Ali Hammuda – Our Ways With Allah – Episode 2 – Our Ways
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AI: Transcript ©
If there is an adab, a mannerism between
you as a child and your parent and
there is an adab, a mannerism between you
as an employee and say the employer and
there is a certain adab expected from the
younger sibling towards the older one, there is
an adab that is expected from the student
towards the teacher.
What then of the adab between the created
and the creator, the adab between the worshipper
and the worshipped, what type of adab must
there be between the temporary, the finite and
Allah Almighty the King, the Eternal.
If there is an adab that you feel
is deserving of your mother, father, older sibling,
friend and employer because of some favour that
they have conferred upon you therefore you feel
that they are deserving of your adab towards
them, what then of our adab towards Allah
Almighty when every favour that has come your
way in your life is traced back to
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and is but
an effect of Him upon you.
What type of adab must we therefore be
speaking about when talking about our mannerisms towards
our Lord Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.
This is where it begins and this no
doubt is where it ends.
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala chose the Prophets
and Messengers, they are the finest of all
creation.
I think it's a good way to begin
our evening by looking at a practical case
study, practical demonstrations of what it means to
have adab towards Allah Almighty and who better
to look at than the lives of the
Prophets and the Messengers whom Allah Almighty chose
from all of creation because of the purity
of their hearts.
He said, Allah knows best where to place
His message, He chose them and He said
Allah Almighty chooses Messengers from the angels and
He chooses Messengers from the people as well.
So those Prophets and Messengers that you read
about in the Qur'an all 25 of
them or so, this was not an arbitrary
choice, Allah Almighty chose them and when we
talk about the adab of the Prophets towards
Allah Almighty we are talking about the finest
of the human example as can be towards
Allah Almighty.
So what do we know of the adab
of the Prophets towards Allah Almighty, let us
take a very quick tour.
Our father Adam alayhi salatu wasalam he commits
a sin, arguably the first sin to be
committed by man, Allah Almighty inflicts upon him
a severe punishment and he and his wife
are made to descend from the heavens into
the earth rather than complain and say Ya
Rabbi this was my first experience with shaytan,
I didn't know, why am I kicked out
of my home for something that I didn't
really know the consequence of.
He didn't do any of this, rather he
said Rabbana zalamna anfusana, our Lord we have
oppressed ourselves, wa illam taghfil lana wa tarhamna
lana kunanna minal khashireen, and if you don't
forgive and have mercy upon us we will
be of the losers, instant acknowledgement of mistake
and repentance to Allah, that is what it
means to have adab towards your Lord not
justifying a mistake and quickly turning in repentance,
that is Adam alayhi salatu wasalam.
As for the Prophet of Allah Ibrahim alayhi
salatu wasalam, he is speaking with the pagan
community, they are convincing him of the greatness
of their idols as God, he says to
them let me tell you about my God,
look at the choice of words and tell
me are they not words of profound adab,
he said, alladhi khalaqani fahuwa yahdeen, he is
my Lord, Allah who created me and so
he guides me, walladhi huwa yutaimuni wa yasqeen,
and he is the one who feeds me,
gives me a drink, wa idha marittu fahuwa
yashfeen, and if I fall ill he is
the one who cures me, walladhi yumituni thumma
yuhyeen, he is the one who causes me
to die and will resurrect me, walladhi atma
'u ayyi yaghfira li khati'ati yawm ad
-deen, and he is the one whom I
hope will forgive my sin on the day
of judgment, rabbi habli hukma my Lord, give
me judgment, give me authority and allow me
to join with the righteous.
He says he feeds me, he gives me
drink, he gives me life, he gives me
death, he forgives my sins but when he
spoke about illness he attributed it to who?
To himself, he said wa idha marittu, when
I fall ill, he didn't say when he
makes me fall ill, though we know it
is Allah who decrease cure and illness, but
out of adab towards Allah he said, and
when I fall ill, he is the one
who cures me.
And he doesn't say, and when I fall
ill, he said wa idha, and if I
fall ill, the conditional particle, as if to
say that Allah's favours are always ticking around
the clock, but on the odd occasion, if
and when I fall ill, he is the
one who cures me.
Consider the words of the Prophet of Allah,
Musa alayhi salatu wa salam, and how he
complained to his Lord and his careful choice
of words.
Musa is born with a death warrant to
his name, Musa is separated from the arms
of his mother from a young age, Musa
is placed into the river Nile, Musa is
raised in the house of a tyrant, in
a home that is not his, Musa grows
up all by himself, he killed somebody accidentally,
a second death warrant is now on his
name, Musa is fleeing his country, Musa is
lost in the desert, Musa is fatigued and
exhausted, Musa has no idea why all of
this is happening to him in his young
life.
He comes across in Median, two young women
who needed help watering their flock, he assists
them, and then he makes his way to
a nearby shade of a tree, and now
he has reached the end of his tether,
he is now dragging his feet, he is
exhausted alayhi salatu wa salam, and he raises
his hands to Allah, and what does he
say, رَبِّ إِنِّي لِمَا أَنْزَلْتَ إِلَيَّ مِنْ خَيْرٍ
فَقِيرٍ My Lord, I am in need of
anything that you may send my way, this
is adab when speaking to Allah, rather than
saying, Ya Rabbi I am exhausted, Ya Rabbi
I am fatigued, Ya Rabbi why have you
put me through all of this, he said,
My Lord, I am in need of anything
that you may send my way.
Consider the words of the Prophet of Allah
Isa alayhi salatu wa salam and his talk
with Allah on the Day of Judgement, a
conversation that you have been given exclusive access
to early in advance.
Isa alayhi salam will be summoned by Allah
Almighty on the Day of Reckoning to stand,
and Allah will ask him questions and Allah
knows the answer but He wants all of
those who used to worship him and bow
and prostrate to him to hear the answer
from the man himself who had thousands of
cathedrals built in his name and was worshipped
and his name was glorified besides the name
of Allah, Allah Almighty said to Prophet Isa,
وَإِفْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يَعِيسَ بِنَ مَرِيًۭا When Allah
will say, O Jesus, Son of Mary, imagine
this, أَأَنْتَ قُلْتَ لِلنَّاسِ اتَّخِذُونِي وَأُمِّيَا إِلَهِينِ مِنْ
دُونِ اللَّهِ Did you say to the people,
take me and my mother as gods, two
gods besides Allah?
Look at the words of Prophet Isa alayhi
salam and the utmost adab that they drip
with, rather than giving a knee jerk reaction
of saying, I didn't say that.
No, no, God forbid, I didn't say that,
who said that I said that?
No, Isa alayhi salam responds with these words,
سُبْحَانَكَ He said, glory be to you.
ما يَكُونُ لِي أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَيْسَ لِي
بِحَقٍ It was never for me to say
that which I have no right to say.
إِن كُنتُ قُلْتَهُ فَقَدْ عَلِمْتَهُ If I had
said this, O Allah, then you would have
known it.
تَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِكَ You know what is
in me.
وَلَا أَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِكَ And I don't
know what is in you.
إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ عَلَّمُ الْغُيُوبِ You are the knower
of the unseen.
He continues, مَا قُلْتُ لَهُمْ إِلَّا مَا أَمَرْتَنِي
بِهِ All I said to them was what
you told me to say.
أَنِ اعْبُدُ اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبَّكُمْ That worship my
Lord and your Lord.
الله وَكُنتُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيدًا مَّا دُمْتُ فِيهِمْ And
I was a witness over them as long
as I was in their midst.
فَلَمَّا تَوَفَّيْتَنِي But when you took me up,
O Allah, كُنتَ أَنْتَ الرَّقِيبَ عَلَيْهِمْ You were
the only watcher over them.
وَأَنْتَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٍ And you are
witness over all things.
إِنْ تُعَذِّبُهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ عِبَادُكُ If you choose to
punish them, then they are your servants.
وَإِنْ تَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ وَالْحَكِيمُ But
if you choose to forgive them, then you
are the most mighty and the most wise.
Adab, manners towards Allah Almighty when speaking to
him on that day.
He does not say, my Lord if you
choose to punish them, they are your servants,
but if you choose to forgive them, then
you are the forgiving, the merciful.
He does not tell Allah Almighty that he
is the most forgiving and the most merciful
because it was not appropriate and will not
be appropriate to use these names of Allah
on that day when speaking to him in
the context of a people who are making
their way to the hellfire.
When talking about forgiveness, the Qur'an usually
concludes with his names, the forgiving, the merciful.
He doesn't use these names, he said, but
if you choose to forgive them, then you
are the most mighty and you are the
wise because Allah Almighty is angry on that
day.
This is a context of wrath and punishment,
adab towards Allah.
Consider the words of Ayyub, who was bedridden
for about 18 years with an illness, back
to back years with no rest.
He was deserted by the closest and the
furthest, with the exception to his wife and
two men who would visit him in the
morning and once in the evening.
And finally when he began to see the
effects that this was having, not just on
him but on his wife, who needed to
shave her hair and sell her locks in
order to provide for her ailing husband for
almost two decades, bedridden.
He raises his hands to Allah and what
dua does he make?
وَأَيُّوبَ إِذْ نَادَى رَبَّهُ أَنِّي مَسَّنِي أَضْدُرُّ وَأَنْتَ
أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ Allah says, and remember Ayyub, when
he called out to us and he said,
my Lord, hardship has touched me and you
are the most merciful of those who shall
pass.
He does not say, Ya Rabbi, it has
destroyed me, Ya Rabbi, my livelihood, my Lord,
my youth has depleted, my Lord, my wife,
my friends, my future.
I've been bedridden for two decades, Ya Rabb,
my career, my money.
He said, my Lord, harm has touched me
and you are the most merciful of those
who shall mercy.
He does not even spell out his illness
or what he needs from Allah because Allah
Almighty knows.
Adab.
And in another ayah, أَنِّي مَسَّنِي الشَّيْطَانُ بِنُصْبٍ
وَعَذَابٍ He said, O Allah, shaitan has touched
me with pain and torment.
And the Prophet of Allah, Yunus alayhi salatu
was salam, and his adab towards Allah Almighty
when he found himself in three layers of
darkness, darkness of the night, within the darkness
of the ocean, within the darkness of the
belly of a whale.
But despite that he does not say, Ya
Rabbi, what type of punishment is this in
this lonely space as I live in the
gut of a fish in the middle of
the sea.
He said, لا إله إلا أنت سبحانك إني
كنت من الغارمين None has the right to
be worshipped but you, glory me to you,
I have been of the wrongdoers.
It is my mistake, I am here because
of me.
Adab towards Allah Jalla Jalaluhu and the greatest
of those Prophets who showed adab towards Allah
Almighty, no doubt, the crown jewel of those
Prophets and Messengers.
He who ascended the very peak of this
pyramid of adab towards Allah was none other
than our Prophet Muhammad alayhi salatu was salam.
Of all the characteristics that Allah Almighty could
have praised him with, whether it was his
beauty or his salah, his worship, his generosity
or whether it was his ibadah, Allah Almighty
He describes and praises only his character.
He said, وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ Wa innaka
la'ala khuluqin azeem.
You, O Prophet, are upon high and mighty
character.
Allah Almighty even praises his vision, his gaze,
how he looked, how he operated his eyes
with adab when Allah Almighty invited him to
the heavens, لِيُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا الْكُبْرَةِ Li yuriyahu
min ayatina al-kubra, to show him from
the mighty signs of Allah when he was
going through a period of his life when
he was down alayhi salatu was salam.
When Allah wanted to raise his morale, he
invited him to the heavens where he met
the Prophets and the angels and he spoke
with Allah Almighty at the very top of
it all.
What must he have seen along the way,
despite that Allah describes his gaze during the
journey and he said, مَا زَغَ الْبَصَرُ وَمَا
طَعَى He said that his gaze did not
swerve nor did it transgress.
Unlike some people whom we bring into our
homes for example and they're kind of looking
all over the place.
What must he have seen there in the
heavens, yet Allah said his gaze, adab, his
gaze did not swerve and he did not
transgress, Allahu Akbar.
He enters Mecca after 23 years of sacrifice
and planning and pain and death of loved
ones, dua and weeping, sweat and blood, he
enters Mecca finally as a conqueror.
But what did he look like as a
conqueror?
He enters Mecca, the historians they describe him
alayhi salatu was salam, lowering his head as
he rides his camel, making his way into
his home city, not as a visitor anymore
but as a honourable conqueror and he's lowering
his head in gratitude to Allah Almighty.
So low that his beard was on the
verge of touching his saddle, humbleness and adab
towards Allah Almighty, al-Ghalib the conqueror himself,
subhanahu wa ta'ala, a woman and in
some narrations a man wanted to meet him
on this day of conquest and when they
saw the Prophet alayhi salatu was salam, because
of his immense beauty and his haybah, his
awe, this man began to shake, he said
to him haww alayk, relax my brother, don't
be afraid, lastu bi malik I'm not a
king, innama anabni mra'atin min makkata kana
ta'qudul qadeed, I'm just the son of
a simple woman from Mecca who used to
eat dry meat, adab towards Allah when his
companions would urge him to eat whilst reclining
to make things easier for him, he would
refuse to eat in this way, he would
eat close to the ground like everyone else
and he would say aakulu kama ya'kulu
al-abd wa ajlisu kama ya'jlisu al
-abd, I want to eat like servants eat
and I want to sit like servants sit,
adab towards his Lord subhanahu wa ta'ala.
When a man spoke inappropriately about Allah, though
he only meant well, he was a good
man but he used an expression that was
not befitting of the majesty of Allah, our
Prophet ﷺ, he said to him waihak, woe
to you, atadrim Allah, do you know what
Allah Almighty is?
He said the matter of Allah is far
greater than that, subhanallah, adab, phenomenal mannerisms towards
his Lord subhanahu wa ta'ala and the
humility before him and when he is complaining
to Allah Almighty, look at the words that
he chose ﷺ, careful words, when he came
back from the trip of Attaif to give
them the opportunity of saving themselves from *
and rather than greeting him and carrying him
and lavishing him, they treated him in the
meanest way possible, they hurled stones at him
and insults and he bled and he had
to flee for his life, he made his
way to a nearby garden, went under a
nearby tree after praying two raka'at and
after he had tended to his wounds and
bruises and blood, he raises his hands to
Allah and he gives a long dua, complaining
to Allah Almighty of his sorrow and grief,
look it up and memorise it, Allahumma inni
ashku ilayka da'afa quwwati, oh Allah I
complain to you of the weakness in my
strength, waqillata haylati, my lack of means, wahawani
ala al-nas, ya arham al-rahimin and
how people are disregarding me, oh most merciful
of those who show mercy.
In the context of his complaint to Allah,
he says, Ya Rabbi I acknowledge still you
are the most merciful of all and part
of the dua he said if you read,
he goes on to say in his complaint,
in lam yakun bika alayya ghadab, fala ubali,
he said my Lord so long as you
are not displeased with me, then nothing else
concerns me, despite everything that has come my
way and despite my injuries, as long as
you are pleased with me Ya Rabb, then
I don't mind and in the conclusion of
the hadith, the dua, he said, laka al
-utba hatta tarda, wa la hawla wa la
quwwata illa bik, my Lord I will continue
apologising to you until you are pleased, there
is no power and strength except in you.
After giving you a snapshot and a quick
tour of what prophetic adab looks like, let
us ask a question, what does it mean
to have adab towards Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, what is required of us on a
practical day to day basis and I want
to emphasise here that this is but a
sample of what it means to have adab
towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it is
impossible to encompass all of the reality of
what it means to have good manners towards
Him because our entire lives need to be
defined by this, but I give you a
sample of six matters, take note of them
please, to have adab towards Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala begins by knowing His names and
His attributes, making a conscious study to familiarise
yourself with who He is by way of
His names, now if you and I consider
it rude and disrespectful to mix with people
at any intimate, formal or informal capacity, we
consider it rude that I should travel with
someone or share a room with someone or
be a colleague with someone without enquiring at
least about their name, if we consider this
rude in our human interactions, tell me then
of the disrespect and the rudeness of journeying
with Allah almighty all your life without enquiring
about His names and His attributes, a relationship
that is not one of parenthood or employment
or money, a relationship of abodee and utmost
dependency and need before you were born Allah
was providing for you, during your life He
is providing you, after your death He is
providing for you, I journey with Him all
these years and I don't know the name
of the Lord I claim to prostrate to,
and that is why Al-Isfahani he said
in his book Al-Hujjatu Fi Bayani Al
-Mahajjah and I translate he said, some of
the scholars have said, listen carefully, the very
first obligation that Allah almighty has obligated upon
people is for them to know Him, because
when they know Him they then worship Him,
and then he quotes the ayah in the
Qur'an which is the evidence for this,
he said, Allah said, فَعَلَمْ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ
إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لِذَنْبِكَ Know that none has
the right to be worshipped but Allah and
ask Allah to forgive your sins, so it
begins with the instruction to know Him and
then the action comes second.
First of the obligations upon us towards Allah
almighty is to know Him, and then he
says the following words, وَلَوْ أَنَّ رَجُولًا أَرَادَ
أَن يُعَامِلَ رَجُولًا آخَرًا لَا طَلَبَ مِنْهُ أَن
يَعْرِفَ اسْمَهُ وَكُنْيَتَهُ وَاسْمَ أَبِيهِ وَاسْمَ جَدِّهِ وَيَسْأَلْ
عَن صَغِيرِهِ وَعَن كَبِيرِ أَمْرِهِ He said, and
when we want to deal with people, in
any capacity, we ask about their name, and
their nickname, and their dad's name, and their
family name, and we ask about the minor,
we inquire about the major, and then he
concludes, فَاللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَنَا وَرَزَقَنَا وَنَرْجُ رَحْمَتَهِ
وَنَخَافُ مِن سَخَطِهِ أَوْ لَا أَن نَعْرِفَ أَسْمَأَهُ
وَتَفْسِيرَهَا He said, therefore, the One who created
us, and is constantly providing for us, we
fear His punishment, we want His mercy, He
is worthy of having His name known and
understood by us.
Here's the thing, the more knowledge you have
of someone's name and their attributes, the more
your adept towards them rises a notch.
The more you're intrigued, I'll give you an
example, I say to you that I have
a friend and I want you to meet
him, great, neutral, I say to you, let
me tell you something about him, he's a
multi-millionaire, okay, now you're a little bit
more intrigued, but I give you another layer
of information, I say, he has 5 million
followers online, for some reason people are interested
in this and they find it amazing, he
has 5 million followers online, your attention sharpens
a little bit more, I say to you,
did you know that he also has memorized
the Qur'an from cover to cover and
recites it flawlessly without a single mistake in
a single sitting, la ilaha illallah, you're now
intrigued even more, I say to you something
like did you know that he has the
keys to the Ka'bah, he let you
in, my days you're now all ears, then
I say to you, did you know that
he has access to the room of the
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ where he is buried, no
one has this, let us imagine, what happens
at this stage when this person comes in,
are you faffing about, are you on your
phone, are you twitching your thumb, are you
looking around, your adab is peak, because you
know so much about him, wa lillahi al
mathalu al a'lam, and to Allah belongs
the highest example, the more you know about
him by way of his names and his
attributes, the more your adab grows consecutively and
accordingly, I demonstrate, you learn through your study
of his name that Allah is Ar-Rahman
Ar-Rahim, he is the most merciful, your
adab towards your Lord goes up a notch,
why, because you have now just discovered that
there is no place to despair if you
have committed all of the sins in the
world and you apologise to him, Allah will
envelop you in his mercy, your adab goes
up a notch, you continue your study and
you discover Allah is Ar-Razaq, he is
the sole provider, not your employer, he is
the provider, your adab now in life goes
up a notch towards him, why, because now
you don't accept bribes anymore, and now you
evict all alcoholic beverages from your shop, and
now you pull out from the interest based
deal, and now you stop pushing out drugs
in the community, and now you stop delaying
your zakat, now you set up a standing
order to give out the sadaqah, because you
just discovered that Allah Almighty, he is Ar
-Razaq, your adab has grown even more, then
you discover Allah is As-Sami' Al-Basir,
he is the hearing, and he is the
seeing, your adab goes up again towards him,
why, now you will not commit a sin,
when you are apparently alone, because you are
still perfectly visible within the sight of Allah
Almighty, every time you learn something new about
your Lord, similarly your adab is increasing, and
perhaps this is the secret why the Prophet
ﷺ said, إِنَّ لِلَّهِ تِسْعَةً وَتِسْعِينَ اسْمَأْ مِئَةً
إِلَّا وَاحِدَ مَنْ أَحْصَاهَا دَخَلَ الْجَنَّةِ Allah Almighty
has 99 names, whoever comprehends them all enters
Jannah, because every time you are learning a
new name of Allah Almighty, your adab is
increasing towards him, so by the time you
get to the 99th name, there is no
home that is befitting of a person like
you, except Jannah, adab towards Allah involves what,
to know his names, to understand his attributes,
Alhamdulillah there is the book, A Life With
The Divine, and these talks were delivered Alhamdulillah
in this masjid of ours, and all of
the proceeds of the author go towards our
waqf for Palestine, I encourage you therefore to
buy it and begin a jannah with the
names of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, adab
towards Allah involves knowing his names and his
attributes, take note of adab number 2, adab
towards Allah Almighty involves clearing your heart from
every image when worshipping him Subhanahu wa ta
'ala, or you may say to be a
person of ikhlas and sincerity, if I was
to entrust you with something, say my phone,
something more valuable than that, I say to
you I'm coming back to claim this, this
is mine and I have not donated it
to anyone, I come back to you after
say a month or a year to claim
my phone and I found that you have
given it to someone else, we don't usually
tolerate this type of behaviour, you have given
away something of mine without my permission and
it is exclusively mine, wa lillahi al mathalu
al alatu, Allah belongs to the highest example,
what is at the core of insincerity, showing
off, and the core of a show off
is him handing over something which is exclusively
Allah's to somebody else, your ibadah, your worship,
your desire for praise because of your piety,
your desire for notice and thanks that should
have been exclusively for Allah, it is entirely
his, you have taken what is belonging to
Allah and we have gifted it to somebody
else, and at the core of that is
an insult and a mockery to what it
means to worship Allah Almighty because the purpose
of worship is to single him out in
attention and praise, where is the adab therefore,
one who is a show off, the murai,
wants to be praised by people for his
nearness to Allah Almighty and Islamic achievements, he
has at the core displayed the worst of
adab towards his Maker and he and his
deeds will be abandoned by Allah, and that
is why Bukhari and Muslim narrate on the
authority of Abu Hurairah that the Messenger ﷺ
said, I Allah Almighty, I am the most
independent of all to need partners, therefore
anybody who does something and associates somebody else
with me in it, I will desert him
and his deed, in another narration mentioned by
Ibn Majah, he added, Allah said, I am
free from that person and he will belong
to he who he associated with, and that
is why those who came before us, they
were terrified about this idea of the intention
because at the core of it is adab
towards Allah Almighty by being sincere and incredible
lack of adab in offering your deeds to
somebody else, Abu Hurairah you know the narration
where he is speaking about the very first
three to be thrown in * on the
day of judgement and they will be people
of Riyadh showing off, the show will begin
with them, the reciter of the Qur'an
but was insincere, the mujahid, the fighter in
the cause of Allah but was insincere, the
one who gave in charity but was insincere,
Yawm al Qiyamah begins with them being launched
into *, Abu Hurairah when reciting this hadith
as he heard it from the Prophet ﷺ
it would physiologically affect him, his breathing would
change, he would have palpitations and he would
pass out on several occasions as he tried
to narrate the hadith, the idea of being
sincere to Allah terrified them, that is why
some of the scholars of the past they
would say to them, hadithna, give us knowledge
of hadith, teach us, the scholar would say,
laa haddadat dinniya, not yet, wait until the
intention arrives, not yet, wait for a moment
until the intention arrives, another scholar of hadith
he would say wallahi I cannot claim that
I ever once went out in my life
to pursue Islamic knowledge intending only Allah Almighty,
I can't make that claim, scary, you will
say to me how do I ring fence
my good deeds, how do I future proof
my life, how do I become this person
of adab towards Allah Almighty by being sincere,
I will suggest one thing because we have
a lot to cover, to conceal some of
the good deeds that you do and to
train yourself to worship Allah Almighty in privacy
as you do in public, the greatest cure
for showing off is concealment, narrates from the
authority of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam that
the messenger ﷺ he said, man istata'a
minkum an yakun lahu khabi'atun min amalin
salih, fani yafa'al, he said whoever of
you is able to carry out some acts
of worship in privacy, then let him do
that, because if you know that, if you've
trained yourself to cry in privacy, it doesn't
bother you as much when you cry in
public, when you know that you pray in
privacy, you're not so affected if you have
to pray in public, you've trained yourself to
worship Allah in privacy, the fear is when
you only know how to worship Allah Almighty
in public, and you are a very average
though, a below average person in privacy, give
you examples of people who behaved in this
way, protecting their good deeds and hiding it
from others, Hassani ibn Abi Sinan's wife, she
said, my husband, you are a liar, used
to come and lie down next to me
in the bed, thumma yukhadi'uni kama yukhadi
'un mar'atun saliha, and then he would
trick me as a mother tricks her child,
and he would wait to see me falling
asleep, and then he would slip away from
the bed, and he would begin to pray,
wanting to what, show Allah Almighty this adab
of ikhlas, sincerity, Muhammad ibn Wasi' the tabi
'i, the second generation Muslim, he said, im
kana ar-rajulu layabki ishreena sana wala ta
'rifu mar'atun, people in the past, some
of them would weep from the fear of
Allah, or love from Allah, or hope in
Allah, they would weep for 20 years, throughout
their salah or the night, 20 years, without
even their wife knowing, when I began to
think to myself, how would Muhammad ibn Wasi'
know this, like if he is talking about
a people whom even their wives don't know
about the situation, how would he know, I
came to the conclusion perhaps that he is
talking about who, he is talking about himself,
Ayub al-Sikhtiyani from the second generation Muslims,
he would be speaking to people like this,
teaching them, then he would come across a
hadith, his heart would move, and he would
begin to weep, so he would turn away,
and pretend that he has a cold, and
he would blow into his handkerchief, and he
would say, ma ash-hadda az-zukam, cold,
flus are so intense, to hide the fact
that he is weeping, blaming it on a
cold, wanting to protect his deeds so Allah
will accept him, to show adab towards his
Lord, subhanahu wa ta'ala, ikhlas, sincerity, hajeeb,
and I remember the story of Abu al
-Hassan al-Mawardi, Shafi'i scholar who died
in the year 450 AH, he authored many
books in his life, and he buried them,
and when he was passing away, he invited
one of his nearest friends to sit next
to him, and he whispered and he said,
my brother, I have been authoring for many
years, and I have buried all of my
books in place, and the reason why I
didn't make my books public, because I couldn't
determine what my intention was, so when I
now come to pass away, this was his
moment of dying, and you see my chest
now rattling, put your hand in my hand,
so if I squeeze, it means that Allah
Almighty has rejected them, so take these books
and throw them in the river of Dijlah,
but if my hand stays loose, this is
me trying to say to you, Allah has
accepted them so you can make them public.
The angel of death finally arrived, and he
sat next to the shaykh Abu al-Hassan
al-Mawardi, this great scholar and political scientist
of Islam, qadi, judge, faqih, jurist, he puts
his hand in his hand, and his hand
remained loose until he breathed his last, therefore
it is a sign, we hope that Allah
has accepted his books, and they went to
the area where they had buried the books,
and they were made public.
So we said adab number one is to
what?
Know the names of Allah.
Adab number two is to what?
Be sincere to Allah Almighty.
Adab number three to what?
To evict any pride from your heart.
One of the beautiful things about knowing the
names of Allah is that the more you
know him, the more you automatically know yourself.
The more you get to grips with who
Allah Almighty is, automatically you understand who you
are and what you are not.
The more ignorant you are of your Lord,
the more ignorant you are of yourself.
It's that type of relationship.
So for example Allah Almighty said speaking about
himself, don't walk on the earth with pride,
because you can't rip apart the earth, nor
can you reach the mountains in height.
Okay so this is Allah Almighty, so automatically
I know who I am now.
You recite in the Qur'an in surat
az-Zumar, Allah said about himself, they have
not estimated Allah Almighty, they should be estimated.
Whilst all of the earth will be in
his grip on the day of judgement, and
all of the heavens will be folded in
his right hand, glory be to him and
exulted over that which they associate with him.
This is Allah Almighty, so automatically I know
what I am and what I am not.
The more you know Allah Almighty, the more
you know yourself and as a by-product,
pride should evict.
You almost see it slipping away from your
heart and mind and soul as you journey
through the names of Allah Almighty.
That's part of your adab towards him, to
humble yourself on this earth as you inhale
his air and walk his land and beneath
the ceiling, his roof.
Part of your adab towards him is to
remove any type of admiration that your parents
or your employers or your husband or wife
may be complaining that you are harbouring and
living by him.
When you know Allah Almighty for his perfect
knowledge, you automatically know yourself for your absolute
ignorance.
When you know Allah Almighty for his perfect
authority and control, you automatically know yourself for
your utmost dependency upon him.
When you know Allah Almighty for his perfect
wealth and ownership, you know yourself for its
complete bankruptcy and need.
What is there to be proud about?
As al-Ahnaf ibn Qais said, عَاجِبْتُ اللِّي
مَنْ جَرَى فِي مَجْرَى الْبَوْلِ مَرَّتَيْنِي ثُمَّ يَتَكَبَّرْ
He said, I am astonished at a person
who has knows that he has passed through
the passage of urine twice, yet he's still
proud and arrogant.
That's you and me, by the way.
Who has not passed through the passage of
urine twice?
The first time in the form of a
sperm released by our fathers through the urethra,
a passage that is shared with urine, you
and I went through that canal.
And then a second time after nine months,
when our mothers gave birth to us and
we passed through the birth canal, that is
also shared with the passage of urine.
He said, I'm astonished at the one who
has passed through the passage of urine twice
in his life, yet still thinks he's important.
He said, Qarun passed through the passage of
urine twice, Haman, Shiraun, and so did Elon
Musk, and so did Jeff Bezos, so did
Donald Trump, so did Benjamin Netanyahu, and so
did by the way all of the saints
and the prophets and messengers.
We all passed through this passage and the
athletes and the rich and the people who
have opportunities thrown at them and the handsome
and the ugly, they all passed through it.
So at what point does this person look
in the mirror and say, I think I've
got an edge over others.
So part of your adab towards him is
to accept that.
He is Al Malik, the Sovereign.
You are the worshipper and you lower your
head in shame before your Lord hoping that
he will accept you and that's how he
enriches you and give you honor.
So isolate it, find it, trace it, what
is it that is causing you or me
to feel that somehow we are special, that
we admire ourselves.
You know what is lurking inside of you
and I know what is lurking inside me.
What is it?
Find it now and tackle it.
Is it for example your Ibadah, your worship?
Alhamdulillah you may say I'm a practicing man,
I'm a practicing woman, not like my siblings
or my friends or neighbors, I'm a little
bit different, I think this gives me an
edge over others, may Allah guide them one
day they'll become like me.
Have you forgotten my brother, my sister that
your salah ends with an apology to Allah?
You say, Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah, Allah forgive me as
soon as you finish.
Have you forgotten that your hajj ends with
an apology to Allah Almighty?
Thumma afeerun min haythu afadha al nas, astaghfirullah,
go where the people are going and ask
Allah to forgive you.
And you're fasting in Ramadan, it ends with
an apology to Allah.
You say, Allahumma innaka afoon, tuhibbul afoo, faafoo
anni, oh Allah you are pardoning, you love
to pardon, so pardon me.
So at what point does arrogance come into
the heart of a person who is worshipping
Allah Almighty?
In fact if all of your worship and
mine and the Prophet's and Messenger's were to
be balanced and weighed against any one favor
that Allah Almighty has given you, any one
enzyme that He has blessed you and I
with, any one limb and organ that is
perfectly operating, the limb would outweigh, let alone
give Allah Almighty His right of worship because
of who He is.
So eliminate that one.
It's my worship that cannot make me a
person of pride and importance.
Maybe it's my knowledge, my Islamic knowledge or
my secular knowledge, my degrees, the many titles,
the alphabet that you have to recite before
you get to the name, doctor, professor.
Maybe this is what is giving you the
sense that doors need to open up for
me, I should be given front row seats,
I need to clip the red ribbon.
My knowledge.
We say to such a person, have you
considered how much you knew when you came
out of the womb of your mother?
You knew nothing.
Have you considered how much you will know
when you enter the womb of the earth?
Allah said, you will be returned to an
age of senility and all of your knowledge
will be lost.
How much will you know then?
Have you measured how much you know against
what you do not know?
Have you measured what you know against what
you will never know?
Have you measured what you know against all
that is out there to know?
Allah says, I've only given you little.
So be of adab to Allah whose knowledge
is forever His.
We've eliminated the knowledge aspect, we've eliminated the
Ibadah, Islamic aspect.
Maybe it's your authority, it's your standing in
the community.
You're not the same as anybody else.
People honor you, your phone is always ringing,
people are sending you messages on your DMs,
we want to collab with you, we want
to sponsor you, we want you to share
our posts, they're throwing money at you, everyone
is kissing your hand, wanting to greet you.
Any celebration, any opportunity, you're the one who's
pushed at the forefront.
Maybe it's your position that's given you a
sense of importance.
Well hold on a minute, let's think about
it logically.
Take thirst.
Imagine you were dying of thirst and you
have a cup of water.
Is it not that you would give up
every position of authority that you have just
to access that cup of water?
So tell me what is the worth of
a position or an authority or being a
trustee or a CEO if you would give
it all up in an instance to access
a single cup of water?
What if there is a eyelash stuck in
your eye or an ingrowing toenail that you
have or a tiny kidney stone that's making
you bleed?
You would give up all of those positions
to remove that nail, to remove that hair,
to remove that stone.
Tell me what is the reality therefore of
authority which you would give up for a
nail and a hair and a stone?
So be of adept towards Allah Almighty whose
authority is forever His.
So we've eliminated authority.
That can't be a cause of pride.
Maybe there's something else.
Maybe it's money.
Maybe you're doing well on Bitcoin.
Maybe your shares have rocketed in the last
couple of months.
Maybe your business is popping off right now.
You can't help but feel that when you
walk the earth there's a different weight to
you on the ground.
If it's money that's giving you the sense
of pride, I'm sorry to say my brother,
my sister, that is one of the lowliest
causes of pride and self-importance.
Why?
Because some of the vilest, ugliest, most rotten
human beings today and yesterday have more money
than you.
So how can that be the measure of
importance?
I know business class treatment.
I know first class treatment.
I know lounges open up their doors for
you and those beautiful smiles you greeted all
around you.
It's not you they are respecting.
It's your money that commands over this.
If you're not too sure about this then
try overstaying your welcome in a first class
suite for just two minutes and it'd be
the police coming in and dragging you out
on your face.
It's not about you or me.
It's about the service, the value that I
was able to add through my money.
And once that disappeared, all of the smiles
disappeared with them.
If you're not too sure, travel from the
business suite, go to the economy and tell
me where all the smiles gone.
So be of adab towards Allah Almighty whose
wealth is forever His.
Maybe it's your strength.
Maybe you're doing well in the gym.
Maybe you can bench a lot.
Maybe that is what is making you feel
a little bit more important.
We see your images all over the internet.
These are my arms.
This is my back.
These are my quads.
MashaAllah.
Is that the cause of your self-importance?
Then a humbling and a sobering reminder will
be this my brother, remember that donkeys, cows,
bulls, camels, chimpanzees, gorillas far stronger than you
and I will ever be.
So how can I be deceived or arrogant
about a quality that exists in far greater
quantities in animals, in unintelligent creatures?
How much can you bench in the gym
by the way?
How much can you bench?
100, 200 kilos?
What's the most that any human being has
ever benched by the way?
Jimmy Cole, 598 kilograms.
That's under 600 kilograms.
Impressive.
How much can a silverback gorilla bench?
Don't ask me how I know this.
I just need to go out a little
bit more.
They say that a silverback gorilla can actually
bench 1,800 kilos.
So be of adab towards Allah Almighty whose
strength is forever His.
What is it therefore?
What's left?
Maybe it's your beauty, your aesthetics.
Maybe you're a handsome man.
Maybe you're a beautiful woman, spellbinding, mashaAllah, clear
skin, flaunting all over the internet.
We've seen it, can't hide it.
You just cannot keep it to yourself.
Maybe that's what's getting to your head.
Here I have to remind you my dear
brother, my sister, of how you look just
a few minutes after your mother gave birth
to you.
The nurses needed to come and take you
away from the arms of your mother and
dab you down with a towel because if
your parents saw you in that state they
would scream.
That's how you looked when you came into
this world.
That's you and I.
And if you're not too sure, fast forward
into your last couple of days when you
pass away, remember how you will look then.
How will you look not long after you
have passed away?
You might want to close your ears if
you're a little bit squeamish.
Well they say that 24-72 hours after
your passing, your internal organs, they begin to
decompose.
And then 3-5 days after your passing,
your stomach begins to bloat and then blood
containing foam starts to leak from the nose
and the mouth.
About 8-10 days after that, the color
of the corpse actually begins to change.
It turns from normal skin color to green
and then from green to red as the
blood itself is now decomposing and breaking down.
And then after about 2 or so weeks,
your nails and your teeth, they fall off.
And after about a month, you start to
liquefy back into the soil.
So what is there to be proud about?
Be of adab therefore towards Allah Almighty whose
beauty is forever His.
Hujjub therefore has no place, pride, self-admiration,
has no place in the heart of a
believer who wants to demonstrate adab, good manners
towards his Lord.
Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
What have we mentioned so far?
Knowing Allah Almighty through His names and His
attributes, that's part of your adab towards Him.
Number two, we said to be sincere, that's
part of your adab towards Allah.
Number three, to evict what?
All pride, hujjub, self-admiration from your heart,
that's a basic requirement of having adab towards
Allah Almighty.
As for the other three, I thought we
would have time to mention.
We've clearly run out of time, so we're
not going to rush them.
We will defer them into next week's lesson
inshaAllah.