Mirza Yawar Baig – Ibad Ur Rahman – Part 2

AI: Summary ©
The importance of showing one's love for Islam in a professional and rewarding way is emphasized in the segment on Islam. Consistent efforts are essential to produce an effect, practices and the use of Salah as a means of connecting with Islam. Consistent actions and events are crucial for personal growth and success. The segment emphasizes the importance of fixing connections and being mindful of one's actions to avoid overwhelming stress.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem, alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, wa salatu
wa salamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen, Muhammadur
Rasulullahi sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi
wa sallam, tasliman kathiran kathira.
Fama badu, my brothers and sisters, this is
the second lecture on the topic of Ibadur
Rahman, Allah subhana wa ta'ala's special slaves,
those who Allah subhana wa ta'ala loves
and who love Allah subhana wa ta'ala
jalla jalaluhu.
Allah subhana wa ta'ala mentioned them and
He mentioned their beautiful qualities and usaf in
Suratul Furqan and we ask Allah subhana wa
ta'ala to make us among them, to
give us the way of practicing Islam in
a way, in such a way that we
become and are counted by Allah subhana wa
ta'ala among His special slaves, Ibadur Rahman.
The second quality that Allah subhana wa ta
'ala mentioned in Ibadur Rahman is, wal ladheena
yab'itoona li rabbihim sujjadan wa qiyaman, Allah
said they are those who spend the night
before their Rabb in sajda and qiyam.
This is the most reliable sign of those
who love Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
Think about this, we like to spend time
in the company of those we love.
The same applies with respect to our love
for Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
Those who love Allah look for opportunities to
spend time in His blessed presence.
What better time to do that than when
He has made nuzul, has come down in
a way that suits His majesty and grace
to the first heaven and the caller has
called who is there who needs anything from
his Rabb.
This is the reason why Rasulullah used to
call salah qurratul ayn, the coolness of the
eyes.
Salah is the time when we connect with
Allah subhana wa ta'ala, we talk to
Him, we tell Him our stories, we ask
for His help and He answers Jalla Jalaluhu,
there is no doubt about the fact that
He answers because He announced this and He
said ud'ooni astajib lakum, call upon Me
and I will answer.
He knows our circumstances, our difficulties, our challenges
and there is nobody who knows, who shows
appreciation more than He does Jalla Jalaluhu.
For such people, for such ibad of His
ibad, for such slaves of His who are
faithful to Him, He promised His support and
a great reward.
What more can we ask?
Allah subhana wa ta'ala mentioned and mentioned
with great love His messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam and refers to him in connection
with that which will give him strength and
power to do his work for which he
had been sent.
The work of presenting Islam to a hostile
world.
Today we are exactly in the same position.
Our job is to present Islam to a
hostile world.
We have no control over the hostility in
the world, we cannot reduce that but we
have control over presenting Islam to them in
a beautiful way through our words and through
our deeds, very importantly through our deeds, through
our akhlaq, through our ma'vilat, through our
manners, through our dealing with people, through our
mu'ashara, through our society, the society of
the Muslims must stand out and be very
special which it is and be seen which
it is but be seen as clearly something
of benefit to society which society absolutely critically
needs for its welfare.
This is the message of Islam which cannot
just be given by speeches.
It has to be given through consistent, dedicated
effort.
Allah s.w.t. said, Allah
said, which means, stand to pray all night,
O you wrapped in garments and sleeping, stand
to pray all night except for a little,
half of it or a little less than
that or a little more and recite the
Quran aloud in a slow, pleasant tone and
style.
Allah s.w.t. mentioned those who pray
tahajjud and he prays them and he said,
Allah said, Their sides forsake their beds, meaning
they get up from their sides, they get
up from their lying positions on their beds
to invoke their Rabb, to call upon their
Rabb, between fear and hope, with fear of
his displeasure, of his punishment and hope for
his forgiveness and his reward.
They spend, they give charity in the cause
of Allah, of what we have bestowed on
them.
No person knows, No person knows what is
kept hidden for them of joy as a
reward for what they used to do.
Now brothers and sisters, I remind myself and
you, Islam is all about practice.
It is all about action, not just about
talking.
This is the effect and meaning of Salah.
It is supposed to produce an effect in
our lives and the lives of others.
It is not simply a mechanical exercise to
finish with carelessness while we are thinking of
everyone and everything except the one before whom
we are standing.
It is our personal space and time with
our Creator and Sustainer.
Salah is our connection with Allah s.w
.t. We need to examine its quality and
improve it if we want a response.
Salah is the proof that we are Muslim.
It is the physical manifestation by which a
Muslim declares that he worships nobody except Allah
s.w.t. Once he or she has
that faith, they demonstrate it by worshipping Allah
s.w.t. in the way that Allah
s.w.t. prescribed and which was taught
to us by His Messenger Muhammad Rasulullah s
.a.w. Salah is the action which distinguishes
and differentiates and sets apart the believer from
the non-believer.
The believer worships Allah, the non-believer doesn't.
It is that simple.
Rasulullah s.a.w. said that Salah is
the first thing that we will be questioned
about on the Day of Judgment.
It is the differentiation between Iman and Kufr.
Leaving it deliberately is to commit Kufr and
renders us out of Islam.
It is the key to Jannah and it
is the mi'raj of the Momin.
Salah is the means of connecting with Allah
s.w.t. and the way to solve
all our problems.
The one who goes to the Masjid for
Salah, Allah s.w.t. forgives one sin,
writes one good deed and raises his status
by one level in Jannah for every step
that he takes.
May Allah s.w.t. give us the
Tawfiq to please Him and not to worry
about pleasing anyone and anything else when it
means disobeying Allah.
Allah s.w.t. used Salah as the
means of joining Muslims as brothers and sisters
with worshipping Him as the criterion, as the
adhesive, as the thing which makes us brothers.
He said, إِنَّ هَٰذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدًا وَأَنَا
رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُونَ In Suratul Anbiya Allah said, Truly
this, your Ummah, your Islamic Brotherhood is one
Ummah and I am your Rabb and therefore
worship Me alone.
It is because Muslims today do not understand
the value of Salah, that they neglect it
and don't realize that their problems and fears
are a result of this neglect.
They are happy because of the neglect.
Many Muslims who pray do it as if
discharging a burden, dumping something and going away
instead of recognizing it as a huge gift,
a benefit and their source of power.
They do not look forward to it, they
perform it quickly, as quickly as they can,
eager to get out of the mercy and
grace of Allah.
Muslims today don't realize that Salah is the
answer to their problems in this life and
a means of their deliverance from the hellfire.
If they paid attention to Salah and worked
to improve its quality, then it would become
the means of eradicating all fear and anxiety
and worry from their lives and become the
means of invoking the help of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala for themselves and for their
families.
That is what Salah is for.
That is why Salah is so important in
Islam, that if anyone denies it by word
or action, by deliberately not praying when they
could have prayed, then that person is in
effect denying his or her own Iman and
so they exit Islam.
The third quality that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala mentioned of the Ibadur Rahman is when
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Innaha
sa'at mustaqarrum wa muqana.
Allah said, And those who say, Our Rabb,
avert from us the torment of Jahannam.
Verily, its torment is ever an inseparable permanent
punishment.
Indeed, evil indeed is Jahannam as an abode
and as a place to dwell.
May Allah save us from Jahannam.
It is a sign of intelligence to remember
our Akhirah and to ask Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala's protection from the evil of it.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala called it a
sign of intelligence.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Allah
said, Intelligent people are those who remember Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala standing, sitting and lying
down on their sides and reflect on the
creation of the heavens and the earth, saying,
Our Rabb, You have not created all of
this without purpose.
Glory be to You.
Give us salvation and save us from the
torment of the fire.
A life that is lived purely in the
present without a thought of the future.
Measured only by the pleasure of our sensations
is the life of animals.
It is the nature of intelligent beings to
think about the consequence of their actions.
It is logical to measure the action in
terms of gravity of consequences, in terms of
its effect, the magnitude, the severity and the
period.
How long will it last?
Actions that have strong positive consequences that last
for a long time are called investments.
And actions which have strong negative consequences that
last for a long time are called disasters.
What would any intelligent person call an action
that results in everlasting torment?
Good action or bad action?
Which pleasure justifies suffering everlasting pain?
So, also the Akhira.
It is not real for us because we
have restricted its mention to religious gatherings, where
we sit in a posture of respect, and
that also depends on the culture of the
place.
And we listen to the speaker with our
minds wandering all over the world.
And when it is all said and done,
we go home to our usual lives and
occupations.
How many of us come out of a
lecture and make real changes to our lives?
In our schedules, our priorities, our time use,
our spending, our ethics, values, our life goals.
The reality is that unless we do all
of these, no lecture can do us any
good at all.
It is action and only action which counts
and which yields results.
Everything else is hot air.
You know how you can tell what is
really important for us in our lives?
See what you are most stressed about.
Then ask yourself if those things are really
worth stressing about.
How will you answer that?
See what the effect of those things going
wrong is.
Do this test for all your stress points.
Ask yourself, what if the thing that I
worry about happens?
For example, what if I lose my job?
What if someone close to me dies?
What if the government in my country changes
and a government that is hostile to me
and my kind comes to power?
What if I fail my career exams?
What if I fall sick with something that
is incurable?
Do this.
Literally frighten yourself into next week.
Then ask yourself another question.
If all of these happen together, they will
never happen together, but just to keep yourself
frightened.
If all of this happens together, how long
will that effect last?
Very simply, the longest period that it can
last for is until your death.
Many things will end before that.
And then think about the Akhirah and ask
yourself one question.
What if Allah is displeased with me?
What if Allah is angry with me when
I meet him?
If that happens, how long will its consequences
last?
If I meet Allah in a state where
I have denied him, if I meet Allah
in a state where I have made shirk
with him, where I have joined partners with
him, if I meet Allah in a state
where I have deliberately committed haram, earned haram,
eaten haram, acted haram, when I meet Allah,
I'm deliberately in a situation, I've lived my
life where Allah is displeased, angry with me,
and if Allah punishes me, how long will
that last?
Ask yourself that question.
My brothers and sisters, listen to me.
A stress-free life is a fantasy.
Happiness in life is about deciding what you
want to be stressed about.
Believe me, it is that simple.
You can decide what you want to be
stressed about.
You can't get rid of stress, but you
can decide what you want to be stressed
about.
That is why I asked you first to
examine what stresses you.
There is no such thing as a stress
-free life for anyone with intelligence.
So, understand this very clearly.
No such thing as a stress-free life
for anyone with intelligence.
The reality is the Sahaba were stressed.
The great scholars, the imam of Islam, the
Salaf us-Saleh, they were all stressed.
The ultimate is that even the Anbiya a
.s. were stressed.
Rasul Allah himself was stressed.
The question to ask is, what were they
stressed about?
Not just stressed, what were they stressed about?
That is why Allah told us about beating
stress.
Allah told us that, Allah said very early,
in the remembrance of Allah, alone, only in
that, in the remembrance of Allah, is there
freedom from stress.
Peace of mind.
That is because the one who is focused
on Allah s.w.t. seeks to please
Him over and above everyone else, including and
most importantly, over and above himself and his
own desires.
In doing so, he frees himself from the
only thing which should produce stress for all
of us, which is, what will happen if
I meet Allah and He is displeased with
me?
This stress will go away because he is
working very hard to please Allah s.w
.t. and Allah s.w.t. is all
merciful.
Allah s.w.t., if somebody is genuinely
making an effort, Allah s.w.t. will
reward his effort.
Now, for those who are thinking, what about
people, society, career and conditions in this world?
How can I live my whole life in
a state of pain?
The answer is, Allah s.w.t. said,
فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرُكُمْ وَاشْكُرُولِي وَلَا تَكْفُرُونَ يَا أَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اصْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ
الصَّبِرِينَ Allah said, therefore, remember Me, by worshipping
Me, by glorifying Me.
And I will remember you and be grateful
to Me for My countless favours on you
and never be ungrateful.
All you who believe, seek help, seek help,
in patience and in prayer.
Truly, Allah is with the patient people.
The way to real influence and power and
popularity is to straighten and strengthen our connection
with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
When that happens, everything else will automatically fall
in place.
Fix one connection and every other connection will
fix itself.
That's why Allama Iqbal alhamdulillah said, He
said, the one sajda which you think is
so expensive, so difficult, frees you from a
thousand sajdas to all kinds of creatures.
Fix that one connection with Allah and every
other connection will fix itself.
Ignore that one connection and you will go
mad, you will go crazy, you will go
insane, trying to fix a million connections and
nothing will work.
But if we do fix that connection, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala gave us great hope.
Allah said, Allah
said, whoever fears Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
whoever is trying to please Allah, whoever has
taqwa and keeps his duty and has taqwa,
keeps duty to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
He jalla shanuhu will make a way for
him to get out of every difficulty.
And He will provide him from sources he
could never imagine.
And whosoever puts his trust in Allah, then
He jalla shanuhu will suffice for him.
Verily, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will accomplish
His purpose.
Indeed, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has set
a measure for all things.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
be pleased with us and to help us
to please Him and to live our entire
lives to please Him.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
meet us in a state when He is
pleased with us, to keep us in a
state where we try to please Him and
to take us in a place, take us
at a time when we are actively pleasing
Him in a state of sujood, in a
state of salah.