Bilal Assad – Religious Rollercoaster
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
My brothers and
sisters, tonight's topic, we have entitled it religious roller
coaster. And
the reason we named it this title
is because it's one of the biggest challenges for all of us, young
and old,
practicing our deen is sometimes a big challenge. Other times we do
so well, and then other times we're almost about to hit rock
bottom,
then we get back up, then we fall again.
Some of us it's our temptations, especially young people. Others,
it's ideologies that hit them, left, right and center. Sometimes
it's our
family problems, our own problems that we're facing in our lives
that debilitate us. Sometimes it's friends, peer pressure.
Other times it's just us. We get overwhelmed. Sometimes it's our
families, our children, our studies, our work. Life is full of
challenges, and we all want to get better. We all want to get closer
to Allah, and we all complain sometimes I want my Iman to be
high,
at a consistent high. That's so beautiful when people say that,
when they come to me and say, I want my Iman to be high, I wish I
could give you a gem of a potion that you can take,
but when you ask that question, that is a sign that you have Iman
alive in your heart, inshaAllah, regardless of the challenges
around You.
So what prompted me to give this talk today?
A little while ago, a young man approached me
and he said to me, I'm struggling.
I do sins by night,
and they just keep pointing me. I can't get rid of them. I try and I
fall and here I am. I get involved in religious and community events,
and I advise people, and I haven't felt more hypocritical about
myself. How can I, from one angle, in secret and in private, do
things that I am burdening myself with, and I know that I have to
face Allah with, and from another angle, I take part in religious
events and I and I talk to people about din, and
then he started to cry.
Now he's not the only one. Of course, I have these come to me
and go all the time so and I was once there as well, and sometimes
I'm there. Now we all fall into it.
And the reality is, brothers and sisters, is that it is part of
life, and it is deliberate from Allah, Subhanahu wa that part of
the test that he give up gives us is also tests facing sins. Did you
know that? Did you know that Allah tests us with sins,
and his sins come to us, and Allah tests us with them so that we can
grow. But
the beautiful
sign and the most amazing thing to remember
is that when you are not comfortable with sins, maybe you
might be comfortable at the time that you sin,
but if after it,
you regret, you don't feel good about it, and then you fall again,
and then you get up and you regret, and you fall again.
The fact that you're feeling like that Alhamdulillah is an amazing
sign. Yes, you and I need to work on ourselves,
but the fact that you don't feel comfortable with it and complacent
with it, and the fact that you don't let the shaytaan stop you
from continuing your other good work
inshaAllah,
you are on a right path.
In fact, listen to what Allah says about who a true believer is.
Allah says, How do we let him in a shaytaan Rajini, bismillahir,
Rahman, Ebrahim
in Surat,
anfal in
Genet o nu either.
Allah
says,
As a matter of fact, the true believers are
the ones, and when they are reminded about Allah,
when they are reminded about Allah,
and when His Verses are recited upon them, they come to a class.
They read the Quran, they open up on social media, and they have
Masha Allah, an algorithm of ayat of Quran that come to them.
Someone reminds them. They remember their sins, they remember
themselves. And then what happens to them? Allah says their hearts
begin to shiver, and you can see it on their face, like this young
man who cried
and the Imam increases immediately on the spot, they feel a
heightened force inside of them that makes them feel close to
Allah in the form of this shivering, sometimes a cry,
sometimes you feel goose feel goosebumps. Sometimes you take a
breath and you close your eyes. These are all signs that when you
heard Allah's verses, and when Allah is mentioned to you, it
shows you have a man that is alive in you.
Wala, Rabbi, himya, Tawa, kaluun. And they keep their trust in
Allah. A lot of us, when we hear about the word. They keep their
trust in Allah. We think about when things go wrong in our life,
but that, did you know that keeping your trust in Allah is
also when you are faced with sins that debilitate you sometimes, but
you keep your positive attitude with Allah, Subhanahu wa, and you
keep trying your best and not giving up on Allah, and you don't
give up on your other good deeds just because you're doing a few
sins, because you rely on Allah. That's also part of trusting in
Allah, because the shaytaan is always there whispering to you
that you are a hypocrite to stop you. He doesn't settle with you
just stopping one or two things, he will keep going at it if he
can, to whisper to you to become a disbeliever completely. But the
shaytaan has no power over you except whispers and we remind one
another. Always have those friends that remind you. Keep coming to
the masjid, keep fighting your urges of not going and meeting and
sitting with people who will remind you of Allah, and
Inshallah, you will stay aware.
So my brothers and sisters, we said that sins are sometimes a
test for a believer, as he or she struggles with them till they
overcome them. Then the next sin comes along, then the next sin
comes along. Listen to what the Prophet peace be upon him said. He
said,
There isn't a single servant who is a believer, amen, a believer.
We're talking about believers here,
except that they have a sin, which they are struggling with.
The Sin comes to them and visits them every single time, and they
wrestle with it. Some have bigger sins. Some have smaller sins,
and some are stronger than the sins. Some a bit weaker, until
they wrestle and overcome it.
Al fayna, taba ad al fayna Every now and then.
For Rasul Adam said, sometimes they have this particular sin that
just doesn't leave them
until they leave this world.
And then he said, a true believer
is always subjected to tests and trials.
And a true believer, when they're subject to tests and trials,
they're constantly repenting. They're always coming back to
Allah say, My Lord, forgive me, I won't do it again. Then they fall
again. Then they try again, and they try again, but they don't
just stay where they are.
Nasiya and is also forgetful,
but when he or she is reminded, they respond to the reminder. The
hadith is in tabarani, authenticated by Imam Alban. What
does this hadith mean? So that you don't get the wrong idea, brothers
and sisters, I am not telling you to feel happy about your sin.
We're not here to make you feel comfortable and say, well, since
that hadith has been said to me, that means I'm okay. You just made
me feel better. I hope I made you feel better, but not in the wrong
way. I want you to feel better in the sense that it's not all gloom
and doom. Don't let the sin debilitate you. Continue with your
good work, but work to try and get out of it. I'm not telling you so
long as you do good deeds, just stay where you are with that sin.
No, you gotta try and get out of it. What he says? Salaah.
Or Salem is the believer is never comparable. The believer is never
comfortable with a repetitive sin. So he or she then regrets,
then they give in, then they overcome, then they forget, then
they fall again, then they regret, then they overcome, then they fall
again and forget. Then they overcome, then they forget, like
that.
And a beautiful Hadith from Prophet SAW, which is in Bukhari
and Muslim, he says, On the Day of Judgment,
a believer will be called by Allah, a believer, meaning any
believer, it might be you and might be me. And Allah will say to
them by name.
He'll tell His angels to call them, call so and so. And then you
look up and you have to go to where? To a place Allah says. Then
he says to you, My servant, come closer.
This is, this is a side thing that happens on the day of judgment to
people come closer with nominee,
until fire Ali hikana, for who Allah places his veil over him or
her.
What is this veil? We don't know what it looks like, but it's
something that covers you from the rest of the eyes of the other
people, and no one can hear the conversation. Allah wants to say
something to you in secret, but he doesn't want to embarrass you.
That's the meaning of the Hadith waya sturahu. He covers him, then
he says to that person, Allah, says that to you, without any
interpreter between you and Allah, and another Hadith says meant,
when no interpreter,
do you remember when you did such and such a sin? Remember that?
Remember the other day? Remember on that date, remember that time?
Remember there? Remember over there? Remember over there? He
reminds you of all these sins which have not yet been revealed.
And the person says, Yes, My Lord,
until he admits and he starts to beg and regret about his sins, and
he starts to think that I am doomed, I'm going to hellfire.
And then Allah says to him or her everyone, every time he mentions
that sin, says, I kept it a secret and covered you in your former
life, nobody knew about it, but you and me
and today I will continue to cover it.
I will forgive it. The word forgiveness of Rafa Ra means to
cover it's there, but Allah will cover it. Nobody will see it. It's
written in your book, but Allah may cover it. What else?
Then? His book is given to him in his right, and his good deeds and
the sins are forgotten, as for the disbeliever and the hypocrite,
then he will be called in front of everybody, and their sins and evil
and criminal work will be made public in front of everybody,
and it will be said the curse of Allah is upon the oppressors,
those who oppress themselves and oppressed others,
brothers and sisters. This means that these are the people who
believed in Allah. They did their obligations. You did your five
daily prayers. You used to fast your Ramadan, you used to give
your zakat. You stayed away from the major sins, and when you fell
into them, you repented. And then there were little minor sins that
you kept doing over and over, but you were embarrassed about them,
and you didn't want to tell people about them, and you lift them
between you and Allah.
Allah then acknowledges that, and he says, Today, I'll cover it up
for you. Don't worry. It
doesn't mean that you continue these sins and say, okay with
them. It means this is a person who never felt comfortable with
them and was always trying to do good deeds to cover up, to try and
compensate, like the story I gave you about the young men
as for the hypocrite who is a hypocrite? They're the people who
don't care at all about the sins they're doing. They don't give a
damn. They have no they're indifferent. In fact, when you
speak to them, they say, Get out of here. Are you talking to me
about sin? So what I pray? I fast. So what if I have a girlfriend or
boyfriend? So what if I do this, haram Mahala or these things? So
what if I look, look, look at other people. They do worse than
me.
If you want to know whether you're on the verge of hypocrisy or not,
it's like this. This is the sign you.
We always find someone worse than us to make ourselves feel better,
and a person who is not on the verge of hypocrisy will always
look at those who are doing better religiously and say, I aim and
aspire to be like that. The opposite says to you, yeah, so
what? At least I don't take drugs like, So and so the guy who takes
drugs, you go to him, and this is what they say, they even more
because they go, Yeah, I take drugs, but at least I don't sell
it. Like, so and so you go to the guy who sells it, says, Yeah, I
sell it, but at least I don't give it to kids, like, so and so, I'm
not that bad. They're always finding someone worse, till they
get to a serial killer and the rest and other there's always
someone worse, right? Is that how a believer aspires to this is a
sign of the verge of hypocrisy. This is not a person, in my last
month, that is going to cover up for this is a person who doesn't
care. They've already exposed themselves. They feel good about
their sin. They try to justify it. They'll just debate and say, Yeah,
I'm okay. What's the problem? Some of them even make social media
clips, and they try to twist the words of the Quran and the
teachings of Islam to try and teach people their own version so
they can feel better about their sin.
Some people want money for it. Some people want fame for it.
Allah on the Day of Judgment, Allah is going to expose this
person even worse, because the person chose that life for
themselves, but the person who is embarrassed about it and is trying
to get better Allah acknowledges that, for that person covers it up
in this world, will not expose you here and will not expose you there
either.
Which one do you want to be? We
say these things, brothers and sisters, to make to help us, all
of us, to work together in sha Allah and remind one another so we
can keep on steadfast,
my brothers and sisters, I have you know this Iman faith. If
you're worried when your faith goes down and up, then know that
this is very normal.
Iman, it goes up and down, up and down throughout your life.
It is a consensus among our scholars past and present
that Iman has its highs and has its lows. So don't be shocked and
become too scared and fearful at a time when you feel your ima is a
little bit low. Inshallah, it'll go up again, but you've got to
keep working on it. Don't just stay there.
So Iman rises and falls in our life, it fluctuates.
And Iman is to believe in Allah firmly in your heart, not make any
partners with Allah or love anyone above Allah in your heart, to
trust in Allah and not to trust in anyone more than Allah.
To believe in Allah's words and in your heart, no one else's words is
above Allah
in your heart.
You don't make any partners with Allah. Number two, you say it with
your mouth and you acknowledge it, even if it's something that your
enough, your ego is not happy with, but your Imaan tells you,
I'm going to do it. I'm going to
obey it, even if I don't like it. And with your actions, you show it
and you fall sometimes and you repent. Tell you this Iman rises
and falls. Sometimes your words won't be as remember. You won't
say too many remembering words. Sometimes your actions may be a
little bit more sinful. Other times they're a bit more
worshiping. This is how you see your iman rising and falling.
What really makes the difference is your heart
and what makes the difference. Remember this Omar the Allahu ano.
He said, When your iman, you feel it low, make sure that you do not
pass the red line.
What is the red line? The red line? Put it in your heads. This
is something we have to decide on
that you do not pass below the red line. Which is the obligations
which Allah made upon you and me? What are the obligations? Five
daily prayers,
fasting, Ramadan, yo zakah, going to Hajj once in your lifetime,
forever is able to do so,
all the commandments and the obligations that Allah placed on
men and the obligations he placed on women, and you know what they
are.
And he said,
When your iman is high,
utilize that opportunity to do extra voluntary good deeds.
Why does he say that it's all about the heart? The heart needs
cleansing.
Think the heart needs reminders. And when you do good deeds, when
your ima is high,
it's kind of like an investment.
You give your heart a head start. You're not always on the edge.
A man came to the Prophet sallallahu, sallam, and said, Ya
rasulallah,
mutafaka agreed upon in Bukhari and Muslim. He was from the
Bedouins, and he had a loud voice, and his hair was scruffy. He had
been traveling. He's seeking guidance. He heard about the
Prophet sallallahu, sallam. He comes to prophesy, and he
intercepts everybody, and he's got a loud voice from the bedroom and
says, ya rasulallah. Ya rasulallah, everybody went quiet.
Rasa Salam gave him some time. He said to him, tell me what I need
to enter paradise.
What
are my obligations? Rasulallah said to him, to pray, five. Daily
prayers. Five, not four, five.
He said, What if I do more? He said, Whatever you do more than
that is from your own choice. If you do them, you'll be rewarded.
If you don't do those extra than the five, you won't be punished.
So what's next? He said, you pay your zakat.
Said, what if I do more than that? He said, If you do more than that,
it's your own choice.
What else he said to fast the month of Ramadan says, What if I
do more than that? He said, It's your own choice.
And then the Prophet Sallam told him the rest of the obligatory
acts of Sharia that he's supposed to do and the major things he's
supposed to stay away from. Then he said, Thank you. He got up and
he said, by the one who sent you, in truth, I will not add a single
extra to these obligations, and I will not do any less. Not going to
do anymore. No voluntary stuff, no choices, nothing. Not more than
the five daily prayers. I'm not going to do the Sunnis. I'm not
going to do the Nafil. I'm not going to do the duhas and
everything else fasting. Ramadan, I will not go and do one day on,
one day off on Mondays and Thursdays. I'm not doing any of
that. Zakat, I'm not doing any sadhaka, just as a mahasal, just
once
and so on. Then he left. He just walked off. Sahabas are looking.
They want the answer from the Prophet sallallahu sallam. They're
always looking for hope. And the Prophet sallallahu
sallam said, You in sadaq.
Oh, if he's honest and truthful to what he said, he has succeeded,
meaning he will enter paradise. He will not go to hellfire. Will not
be punished.
Now, why did the Prophet say that
if you can stick to the obligations and stay away from the
major sins and repent, if you do them,
you will not go to hellfire, you will not be punished. You are
successful.
But at the same time,
if you stick to them, your heart is naturally going to get better.
It's almost impossible throughout your life from not improving
anybody who does the obligations you're going to improve, but
telling him that right there and then he's not going to get it
logically. So when the Bedouin went and practiced, like the rest
of the companions, naturally, as he aged, he got better and better
and better.
So start with the obligations.
Allah says in the Quran, la Yu Kali Fula huanafsen in LA Musa,
will never burden a single person with more obligations than what is
within their capacity. A lot of people misunderstand that verse.
They think that you will not go through a trial and suffering
beyond what you can handle. That is not the correct interpretation.
You will certainly go through trials, sicknesses and trial tests
around your life. Some people will oppress you, and some things will
happen to you beyond your ability to control. Some people die in the
end of it. You couldn't handle it. That's not the meaning of the
verse. The meaning of the verse is in the times of hardships and
within your capacity, Allah does not hold you accountable for more
than what you could handle.
Again, no
matter what happens to you in life, anything beyond your
ability, Allah will not hold you accountable to it. So, for
example, if you got sick,
and your sickness got so bad that you couldn't even get up, will
Allah still expect from you to stand up in prayer?
No, because that's not within your capacity anymore. Allah will look
at your state and say.
Is sick, or she is sick. I don't expect from them anything beyond
that. So what do you do? Pray while sitting down.
You can't sit down. Allah says, Okay. What can you do? Pray, lying
down. Oh, I can't get to the water. I don't have anyone to help
me. That's okay.
You have a piece of rock. Du tayam, you don't have a piece of
rock, that's okay, just act like a doom wudu, oh, you're blind and
you can't move. Pray in your head. Imagine it.
You're in a state of necessity. The only food available for your
survival is haram. Food. Eat what you need. Allah will not hold you
accountable because you don't have any other food.
A person is in a situation where it's beyond their control to pray
at that time, completely beyond your control. That's okay. Pray
when you can. You were sleeping. You wanted to wake up to pray your
Fajr, but you slept in accidentally. That's okay. Pray
when you wake up you can, you sincerely forgot, within your
capacity, when you remember,
you see that's what it means within your capacity. What is
within your capacity? So Allah does not hold you accountable
beyond your ability.
Brothers and sisters, some people, they assume that Iman just means
to say, La Ilaha, illAllah. There is no god worthy of worship except
Allah. Some people say it with their mouth, but their heart
doesn't but their heart is lying. Saying, la ILA, Illallah has its
conditions. You have to be sincere about it and not make partners
with Allah. And some people even say, ah, what about the Hadith
which says, whoever's last words, Allah, ilaha illallah, will enter
paradise. They take a literal they say, Oh, it means that when that
person dies, at the time that they're dying, if they say the
shahada, that means they're going to paradise. Okay, it is a sign, a
good sign, of that person's Iman. But what if that person just said
the shahada, but really, inside their heart, they don't believe in
it? Will that person go to paradise? No, it happened to me
once. I remember one person who we tried, you know, to always ask us
about Islam. Good friend of mine
was a neighbor, and then they they passed away, and then I heard
afterwards, when they said the shahada in front of me. And then
afterwards, their children said, no, no, they were just saying it
just to make you happy.
Now I don't know what their intention is, but if their
intention was just to make me happy, their last word is not La
ilaha illallah, it has to be Kali San from the heart. And if their
intention was true and they're just trying to make their children
happy, but they were sincere. Then in sha Allah, they will go to
paradise. And also the other meaning of la ilaha, illallah,
before you die, it means that you lived upon. It doesn't mean
necessarily your last word has to be the Shahada. Some people, their
last action is Toba, repentance. Some people, their last action is
Quran. Their last action is helping someone. Their last action
is charity. The last action is something good that Allah loves
and I die upon it, and not necessarily having their word to
say, La ilaha illAllah. That's the same thing. But one of the signs
is saying La ilaha illAllah. So why did I say that? I wanted to
say brothers and sisters. Because some people, they misunderstand
what Iman means. They say it's just with the tongue and not in
the heart. No, he has to have the heart and the heart and the tongue
as well inshaAllah. And the opposite is true. Some people,
they may not be able to say La, ilaha illallah, but they do
believe it, and if they have the opportunity to say it, they'll say
it then, Inshallah, this is also a good sign. Some people, they want
to convert someone on the spot or their friend, so they trick them.
They say, say, la, la, la, and they don't know what they're
saying. They go, Laila. He's a Muslim. He's a Muslim.
Everyone. They don't know what they're saying. If you don't know
what you're saying, it's not really the La ilaha illAllah. So
don't do these tricks. Inshallah, my brothers and sisters, let's
move on. The
Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam was careful to teach us not
to overburden ourselves with good deeds, not to overburden ourselves
with worship. Some people, the problem is that they want to do
the entire religion all at once. Some of them, they want to be the
highest in rewards. And what they do is they try to do more than
what they can handle, and then they lose out. They lose out of
steam. They they they start to give up. Well, the Prophet, peace
be upon him, was approached by a man one day,
and this man said, Oh, Messenger of Allah,
the practices of Islam have become too many
for me to be consistent on. I'm overwhelmed. I can't handle it.
It's too much
inform me of some small act
which I can stick to and be consistent.
It.
I can't do all this stuff. It's too much.
So the proper PC upon him said, keep your tongue moist with the
remembrance of Allah. Keep your tongue moist with what the
remembrance of Allah. What does that mean? It means you don't have
to go and do all these extra actions of good deeds night and
day. They're going to exhaust you. But I'm going to give you
something better than it all. And it's easy for you, and you can do
it all the time.
Just get yourself into the habit of saying words when you walk
away, when you come, when you drive, when you go to work, when
you go to the masjid, when you go home, when you're about to sleep,
when you're wearing your clothes, anything what you're doing you're
about to eat. Just get your tongue used to zikr, LA, ilaha illAllah.
Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah. La, ilaha illallah, Tabarak, Allah,
subhanallahu, Hamdi SubhanAllah.
If you don't know many other words. Just say what you know.
Just something, remembering Allah all the time. Astaq for Allah,
ashtaq for Allah. Get your tongue used to these words. They are
consistent. You can do them anytime. You don't need Waldo for
them. You don't need to be dressed in your hijab, if you're a sister.
You don't need to be dressed in a certain way. You don't have to be
in the mosque easy. You can be sitting, standing, lying down.
Allah says, Al ADINA, Quran, Allah ha Qiyam, and Wadah will be him.
Those who remember Allah when they're standing, sitting in on
their sides. You can be on your stomach, on your side, lying down
in any situation with your legs up. Make Zikr. There is no
boundary to it. And you can be consistent on doing that. Take a
break. Do your zikr again. Every zikr word you do will wipe away
the sins. In between your last zikr and this zikr, there are zikr
words you say after Salah for Allah, Ali and Mustafa. Then just
get up and move. Take two minutes and sit for a little bit. The
Prophet said, from Salah to Salah, the minor sins are wiped out. From
Jummah to Jumaa, minor sins are wiped out. So what is he telling
him? Let's use business words. He's telling him not to work
harder, but work smarter. You know, when you make money sleeping
because you work smarter, you don't have to do much work. And
then there are those who just love to keep exhausting themselves in
making money when they have other opportunities to work smarter, not
shiftier smarter.
So why don't you earn rewards from Allah smart away? And that's
what the Prophet saw them encouraged. So the man kept on
making his dzikr and going away with the word smart,
Alhamdulillah.
And another Hadith, Prophet sallallah was asked which action
is the most beloved to Allah, O Messenger of Allah, which type of
good deed is most beloved to Allah? The Prophet replied that
which is most consistent, even if it is a little amount, even if it
is a little amount, Allah loves the actions that you are
consistent with, not the amount, but rather the quality.
So the Islamic practices, when they have become too much to
handle.
The Prophet SAW Salam is saying, at least, don't leave the
obligatory things, anything on top of the obligatory things. Work
smarter with it, like zikr all the time.
The other point from this hadith is the following. He said, Give me
an act that I can stick with.
And he knew that the consistency is more important than the
quantity. He also knew that trying to do everything will soon bring
him to fatigue and he will get put off. And the Prophet saw him,
taught him away what I said, to work smarter, not harder, because
he knows that by doing zikr, there is a fruit that can come out of
it. Why did the Prophet tell him to do Zikr? We can think of so
many other good deeds that are far greater. I can go and tell you,
man, go and fight. You know, what are you doing sitting here? Man,
go over there and go and do some charity work and gift from what
you love, what you just sitting here, you can go and do more big
deeds. Rasa Salam chose an easy one, which is dhikr. And why Rafa,
he knows what's better than others? Because zikr is the key
for your heart to grow and for your Imam to grow. Because when
you're always saying zikr, what to happen to you?
It's going to become more likely that you're going to stay away
from sins more often. It's going to become more likely that you
want to do more good deeds more often.
A young man the other day approached me, and he said to me,
Wallahi,
I've been losing myself,
and I know that I've been falling into so many issues that Allah is
not pleased with me about. And I got myself.
Distracted with this and with that,
until I couldn't sleep at night. I thought to myself, I can't keep
going like this. And he said, I started to feel okay with it.
After that, I started sleeping better. My sins were affecting me.
And he goes suddenly, I realized, after a few months, my heart is
dying. What does it mean? He was dying. Says, I'm listening to
Quran. I'm not getting affected anymore.
Going with salad. I said, Man, it's not important. Someone says
to me, go to the mosque. That's the last place I want to go. I go
to the mosque and I don't feel the peace anymore. He says, I started
feeling like that. Said, Ah, this is a danger. Why is my heart dying
out? I don't want this. I'd rather do a sin than my heart to die out.
Because the one of the worst, the
worst things that can happen to anybody in this life is when the
Quran is recited and the heart doesn't move anymore, when you're
reminded of Allah, it makes no no effect on you
when repentance and going to the mosque and praying and and and
remembering Allah or anything like that no longer faces you,
that's that's not good. So what do you do about it? You wake up your
heart again. You know what he said to me? He said, I went and asked
for advice, and the sheik told me, get back first and start reading
the Quran, even if it's 10 minutes a day, five minutes a day. So he
went, started reading Quran 510 minutes. He didn't feel anything,
but he said, I'm going to keep doing it. Then he started to do
his dhikr, you know, la, la, every now and then, just whatever he
knows, because I didn't feel anything. First day, second day,
he goes. I pushed myself to go to the mosque. I pushed myself to
pray my prayers. He goes. I did not feel anything. First day,
second day, third day, fourth day, fifth day, sixth day, one week,
two weeks. Said, suddenly I
started feeling my heart opening up.
Said, it's not something that you rationally, logically make
yourself become, because just do it. And suddenly your heart starts
to open up slowly, and wakes up and you feel it. Wallahi
says, I started to feel opening up and Hamdulillah. I started to like
the Quran, suddenly, suddenly, my heart started feeling peace at the
masjid, it started feeling peace when I remember Allah,
Alhamdulillah, it's still awake.
That's what Allah says in the Quran, Allah be the krill, he told
him in
Behold, in the remembrance of Allah, the hearts find their
peace. You just got to do it over and over. It's like cleansing,
cleansing, cleansing. Because Prophet, he said, When sins are
done, the heart gets darker, like a little notches is sort of poked
into it. The more you get that, the darker it becomes, you've got
to clean it. The more you clean it, the more it awakens.
So Subhanallah, the brother, opened up Alhamdulillah, and he
was happy, back on track, he
said. But said, I started to slip back again.
Started to forget and remember the Hadith I just recited to you
before. The believer is always tested with these challenging
nuisances, these sins that never leave them. Then they overcome
them. Then they forget. They slip again.
He said, Then Allah subhanahu wa brought
a bigger test for me,
something. I'm not going to give too much information, in case
anybody knows this person.
But another test Allah, see Allah brings you reminders.
Then he lets you be around somebody who reminds you, a
khutbah,
a shaykh, a friend who reminds you
a sign to wake you up. Then when nothing wakes you up, he takes
away something from you, something small and something bigger. A
in the Quran, it's called when abukash Allah says, We will
constantly repeat the trials upon you, good and bad, but not for
not, not because we like it. Allah says fitna. Fitna means to purify
you. It
comes from the word of purifying gold. Fatana, a Dahab. When you
get gold out of the earth, it's mixed with foreign material. So
they put it to heat, they burn it, and they bring out the the pure
gold from the foreign material. Same with your heart. Allah gives
you. Fitna tests you and purifies him so he get then Allah gives you
a trial that he knows will wake you up that is so obvious. Maybe
it's a sickness, maybe it's an injury, maybe it's some of your
property that maybe you have a.
God forbid. Maybe it's something else that has to wake you up. Then
you return again and again, until you meet Allah subhanahu wa with
nothing on you.
So brothers and sisters, this is how it works.
One time, rasulallah,
he got up for Fajr, and he saw his wife, Umm Al makmini, and the
Mother of the Believers, jawariya Radi Allahu anha.
She got up for Fajr and she prayed, and then sat after Fajr in
her spot. The Prophet saw him, went, went to the masjid spent,
and then came back close to Doha, or after duha,
halfway in the day before lour so maybe about 12 o'clock, 11
o'clock, and he saw his wife exactly where she was sitting,
where he left her she had sat there after fajr, making Zika
until hours later, the sun came up and so on and so forth, until
hours later, maybe 1112, o'clock. So he said to her, Yahuwah,
have you been sitting there in your same spot since I left you?
She said, Yes, ya rasulallah, I've been making zikr dua all this
time. Now, if you look at that action, you'll say, Allah, Masha,
Allah. It's amazing, and truly it is amazing. But listen to what the
Prophet said. He said, Well, you know me, after I left, I said four
phrases, four phrases, three times each, four words, phrases, three
times each. That would equal the reward of everything you said this
morning until this point.
What are they? Ya rasulallah, he said, I said,
Subhan Allah. He Wabi Hamdi,
Ada dahi,
WA Zina tarshi. He wa mi Dada kanimati
Subhan, Allah, amadihi, Ada kharki wa Zina tarshi wa mi Dada
kalimatihi, which means Transcendent is Allah. How perfect
is he? And I praise him as he praised himself as the first word
again and again, in the number of all his creations, number two, and
in the way that pleases Him most,
as heavy as his throne and as much as the ink needed to write his
Words, ie never ending words, once again,
Glory be to Allah and His praise as he praised himself to the
number of all his creation and in the way that pleases Him most, as
heavy as his throne and as much as the ink needed to write his words,
ie never ending words.
I actually left one word out in Arabic
ware,
and what pleases Him So brothers and sisters four words or four
phrases. Rasul Sahana said, I repeated them each three times
equal a person sitting after fajr, making dhikr all the way to close
to the Lord.
Why is the prophet telling us that so that you don't overburden
yourself and that there are other ways that you can worship Allah
and do it easily? Some people are better at Zikr. Some people are
better at working,
working, working to seek money. Yes,
listen to what Allah says in the Quran in Surat Al muzammin, he
says, and I'll just say it in English, he knows that there are
among you those who are sick and other who are journeying in the
land in quest of Allah's Bounty, those who work to earn Halal money
and provision, and still others who are fighting in the Cause of
Allah. So recite as much of the Quran as you easily can, and
establish prayer. Pay your Zakah and give Allah a goodly loan.
Whatever good you set, you send forth for yourselves. You shall
find it with Allah that is better and its reward is greater. And ask
for Allah's forgiveness. Surely He is most forgiving, most
compassionate. What does this verse mean? In the early years of
the Prophet, saw him in Mecca, the Companions used to pray with the
Prophet, peace be upon him. Night prayer, it was compulsory, so the
five daddy prayers weren't compulsory yet. And then what
happened to them is that they lost count of the number of prayers
they were praying at night. Some of them got tired, some of them
got sick. Some of them had business and work to do, so they
couldn't stick to nightly prayers every night. So Allah sent down
this verse and says, Look, Allah knows some of you are sick. Some
of you work and need to go out to their business. Some of you are
fighting in the Cause of Allah. Some of.
You are standing to protect the community others of you are doing
other types of work. So recite as much as you can of the Quran
easily, and donate from what you have and seek Allah's forgiveness.
This, the scholar said, this means that the way to get closer to
Allah and keep your Imaan up high and make yourself feel beautiful
that you are close to Allah is that worshiping Allah is many,
many varieties, many things you can do. It's not all salah, it's
not all zakah, it's not all Quran, it's not all dhikr.
So in this verse, the the scholar said that Allah, Subhanahu wa, he
equaled fighting in the Cause of Allah
with working to earn Halal in order to provide for dependence,
for yourself, for your family, for your children. Now, of course,
fighting in the Cause of Allah is a very high degree, but Allah
saying when you strive daily to provide for your family so that
you don't they're not in need of others and within the boundaries
that Allah set for you, so long as you don't make it your objective,
you make it a means, like you work as a means, to help you to worship
Allah, to help you to provide those in need, to help you to give
sadaqah, to help you to give zakat to help you, to help the community
by working, then it is equal to working in the Cause of Allah.
So now you know brothers and sisters, if you go up in the
morning and you work, you're a trader, you're an engineer, you're
you've got a business to run, you need to travel, you need to earn.
Just make your intention for the sake of Allah that you want to
earn so that you don't need it from other people you want to earn
so you can look after your parents, your wife, your siblings,
your children, the deute yourself and earn in halal and Inshallah,
you are in the path of Allah. Remember the Hadith I read to you
last time, which is in buchare, say, in Muslim where a man came
and he was working so hard and sweating and he had dust all over
him, and the companion said, Ya rasulallah, if only he used this
body in the path of Allah. Then he said, if he is seeking his
sustenance to look after elderly parents who need him, then it is
in the path of Allah. If he's got children who are dependent on him,
he's working to feed them, then it is in the path of Allah, if he's
got a if he's single and he's working in order to get married,
so that he doesn't resort to destitution and haram and so on
and so forth, and he wants to live a life of goodness which pleases
Allah by getting married, then it is in the path of Allah, he
said. But if he is doing it in the path of the shaytaan, if he's
doing it in order to show off or for fame or for reputation or
superiority complex and so on. He says, then it's in the path of the
Sheikah. You
see, brothers and sisters, there are many avenues of worshiping
Allah and continuing with your ima and not exhaust yourself. One day,
Rasul saw him, said to Abdullah ibn Al Ahn Huma, he said to him,
yeah, Abdullah,
come here.
Don't be like so and so
he used to pray night prayers, and now he doesn't do it anymore.
Why did he say that to Abdullah ibn Abu Laos?
Abdullah ibn Abu as was over exhausting himself with worship.
He was doing night prayers. He was fasting one day and one day off.
He was donating all this money. He was doing too much. So Rasul saw
him, said, Yeah, Abdullah, don't be like so. And so he committed to
night prayer. Now he doesn't do it, meaning, do less,
but be consistent. Don't do more and then give up. Don't start
something where you're going to fail and then go back. Don't be
extreme in what you're doing to yourself. Take it step by step. So
my brothers and sisters, this is what we are talking about in our
religious roller coaster, up and down. Follow the consistency
rather than the quantity. Remember to repent to Allah consistently,
so long as you are not comfortable with the sins that you are
stricken with and tested with. Inshallah, try to increase in your
good deeds so that you can keep yourself above the water. Repent
constantly, even if it's 100 1000 times over. And Inshallah, you
will be consistent on Iman and inshaAllah like that. Bedouin
said, I will not do any extra. He will enter paradise in sha Allah,
of course, whoever does more well, they're deserving of more from
Allah. Not everybody is at the same rank, and Allah will reward
everybody fairly as they deserved and the sacrifices that they made
my dear brothers and sisters.
There was one more
the the reason I mentioned the Hadith about working and doing
other things is that actually it was a question a man who was a.
Octa he asked me that
at work, sometimes he finds it very hard to pray his prayers. So
sometimes it's operating or doing something for a patient, and he
can't keep his five daily prayers in time.
So he says, I'm about to give up. So we quoted this verse from Surat
Al muzammit that there are people among you who work and do other
things for their sustenance, and they can't catch up with all the
extra acts of worship, and sometimes they even miss out on
some of their obligations. And the answer to that is, try your best
to do your obligations on time. And then, if an obligation, you
couldn't do it at all. Then every now and then, you can use the
concession of joining a prayer or two together. Now this is not
something regular. You have to try your best to do your obligations
as for extra to that, then it's okay. Your work is a doctor is
operating. You're fixing the you know, or you're an electrician, or
you're whatever you are, and your work is taking a lot of your time
during the day. And you would have rather been at the mosque. You
would have rather been praying more extra prayers. You'd rather
be learning your Quran and rather reading more about your deen. The
answer to that, brothers and sisters, is if your intention is
to provide your family with sustenance, and you are doing it
to be a stronger Muslim than Inshallah, you are doing the same
as you going home and reading Quran and so on and so forth. And
then every day at home, choose about five minutes. Read a few
verses from the Quran every now and then while you're at work, you
got a little break. Say, zikr, whenever you're not talking to
someone, say Layla, Allah, 100 times it takes exactly two
minutes. Two minutes. Wallahi, keep these things happening in
your spare time and work smarter, not harder. May Allah bless you
and keep us all on a straight path. May Allah keep the shaytaan
away from his obsessive whispers in our heads, and may Allah
continue to help us to keep our hearts clean and keep us away from
indecency and impurity. May Allah bless reward and help and protect
our brothers and sisters in Philistine and everywhere around
the world. May Allah lift the oppression and return the
believers to his Deen a strong return. May Allah keep us guided
and forgive our shortcomings. Hameen wa SallAllahu,
Alhamdulillah.