Seeking Solace Through the Names of Allah
Date:
Channel: Ammar Alshukry
File Size: 55.24MB
Related
- Mohamad Baajour – JAR #19 Seeing Allah In Jannah
- Muhammad Salah – Gardens Of The Pious #192 Apr 4th 2016
- Youssra Kamel Kandil – Amr Khaled – The Followers #2 Al Muthana Ibn Haretha
- Mohammad Elshinawy – Defuse the Divorce Bomb
- Abu Bakr Zoud – Increase Your Imaan By Embracing The Quran In Your Daily Life
- Riyadul Haqq – al-Ḥudaybiyah The Truce of Victory Part 1
- Yasir Qadhi – The Message of The Quran #27
AI Generated Summary ©
The speakers stress the importance of praying for Islam, including the success of religious preacher, and the need to act confidently. They also touch on the concept of "has" in relationships and the importance of forgiveness in Islam. The US economy is currently weak, but progress has been made in passing tax reform legislation, which is effective from January 1. The speakers are pleased with the progress made in this area.AI Generated Transcript ©
concept of God having names is introduced to us because we believe that a person cannot describe God without revelation from Him. We cannot introduce information about Allah, about God without that coming to us in the form of Revelation, either from God or from His Messenger, a messenger speaking on behalf of Allah
as origin.
And so, when we say that God has names, where do we find in the Revelation, this concept being introduced to us one of the places in which what's called the less smile persona, or the Beautiful Names of God, the Beautiful Names of God is mentioned. Allah subhana, Allah says in surah, louder off.
He says, when Allah Hill, Asma UL Husna, further will be happy. Allah says, To Allah belong the most beautiful names, so call upon him by those names. And so immediately we are given information, and we are given an instruction on what to do with that information. And that is, Allah has beautiful names. And we are then commanded to call upon God by those names, to please and pray to Him with those names, to invoke him with those names. And so immediately, the plan of action is given to us. And so many times, in my teaching of this topic, I've come across Muslims who think that the names of Allah is a really elementary basic topic. It's something that we learned in Sunday school, you
learn a couple of songs about the names of Allah, and you're pretty much done right. But in reality, the names of Allah is something that we are supposed to walk with every single day of our life. As we go through the different experiences that we go through that we implore and ask God by His names for his assistance in achieving the things that we want to achieve. And by repelling force, or in repelling from us the things that we don't want to experience. And so what I wanted to do is go over,
hopefully seven different names of Allah in this in this presentation tonight, that I think are going to be very relevant to every college students. And I wish that I invoked more when I was going through college as well. And the first of them is the name of Allah subhana, Allah to Allah.
Allah Mooji
al Mooji. And then Mooji means the one who response and there are some names of Allah that are considered keys to every other name of Allah. There are some names of Allah, that are considered to be made keys to every other name of Allah. And I'll explain what that means. But Majeed means the one who response My Lord is curry boon. Mujeeb. Allah says in the Quran, my Lord is near and he is responsive, he always response.
Why is this name a key to every other name? Because
you call upon people who you expect will respond. I give you an example.
There are some people in this world that you and I know who, with one transfer could make you financially set for the rest of your life.
Who are some of these people who you got for me?
Very good. Bill Gates. Bill Gates is the classic example. He's no longer the richest man in the world, but he can still satisfy everybody in this room. Right? Who else we got?
Oprah, very good. Another classic example. Now the question is Who here in the middle of all of their frustration, midterms, finals, all of that, who had the brilliant idea to send Oprah or Bill Gates an email, anytime in their career here at university and say, You know what I'm done with studying? Can you please just transfer me $200 million?
Has anybody done that?
So my question is, taking any or writing an email will take you five minutes? How come nobody here has ever done that?
What's the reason
you won't expect them to respond. And so what we realize here that the expectation of response is directly related to the desire to invoke meaning that I will not ask people if I do not expect them to respond. And so allah makes one of His Names one of his beautiful names, the one who responds, inspiring in us the comfort and the desire to ask him, Allah says in the famous verse and sort of luck Allah Allah says,
And your Lord has said it Rooney SDG Blackham or rather ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada says, The verse that I want actually is Wait, I said, I like everybody I need for India Karim. Allah says, if my slaves are my servants, my creatures ask you about Me. I am near.
Would you do that with a dairy that Dan, I respond to the call
The caller when they call upon me,
Allah says,
Oh Mohamed, whenever they asked you about me when because the companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him had asked him about the nature of God, they said is our Lord far? So we have to yell when we call out to him? Or is our Lord close? So we converse with him, which one is it?
And so Allah responded in the Quran. And he said, When they asked you about me, I am near, I respond to the call of the caller whenever they call upon me. So let them believe in me and respond to Me that they may be guided.
And so this response is one that creates intimacy. Whenever you call upon me, I will be there. And so the question that we have to ask ourselves is not whether God responds because he says that he responds, the question is, do I invoke Him? Do I ask him, you know, I have one of my teachers.
He's a man who everything that he touches, mashallah turns to gold.
Like, he's just very successful in a lot of different endeavors. And he's able to succeed in different fields that people aren't usually able to create success it like, for example, he memorize the Quran as a young kid, which is very wonderful. But we've seen that lots of times, that really doesn't put him into a, it puts him into a special place, but not, you know, really, really elite.
But then he went to university Islamic University overseas, and he became a chef, and that's also very nice. But also we've seen that before right. Then he founded a Legacy Project, a Dhow organization. And now he's really becoming special because at a very young age, he was actually able to create for himself insha Allah a very, very long legacy, something that people spend their entire lives trying to establish. And I can tell you, hundreds and 1000s of people have benefited from his Dawa projects, teaching people their religion. But not only that, normally people who are schewe, are they really financially stable and well to do or they kind of on the struggling side? Which one
is it?
I mean, there's a reason why everybody here isn't majoring in Shetty out, right. So normally, it's not very, it's not a very financially lucrative job, right, being a religious preacher, but he has a number of businesses and those businesses do very well. Now my question for you is this. If people have
businesses, do they usually have a lot of time on their hands? Or do their businesses usually take up a lot of their work?
Aren't you guys watching like all of these YouTube videos about how you have to hustle and work from 2am or whatever for your businesses to be successful? All of this? He has. He has the financial success, and he's actually the freest person that I know.
Like, it's got nothing to do.
Where do you want to go have lunch? That's his type of. That's his daily calendar. Okay. So I remember the first time that I met him, I had actually traveled to another country to meet him. And I really wanted to meet him. And I had a I had one question that I wanted to ask him just what? And that question was, we were on a bus going somewhere, and I was just waiting for the seat next to him to free up. There are different people sitting next to him and asking him questions. And I was just waiting for his seat to free up so that I can go and sit next to him and ask him and when I did, I sat next to him. And I said, I have one question for you. And he said, Sure. I said, What is it that
you do that makes your project so successful? Why is it that what you do works? And then he said to me,
make to
pray.
And I'm thinking to myself, Man, I did not come all the way over here.
For this answer, make two out pray, like my mom could have told me that in my kitchen back home. So I'm already Okay, I got that I duck that shot. And I'm going in for the next question. I say, so what is it after it? Is it that? Is it that you execute? Is it that you take action? Like what is the next step? Because I've already
discounted that first answer. And he says to me, what I said is it that you take action, and then he goes to me do is action.
Prayer is action. And that part,
I'm still in the moment, that part ended up being the gem of the entire trip dry is action. That's the part that you want to write down. That's the part that you want to inscribe in your heart. Your heart is action, but in that moment, I'm still kind of not getting it. So I said, Yeah, but most people make dua. Most people do pray, everybody prays. And then he said to me, no, most people don't.
He said, most people don't. And if they do, they pray with a heart. That is without focus.
After so long, right? They just prayed Muslim or they just prayed Isha. And this is the time where they can sit down and talk to God, who they believe we all believe can make all of our dreams come true can remove from us every ailment and every harm and every difficulty and every obstacle. And I just jump up and run out.
Or I'm reciting some prayers that I learned 12 years ago in Sunday school, even though I'm not seven years old anymore. But I'm still reciting the same prayers that I learned because I have nothing new to say, I have nothing to add, even though I have so much to add, if I just added focus.
I had one of my teachers, he said, You know what I teach my kids in Sunday School.
I teach them to pray for me in every prayer, every time they go into salute, I make them make that for me.
That's what I teach them.
Those kinds of, he said, because I know they're never going to change their prayers, their whole lives. Like whatever you learned that seven years old, you're still making those same dots. And then he said, I met a student of mine, 10 years later, and that student came up to me and he said, Schiff, I make dua for you and every prayer. But even though that's funny, it's also very sad, because it indicates to us that we're not changing our conversation, and that affects our focus. Many times people ask the question, and they say, How do I increase my focus in my prayer, I say what happens to you, when you're driving home from school, this is a route that you've been taking
for years, maybe right? You are able to multitask, and you are not present at all on the roads. Because you're so familiar with this path. However, if you simply if the road is blocked off, and now you have to make this crazy detour around, then you're going into areas that you're not familiar with, and you're talking on the phone to somebody, what do you say, when you're taking this detour, I got to get off the phone.
Because this territory is unfamiliar for me. So now I have to focus. And it's the same concept. When I'm going into prayer when I'm making dua, whenever I'm doing that, which is routine, and I've been doing it for so long.
It becomes hard for me to focus. So let me just vary it up a little bit. Let me recite a surah that I'm not used to reciting let me read dust off a sauna that's not in my regular rotation of Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah will not let me add something new. And in doing so in doing so I'll increase my focus without having to change much. Also in my prayers, so and Mooji and Mujeeb is the one who grants you the ability or the one who responds to every prayer, the question becomes, do you ask him? And that's why I'm let him know how top. He said, let me know he says in Neela, me too humble ejabberd. Well, I can make dua, he said, I do not carry the concern of the response. I don't
worry about the response, because I know that the response is going to come. My concern, however, is whether I pray or not, whether I ask or not, because that's my concern. That's the part of the equation that I need to focus on. That's the part of the equation that I need to work on. That's the part of the equation that I need to make sure happens, because the response is going to be automatic, it is always going to happen is 100% Guaranteed. The second name
that is truly beautiful, and is one that I definitely believe a college students should use not just college students, but anybody who's
you know, spending a lot of time thinking, is it Fatah, at Fatah has the word marks, the one who unlocks and there are a lot of different meanings for the name of attacker. There's a lot of concepts that revolve around this name, if at that the one who unlocks. The first concept that is beautiful around this name is the one who unlocks hearts, He unlocks hearts for guidance. And so a person who wants their own heart to be open to guidance that they ask Allah Subhana Allah by His name, and for the person who's worried over family members or friends and wants their hearts to be open to guidance that they ask ALLAH SubhanA data by his name, alpha, the student who's sitting
there, and they're worried about an essay that they have to write, and they're suffering from what we call writer's block. And they want that which is blocked to be unlocked, that they call Allah subhana data by His Name of Allah. And that's why I've experienced this many times, you'll find for example, when we're you're you're trying to find the explanation of a verse of the Quran, for example. And so you're opening up a book of Tafseer. And I'll find that four books go through four books and that one verse offline that the scholars of old have written maybe three lines about that verse, or one line, and they're just mentioning or commenting on that verse in passing, but it's not
giving you what you want. And then all of a sudden, you'll find Book number five or Book number six, when you open up you'll find that that author that scholar didn't just write one verse or two verses, but they wrote three pages, or four pages.
Just on that verse, right Allah Subhana Allah Allah granted them access of understanding and reflection and knowledge about that one verse that the other three or four did not have. This is the effect of a fifth dad. So when I'm studying when I'm writing, when I'm thinking that I ask Allah subhanho database name, and for that to unlock for me, the gates of understanding, and hence there's also the gates of mercy and the gates of of grace. And that's why when we walk into the masjid, one of the things that we assume that for a person to say is alone left deadly. hermetic, oh, Allah opened up for me the gates of Your mercy because the message is expected to be a place of mercy that
is where mercy is experience. But then when you're leaving the messenger, you say Allahumma salli wa bifidum lick, oh, Allah opened up for me the gates of Your grace, because when I walk outside into the world, and I'm leaving the message, the message is a place of their citation of the Quran and the remembrance of God and the experiencing of mercy. But when I leave the masjid, there's a balance in Islam when I leave the Masjid. Now I'm gonna go out into the world and I want to kill it. And so I ask Allah Subhana Allah, Allah for His grace,
kill the world and metaphorically meaning that I want to,
I want to do well, right?
Number three, a third name that's very, very beautiful. And I'll pair these two together, but they are a result and then we'll have
a result and then we'll have
this means provision. And then we'll have means the gift giver. I truly believe that one of the things that we suffer from as Muslims, for sure, and even with regards to non Muslims is that we don't know who Allah is. We don't know who Allah is. And so your Muslim doesn't know who Allah is because unfortunately they think that Allah is reflected in the judgment of
the Allah is reflected in the judgment of the Muslim community, or Allah is reflected in the criticism and the harshness of the Muslim community. There are some people who even with regards to their own children, they're always warning them and telling them the hellfire, how far nada nada, nada, you're going to go to hell you're going to go to help.
Allah Subhana Allah introduces himself in 113 Verse chapters of the Quran Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim.
Now just think about that, man means the merciful Allah He means the Merciful. Yes, there are some differences but for all intents and purposes, Ramadan means the merciful Rahim means the merciful Now
could it Allah have used another attribute to introduce himself in all of those chapters? Since he has covered mercy with Rama? Shouldn't the second attribute have been something like Al Karim? The perfect or al Aziz the mighty? Like, why did the redundancy Why would Allah Subhana Allah not use another attribute to indicate some other aspects of himself? And yet he chooses a Rahman and Rahim in 113 chapters or before 113 chapters, surely there's something there. And it is something that is missing from the way that we communicate to others about Allah Subhana Allah, and then when we go to the nominating committee, and unfortunately,
very much so it seems that the Lord that we worship is one that's restrictive and oppressive and vindictive and makes us dress a certain way or act in a certain way. But if we're able to communicate properly, who Allah subhana wa, tada is, one of His Names is that will help you in order to have means the giver of gifts. If I had a friend whose name was the gift giver,
that'd be like the best friend ever.
That person was that was their nickname. And yet we believe that that is one of the names of Allah, that he is the perpetual giver of gifts, and he is the perpetual provider. So what's the difference between provision and a gift provision is basically something that you also work for. And so Allah calls himself a Rezac. Allah Subhana Allah says in Allah Who reserved the Kuwaiti Mateen Solidaria. He says that Allah is the provider, the possessor of strength, the one whose provision is unwavering and unshakable, he himself is an Mateen. Mateen means someone who is unshakable. And the reason why Allah mentioned all of those attributes of strength. In that verse, he says that he is the perpetual
provider, the possessor of strength, Ellen Mateen al Mateen, mean girl who's unshakable? Because the thing that you and I stress about the most probably in our lives, is provision.
We worry so much about that. We worry so much about finances. Number one reason why people get divorced in this country finances.
You and I go to school for 12 years or 16 years to secure ourselves. Financial Stability
For the rest of our lives,
we worry so much about it. And Allah subhana, Allah calls himself a Rezac, the perpetual provider, he is the one who provides for you and I, and one of the things that this name gives us is reliance on him. And hence the Prophet peace be upon him. He said, If you were to rely upon Allah, as he deserves to be relied upon, he would provide for you like he provides the birds every day, they leave their nest hungry. And we see that every morning, the birds are out and about, and they're picking out everything on the ground, and they're spending their entire lives the entire day going out and searching for food.
You know, I don't know if the Baltimore as the pigeons you guys have or like the pigeons in New York. But I had a cousin of mine, who he came to, he came to New York, and he, I'm from Sudan. He's from Sudan. And he came from Sudan. And he made the most interesting observation. He said, I don't know what it is about your pigeons in New York, when you walk up next to them, they don't even fly away, they just kind of shifted like
he's like, these pigeons aren't scared of anybody. I was like, in New York, you know, everybody's gotta cut into you know, they got like a tough exterior, nobody, nobody moves through you, even the pigeons. But anyway, that just came to my mind.
But what was I talking about? I was talking about the birds, right? We see them all seeking the provision from Allah subhanho data. And if we relied upon God, like the birds do, the Prophet says that he would provide for us just like He provides for the birds. And so having that comfort and recognizing that whatever is written for you is going to come for you. There's a beautiful tradition of the Prophet, peace be upon him. And I really think that this is a, a tradition that's worth memorizing, it's worth reflecting on constantly, because it'll give you a lot of comfort as you go through college and beyond even he says that the Holy Spirit cast into my essence, in not all hell
codice fsfe Rory, the Holy Spirit cast into my essence, that no soul shall pass,
had that distinct military power agenda until it completes its lifespan and its provision, that you and I, the Holy Spirit, and Islamic tradition is the angel Gabriel, it is doubly so he says that the Holy Spirit, the angel Gabriel pass,
cast into my essence, that no soul shall pass until it completes its provision and its lifespan, you and I will not leave this earth until we get every last dollar that is written for us. And we take every last breath that is written for us. So that's the information, every single person here, whatever you're destined to achieve, you will get it for sure.
Then he says for duckula, how he middle fifth polyp,
he says So fear Allah, fear God, and seek it beautifully. Meaning seek that which has been destined for you seek it out beautifully. And do not let the delay of that risk, make you seek it out in a way that Allah has prohibited. He says, don't let the fact that you've delayed or that that provision is delayed for you, you want it to be a millionaire by the time you're 35. And you're 28 Oh my god. So now you've got to do all of these things that are shady, you have to do all of these transactions that are haram because you need to, you need to wrap it up, right? He says no, don't let that delay make you seek it out in a way that Allah has prohibited. Why he says because what is
with Allah cannot be acquired accepted His obedience. At the end of the day, we don't want money for money, you don't want it for money, we want it because of what it facilitates. We want it because of the security it provides. We want it because of the luxury we want it because of, of what money brings, when he says all of that is in the hands of Allah. And so what is with him cannot be acquired except for his obedience.
When I first heard that hadith, I was single.
I was younger. And the chef who was teaching us this hadith, he was teaching it in the world of transactions. It was an introduction to the book of transactions. But because of my status, I immediately understood this hadith to be about relationships.
And I found that it perfectly applies. He says that your spouse was written for you, that is was written for you.
And so he says, What are you required to do? Fear Allah and seek it beautifully. You know, we believe that it was written 50,000 years before the Heavens and Earth were created. I have a friend of mine, who's a philosopher, and
every conversation that we ever have, it's just always, for me, it's mentally draining and exhausting, because he always takes me to the deep end of everything. And so one time we were sitting together, and he was kind of just looking up towards the sky as he always does. And he said to me, if our spouses were written 50,000 years before the heavens and the earth were created, is anybody
Do you really ever single?
And I was like, So what are you going to do? You're going to walk around to people and they're gonna say, are you married or single? You're gonna be like, technically I don't know. I haven't met her yet if that's what you're asking, but I'm expecting from Allah that I'm actually married. You don't mean is like what are you going to? So but the point here is that the Prophet peace be upon him he said that is with Allah cannot be acquired except through his obedience. Do not let the delay of that just make you seek it out in a way that Allah has prohibited. It's the same concept. You know what, at the end of the day, what do we want from relationships, we want comfort, we want Sakina we
want, we want tranquility, we want love. And all of that is with the hands of Allah. And so if a person seeks it out in a way that Allah has prohibited, do we have anyone to blame for our heartbreak? Other than ourselves? We know people who have gone through relationship and relationship but it hasn't increased them in anything except for misery. We know people who have become millionaires. And that money for them is not a source of solace and comfort or luxury or anything like that. But it is a source of incredible difficulty and turmoil and pain in their lives. Because all of these things are in the hands of Allah. And so when a person seeks it out in a way that Allah
has legislated and Allah loves than Allah who will bless it and if a person seeks it out, in a way that Allah has prohibited and Allah hates, then they have no one to blame for the for the pain that it brings, other than themselves. And so I reserved and paired with that is the name Al Wahhab. Wahab is the giver of gifts. And when you look in the Quran, you'll find that the giver of gifts or this concept, the concept of a Heba which means gift is paired the most with the with the, with the pairing of spouses and children, spouses and children have a better habit and I mean, as far as you know, the reality now Kurata Allah, Allah says, Oh Allah grant us the gifts of children and spouses,
Allah Subhana Allah, Allah and so that Mariam says, When Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel, and she says in Aruba, rahmati, maintain, quote, appear, I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, if you are a person of consciousness, because she doesn't know what this man seemingly a man, the angel Gabriel is approaching her for. And so she's invoking the fear of God in Him, she's afraid of him. And then he says, in them, and also Laura big Lea have been like you could Arman's Akia he says, I am the messenger of your God. And I have come to grant you the gift of a pure child. And before her Zecharia the Prophet Zachariah, he says, for heavenly melancholia, he's invoking God for a son for
John the Baptist. And he says, So grant me the gift of a child. And so we see this concept of children being gifts from God. Remember, I said that a Heba is something that you don't work for. And a it is something that may involve some effort and work. And the reason why it's called a gift is because generally, you'll find that a person who gets married versus a person who has children, versus the person who doesn't get married, or the person who doesn't have children, they haven't done anything more or less than the other. You have one couple that has bustled five children, and you'll have another couple that don't have any children. And the one that didn't have any children
didn't do anything less than the family that did when so Allah subhanho wa taala, he says, You have like a golem and Zakia, he ties this concept of children to the concept of him being the gift giver. And so a person should invoke the name of Allah subhanaw taala have and I, I know personally have a story of one of my teachers who had a very beautiful story. You know, in our culture, of course, though, people are always asking you, when are you going to get married? Are you going to get married? Right?
Probably as soon as you guys graduate. That's the next question up if it hasn't started already, and so you got to be ready with your answers, and you got to know who to duck and all that type of stuff. But
then you get married and you're like, wow, finally, that monkey is off my back. Now they're gonna give me a break. They don't give you a break. As soon as you get married, they've got another question ready for you. And that is have the two become three yet right? Any good news? It's like the good news was I got married. We were there. It was two weeks ago. And he good news. So people don't leave you alone. And then I turns out that once you have a child than they asked you, they got another question ready. So it's, it's forever, forever.
But I had one of my teachers he had
been married for a number of years.
And eventually, this desire for a child overwhelmed him,
overwhelmed him. So he's praying and he's praying and he's praying and he's making a lot of dua to Allah subhana data.
And he
eventually
came to a crossroads
and he thought to himself
Maybe this just isn't destined for me.
Maybe I'm just not meant to have any children.
So now he's thinking, you know, I'm still gonna have a very fulfilling life. Not everybody's blessed with children. Maybe I should stop asking for it. Maybe I should just stop asking for it.
Then he thought to himself,
I'm not going to lower my standards.
I'm just going to raise my dua.
I'm going to make it more passionate. I'm going to make it more urgent. I'm going to make it more graphic.
And so instead of just asking Allah and saying, oh, Allah grant me children, oh, Allah grant me children or law, grant me children. His prayer became, oh, Allah allowed me to attend the wedding of my daughter.
Now he's got a daughter,
and oh, Allah, I want to attend her wedding.
Fast forward.
However long he was making this job.
He was on a plane with his wife. And they were going to Omaha.
And something crazy happened on the plane where the plane dropped.
And until now, he doesn't fly that airline anymore.
But he said, The people were screaming on the plane. And it was probably just a few seconds, but obviously, you know that those seconds seemed like an eternity. And his wife is yelling out for him. And he's like, I know what you she was like she was yelling out for him. And he's like, I know, I know. I forgive you. Like, that's what she was asking for.
But
he said, the plane levelled out, everything was okay. Everybody's Hearts was, you know, connected to Allah in that moment. And he said, later on, he asked his wife, and he said, when that plane was falling, what came to your mind? She said in that moment, you're not going to believe that, that I made. He said, What came to your mind? She said,
in that moment where the plane was falling, I asked Allah and I said, Oh, Allah grant me a child.
Crazy, right? Like who would think about that when a plane is falling? But Allah inspires us and that's what I'm gonna pay him. He says, he says whenever ALLAH inspires you to pray, when ALLAH inspires you to ask him,
be confident and be happy that Allah only inspired you to ask him because he wants to grant you.
There are many people who are sick, and they're never inspired to ask Allah to heal them. There are many, many people who are broke. And they never ask Allah to enrich them. There are many people who go through so many different things. And they will go and knock on everybody's door. They will start a GoFundMe page, they will go and they will ask this Imam to get married, they will go and vent to 20 of their friends, everybody who they meet, but the one who they will not sit down and ask Is Allah and hence the Prophet tight even at bass, his famous supplication, he says, either CELT first Adela way the student, festering Billa. Whenever you ask, ask Allah.
And whenever you seek the help of anybody seek the help of Allah. And so this teacher of mine, this chef of mine, Allah blessed him with a daughter.
And Allah blessed him with another daughter, and Allah blessed him with more children after that.
And so he himself told me that there was another chef of mine who also was not blessed with children up until that point. And so he was going through it. And so he told him, he said, You're gonna come with me? I've got a solution to your problems.
He said, Where are we going?
I'll go with you anywhere.
And he drove him to babygap.
And he said, what I want you to do, is I want you to pick out the close of your baby.
You're gonna visualize it.
So that when you invoke Allah subhanaw taala, your invocation is more passionate, more urgent, more graphic. And so this man is asking Allah for the baby that for the son that will fill out this clothes that he just bought from Baby Gap. And Allah Subhana Allah blessed him with a boy and a girl twins. And so this year from mine also he says that when I had the child,
how the children I was actually sad and I was sad in that I had went and I had picked out clothes for the boy and I didn't have clothes for my girl. But asking ALLAH SubhanA Dada recognizes that he's able to do all things and this brings me to the next name, which is Al Qadir
al Qadir
Kadir
is another name that's a key to all of the other names and so just like a Mujib is one of the keys Alka deed is one of the keys to Allah Subhana Allah why Id it means the one who's able to Cardinal Khedira two names of Allah. And the reason why this name is a key to all of the other names is because you never ask anyone except that you ask them because you expect that they're able to do it. When I'm going through my contact list, and I'm looking for a person that will help me move or help me with a report or help me with whatever. Number one, of course I'm looking for somebody who's going to respond someone who's going to answer my text message or someone who's going to answer my
phone call. That's number one. If someone's going to ignore me, then I'm not gonna call them. Number two. I'm also looking for somebody who's able to help me I'm not gonna go and call somebody who can't do it. And so these two qualities and Mooji The one who responds and Alka, you're the one who is able these two are keys to every other name of Allah, because you won't ask him unless you believe that he can do it.
And that's why remember way back in that verse in Surah, Al Baqarah, Allah says for yesterday, Bulli will, you know, be, Allah says, let them respond to Me and believe in me, because the one who doesn't ask him it's as if they're saying,
I don't believe in you.
I'm gonna go and knock on the door of people who I believe can get this to happen for me, this doctor, and that teacher, and this person and that manager, but I'm not willing to go and sit and ask Allah subhanaw taala what you don't believe in me, let them respond to Me, and believe in Me that they may be guided. And so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
actually rather with a deer, there are over 45 places in the Quran, where Allah subhanaw taala mentioned something to the effect of Verily Allah is Able to do all things. Verily Allah is Able to do all things. And sometimes that thing that we want become so distant, like the person who has been trying to have children and they're not able to have them for years, and then every single year that goes by the the vision or the desire, or the hope the dream of having children becomes more distant and more distant and more distant. And so they come at the crossroads like that shift came to his crossroads, and a person may then not want to make dua for it anymore. They think that they just
shouldn't it shouldn't happen. It can't happen. I will Kadir calls out to that person. Yes, it can. Zachary, it is Sarah. He in His in the chapter of Midian prophet Zachariah, he says, rob the new 100 album in new style, Allah Shaybah. He says, Oh, my Lord, my hair has become white. And my boys have become frail, and my wife has become burn, ie all of the reasons why I shouldn't be able to have a child have been checked. So that me a child.
And don't think that he started making the asking Allah for a child, he didn't just get the idea for a child, when his hair had become white. And his bones had become frail. He must have been praying for so long for a child.
But he says, Well, I'm a computer, I cannot be Sharqiya. He says, My Lord, I never lose when I pray to you.
As long as and this is another question that people always ask, and they say, Well, how long? Should I pray for something? How long should I pray to get married? How long should I pray for children? And the answer to that is, as long as your heart is still in it.
As long as you still want it, then you still pray for it. And Zecharia says, Well, I'm a computer I got a bishop here. When I pray to you when I asked you
I never loose it's never wretched, it's never wrong.
And so I'll Kadir calls out to us. That thing that has become so distant, even though it is so desired,
used still ask him for it because he has an idea, that pain that has become so present that illness that has become so present that poverty that has become so present, that crises, that brokenness of that relationship, or that faith or whatever, that has become so permanent, that I stopped asking Allah to remove it because it's just never going to go away. I look at the it calls out, yes, he can. Allah Subhana Allah, Allah can make everything go away. And Allah Subhana Allah can bring whatever you wish to you. I was once with one of my teachers, also one of my shields chef who did
the Sunni and we're in Central Park, and he's from Houston. And so I was showing him around Central Park and I was showing him that all of these buildings around Central Park are like prime real estate of New York. I mean, if you're looking down on Central Park, you're in the best place in the city. And so these apartments I'm showing him are like $7 million, $9 million. These are like one bedroom apartments.
Right. And so I guess he's he sees how excited I am about his apartments. So he goes, Amara, would you like to have an apartment overlooking Central Park? And I was like, of course, yes, everybody would love that. So then right then and there in the middle of the park, he raises his hands and he starts praying to Allah to grant me a part, an apartment in Central Park. He's like, Oh, Allah grant on modern apartments, Central Park, he's going on for like, you know, good half a half a minute or more. And so at the end, I just go I mean,
and we start walking.
Amen. Right. And then as we're walking, he says, when you said admin, did you really believe in that moment that Allah was going to grant you an apartment overlooking Central Park? I said, No.
He said, that's why you're not gonna get it.
Right. And so one of the one of the the ingredients, the necessary ingredients is that a person believes because at the end of the day, why not.
And that brings me to the next name LKB here,
I'll be here
means the one who is great, grandiose, and the one food that I want you to know from this name.
And that lesson that I learned from Central Park, is that there's nothing that's too great for him.
Dream big, because there's nothing that's too big for ALLAH SubhanA data.
The Prophet salallahu Salam,
Allah actually ALLAH SubhanA, Allah, Allah, He says in Allah can Ali and Kabira Allah says that Verily, He is high and he is big.
There is nothing that is too big for him. You know,
I had met a man in Houston, a chef in Houston, who had mentioned to me in passing and he stood in his also, he had mentioned to me in passing, that his mother lives in Medina.
And he's going on. And I'm like, hold on a second. Can we just stop for a second?
Your mom lives in Medina, a sole random and rare like for a person to be living in Houston and his mom is living in Medina.
I said, How did that work? How does your mom live in Medina?
And then he just shook his head. He was sitting at his table. He was shaking his head he's Oh, he's an oh my God, let me tell you.
Since we were kids, his mom raised them as a single mother his father passed away when they were young. He said since we were kids, my mom has been praying to live in Medina.
He said we grew up thinking that that's one of the god you're supposed to make after this Allah Oh Allah allow us to live in Medina right? Say a stuff that Hola Hola. Hola. Hola has to live in Medina. That's how consistent it was. Now when we grew up, so their kids, they're going along with their mothers fantasy, but after they grew up, that's, that's the part where you start to challenge your parents, right? You think you're you got a little bit of an education. Now you're college educated. So now you're talking back to your parents. And Allah subhana data says, in the inside and around the sternum that whenever human beings become independent, they become a little bit
transgressive.
And we're no different.
And so he said, we started to challenge our mother and say, Mom, what are you talking about living in Medina?
We all live in America. And then whenever they would try to like argue back to her, she would say to them, leave me alone. Is it too big for Allah?
Okay, Veera Allah, is it too big for Allah. She'd shut them now. And he said, My mother had a fourth grade education. But she knew more about Allah than all of us.
fast forward another couple of decades. Now they're in their middle ages. All of the kids have grown up and they've got their own families now. And he says that one of his brothers decided to relocate and moved from the states to Sudan.
With his kids.
His mother immediately says, I'm going to Sudan to I'm moving with you guys. And they're all saying, Mom, what are you talking about? Like, you need to stay here. You need to you got your doctors and you got your, you know, the health care system in Sudan is horrible. You can't live there. And she goes, Oh, no, I'm not moving to see that.
I'm going to Medina.
And they moved to Sudan. But now she's closer to her dream. And so as soon as they touch down, his mom is not telling his brother. Let's go to Omar. Let's go to Omar. Let's go to Omar. Let's go and make the pilgrimage to Mecca and go to Medina as well. And so her brother, his brother immediately, or however long it took to get some flights and visas and they landed the airport in Saudi Arabia.
in Jeddah, as soon as they get there,
the passport control officer is incredibly harsh with them. And it turns out that their tickets were or their visas were messed up somehow they were either
expired or counterfeit or what have you some mess. And the guy is being so harsh. And he said, if it wasn't for the fact that this lady is so elderly, I would have put you on the first flight back. And so his mother goes off to the side in her wheelchair. And she just starts praying so much. She's so close. Yeah.
And he says that a man appeared with the most pleasant face.
And he asked them and he said, How can I help you what's going on? And they explained their situation, he took their passports, he stamped them, and he said, enjoy your demo.
Now, we flashback to me sitting in his brother's office. He's shaking his head in wonder. And he says to me, my mother has been living in Medina ever since she never left.
And all we do the rest of her sons is we send money to her. And my brother who's living with her as she lives out her dream of living in the city of the prophets of Allah de Sena. And it was just a year later from him telling me that story that we heard the news of his mother passing away in Medina.
And we didn't know whether to congratulate him or to give him condolences, because of the prophets little light is sent him says that whoever can pass away in Medina, then let them pass away in Medina because I will intercede on behalf of everyone who passes away in Medina. And that's why a lot of people, they simply desire to live in the city of the Prophet and to die in the city of the province little die to send them. But this is a prayer that went on for years and decades. And even though it never seemed like it was coming any closer on any given day or month or a year.
And not only that she was being challenged by her children. She said leave me alone, is it too big for Allah. And so dreaming big because nothing is too big for Allah Subhana Allah dad and recognizing that and asking him based on that. So that's an even number five. And that brings me to name number six, which is Al Karim.
Al Karim is a beautiful name of Allah subhanaw taala.
Kareem in Arabic literally means perfect attributes.
Al Karim is the perfection of attributes. Although generally colloquially people will say that it's generosity. But generosity is just one of the virtues. I should try to cut up while cidco Cara will do the Karim. All of these are macadam, they're all virtuous characters, generosity, and bravery and truthfulness. But if we talk about generosity, Allah Subhana Allah is the One who loves to be asked.
There are some people who don't love to give,
like they'll do it, but it's not their favorite thing in the world. But then there are some people who Nothing makes them happier than giving. Like there are some people who are fighting to pay for the checkout a restaurant, and they're not doing it because it's customary or something like that. They do it because they really, really love being the person to pay for everybody's food.
There are some people who are like that. And those that character is a beautiful character. And that is what Allah Subhana Allah loves. And that is who Allah Subhana Allah is. And what this invokes in us of this particular attribute, is to not just ask him for the big but to ask him for the small to ask ALLAH SubhanA data for the small things.
I tell this story in my class and the longer version, but I'll give you the really, really short version here. I had some friends of mine who got locked up or something that was a big mistake. It was a big mistake. It was six kids. And they all got arrested for kidnapping. It was a big mistake anyway.
But it was a big mistake, and they were in jail. And
you know, they got out a week later. But in that week that they were in prison and we didn't know what was happening. And it was like a million dollar bail. And it was just for each one of them. So we just it was just very stressful. And you can imagine for them on the inside.
And so they're some of them are very young. They were like 1918 years old, 20 years old. And so one of the brothers, two of the brothers are in the cell. And they're excellent brothers. They're the best brothers that we have in our community. So two of them, were in the prison cell, and they're in jail. And
one of the brothers older brother, he says to the younger one and he says, this is like the best time for you to pray to Allah. When you feel completely overwhelmed, broken, you feel like you are helpless. That is the best time to pray. So pray. So they pray the Lord together.
And when you go into sujood by the way, that is like the best real estate for prayer because the Prophet salallahu salam, peace be upon him. He said he said the cool
assist you are to God is when you are prostrating. So when you are in prostration, make a lot of dua make a lot of prayer when you're when you're in frustration. And so when they're in that prayer will brokenness, humbleness, or humility and helplessness, they come out of the prayer. And he asks his younger brother, oh, he asked the young one, and he says, What did you pray for?
And he looked at him and he said, I prayed for an Italian cheeseburger.
And he said, I'm gonna kill you.
Like, we're in jail, and you're praying for a cheeseburger. So that's what came to my heart, I really wanted a cheeseburger.
So
you would think that's like, I mean, it's still ridiculous, though, thinking back at it, but the next day,
all of this stuff is happening on the outside, like, I remember, we were mobilized and trying to get lawyers and all of that, but one of our brothers, he was an auxilary cop. And he still had some connections in that prison. And so he sent them one of his friends a text message, one of the cops. And he told him and he said, we have some brothers who got arrested there, and it's a huge misunderstanding. Can you please just look out for them and take care of them? So sure, I'll take care of
these guys are sitting in the prison cell the next day.
And a cop comes to their cell. And he says, I heard that this was you know, I got a message from your friend, someone so. And
he told me to take care of you. I just wanted to bring you guys something.
Can you guess what it was?
They open up the back and they find a cheeseburger with fries.
And so he takes the fries, and he puts it in the cheeseburger because that's what an Italian cheeseburger is. And then he hands it to him. But in that moment, where they felt like a lot is hearing their prayers, not just hearing accepting stuff for Allah because he always hears But accepting their prayers.
They said they had incredible solace, and they felt that everything was going to be okay.
And Allah subhana, Allah dalla, of course, took them out him the last six days later.
But that story is one that I love, because it's not just about asking Allah for the big things. Some people they only ask Allah when it's something huge. It's a big exam. They don't ask him for the pop quizzes. It is like a wedding. They don't ask him for it's the hara on this regular person and that regular person. But in reality, we were taught by the prophet to ask Allah for everything, the Companions if their shoelace broke, their sandal broke, they would ask Allah for a new sandal.
Getting into that habit, where before you ask anybody you ask Allah Subhana Allah, in every circumstance for the big and for the small. And the reason why we don't ask people all the time, is because we assume that asking them a lot will bother them. But Allah because he's ill, Kareem, he does not. He's not bothered by no matter how many times we ask Allah Subhana Allah is Al Karim, he gives an he loves to give. And that brings me to the last name, which is the seventh
which is a love of war.
And I love this name very much a love of war and the author and the love of far these are three names all have to do with the concept of forgiveness. And the reason these names are so beautiful to me is because we have to remember that we were never created to be perfect.
Allah didn't create angels on earth. We were made with freewill. And in fact, the Prophet peace be upon him tells us that if we did not sin,
that Allah subhanaw taala would remove us from this earth and replace us with creatures that did sin so that they could invoke his forgiveness that He made forgive them.
This doesn't mean like I'm gonna go out and sin a whole lot tonight. That's not what that means. But it means that when a person does fall, that they never feel hopeless from it. And that they never are broken by it. Because they recognize that they have a Lord who is forgiving and he loves to forgive. ALLAH SubhanA data says cool yeah, he bad you're living in a sort of for Allah and footsy him. Last token on the Rahmatullah in Allah Ohio flows through the Jamia, Allah says, Oh, my servants, my creatures that have wronged themselves, never despair from the mercy of Allah. Verily, Allah forgives all sins. We do not believe that there is a single person currently walking on this
earth 7 billion human beings on this earth. There is not a single one of them who is beyond Allah's forgiveness and repentance.
No matter how evil no matter how wicked, no matter how many myths
stakes, intentional unintentional, there is no single person Yes, that person who you're imagining right now there is not a single person who is beyond Allah's forgiveness if they were to repent and if they were to seek forgiveness from it.
Allah Subhana Allah
is a lover for
he loves to forget.
And there is a beautiful tradition of the Prophet Muhammad, which is a Hadith Bootsy that I'll end with because this is a message that we need to communicate with others. There are too many people who think at the age of 15, or 16, or 17, or 19, or whatever age that they're at, that they have sinned so much that they are beyond Allah subhanho data's forgiveness. There are many people who don't pray, because they feel that they have been so
dirtied by sin, that they cannot approach Allah subhanaw taala. And that's, that's the religion of the machine. That's not the religion of the Muslims. The majority in the policy is they believed that they were so impure for their sins, that they would not worship God directly. They could not ask him directly, so they worship their idols because they felt that their idols were idols that were accepted by God. These were righteous people, these were saints. And so we approached the saints so that they can approach God on our behalf because we are too sinful.
That's not the religion of Islam. There are many people who will come up to you and they'll say, Please pray for me and they don't pray for themselves. So ask them be like no pray for yourself.
So a man I didn't set up in solid solid, he says, Rob befittingly were heavily Wilkin, nyan back in November he there hadn't been buddy. He's Solomon. He says this beautiful prayer. He says, Oh my Lord, forgive me. Many people would stop right there. Because if they're asking for forgiveness, that's all that they want. Or that's all that they think they can ask for. He says, Oh my Lord, forgive me. And grant me a kingdom the likes that wish will never be seen after me.
What an audacious prayer to make Oh ALLAH forgive me. And even as I'm asking for your forgiveness, grant me a kingdom the likes that the world will never see after me. Oh Allah, forgive me and grant me a Ferrari. Oh Allah Subhana Allah, Allah forgive me, and grant me the best that this world has to offer.
And so communicating to people who Allah subhana data is that no one ever feels that they are too sinful to approach him. No one ever feels that they are to sinful to seek forgiveness from him. The Prophet peace be upon him says in this tradition, and this tradition is a quote,
what we call a hadith Guzzi, where the prophet is narrating on behalf of God on behalf of Allah Subhana Allah. Allah says yagni Adam, in NACA Murgia 21 A Jo 20. Refer to laka Allah Maka, I mean, Coachella Valley, Allah says, Oh, son, or daughter of Adam.
As long as you call upon me, and have hope in me, I will forgive you, no matter what you have done. And I will not mind
as long as you still call upon them. And as long as you still have hope in him,
Allah promises to forgive you no matter what you have done. And the beautiful part here is where he says, well, everybody, I will not mind Don't think that you're bothering me by how many times you fall it if a person false 100 times and gets up 101 times and seeks forgiveness from Allah subhana data and when I seek forgiveness, I mean, not in the form where I'm playing a game with God. But I am sincerely walking towards him. I am sincerely trying to close that door and move on and make myself better. Whether you do it 101 times or 1000 times Allah Subhana deitel forgive you every single time. He says, Well, everybody, and I will not mind Lobell of Azubu Anna Anna Sama, Mr. 14
refers to that. He says, if your sins were to reach the sky,
and then you sought forgiveness from me, I would forgive you.
You have any other low uneca data need to corroborate or the Hata Oh son or daughter of Adam, if you were to meet me with the Earth's weight and sin.
And then you met me on the day of judgment, not associating partners with me not worshiping anyone other than me.
I would meet you with what is equal to it, of forgiveness.
And so having hope that Allah Subhana Allah forgives our sins, asking Allah subhanaw taala constantly invoking him for that forgiveness is the attribute of the person who knows who Allah subhana Dallas, and someone who's not paralyzed by their sits. So this is what I wanted to share. These are the seven names that I wanted to share with you all tonight I ask Allah Subhana Allah data to bless us and to bless our gathering, and to bless you all in all of your endeavors say I mean, may Allah Subhana Allah data gather us with the prophets and the martyrs and the righteous and the truthful. And what excellent companions are those Salah lightest and hamadryad is like the citizen
You're listening