Mirza Yawar Baig – Islam is a way of life
AI: Summary ©
The importance of protecting one's Islam is highlighted, with a quote that only Islam is needed to be saved. The speakers emphasize the need for one to not become a Muslim if one is not practicing it, and the common practice in many countries is practicing in a time frame of two years and practicing in a similar pattern. Personal and professional growth is also emphasized, with a person named[unsure] who used to pray in a different language and talks about practicing it in their life.
AI: Summary ©
As salamu alaikum
warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu.
My brother, sister, somebody sent me a very
nice little quote.
And he said, our Shaykh, I don't know
which Shaykh this is, but whoever it is,
may Allah Allah bless him and increase him
in knowledge and taqwa and be pleased with
him and never be displeased.
He says, our Sheikh says, the only Islam
you need to save is that which is
in your heart.
The only Islam you need to save is
that which is in your heart.
Allah Ta'ala doesn't need Islam.
It is not a religion.
It is a way of life which is
sent down to make the human species better
versions of themselves.
Don't worry about Islam in the world.
Worry about the Islam within yourself.
And the world will automatically get better because
Islam is not a face.
It is positive conduct.
More the positive conduct, more positivity in the
world because again it was sent to make
humans better.
So let me repeat that.
The only Islam you need to save is
that which is in your heart.
Allah Ta'ala doesn't need Islam.
It is not a religion.
It is a way of life which is
sent down to make the human species better
versions of themselves.
Don't worry about Islam in the world.
Worry about the Islam within.
And the world automatically gets better because Islam
is not a face.
It is positive conduct.
More the positive conduct, more positivity in the
world because again it was sent to make
humans better.
SubhanAllah, if there is one thing, one reminder
that I can say which completely and totally
Alhamdulillah encapsulates where our focus should be, then
it is this reminder.
I ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to
help us to remember and to practice.
Islam is not a theory.
It is not a philosophy.
When we say it is not a religion,
we mean it's not a set of actions
or set of worship rituals.
Islam is a way of life.
Islam is a practice.
The one who is a Muslim is the
one who practices Islam, not the one who
knows about Islam.
It is entirely possible that a person may
know about Islam a great deal, but they
will not be practicing Islam.
But in that case, they will still be
called Islamic scholars, but they will not be
Muslim scholars.
And there is a world of difference between
an Islamic scholar and a Muslim scholar, world
of difference.
So the same thing applies to anything else.
Somebody who knows a great deal about Christianity
but does not practice is not a Christian.
Now the Christians have, and the others have,
they have got these terms they have invented
called non-practicing Christian, non-practicing Jew, and
so forth.
Fine, no problem, that's their choice.
But let me assure you that there is
no such thing as an NPM, non-practicing
Muslim.
You become Muslim by practicing Islam.
You don't become Muslim by knowing about Islam.
Now obviously we need to know about something
because if we are going to practice it,
we need to know about it.
So all knowledge of Islam that is gained,
everything about Islam that we study, must be
studied with one purpose and one goal and
one niyyah and one intention only.
And that is to apply it in our
lives.
This is what the Sahaba, the companions of
Rasulullah did.
They did not learn anything for the sake
of learning.
They did not memorize Quran for the sake
of memorizing Quran.
They did not memorize Quran for the sake
of reciting it in this and that riwayah.
They did not memorize Quran in order to
analyze its grammar.
No, they memorized Quran al-Karim for one
purpose only, which is to practice it.
We have the famous story of Abdullah ibn
Umar, which is known, I'm sure, to all
of you.
And that is that he memorized Surah al
-Baqarah in 12 years.
And at the end of that period, he
gave a walima, he gave a dinner.
He slaughtered a camel and he invited all
his friends for dinner.
And now they asked him, why did it
take you 12 years to memorize this one
surah?
Surah al-Baqarah is two and a half
juz and at least for the subcontinent, India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Muslims, in our Dar-ul-Tahfiz,
in our Hindu madrasas, two years is the
time taken for a student to memorize the
entire Quran, 30 juz.
And if it takes longer than two years,
if it takes about two and a half
to three years, then they say the boy
is slow or the girl is slow and
their memory is not that great.
And if they seem to take longer than
that, then usually they are sent home.
They said, OK, this child is not capable
of memorizing the Quran.
So whatever they memorize is good for them,
but they cannot remain in the madrasa after
that period of three years.
This is the usual practice.
Now, I don't know what happens in the
Middle Eastern countries, but I think it's about
the same thing, which is two years is
given as the time that is necessary to
memorize the entire Quran.
Conversely, we have here a case of somebody
who was the son of Umar ibn al
-Khattab al-Dinan, one of the closest people
to Rasulullah, one of his favorite students, Abdullah
ibn Umar about whom our mother Sayyida Aisha
Siddiqa said that there is nobody in the
Companions, there is nobody among the Sahaba who
follows the Sunnah of Rasulullah as closely as
Abdullah ibn Umar.
So here is a very special person.
On top of that, he is an Arab.
The Quran al-Karim came in his language.
He heard the Quran from the blessed voice
of Rasulullah ﷺ.
He used to pray Salah behind Rasulullah ﷺ.
He took part in all the Ghazwah, he
took part in all the expeditions of Rasulullah
ﷺ.
He spent his time to the extent that
even though he was not a poor man,
he was wealthy.
He spent time with the Ashab of Sufah.
In Sufah, he literally made I'tikaf in Masjid
al-Nabawi al-Sharif in Sufah just to
be close to Rasulullah ﷺ and to learn
from him.
Now somebody with all of these fatahs, why
does he take 12 years?
They asked him and he gave them the
answer.
He said this is how we, and he's
not talking about himself alone, he's talking about
all those who learned the Quran from Rasulullah
ﷺ.
He said we would take 10 ayahs from
Rasulullah ﷺ.
Then we would memorize those 10 ayahs.
We would practice those 10 ayahs.
If there were any questions, we would get
them clarified.
We would ask those questions, Rasulullah ﷺ would
answer us.
Any doubts and so forth, we would clarify.
Why not?
And then once we were satisfied with the
learning and the practice of those 10 ayahs,
we would go to take the next 10.
And so he said that is why it
took us this long.
The question I asked myself when I knew
is, Alhamdulillah, we all read the Quran, we
all try to memorize that as much as
we can, how many of us are focused
on practicing it in our lives?
A simple question.
How many of us are focused on practicing
it in our lives?
The Quran did not come to be recited.
It did not come to be memorized.
It did not come to be written down
in calligraphic styles.
It did not come to be beautified with
illustrations and so on and so forth.
What we call illumination, illuminating on the sides
and so forth, right, and printed into beautiful
versions.
It came only for one reason, which is
that people should read it, should understand it
and should practice it.
So that those same people, as the Sheikh
says, could become the best version of themselves.
So I remind myself when you let us
ask ourselves this question and say, am I
doing that?
And if I'm not doing that, then the
time to start is now.
Start anywhere with the Quran al-Karim, read
the ayat, read the meanings, and then look
in your own life and say, am I
practicing this in my life?
Just to give you an example to finish,
Allah said, Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.
I begin in the name of Allah, the
most beneficent, the most merciful.
How aware am I of this in everything
that I bear?
Then Allah says, Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
All praise, all thanks are to Allah, who
is the Rabb, who is the creator, sustainer,
protector, maintainer of all creation.
Question to ask myself is, how grateful am
I to Allah?
How much gratitude do I express to Allah?
How many times am I in sujood before
Allah, thanking him for what he has given
me?
How many times do I look outside and
see the world and say, Alhamdulillah, that Allah
gave me eyesight to see, gave me full
color vision to appreciate what I'm seeing, and
then gave me these beautiful scenes to see,
to appreciate, and so on.
I won't do the whole surah, just this
one ayah.
Ask yourself, if I ask myself, how grateful
am I to Allah?
How grateful am I to Allah for all
that he has given me?
How grateful am I to Allah for my
spouse, for my children, for my parents, for
my teachers, for my students, for the people
who work for me, for the people I
work for, because I have a job, Alhamdulillah.
I'm not sitting as a homeless person on
a street corner begging because I have no
employer, I have no work, I have no
employment, but I still have hunger.
How grateful am I to Allah for all
of these things?
And surely Allah said, and it is true,
and I am the witness, and Allah said,
وَإِن تَعُدُّوا نَعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لَا تُرْسُوهَا If you
try to count the blessings of Allah, you
will not be able to count them, and
Allah is witness, this is true.
So, do we even try?
Do we count the blessings?
Do we make the effort?
That is the question.
We will not be questioned about the results.
We will be questioned about the effort.
Allah will not ask us, what happened?
Allah will ask us, what did you do?
وَصَلَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى نَبِي الْكَرِيمِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحِبِهِ
الْمَعِيمِ بِرَحْوَةِكَ يَا أَرْحَمَ الْوَاحِبِينَ