Aqeel Mahmood – Tafseer Surah AlKafiroon Part 2
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Some of the people of Quraysh from the
city of Makkah,
they
approached the Messenger of Allah, alaihis salatu wa
sallam,
and they started to discuss with him. And
they said to him, oh Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, why don't you worship our gods and
we'll worship your gods.
Worship our gods for 1 year
and we'll worship your god for 1 year.
So we'll take turns. You worship our god
and we'll worship your God for what? For
for 1 year each. And if what you've
come with if what if this new religion
that you've come with, if it's better then
we'll take a portion
of this religion that you have and the
good of this religion.
And if what we've come with is better
and what we have is better, then you'll
take a portion from that which is good
and you'll benefit at the same time.
And so the messenger of Allah said,
I seek refuge in Allah
that I associate any partners with him. And
so then they said to him, just accept
our gods.
Don't worship them, just accept and recognize that
they are gods other than Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. And we'll worship your God. So you
don't have to worship our God, just accept
that they're gods along with Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala and we'll worship your God. First talim,
baagualayhatina.
That's what they said, you know, just submit
to our gods, accept that they're gods.
So the messenger of Allah SWALLAM, he said
I'm going to wait until Allah reveals something
to me. And then the next day he
came into the Masjid, okay, went towards those,
who approached him from the likes of Walid
ibn Mughira and the other elders of Quresh.
He approached them and he recited this surah.
Until the end. And when they heard this
from the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, they became angry. They became upset and
decided to curse him. They started to swear
at him and so on and so forth.
So today, insha'Allah,
we're going to continue with the tafsirah. We're
gonna start, with,
and we're gonna basically just talk about one
of the ayahs. The 2nd ayah of Suratul
Kaffirun.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he says,
Say, oh Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to the
disbelievers.
The 2nd ayah in Suratul Kaffirun.
La'aabudu
Maata Abudun. I don't worship
what you worship. La'aabudu
Maata Abudun.
And
in this ayah,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
he uses the word
la. La a'abudu, ma ta'abudun.
And he doesn't use
the word
ma. Ma a'abud. Into the Haram by the
Kaaba.
Towards those elders of Quraysh who were discussing
the situation with him the day before. And
he said it in their face,
right in front of them.
All you disbelieves.
I don't worship and I never will worship
whatever it is that you worship.
So it shows us that a person
can't be afraid with regards to his own
faith. There needs to be a level
of,
you know,
a level of
pride with regards to his own faith.
A person needs to be proud of being
just simply the fact that he's a Muslim
because at all of the creation of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah chose you and Allah
guided you out of everybody else
to be a believer,
to be a Muslim. And this in and
of itself is a blessing from Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. The fact that you're a Muslim.
The greatest blessing that an individual has is
the fact that he's a Muslim, is the
fact that he's a believer in Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. Many people don't have this. Many
people don't have this blessing.
Most of the people on earth won't have
don't have this blessing.
So it's a miracle and it's a Ni'mah
from Allah azza wa jal that the person
has been blessed with Islam.
You know? And some people sometimes they say
that, you know, Muslims are proud, you know,
or they're arrogant.
They think it's just Islam and no other
way.
You know? And they're proud. And they're always
talking about how Islam is perfect and how
Islam is the greatest thing and, you know,
the greatest thing since sliced bread. You know?
There's nothing better than Islam.
And sometimes,
you know, Muslim we as Muslims, we start
to we start to doubt this. We start
to think that maybe we're a bit arrogant.
Maybe there are other ways. Maybe there are
other religions that are okay.
But I want to give you an example.
This isn't an issue of
being
arrogant.
The reason why
we tell other people about Islam is because
we know it's the truth.
We believe it's the truth.
If you go into a restaurant for example,
you go into a restaurant and you've never
been to that restaurant before and it's the
first time you're going into this restaurant and
you've heard great things about the food. You
go in with a group of people. Okay?
There's 3 or 4 of you. And you
sit down, you order some food. So some
food comes in front of you. Everyone's ordered
something different. You sit down and you start
tasting this food for the first time.
And you start tasting this food and you
say, this food is absolutely amazing.
Well my brothers, you need to taste this
food. This this food is really really nice,
mashallah. I've never tasted anything like this.
Have some of this food. So you put
the plate towards them
and you want them to taste what you're
tasting because what you've tasted is absolutely amazing.
You've never tasted anything like this before.
Why are you giving them this food?
Because you want them to feel the same
pleasure
that you felt when you had this food.
So if that's the case brothers and sisters
with food,
something which is temporary.
Something which is gonna give someone a temporary
delight, temporary happiness in this world for a
few minutes, for 10, 15 minutes.
What about with regards to a person's way
of life?
His purpose in this life?
You know the reason why he was created.
That's the reason why we propagate this faith.
That's the reason why we give the wa'ah.
That's the reason why we tell others about
Islam.
Because we want people to taste that sweetness
of iman. That sweetness of faith that we
taste with Islam.
That's why we tell others about Islam. That's
why we give the wa'ah. It's got nothing
to do with arrogance.
It's 30 and true peace.
So this is why we give Dawah to
others because we know it's the truth, because
we found it ourselves.
You know I heard a story about this
man
who
he
he was a very wealthy person
and he had a garage full of Ferraris.
He had like 5 or 6 Ferraris and
he had painted them all white.
Okay. And he was a you know very
wealthy person. So what he used to do
is he used to take a time out
of the day,
maybe 1 hour out of the day, and
he would let people come, members of the
public come to his house, come to the
garage
and he would let them test drive those
cars.
He would let them test drive those cars
and he wouldn't charge anything or he would
charge and he would give it to charity
or something like this.
And so when they asked him and said
why do you do this? And he said
because people need to appreciate
the experience of driving these cars.
They need to appreciate how amazing these cars
are. They're a work of, you know, they're
a work of art. The way they're made
and the engineering behind it and the fact
that they drive so nicely and, you know,
it's absolutely amazing. That's why I want people
to feel the same thing I feel. And
I thought SubhanAllah,
you know, if this is the case with,
you know, some some Ferraris which, you know,
in maybe a 100 years, 200 years time,
no one's even gonna think about them anymore.
They're not even you know, we don't think
about the cars that used to be around
a 100 years ago, 200 years ago.
You know subhanAllah, something as temporary as cause.
People pay so much attention to them. People
are so concerned about them. They want other
people to experience what they've experienced.
With regards to our way of life,
this should be something which we should be
shouting at the top of our lungs about.
You know, this is something which no person
should be embarrassed about.
You know, there's no reason for a person
to have any kind of inferiority complex with
regards to Islam
because we know why we've been created.
We know our purpose on earth. We know
why we're here.
And with regards to non Muslims, they have
no idea. They don't know what they're doing
here. They don't know their purpose in life.
No. So it's a matter of us giving
dawah to them in the correct manner and
in the correct way. You know.
Give, Dawah to the call to the way
of your Lord with wisdom. And the scholars
that say with regards to wisdom, what does
it mean?
Putting something in its correct place.
Putting something in its rightful place. You know,
thinking about what you say, and when you
say it, and how you say it.
You know, look at the situation that you're
in. Look at the people who you're talking
to. What kind of people are they? Are
they very educated?
Are they off the street? Are they rich?
Are they poor? Are they old? Are they
young?
What kind of people are they? Are they
people who are close to you? Are they
your family members? Are they your relatives? Are
they your friends? Are they strangers to you?
If they're people who are close to you,
that one's gonna be different. If there are
people who you've never seen before, you're not
gonna speak to them the way you speak
to someone who you've known for the for
your whole life. There's a difference in the
way you talk to people and how you
give dawah to them. So this shows us
brothers and sisters that a person needs to
have
steadfastness with regards to his faith.
He can't be someone who has some type
of inferiority complex.
And this is why when a person is
strong in his faith and he's proud of
being a Muslim and he's proud of saying
Rabbon Allah. He's proud of saying my Lord
is Allah.
As a result of this
this this,
comfort
and this confidence
and, you know, this
steadfastness
on on his faith. As a result of
this, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will cause the
fear in his heart to be taken away.
He won't be afraid anymore. And this is
why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala what does he
say?
Verily those who say our lord is Allah.
And then they're steadfast on this.
The angels themselves
will come down.
What will they say? They'll say don't be
afraid.
Don't be afraid and don't be upset.
Why? Because he's saying Rabun Allah. He's saying
my lord is Allah and because he's steadfast
after he says this.
You know, he's he shows steadfastness once. He
says, my Lord is Allah.
And as a result of these two things
will happen.
You know, he won't be afraid, and he
won't be upset, and he won't be depressed
because of these two things. Because of him
saying, Rabbi Allah, my Lord is Allah. And
because of him being steadfast in the faith,
subhanAllah.
So it shows us the importance of being
steadfast with regards to one's faith, not being
afraid, not being embarrassed about any aspect of
a person's faith, of a person's Islam.
Because as we know, Islam is a way
of life and it's a perfect faith. It's
a perfect religion. There's nothing like Islam on
the face of this earth. You know. And
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us Islam
as our way of life,
as the way to live our life.
So Allah Azzawajal in this ayah, he says,
la abudumatabudun.
He says, I don't worship
what you worship.
La abudu
mata abudun.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala he says I don't
worship what you worship
but he doesn't say I don't worship
who you worship.
He says
I don't worship what you worship or that
which you worship. He doesn't say
I don't worship
who you worship.
Why doesn't he say I don't worship who
you worship? Why does he say I don't
worship that which you worship? I don't worship
what you worship? Why is there this difference?
The Musikun
during those times,
they never denied
the existence of God.
They never denied that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
in fact existed.
And they would worship idols. Why?
In order to get closer to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's why they would
worship the idols and that's why they would
say
They would say these idols are intercessors for
us to become closer to Allah,
to gain closeness to Allah azzawajal.
So they never denied the existence of Allah,
but they used to worship other than Allah
Azzawajal.
So what did they deny?
If they never denied Allah Azzawajal himself,
what did they deny?
They denied the attributes of Allah Azzawajal.
They would say how is it possible that
if we die Allah is going to resurrect
us from nothing. You know we're going to
be dust. How is Allah going to resurrect
us after that? So they're denying the attributes
of Allah, the capabilities of Allah Azzawajal
and they refused to worship Allah Azzawajal himself.
So what did they deny? Specifically the attributes
of Allah Azzawajal, that's what they denied along
with worshiping the idols in of themselves not
worshiping Allah azza wa Jal alone. They also
used to deny the attributes of Allah. That
Allah wasn't able to resurrect them after they
were dead and the other attributes of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this is why the
messenger of Allah ahsallam he says I don't
worship
the falsehood
that you worship.
I don't worship the falsehood that you worship
and you oh Musriqun,
out of your ignorance don't worship the true
entity who is deserving of worship Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala himself.
So what did the Musrikun
used to worship?
What did they used to worship in those
days?
It's said in the books of Tafsir
that
the Musrikun,
they used to worship idols
and
they would
worship anything and everything.
They would worship stones, they would worship you
know pieces of wood, they would create the
idols themselves out of all kinds of materials,
they would worship trees, they would worship the
sun, the moon, angels, people, They would worship
anything and everything. So the Musliqun,
they used to worship idols and the scholars
they say that they used to worship idols
and when they became bored of worshiping those
idols, they would throw them away and worship
another idol.
Because they would become bored of it, SubhanAllah.
So they become bored of worshiping an idol,
then they would worship another idol as a
result of this. And when they,
would become bored of worshiping that idol, they
would throw that away and worship another idol.
And then they would find a stone
and they would be impressed by that stone.
You know, maybe it would look different. Maybe
it had different color. Maybe it had a
certain texture. Maybe it was a certain size
or it looked a certain way. And it
would you know they would be impressed by
it. They'd be attracted to that stone. And
so they would throw away the previous arrow
that they were worshiping and they will start
to worship that stone.
You know. And subhanAllah you think about how
their desires would cause them to worship whatever
they wished, you know. It was all down
to,
you know, whatever they desired.
And this reminds me to a certain extent
of the celebrity culture we have today.
And we don't go you know, it's maybe
it's not to the extreme where they end
up worshiping them. Although in some cases you
do get people who have shrines of certain
celebrities,
okay, in their bedrooms and they have, you
know, candles and everything. And they do go
to the extent where they end up worshiping
them.
But at the same time, you get celebrities
who, you know, people admire everything about them.
Everything about them. The way they speak, the
way they behave, the way they dress. They
speak a certain way and that person will
copy that person exactly. However he speaks, he'll
speak. Whatever his beliefs are, he'll follow those
beliefs. Whatever his views are, whatever his views
are concerning anything and everything, they'll take it.
You know, because he's that individual.
Whatever the person,
wears. You know, his dress sense. However he
dresses, they'll dress. They'll buy the same brand.
They'll buy the same type of clothes. The
the same, you know, shirts. The same trousers.
The same shoes. The same trainers. The same
caps. Whatever that person does he'll do.
You know. They'll copy them in every single
way.
And then maybe after 6 months,
after a year, once a celebrity is not
famous anymore. He's not popular anymore. You know
he's not in the media anymore. He doesn't
have the same influence as he used to.
They'll throw him away. You know they'll disregard
him. He's not, you know, he's not in
in fashion anymore. And then there's somebody else.
There's another footballer or else, you know, another
actor, another musician.
That's the next big thing. And we see
this, you know, we see this. We're living
in the west. We see we know we
know the situation.
You know, we see this happening all the
time. You get a celebrity who's famous, you
know, 2 3 years ago. After a year,
he's not famous anymore. Just somebody else, you
know, and he's famous for another few years
and then somebody else comes along.
So they throw these old celebrities out and
they bring new celebrities and they copy everything
that they do. They listen to everything that
they bring out with music and their songs.
You know, watch all the movies that they've
been in And so they start imitating them,
start copying them.
This in a certain way, it's a it's
a it's a it's a type of worship
because you're copying them in every single sense
of the word. You're taking all of their
views. Whenever they get happy, you get happy.
SubhanAllah.
It's not the case. Whenever they get happy,
whenever they're happy about something, whatever they find
amusing, you'll find amusing. Whatever they get happy
over, you get happy over. If they're upset,
you get upset because they're upset. SubhanAllah. It's
like with football teams.
It's like with football teams. A foe you
know somebody sports a football team, the team
does well, they get happy. They're over the
moon. When the team loses,
they start crying. It's like it's the end
of the world. You know it's like subhanAllah
nothing else matters anymore. You know they get
really upset, subhanAllah.
So it does become like, you know, it
does become like a religion to them. You
know these individuals and these football teams and
so on and so forth. And Umar radiallahu
anhu, he will talk about the idols of
the past. When he became Muslim, he he
he he would talk about the idols that
he would worship
before he became Muslim.
And he said that there used to be
an idol that I used to worship,
which was made they used to make idols
out of all different types of materials.
He said I had an idol that was
made out of dates. We took dates
and we formed it in such a way
that it made an idol. And he said
I would worship this idol made out of
dates.
And he said whenever I would feel hungry
and I had no food around,
okay, I would take some of my idol,
I would pop it in my mouth and
I would, you know, fill my stomach with
parts of the idol that I used to
worship, SubhanAllah.
So he used to joke about how he
used to behave with regard to these idols
that that that they used to worship in
those days. You know the whole ridiculousness
of worshiping these idols.
And from the idols that they used to
worship in those days
was an idol named Lat.
An idol that was named Lat.
From the idols,
in the time of,
Quresh before the coming of Islam.
And
this idol it said it was named after
a man
who used to kana yalut sawikh.
He used to make something called sawikh.
Whenever the people would come for Hajj for
the pilgrimage,
he would make this food, okay, called sawikh.
Okay. He would grant he was a mixture
of dates and I think barley and flour
and some other things and he would mix
it together. When the pilgrims would come,
he would give this to them.
Okay. To you know to as as you
know honoring the guests of of the Ka'ba,
looking after them. He would serve them this
this this staple, this food. And whenever he
would make this he would sit on a
rock. He would sit on a rock and
he would make this food called Saweek.
And he was called they would say, yalut
o Sawik.
Yalut, and this is where Lat comes from.
Because he would mix and grind the food
to make Sawik. And so they called him
they called him Lat. When he died,
the people they said some of the some
of the people they said he hasn't died
rather his
his
his soul has gone into this rock that
he used to sit on when he used
to make Sawik.
So we should worship this rock that now,
Lath actually lives in. So they would end
up worshiping this rock SubhanAllah.
So this is one of the things,
one of the idols that they would worship
this rock in the time
of before the coming of the Messenger of
Allah ahi wa sallam.
So we're talking about Ibadah. Allah Azzawal says,
I
don't worship
what you worship.
And I want to take some time and
I want to talk about
the most beloved acts of worship to Allah
Azzawajal.
What are the most beloved acts to Allah
Azzawajal?
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud he said
that one day I approached the messenger of
Allah SAWSALAM, I came to the messenger of
Allah SAWSALAM
and I said to him, a yul aamali
ahabu illallah.
Which of the actions are most beloved to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala? And the Messenger of
Allah SWALLAM he said, The
most beloved act. The thing that Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala loves most for His slave. You
know when, you want to really please your
parents or your siblings or your friends or
you know someone you know. You want to
do something that you know they're gonna love.
You know, you do something and you say,
if I do this, I know he's gonna
become really happy. If I make this type
of food for my wife
if you guys make food for your wives.
Yeah. Yeah. You'll you'll know she'll be really
happy. Yeah. If I give this gift
to my friend, he loves cars, for example,
you know, so I'll give him, you know,
I'll I'll give him like a I'll buy
him a car or no. I'll give him
like a key ring that has a logo
of the car on it or something. You
know, or he likes these types of trainers
or he likes this phone, so I'll buy
him one of those phones. He's been talking
about my kids been talking about buying, you
know, this new games console. So I'll buy
him that. He'll become really happy. So you
wanna do things that will
please your friends, your family members, your parents.
Because you know if you did those things
for them they'll become happy and they'll love
you more as a result of this. What
about with regards to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?
How many times do we actually do acts
of worship
knowing that if we do them, Allah
himself will be happy because we did them.
And his love for us will increase will
increase as a result of us doing those
actions. A'il amaliyahabuilallaha.
The companions knew the importance of these types
of things.
They knew the importance of their relationship with
Allah Azzawajal.
So they said, Ayul he said, Ayul Amaliyahabuilullah.
Which of the actions are most beloved to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala? The messenger Ravala Sallam
he said a salah to Allah Waqtihah prayer
at its appointed time or prayer at its
earliest time. When the time for the salah
starts that's the best time for a person
to pray. It's the most beloved act to
Allah Azzawajal.
And then, ibn Masood he said, thumma a'y
and then which act is most beloved to
Allah and the Messenger Raul alaihi wasallam he
said, Birruul Walidayn.
Honoring and being dutiful to your parents,
being good to your
parents. And then he said and then which
one? And the Messenger of Allah SWALLAM he
said, Al Jihadu fee Sabillah
struggling and doing Jihad for the sake of
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
And then,
ibn Mas'ud
he said
He
said this is what he told me, this
is what the messenger of Allah sallam mentioned.
He mentioned these three things.
If I had asked him to increase,
if I had asked him more,
then he would have given me more. But
I refrained and I stopped from asking.
So first of all, from this hadith, we
can learn many many lessons. First of all,
it shows us
the fact that the companions would always ask
the most appropriate questions, the most pertinent questions.
You know, the questions
that, you know, they know is going to
increase their connection and relationship with Allah Azzawajal.
Which of the actions are going to cause
Allah Azzawajal to love us the most?
You know these are the kind of questions
that they would ask the Messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And it shows us the importance of salah
praying
the prayers at the beginning of their time.
The best time to pray a salah is
at the beginning of the time
because it shows us that, you know, we
take it seriously. It shows us that we're
not taking something, you know, which is not
important. It's like for example someone who goes
to work early. He goes to work all
the time, half an hour early, 15 minutes
early.
What does that show about the person?
That he's committed.
He's taking his work seriously.
You know, he's the first you know, it's
what they say. The first one in or
the first one who's arrive who arrives, the
last one who leaves after after the work
finishes. You know he's committed to his work.
It shows he takes it seriously, it shows
he holds it in higher regard. When a
person prays the beginning of its time it
shows that he takes it seriously,
you know. He think he regards the salah
as the most important thing in his life,
as a connection and a conversation between him
and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
When a person leaves the salah until the
end of the time, right at the end
of the time, just before the other salah
is going to come in, That shows you
that that person isn't really you know he's
not he's not too keen about you know
worshiping Allah azza wa salaam. Not as much
as a person who prays the beginning of
its time. You know he keeps delaying it.
It's okay I got plenty of time. Let
me delay it for a while. Let me
delay it for half an hour, 1 hour.
Let me just finish off this work. I'm
busy with work. I'm busy with my family.
You know, I'm watching television. I'm on YouTube.
I gotta do this thing. You know, I
gotta go out. I'm with my friends. You
know, let me finish, you know, chilling out
with my friends and then I'll go and
I'll pray. So there's other things which he
regard as more important. If if that wasn't
the case, he would have got up from
his from his gathering. He would have left
you know watching television or you know left
his family and gone to pray. You know
or even prayed with his family.
So it shows us, you know, the the
where in his,
you know, in his life he holds his
Islam and he holds the salah. How important
is the salah in his daily life, in
his daily routine?
You know.
How close is it to his heart?
And the second thing, after
salah alawakdiha
prayer at its appointed time, being good and
dutiful and honorable to your parents, those who
raise you.
You know, SubhanAllah.
Those who look after you.
Those
mothers who spend so much time.
Okay? And they don't get paid for it.
They don't get paid for this full time
job that they have. Every single day, 24
hours a day, non stop, looking after their
children.
They don't get paid for it. You know,
when it comes
to holidays,
they work even harder.
You know. SubhanAllah.
And it's a blessing from the blessings of
Allah Azza wa Jal. The fact that, you
know,
the the mother raises the child in this
way. How much ajer would she get? SubhanAllah.
It's for raising the child in the correct
manner.
And so no doubt a person is in
debt to his parents, in debt to his
mother, in debt to his father. And then
and then after this Al Jihadu fisabilah.
Struggling and striving for the sake of Allah
azza wa Jal. Going out of your way
to worship Allah azza wa Jal. To please
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Also it shows us
the manners
and the etiquette
in which the companions would talk to the
messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
You know,
when he approached the messenger of Allah, he
asked
him, what are the actions that are most
beloved to Allah? And then he said
second time. And then which one? And then
he asked for a third time and then
which one? And then he stopped. He didn't
carry on.
He didn't keep on saying and then which
one? And then which one? And then which
one? And then which one? And just keep
on going 10 times, 15 times, 20 times,
out of respect for the messenger of Allah
SWALLAM. He stopped.
He said,
If I'd asked,
if I would if I wanted more, he
would have given me more. But because of
his humility,
because of his manners, because of his etiquette,
because of his adab, he stopped and he
refrained
for fear of disrespecting the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Also it shows you
that
the answer
to the question
that was asked
was different
to the same question that was given to
the messenger of Allah SWA
in other moments.
There were other times when the messenger of
Allah SWA was asked the same question, but
a different answer was given.
Once he was approached and he was asked
which
actions
are the best? Which actions are most beloved?
And he said
belief in Allah and belief in His Messenger.
So he was different.
So what does that show you? Is it
does that mean there's a contradiction
in the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah
sallam? They're both authentic ahadith. They're both authentic
narrations.
This shows us
that
the answer
to a question
can change
according to the time that that question was
answered,
according to that place that that question was
answered,
according to the person who asked that question.
The answer can change.
If for example a person was asked what's
the best act of worship that I can
do? And he's in the masjid.
Okay. He might be asked about
reciting Quran or praying.
Yomu Arafa. The day of Arafa. Somebody says
what's the best act of worship that I
can do?
On the day of Arafa, is supplicating to
Allah, making dua to Allah, aza wadulif, he's
at Arafa.
So the time and the place that you're
at has an effect on your act of
worship and what you're doing. And this is
why when the messenger of Allah SWALLAM would
be asked about, you know, advice,
companions would come and say, oh, Sini, give
me some advice. He would say, laataghdab.
You know, don't become angry.
Another person came to him and asked him
the same thing. Give me some advice, oh
Messenger of Allah. And he said, kufa anhadha.
He held his tongue and he said hold
on to this. Hold on to your tongue.
Why did he give different answers?
Because people are different.
Their personalities are different.
You know? The way they behave is different.
Their their weaknesses and their strengths are going
to be different.
So this shows you that, you know, the
answer,
to this question can change according to the
time and the place and the person you're
talking to and looking at who you're talking
to and,
the kind of situation that that person is
in.
So
we've talked about some of the beloved acts
of worship that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
loves for us to do and those things
which cause us to become closer to Allah.
But how can an individual
taste the sweetness of worship? You know sometimes
we worship Allah Azza wa Jal, Sometimes
we do certain good deeds
like we praying to Allah Azza wa Jal.
We might read Quran. We might fast. We
might give in charity,
but it doesn't have that effect on us.
You know, it doesn't have that effect. We
don't feel that sweetness
of faith. We don't feel that sweetness of
worship when we do that act of worship.
So how can a person
achieve that sweetness when he worships Allah Azza
wa Jal? That laddhatulalibada,
that sweetness of worship. How can a person
feel this? What things can he do? What
measures can he take so that next time
he prays to Allah azza wa Jal, next
time he's in salah and he's praying to
Allah at the beginning of the time and
he's worshiping Allah. After the salah how can
he feel that sweetness of that prayer that
he's just prayed? What things can he do?
What steps can he take? First of all,
a person needs to strive when worshiping Allah.
He needs to make that effort.
Habib Al Qayim Rahimahullah he says that when
a person first starts to do good deeds,
okay, first starts to do first starts to
worship Allah Azza wa Jal, at the beginning
he'll always find it difficult.
You know if a person ends up praying
5 times a day, if he's not used
to praying 5 times a day at the
beginning it's not going to be easy for
him, for a new Muslim for example. He's
gonna find it difficult to pray 5 times
a day because he isn't used to it.
Somebody who isn't used to reciting Quran,
he might end up reciting 5 minutes or
10 minutes of Quran and then he'll get
tired. You know, he's not used to reciting
that long. But after a while, ibn al
Qayim, he says once he gets used to
worshiping
and praying regularly, he'll taste the sweetness of
that worship. He'll taste the sweetness of the
salah. He'll taste the sweetness of the prayer.
And this is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says that
those who
those who strive in our way,
those who strive in my way, those who
make that effort, those who struggle for the
sake of Allah.
We will guide him to our paths.
We'll make our paths easier
for him.
Those paths that he takes to worship me
they will become easier for him because he's
making the effort and this is why in
Arabic they say manjada wajad.
They say manjada wajad whoever strives prevails.
If you're not making the effort that you're
not gonna get the result that you know
that you want or that you desire because
you're not making the full effort.
And then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says
those who strive
will make will guide him to our paths.
And Allah is with those who excel.
Those
who try their hardest.
Those who excel in anything that they do.
So the first thing, the first way a
person can taste the sweetness of worship
is by striving in worshiping Allah. The second
thing that a person can do is increasing
in optional acts.
Increasing in your nawafil.
Whether it's increasing in your salah,
increasing in your fasts, increasing in your recitation
of the Quran, increasing in sadaqah. Your nawafil
acts
increasing in them and at the same time
varying them.
Don't always do the same optional prayer. Don't
always pray nawafil prayers
because when it becomes,
you know,
routine
it loses its its effect.
You know? When a person varies his acts
of worship,
because he's changing them around, sometimes he's praying,
sometimes he's fasting, sometimes he's giving in charity,
sometimes he's reading Quran.
When he's varying the acts of worship that
he does, it's never going to become mundane
for him. He's never going to, you know,
lose his interest in worshiping Allah A. S.
And this is why,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in a hadith
Qudsi, he says, and my slave will continuously
come closer to me through optional deeds
until I end up loving him.
So one of the ways a person can
attain the love of Allah Azzawajal
is by continuously
doing nawafil acts, optional acts.
Also from the ways a person can,
attain the sweetness of worship
is by reading the Quran and contemplating its
meaning. When a person reads the book of
Allah azza wa Jal, the Quran is a
cure for all illnesses. Illnesses of the heart,
illnesses of the body. When a person recites
the Quran and understands the Quran, it will
bring him closer to Allah Azza wa Jal.
The 4th thing that a person can do
is worshiping Allah Azza wa Jal in seclusion.
When a person wakes up in the middle
of the night, in the last part of
the night,
and he worships Allah azza wa Jal, he's
doing it purely for the sake of Allah
because nobody else knows.
So he has he makes that effort, and
he's in seclusion. There's nobody else around. He's
in his room on his own. You know
it's dark outside everybody else is asleep,
you know animals and human beings and he's
there and he's praying to Allah Azzawajal
in seclusion on his own and this shows
us okay the the
the sincerity of that individual the fact that
he, you know, wakes up and he makes
the effort worshiping Allah Azzawajal in seclusion.
And this is why one of those people
who will be under the shade of Allah
on the day of judgment is the person
who remembers Allah in seclusion
and he starts to cry.
Because he's remembering Allah Azzawal in seclusion,
you know. And the tears that he has
they're not crocodile tears
because he's doing it on his own. There's
nobody else around, and he remembers Allah Azzawajal.
The mercy of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. The
punishments of Allah Azzawajal. And he starts to
cry because of this.
Also from the ways a person can taste
his sweetness of faith is by staying away
from sins.
Staying away from sins.
How many times has a person committed a
sin
which has stopped him from
waking up for the salah? Waking up before
Fajr prayer to pray in the last part
of the night. How many times has the
sin stopped an individual to pray the Fajr
prayer on time?
How many times has a person committed a
sin and as a result of this he
becomes stingy when he gives wealth?
How many times has a person committed a
sin and as a result of committing that
sin he doesn't come to the masjid, becomes
lazy.
So sin stop an individual
from doing good deeds.
So a person, when he stays away from
sin, it's one of the ways a person
can attain the sweetness
of worship. So what are the things that
prevent an individual
from tasting the sweetness of worship?
What are those things that are preventing an
individual?
The first thing are sins.
The thing that stops a person from tasting
the sweetness of worship is sins in and
of itself. Another thing the scholars mentioned that
stays that stops a person from
tasting the sweetness of worship
is too much mixing with other people.
When you're socializing
too much,
when you're hanging around with other people too
much, and as a result of it, you
end up staying up late at night, chilling
out with other people. And you end up
staying so you end up staying,
staying up so late that when you go
to sleep, you end up missing the salah.
You end up oversleeping,
you know, when you're with other people. And
you could be doing other things. You could
be reading the Quran. You could be doing
your adkar. You could be listening to something
beneficial.
You could be, you know, attending the masjid.
So
mixing with people,
you know, too much can stop a person
from tasting the sweetness of worship.
Also the third thing,
and we'll finish with this inshallah,
the third thing that stops a person tasting
the sweetness of faith, and this is something
which is very very important.
When acts of worship
become nothing more than daily chores,
when acts of worship become nothing more than
daily chores,
when a person does acts of worship,
but it's just a formality.
It's just a chore that he does
because he's doing it every single day. It
becomes like a chore for him. It doesn't
become it's not a act of worship anymore.
You know he's so used to doing it
it's like brushing his teeth in the morning
or getting changed, you know.
SubhanAllah.
It becomes something which is just a chore
for him,
you know. And I advise myself before I
advise anybody else. Sometimes, you know, a person
he ends up praying or he ends up
doing a deed and he's not fully focused
on that act of worship that he's doing.
He's not paying full attention to it. It's
become like a chore for him. A person
needs to realize and understand
the fact that whenever he's praying to Allah
azza wa jal, it's a conversation between him
and Allah azza wa jal. It could be
that that salah that he prays,
Allah azza wa jal accepts that salah from
him as a result of that salah that
he prays. Maybe this Maghrib prayer that you
just prayed now.
Maybe this next ishrib prayer that you're going
to pray. It could be that because of
this prayer that you prayed,
it's
the reason
why you be saved from the hellfire and
why you enter into Jannah.
That could be the reason. That could be
the result and the reward of you praying
that salah.
So a person needs to make sure
that he doesn't,
you know, these acts of worship that he
does don't become chores for him,
you know. And one of the ways of
making sure that this has happened with regards
to salah is to pray as if it's
your last prayer. When you when you pray
the salah, pray as if you're never ever
going to pray again. Pray as if you're
going to leave this masjid and you're not
going to see the light of day.
You might not ever pray to Allah azza
wa'al again. What guarantee do we have that
we're gonna leave this masjid and we're gonna
be alive by tomorrow by fajr time? What
guarantee do we have? There's no guarantee. We
have no guarantee.
So if a person has that in mind
and prays every single prayer like as if
he's never going to pray again then insha'Allah
that salah and the prayer that he prays
will never become a chore for him. It's
always going to be an act of worship
something that he can use on the day
of judgment that will help him enter into
paradise. That's the currency that he has You
know, good deeds that he'll use on the
day of judgement, insha'Allah, to enter into paradise
and enter into his palaces, enter into his
homes, meet their companions, meet the prophets, meet
the messengers, meet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
meet his family members, meet his relatives, meet
the people of the past
in Jannah. You know? Eternal life, eternal bliss,
a place where he'll never ever die.
So we ask Allah that
he give us the ability to be able
to worship Allah as our wajal and not
make it a chore for us and something
that as a result of which we will
be able to enter into paradise and we
do it purely for his sake. If there's
any questions, inshallah, and I'll do what I
can to answer them.
You
pray
with the congregation.
In that case, you pray with the congregation.
Praying in congregation is better than praying on
your own. Okay. Yeah. So if there's a
choice between you praying on your own at
the beginning
or praying later in congregation, then you pray
in congregation. Because the prophet said, Suratul,
Suratul Fazid that the prayer that a person
prays on his own, okay, compared to a
person who prays in congregation is 27 times
better. If you pray in congregation, it's 27
times better than you're praying on your own.
She,
sometimes,
when you wanna pray at home,
Your wife's behind you. Behind you. Yeah. So
when you're praying, your your wife plays behind
you.
Okay.