Ali Albarghouthi – The Disease and the Cure #26 Sin Empowers Shaytan to Harm You
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the consequences of sin and the importance of protecting oneself and avoiding bad behavior. They emphasize the need to be mindful of one's actions and not let fear control one's life. The speaker gives advice on changing one's behavior and finding one's true value, emphasizing the importance of following guidance and boundaries for personal success and personal development.
AI: Summary ©
Well, take your time, Sean. There's no rush,
Sean.
So Ibn Qayyim Rahimullah
continued
with the consequences of sin.
And remember we've talked about how sin deprives
you of barakah.
Right.
And how also
sin,
demotes you,
whereas you are supposed to be moving
up to Allah's zawjal. It demotes you and
everything that follows that.
So today, insha'Allah,
he continued by saying, and it's both of
the
chapters of today
are about
the weakness
that sin will bring
to a person
and how defenseless a person becomes because of
it. Right?
So the first chapter for today,
Says from its consequences is that it gives
power
against
a person
so that those who previously
were unable to attack him or harm him
would be more likely to.
They'll
be bolder and more audacious
to launch attacks against this person
because he has weakened himself because of sin.
So sin then basically strips you of your
defenses,
which are basically divine
defenses.
So when you sin,
you give up those defenses.
So he says,
So the devils
become bolder in their attacks,
more audacious.
With harm.
And temptations.
And
frightening him,
and saddening saddening him.
And for him to forget
what would be beneficial for him to remember
and would be harmful for him to forget.
So they will be
bolder
and more adventurous in their attacks until they
disturb him to sin Allah,
to sin against Allah. They disturb him unto
sin.
So what he said here is really important
because he's saying now
the shaitan will be able to attack you
on multiple fronts and do multiple things to
you. And this is beneficial if you keep
in mind so that if you find any
of that,
you know how to treat it.
Right?
So he says, how?
He says,
they harm him. So the shayateen will harm
him. Harm him physically. Right?
So the shayateen, they can harm you physically.
Right? They can make you sick.
There is envy.
So there's physical harm.
Okay.
Walwaswasa.
So if they can do physical harm, they
obviously they can do what?
Non physical harm, which is whispers.
So they'll gain more access into that person's
heart and person's mind. So they will be
able to whisper even more because again what?
When you sin, you have less of Allah's
protection.
So they will be able to whisper more
to him. So he will find more of
that throughout the day, and it's hard for
him to repel
it. It disturbs him.
So they have power over him internally,
and they can hurt him also physically.
They also could frighten him and sadden him
through whispers
or physical means.
Meaning, they'll be meaning what? So they could
kinda drop into his mind
things about the future that will what? Frighten
him.
What will happen to you? What will happen
to your children? What will happen to your
property?
To simply frighten him with or
sadden him with
Remember what happened to you. Remember your mistakes.
Remember this and remember that. He hurt you.
He insulted you. He took advantage of you.
So he becomes sad and anxious
because of the waswasa of the shaitan,
or they can do that also physically. They
could actually frighten him physically.
When they see that he's afraid, they frighten
him even more
with loud sounds,
right, with disturbances in the house or wherever
he's out. So he loses that defense, so
they take advantage of it. Right?
And they make him forget
what benefits him.
Right?
And you can add to it and remember
what harms him.
Right? So you'll remember
a sin
or how to do it.
Remember your past mistakes.
Where did this come from? The shaitan drops
it into your heart and mind
and will what? Make you forget
what benefits you. So makes you forget. So
maybe maybe a person thinks I'll go to
the Masjid. He makes you forget it. I'll
read the Quran, he makes you forget it.
I will I'll make dua, he makes you
forget it.
So because he has that power
or rather
you've given him that power, you start forgetting
what benefits you and you remember what harms
you.
So, you know, add to it and actually
we've talked about it. The more that you
remember things that upset you and you must
say to yourself, where did this come from?
Why do I keep remembering these events and
that person, which only would what bring me
down?
So where is this coming from? That's coming
from the shaitan
who's trying to manipulate because you understand what
the shaitan is trying to do,
destroy whatever way possible.
Right? As
that they disturb him into disobeying Allah
and that
Allah mentions that. This is taken from the
Quran.
That Allah
sends the devils
to the disbelievers,
to.
Like, they do not leave them sit
peacefully,
but push them to sin.
So they are uncomfortable
until they disobey Allah, azerajah. They cannot sit
still.
They don't feel right until a person goes
and drinks or gambles or,
commits zina, whatever, but they push them and
they keep pushing them
until they commit more and more of the
sins that upset Allah
And again, now where did they have this
power over them? He says they handed that
power to the devils.
Alright. And he says,
and he says even the devils from among
the ins, meaning the troublemakers, the criminals, the
sinners,
from among humanity
also will have greater power over him, so
they will also be able to hurt him.
So they heard him either even more, whether
he is present or absent.
Right?
So a person who is fearful of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
truly fearful of Allah, could enter a place
and his enemies because of his fear of
Allah,
they fear him.
Right? Or he is not present because but
because of his fear of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala,
they find themselves less likely to attack and
assault him.
Now where is this defense coming from? Allah
azza jal.
Alright. And we'll see. He's gonna mention this.
This is Allah's defense.
Allah defends the believers
and defends them how?
In every possible way.
So maybe in their absence, but also in
their presence, they have this aura. They have
this power.
Whereas if a person
displeases Allah as Zawjal, he loses this.
So people abuse him in his absence
and in his presence.
They mock him. They make fun of him.
They belittle him.
They disrespect him.
Where did this come from?
Again, it's the consequence of sin.
He
says even his family,
right,
will
begin to cross the limits with him
and his servants and his children and his
neighbors, even animals will cross the limit.
They'll hurt him in ways that he was
not hurt before.
He says, some of the salaf have said,
I
disobey Allah Azza wa Jal, and I recognize
the consequence of that in the behavior
or in the character of my wife and
in my animal,
riding animal,
and the mouse of the house.
Right?
And that, of course, requires
sensitivity
to the sin and its consequence.
Otherwise, a person who sins left and right
and he does not recognize what comes after
will see no connection. Right?
Well, I don't know. This just happened.
It just happened. That's life. They'll say that's
life. That is them.
That's how they are.
They are terrible. My wife is terrible.
My car is terrible. This animal, my my
neighbors are terrible. My kids are terrible. My
parents are so they just attribute this to
them, not never to themselves, but to them.
And they see absolutely no connection between what
I did
and what I'm receiving. But
that sensitivity,
that awareness,
being awake that I did something wrong.
Okay. Wait for the consequence. There's a consequence
to it.
He says, I see now after I do
that wrong thing, how my wife,
uncharacteristic
of her, misbehaves or misacts or misspeaks.
And I can see the connection
or an animal of mine or he says
even the mouse in the house becomes
more harmful because of it. Right?
So I mean, before we we kinda move
to the next one, so
intriguing any problem you have,
what is the first thing that you need
to do?
Go back and ask Allah for forgiveness
before you blame so and so for whatever
they are doing, in case
that what you are facing is because of
you.
So you wanna eliminate that
even if they are to blame partially.
To, ma'am,
even if they are to blame even if
your neighbor is a bad neighbor, let's say.
But that also you may have contributed to
what is happening
to eliminate that as a possibility
and to save yourself from extra harm that
could come from them, what would you do?
You would ask Allah for forgiveness
so that Allah, azza wajal, would not send
extra harm that you would have deserved because
of that sin. So you eliminate it. You
take it away.
So you face a problem with your spouse,
with your wife,
with your husband. What do you do? It's
not all him or her. You have to
go back to yourself.
With your neighbor, it's not all them
go back to yourself.
With anybody around you, you have to assume
some responsibility
for what is happening.
If not fully
you, maybe it's partially you.
So you have to eliminate that. And then
and only after then could you turn to
the other person and say, well, let's look
at the bad things that you are responsible
for, but not before you revisit what you
have done. And he said also,
And he says people with political power also
will punish him.
Either he says if they are just, they'll
apply Allah's rule or if not, he implies
they'll punish him more so.
But then that people of authority also will
have more power over him because he also
crossed the limits with Allah
though he is deserving now of receiving punishment
from people. And they have power, so of
course they
are going to use it against him.
And now
even himself
will turn against him. He says,
It says even himself turns against him,
so it's beastly against him. It's like a
lion. Tata'asat
becomes like a lion against him, meaning it's
out of control.
It's
disobedient,
doesn't listen to him.
Becomes difficult
to guide or to subjugate.
And he said, if he wants it to
do something good, it will not listen to
him and will not follow him and will
drive him and lead him to his destruction
whether he likes it or not.
Imagine
that it's not only that
your children are not listening to you. Your
spouse is not listening to you.
Yourself is not listening to you.
You say, like, what for instance? You say,
well, you probably have these
internal conversations with yourself. Right? As we will
talk insha'Allah shortly about nafsul mumma'inna nafsul umara.
But you have these internal conversations with yourself
that sometimes you will say to yourself, let
me go to the Masjid.
Right?
And then the self said,
not not now, maybe tomorrow.
It's too late. I'm too tired. You know
these conversations?
Let me read the Quran. Yeah. I'm going
to, but let me finish this first. Right?
So you always are having these conversations in
you. So he says, now if part of
you wants to lead the rest of you
to Allah, Azzawajal, if the
self, if the soul is sinful,
it is so heavy to drag
to Allah. You can actually have to drag
it. And if it's truly rebellious, a lion
like self, a beastly self, what will it
do is that it will refuse
your recommendations,
your suggestions. No. I'm not going to.
Stop this haram. No. I'm not going to.
Do this right thing. No. I'm not doing
you. Even and it will lead you to
your destruction knowing that it's going to lead
you to your
Right?
And he said, why is all of this
happening?
He says, protection, of course, as we said.
He says righteousness, obedience of Allah is a
fortress.
If you enter it, you are safe. If
you leave it,
the highway robbers
attack you
and it says, he says as much as
you sin against Allah,
as much power they will have over you.
Right?
That's interesting. As much as much sin as
you commit,
as much power you will grant them.
And
he also said
that if your sin
if your sin that is in other editions
of the book, if your sin is private,
you will receive private harassment. And if your
sin is
public, you will see you receive public harassment.
Right?
Like, it's adequate.
So if your sin is mental
and emotional, internal, right? That's it. No one
knows about it, but it is inside of
you.
Then you will give power to the Shaytan
internally.
So we'll harass you internally with more whispers,
with more attacks. It's not public, but internal.
It says, but if you go public with
it,
physical with it, you will receive public and
physical harassment.
So it's all what? Adequate
consequence.
Right?
And he said,
So he says if he weakens himself, he
has no protection
because he said the remembrance of Allah and
his obedience on sadaqa and helping the ignorant,
commanding good, forbidding evil are all shields that
protect a person.
Like
a strength
or immunity that you have that resists a
disease.
So if this is gone, anything that comes
to you infects you and makes you ill
and then eventually
maybe kills you.
You must have protection.
Right? And we are aware of having protection
that is physical.
And why do you dress?
Why do you put on a seat belt?
Why do you lock your door?
Right? Why do you do this? That's all
protection.
So we're aware of physical protection.
If you feel that you're gonna you're getting
sick, you eat this and you eat that.
You avoid this, so you protect yourself physically.
Okay.
Spiritually
or
psychologically
and emotionally, where's your protection?
So a lot of us, SubhanAllah, psychologically
and emotionally are almost naked.
Right?
And we never,
dare
step out physically naked
because we know what people will say, but
also
we know the harm that we will receive.
Imagine going out in winter naked.
We know what happens to us, but
emotionally
and psychologically,
mentally,
we are naked.
So where's the cover?
The cover is only and nothing only but
obeying Allah, azza, and all the other good
things that you do. Then you start protecting
yourself and you become healthy.
So you find yourself
throughout your life, the day or the week,
you find yourself becoming more vulnerable and weaker
emotionally
and intellectually,
psychologically,
you know that you have to what? Go
back to the fortress.
Seek refuge in it because you what? You've
let yourself out,
and you are being attacked
because of it. So go back and see
what's the wrong that you started doing. Stop
it.
And what's the good
that you stopped doing?
Return to it.
Alright?
Because the consequence of sin
and righteousness,
they are contenders.
They are contending with each other. They are
pushing each other.
Whichever one of one of them wins,
it will have dominance.
So that the consequence of good deeds is
the winner,
you will be
comfortable.
You will be safe. If the consequence of
evil deeds wins over the good, then you
will be in trouble. You will be weak.
You'll be attacked.
And he says,
the stronger
the good deeds are, the stronger the defense.
He says, Allah
defends the believers
and He repels
harm.
So Allah defends you
if you are the believer and repels harm,
but also what It's always in proportion to
that iman.
See, we'll see how the prophet Allah azza
wa jal defended the prophet alaihi salatu wa
sallam.
He didn't defend the Sahaba like it.
Right? And how he defended the Sahaba radiAllahu
anhum is not like how he defends us.
What's the difference
level of iman?
So the greater
your iman, the greater the defense. Right?
He says an iman is what you say,
what you believe, what you,
what you believe and what you say and
what you do.
So the more that you have of this,
the more complete Allah's protection is for you.
So this is a very valuable
chapter
in the sense of you wanna understand
the cause of your discomfort,
the cause of your weakness, the cause of
trouble in your life.
You understand that
sin deprives you of all the defenses that
Allah had given to you and your enemies
will start attacking you.
So you want to have power over them.
What do you do?
You bring Allah
to your side. Right?
The next chapter, and it's also about how
you become weak
because of sin.
He says, from its consequences,
what else do they do? He says, sin
betrays you
or lets you down
when you need yourself the most.
When you need yourself the most,
right,
you find that you can't trust yourself. You
can't depend on it. You are too weak,
And you'll be unaware of your own weakness
until you need yourself.
And he'll give you examples and he'll
explain it. He said
everyone
needs He's gonna be talking about all of
us are made up of knowledge
and the will to follow upon that knowledge.
What you know and what you do with
it. So
everyone, he says, needs to know what benefits
him and what harms him.
In your dunya and your akhira. You need
to know this. Benefits and harms, dunya and
akhira.
And he's the most knowledgeable are those who
know this in detail.
Now this you need to highlight.
He
says, all of us need to know what
benefits us and harms us. You agree? He
says, yeah. In the dunya and in the
akhirah.
You agree? He says, of course, that's true.
And of course, it's more important for the
akhirah,
the next life, than in the dunya, but
you need both
to survive.
And he says, and the most knowledgeable who
know this in detail.
So he tells you that there is this
generic superficial knowledge
that anybody can have.
What is better,
the hereafter or the duniya?
The hereafter.
That is general knowledge.
Now, do you know this in detail?
That's the difference.
Islam. We know Islam. What is Islam? You
tell me this, this, this. Okay. You know
some general knowledge about Islam. Do you know
it in detail?
Do you know the Prophet
in detail?
So what we're lacking are the details.
So we think we know.
Oh, of course, I know. I know Tawhid.
Right? I know Aqidah.
I know Fiqh. We know everything,
But what we know is what?
Synopsis or snippets from here and there. A
little bit of this, a little bit of
that. Then we think that if we stitch
all this together, we know a lot. No.
No. We don't know it in detail.
So we don't know our benefits
and our harm in detail. We know it
generally. That's why you fall into mistakes or
we don't know what's good for us. So
he says that's one thing. That's one branch
of it.
And he says the strongest and wisest among
them is the one who has this willpower
to do what benefits it. So you will
use yourself in what benefits you,
and you restrain it from what harms you.
So that's the 2 things. You have knowledge
and you have action based on that knowledge.
Khalawafida alikah.
And because of this, you'll find a variety
of degrees
of people
based on how much they know, how ambitious
they are, and their stations. Based on these
two things, they vary considerably
based on how much you know
and how willing you are to follow what
you know.
He says, so the wisest, most knowledgeable among
them is the one who knows the causes
of happiness
and misery.
And let's call them the one who is
most guided is the one who favors the
causes of guidance and happiness
over the causes of misery.
Again, reasonable. Right? I must know right and
I must want to follow it and favor
that over the temptations of the dunya or
my own desires.
He says,
now now what sin is gonna do since
you know what benefits you?
Sins are gonna betray you or let you
down
when you need yourself the most in getting
this knowledge
and in favoring the higher station over the
lower station.
So sins will deprive him from
from attaining this knowledge
and from being engaged in what benefits you
in this world and in the next.
So sin will make you ignorant
and sin will weaken your resolve.
So would you wanna learn if you are
sinful?
No. You don't have appetite for it.
You don't want to learn.
So if someone invites you, let's say this,
there's a halakah
or there's a book
or there's, Friday prayer or whatever,
and you are living with that sin, that
sin will not let you
move towards knowledge.
You will look down on it. I know
all of this. What's the benefit of all
of that?
I could learn it later.
I've heard all of this for so many
times. I know this aya. I know this
hadith. So you disregard it. So you look
down on it
and you're not you're unwilling to learn it
and you think maybe even that you know
it all.
So that sin, what?
Takes away your desire to learn
and by that takes away your ability to
know right from wrong,
so you are blind.
So sin does that when it comes to
knowledge. And also it does not allow you.
It does not allow you
to favor righteousness.
You're too weak. Either you're too attached
to the dunya
or to your own habit.
You don't wanna leave it, or
that thing looks so difficult for you, righteousness,
Allah's obedience, looks so difficult
that you don't want to even want to
try it.
It's like someone who got used to,
and they're just relaxing and sitting back. Exercise
seems like carrying a mountain.
So I'm not gonna wake up in the
morning to exercise.
That's just that's not for me. That's for
somebody else.
And it's gonna
take a lot to convince you to do
this.
A turning point in your life, maybe.
Something catastrophic.
But unless something awakens you,
no. You've already have given up on learning
and also in following the truth.
And so if something bad happens and he
wants to get rid of it, free himself
of it, his heart and his soul will
and his body will betray him. And this
is like what he's saying is this is
like a person who has a sword,
and he had neglected this sword until it
had become rusty.
And that sword now, it's stuck in its
sheath.
Right?
He and so when he finds an enemy,
he grabs the handle of the sword thinking
that that's his sword.
He wants to pull it out,
but it's what? Stuck.
And so he faces his enemy without a
weapon and his enemy kills him.
So when you need it the most, because
he didn't take care of it, When you
need it the most, you wanna grab it
out to fight, but it's not a weapon
anymore. It's too weak. So he says, that's
like your soul.
When you need
it to be obedient or to fight off
sin,
you'll find that it is what? Sick.
So that's why he said, kadarikal kalbu yasda,
so does the heart trusts.
The heart rusts.
Do you clean your house?
Yeah?
Yeah. What happens if you stop?
You'll see dust
and dirt piling up. Right?
And the more you do, the more you
neglect it, the harder it is to clean.
Right?
Until you really, like, maybe eventually you will
have to hire someone because you can't do
it on your own. You need a professional.
It's overwhelming.
So it says the heart rusts,
becomes
weak,
becomes ugly.
Ugly, actually ugly. Like, you wanna understand the
ugliness that you see in the world today,
it's a reflection of an ugly heart.
Because you wouldn't say the things that people
say or act the way people act unless
the heart has that ugliness in
it. So he says the heart trusts.
So if you're not taking care of it
now weekly,
that's too long.
Daily.
Alright?
Otherwise,
just eat weekly.
But if you cannot survive without food
for a day,
the heart needs more.
So he says the heart will rest.
It becomes weak
because of sickness.
Right?
Halafa idahtaja, he says if he then needs
the heart, if it needs to fight its
enemy, will find nothing to fight with.
And
a person only fights with his heart
and the limbs follow the heart. So if
the king is weak, how could the subjects
be strong? Is that you're fighting anyone, you're
fighting the world around you, the shaitan with
your heart, not with your body.
Right?
And he said, Rahim Allah, somewhere else, he
said the Sahaba fought their enemies
with their hearts.
Their bodies were weak.
Like the bodies of the Arabs versus think
of it. The bodies of the Arabs versus
the body of the Persians and the Byzantines
or the Romans.
Body wise, physically,
there shouldn't be any comparison between them.
Those have bigger bodies.
But he said they didn't fight or they
didn't win because of their bodies.
They won with their hearts. So he's saying
here, you defend yourself or you attack your
enemy
with your heart, not with your body. So
if your heart is weak, your body will
be weak as well. It says, so is
the soul. It becomes corrupt and contaminated
with desires and with sins, and it becomes
weak. I mean, he says, I mean the
settled, the assured, the contented self. And nafsulmudma'ina,
the righteous part of you
gets killed because of sin.
And know the one that commands evil becomes
stronger. So when you feed it
so that's the internal conversation I'm talking about.
You have a part of you that is
what? Good and righteous still.
And a part that is what? Commanding evil.
So he says, if you weaken the righteous
one, the assured contented one, the other one
becomes stronger
and will command evil.
When you we when you strengthen this, the
other one
will
be
weak. So the one that commands evil will
have the upper hand and will
run the show.
He says, maybe even that self, that assured
self, the righteous self will die
and will never come back to life. So
this person will be dead in this world,
dead in the grave, and in the akhirah,
he's unalive
because his life doesn't bring him any joy.
It only brings him pain
because a life in hellfire is life.
That's not life.
Right? That's only an existence that brings him
pain, he said.
That's that's it.
He says that if a person
falls into trouble
or faces a problem,
his heart and his tongue and his limbs
will let him down and betray him when
he needs the thing that benefits him the
most. What is the thing that benefits him
the most then?
Allah Azzuaj.
Right? He says, but they will not let
him go to Allah. So he says, falaiinjadebuqalbuhulitawakkuliyaal
Allah. He says his heart will not feel
a pull towards Allah azza wa jin, towards
relying on Allah.
He did he doesn't feel that attachment to
Allah, so he doesn't feel that he can
rely on him.
And he does not feel that he wants
to return to him.
He does not feel that he wants me
to be devoted to him, meaning only ask
Allah and no one else.
Trust Allah and no one else. He says
he feels none of that, and he does
not feel that he want to humble himself
before Allah azza wa jal and his tongue,
it is not gonna be
receptive to Allah's remembrance.
It would be
stiff, will not remember Allah.
Even if he were to remember him by
tongue, his heart will not listen to him.
So he'll be remembering him verbally,
but not what? Not with heart.
Say they will not come together. He'll say
istighfar.
He'll say, alhamdulillah, I'll say whatever, but his
heart is way
far,
far far away from him, and he's not
cannot bring both together. Right?
He says if he mentions Allah or if
he makes a dua, his heart will be
absent and he will be inattentive
to what he is saying or to his
supplication.
And if he wants his limbs to help
him obey Allah,
they will disobey him.
He
says, this is all from the consequence of
sin. This is like a king. Another example
he brings. Like a king, he has these
soldiers,
but he neglects them. He doesn't feed them.
He doesn't train them. He does not communicate
with them. He does not spend on them
until they fall apart. And then all of
a sudden he needs them. He calls on
them, but they're not ready to defend them.
It is that's the same thing.
If you are not actively taking care of
your soul
and your heart, they will fail you miserably
when you terribly need them. And he says,
the thing that is most frightening
is that
he will be betrayed
by his heart and his tongue when he's
dying.
The last moment of his life on earth.
Right?
So
That is when you wanna
say the shahada
just before your death.
He says you will be unable to say
it because he's saying what? That's an example
of you needing yourself at that critical moment
and it's betraying you
because you did not get yourself ready for
something like that. So imagine a tongue that
does not remember Allah at that moment when
you wanted to say the shahada,
how would it say it? And it's not
used to it.
Or a heart that was far away from
Allah, a zawjal, how could you bring it
back to Allah at that moment
when it will be resistant when it was
resistant to it throughout its life? And I'll
give you here examples.
And these are examples that you should remember
and you should communicate
to family members whenever you wanna give them
advice about a good ending
or a righteous ending,
and how there were people who they were
offered to say the shahada, but they didn't.
So he gives you here a few examples.
It says it was said to some some
of them, all that in the moment of
death, just before they
departed.
He says, say la ilaha illallah. So he
said, oh, oh, I cannot say that.
He says, la astatih wa nakulah. She said,
like, it seems like he's struggling to say
it,
but he said, I can't say it. The
tongue is tight.
Right? Just that's an example.
And it was said to somebody else, he
says,
So he said,
He says it was said to somebody, alsayla
ilaha illallah. So that person
used to play chess.
So what was he saying before his death?
He says, checkmate,
I got your castle.
I beat you.
That's the mind that's occupied with that, and
then you die.
Right?
Now let's pause here, you know, and just
analyze this
because why could something like this happen? Now
if as some scholars have said so some
scholars have said that chess is forbidden and
some scholars have said that chess is allowed.
So we're not gonna settle this tonight.
But if chess is haram,
Shatlanj, if it's haram, you'll understand. It's a
prohibited act. That's why he faces consequence.
But let's say that chess is no. It's
allowed.
Right?
So why would a person face that consequence?
It's just when something allowed is exaggerated until
it dominates your heart and mind,
that's the thing that you'll be thinking about
before death.
So if it grows to a level where
you love it excessively
and beyond the accepted limits,
maybe it will what?
Take the place of Allah Azzawajal
and be the last thing that you remember.
Right?
So that's why when he was asked, remember
Allah Azawajal, he said, no.
Checkmate.
Right? That's his mind. Wakid Ali Akhar, it
was said to add somebody else, kulla ilaha
illallah, sayida ilaha illallah, so he recited a
verse of poetry.
Maybe a woman
once or a woman once said after she
got tired, how do
I reach the hamam of so and so?
Hamam is where you would shower and get
cleansed and what have you. So he could
be a person who had loved a woman
so much excessively.
Right? Or he had committed a sin associated
with that verse or with that woman. And
that's the thing that lingered and stuck. And
that's the thing that came to the surface.
So say la ilaha illallah, whatever thing the
only thing that was available is what? The
remembrance of that poet
poem, that verse, and also that woman.
And somebody else
said to him, say, ila illa illa Allah
fajaalaaahdhibil
rina. He started singing.
Alright. And he says, tat antenna, tat antenna.
The rhythm, rhythmic song. Right? A song.
And then he died singing
or producing the rhythm of that song.
Right? So consider yourself if you're so attached
to these things,
will they be the last thing that a
person would say
before their death?
Somebody
also was reminded, say la ilaha illallah, he
says, myinfa'oni
matakkur. He says, how will this benefit me?
I did not let us sin or leave
us sin, but I did it.
And then he died without saying it.
Right.
So this person had given up on himself
or the sin had come and made him
despair of Allah's mercy. So he said, why
should I say it is not going to
help me? So he dies without saying it
or rejecting it. SubhanAllah. Waqid Ali Akhar.
You no say it. And he said, why
should I say it? How can it help
me? I never prayed once.
And then he
died.
So that type of rebellions
or stubbornness
or lack of iman,
if it persists throughout one's life, even to
that moment of death where you need to
say the most important sentence and you failed
to say it, you understand it's what
Your body has failed you and your heart
has failed you. And somebody,
Khid Ali Akar, somebody also was told, say
this. And he said, no. I disbelieve in
what you are saying. And then he died.
So imagine if that's the last thing that
a person said
and somebody also was asked. He said, say
it, and then he replied. He says,
every time I wanna say it, my tongue
is tied,
And then he
died. There's something
preventing me from saying it.
And and he said,
Some of the people who had or were
around some of the beggars
just before their death,
they were telling them, say la ilaha illallah.
He will say,
give me a dollar for Allah. Say, give
me a dollar for Allah. Say, Now he
was begging
as he was dying
because that's the concern that he had or
some merchants, he said. Some of his relatives
When he was about to die, he told
me that when he was next to him
and they would give him taldkeinda ilaha illallah
and he will say, this piece is cheap.
This piece is expensive. This is a good
price. This is a bad price. And then
he died doing that.
Alright?
So, subhanallah, he said, subhanallah,
how many lessons people have witnessed
and what is hidden from them is much
greater than these things that they have seen.
That's true.
Because you only see what? A small portion
of what is happening to this person.
And what lies beyond is much, much greater.
So he said,
and this is
a really nice
kinda insight.
He said
Anyway, so he said, if a if a
person,
while you are healthy,
and your mind is present
and you
are doing well.
Right?
And you are strong.
He says, while you're in your in that
state
and yet the Shaytan has full control over
you.
So had stopped your tongue from remembering Allah
Azudal
and stopped your heart from being close to
him Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and had occupied your
limbs with Allah's disobedience. Meaning when you are
strong,
if the shaitan has power over you then
and he is kind of the the puppeteer
and you're the puppet, he tells you what
to do and you're doing it. If he
has full control over you, then and you
are healthy and strong.
Now when you become weak and about to
die
and your tongue is weak and your body
is weak and your heart is weak and
you are panicking
and he is the strongest then
trying to
destroy you. How will you escape him?
Now, if you are not escaping him now
when you are strong, how will you escape
him when you are weak?
And that is very true, right?
Like if he has control of your tongue
right now
and you don't remember Allah when you're about
to die and He is His strongest and
you are your weakest, how do you manage
to say La ilaha illallah then?
And that is a very strong point.
If he has control now, he'll have more
control then.
Because that's he he said,
right?
In addition to the fact that at that
moment you are weak and you're panicking,
you don't know what's gonna happen to you.
You're in great the greatest
distress
in your life will be right then
because you're leaving this life. But he says,
and he gathered all of his power against
you
and all of his soldiers against you so
that he will get what he wants from
you because this is his last chance and
these are the last deeds. So he would
be strongest then and you will be weakest
then.
So he says, then
who will be safe from this?
Then he said, you said,
It is then that Allah, Azzawajal, strengthens the
believers
with the right statement
in the dunya and in the akhirah.
That is, if not for Allah Azzawajal,
no one will be able to be safe
from it. So he's saying,
How will you have a good ending when
your life was not good?
If he said, well, if your heart has
neglected Allah's remembrance
and you follow
your desire and your affairs were in ruin
and loss,
How could this person all of a sudden
switch at the end of their life
and attain a good end and say la
ilaha illallah and then pass?
How will they be saved from the shaitan?
Khalifa ba'id. This is far, far from, happening.
If your heart is far from Allah Azzawajal,
you're inattentive,
negligent of him, you are a slave of
your desire, captive of your temptations.
Your
tongue is stiff when it wants to remember
Allah, and your limbs are weak
in his obedience,
but active in his disobedience,
that's not likely for that person to find
a good end or to be guided to
a good end.
And he said,
He says the fear of that
terrible end had broken the back of the
righteous,
the people of Taqwa,
meaning they are afraid of it the most.
And of course, that fear of theirs is
a productive, fruitful
fear.
It's not an anxiety that what debilitates,
oh, I'm afraid, I'm anxious, and there's nothing
for me to do.
So it just causes anxiety and nothing else.
No. They're afraid then. But what do you
do with that fear?
It propels you to do something about it.
I'm afraid of something,
then you do the opposite.
Opposite of what?
Of what angers Allah, azzawajal. So let me
protect myself by doing greater good and being
closer and closer to Allah, azzawajal,
then that is your protection. So a fear
that leads to that, then that's a fruitful
fear. But if you're the kind of person
who will be afraid and then sit and
do nothing, just be simply be anxious, then
you have to understand that how you are
afraid is wrong.
No. You're afraid of it, then do something
about it.
Right?
You're afraid of it? Then change your life.
And imagine that if you were to be
dead tomorrow,
would you be ready to face Allah a
zawdid? Would you be ready with all the
things that you are carrying with you that
you have not repented from? What if they
come and they attack you at that moment?
What if the Shaytan brings it? Just just
think of yourself right now.
How close your heart is to Allah, Azzawajal?
And how rebellious is it? And how close
your tongue is to Allah? And how rebellious
is it? How will you be able to
control them when you need them before death?
But he said,
he says as
if the sinners,
those who are disobedient,
as if they have a
document giving them security and peace from Allah,
azza jal that nothing is going to happen
to them. That's why they're not afraid.
Is it but who gave you that guarantee?
He says, Allah said,
It says, or do you have an oath
from us that extends all the way to
the day of judgment that you're gonna have
what you want?
Like, do you have that? That Allah had
promised you. That's the meaning of the ayah.
Do you have a promise from us
that whatever you want is gonna happen?
He says salhum, ask them who guaranteed this
to them?
Who told you that you're going to go
to Jannah?
I know that all of us have the
feeling that we will be there, right?
Tell you the question here, who gave you
that feeling?
Who gave you that guarantee?
Who can, who can promise you this?
No one promised you this. Right?
No one.
So where did you bring that security?
So you have to be afraid that what
if some of the people who will be
in hellfire, which I know will be in
hellfire,
what if I'm one of them?
One of that's what if that's sin that
I'm doing and I'm still doing,
that's the thing that will ruin me and
will stop me from saying la ilaha illa
Muhammadun
Rasoolallah.
So you start with changing your life because
of it. So if you want your tongue
to be nimble and soft with Allah's
remembrance,
practice it now.
Right?
And remember your death.
La ilaha illallah, La ilaha illallah, La ilaha
illallah. And you keep saying that.
So it's easy for you to move your
tongue with Allah's remembrance.
If you want your heart to save you
in a time when you need it,
keep pushing it closer to Allah, azza wa
jal. Right?
So he said and then he concludes this
with
some verses,
the
meaning of them, he says, oh, who feel
secure
while doing while disobeying Allah,
do you have a guarantee
that you own, that you're going to be
safe? You've combined 2 things,
safety and following your desire, and one of
them is a killer.
So if you feel safe, that kills you.
If you follow your desire, that kills you.
Both of them,
that really will kill you. And he says,
but those righteous
are following the path of fear
and that is a path that you are
not following. You did not plant at the
time of planting, but at the time of
harvest, you also wanna be harvesting with those
who harvest. He says, this is the most
incredible thing that you
don't desire
the land of permanence
and you desire a land that you're gonna
leave.
Meaning you don't desire
the akhira, the land of permanence,
but you want this land knowing that you
are gonna leave it. Many saffihu idan billahi
who says, who is foolish then? I ask
you by Allah, you or the one who
loses a worldly transaction?
One who binds something in the world and
then he gets what? Cheated.
Is he the foolish who you are?
Because when you see somebody
who is bamboozled in the dunya, you call
them foolish, stupid. You don't know how to
sell, how to buy. You're not smart enough.
Right?
But who is the real foolish person? The
one who loses in the dunya
gets fooled in the dunya or the one
who is fooled in the akhirah?
Is in the akhirah.
Right?
So that's it insha'Allah
for
tonight and we hope insha'Allah that you remember
some of these things
and they do stay with you.
And by the way, this is a book
that I would really recommend that even
after we finish it, insha'Allah, you make it
a book that you keep repeating
because guaranteed we're gonna forget this. So it's
really useful to go back and read it
again, inshallah. And the more you read it,
the more that it will kind of stay
with us inshallah.
Let me know inshallah if you have
anything to ask.
No. No.
No. No.
Yeah. Inshallah.
So,
the first question is that,
is it an obligation for a person to,
state
the shahada just before their death?
And what happens if a person dies all
of a sudden,
without the opportunity to say that, shahada? Well,
obviously, if it's a sudden death,
you will not be required or will not
be accepted,
expected from you to say the shahada because
all of a sudden.
Now what happened with those people who are
offered to say the shahada and then they
don't say it,
is an obligation that they should say it?
We're not we don't say that it's an
obligation,
but it's a good sign.
It's a good sign
that the last thing that you will say
is la ilaha illallah,
and it's a bad sign
and signage is right. It's just they predictors.
Right? So we're not gonna look at that
person who didn't say it and say, well,
definitely he's gonna
we were saying that's not a good sign
when a person, you know,
is offered to say the shahada and they
say something else means that they are drowning
or thinking about something else.
So that's what we wanna run away without
from an escape is that when we're offered
that chance to say it,
we don't find ourselves unable to say it
because of what being crippled by bad things
that we have done. Now the examples that
we mentioned, this is the second question that
you've asked,
would not be these would not be people
who are,
trying and struggling and repenting, and so they
were,
let down
at the end of their life. There will
probably be people who are persistent in that
sin,
unrepentant from it. And so they tried,
but then that is almost too late for
them to repent, to, to switch course. So
the sin was just too overwhelming.
But a person is struggling with that sin,
keeps repenting from it. As soon as they
do it,
they will not be in that category because
the door of repentance, as you said, is
wide open. But if you wait
right to the end, that juncture where a
person is about to leave and you're offered
that thing to say,
then that sin may not allow you to.
So there's a difference between them.
No. Yeah. I mean,
you hope for the best. You try to
do the best, but the examples that we
have are examples of sin surfacing
at the end of one's life. Right? And
their inability, right, or an outright rejection of
it. No, I don't believe in it. No,
I don't need it So that's where you
find that rebellion
that kind of kind of reflects a rebellious
life
Mhmm. So your question is that if someone
had spent longer time obeying Allah Azza wa
Jal and then he commits a sin.
So that will that sin have greater impact
on him because
the second person was more sinful so that
sin will have greater impact on him versus
someone who is more righteous
so that sin has less space and time
and effect on his life and for sure.
So they're not gonna be treated the same.
So someone who had lived a sinful life
and he commits that sin, of course, it
just adds to the detrimental effect of previous
sins
versus someone who has this
background
of
righteousness.
So that sin does not have enough space
in it to get as much harm as
the second person, right, or to do as
much damage. So they're not going to be
the same,
obviously. And Allah
is just that he's not gonna treat both
people the same.
So the question here is,
okay.
Does Tawba take away consequences of sin or
it still happens but sin is only deleted?
No. If Allah forgive if Allah forgives that
sin, everything with it goes away.
So the sin itself and its consequences.
Right?
And what is the best dua to recite
for a good end?
Or something similar to it How
frequent should we say it?
As frequent as you remember that, as frequent
as you remember it
you know, du'a is similar to,
To live as Muslims, to die as Muslims,
to be resurrected as Muslims. Similar duas where
you're asking Allah, not just simply the end,
but a life also that is righteous, an
end that is righteous, and also a resurrection
that is righteous.
So asking Allah, azza wa jal, for hussnul
katima,
that's what comes to mind, wallahu a'alam,
at this moment.
If we see ourselves are rebelling
to do good and can't drag ourselves to
do good, can't you share tips to recover
ourselves completely from the state? If you find
yourself weak
that you have to constantly drag yourself to
do,
things pleasing to Allah Azza wa Jal, but
you find yourself rushing to displease him.
If you notice this in yourself, the first
thing that you want to do is ask
Allah azzawajal for help.
Help
me. Help me against myself. Rescue me from
myself. That's the thing that you want to
do and be persistent in that dua.
And if you can add to a dhikr
of Allah, azzawajal, you'll find that you will
have power, bayimin Allah, to start moving.
And then you want to start
attaching yourself or linking yourself to righteous places
and righteous people.
So find a righteous friend, find a righteous
company, stay in righteous places, and inshallah, you'll
find that your mood will change, your habit
will change, and then your lifestyle will change.
So begin with dua
and asking Allah like repeatedly
Allah
and then decree of Allah azza wa jal
and then start to find a better company
than the company that you have. Right?
How can someone begin to seek knowledge when
they don't have the patience?
Again, if you like the patience, ask Allah
a zawajal for it.
Then maybe start small
if it's really or too overwhelming.
So if you cannot attend the halaqa physically,
listen to parts of it online.
If you cannot read an entire book, read
a page of it.
Right? Listen to a sheikh, an authentic reliable
one that you also like. Right? He may
not be as knowledgeable, but he has to
be authentic.
But he may not be as knowledgeable as
another sheikh, right, who is more versed, more
learned, but at least he can give you
something. Then listen to that person
and be gradual with yourself and ask Allah,
azza, to open your heart so that you
could seek knowledge or be patient with it.
Understand also that it is an act of
Ibadah, by the way.
Right? So it's not supposed always to be
easy or fun. You have to kind of
push yourself and force yourself and then that,
insha'Allah,
will will
be easier with time, insha'Allah.
I don't want to take too much time
asking
okay
Okay. Just 2 more questions.
Is there any litmus test that we are
striving enough for Allah that we don't? There's
no litmus test, like striving for Allah's
cause has no limit to it. Right? She
always can do more. Right? And the boundaries
are the boundaries of time and place and
boundaries of personal ability.
So that's the only thing. Right?
But there is no particular litmus test that
is gonna kind of be the same for
everybody, but you have to see what is
within your ability.
And sometimes you can't force yourself to do
more than what it can at this moment.
It just simply cannot.
So at least, right, the obligations need to
be fulfilled and the Haram needs to be
avoided and you strive with the recommended, Wallahu
Alam. Right.
So if if one returns to Allah
sincerely with the repentance, can an individual expect
their spouse to also return to Allah Azza
wa Jal? That's my understanding of your question.
Possible, wallahu a'alaam.
That is, if a person is pious and
close to Allah azza wajal,
there's a possibility that if you return to
Allah
and you make dua
and you plead with him that Allah will
fix your spouse for you. That's a possibility.
Right?
And it's also a possibility that,
no, it's gonna need more than that.
And that means that it needs your piety,
but also helping them, meaning you actively help
them to be better. Not just simply Allah
changing their heart, but you
with your,
persistence, with your dua, with your character, with
your
kindness to change them.
And that may take some time,
but it's definitely, wallahu 'alam, that if you
turn towards Allah, azzawajal,
Allah will bring that company to you. Right?
If you seek it, Allah will bring that
company to you. So either Allah fixes your
spouse for you
or helps you to fix your spouse for
you, or if there is no good, and
I hope that that's not the case, if
there's no good between
in that person, Allah separates you. So that's
also a possibility. Right?
But it's definitely the consequences for your own
good. So if you turn to Allah, Allah
will bring the good things to you, you
inshallah.