Ali Albarghouthi – This Is Love #39 Loving Our Hometowns
AI: Summary ©
The importance of love and the need to understand the reality of it is emphasized in the conversation. The speaker discusses the importance of leaving things behind for Allah's sake and gaining strength and support. The importance of the Prophet's love for Mecca and the holy month's title is also discussed. The importance of belief in the natural reasons for love and desire for love is emphasized. The speaker emphasizes the importance of staying in a neutral spot in every Muslim city for personal reasons, and the importance of practice and not bragging about it. The importance of belief in migration and not bragging about it is also emphasized.AI: Transcript ©
The title of today's
chapter,
which is hadith
39 in the series
on this is love.
The title is loving our hometowns.
And there's a short hadith
that describes the prophet and
his love
for Medina
reported by Al Bukhari
And
the
hadith
states,
When the prophet
would return from a trip
and he sees the walls of Madinah,
like outside of Medina, he begins to see
the city and its walls,
he would speed up his camel.
And if he were on another animal, he
would prompt it to speed up
out of his love for Medina.
So
it tells it tells you that whenever the
Prophet, alayhi salatu wa sallam, would leave Medina
and would see or have a glimpse
of it again,
he would rush to it,
speed up to be in it again.
Out of the love that he
had
to Medina
or Medina.
And
this gives us an opportunity, insha'Allah, to understand
the love that we
have towards our hometowns
and towards
certain places but not other certain places and
how that can sometimes be religious and sometimes
that could be,
natural
and how we can reconcile between all of
that and the various
lessons we can learn from this particular hadith.
So this is love related to the land,
to the city, to the village.
So first of all,
the best of all cities
is Mecca,
and the second best is the city of
Medina.
And
we probably
cannot say enough about the virtue of Mecca
and Medina because no matter what we say,
it's not gonna match the reality and it's
not gonna match the feelings that we are
supposed to have towards Mecca and Medina.
You know, you look
at Mecca
and you are more connected to it than
any other piece of land
whether you realize this or not. Right?
Because there is no obligation on you to
go and visit any other piece of land
except what?
Except Mecca. You have to. For
what?
For Hajj and Umrah.
You don't have to visit where you were
born.
You have don't have to visit any other
popular destination but Mecca.
If you are able, you have to go
and visit it.
So there's 1 connection, an
obligation
to visit that place. But also how many
times
a day
should you know the direction of Mecca
for
you for your Ibadah to be valid?
5 times as an obligation.
You have to always know where is Mecca.
Wherever you go, where is Mecca?
You're looking for the Kaaba.
So you're always your Ibad is always connected
to it. That is your Qibla. That is
your destination. That's your focus.
So even when you read the Quran even
like Sayyidul Majali says
when you want to sit
what
He says the best direction to seek when
you want to sit is the 1 that
is towards the qiblah. That's the best direction.
Not that it's an obligation but it's an
honor.
It's better.
So this piece of land, you are all
connected to it
in your Ibadah
and you're connected to it also because Allah
Azza wa Jal talks about it in the
Quran. Mecca, there is Becca, there is Umul
Qur'a, the mother of all cities
in terms maybe of virtue but also in
terms perhaps of creation that it was the
first and it is the best.
And so
Mecca
and the love for Mecca is and should
be in the blood of every Muslim
And the Prophet loved
it
and he said
before leaving it
for Hijra,
he said,
He said by Allah you are the best
of Allah's lands
and the most beloved
of Allah's lands to him.
And were it not that I was forced
to leave you, I would not have left.
So before and you can imagine
that in addition to
the religious significance
and place that Mecca
had in the heart of the Prophet alaihis
salatu wa sallam because of the reason that
he had mentioned it's after all where he
was born.
And we're going to talk about that sacrifice
that the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam had
to perform.
So he had this natural love for it
but there is also that religious love and
that makes your love for that spot even
more intense because you love it for more
than 1 reason,
right? Just like remember when we talked about
that you could love a person for worldly
reasons?
And you could love them for religious reasons,
and you love if you love them for
both then your love for them is that
much stronger?
So for Mecca, the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam
first loved it because Allah loved it. So
he says, You are the best of Allah's
land.
So that's definitive.
That's the best piece of land.
And you're the piece of land that Allah
loves the most.
So you can imagine if Allah loves it
the most, then there's great Barakah in it.
Right?
If not that they forced me to leave,
I would not leave you.
So he was compelled, alayhi salatu wa sallam,
to leave.
And despite his love,
he left.
Right? Despite his love,
he left.
Why did he leave?
He left because of a greater love.
He left because
the message of Islam, the propagation of Islam
could not continue in Mecca. It had to
continue somewhere else.
And Allah Azza Wa Jal wanted him to
be somewhere else.
So he had to listen to what Allah
loved more than what He loved.
And the reason I emphasize that the prophet
loved Mecca naturally,
organically
is when you think about it
all of your family, all of his family
is there.
His house, where he grew up,
Friends,
everything that he knew
was in Mecca.
So if you were to ask a person,
Leave your hometown.
They would never do this
unless that there is a stronger reason to
compel them to leave.
Right?
Unless there's a stronger reason to compel them
to leave. What was this reason that compelled
the Prophet alaihis salatu wasalam
to leave? It is the spread of Islam
and the command of Allah Azza wa Jal
to migrate. So he migrated.
And that tells you or 1 of the
lessons there
is a lesson of sacrifice.
If you were to leave something for the
sake of Allah Azzawajal,
Right?
That sacrifice
could only be possible.
You could only
muster the strength to do this
if there's a stronger more compelling reason.
So if Allah tells you you will do
it.
But my family is back there. Just imagine
this is all your stuff is there,
right. Sometimes it's hard to leave 1 neighborhood
that you grew up in to another neighborhood,
the city to another city.
Now imagine if you were to leave not
knowing if you could ever go back
with hostility in the hearts of people that
forced you out.
And in added to this, this is the
best place but you still have to leave
it.
So if we have to leave something for
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
take solace, take comfort,
gain strength and support from the fact that
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he had
to leave
and leave everything that he loved behind
and go to a new city with a
new beginning
and he
could only trust Allah
and His promise.
Yet you see that the consequence was the
best for him and best for his companion
and was best for the Ummah to leave
what you love for Allah's sake,
to leave what you're attached to for Allah's
sake, to form new attachments because of Allah
and no 1 says that
this is easy.
So as the Prophet alaihis salatu wasallam migrated,
we have to ask ourselves
are we willing to migrate like he migrated?
Now we migrate easily
for the sake of the dunya.
So we leave a city to another, a
country to another, a neighborhood to another, a
job to another. We do this for the
sake of a duniya
and we find that easy and very logical
but how many of us are willing to
migrate for the sake of Allah Azza wa
Jal. Leaving a country to another, a city
to another, a job to another
believing that that sacrifice
even though you're leaving everything comfortable behind that
sacrifice as long as it is pleasing to
Allah, Allah will take care of you.
Allah will cushion that transition, will absorb that
pain or if there is struggle
and you are patient, ultimately
Allah Azza wa Jal will give you
better than what you've left behind.
Do we have that belief that so whenever
you consider the migration of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam leaving what he loved behind
you have to think about your own migration
and your own detachment from
what Allah does not love, though you may
love.
Do something that Allah loves,
though you may not love as much.
So the Prophet did it anyway.
And what we also get from this
as a sacrifice
that when the Prophet alaihis salatu wa sallam
landed in Medina, when the companions landed in
Medina and they understood that this was a
sacrifice
for the sake of Allah Azza wa Jal.
The Medina was not furnished with roses,
was not the easiest of transitions to them
It was difficult
and there was sacrifice in it and they
had to be patient
with living in madinah
until
they got used to it, until Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala
eased them into
living in Madinah.
So on page 410
the Prophet sallallahu wa sallam said in the
hadith Allahumma inna Ibrahim
he said you Allah
indeed
Ibrahim
your closest
Khalil your beloved
and your servant and your prophet had made
dua
for the people of Mecca and I am
Muhammad Abduka Rasuluk your servant and your messenger.
I make dua for the people of Madinah
as much or as much as Ibrahim
made dua for Mecca
or as Ibrahim made dua for Mecca.
You Allah bless,
right,
bless their fruits, bless their harvest,
right?
Let me read exactly here what He said,
Alaihi Wasallam,
said.
We pray to you that you bless their
salaalmud
which is the food measurements and their harvest.
Then he said,
Allah Make, to us Madinah beloved as you
made Mecca beloved to us
and transfer its plague
to whom outside Madinah.
You Allah, I forbid meaning I declare sacred
what is between its mountains
as you forbade on the tongue of Ibrahim
the Haram of Makkah
meaning I make
Madinah a Haram between its mountains
as You had made Mecca
a forbidden city or a sacred city on
the tongue of Ibrahim.
So consider here what the prophet
is asking Allah azza wa sallam, You Allah,
I'm making du'a for Madinah as Ibrahim was
making du'a for Makkah meaning as you accepted
this You Allah accept that
as You Allah You made
Makkah a forbidden sacred city on the tongue
of Ibrahim
make also I'm asking Dua for Medina to
be a haram. So Medina is a haram,
forbidden, sacred.
And we only have 2 cities in Islam
in the world that are sacred
that are forbidden Mecca and Madinah
1 on the tongue of Ibrahim, 1 on
the tongue of Muhammad
and he said you Allah, Azawajal bless their
Sa'a and their Mud, what they use to
measure their food.
So put barakah in it and barakah in
their harvest and whatever they plant.
And He
said
Allah make the Madinah beloved to us as
You made Mecca beloved to us.
So you can sense here
that the Sahaba were missing what?
What were they missing?
Who migrated?
They're missing
Makkah.
They're missing Makkah.
It was not easy
and then when he said
Allah
transfer the plague that is in it to
whom.
See, Medina
was not a helpful
city.
No. Its people are used to it.
The Ansar,
Auswal Khajar are already used to it. They're
living there but when the migrants came to
Medina, they became sick.
They had fevers and sickness. They couldn't adjust
because it was not a healthful place. It
had these several plagues in it.
So they got sick and they got fever
and they're famously,
you know, Bilal was feverish and he was
reciting some poetry. Abu Bakr was feverish
reciting some poetry lamenting their departure
and,
upset with those who had forced them to
leave their hometowns in Makkis. It was not
at all an easy adjustment in the beginning.
So but what made it possible for them
to adjust to it?
So don't think, that's what I want you
here to keep in mind, when we say
if you leave this for the sake of
Allah, azza wa jal Allah will give you
something better. Yes, but in the beginning you
could be tested.
In the beginning you left this for Allah,
this job to that job, this city to
that city,
this person for that person.
In the beginning of it,
you could be tested with difficulty.
So Allah Azzawal
could see
your sincerity and your devotion. Yeah, you left
that for Me. Are you gonna continue
or you'll be back out?
Will you back out because of some difficulty
or are you sincere? And if you are
sincere you'll get your own Medina
figuratively.
You'll get your own blessing but you need
to push
despite that initial victory,
challenge. And then eventually there is victory with
Nila Azza wa Jal.
So
Madinah is a Haram,
and Madinah, of course, is the 2nd best
city after Mecca.
And we'll talk Insha'Allah
shortly about some of their virtues.
So the Prophet
he said, You Allah make us love Madinah.
And he loved it. And the hadith of
the chapter said so.
As soon as he would see a glimpse
of Medina,
his heart would rush to it.
He couldn't wait to hold himself back so
then he would physically rush to see it
as his heart was rushing, was longing to
see Medina. He couldn't wait that's why he
would rush his animal
so that he would be in Medina and
not be delayed.
So a person who hears this,
they should also develop a love for Medina
because
the Prophet
loved it so much,
right? He loved it so much. So if
you're about to visit
or you're planning a visit or you hear
the mention of Medina, you say this city
is the beloved city of Muhammad
So you should love it as well. You
should wanna be there as well. You should
wanna walk its roads as well. Pray in
the masjid of the prophet alaihis salatu was
salam.
Another hadith on page 411
that tells you also similarly according to, similar
to the hadith of the chapter
how he
used to rush
to Medina
or at least comment
when he sees
it He said
He says we were returning
with the Prophet alaihis salatu wasalam from the
Battle of Tabooq.
When we reached the outskirts of Madinah
he said
hadithaba. He said this is Taaba.
That's another name for Medina, Taiba or Taaba.
And
this is Uhud,
a mountain that loves us and we love
it.
This is
a mountain that loves
us and we love it.
And baba is another name for Medina, which
means the fragrant or the pure.
Fava minatlib
or minatayib.
And Medina is both.
It's both pure
and fragrant.
So he said
when he saw Madinah Dis Astava
and this is Uhud,
Right?
And you could see Uhud from afar.
By the way, you know why Uhud is
called Uhud?
Uhud is called Uhud because it's a singular
mountain.
It's not connected to any other. It just
stands alone.
If you want to remember we say about
Allah, Azadil He is ahad1,
right? It's called Uhud because it's 1, right?
It's just 1 big mountain no other mountains
around it.
So he says we love this mountain and
it loves us.
And so SubhanAllah, also what you can take
from that hadith is that there are things
in Medina that are extra special.
And that mount of Uhud which was the
spot for what?
The first Muslim
defeat
in the battle of Uhud. It turns out
into or becomes a spot that Muslims
celebrate.
Not celebrate by having a festival there, no,
but they have special connection too.
More than 1 time the Prophet alaihis salatu
wasalam
would stand on Uhud and Uhud would shake
and he said, Uth but Uhud. Be still
Uhud.
You have a prophet
and a sadeek and martyrs standing on top
of you. So Uhud would be still
and then he would say
uhud is a mountain that loves us and
we love it. So if you were to
visit Uhud and you would ascend the mount
of Uhud you remember that this is a
mountain that loves the believer and the believers
love it so you should love it as
well and there's no mention of any other
spot like that by the Prophet
And it also teaches you something interesting about
what we call al jamadaat or inanimate
objects.
God is a mountain but it is what?
Conscious
or not?
Conscious
because we've been taught
that inanimate objects have no feelings
just simply because you don't observe them reacting
to your own actions
not like an animal or a human being.
But the prophet
he says no. Uhut is conscious.
He has a feeling.
It has a feeling.
It's aware. It loves the believers,
right?
And that's why when the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam was standing on top of wihud
it did shake, it did move
and in fact we can also bring another
ayah to testify to the fact that
what we consider to be not living
is actually living but it's a type of
life that you are not aware of.
SubhanAllah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
said
He says there is not a thing except
that it glorifies and praises Allah but you
do not comprehend their glorification,
right. He says there is nothing
except that it glorifies Allah but you do
not understand their glorification.
Some scholars have said about this the glorification
of the nonliving and the fact that they
remind you of Allah.
But other scholars have said no, they remind
you of Allah. Yes, but the aya
is as you understand it. The apparent meaning
is that they glorify
but you don't comprehend how they glorify Allah.
So it means that everything that you see
solid,
liquid,
glorifies Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but you don't
have no access to how they glorify
Allah
So there is level of consciousness
to it and when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
after the demise of pharaoh another ayah to
support
the claim
that what we consider to be nonliving has
a life of its own. Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala after the demise of pharaoh and his
soldiers He said
The heavens and the earth did not cry
over them.
The heavens and the earth did not cry
over them
and so we understand that to be literal
meaning that they did not miss them
because of their corruption, because of their criminality,
they were relieved that Pharaoh and his soldiers
were dead.
And so you can understand what the opposite
meaning would be true as well that is
if a righteous person dies
that what we consider to be
nonliving reacts to them. There is that level
of consciousness and reaction, but we do not
know
and not comprehend.
So
Medina, of course, in addition
to Uhud, has many monuments
or many,
historical spots.
This is where the sahaba met. This is
where the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam sat.
This is where the prophet alaihi wa sallam
drank from that well. Last week, we talked
about the well of Bayruha, and we said
that its current location
is then with the,
modern expansion of the, masjid of the prophet
alaihis salatu wa sallam. So the Medina is
filled with similar spots, and if you go
around,
you will feel that the history of Islam
comes alive
as you witness these spots.
Now, of course, the best spot in Mecca
is what? The Masjid.
And the best spot in Medina
is of course what? The Masjid.
And salah is multiplied there.
So in addition to the virtue of Medina
as a whole, as a city, the virtue
of Mecca as a city, the Prophet
he said
He said, a single salah in my masjid
is better than a 1, 000 elsewhere except
for Al Masjidul Haram meaning A'un in Mecca.
And a single salah in Al Masjidul Haram
meaning in Mecca is better than a 100,
000 elsewhere.
So just imagine the virtue.
Any other Masjid and of course Jerusalem
has its own virtue. We'll talk about it
but
other than the 3,
the 1 in Mecca, the 1 in Medina,
and Al Aqsa,
Any other masjid when you pray,
the salah is 1 salah. It gets multiplied
with your devotion
if you pray in jama'ah
based on how many people are present maybe
perhaps be
based on the barakah in the masjid in
terms of its age.
These things could multiply,
Rassalah,
but nothing close to
a1000,
right,
Nothing close to a 100, 000.
So this is this distinct virtue to praying
in the Haram in Mecca and to praying
to the Haram in Madinah.
So that adds to that virtue.
We add to it too
that the Prophet alaihis salatu wasalam
was asked You Rasulullahi
Abu Dar asked him You Rasulullahi,
He said, Which Masjid
was first established
on the face of the earth?
The very first.
He said, Al Masjidul Haram.
He said, And then what? He said, Al
Masjidul Aqsa.
What was between them? How much time lapsed
between them? He said 40 years.
Then he said
if you are elsewhere
whenever it is time to pray then pray
for the virtue is in doing that meaning
all other masjids are equal.
If you're not in the haram in Mecca,
if you're not in the Masjid Al Aqsa,
if you're not in Madinah wherever you pray
all of this is equal
But the distinction belongs to those masjids.
So here we know that the first masjid
was what? Al Masjid Al Haram. Now we're
not 100% sure who
built
it. Did Adam
build it
or did Ibrahim
build it? Both are possibilities.
We do not know for sure.
And so the next 1 was Al Masjid
Al Aqsa, 40 years was between the building
of the first and then the second.
And as far as Al Aqsa is concerned,
there is a hadith from the prophet alaihis
salaam an authentic hadith that says that a
single salah in it is worth
250
salahs.
So Al Aqsa, when you pray 1, it's
worth 250.
Medina is a 1000, Mecca is 100, 000.
But we add to the virtue of Al
Aqsa 2 things.
1 is a specific supplication
from
Sulayman
alaihis salam.
So Sulayman alaihis salam
is likely the prophet that renovated
and expanded in Masjid Al Aqsa,
right?
Did not found,
did not begin
but He's either alaihis
salam the 1 who renovated or renovated and
expanded And he made a special dua that
whoever
would come to pray an Al Aqsa
only for the sake of Allah Azza wa
Jal that he would leave with all of
his sins forgiven.
That is if you were to go to
Al Aqsa and that is a supplication from
a prophet If you were to go to
Al Aqsa the only thing that prompts you
to go there is just salah,
just Allah Azza wa Jal. It's not sightseeing,
It's not,
business. Nothing to meet a friend. No. You
just want to pray with that in mind
that you would leave with all the sins
forgiven.
So that's a virtue for Al Aqsa. A
third virtue
that is common to all 3 the Prophet
alaihis salatu wasalam he said
he says travel should not be initiated
except to 3 masjids
Masjid al Haram, masjid al Rasoolillahi wa sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, masjid al Aqsa. So the
masjid in Mecca, the masjid in Madinah, and
the masjid al Aqsa. You do not initiate
travel except
to those 3.
And the
question is why only those 3?
Because it's only those 3 that are virtuous.
And for that, they deserve if you wanted
to initiate travel, you should initiate travel to
them.
But you're not supposed to initiate travel
thinking that there is any other virtue in
any other masjid.
Now you could say if a masjid is
kind of beautiful and big and what have
you, I want to go and see it.
Just what? Out of curiosity,
intrigue.
But you cannot believe that there is virtue
in traveling to see that masjid,
right?
Like for instance, a masjid in the west
and you say I just want to go
and travel to see that masjid and you
consider that a religious pilgrimage
that would be forbidden
because we say what why what's the virtue
there?
Why did you assign virtue to it? Why
do you consider to be that to be
a special trip? He says
no, only 3. Meaning you could say to
yourself even if it's not Hajj or Umrah
I want to go and pray in Makkah
in Al Haram. You can initiate travel. Why
100, 000?
I want to go and pray in Madinah.
Why the 1, 000?
I want to go and pray in Al
Aqsa. Why? The virtues that we stated about
it. Yeah, you can travel from where you
are to that simply to pray. Any other
masjid you don't initiate travel because there's no
specific barakah
in it
but then that tells you about these 3
blessed
spots in Islam that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
loves and had blessed
and in particular of course
because of everything that is happening and everything
that will be happening,
pay special attention to Al Aqsa
and remind yourself and people around you of
its virtue. Why is it important to Muslims?
Why is this such an important place
In the past,
right,
in terms of all the prophets of Allah
Azza wa Jal that were there,
in terms of it being a place of
worship
where Allah Azzawajal should be glorified and worshipped
as 1
in terms of the connection that the Prophet
had to it, in terms
of Muslim history,
in terms of the reality right now
of the sacrifice
that people are offering to protect it
and in terms of its significance in the
future
because
the events
towards the end of time,
the apocalyptic
end of time events,
most of them are connected to that spot
of land
to Ardu Shem in general
and also to Jerusalem so it will play
a very significant role when Al Mahdi comes,
when Ad Dajjal will come,
when Isa alaihis salam will descend, it will
play a significant role. So it's a very
important spot and it's a very important spot
in the heart of every Muslim. So keep
that alive and understand it not only in
terms of,
just or injust causes
or
humane
a humane issue
or in terms of restoring
justice, no, but also of in religious terms.
Why is it important religiously?
Because if it's important religiously,
you'll never let go of it, and you'll
always keep reminding
yourself and your children and those who are
around you of its virtue.
Now, also the Prophet, you know, Prophet alaihi
sallahu alaihi wasallam as we said he
loved
Mecca.
And He loved Mecca, we said, for 2
reasons.
The natural reasons of it being the place
of His birth
and also
for religious reasons.
And
I wanna take
kind of this
dual love that he had for Makkah
to
discuss the love that we have
to our hometowns,
to our countries
and when that is permissible and when that
is excessive and impermissible
and discuss briefly the issue of intention
and the issue of nationalism.
Now we have
personal reasons to love everything and as long
as that thing is halal,
that love could be permissible as long as
it's not excessive.
You can love any
piece of land.
Love it because you were born in it.
Love it because you like its people, you
like its food, you like to vacation there,
whatever reason,
1 day you hope to live there, whatever
reason. You have personal reasons to love
a peace of land.
Or maybe you have a personal reason to
hate
a peace land as well a city, a
village, a country
personal reasons
that does not really matter to us. There
are religious reasons for you to love
a land or for you to hate a
land.
So that's a different motivation, right? Personal, now
there is religious.
What is a religious reason for you to
love a piece of land?
We already talked about loving Mecca
and loving Medina
and loving Jerusalem.
Now if there's a city or a village
where
people are obedient to Allah Azzawjal, they champion
the sunnah of the Prophet alaihis salatu wassalam,
they are striving for Allah's sake, You would
naturally be
inclined towards that those people and inclined towards
that land. You would love it for that.
So any place that is pleasing to Allah
we should love
and then any place that is displeasing to
Allah we should
what? Hate
and that hatred means that you would not
want to be there.
So the place no matter how rich that
place is,
no matter how much advertisement
they buy to convince you that you should
be there,
no matter how much fun they try to
convince you you will have when you are
there,
the best place on earth is this place
but you understand it's a sinful place.
Would you wanna go?
Even if you personally have that desire I
wanna go,
you say to yourself no but Allah hates
it.
So this could not be a good place.
So you let that religious
reason
be the supreme reason in deciding where you're
supposed to go, vacation,
stay or not stay, and to tell you
what you're supposed to love, what's supposed to
impress you, and what not. So you could
have a village, a very primitive village, but
it is pleasing to Allah, Azzawajal,
that should be more beloved to you without
a great metropolis
that is fancy and advanced yet is so
displeasing to Allah.
So you don't look the way that people
look at places but you look the way
that Allah looks at them.
What lens are you using?
So there's a religious reason,
we understand that. There are personal reasons and
we understand that. Could they clash or could
they coincide? Could you love a place for
2 reasons
or love a place for not 1 reason
but hate it for another? Yes, you can.
And here is where you have to make
Allah's
love and Allah's guidance supreme.
So do they coincide or do they clash?
Now
we can expand this a little bit and
talk about intention,
right?
So if
there's a
piece of Ibadah
or an act of Ibadah
that you want to perform,
right?
You could have simply and only religious intentions
for it
and you could have religious and worldly intentions
for it
and as long as
in the second
possibility where you have 2 types of intentions
as long as the religious intentions for that
act of worship are the supreme ones
you're allowed to have worldly intentions.
Let's give you example so that
this becomes apparent.
Now suppose that you want to go to
Umrah or Hajj.
Now
what pulls you to go to Umrah and
Hajj?
You have the religious reasons, right? We're aware
of that. Allah's forgiveness,
prayer as we mentioned, the acceptance of dua,
the forgiveness of sin, all of these things.
Could you have also
worldly reasons to go on that trip?
Well, you may want to go because you
want to see a friend.
You may want to go because you want
to shop.
You may want to go because you want
a vacation
so it's both this and that.
Maybe you're gonna go because you're gonna sell
and buy. There's business involved.
So Allah Azzajal in the Quran He said
there is no issue, there is no problem
for you to seek the favors of Allah
Azza wa Jal. This is in reference to
what
them selling and buying in Hajj because they
thought that it is impermissible
if they go to Hajj and the Hajj
is a season.
A lot of people come in so are
we allowed to sell bring our things with
us and sell and buy and make some
profit
but at the same time this is Ibadah.
Is there conflict or not? You say Allah
said there is no issue with it if
you were to seek the favors of Allah
So you're coming to Hajj to perform Ibadah
and then also you're selling
things or you're buying.
Now this is permissible as long as the
primary motive for your Ibadah is the religious
1 and not the worldly 1.
So you're not simply coming to Hajj to
sell and buy and Ibadah is secondary,
right.
So that since it's an active Ibadah it
must be supreme. Now we could bring this
closer to home by saying
why do you come to the masjid
to pray
or to a halaqa?
You can have religious reasons, right? Only religious
reasons.
I only want to learn
and I want Allah's forgiveness. Nothing else.
Or you could also get come for worldly
reasons.
What are some of the worldly reasons that
could bring you to the masjid?
Or they have some food
or some snacks
or I'll meet a friend
or I'm bored at home. May I also
be able to socialize when I go to
the Masjid? Okay. Is this forbidden?
He says no. As long as the primary
reason is
what? Salah.
Say, how can you remind yourself I'm not
going to the Masjid to eat.
See, I'm not going to the masjid for
salah to eat and then salah is on
the side
or to attend an event and salah is
on the side. No. Salah is the primary.
If it is you're coming for salah that's
the main reason. If you're coming for a
halakah it always should remind yourself it's for
the halakah
because there is forgiveness from Allah
in it. And then also in addition to
it, Alhamdulillah, I get to talk to so
and so or eat this or
leave the house, that's also Alhamdulillah, that's permissible.
And if you were to kind of test
yourself, if you want to understand
whether this is you're merely motivated by Allah
azza wa jal or you're motivated by other
reasons, ask yourself if so and so would
not be there
and if there is no food
would I go?
Would I come to the salah? So none
of the people, none of the none of
my friends are going to be there.
I'm I'm not going to be able to
talk to anyone.
There are no snacks, no food, no special
events, it's just the salah. Would I still
go?
Then you'll know whether you're going for the
salah or for something else. And if you
catch yourself doing this, remind yourself of the
virtue of the act
so that that could motivate you and then
add to it otherworldly benefits that you'll be
able to get Insha'Allah.
So
whatever we personally
desire, personally love,
personally are attracted to
is permissible
as long as it doesn't clash with the
religious 1
religious reason,
right?
And also it's not
extreme.
It doesn't go into extreme.
So here our love for hometowns,
is it religious
or worldly?
Worldly
it's not religious.
And although I mean, you may have heard
some
attribute a hadith to the prophet
that said
loving your hometown is from Iman.
This is not a hadith.
Like loving your hometowns or home cities or
is from iman,
loving your nation is from iman, that's not
really hadith.
So it's simply a natural organic love that
you have
or that spot
that holds a special place in your heart.
Now, that is different
from
nationalism.
That is different from nationalism.
There's something that if you were to translate
it into Arabic they would call it That's
very different.
Why?
Because
loving your hometown is loving what? Something that
is very natural to you.
Okay.
The spot where I grew up, I have
memory here, memory here, memory here. It could
be a city or a bigger city
or
constellation of cities that you are used to.
So this is what organic
and personal.
Nationalism,
on the other hand, has 2 problems. 1,
it's imaginary
it's not real.
2nd of all, it goes into extremes where
it clashes with religious love.
1 imaginary. Why? Because these borders that we
all have
in the world today, are they real?
No. It's just a society or a country
or circumstances
decided we're gonna just have a border right
here
and said, If you're on this side, you're
not 1 of us. On this side, you're
1 of us.
It's artificial.
Even though you could have, as you have
in some countries
villages that therefore
decades or centuries
were almost 1
and then a border crumbs and cuts them
in half and now now it's supposed to
belong to very different countries
even though they intermarry.
They speak the same language,
the same dialect, the same custom
but now supposedly they belong to very different
countries.
It's artificial. I don't want to bore you
but it's very artificial.
But also on the other hand it grows
into excessive
militant type of love which is what nationalism
where people now start loving
their
co citizens
for the sake of them being citizens and
nothing else and hating other citizens for this
fact that they are not citizens of their
own country. And you see this especially if
there is some sort of political conflict between
countries.
We are on the right side, you're on
the wrong side. We are against you
and it's Jahiliya.
It is Jahiliya and Muslims unfortunately
are sick with this Jahiliya,
almost with no exception.
You see it.
They attack other countries and make themselves superior
and that is haram
because you're not supposed to base love on
where a person is born.
Now, I may like a person who's born
in my town
personally.
Why? Hey, we ate this. We ate the
same food, same dialect. I miss that, right?
I was just kind of we can, reminisce
about same events, same,
locations.
That's nice. Yeah. But this is all personal.
But you're gonna base love only on that?
So if there's someone who belongs to your
nation,
who's displeasing to Allah, meaning he's not even
a Muslim, you're supposed to love him more
than a Muslim in another country?
Now, you see the flaw in nationalism. You
see the flaw here in that love. Is
here personal love
or love that is not for Allah's sake
clashes with what Allah loves.
For Muslims
and even you, SubhanAllah, even for non Muslims
I will show you that this is inhumane
but for Muslims you're
supposed to
base your love on Allah Azza wa Jal.
So wherever a person is you find him
more pleasing to Allah you're supposed to love
him more
even if he's not a relative,
even if he's not in your country,
not in your town, not in your village
and if a person is truly displeasing to
Allah as zarajal you're not supposed to love
him even if he's a citizen
in the same country,
even if he is in your own town,
in your own village, in your own house.
So these bonds that they wanna convince us
are universal or they make sense, they make
no sense and I say even
on a human level
this is also atrocious
even on a human level. You see some
countries
if a their citizen is killed they react.
You know there is a problem somewhere in
the world.
If somebody else gets killed,
they don't they don't move a muscle
but if 1 of their citizens is killed,
they react.
Now you think about it. Is this humane?
Are they not all human?
Are you not supposed to save everybody? What
makes this person extra special? It is political
consideration because he doesn't want to be caught
looking like he has abandoned a citizen because
other citizens will say what? We're gonna punish
you when it's election time.
But in fact should be that all human
life is equal. So this person
can be offered treatment and medication because he's
a citizen but this person knows. Why? He's
not a citizen. He's not a permanent resident.
He's not this. He is what? Illegal.
Only all human.
So even on a human level if you
don't even want to think about it religiously,
on a human level
you're not supposed to differentiate based on that.
There's something that is more universal
and greater than the citizenship that you hold
and similarly especially if you are Muslim,
you're not supposed to differentiate based on
the passport that you're holding.
You love based on what Allah
loves and you distance yourself based on what
Allah
hates
and
you're not supposed to take a position against
someone
if there's a fight between your nation and
theirs.
And you're not supposed to love someone because
your nation somehow is allied with their nation.
But what people do,
Muslims and non Muslims,
when they hate a political leader or a
country, they start to hate its people.
And again that is political,
that's not religious,
and Muslims are supposed to be smarter and
more pious than that.
So we'll take us back, insha'Allah,
to what the Prophet
said
that
he loved Mecca
and he loved Medina and there is virtue
in them
and that teaches us a lot about how
much we are supposed to be attached or
detached to
land
and to hometowns and to cities and to
countries.
See,
no matter
how much he loved
Makkah alaihis salatu wa salam, he left it.
No matter how much he loved it, he
left it
for Allah's sake.
So no piece of land could
be more important than what you believe.
No piece of land could be more important
than the hereafter.
So when we
sacrifice, we don't sacrifice our lives for a
piece of land
just because I have it or he doesn't
have it. We don't sacrifice our lives for
the peace of land.
We don't fight
chamilia or jahiliyah
out of partisanship
or out of jahiliyah
or out of vengeance.
If you fight or if you refrain from
fighting, you do it for the sake of
the hereafter.
So as precious as Madi as Madqa was
for the Prophet
he could leave it
for a greater love and that is Allah
So your land could not be better
or more precious
than Mecca and the land that the prophet
left behind. So you will be asked to
leave
what you love
behind
for the sake of Allah azza wa jal.
Now could be a hometown,
could be a job,
could be a friend,
could be a habit, could be anything.
But if you leave it,
you have to believe that Allah azza wa
Jal will give you
something better than
what you've left for His sake.
And this is what the sahaba of the
Prophet alaihis salatu wasallam
knew
that
that if we leave something for Allah's sake
He will replace it with something better than
what we've left behind.
And that is the trust and your love
for Allah as the did what made which
makes
that sacrifice possible.
The belief that, Yes, I'm gonna leave this
that I love so much and now I
have nothing in my hand.
But I believe that Allah will
fill my hand with so much that I'm
gonna forget about what I used to own,
I used to love
but in the beginning as we said you
could be tested for it so Allah would
see if you are sincere or not.
So we'll stop here
see if you have questions.
All
mountains?
Okay.
So even though we don't have a direct
statement from the prophet
so the question by the way is,
that we mentioned that the Mount of Uhud
is conscious
or has consciousness, is that true for all
mountains?
So on the 1 hand we don't have
a statement from the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam that attributes this to all mountains
but on the other hand the ayaas that
we talked about
where the heavens and the earth they don't
cry over
the aggressors when they,
when they collapse and they are exterminated
and Allah Azza wa Jal is saying that
everything glorifies Allah Azza wa Jal but we
do not understand their glorification.
From that you could really easily deduce
that everything has consciousness to it, that everything
glorifies Allah Azzajal. So the sun and the
moon and the stars
and the rain water and not only animals,
right? Because we know animals do this but
everything the earth
as the earth would testify on
the day of judgement
for and against people.
So it has an awareness, and it has
consciousness, and it does react to people.
Right?
So, yes, we can say, Wallahu a'ala, that
everything
everything
has consciousness.
Right. Right. So if you're a person who
usually is talking about someone who travels outside
of Canada and then he has a longing
to come back to Canada, so that would
be this personal longing that you have. So
if you're a person who was born here,
grew up here, or you spent a lot
of time here and you got attached to
people, got attached to places, got attached to
things around you as we personally get attached
to things around us,
it's natural
to long to come back. So that longing
is natural and it's personal and it's permissible,
right? As long as 1 stay in it
is permissible. So in some countries you may
long to be there but your stay is
impermissible. In some countries you long to stay
there and your stay there is permissible. So
as long as that place with that personal
longing that you have
is pleasing to Allah. It's permissible for you
to stay there, but that's a permissible feeling
to have.
Does that answer your question?
Is it bad to brag,
to people about your country?
I would say when you when you brag
about something like that, I mean, it doesn't
it definitely,
saddens them, right? I mean you may feel
proud,
my country is this and my country is
that, especially as you said if they long
to be there but they don't have that
ability. So the more that you brag about
it, the more likely that you're gonna sadden
them because they are unable to have what
you have.
So
I would say don't brag if it's going
to sadden someone.
If you want to mention the virtues of
your country or wherever you're staying to people
who are not gonna be
disturbed by it, right? Then fine, Insha'Allah. That's
fine, insha'Allah. So this country is so beautiful
or my country is so beautiful, we have
this, we have this, we have that, it's
not gonna affect this person negatively, then alhamdulillah,
that's not an issue.
And the back.
Now so you're asking a complicated question. It's
about migrating from the lands of the disbelievers,
the Mount of the Kufar.
Is it permissible to stay here, or is
it impermissible?
So some say it's permissible as long as
you can practice,
your religion.
And some say, no, it's an obligation on
you to migrate.
So
first of all, let's say, let's establish some
foundation, Insha'Allah.
First of all, if there is a Muslim
country where a person can live and they
can raise their kids,
it's always better than staying in a non
Muslim country. That's just hands down, right? Hands
down.
The fact that the problem with that is
that that's not always available and it's not
always easy and you can't always stay there
and there are many, many other complications, right,
that stop you from doing this. But ideally,
if we can imagine that there's spot such
a spot does exist, staying in a Muslim
land where you can practice really freely
and your Muslims grow up around other Muslims
where Islam is the norm and is practiced,
that's definitely
the best.
So
as you said and some scholars have noted
that
if you are a non Muslim country, you're
allowed to stay in a non Muslim country
as long as
you can practice
your religion freely
and as long as there is no harm
that,
comes to you or to your family from
staying there. So practice it freely, meaning you
can go to the masjid,
you could,
be a Muslim, male or female, you could
practice all the pillars and tenets of Islam.
There are no
restrictions. So if that's the case, yes. If
you find in some western countries that they
start to restrict the hijab,
you cannot wear it anymore in public, you
cannot get a job when you get it,
you cannot have Islamic education
then you can't practice your Islam freely. You
have now to start thinking about moving to
somewhere else.
Also, you have to think about
what harm could come to the children from
going in a non Muslim society.
So sometimes you could shield them especially if
the parents are practicing
and especially if you homeschool.
Sometimes you can't.
So if there's such a harm that could,
you know, come to the children, you have
to think about the possibility that
them growing somewhere else is better even if
you end up earning less
and even if it's not as stable. But
that kind
of immunizes them at an early age against
the influences that you see around you.
So you have to think about 2 things.
1 is the practice of Islam and the
second also,
is about,
the harm that's going to come to the
children. And you have a problem is that,
most or a lot, not me, not say
most, but a lot of Muslims
are not practicing Muslims to the extent that
allows them to stay here.
So they don't even pray. So if you're
not even praying,
okay, then you're endangering yourself and you're absolutely
100% endangering your children when you're living here
because they don't have any attachment to Islam.
So such a person has to seriously rethink
the permissibility
of their stay here because sooner or later,
right, what's gonna happen is that they're gonna
exit
from Islam.
That's a good question.
That's a good question. So the good question
here is that let's compare 2 people, 1
who has
just a religious intention
to visit a place like the places we
talked about or to come to the masjid.
It's just this the attention is just solely
religious. And the other 1 has religion
religious intention mixed with a worldly intention.
Does the worldly intention diminish the reward?
The answer is yes.
The answer is
yes. So if your sole focus is religious,
right, I'm only going to Hajj for Hajj
and nothing else. I don't care about anything
else. Umrah is Umrah and nothing else. Masjid
for Masjid,
I don't care if I talk to anybody
there or not. It's just for the salah.
So you could imagine here the devotion
gives us the focus
just for
this. So that person is truly then independent
of anything that goes around. He's gonna keep
coming whether he can socialize, he could get
any worldly benefit or not. So that attachment
is strong to the Ibadah.
The other person,
right, and we have to acknowledge that we're
not always
strong. Not all of us are strong
and we're not always that strong.
So sometimes you need that extra motivation to
do this and to do that. So in
that case, yes, it does take away from
it because you have
diminished focus, diminished attention to it but it
doesn't deprive you
of the reward, right? It just is diminished.
Just like the Prophet
said about the people who
go to jihad
And when they go to jihad, they will
win the booty of the warfare.
He says if they win the booty of
the way
warfare and they come back safe,
2 thirds of the reward had been hastened
to them,
right. So if they go out
and they get money
and they come back safe, they get 1
third
reward.
If they go out
and they don't get anything and they are
harmed,
perhaps they get the full thing.
So that's why worldly intentions and gains also
diminish.
Yeah.
Right. Yes. Yes. He would have. So
the question is about the hadith of the
prophet
So actions are by
intention are determined by intention. And the continuation
of the hadith is, the prophet alaihis salatu
wasalam, he said, so whoever is migrate migrated
or his migration is for Allah and his
messenger, then his migration will be for Allah
and His Messenger. But if someone migrates
to,
marry a woman or to get a worldly
favor, then his Hijra is or the word
of his Hijra is what he had migrated
to get.
So he's saying that because there is a,
some mention that there is a reason for
that hadith.
And some say some mention it because it's
not established, right? It's just some say that
there's a mention that someone migrated
simply to marry someone,
right? Migrated from Mecca to Medina just to
simply migrate marry someone because she said I'm
not gonna marry you until you migrate. So
he migrated just to marry her. So the
brother was asking would that person not have
avoided that hadith
if
he had migrated
for Allah's sake as a primary reason and
then secondary
to marry so and so? And I said
yes.
That hadith would not have applied to him
meaning
if the primary reason for your migration or
religious act is Allah Azzawajal
but also you're going to get something beneficial
from it in the duniya
then Allah rewards you for it and then
gives you the duniya that you want.
But if the primary, the main reason why
you have moved is because of the duniya
then you only get the duniya.
So if you only migrate so that
superficially the image is what I'm migrating, it's
hijrah
or it is jihad or it is what
Quran or it is coming to the masjid
or it is Hajj. So superficially it looks
like an ibada but if the intention is
not ibada,
mainly is not ibada you're not going to
get anything from it.
So image doesn't matter. So intention is the
thing that matters here.
Let me see insha Allah couple of questions
maybe here and then we'll come back to
you.
So during Ramadan, the local masjid provides iftar.
So this is a good example too. Is
it permissible for me to go for the
iftar and prayers when I don't normally pray
there?
Yes, it's permissible
but then ask yourself why are you going
there?
What is motivating you? And it's a good
investigation
because it will correct reform and elevate your
intention
if
you let yourself without any monitoring.
You'll just go for the sake of the
food and you'll notice it. How? Because whenever
they have food you'll go and if there's
no food you're not gonna go. Then you
know what?
You're going for the sake of what?
The food.
So then you question yourself. You interrogate yourself
and say, am I just am I just
simply going for the sake of the food?
They say, You know what? Let me go
for the sake of the salah
and then I'll eat. Alhamdulillah. But focus on
the salah.
So when you do this and you focus
on the salah and again you focus and
a third time you focus, salah becomes
the more important.
And then so if you go and you
find that on that day they don't have
food, yeah, it's gonna disappoint you
but at least you'll say what At least
I won the salah. At least I came
for the salah. Same thing for,
potlucks and, events.
Like whenever you have food people are gonna
come.
That's the main attraction. Everybody in the masjid
probably knows, right? Whenever you're going to have
food more people are not going to come
to your
So what's the primary motivation here? It's the
food, it's not the event, it's not whatever
gonna be said, it's not the lecture, it's
the food.
But then you have to ask yourself Alhamdulillah,
at least you're in the masjid. That's good
but then you have to ask yourself Am
I simply that person who's just only coming
for food?
I must be better than this.
So yeah, we may have come for the
food but stay for the lecture and keep
coming for it or keep coming for the
salah. That's how
you evolve your intention,
right? So
it doesn't matter why you're coming in the
beginning
that's kind of that that point of attraction
it doesn't matter just rectify your intention and
make it for the sake of Allah
and you will feel closer to him because
of it.
So what are some another question what are
some displeasing places
that Allah does not want us to go,
that we shouldn't go to? So any place
where haram is committed
Sin City, right?
Right. That's what it's called. So if your
place is called Sin City, would you go
to it? You wouldn't even pass by, right?
So you know it's haram, so I'm not
gonna go there. So any place that is
displeasing to Allah, Azza wa Jal, where sin
is predominant,
right, sin is public
or sin at that time
during the day, during the night, during this
month,
during this week,
you would avoid it.
Any place
that Allah had punished,
Any place that Allah had punished,
right? So when the prophet alaihis salatu wasallam
was passing
on 1 of those,
trips or expeditions with the Sahaba and they
passed by the,
Mada'in al Salih,
right. The area where Salih alaihis salam
lived
the Thamud
and they were destroyed.
So he said, Rush through it.
Do not drink from its water
and rush through it
and if you are to enter it,
either cry or if you cannot pretend that
you're crying,
lest what Allah's punishment descends.
So this is also not a place that
you would visit
or you would frequent or you would see
as a destination.
Probably included in that
is the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea, right? Though it is a
popular tourist destination,
right? But the Dead Sea is likely, wallahu
alam,
or is the place
of the people of Lot
People of Lot,
right, where they were destroyed.
So you wouldn't go to a place that
Allah, Azza wa Jal, had destroyed the people
because if you sit there and you enjoy
yourself or whatever,
you are subjecting yourself to the fact that
Allah could punish you for it or the
punishment could descend again. So it is a,
in a sense, a unblessed land or a
cursed land, so you wouldn't go there. Those
are the places
where Allah
hates and you don't wanna,
be there.
It says if we
reset our intentions, will Allah
reward us. For example, we wanna migrate for
worldly reasons initially
but then we set the intention in our
hearts to do it for the sake of
Allah.
Yes, as long as you have not performed
the act yet you can change your intention
and Allah rewards you for it, not after
the act.
Now after the act you could decide
that I'm going to stay here or I'm
going to hold on to this because of
Allah if it is pleasing to Him.
But just to answer your question, if before
the at, so you know, I'm gonna go
to bed and sleep.
What's the intention there?
Rest.
There's no Ibadah there. But if you say
I'm gonna rest
to be able to wake up for Fajr
or Qiyam or to do something good. So
you connect this
to something pleasing to Allah.
Just like, I'm gonna eat my dinner. Why?
Hungry.
So what does that mean?
You don't get rewarded for that
but
I'm gonna eat
because I'm gonna use that energy to do
something pleasing to Allah whether work and support
my kids
or
pray or read the Quran
or to keep my body
healthy which is an Amanah.
Connecting to Allah becomes an act of Ibadah.
So though initially you may have
a worldly intention or even the wrong intention,
if you switch it Allah rewards you for
it. But not after the act. After the
act is done,
the act is done. But you could kind
of maintain
the act for reasons pleasing to Allah.
Anyone else, inshaAllah, has
any question?
So on the men's signs, we're good?
Sisters, we're good? Okay.
So we'll see
next week at 7:30, the same time
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