin. We're doing it at that particular moment because we love it more than we love Allah azza wa jal at that particular Subhanallah Alright, that we've lost sight of Allah's love. And we're doing that because we like it we favorite more than Allah azza wa jal had that moment the love of Allah been strong.
We would not be doing these things, because we would not risk ever risk upsetting the one that we love.
I mean, I can just a mother or a father just again, for comparison so that we understand this, and you will love them so much. And they tell you, if you love me, don't do this thing.
Don't do this thing. If your love for them is strong, you'll never come close to it, you'll never touch it. And you'll never even think about it. Because the moment you want to think about it, you'll think about the love that you have for them, and how much you want to honor them. So that thing becomes so hateful for you, that you will never leave it you will leave it you'll never come close to it. And even if you have a desire for it, right, even if you feel that you want to do it, they'll say I will never risk upsetting them.
So is it how do we break the chains of addiction? Of course, there's an aspect to it about habits and conquering our habits and replacing them with better habits, but related to the topic of love.
Increase your love for Allah azza wa jal because if you just say, here's this sin that I love, and I'm addicted to and I cannot leave. Well of course you cannot leave until another love bigger than that synth comes and replaces, it takes its place
it with it. Right and must compete with it. So what else are you going to do that is going to compete with the love of that sin knocks it away. It has to be the love of Allah. So increase your Ibadah and increase your devotion and increase your Quran and increase your DUA and be patient and keep making dua for the love of Allah and against that sin for the love of Allah and against that sin and keep making a daily, daily right, if that sin is an addict and a sense that we're addicted to just like an illness, you take your medicine every day.
And slowly in sha Allah that
the sin or that illness decreases, decreases right shrinks until being in that when Allah decides it completely goes away. But it has to be every single day, every single day. There's a dua against that sin every single day in your Salah here Allah saved me from that sin Yeah, Allah See, make it kind of like your mission.
Into Ramadan. Insha Allah you see my mission in sha Allah, every single day of Ramadan and night I'm making dua against that sin making against that sin. That isn't the only reason or almost the only drug I'm going to make.
But making the main dua make it the main dua against that sin be the LA xojo if we are sincere and we continue to do it by the end of Ramadan, Inshallah, we'll see something we'll see a result, okay. And if our sin is kind of strong and entrenched, maybe it will take a couple of Ramadan, maybe it will take a year, right. But it will end Inshallah, it will end, just never give up and keep making that DUA and increase the dose of love of Allah in our lives. Because that's the only way that we can hold on to something and say, for his sake, I'll say no to this.
Why isn't the impossible.
So there's a very practical side to it. If you love somebody, and the more you continuously disobey, you're going to have this thing called cognitive dissonance, isn't it? This feeling like I love this, but I do it more. So that guilt is gonna go more and more. So as long as you're on this path to get closer to Allah that's going to motivate you to quit. I think this is a I've heard this feedback shift from one of the youth camps that we organized before. We advised this brother to start praying and he says, you know, I'm drinking alcohol. I'm doing Zina. And I feel like I don't want to pray because I'm so guilty. I don't deserve to pray. So this is sometime goes in people's
thoughts that so this is this is like a deception from shaitan isn't likely to say that oh, you're useless guy. I don't know why why do you even want to bother to pray, when in fact that is the key or isn't it so? Absolutely. Because that's the ultimate ultimate plan for the Shavon is to make you desperate of Allah's forgiveness, hopeless. And if you're hopeless, you will never ask you will never pray and you will doomed because of it. But as long as you keep asking Allah for forgiveness, Allah will keep forgiving you doesn't matter what you've done or will continue to do as long as you keep asking Allah for forgiveness. So that is the rope of safety that we have to sing for Allah and
to repent, no matter what and how we are defeated. But it keeps asking Allah for forgiveness and never give up and make do keep making dua. Even if I'm the weakest human being right. At least I'm not so weak as to not make dua and ask Allah right. i Please i can do this. And if I can do this, it will introduce a change into my life in sha Allah, masha Allah. And the point about habits which you said is actually very important because the tactics, the tactics of how you quit the habit is one thing but what's going to move
You get used to even want to even start. Exactly. It's the why in the first place, which is what we want to enforce with our loved Allah. Exactly, exactly.
Okay, so that's another question that from our from our audiences as well.
Now, we know that when Allah loves us, He tests us. So how do we reconcile that with for example, how do we know if it's out of Allah's love? Or is out of Allah's punishment to us? Is that some sort of indicator that Allah loves me? Or is it I just have to sort of interpreted to myself,
right, right. So I mean, it's an it's a multi layered question really this one like how do I know that Allah azza wa jal loves me?
By the fact that Allah azza wa jal had guided you to Islam, that's an indication of love, by the fact that Allah azza wa jal had inspired you to ask these questions. That's an indication of love,
that Allah can afflict you and test you.
And that is spurring you to question what have I done wrong in my life and how can I improve? That is, that is a sign of Allah's love. There is a kind of escape misguided notion or claim of Allah's love those who claim it and do nothing to please Allah azza wa jal and feel entitled because of it, right? According to the WHO DO one ASAN Howard, no, Allahu Akbar. All right. So the people of the book, they will say, We are the loved ones of Allah and His children, you know, without doing anything, just the baby being entitled that we receive this message and we are eternally perennially them children of Allah azza wa jal, we just deserve it just by the fact that we're born this way.
That is a kind of a wrong notion of the love of Allah as though Allah is not just simply going to love you because you were somehow born Muslim and you live whatever way you want. believe whatever way you want and do whatever you want, like, No one deserves it or receive the love of Allah like that. You need to do something, right. You need to earn it, you need to reach it, you need to win it, you need to realize it.
So that is kind of one answer to one aspect of your question that you've asked, How do I know if Allah loves me or not?
There are signs but at the same time, we don't want to be too arrogant about it. I have to do something right. prove and demonstrate that Allah azza wa jal actually loves me or that I love Allah azza wa jal all In Kuntum to hipbone, Allah has said to me, only you have been Kamala when they came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the people of the book and they said, We love Allah. We love God. Right? So it's a simple thing anybody can say we love God. So Allah azza wa jal, as they say, this is a tool in the hand, as the scholars have said, This is the proof, I have proof. If you love Allah, then follow me. And Allah will love you. So it's not a big claim without proof, and a
claim that requires proof to it, and is one of the most noblest of claims when you say I love Allah. And if you say, I love Allah, then how did that change you? How does it affect you? So that's that's an important part in sha Allah to keep in mind, going back to testing and affliction.
There is definitely a difference between being tested for as a reminder and being tested as a punishment. To be being tested as a punishment is for an Allah has voted, wants to destroy a nation.
When A is one is rebellious against Allah zodion heedless of ALLAH
turns against him in all sorts of sins and rebellion, rebellion lessness. That is the one who's being punished ad and the mood and feel alone. And people were killed in the Battle of whether these are the people who died at disbelieving and they were punished. Right? But if Allah has voted as a Muslim, right, since you something that you hate or takes something away from you that you love, he's doing it to remind you, if he wanted to punish you, he'll just wipe you off the face of this earth.
It'll just take you away if that's the punishment, but it is something that Allah Azzam is sending, causing you to question and to revisit and reevaluate. That is a reason of love or a sign of love. Allah wants to wake you up. Allah wants to take away your sins, Allah azza wa jal wants to elevate you.
So it's a sign of Allah's love. And this is why I say, no matter what Allah says, sends your way. It is a sign of love, because either he says a blessing and a blessing is out of His mercy and Rama or he tests you with a hardship and the hardship in itself is a hammer because Allah wants
To save you from something
he wants to save you from yourself, either from your arrogance or stinginess or heedlessness or blindness. So you have to be a walk awakened up, right? Just again, if you think about a doctor who is operating on you, and he operates on you to save you, right? So the pain is a byproduct of saving you. Otherwise he wouldn't use a big knife and cut you open. Isn't that the Right? Right? So there is pain, but that agony through that agony, you'll discover a deeper meaning to life than the one that you've been used to.
If you simply write, being fed, and you, you drink and you're happy, and you have money, you will be spoiled.
Recognize even recognize Allah as NEMA because he has not experienced loss. You're not going to learn compassion. You're not going to learn control, yet have patience, controlling your anger, you're not going to look at the hereafter because you're sad are so satisfied with this life. You'd be an ignorant person without that test, the test comes and the test shatters the illusion of this life, that it's forever.
Why something greater that is waiting for you when you pass on to the next life. And you'll learn compassion and you'll learn that you can live without these things. And you'll want to ask Allah for what you want not to rely on money and wealth and friends, but rely on Allah. There's so many benefits when Allah tests you.
So it's just like a piece of coal that gets you know squeezed right? Under intense pressure until a diamond right? develops. And so Allah azza wa jal puts us under this test, not going to break in sha Allah we're not going to break but he puts us into that test so that the diamond within us can appear then yeah, I think a good companion to that to remind us is that Allah will not test us more than what we can ban Allah knows what we can I will limits x Absolutely, absolutely. So when somebody says I can take this right this is too much for me. It is too much only because you did not ask Allah for help.
You're trying to carry this all on your own. And if you try Yeah, we will collapse but if you just turn to Allah and you say yeah Allah this is this is hard on me helped me and he immediately inshallah you find that some of that weight had been lifted.
Usually just ask Allah Allah, this is hard on me. Just take it away. Some of that weight will just feel comfortable just saying, Just say it. Anybody right is listening. And they have that just says, Yeah, Allah, this is too hard on me, helped me with it, and say it from your heart. And some of that way too, will go away. Just because you asked Allah azza wa jal for right. This is what this is one of the blessings of Islam that sometimes people kind of forget the fact that Allah Allah Cooley, shaitan, perdere, over all things, and Allah knows what's in your hearts. Allah knows what you're capable of Allah is more merciful than than your own mother to you. That that brings a lot of
comfort. I mean, you oppose it to somebody who doesn't have Allah doesn't have religion. They can't they can't bring this chef.
Why is this happening? Absolutely. And that's you have to appreciate that Allah have that NEMA that you have, that you have this foundation, no matter what happens to you, you can go back to it and you can feel better, and you can have direction in life. Whereas someone who doesn't have this, I seriously do not know how they live without all of that information. Without that that conviction, I don't know without the EMA How can you live in process life? And I mean, this all I mean, I don't know how I mean, mashallah chef on a lighter note, as well, example that you give, so you need to institute some sort of a light pain for the greater the greater benefit, the better, the better, the
better in the overall long run, right? So we see this all the time in how we raise our children, right? If they had it their way, they're gonna, they're gonna have ice cream all day, they're gonna have the screen times all day. They're not going to brush their teeth. They don't want to take a bath. You do so of course, they're gonna scream, you're gonna have to go through some challenges, but you're not doing it because you hit them. Yeah, is you because you love them. And when they are older, then they start to realize, Oh, I'm so happy Hamdulillah that my mom did that to me. That
Allah
Subhan Allah and that's a perfect example. Because Allah azza wa jal puts us through that experience that you described, to understand his experience with us.
You know, you and I, for instance, we go through these experiences in life, so that you'll understand that when Allah says, Don't do out of love, and
you say, Well, I did the same with my child. And I, because Allah is asking me to do the same thing.
Subhan Allah, actually, did this reflect that journey on us growing up, we look back at it.
How are parents did certain things like Alhamdulillah I'm so grateful for that. This tells us the importance of knowledge and wisdom. So the more you learn about the deen the more you learn about Allah's attributes, the more you can reconcile what's happened in your life, and then you start to be thankful for maybe it was something that Allah prevented you from scenes, but we didn't see at a time where like, so frustrated, we didn't get what we want isn't exactly 100 And unless, as you said, the benefit of knowledge, and then realizing that you don't know everything, in fact, we know so very little,
the little that we know we forget and we're biased and we've short sighted. So that pause right when something happens that you don't understand and you know, ask Allah for, you know, to enlighten you for insight, so that you can understand what is happening and if you don't understand it now to give you the wisdom to delay, right, the you know, to be okay with a delayed answer, until you know, you can find the answer later because not all the answers are available right now. But you could just Allah Zota that later on. I'll find the answer to my question. Masha Allah, Masha Allah. Okay, so we move on to the last two questions before we move on to the pigeonhole questions that were submitted
throughout the talk in sha Allah.
So one of the questions is about the context that we're living in right now. There's just so much fit and especially from this whole Coronavirus thing, everyone's relying on their phones in that phone is this I call it the weapon of mass distraction.
And MESFET and as well, it's so easy to access URL is muscular these days, Ohana? And this is what happens in our context today. Like how do we observe that people are struggling to observe all these halal and haram? Because things have been just so normalized these days? People are confused what's right, what's wrong? And so maybe can you can you advise how we can navigate through all these different challenges in light of the topic that we spoke about shower? Now in sha Allah?
Of course, I mean,
the normalization of sin where sin is everywhere, right? And it's to the extent where we don't notice that it's a sin anymore. It's just become a part of our life part of our routine, daily routine. I'm doing this looking at that talking about these things. I don't even notice how they're affecting my Iman. Right. And so a lot of us are suffering today in terms of Eman like if conviction lack lack of your theme, because of the corrupting influences of all of these things, as they are in the palm of our hands. They're right there and we can access the world through them, good and bad. And a lot of times it's unfortunately more bad than good, more distraction than benefit. So in terms
of the love of Allah azza wa jal, specifically, a person who wants to love Allah or lives a life focused on the love of Allah azza wa jal will be sensitive to the
anything that will detract from it and distract from him. That is, when they wake up when they go to sleep when they're doing. They're trying their best every single day to be closer to him. Subhanallah with the island, and because of that, they will notice the impediment the pollution that can enter their heart and distance them from Allah. They feel it, they feel it in terms of agitation, they wake up and you'll feel right. Right? Your heart is not doing well, their mood, right? They're in a bad mood throughout the day. So why are we why are we in bad moods, a lot of the time we're lazy and lethargic, not in the mood. My Eman is low. I don't want to talk to anybody. I
just want to be alone and feeling depressed down. It's because of that influx of all of these contaminations, and a lot of them are sinful, a lot of them are sinful.
So a person who focuses on their heart and on the love of Allah as the devil will start saying no to these things. No, because some of them are sins. And no, because some of them are simply distractions. If I go this, if I study or if I read this, or if I listen to that, it will take me away from Allah azza wa jal, and it will disturb my home I have taught myself about my life, about my family by my kids about so I don't want that I don't need that
small sin, right, every small sin.
You know, as as Allah says, Let me I'm going to unmute xedi, whoever does a sin will be punished for it. So what does that mean? He says that every small thing that you're going to encounter has a price as a price in terms of a bad mood price of missing a good deed because of a sin that I just did, feeling a distance from Allah oxygen, missing the sweetness of Salah, being unable to concentrate in it
to make dua because of these things. So if I'm noticing that I'm unhappy with my life, I'm unhappy with its direction. Let's go back and
Here's how I spend my time. What are the things in it that may upset Allah? So let's start eliminating, eliminating those. And some, because I need substitutes all the time, I'm not doing this, let me do something else instead, if I'm not reading this, let me read something else instead. So I'm not reading, gossip, I'm reading beneficial articles and shallow or Quran or Hadith or whatever, right? I'm not listening to backbiting and listening to something useful, scientific or a lecture or whatever it is even use analysis, but it's something that is beneficial. So if I started eliminating the sinful and the wasteful for my life, I'll be more sensitive to sin. And I've noticed
it and it will feel bitter, and it will feel odd. And one of the experiences I know that it can have, but it's what like one of the salient experiences that I remember, especially when doing it decaf
and ethical if you're in the masjid right. And you're like almost 24/7 in Salah you know,
disconnected from the world around you. You're not looking at your phone, you're trying your best not to watch this not to watch this not to watch that when you leave the masjid right. The way that you experience the world again that billboards right the TV that it's very odd up
is this appellate law is wrong.
20 days before this, this was normal.
State in the message with the Quran with the T calf with do with this, when you come out these sins right are more prominent and more distasteful because of it. He say, I used to watch this. I used to look at this, this is wrong. This because I'm this myself from those bad things. And I've inhabited or enlivened my life with a more a better
connection to Allah. So my Eman grew because of it. And because my Eman grew, I became
unimpressed let's call it or upset with all of these.
So it's almost like it reshaped your reality, isn't it? Exactly, exactly. So I think we can do this. I mean, we can use Ramadan for that. But we can transform the rest of our lives. If you find that there is something that is wrong, cut it off, cut it off, and move to something else in sha Allah and B nila, there's a period of withdrawal and adjustment that will be difficult. But in sha Allah, just like in the beginning of EtherCAT, it's going to be difficult, but the payoff is great in SHA, SHA Allah. Let me share just to share some personal experience about this topic. I relate to this, I used to growing up my youth, I used to be a real movie geek. I used to watch TV series and into
music. And it's true. I like what you said like they don't feel the sweetness of Salah. And one of the reasons is this, this happened for many years, when you pray those, you know that those tunes are in your head, you know? And then what happens? You know, TV series like Chef, they always end in this cliffhangers. Right? So you're wondering which character or who's the bad guy, all these goes in your head.
When you're in that moment shift like you don't realize it's taking away from your show. And so even when it comes to the series, which are they not made, maybe they're less haram than others, it's difficult to see where there's there's zero haram altogether. But even those series like Shetty, it really crawls it gets to your head, and you think about it, like more or less.
I think even when it comes to Halal things so I think what I think you have highlighted something very important, which is we need to be aware of our own limitations and our own vulnerabilities. And for example, when it even when it comes to watching news share things, which will look very neutral. Maybe you want to learn some updates on politics or world events. But this can can create a lot of frustration. Some people the more news they watch, the more bitter the more sarcastic, the more unpleasant they become. So if you know yourself, stay, stay away from this right now. So I have been in the Las Vegas just like a diet. It's just like food. If you're eating food that is making you
sick realize that it's making you sick and stop eating it. So realize for instance, and what you said about news is 100% true. I realized that when myself I'm reading news and it's making me as you said, more anxious and I'm making me less trusting of Allah azza wa jal and it's making me upset and it's making me resentful. And I realized that I don't need all that information right? I can do something better inshallah with my time then all of this kind of seemingly important information, but ultimately, I'm not really doing anything with it. It's just harming me. So realize what it's doing to you realize that that diet is not good for you and me, stop eating it and consume something
else insha Allah and that requires awareness and again, Ramadan can give us that awareness because Ramadan breaks habits right.
It can allow you to revisit a lot of your
habits in mind right right Mashallah. It's funny you say that I just recall you know how we have this thing called water cooler talk chef and Ramadan there's there's no water cooler right?
Okay, is that shift? I think we have to move on to the final segment of our discussion, which is we're just going to address the questions that our participants shared over the pigeonhole, inshallah.
So the first question is, okay, a person feels that that person's Iman is going down and is depleting. How are we supposed to pick ourselves up here? Maybe this can happen after Ramadan? So how do we sustain this sort of highperformance insha? Allah? So I mean, let's figure out why the Eman is depleting. So if there's a reason that some of us are experiencing this drop of iman, because we have an issue and a problem, and that problem is not being solved. And it's we're trying to solve it, we're making the art. And there are issues with that that could be it, or that we're just simply drifting away from Allah as origin. So first of all, we have to realize the cause of it.
Right.
Second of all,
we have to realize also that Eman is not about what I'm going through in life or not. What about loss or gain in life or not? Eman is my existence. And if this is my whole thing in life, it's not about me. It's not about if I graduated, if I got married, if I got kids, like all of these, Allah does not ask you about any of these things. You know, subhanAllah people ask you about these things. Where did you graduate from? How many kids you have? When did you get married? They ask you about all of these investment. People care about surprises and SubhanAllah. You know, Allah doesn't ask you about any of these things, right?
None of them. He just asked you about your iman. So your only task in life is email is not about it's not about your job. It's not about being successful in business. None about this, your whole task in life is email. So you can't say that I'm losing my email. You just have to make it your number one priority in sha Allah because this is your job. If you fail at it, you fail at everything.
And if you succeed in this, you've succeeded in everything.
What can I do is a you have to try and you have to strive and you have to ask Allah azza wa jal, just like when you want to get a job, you try your best to get it. When you want to get married, you try your best to get it. When you want to get kids you try your best to get them because you want them
want this EMA you have to try your best. So take care of your Ibera take care of your Salah, stay away from the Haram as much as you can. Because it is hard for you to love Allah and to find that sweetness of a Buddha while doing things that upset Allah
about these things,
as Allah azza wa jal be in the houses of Allah wetware I mean, if it is safe, where we are being the houses of Allah azza wa jal, listen to lectures, learn your religion, and practice it. Right and insist on learning and doing it every day and practicing it every day. Then your email in sha Allah will increase if there are specific reasons that are pleading your email and then those have to be addressed. Right. And then sometimes an adjustment in attitude is needed, so that you understand that Allah is not afflicting you because he hates you. But in fact, the longer the affliction, the longer that Allah azza wa jal wants to bring you closer to him. Just remember that one can save you
in a moment, can take away your pain in a moment
to hear your voice. Allah wants to hear your DUA Allah wants you to be close to him. Allah does not care. I mean, Allah does not want to punish you. Allah doesn't want to take away from you. This has nothing to Allah Allah. But Allah azza wa jal is is having you go through this experience, because you need it. And because you need Allah azza wa jal so if you think about it, you actually need it. You need this pain, right? This thing, we need this pain. You need this pain right? Then you realize that Allah has the origin wants the best for you just go with Allah's plan. Now your plan, go with Allah's plan, because Allah knows he's taking you. Allah knows where He's taking you. So trust Allah
and trust his plan. He will give you what you need at the right time. Just trust him. And when you give yourself to Allah like that, then it doesn't matter right? It doesn't matter whatever whatever you've lost because you have Allah azza wa jal
mashallah,
yeah
so inshallah what I'm going to say inshallah identify the reason but also keep working on your Eman and in sha Allah you'll get it back in sha Allah, masha Allah, I love the point you said that Allah can can take away that difficulty