Mohammad Badawy – To Be the Friend of God
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AI: Transcript ©
We begin in the name of Allah
the exalted, the king of kings,
the most merciful,
and the restorer of all mercy. Whoever Allah
chooses to guide, the none can lead astray,
and whoever Allah chooses to lead astray, none
can guide.
And we testify that only Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, the he is the only being worthy,
deserving
of our complete,
unconditional love, obedience, and worship.
And we testify that the prophet
Muhammad was his final prophet and messenger,
sending peace and blessings upon him, from and
his wives and his family members and companions,
and all those who choose to follow the
footsteps until the day of judgement, begging
Allah to bestow his favor upon us and
include us amongst them. My
dear brothers and sisters in Islam,
we spoke last week about the importance of
continuing after Ramadan.
Having
having steadfastness,
not turning back
from coming closer to Allah
after a month straight of doing so.
And today, we're continuing
in a similar topic
addressing now how to come close to Allah.
Addressing some concern
a person may have in trying to come
close to Allah.
Concerns that may arise
when considering
how can I say? How can I continue?
How can I keep going in this journey
and increase in the enthusiasm,
in the drive I have to come close
to Allah
And when you
consider
being,
continuing after
Ramadan,
keeping your commitment towards Allah
regardless of the season,
throughout the entire year, throughout your entire life,
It may be overwhelming,
especially if this is the first step for
you?
You may feel overwhelmed. I cannot keep that
same
drive as I have in Ramadan.
Where do I begin?
I cannot see myself
as that religious person, quote, unquote. So where
do I start? What do I do? This
is a question, a concern that arises to
many people when it comes to practicing our
religiosity.
Also, they have worries and fears.
If I become religious,
I will be discriminated against.
There's a lot at stake here. My career,
my reputation.
People will look at me differently, will speak
to me differently,
will treat me differently. So these are concerns
for people
for us, people who want to continue on
that path of steadfastness,
journeying towards Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So if you're amongst those
people who don't know how to begin or
who are worried about the consequences
of religiosity,
of taking your deen seriously, wondering how that
affect your life, your finances, your family, your
job,
then I want us to spend,
in that case, a few moments on this
hadith that will answer all of these concerns,
That will be a guideline for all of
us in this journey.
And it's a very well known hadith most
people likely have heard it before. Hadith narrated
by Bukhari,
by the companion Abu Ghurair
who he said that the prophet Muhammad
said,
this is a hadith kuti. Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala said this,
and the prophet is relaying it to us.
He said,
he is the one
who's
saying
these
words.
That whoever shows animosity
to one of my allies,
one of my close friends, then I declare
war against them. This is Allah
speaking.
And out of all the things the servant
can do to come close to me,
nothing is more beloved to me out of
all those actions that bring someone closer to
Allah
than the things that I made obligatory
upon him or her.
And my servant
continues to come close to me with the
extra actions now beyond
what's obligatory
until I love them.
And if I love them, when I love
them,
then I become
their
hearing with which they hear,
and their sight with which they see, and
their hand with which they strike or grab,
and their legs or their feet with which
they walk.
Then Allah
said,
and if
this person who came close, who did the
obligations, the extra actions, who's a of Allah,
a friend of Allah, an ally of Allah,
a supporter of Allah, all these are the
meanings of the word and more.
If this person, this were to ask me,
I will surely give them. And if they're
to seek protection, refuge in me, I will
surely give that to them. I'll surely protect
them.
And I do not hesitate to any for
anything that I do.
In the way that I hesitate in taking
the soul of a believing person.
They hate death and I hate to hurt
them.
This is the hadith that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala said, that the prophet sallallahu wa sallam
relate to us. So a few quick stops,
benefits,
few that we can take from this hadith
in our journey towards Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. He said subhanahu wa ta'ala
in the beginning, whoever shows
animosity to a of mine,
then I will declare war against them. And
this address is the concern that everyone has.
If I increase in religiosity,
I'll be targeted.
I'll be discriminated against.
I'll be oppressed. And look at the Muslim
situation around the world. May Allah
grant the Muslims all over the world victory
and patience.
But Allah
is telling us, if you come closer,
if you try, if you journey, take those
steps towards me,
and you come closer to the point that
you're an ally, you're a friend,
then whoever is your enemy is my enemy.
Whoever shows you animosity
the word is a very general of any
animosity. It could be physical. It could mean
verbal.
It could just mean hatred. Any type of
animosity.
Transgression falls under that word
So whoever does any of that to my
ally, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, I'm with you.
I declare war against that person. I will
be the one who defends you.
Your honor, your dignity,
And then he
said to how do you begin that? He
knows that once we hear that we wanna
be a of Allah. I want to come
closer. What do I do? Where do I
start?
There's so many different actions, so many different
worship,
so much different rulings. Where do I begin?
He tells us there's nothing you can do
that's more beloved to me than what I
made obligatory.
And this, like, follow-up question would be, okay.
What do I do to become a?
He said he tells us the best thing
is to do what I made obligatory
and to stay away with from which I
made prohibited.
The must
the obligations,
things that are hard or wedged.
In which he didn't give us a choice,
he commanded that we do them or stay
away from them. He's telling us this is
the number one path to come close.
This is what I love the most,
and we needed that. That's why he made
an obligation. He made an obligation because we
needed to do the action. That's the bare
minimum.
Or that thing is so harmful, we must
stay away from. We need to stay away
from. So he made it prohibited. So these
must these obligations, he's telling us that is
what I love the most out of all
the things that you can do.
That is the number one way to start
coming close to Allah to becoming a to
becoming his ally, his close friend
And not only is it the way, but
it is the description of the person who
does what Allah commands and stays away from
what he forbid. That is the most basic
definition of a, a close ally of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And Ibn Taymall Rahmallahu, he said,
Whoever is a believer
who fears Allah
is conscious of him at all times,
fulfills his duty towards him, then that person
is a of Allah.
That person is an ally, a close friend
of Allah
by doing what you're obligated with and staying
away from that which you're prohibited from.
This is how you become a close ally
of Allah. He didn't make this up. He
took it from the verse of Allah in
Surajun
Indeed, the people who are of Allah, who
are close to him,
there there is no fear upon them nor
shall they grieve. There's nothing to be afraid
of. They'll
never be sad.
And who are they? Allah
says those who believed in Allah and had
had consciousness of him. Fear and obedience
of Allah.
So
these are all incentive
and guidelines for coming close to Allah. You
begin with that which you made obligatory. And
then he says, because for some people, that's
not enough. They wanna come even closer.
They wanna come as close as possible because
this isn't a loved one. This isn't a
child.
This is Allah's
creator, and the love for him outmatches everything
else. So they're not satisfied with just doing
what he made obligatory, what he told them
they have to do. They wanna come even
closer.
So for them, he says, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
After the obligation,
my servant continues to come close
with the nafs, that which is extra.
Things that you don't have to do for
our good. The prophet these are extra prayers,
extra fasting, extra salakat
that's beyond the obligation,
but for whoever's interested to come even closer.
So Allah says this person continues to come
close with his actions,
the extra actions,
the next actions, and what does that earn
them until I love them.
That earns them Allah's
love.
And in these two sentences, he tells us
also, there's levels
of levels of being a of Allah. Not
everyone is the same in status with Allah.
This person is close, but this person is
even closer.
Until this person has the maximum closest to
Allah
What the what happens then? What happens to
the person who's constantly striving, constantly coming closer,
constantly doing the obligations, staying away from prohibitions,
and then the next acts as well, very
careful about them, not letting them passing by,
then what happens? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
I become their hearing and their sight and
their hands and their feet. And what does
that mean? What does it mean that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala comes to your hand or
your eyes or your feet or your ears?
And he
said And the scholars offered a variety of
explanations.
One of the more popular ones that many
of the scholars supported is that this means
that he will safeguard all of these things
from ever doing something that he does not
want.
You strove so hard to make sure that
this this hand and these eyes and this
tongue and these feet didn't do anything, didn't
see anything, didn't hear anything, except that except
that which he loves
So for that, he said, I will seal
these things, these faculties,
the hands, the feet, the eyes, the ears
from ever falling to something that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is like.
He protects them.
He safeguards them.
And the scholars also offered another explanation, meaning
if what does it mean that he becomes
the hearing and the seeing
and the hands and the feet? Is that
if you look to this person, this Walid,
the person who's constantly coming closer. If you
looked at his eyesight
or her hearing
or his hands or her feet, what do
they do?
What do they establish?
What do they build? In those things, you
will see Allah You
will see his will. You will see what
he's pleased with,
and you will never see anything else besides
that. This is the height of faith
where you become a living manifestation of the
will of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And this
is also one of the meaning
of the verse of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
where he told the angels
I will make on the earth a deputy,
a successor.
Meaning, it's implementer of the will of Allah.
That's what we were supposed to be. Despite
our imperfections, we were supposed to try our
best to be living manifestation
of what Allah's
of what he is pleased with.
So this is
the ultimate goal, to come this close to
Allah
to the point where you're almost on autopilot.
I no longer have to struggle
with the provisions and the command. They come.
They flow out of me willingly
because of me striving for years and 1st
and foremost because of the blessing of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. His guidance, his love manifesting
on
my body, my faculties, my hearing, my sight,
my power, my strength, my hands and my
feet.
This is the end goal for all of
us. It should be. This should be what
we have in front of us. Until I
can look at myself, my life, and see
the will of Allah
I need to keep coming closer. I'm not
satisfied with where I am now.
I want to continue to strive to come
closer to Allah.
So Allah is telling us
that his close servants,
by virtue of being close to him,
he becomes their ally. He becomes their supporter.
He becomes their special caretaker. He's the caretaker
of everything that exists,
but he's telling us here that there's some
people who he has assigned a special care.
The people who are especially close to him.
Another lesson is that
we have to begin with that which Allah
made obligatory.
This is the measuring stick of our religiosity.
This is the litmus test to see if
we are succeeding or we are failing. It
begins with obligations.
When it comes to my wealth, I look
at the obligatory lakat first.
When it comes to my salah, I look
at the 5 daily prayers first. When it
comes to fasting, I perfect my Ramadan first.
When it comes to rituals, I look at
my Hajj first
because these are the things Allah made obligatory.
These are the things where you didn't give
me an option. He said you must do
this. You need to do this.
So this is where you begin.
So strive hard and pour your utmost effort
into the obligations before anything else.
And from the mercy and the blessing of
Allah is that the obligations by themselves
are enough to get you there. They're enough
to get you close. They're enough to get
you to Jannah. But because we're all human,
and we have countless shortcomings,
and we forget and we get tired,
he gave
us endless acts of worship that are extra
for those who want to come closer and
for those who want to fill the gap
in their worship.
But we begin with the obligations that is
what we focus on first. We give that
priority over everything that is necessary.
And this is very important to emphasize, for
some people, it might be obvious. Of course,
I have to emphasize on that which is
all made obligatory. But when you look at
us as a you don't see that
because is passed,
but a lot of people miss obligatory prayers.
Because everyone passed
Ramadan, for example,
but they may fall short in making up
their fast.
Everyone passed to Ramadan which is an obligation,
but they may fall short in other,
they they come to rather.
That was the example. And then they missed
their obligatory prayers or that they are constantly
giving
in Ramadan, but they neglect to calculate their
zakat
as it should be. Detailed calculations, looking closely
into the finances and their estate and what
they own. Or they may, you know, focus
on
for example,
inviting one another to meet them. But then
they'll forget. They'll neglect to feed the needy.
This is what we do as humans. We
do what feels good, what looks good, what,
you know, is is popular. We're easily swayed
by this. But when it comes to obligation,
we may drag our feet.
We may say we have to do this
later. We may say, well, there's different approaches.
When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us the
obligation
pleased me the most. The obligations get you
closer. And the other things are good,
but the obligations are the priority.
Next
lesson,
I will mention 2 more in close inshallah
for the first is
that this hadith teaches us the importance of
learning.
So now you hear that there's obligation and
that there's extra action. But not all obligations
are are the same and not all nafs
is the same. There's degrees.
Some obligations are more important than others
and some nafs are more important than others.
How do you differentiate?
Where do you start?
You begin by learning.
The 5 pillars of Islam, the most basic.
The 6 pillars of iman, the most basic.
The salah, you begin with the basics and
you learn, then you know what to prioritize.
Then if there's ever a conflict
where you could only perform one thing over
the other, you know which one to choose.
You know which one
Allah prefers.
You know what will be more pleasing to
him and is more worthwhile of your time
and your money.
So you must learn these things.
You cannot navigate haphazardly and do this today,
and then tomorrow you're doing something else. One
person tells you one thing, another person contradicts
it, and you're lost. You don't know how
to come close. You don't know how to
begin this journey.
So you have to take up that effort
to learn properly. What is Allah demanding of
you? What does he recommend? Why has he
prohibited? What does he dislike? You differentiate between
all these actions and these acts of worship
by learning, continuously
learning the din of Allah
The next lesson is the importance of the
sunnim,
the next acts of worship.
What is their importance? What do they do
for you? They directly earn you Allah's
love.
If you are diligent in performing them
and safeguarding the obligations,
then Allah will love you. Do you want
anything else?
Is there any other greater goal than that?
To earn the love of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala to be beloved by him. Because everyone
claims to love Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, but
how many does Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala truly
love himself?
It's not a mystery. He gave us the
rubric. He gave us the guidelines. Those who
are people of,
people who are conscious of Allah, people who
are trying to come close, people who perform
the next act of worship. Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala loves them.
And lastly,
is that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us in
this hadith,
the gravity,
the grave nature, the seriousness
of showing animosity
to one of his allies.
To show animosity,
hatred,
let alone to actually act upon it and
harm.
An ally of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the
result of that is Allah declares war on
this person.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the creator of the
heavens and the earth.
The controller of everything that exist.
He's the one who makes the decisions and
implements his will. His will is the only
one that is implemented without conditions,
without any setback,
without any hurdles to overcome.
His plan is the only one that comes
to fruition exactly as he intended and exactly
as
he planned his
perfection. He will be your ally. He will
be your supporter. He will be your protector.
And he's telling us that it's so serious
to declare animosity
to someone close to to him
This is important for 2 reasons.
One is that you never falter.
You never be afraid. You never lose hope.
You never worry for your safety and the
safety
of the servants of Allah because he is
their protector.
Whatever may happen,
however it may appear for now, this is
not
the end
this is not the end game. Allah has
something planned. He will not let his servant
down. He will not let his allies down.
He is their supporter no matter how it
may appear at the time being. This is
number 1. Number 2
is that you never
dare to transgress against a Muslim. And this
you'll find in many of the teachings of
the scholars and they set up many quotes
that say, I would fear
oppressing my Muslim brother or sister in the
least because perhaps this person is a and
I don't know. And Allah
said, whoever shows any animosity to a of
mine, I declare war against them. So I'll
never shortchange a Muslim.
I will never take any of their wealth
unjustly. I will never physically harm them. I'll
never transgress against their honor
because I don't know how close this person
is, and I cannot risk war with Allah.
Everything every other problem has a solution. We
can work it out. We can discuss. But
if my lord is declaring war against me,
what hope do I have? Where can I
flee? Who can protect me? What excuse can
I offer?
This is the gravity of the situation. This
is how serious it is. So let us
be Muslim brothers and sisters together in harmony.
Let us
pick our relationships and make sure there's no
transgression involved out of
respect
and obedience and devotion to Allah first and
foremost and then to our fellow Muslim brothers
and sisters.
For the righteous, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
their ultimate ally. 1st and foremost, 1st and
last.
And the closer a person comes,
that is all that they see.
This is how they weigh everything, and this
is the lens through which that they look
at the rest of the world and everything
that occurs.
And it gives them hope. It gives them
strength.
It gives them fuel. It allows them to
persevere.
And this is our goal. This is what
we're speaking about last week.
So the people who know this, they act
accordingly.
They begin to analyze and evaluate again like
we're saying before, and then they make their
life
fit into the descriptions of these and these.
And thus, they make it. They arrive despite
their shortcomings, despite their sin, they get there.
They come closer. Allah
draws them close. He gives them the. He
blesses their lives. He blesses their wealth, and
then they succeed in their life. May Allah
makes amongst them.
The last part of the hadith quickly,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says after
that, after becoming
protecting all of their faculties from disobeying him
or forever for from ever falling the things
that he disliked, He says, if this person,
this were to ask me, I would forgive
him. And if they are to seek protection,
I will protect them. And I do not
hesitate in doing anything. The way that I
hesitate in taking their soul, they hate that
and I hate to harm them.
So these people Allah
answers the dua.
He offers them protection. He protects them when
they need it.
He is a close ally in the growth
in the in the greatest meaning of the
word more than any human being or organization
or country can offer. This is
Allah
And then lastly, he says, I do not
hesitate in doing anything. Why do we hesitate?
You hesitate because you're afraid. You hesitate because
you're not sure.
You're not sure about what you're doing at
the moment or you're not sure about the
consequences.
You hesitate because your knowledge is limited, and
none of these things
apply
to Allah
His knowledge is the fullest knowledge. He fears
nothing and everything fears him.
He's completely able and sure and knowledgeable of
what he's doing and the countless outcomes and
what would have been the outcomes if these
outcomes had happened.
So why does he have anything?
He's telling us
he cares so much about this person's feelings.
He cares so much about this person's comfort
that it bothers him to take their soul.
But it is something that he wrote on
all creation. All living things must die.
So he will take the soul nonetheless.
But
he does not like it.
He's telling us he doesn't enjoy
the difficulty you face. He doesn't enjoy
the pain you endure,
but he allows it because it is something
that is better for you. It will raise
you to a level that you couldn't have
reached otherwise.
And there's also another explanation of this last
sentence
that he is
especially careful
about not causing this person harm, but he'll
allow it to happen for a greater benefit.
What is the greater benefit for here, when
this person dies,
they'll go to Jannah.
So despite death being painful, a difficulty, something
that all humans hate, he allows it to
pass through this person despite not liking to
harm this person because it is bringing them
even closer now.
Now it's bringing them physically closer to the
presence of Allah in Jannah. May Allah write
it for all of us.
So
the final point, this hadith shows us that
the relationship with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Being
religious, quote unquote, coming closer to Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala is not some kind of blocking
objective journey. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is with
you.
He guides you every step of the way.
He is aware and he is attentive and
he is knowledgeable. He is hearing and he
is seeing of the struggle that you go
through, of the pain that you endure,
of the oppression that you might be subjected
to.
And he's telling you how to keep going,
and he's telling you that he is with
you and that he will support you and
that he will protect you. And he's telling
you at the end, it bothers me that
you are bothered.
I hate that you are pain, but you
are heading towards something greater.
So when we look at this
in conjunction with the others, with the other
concepts that we're mentioning of this and continuing
towards Allah
it will give us the strength to do
what we're supposed to do. It will give
us the understanding
to abstain from what we're prohibited from. It
will give us the fuel to keep going.
But if we don't look at these things,
we don't learn our deen, we don't take
any active effort in learning and coming closer,
we'll be oblivious to all of this.
We will be hands strong, handicapped in our
journey towards Allah.
We may not even make it. We may
turn around and choose a different path.
May Allah protect us all.
So
we should be encouraged. We should take strength
in these things. We should take from them
the fuel that we need to keep going.
May Allah give us all.
May he seal all our faculties, our eyes,
and our ears, and our legs, and our
hand from ever disobeying him or journeying or
producing anything that is displeasing
to him.