Ali Albarghouthi – This Is Love #40 Loving Iman and Righteousness
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AI: Transcript ©
We've reached or by the help of Allah,
Azza wa Jalal, we've reached
Hadith
Puri
And the title of this chapter is Loving
Iman and Righteousness.
Loving Iman and Righteousness. And we will,
insha'Allah try to see why it's important to
love iman,
what that does.
And the hadith here is a lengthy 1.
So what I will do insha'Allah,
and most of it is dua.
So I'll read the Arabic first and then
I'll translate it insha'Allah.
So this hadith,
and it's about
the aftermath of Uhud.
When it was the
day of wihud
and the polytheists
left.
He spoke to the companions
radiAllahu anum and he said, Form
straight rows
behind me
so I would praise Allah,
my rub.
Baqal. Then
he said,
So this is the dua. All of this
was the dua of the Messenger alaihi salatu
wassalam after he said,
Form lines behind me and let me praise
Allah azza wa jal. What did he say?
He says, Allah, o Allah.
All praise belongs to you, o Allah. None
can
none can contract what you expand
nor expand what you can contract.
None can guide whom you misguide
nor misguide whom you guide.
None can give what You withhold
nor withhold what You can give.
None can bring near what You put far
nor put far what you bring near.
O Allah, grant us abundance from your blessings,
mercy,
favor, and provision.
O Allah, I ask you for the lasting
blessing blessing
that does not change or depart.
Oh, Allah, I ask you for blessings on
the day of poverty
and security on the day of fear.
Oh, Allah, I seek refuge with you from
the evil
of what You gave us and what You
withheld.
O Allah, make us
let me see Allah's my
O Allah, make us love Iman and beauty
and beautify it in our hearts. So Allah
make us love iman and beautify it in
our hearts. Make us hate disbelief,
rebellion, and disobedience,
and make us of the guided.
Oh Allah, make us die as Muslims, live
as Muslims,
and join us with the righteous,
neither disgraced
nor tempted.
Oh Allah, fight the disbelievers who deny your
messengers
and deter people from your path and send
your severe punishment over them. Oh Allah,
Fight the disbelievers who were given the book,
oh, the true Ilah.
So this
praise
and du'a, and pleading with Allah Azza wa
Jal, as we said, came after what?
Came after the Battle of Uhud. Remember we
talked about Uhud last time?
Kind of the virtue of Uhud and what
is special about it?
So this is after the battle.
And maybe the first thing that will strike
you
is that he said all of this
after what could be considered a defeat.
So what is the consequence of the Battle
of Uhud?
You have
70
of the companions
killed.
A similar number or more injured,
the prophet alaihis salatu wa sallam personally harmed.
That is
physically
a defeat.
So in the midst of pain,
in the midst
of what could be recrimination
or
blame,
It's you who did that. It's you who
did not listen.
In the midst of negative feelings or what
could be negative feelings,
The prophet, alayhi salatu wa sallam, emerges from
that, from the aftermath of hardship
to tell the Muslims what?
Let me stand
and praise Allah Azza wa Jal.
Let us all stand and praise Allah Azza
wa Jal.
So this is what is striking. What does
it mean to praise Allah Azzawajal after hardship?
Because it is easy
to praise Him
after something pleasant had happened.
Because it makes sense, right?
Something good happens to you, you wanna praise
Allah and you wanna thank Him.
But then something bad happens to you, and
this is, by the way, 1 of the
things that we really wanna understand
today,
is that when something bad happens, if it's
from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
the question is, is it truly
bad?
Okay?
Actually, I need someone to grab those kids.
Yeah.
So,
if something happens
and Allah azza wa Jal is the 1
who
gave it, brought it,
is it really bad?
And what does praising Allah
for the hardship that we receive,
what does it do to us and how
does it transform us?
So first,
and you'll see this on page 418.
The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was always in
the habit of praising Allah Azza wa Jal
whether what he receives
is adversity
or
bounties.
And it was the common habit of the
Prophet alaihis salatu wasallam to do what?
If he would see something that he loved,
he would say,
Alhamdulillah,
by whose bounty good things are done.
Alhamdulillah,
who had made this possible,
whom all good things happened because of.
So He praises Him for it.
And if he sees something
or he encounters something
that he hates, he would say Alhamdulillah
in every situation. Alhamdulillah for everything.
So Alhamdulillah
here and Alhamdulillah
there,
right? And that actually should be
our custom and our habit,
to praise and thank Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
no matter what comes your way.
So we, again, we understand praising and thanking
Allah if we see what pleases us. Hey,
this is wonderful.
Alhamdulillah that Allah gave it. But why do
you thank Allah? Because you're happy with it.
Why are you happy with it? Because you
see or you feel the benefit that is
in it. Right?
You see the benefit in something pleasant.
So you thank Allah for it. The hardship,
the affliction,
the adversity.
If you know that Allah Azzawajid is all
good
and who He only sends what is good
and that there is benefit in that adversity.
So you may like it
but there's benefit in it that if you
were to understand and see, it would make
you like it.
If it's coming from the most wise, would
you not?
Praise Allah, azza wa Jal pour it and
thank Him.
That is an attitude,
that's
a state of mind
that only belongs to the believer.
No 1
who has no faith,
no iman,
or if they have
weak faith in iman, would be able
to comprehend how an adversity could be a
good thing.
How loss could be a good thing.
But it can
because 1 of the benefits, or some of
the benefits of
calamities, adversities, problems,
what displeases you,
is first of all,
right beneath the veneer of suffering or the
veneer of discomfort
is something that Allah
has hidden from your side
but it is right there.
1 is that
are we not forgiven
when we are tested like that?
I mean that thing,
if you receive it
and you are patient,
does this not forgive your sins?
So, if a forgiveness of sin comes your
way, is this not a blessing?
Just look at it as such,
Right? Just as such. Reduce it to that.
A forgiveness of sin is coming your way.
Would that not be something to thank Allah
for? To be happy
with? So that's 1.
When something bad like that happens and you
counter it with
patience,
fortitude,
tawakkul relying on Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, does
that not enhance your character
and increase your iman?
So is this not
a blessing?
And if Allah elevates your character,
isn't this something that Allah Azza wa Jal
should be thanked for?
So it looks bad,
right? Looks bad. Oh, I've lost
this.
I didn't get what I want.
Leaves pain with you. But if you're able
to look at it from a different angle,
different vantage point,
right?
When you change your location to look at
something, you'll see something different
physically, right?
So the same thing, the same event
If you look at it from a different
angle,
Allah forgives me.
That's a positive.
Alhamdulillah with that.
Allah enhances me because of it. I'll have
more iman, more taqwa,
more patience, more taqul.
My heart is cleansed because of it. So
that is
a blessing.
Does it not remind you
to be closer to Allah?
Because when you
lose the duniya,
what do you have left?
Allah,
remember before
we talked about how the duniya and the
akhirah are opposites?
And if you have more of 1, you'll
have less of the other.
So if you have more of the duniya,
what motivation do you have to seek Allah
Azza wa Jal?
You have everything you want here.
You can eat, you could drink, you're healthy,
you're happy, you're married, you have kids, you
have a job, everything is fine. What is
your motivation to rush towards Allah Azza wa
Jal? Only
the best of the best can succeed in
that test. The test of the riches
and affluence.
That is if you are blessed
and you are wealthy and healthy
and you can withstand that test
and still be close to Allah, you're among
the best of the best.
Most people cannot succeed.
Most of
us need adversity to be reminded of Allah
Azza wa Jal. Just think about
the fact that
if everything is fine in your life, you
don't remember to make dua.
But when do you make dua?
When you experience need, when you lose something.
Then you come to the masjid, and then
you raise your hands in dua, and then
you pray qiyam,
and you give sadaqa, and that is the
thing that brings you to Allah azza Zojal.
So if adversity will bring you closer to
Allah, is this not the greatest gift?
Right?
Whereas if Allah were to do the opposite
and just keep giving you from the dunya,
would this not be the greatest curse?
The greatest
sign of anger? Here's more of the dunya.
And be more corrupted,
be more neglectful,
forgetful.
So that adversity
actually has something good in it. If you
manage to
capitalize
on it, utilize it
as something good. And of course, it reminds
you
to change course in life
because
anything bad that happens
should invite you to say Am I on
the right path?
Should I be better?
Cause I need Allah Azza wa Jal to
be able to deal with this hardship. And
maybe this hardship has happened because I made
some bad choices in life or there were
some bad sins.
I did not ask Allah to forgive, so
let me change course in life. So whenever
you receive any type of hardship as a
message that Allah wants you to be better
and you become better because of it, that's
a blessing.
So if any adversity,
any problem brings you closer to Allah, that
really was not a problem. That was not
it was a gift.
And any amount of blessing or favor or
money or success that takes you away from
Allah, that really wasn't success.
That really was not a blessing.
Or at least you took it and you
turned it into something else.
So,
praising Allah as zhujil for hardship is something
that we learn from whom?
The Prophet alayhi salatu wasallam.
So immediately
while still while the wounds are still fresh,
while maybe just he just finished burying the
dead, alayhi salatu wa sallam, while a leader,
a military leader, typical military leader
will start
talking to his,
soldiers and commanders about all the mistakes that
they have done. No.
Talking to them about all the mistakes that
they have done and why they made these
mistakes and be
angry and agitated with them because after all,
they've caused that loss. You don't see that
from the Prophet alaihis salatu wa sallam. What
you see from him is what? Let me
praise Allah. For what, oh prophet of Allah?
We just got defeated. We just got killed.
We're we're just in disarray right now. We're
confused. What are we praising Allah for? He
is to teach them that praise Allah for
everything because even your dead,
they're better off.
Because what are they?
They're martyrs.
Those who were injured, that is an injury
for Allah's sake.
That is a blessing from him subhanahu wa
ta'ala. Even the injury to Muhammad alaihis salatu
wa sallam, that is a blessing for Allah
Azzawajal because you
gain
favor in the eyes of Allah when you're
patient like that. And when you are hurt
in Allah's cause,
it could be it doesn't have to be
jihad. You could just be coming to the
masjid, you get a flat tire
or you get into some kind of quarrel
with someone and you keep still, you just
still keep heading to the masjid. Those injuries
along the path
Allah rewards you for
because you incurred them, you got them because
you were
trying to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So
what are the benefits of
the Battle of Uhud?
The defeat, let's call it the defeat which
the Muslims were able to take and transform
into something noble. What are the benefits of
the defeat of
Uhud?
So
it taught Muslims a very valuable lesson about
listening to the Prophet alaihis salatu wasallam and
never disobeying his command
which is much more valuable than winning a
battle because that's a lesson for them and
for us.
You say, you disobey him
you lose. And now you've seen physically the
consequence of that loss.
To remember this for later battles and later
tests and later
events in life. And even after Muhammad
alaihis salam, when you carry his message
and you fulfill it and you apply it
as is,
you'll succeed,
you'll prosper,
You'll be protected and you'll be guided.
Disobey him
and you'll be defeated.
As an ummah,
right, if you want to just consider
very briefly
why the ummah is suffering like it is
suffering today,
Ask yourself, are they listening to Muhammad alaihis
salatu wasalam or not?
What's the answer?
Are they? Are we?
No, we're not.
So the consequence is very clear.
Why we are defeated and humiliated
and why we face 1 defeat after the
other and 1 disaster after the other. So,
he's saying if you disobey Muhammad alaihis salatu
wa sallam in even a small command like
his, Stay on the mountain and don't get
down.
If you just disobey him in that, look
what happens to you. So that is a
very valuable lesson. The other 1 is
that Allah, Azza wa Jal, should come before
your desire.
And that is another very valuable lesson because
Allah said about that battle and what happened
to it,
among you are those who won the dunya,
and among you are those who want the
akhira. Meaning, there are among you who will
obey the prophet alaihi wa sallam
despite
the battle body that you see in the
battlefield.
And others, they want that more.
Because you wanted the duniya more, you lost.
And of course, it's natural for you to
desire
wealth,
and fame,
and prosperity,
and all of this.
But Allah Azzurril wants to show you and
wants to teach you that if you put
this before Allah Azzurril,
you'll be defeated.
And that defeat and that pain,
if it teaches you a lesson,
then it was a good lesson.
It was a good pain.
Because then you will not repeat that mistake
again. So, Allah should come first.
And if not, you see the consequence.
It also tells you about
the hereafter and how primary the hereafter is.
That is in comparison
to the duniya,
the hereafter should always be the sole and
main concern.
So no matter what you lose here, Allah
compensate it later on.
No matter what you encounter here,
if you are blessed in the next life,
Allah
erases your pain here. It's as if it
was never there.
So if you seek the akhira,
Allah gives you the akhira and the duniya
as he did with the companions.
You don't lose a thing.
So again, if you seek the akhira,
Allah gives you the akhira and the duniya,
the next life and this life. If you're
only seeking the duniya, you lose the akhirah
and you eventually lose the duniya.
So Allah wanted the Muslims to learn this
early on
because the Prophet alaihi wasallam
is not always gonna be
right by their side telling them what to
do. They have to learn this on their
own.
And another
valuable
lesson from the Battle of Uhud is that
it anticipated the death of the Prophet alaihis
salatu wasallam.
It gave the Muslims a taste of it
because there was a rumor in the battle
that the prophet died.
And some Muslims gave
up. They say, Why should we keep fighting?
And other Muslims have said, If he fought
in that cause,
follow him and die in the same cause.
If he died in that cause,
that you also should die.
And they continued to fight.
And Allah Azzajal tells them,
If he were to be killed or he
dies,
would you turn back?
So Allah
was preparing them for the fact that Muhammad
alaihis salatu wasalam is not going to live
forever.
They got a taste for it
and that got them ready for it.
So when you
thank Allah Azza wa Jal,
Allah enables you to see the other side
of the story.
When something bad happens,
it has the power
to monopolize your life.
That that catastrophic
event, that trauma, whatever it is that it
happens,
if you're just simply looking at it,
it can monopolize your entire life.
And it can occupy your entire senses. You
don't see anything else.
You don't feel anything else. You feel that
you cannot escape it.
That's like a big boulder in your life
cannot be moved,
and you feel that it's gonna crush you.
That's what a problem does to you, especially
if you can't see anything else. But when
you praise Allah Azza wa'ud, it immediately releases
you from the prison of the shaitan who
tells you only see this and nothing but
this. So that you could despair of Allah's
hope and mercy. When you say Alhamdulillah
for this, you immediately
are released.
And when you're released from the prison of
the shaitan, then you can start looking at,
wait a second,
This is not as bad and as terrible
as I thought it is.
Other people have gone through similar things and
they survived.
Could have been worse.
I could change this and that about it.
And by the way, there are some benefits
in it. If you discover the benefits in
that test, in that affliction,
it begins to shrink and then shrink and
then shrink, and you still you start to
see the greater or the brighter or the
better side
of that affliction
until that affliction evaporates as an affliction.
You only see the positive in it.
And then you can truly because before you
could say Alhamdulillah
with tongue.
Then you could reach a stage where you
will say Alhamdulillah,
with your heart.
Because you feel
Allah's providence,
Allah's guidance,
Allah's love in the affliction itself.
So Allah Azzawajal
did not
put his Prophet alaihis salatu wa sallam through
what happened in the battle of Uhud because
he disliked him or hated him.
But it is precisely
because he loved him, he wanted him to
witness all of this.
And it keeps enhancing you as a Muslim,
as a Mu'min, as a believer, and it
keeps purifying.
Now,
the dua of the Prophet alaihis salatu wa
sallam,
after he praised Allah azza wa Jal,
was a complete surrender to him.
And
there's nothing better
in dealing with setbacks and problems
than a complete surrender to Allah, Azza wa
Jal. So let me just,
again briefly go through some of what he
said for you to understand what did he
mean by completely surrendering.
He says, You Allah, no 1 can withhold
what you give
or give what you withhold.
Meaning what you gave us,
no 1 can take away.
And what You took away, no 1 can
give.
So you refer all power to Allah Azzawajal
and you abdicate all power. I have none.
It happened and it's by Allah's permission. If
you want something from Him
or if you want something He can give
it. And if He takes it, can anybody
else give it to you? He says no.
And He said no 1 can guide but
you. No 1 can misguide but you.
No 1 can give
what you withhold,
no withhold what you give, and no 1
can bring near what you put far nor
put far what you put near.
Interesting because throughout your life
you're looking for that distance and that proximity.
You want things in life to be closer
to you
and things in life to be further away
from you, right?
You love something, You Allah give it to
me. You hate something, You Allah, move it
further away from me. Here the prophet alaihi
wa sallam is saying whatever you encounter,
will you like it or not, no 1
can bring it near except Allah.
And whatever
is distant from you or you want to
be distant from you, no 1 can take
it away except Allah. So if you want
something close
or closer, what should you do?
Ask Allah and rely on him.
To begin, before you do anything else, then
you could do whatever you can to bring
it closer or move it further away. But
in the beginning, what should you do? Feel
that,
if I want this job, if I want
this marriage, if I want
this,
children, if I want
anything.
You have a you want a better neighbor,
you have a bad neighbor, whatever it is,
I want something
close. Who can bring
it? You immediately ask Allah,
You Allah, bring that closer to me. No
1 can bring things closer to me but
You.
And You Allah, this is bothering me. This
is this is too much for me. Take
this away from me. No 1 can take
it away
but You.
So when you
surrender like that to Allah azza wa Jal,
You
learned few things.
Is that
nothing and no 1 could have changed this
if if Allah has destined it. Even you.
Even if you think I had a part
in
doing this or, you know, for this to
happen.
You know
that Allah, since He wished that it happened,
it has to happen
regardless of you and your effort.
So you submit to Allah's will.
And if you submit to Allah's will, then
what happens?
You stop blaming yourself.
You learn from it.
That's important.
If you look at the past, you learn
from it so that you don't repeat its
mistakes.
But you don't blame yourself for it. Why?
Because it's destined.
Because it is destined. That is once you
repent from something,
you are no longer to be blamed for
it.
Famous example for that
is that the Prophet alaihis salatu wasalam
said that Musa
and Adam alaihi wasallam met.
And Musa alaihi wasallam, he said, you are
Adam,
our father.
Why,
paraphrasing,
why did you get us out of heaven
because of your sin?
Couldn't you be patient?
And it is that impatience of yours got
us out of heaven.
So Adam, alayhis salam,
he said, You Musa, you're the 1 whom
Allah spoke to directly. He favored you with
this. He says,
How long before the creation of this earth
and this universe did you find it written
down that Allah had written
had decreed
that I'm gonna disobey Him and leave heaven?
Written down.
He said, 50 1000 years before the creation
of this world and this universe.
He says, Then why do you blame me
for something that Allah had written upon me,
written for me?
The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he said,
Bahadja Adam o Musa.
He says Adam won the argument.
The scholars are saying,
Asam Musa alaihis salam was far more knowledgeable
than to try to blame Adam for his
sin. He wasn't trying to blame Adam for
his sin. He knew that Adam
repented,
right?
Once a person repents, you don't blame him
for that sin. What is he blaming him
for?
The consequence of it. We got out. It's
your fault.
So Adam now, after saying, Well, I repented
from that sin. Now the consequence, is this
written or not? He says, Yes. He says,
Why do you blame me for something that
is already written?
It's the same thing here. If you repent
from that sin,
if you repent from that mistake, you learn
from it. You are no longer to go
back and keep blaming yourself for it but
you learn from it. So when you surrender
to Allah and His decree and His power
and you say, Allah, You are the 1
who decides what happens and what does not
happen, and your power,
right, supersedes all,
then you give it to Allah Azza wa
Jal. It had to happen this way.
So that's 1 benefit of a surrender to
Allah Azza wa Jal. Another benefit of that
surrender is you know that since Allah has
all this power,
you can always rely on Him to change
your condition and your situation.
So you will always be hopeful,
right? You Allah, You can change everything.
You Allah, You can give everything. You Allah,
You can cure everything. So you'll always be
helpful hopeful
and that reliance on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and surrendering to Him gives you all of
this.
Also, what it does
is that
it gives you energy
to keep going because Allah is beside you.
So if you rely on your energy, you
rely on yourself, you say, I'm out of
energy.
I can't give anymore. I'm too tired. I
keep trying and trying, keep failing. I don't
think I keep can keep doing this anymore.
But when you hear that Allah is right
next to you and Allah is the most
powerful and He can empower you, you could
become the most powerful person
in your surroundings
because you're not relying on your own strength
or your own intelligence,
but on the most powerful, and that is
how Allah Azza wa Jal empowers all.
But you're not gonna get this until you
submit and surrender to Allah Azza wa Jal.
Right?
So,
the Prophet alaihis salatu wasalam, and this is
kinda to
emphasize
rushing to Allah azza wa Jal whenever something
bad happens
he says, The
Prophet
sallallahu
ahi
wa
sallam would would
if anything would distress him or when something
would distress him, he would pray.
Whenever something would distress him alaihis salatu wa
sallam, what would he do?
He would pray.
And that here is a prescription.
You know how you would go to a
doctor and he tells you whenever you feel
this pain, take that medicine?
So you keep that medicine with you and
you keep a memory of what he said,
Oh, that pain in my foot and my
back, okay, that's what I should do. So
you follow the prescription of 1 you think
knows more than you.
This is whom this is not an action
of a sahabi
or a wali of Allah azza wa ta'ala
that you say, Oh, this is so grand,
I should remember it. This is the action
of the 1 and only Muhammad alaihis salatu
wa sallam
when something would distress him. So
certain things would distress him.
He's a human being, right? He would experience
pain or anxiety, something.
What does he do?
Which tells you it's the same thing that
we should do. He would pray.
That means that it would be his medication.
That would be his comfort. But why the
salah?
What does the salah connect him to
or to whom?
Connects him to Allah Azzud
and allows him to speak to Allah in
a more intimate fashion
and to hear the words of Allah in
salah
and to head to sujud and ask Allah
and be the closest he can,
and to pray and keep doing this.
And that comforts him, guides him, strengthens him,
and removes his anxiety. So that's the prescription
that if we manage to actually invest in
our salah
and trust it, and trust Allah Azza wa'udal
salah could be like that for us. You're
feeling bad, you're feeling down, you're feeling depressed,
you're feeling anxious, you're feeling weak,
you're feeling clueless, you're feeling confused, whatever it
is that you're feeling, unpleasant, agitated,
what do I do?
Let me call so and so.
Let me watch this and that. Let me
eat. Let me go out. Let me
Sometimes these things help, and you need to
do them.
Or let me take this antidepressant, let me
take this medicine because I simply don't want
to think, I don't want to feel.
But the Prophet alaihis salatu wa sallam,
he didn't have to do this.
He didn't have to talk to people out
of necessity,
out of choice. He didn't have to eat
out of necessity in the sense of I
have to eat to forget.
I have to buy to forget or to
feel happy.
He prayed
and that gave him balance
And that gave him closeness and proximity to
Allah Azza wa Jal. Touched his heart and
changed it, and then changed his body, alayhi
salatu wasalam. So this should be the way
that we act. And whenever you feel down,
Allah, azza wa jal, can take all that
pain away.
The dua of the Prophet alaihis salatu wasallam,
and remember he was making this dua while
Muslims were were hurting.
And the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was hurting
himself. His uncle had just died, Hamza
radiAllahu anhu, and the loss of Hamza was
big.
But Muslims are also hurting.
So also they needed to hear these things,
and part of what they heard here,
Allah give us your blessings and your provisions
and your mercy.
Then when he's asking, Allahumma inyasallukan
naeemalmukimal
ladilayahuwala
yazool, You Allah, I ask you for these
lasting blessings that do not depart or change.
When is this
gonna happen?
That lasting blessing,
Is it in the dunya?
In the Acheal.
Because any blessing that you receive in the
dunya must change, must depart, must end.
So he is refocusing
the Sahaba.
He's saying, you know the pain that you're
feeling right now?
They feel it. It's really it's real in
their hearts. They say, You Allah, give us
that everlasting
peace that never ends.
And they start looking forward to that time
and to that place, not to this dunya,
but to the Acherah. That's the refocus.
And imagine
having such longing for the Achela that you
cannot wait till you're there.
Because
that is the place where I will be
truly
happy. Uninterrupted
happiness.
Right? So he
says, wasaluken
na'imayomal
ailahualamna'yomal
khawf. I ask you for blessings
on the day when
no 1 will have it.
And I ask you for security
on the day of fear.
So on the day of judgment when everybody's
gonna be afraid give me security, when everybody's
gonna be in need, You Allah I ask
you for your blessings.
And I ask you to protect us from
the evil of what you gave us and
the evil of what you withheld.
Again recognizing that
if Allah gives you something, Allah protect me
from its evil.
So not everything that you have
is purely
a blessing,
Right? Money is not purely a blessing.
Right? Friends are not purely a blessing.
A job is not purely a blessing. It
may have evil in it.
Who can protect you from it?
To realize that you have to rely on
Allah Azza wa Jal not only in that
protection but also in
separating
that evil from
good and benefit.
If you can't see it, Allah, Azdawjal, can't
see it, right?
And then also he
said,
You Allah, make a man beloved to us
and beautify it in our hearts and make
it
dislike and distaste,
disbelief
and disobedience and rebellious
rebellion and make us of the righteous.
And
why is it here
that the Prophet, alaihe, sallallahu alaihe said make
us love Iman?
Because if you love Iman,
it's easier to be righteous.
And if you hate Iman,
it's harder to be righteous.
So he is asking Allah azza wa Jal.
He says, You Rabbil 'alameen, make
righteousness
easier for us by us liking it.
And disbelieve
harder for us by us hating it.
Otherwise,
it'd be very difficult to listen to Allah,
Azza wa Jal.
It's a gift from Allah
and we should ask Allah for it. Allah
azza wa jal
spoke in the Quran and He said,
But Allah made a man beloved to you
and beautified it in your hearts.
And
he made
disbelief and major sins and small sins hateful
to you, those are the guided ones. That
is a favor that he had given to
the companions of the Prophet alaihi wa sallam,
for them to love iman. If you love
something, you could follow it. If you love
something, you could sacrifice for it.
If you love something, you will do it,
but not if you hate it.
So if
you don't have a love for salah, how
would you pray?
If you don't have love for sadaqa, you
don't see the benefit in it, how would
you give sadaqa?
If you love sin, how would you avoid
it?
I'm now talking about here simply the attraction
to it but actually a
magnetic
pull,
an attraction,
or a love for it.
If you love that sin, how could you
avoid it?
So
1 of the
disasters of committing sin,
and we talked about this before,
is not just simply the sin itself.
That could be easy.
You sin and you ask Allah for forgiveness,
right? Then Allah forgives it.
So you think that's easy.
But the aftermath of that sin is that
it does change you, especially if you don't
repent from it.
You commit a sin,
and in the beginning, the first, it was
distasteful,
ugly.
And you cry,
and you feel ashamed, and you repent,
then yourself
overpowers you, and you commit that sin again,
and then again, and then again. And the
more that you do it, the more normal
that becomes in your life. Until you eventually
don't see it as something that needs to
be resisted, and
you start to attack those who attack it
by saying what's wrong with it? And you
start to attack those who attack it by
saying what's wrong with it.
So sin has that ability to change you
on the inside as as well as on
the outside.
The heart hardens, the heart loves that sin,
and sin becomes normal.
So if sin becomes normal,
how could you listen to Allah Azza wa
Jal if you love it, if you justify
it?
And Allah azza wa Jal described
a people in the Quran
who despite
hearing
all of Allah's
commands,
they still turn away from them.
And Allah said,
Allah said, I will turn away from my
signs
those who are arrogant without rights on earth.
And if they were to see every sign,
they will not believe in it. And if
they were to see the path of guidance,
they will not follow it. And if they
were to see the path of misguidance,
they will follow it. This is because they
disbelieved in our signs and they were heedless
of them.
Meaning, yes, these are the signs of Allah
Azza wa Jal. These are they are as
clear as the sun but they will be
turned away from them. And when they see
the path of guidance, they don't wanna follow
it. It's clear, this is what Allah wants
But I don't want to follow it. I
don't have that desire. I don't have that
love. I hate it. And the path
of misguidance, falsehood,
obscenity,
criminality.
Yeah, that's the 1 that I like. That's
the 1 that they are attracted to. And
not only that, they will fight you to
keep doing these things. They'll fight you over
that.
Why?
Allah says because they were what? They disbelieved
and were heedless. As a consequence of these
choices that they made, Allah Azzatul changed their
hearts.
So, that's the issue with sin.
The issue with it is that it can
change
your heart.
So asking Allah azza wa Jal for
loving
the truth, loving iman
so that following it would be easy.
You hear Allah's commands, and it's easy
to follow it, and you hear about His
prohibition, and it's easy for you to see
the wisdom in it, or even if not,
to trust Allah Azzawdil
that He wants the best for you. But
if you have at every point
fight against yourself, and fight against the shaitan,
and fight against your habit because you love
that sin, it'd be very difficult to resist
its fall and to listen to Allah, azza
wa jal. So hating that sin,
hating sin is offense,
right? Hating sin is offense that protects you
from that sin. And you must always remind
yourself that this is a sin, even if
you commit it,
even if it's public,
even if it's common. Whenever you see it,
you have to talk to yourself
even if it's not external but you say
to yourself, this is something Allah hates, this
is haram, this is wrong. So that you
don't get used to it.
You pull yourself back and you don't admire
it. You don't clap when you see it.
You don't smile when you see it. You
don't praise them because of it.
So you always have to remind yourself and
keep that distance.
You're not around it when it's committed and
you're not around the people
who commit it.
Right?
So, we need that fence and that fence
only happens if Allah Azadul guides us by
the hand so we love iman and we
hate,
disbelief.
And then
at the end of this
long dua from the Prophet alaihis salatu wasalam
after saying, You Allah, allow us to live
as Muslims and die as Muslims and to
join the righteous
without being disgraced or tempted.
Then he makes dua against
the disbelievers where he said alaihi salatu wasallam
you Allah fight the disbelievers
who will belay your prophets and deter from
your path, send upon them your punishment.
You Allah fight the disbelievers who are given
the book, O Ila Alhaqq.
And when someone
may hear the dua of the Prophet alaihis
salatu wa sallam,
they may think, Oh, is this too harsh?
Or is this
the opposite of love?
That is,
we're saying that Islam is about loving Allah,
and loving the Prophet, and loving people, and
it's about the primacy of love, and all
of this.
But, is making du'a against the non believers,
especially those who fight Allah and the Messenger
and the believers, is that the opposite of
love? Or is it really an extension of
it?
Or is it an extension of it?
Now,
we did talk before about how if you
love something, you have to hate its opposite.
Remember?
And that it only makes sense.
So if you love the good for people,
you would hate anything that harms them, right?
And if anyone
supports harming them, you would resist them.
And if the only way to stop him,
right, is to eventually
with body harm,
that act itself, though not desirable on its
own, is necessary to to complement love.
How else are you gonna protect the people
that you love?
So if
these people are opposing Allah as Zuajal
and trying to kill and they did kill
the messengers of Allah alaihi wa sallam.
And they're trying to oppress and persecute the
believers.
And they're trying to spread their injustice. And
if you were to let them spread their
injustice,
it will engulf the entire world as you
see it today, and everybody would be suffering.
The helpless, the, the poor, the powerless,
everybody would be suffering.
And if you try to stop them and
they resist you and the only way that
you could stop them is by
invoking Allah's
judgment against them. Is invoking Allah's judgment
against love?
It's actually very merciful and very loving because
the first thing is that you are protecting
the believers.
And the second thing is that you are
protecting them from their own harm because the
longer they live,
the more, sinful they would be because they
would be killing more and persecuting more and
destroying more. So we're saying, Yeah, Allah, stop
them.
Stop them
because when you stop them, they will learn.
And when you stop them, if they don't
learn, other people will learn by example. Right
or wrong?
If Allah
sends His punishment upon a people because of
their sin,
everybody else takes note of it
and everybody else is deterred because of it.
And that's why punishment in Islam, some people
will think isn't that harsh but when you
can save
a community
by punishing 1 person, would you not punish
that person to save everybody else?
So,
if we wanna look using our own standards
of what love is and what hate is,
we will be all over the place. This
is love that is not love. This is
hate that's not hate. We don't have a
real standard.
But if you wanna understand
what love is and what love is not,
look at Allah Azzawajal and how He loves
and how he defines what love is and
how he asks you to love and what
he asks you to love.
Well, anything that is done
following Allah's command does not contradict the love
that Allah azza wa jal for His creation.
It's just that he's asking you. Sometimes Allah
Azzajal acts without you. He punishes and He
blesses.
And sometimes Allah asks you to act on
His behalf. He has the power, but He
wants you to do it. So you punish
and you bless
through what Allah had given,
the power that Allah had given you. So
does that
contradict
love?
No, it does not. So when the Prophet
alaihi sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he says,
bite
or send your punishment about du upon or
for those disbelievers,
it is for a reason that they have
deserved that punishment.
They're fighting the messengers of Allah Azza wa
Jal and they want to stop the truth,
and the only way to stop them
is to do what?
Is to oppose them physically.
And either Allah Azzawajal will do it on
His own without human intervention
or He will do it through human intervention
if He commands them to fight.
And that is eventually
how we understand it. So when you read
this, don't be ashamed of it.
Don't retreat and say, Is this not too
harsh?
Because Muhammad alayhi salatu wasalam is more merciful
than you, isn't he?
Right?
And He saw what you did not see.
Right?
You see I mean, subhanAllah,
before and post Gaza, right?
Before and post Gaza. Before Gaza, right?
Even non Muslims I've heard some non Muslims
say it,
before Gaza, some non Muslims will say, well,
isn't that too harsh in the Quran, the
judgment and this and that and the painful
punishment and all of this?
Post Gaza when they saw and it's really
would not post Gaza itself, but
while it's happening,
while they saw all that cruelty taking place,
and they said we read the Quran and
the punishment that Allah had has in the
Quran
for the aggressors,
for the wrongdoers.
And we say
we wish that punishment upon them because it
fits their crime.
It fits their crime. Now we see
how
criminal a person, how cruel a person can
be and we understand that that punishment fits.
So the prophet alaihis salatu wasallam, he had
seen for 13 years in Mecca what you
did not see. The companions had seen in
Mecca and Madinah what you did not see.
If they can stand the Most Merciful of
Allah's
humans,
they can stand and you say, You Allah,
send punishment upon them. You know that they
deserve that punishment.
So don't think that you could be more
merciful than Muhammad alaihis salatu wa sallam, and
never think that you could be more merciful
than Allah, azza wa jal. We learn mercy
from them, and we learn love from them.
So if your sense of love
seems to be or to clash with whatever
Allah is saying, that means your sense of
love is wrong.
It's too expansive. It's too misguided. It's too
long. It doesn't have boundaries.
Love must have boundaries.
And those boundaries will have to stop at
the point where you would say, in order
to protect love, I would have to hate
and I would have to punish. Otherwise,
if you punish no 1 and you hate
nothing, then you love nothing,
right?
Like if you say I hate nothing,
then I can tell you then you love
nothing
because then you would be loving a thing
and its opposite.
Could you love a thing and its opposite?
No.
So if you love everything,
then you love nothing.
But if you love something in particular and
you are willing to defend it then you
really truly love it. That's why Allah azza
wa Jal could love and hate,
right?
So,
among the many things, insha'Allah, that we wanna
take from this,
hadith,
first,
praising Allah as Zawjal at all times.
Even when something bad happens meaning when something
bad really happens, the first thing that you
wanna say is, Alhamdulillah, Alakkullihah.
For everything.
Just learn it.
Be reflexive
with Allah's praise and
being thankful.
And we said that this will allow you
to see the hidden benefits
in that problem
and to see beyond it, and to see
it from a different angle and vantage point,
and then Allah
will continue to reveal
to you the benefits that are in it,
and this likely is gonna disappear
and be replaced by comfort and content
because you are pleased with Allah. And whenever
you are pleased with Allah, Allah will be
pleased with you
and your life would be
in peace.
And then we also said
that surrendering to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is the best way to deal with problems
and setbacks for the reasons that we mentioned.
And we also said that we should seek
and ask
Allah azza wa Jal to make us of
those who love righteousness.
Actually, make that part of our dua.
Make me love righteousness, and make me love
the righteous.
Make me love your commands. Make me hate
whatever you have prohibited.
Make me hate sin.
Even if a person commits it, they should
continue to hate the fact that they committed
and the sin itself,
and keep that distance from that sin, and
keep telling yourself that this is haram and
Allah hates it and I should hate it
as well. This is wrong and people who
are doing it are ruining themselves, bringing on
themselves God's judgment and I will do the
same if I agree or if I love
that sin. And eventually, the last thing that
we talked about is how the prophet
made du'a, and that what du'a was for
protection of the message of Islam
and the protection
of the believers.
Allahu
'alayhi.
So insha'Allah, this is the end of today's
lecture insha'Allah.
If you have questions insha'Allah, let me
Yeah.
No.
Zaghal al Hakim.
So I mean, the question here is about,
the afflictions that we receive and how they
may be divided into tests,
where
Allah azza wa jal is testing the righteous
and those whom He loves
and versus
punishments. And that's,
something that Allah, azzawajal, sends to those whom
He hates and those that He
wants
to,
basically,
it's in retribution for the things that they
have done. So is there a way to
tell them apart? And what's the attitude of
the believer, etcetera, etcetera. Of course, this is
1 of the most common questions that, you
know,
that we receive.
So, to begin with,
what I would say is a
distinction between test and punishment
is actually not clear.
Because a test is a punishment and a
punishment is a test.
They're not distinct.
Okay? So this is 1 thing.
So in terms of terminology
if you say, is this a test or
a punishment? I'd say it could be both.
And most of the time it's both. Maybe
all the times it's both.
Right? Why so?
Because a punishment does not mean that Allah
hates you,
right? A punishment does not mean that Allah
hates you. So in the hadith of the
prophet alaihi sallahu alaihi wa sallam he says,
This is if Allah wants the best for
someone,
He hastens his punishment in the dunya.
And if he does not want the best
for someone,
he
delays his punishment until he finds all of
his sin complete in the next life.
You see the difference?
So if Allah wants the best for you,
He punishes you.
So if you say, Well, is this punishment?
Yeah. Punishment but Allah loves you.
So punishment is not the opposite of love
or is not the opposite of the righteous.
The righteous get punished for their sins
but not because Allah hates them but because
Allah wants to elevate them.
Right?
And so it's not test or punishment. So
that's in terms of terminology.
So the question
is, did Allah send me this thing because
He wants to elevate me I. E. He
loves me or Allah send me this thing
because he hates me.
We'll say to that
it will depend on
and there's other we can say to this.
So let me see, inshallah, if I can
kind
of present it
in a coherent fashion.
We
say if you're asking about Allah's intent,
only Allah knows it.
But if you're asking about signs on this
earth that may predict why Allah did this,
we say, Look at how you were before
that adversity and how you are out.
That should tell you whether this is good
for you or bad for you. Before it,
were you close to Allah or not?
We are a righteous or a sinful person.
What kind of person were you?
Then,
after this has happened to you, is it
pushing you closer to Allah or further away
from him?
Are you more hopeful, more reliant, more,
regretful,
and more pious,
or you don't want to run away from
Allah as zawajal, are resentful and you say,
why did this and that happen to me?
Which person are you?
So if it's driving you closer to Allah,
then this is what
they elevate.
If it's taking you away from Allah, Azzawl,
then this is what
demoting you and taking you away from Him,
Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Then it is your reaction,
earthly reaction
that predicts
or tells you why Allah azzudah had sent
it to you.
And if you don't like it, if you
don't like what you see, it's simple, change
it.
Be a better person in reaction to that
adversity. Get closer to Allah, Azzawajal, and then
it will be a blessing for you.
Right?
At the same time, I mean, also remember
that when
we're talking about punishment
that most,
I'm not gonna say all, but most or
a lot of bad things that happened to
us happened because of a sin that we
committed.
And it were not
infallible that we could say, Oh, I'm simply
being tested because I'm so great.
Okay. This is great entertainment, right?
Like a break and then lecture break.
So
all these things, all these bad things that
I've done, Allah forgives a lot of them
but some of them find your way back
into your life and they bring an adversity.
So we say, oh, is this a punishment?
Of course. In a sense, it's happened because
something bad that you've done, but it doesn't
mean that Allah hates you because of it.
Allah is cleaning you.
Right?
So it's not a bad thing that this
is happening to you. Right?
So that's that's kind of 1 thing to
look at sin and its effect on your
life.
And this will prompt you whenever something bad
happens, you say,
this could be because of me, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah,
astaghfirullah, and you return back to Allah, and
you do a lot of good deeds. But
if you said, oh, I'm just being elevated,
I'm just being tested, as if you're not
responsible for what's happening, as if you don't
need to change your life. We say, you
know, every single person when something that happens
to them have to change their life.
So you receive it as what? I'm worthy
of this and more.
I'm worthy of this punishment and even more,
but Allah is being very merciful with me.
It's where Allah will hold you
responsible
for all the bad things that you have
done. He will decimate you.
Right? Decimate.
But he doesn't.
So he just gives you a fraction.
So if you receive that fraction and you
say, Why is this happening to me? It
says because of you that this is happening
to you. So return to Allah Azza wa
Jal and then you can fix your life
like that.
At the same thing, any good thing that
happens to
you when you are aware of your own
sins and shortcomings,
you will consider to be
beyond what you deserve.
Not less,
but beyond.
I'm sure most of you
are just distracted, but that's fine. Go back
to the recording, you'll understand what I'm saying.
But anyway,
anything good that you have received,
you've received
because of Allah's generosity, not because you deserve
it.
And with when you live with such humble
attitude, you'll be grateful for everything that you
get.
So I hope I answered your question.
How you react to that adversity determines whether
this is,
a reflection of Allah's
love, or Allah
also wanting to do what? To kind of
dismiss you or destroy you. And by the
way,
Allah if He as you I think you
quoted that hadith, if Allah loves a people,
He tests them, or He afflicts them. You
could
translate it as both.
How does Allah deal with the disbelievers?
He gives them more of the duniya,
Right? He gives them more of the duniya.
And that indicates His love?
No.
In His anger because they sin and He
gives them more of the dunya. So if
you find yourself very sinful and disobedient and
blessed in the dunya,
that's an alarm
sign.
If you find Allah Azzawajal
sending adversity your way,
that is a good son
because He wants to wake you up. If
He did not care about you or if
He hated you, He would give you the
dunya.
He said, take it. I don't care about
you. Do whatever you want.
We'll see you on the day of judgment.
Do you see the difference?
And so people really complain about the dunya
when they don't have it.
They don't can also think or factor in
the gifts of the hereafter.
Allah gave you the Quran.
Allah gave you salah. Allah gave you taqwa.
Allah you don't consider that a gift as
well. So you have to factor that in
and how Allah is dealing with you. So
if he takes the dunya away from you,
fine. But he gives you the akhirah. Is
he angry with you?
No.
So you gotta look at the whole picture.
But just simply because people love the dunya
more than anything else, they complain about losing
it, And they're happy when they get it.
So, the question here, why can't we get
peace through salah when anxiety and stress attacks
us,
but the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam could actually
receive relief in his salah. It's because of
how he prayed,
and how
focused he was, and how determined
he was. And it's not that we cannot
get it, we can, but it takes practice,
and focus, and determination, and du'a.
Just like it's like exercise or it's like
any other skill. In the beginning, you will
be awkward and rusty
and you feel difficult for you to master
it. But with more practice,
you'll be better at your salah until you
will reach a stage
where salah will give you comfort,
will take away your depression, and anxiety, and
agitation,
and will bring you closer to Allah azza
wa Jal. And you must have tasted
some of
that. Whether it is in Ramadan, or in
Qiyam, or some of those days when you
actually prayed and felt better.
Why?
You felt close to Allah
and you were focused in your salah. So
it can, but it may take time but
you can, shaa Allah, get it. Ask Allah
for it, but continue
to focus on your salah to be determined,
to be intentional, and to think about what
you're saying and why you are saying it.
Right?
Yeah.
So do we hate any disbeliever and their
actions even if she is my mother? So
I have a section in the book here
that talks about it, loving the,
non Muslims.
And I think it's 1 of the appendices,
either 1, 2, or 3. And we actually
did talk about this before. We said that
love can be divided into religious love
and worldly love.
Okay?
So you can love someone religiously
but not in worldly or for worldly reasons,
or for worldly reasons but not for religious
reasons, or for both of them, or for
none of them.
So an example of someone that you love
religiously and for worldly reasons is a mother
who is a Muslim and pious. So you
love her for 2 reasons. She's your mother,
biologically,
emotionally, you're attached.
And religiously,
she's also pious.
Someone you love religiously but not for any
worldly reason,
Someone who's, let's say famous,
Adai As Sheikh. You love them because they
are what? They're pleasing to Allah as far
as far as you can see. But there's
nothing personal between you and them for you
to love them for that reason.
Someone that you love
or,
or you hate, let's say, or you don't
love for religious reasons and worldly reasons, a
disbeliever
whom you have no contact with. You don't
love him religiously and you don't love him
for a worldly reason. There's no contact between
you, right?
Someone that you will love for worldly reasons,
for the dunya but not religious reasons would
be like this example,
a mother who is a non Muslim.
So you love her from this side but
you don't love her from that side. You
don't love the part about her that disbelieves
in Allah, Azza wa Jal. Could you?
Like you're a person who believes in Allah.
You know that she doesn't believe in him
opposes him, believes something else. That part of
her,
could you like it? Could you love it?
No.
But when you look at her as your
mother,
would you love her for that? Yeah.
So that's what some of us don't get
which is what al hubbu walbu tu yashtami'an,
that you could love the same person and
hate them at the same time,
right? If hate is too strong, dislike whatever
you want. But you could love them and
hate them for the same I mean, the
same person
could receive different portions of your love and
hate based on who that person is. So
a Muslim for instance,
that's also another good distinction. You come to
the house of Allah Azza wa Jal, a
Muslim is rude to you.
You love them and hate them.
Right?
So what do you love them for?
Because after all, they're still what?
They're Muslim.
They still say the shahada. They still pray.
You can't hate them from that angle,
but they have terrible character. They did this
and that to you. Because of that, you
hate them here for,
worldly reasons
but for religious reason, you love them. So
that allows you to have balance in your
relationship with them. It's not like if I
personally hate him, I hate all of them.
Or if I personally like him, I will
like him despite all of his faults.
No. You're measured and balanced.
I love him for this, and I hate
him for that.
So, no, you don't have to hate your
mother. You will dislike the part about her
being a disbeliever,
but you will still love her and honor
her
as your mother,
and the 1 who raised you. No.
Anyone else who has questions?
2 questions.
How does that work? So,
if I understand your question, he says if
we commit a sin,
can I just simply say Allah had written
this for me and simply can absolve myself
of it?
So we
say a person, first of all, cannot use
that excuse
for current
and future sins. Allah had written this for
me, so I'm just gonna do it. It's
written. But we tell them, How do you
know that it's written?
Until you do it.
2nd of all, if a person does not
repent from a sin, he is culpable, responsible
for it.
So he can't say Allah had written for
it, so I mean, I could not be
avoided. He says, no, you had a choice.
And that's Allah. Punishment. Why does He punish
you? He punishes you for that choice. Otherwise,
if Allah had compelled you, meaning written for
you, why is He punishing you?
So there must be choice.
So you chose it. So you are responsible
for it.
But at the same time,
if a person repents from it,
so that sin part
is erased,
he can also turn back to it and
say, It must have happened that way.
Way, right? It must have happened that way.
Not to give myself an excuse by saying,
No,
I'm not responsible for it. No, I chose
it. But at the same time, and this
is only you can say when you repent
from it, must have happened that way. This
allows you to grow because of it. Meaning
you say, it was wrong, I should not
have done it, so I stopped
pursuing it, desiring it, wanting it. I've changed
my ways, but now how can I learn
from it not to repeat it
or to help other people?
Or stop feeling
sometimes,
or stop denigrating my or demeaning myself because
of it?
Because the shaitan sometimes may come to you,
especially at moments of weakness, and say you
are worthless,
you are nothing,
You are and that demeans you.
But if you believe at the same time
that, No, I repented from that. It must
have happened,
and I'm coping with it. I ask Allah
to forgive it. You're able to transcend
it. So that's how kind of you have
a balance. If you did not repent, it's
not an excuse. If you repent, you realize
things must have happened that way. But let
me learn from it.
Right.
Oh, so if a person is asking Allah,
azzawajal,
for
worldly matters
and it's happening frequently that they ask Allah
and they're granted their requests, is that something
to worry about?
So, first of all, we say that
if Allah had given you that gift, that
connection,
that you constantly are asking him, then that's
in itself is a blessing.
So never stop.
And if you if you feel that whenever
you need something, the 1 that you turn
to is always Allah,
then you have learned the valuable lesson.
Not a lot of people know this, so
keep attaching yourself to Allah and relying on
him whenever you need something. I need salt,
I need pepper, I need this, I need
that, I need this. Ask Allah Azzawajal for
it. So, keep doing this.
But it's also good at the same time
to
start aspiring higher.
So if you ask for the duniya,
don't limit yourself to it.
So Allah Azzawajal says
in the Quran
that some people they say,
They say, Allah grant us,
bounties of the dunya, but they have no
portion of the hereafter
because they're only are asking and interested in
the dunya. So if you find yourself asking
for the duniya, beautiful. Do it. Continue.
But then, add to it the akhil.
You Allah,
for instance, I'm not assuming anything I'm just
saying, You Allah help me with this meal
and feed us of the
food of Jannah.
Right? You Allah, Azzawajal, help me with this,
with this problem, and make it forgiveness and
elevation for my rank with you. So always
ask for the dunya and couple it with
the akhirah. Ask with the dunya and add
also to the akhirah. So you did not
forget about the next life, and you're still
asking what you need in this life. But
if you have the habit that you're asking
Allah and you see a response from Allah
that's an imam. So
alhamdulillah.
No. So what is the stand boy of
a standpoint of a Muslim,
between
everything being written down and having free choice
and being responsible for our actions. And we
say it's exactly that, affirming both of them.
Because both of them are affirmed in the
Quran in the sunnah and not dwelling much
on the topic beyond that. So we say,
on the other hand, is everything written down?
He says, Yes. How do we know this?
We know this in the Quran.
And we know this in the sunnah just
the hadith that we call it. That Allah
knew everything before it happened, exactly how it's
gonna happen. He created the pen, allowed it,
or commanded it to write everything, and it's
in the preserved tablets, alohul mahood, and the
angels will copy what is in what is
in the preserved tablets. They will come to
humanity and will happen exactly at what they
have copied from the preserved tablets. So nothing
escapes Allah's knowledge. He knows everything
exactly as it's gonna happen. He knows it
in general and in detail.
At the same time, we know that we
are responsible for our choices,
and we know that Allah rewards and punishes,
and we know that Allah is just. And
as I said just now, Allah would not
do this if we are don't have a
part in the create not in the creation.
If we don't have part in those actions,
in that choice.
And that's our our culpability
where we become
responsible,
for the good and the bad that we
do. And that's the,
punishment where punishment comes in
and the good deeds come in. So we
say this and we say that. And we
don't try to pit 1 against the other,
or use 1 against the other. Where we
say, it's written, so I had no chance,
or no option,
or when you tell people,
why don't you pray? Why don't you fast?
Why don't you do this? Well, Allah did
not decide to guide me yet. When Allah
decides to guide me, I will do this.
That's not an excuse before Allah because Allah
told you, commanded you, and if you wanted
to be guided, you'll be guided.
And if you wanted to move, you will
move. Just like we would not consider that
an excuse in worldly matters.
Nobody sits home and they say, Allah, give
me money,
and does not move and do anything else.
And if 1 wants to blame him, he
said, no. If Allah wants, He would just
give me money.
No 1 does this, as far as I
know. Everybody believes that if you want to
earn money, you have to go and find
a job.
The sky is not gonna rain gold and
silver.
Same thing, if you want Allah's mercy you'd
have to go and earn it even though
it's written.
And it's always good to kind of keep
2 things in mind. Things are written down
absolutely, things are decreed absolutely,
but they are kept away from you.
So you have no clue what Allah has
written for you or against
you. So you operate on, yes, the knowledge
is there but it's hidden for me for
a reason.
That don't focus on what is in front
of you. And in front of you is
A or B. Your choice is yours.
That's
it.
Now, would it be considered an act of
riya showing off if you withhold from doing
something good in public
just like a longer sujud or sadaqa or
what have you? Would that be considered riya?
So
so sometimes it is wise
if you can
move that action from the public sphere to
the private sphere.
Whenever that's possible, that's better.
Whenever it's not possible,
you should not stop doing it in public
just because you're afraid that people could see
you,
say
things, and that could corrupt your intention.
So, for instance,
is
it better in the Masjid or it's home?
Home. Why is it better home?
Is it more akhlas over there?
Like, person could say, but it how about
Maghrib?
Jama'ah. Alright? Is it better in Jama'ah or
it's home?
Say Jama'ah. He said, but when I get
more Ikhlas over there, I could concentrate.
He says, no. Allah, Azzawajal,
He wants you to be in congregation
to fight your
whispers,
to fight
the weakness of the self. To fight that
in the the desire to please people
because you can't only simply always with draw
with the good that you wanna do and
always be in your home. You have to
do something publicly, right? It has to be
public. So giving sadaqa, if I can hide
sadaqa,
He says, if you go public with it,
it's good. If you hide it and you
give it to the poor, that is better.
But then sometime, you can't hide it.
Right? You either give it publicly or not.
Should I not give it just because I'm
afraid? No. Give it. And fight the whispers
of the shaitan and fight your own weakness,
the desire to please people.
That's how you cannot discipline yourself.
Right?
So
if you can if it can be moved
to the private,
move it.
If it can't,
and it has to be done publicly,
then do it publicly.
And by the way, also sometimes when you
do good things publicly,
if you manage to inspire others, Allah rewards
you for it.
So when the prophet alaihi sallahu alaihi wa
sallam, you know, asked people for sadaqa, it
was public.
And no 1 was giving sadaqa, no 1
was giving sadaqa. So somebody came with a
bunch of money he could hardly hold
and he gave it to the prophet alaihis
salatu wa sallam and then everybody
rushed afterwards.
The prophet alaihis salatu wa sallam said then,
the 1 who does a good sunnah he'll
be rewarded for it and everybody else who
follows it. So this person because he donated
the first and everybody else followed him, he
gets rewarded with everybody else that followed. And
that's public. But you won't be able to
do this unless you fight the desire for
self or people's praise.
So sometimes
you're forced to do it publicly
then do it.
And if you refrain all the time because
I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid. Yes, it
can be considered riya because you're giving more
attention to what people are seeing versus what
Allah is saying.
But sometimes it's wise to hide
some of the good that you're doing when
it can be hidden because then you could
protect it.
And still it produces the same result, same
effect.
Okay.
Should we conclude or do you have
1 final
okay. Here, inshallah. See,
next week at the same time.