Morad Awad – The Most EffectiveWeapon
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AI: Transcript ©
We start by praising Allah and
sending our peace and blessings
to our beloved and noble prophet Muhammad alayhis
salatu wassalam.
And I remind myself and yourselves on this
blessed day to fear Allah.
As Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
reminded us to fear him in the Quran
when he said,
Oh you who believe, fear Allah,
the way he should be feared and do
not die except in the state of complete
submission to Him. We ask Allah to die
in the state.
Brothers and sisters, when in the light of
what is happening and what
is not absent in the mind of
the in the mind and the heart of
every single believer on the face of this
earth.
And every person who has an ounce of
humanity,
and has a mind and an intellect
that is usable.
When you look at what is happening to
our brothers and sisters
in Palestine, in the genocide that has taken
place, it is easy
for us
to feel a sense
or a form of helplessness,
to feel like
we are incapable,
to feel like
we are disabled.
But
this feeling
is a feeling that perhaps we felt in
the start.
But as
the Ummah raised
its voice
And the ummah spoke loud despite
the forfeiting
of the governments that represent them
in representing this cause and doing anything substantial
towards
the ending of this bloodshed,
we find that
this ummah effectively
used the platforms
that it had
and that were at its disposal.
And we continue to use it until today.
And there's so many things that we can
do
in order to help our brothers and sisters
as we've been seeing a
rise in in, you know, social media spreading
awareness,
in protests,
in putting pressure on government
governments and government officials, and people, and their
representatives,
in in speaking to our classmates,
colleagues, neighbors, co workers, letting everyone around us
know, teaching our children what is happening,
boycotting even
products
that come from
this place
that is oppressing our brothers and sisters. All
of these are effective means that have been
and will continue
to be implemented
by our brothers and sisters. But there is
one
most effective
means of change.
One most effective means of chain.
And that is the means of of
dua. My brothers and sisters, although
can be
perceived at times of heightened emotion as something
that
is minute
and something that is simple
and something that is easy but
the most effective means of change
is effective
dua.
And I say effective dua because I don't
mean,
when I say effective dua, the mere utterance
of words,
or the shedding of tears, and the dropping
of tears, or the feeling of grief and
sadness.
We can all feel that.
We can all shed that.
We can all articulate that. Or we could
learn or memorize words to say and to
supplicate with. But what is it
that is preventing
the dua of the ummah
from being answered? We say make dua
and assuming by now
that whoever
saw what they saw
and experienced what they experienced over the past
few weeks
by looking at the images and the videos
of what is happening to our brothers and
sisters in Palestine and in Ghazza specifically.
If until now they didn't make dua, I
doubt that this person is part of the
ummah.
I doubt that this person is even part
of the ummah because
the same way you would have made dua
to Allah when one of your limbs is
amputated or you're having heart problems
or blood problems or sugar whatever it is
with your body,
whatever ailments or illness you can have, and
you make dua for it, if you see
this happening and there still is reluctance
and there still is absence of dua, then
there's an issue. But assuming we all here
are already making dua for our brothers and
sisters,
Why is it that this dua is not
answered?
Why is it that this dua is delayed?
When we look at
the prophetic tradition, we find that the Prophet
attributed
dua
not being answered to something specific.
He
He said,
You shall command to that which is good.
And you shall forbid evil.
If not,
if there's no commanding of good,
and there's no forbidding of evil,
then it will indeed and with certainty. Because
the Prophet said,
is for tawkeed
and inevitability.
So he said, It is inevitable and certain
that Allah
will bestow a punishment upon you.
And this punishment is unique because
you will supplicate and make du'a,
but your du'a will not be answered in
this circumstance.
What is it
that is preventing this dua of ours from
being answered?
What is it that is a hindrance between
us and Allah's answer for this dua to
come down?
Are we the reason?
Is it from us?
Allah
He said in the Quran,
And that is because Allah will not change
a circumstance or situation of a people until
they change
what's in their hearts,
what's in their nafus,
what's inside of them.
But why is it that Allah tests us?
Why is it that when
the people left commanding good and forbidding evil,
that Allah bestowed a punishment.
Allah tells us the answer in the Quran.
He said,
And we test them
with good times
and with times of hardship as well, times
of ease
and times of hardship. Why?
So that they may come back. So these
hard times
are only there as a prescription
from Allah, the Most Merciful and Most Wise.
As the one who wrote upon this ummah,
what is happening
is the one that is more merciful to
this ummah
than everyone in humanity
combined.
If every Muslim were to come together and
write down
the Most Merciful,
Compassionate and Wise decree for this ummah, it
would not be
what it is today because Allah is the
one that wrote it today.
Allah is the one that wrote what is
happening to us today to happen the way
it's happening.
But why?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said,
So that they may
come back and return.
Are we returning to Allah?
Or are we still
heedlessly
negligent of His commands and His prohibitions?
Are we fulfilling what he commanded us to
do?
Our obligations?
Or are we neglecting them?
Do we
see around us?
Do we see
injustices
around us?
Do we see calamities befalling the ummah and
knowing our obligations towards them? But we still
choose to neglect it, to not forbid
evil. The prophet said,
whoever sees a monkar, whoever sees an evil
with their eye, they shall change it with
their hand. And if they are incapable, then
change it with their tongue. And if they
are incapable,
then dislike it and hate it with their
heart. And that is the weakest form of
faith.
Have we tried and exerted ourselves to change
the situation with our hands?
And if we cannot do so, then did
we exhaust our tongues
in changing the situation?
How much do we dislike it? How much
is it impacting us in our hearts?
Because that is the litmus test of iman.
The Prophet said at the end of this
hadith that I just
mentioned,
That is the weakest
form of faith.
If someone sees
what is happening, the injustices that are happening
to the ummah of Muhammad
We watch the news, we cannot
open our phones in the morning, and we
cannot shut our phones at night, we cannot
open our laptops for work, or shut them
except that we watch the news and we
see what is befalling the ummah,
day and night.
If that doesn't impact us, then the weakest
form of faith
is not there.
According to who? According to Muhammad
He's telling us this.
But what are we doing with our hands?
What are we doing to contribute
towards change? What are we doing
to,
to say the truth?
To speak it?
To change it, That's it.
The du'a,
brothers and sisters,
is the most
effective means of change
if it's done correctly.
And I'm not going to tell you the
times, and we know the times of making
dua.
In sujood,
in qunut,
after the every salah,
between Adhan and aqamah,
the last 3rd of the night after praying
qiyam.
These are all effective times to make dua.
But the dua can be blocked
because of
the haram that we are attaining,
the haram that we're eating day and night.
The lack of commanding
good, our children,
our the people around us, our friends, our
relatives, our family, we see them engaging in
haram. Day and night we don't command them.
We don't forbid them from the evil. We
don't grab their hands and show them the
right path.
We just sit down day and night, we
go to the coffee shops, we sit down
and talk, and laugh, and joke,
While our brothers and sisters around the world
are being
slaughtered relentlessly
by an enemy that seeks, that has no
compassion towards us.
For wallahi, our enemy today and the enemy
of the people
of Gaza and the people of Palestine.
Do not see
us sitting here in this masjid as any
more human than our brothers and sisters in
Ghazza.
They see us the same way they see
them. So why is it that we're not
coming together
and fixing our situation so that our du'a
can be answered?
Are we returning to Allah?
If we are,
then the tests are working.
If we are not, then the tests will
increase.
The trials will become more severe.
The tolls
will become will increase tremendously.
Until what?
Until we change.
Brothers and sisters,
I woke up in the morning, and I
was thinking of the khutba.
And all week, you know, I I I
as I was thinking of the khutba, I
was trying to think of an analogy
to
give during the khutbah. And this morning
occurred to me.
When
Imagine having a sieve
or a filter with holes in it,
small little holes,
or a sieve with small holes in it,
and trying to pour water through it.
The water will go right through it.
This
filter will not retain anything
because it's all
going through it. And the
the only way
for this
sieve
to start retaining anything
is by closing
the holes 1 at a time.
Each one of those holes is us.
Each one of those holes is us
and each one of those holes is a
pathway
for shaitan to enter this ummah
to weaken it
from its state.
And every hole is a reason for the
duas
that Allah is answering constantly because Allah will
never be invoked and not answered.
But it is our shortcomings.
It is our distance from Allah that is
making these dua
come down to be answered,
but us not being deserving of it. So
it falls right through us.
So brothers and sisters, let
not the shaitan
enter this ummah through you.
Don't be the reason
that the dua is not answered.
If our leaders are not answering,
if the people around us are not returning
to Allah, then let us not be the
reason
why this dua is answered. Let us do
our due diligence so that our dua at
least
is at that level
that is worthy of being answered.
The Prophet
he said in a famous hadith
that Allah
says, this is a hadith
So Allah is saying,
Whoever
expresses
animosity
or becomes an enemy of 1 of My
auliya,
is someone who is close to Allah, someone
who is chosen by Allah, someone who reached
a level of
certainty
and love and nearness to Allah that whatever
they do is loved by Allah.
Allah says this
Whoever shows animosity to them, then Allah will
wage war on them.
And then
the rest of the hadith continues
because Allah will not tell us without telling
us how to get to that point
of answering the dua. Look at this.
Said, My servant does not get close to
me
or does not my attain my love. There's
nothing more beloved
to me
that can be performed by my servant than
what I have obligated on them.
The fard.
What did Allah make fard upon us?
If we're slacking in our salah, then we're
the reason it's not being answered.
Slacking or delaying our zakah
and depriving it of the people that are
in need of it, then we're the reason
it's not being answered. If we are choppy
with our fasting of Ramadan, then we're the
reason. If we can afford Hajj and never
did it, then we are the reason it's
not being answered. If we cut our kinship
and our relations with our parents, disrespect our
relatives,
cut the people who are close, do not
command
that which is good,
and do not forbid evil around us, then
we are the reason.
We're not fulfilling the basic commands that attain
Allah's love.
But let's say we do,
and we pass that first part.
And then
Allah
continues to say in this hadith Qudusi,
My servant will continue
to get nearer to me
and nearer to me
with the extra acts of worship, the extra
the qiyams, the sadaqa, the dua, the thikr.
All the extra acts that are not obligatory,
but extra.
Until
I love them, this is what Allah says.
Until I love them.
May Allah allow
us to be from those who He loves.
He said,
and when I love them,
I will become the hearing
that they hear with.
You see when we hear,
how does someone attain that hearing? Meaning,
when they hear something of truth, they recognize
it and understand it to be truth. And
when they hear falsehood,
hypocrisy,
deception and evil, they will recognize it no
matter how beautiful
it may sound or
how how articulate
it may have been.
No matter what it is, the person will
hear with the hearing of Allah.
They'll recognize truth.
And the hand that this person takes with,
when they fight,
when they give, when they take,
whatever they do with their hand,
it will have the barakah of Allah
And whatever they walk, whatever initiative they walk
in, and they engage in, Allah will put
barakah in it as if it is He
that is
with them Just because Allah loves them. You
Allah, make us from those who You love.
And now look at the end of it.
And if he asks me, if she asks
me, if this servant
were to supplicate and lift her hands,
I will
certainly give them whatever
they
ask
for.
And if they seek my help,
I will help them.
So brothers and sisters, let us
rather than
focus on what is less, let us focus
on what is effective and high.
Rather than
chant
and post,
and speak, and debate,
and walk, and donate,
let us become worthy of being
answered
in our supplication and du'a.
And it all starts from here today.
It starts from laying a roadmap
for ourselves to be one of the awliya
of Allah.
Because when that happens, wallah,
all it takes
is one
that is truly in that status to change
everything.
May Allah make us that one.
We ask Allah
to have mercy on us, we ask Allah
to forgive us, we ask Allah to guide
us to the straight path.
Brothers and sisters,
we need to fear Allah
and strive.
There is no time
that is more worthy of us changing and
approaching Allah
and changing our affairs
to get closer and closer to Him than
the times that we live in. Wallahi, we're
living in the end of times.
And we don't bring things in a hadith
and mention
and correlate, but what we're saying is
so many of the signs
of
the day of judgment are here.
And we are looking at the geopolitical
situation around the world, and anyone
that has
basic
miniscule acumen in politics understands that we are
on the brink of a world war that
is about to change
the world
the way we know it today.
And there is not a better time
to become
from amongst those who are close to Allah
and from the than this time.
Because it is those people
that will succeed
when the times come
and the trials began.
They began already.
Brothers and sisters, all it takes is 1
person
to change everything.
At the time
of
the
many
there was a Muslim army that was headed
towards
the lands of Bukhara
and Persia, and they knew that they were
facing
a people that were fierce
and that were tough.
And the Muslims at that time understood
the gravity of this battle,
So they had some
reluctance,
something was in their heart. They said, We
feel like Allah is not
with us when it comes to this battle.
Renew your intentions.
Get closer to Allah.
But the commander at that point, he knew
what to do.
He knew where to access
victory. He knew
the reasons
Allah gives for this victory. So he brought
a man by the name
of Muhammad ibn Nuwasa.
One of the righteous
salihin,
the righteous men of that time, a scholar,
a taqih,
whatever.
A person that was close to Allah,
known to be from amongst those who are
If he asked, he was never
rejected. Whenever he went to a place, if
they wanted
rain, he would pray for it and Allah
will answer.
He prayed for people,
and then Allah
will give them
He was one of these
Those chosen people,
there's no fear for them, and they will
never be sad. May Allah make us from
them. Ameen.
He brought Muhammad ibn Nuwasa
all the way to this land, back from
home. He traveled weeks.
He said, We need Muhammad ibn Nu'asih here.
When he brought Muhammad ibn Nu'asih, he said,
You Sheikh Muhammad, supplicate for us before the
armies. He lifted his hands and when he
supplicated,
the armies were certain
without a shadow of a doubt that victory
is going to come, and it did.
Sheikh Islam Ibn Taymiy
he faced off the toughest
invaders of Islam, Tatar, Mahul,
the Mongolian invasion.
When they
they were defeated in every single battle, the
muslimin were losing left and right.
But when they brought Sheikh Islamiv in Taymiyyah,
he stood on the front line
on that field. And when he lifted his
hand, the army although outnumbered and out weapon
and everything,
they said, When we saw shaykh al Islam
making du'a,
we were certain
victories
is coming.
Not a single person. Why?
Because they knew from tajrul bay that these
are awliya Allah.
In the midst of all of these fitan,
people are drowning in their lusts and desires.
Sin
is is widespread,
easily accessible in the pocket of every single
one of us.
It is so difficult
to be close to Allah. But you know
what?
It is so easy to become one of
the awliya.
Because the same way
you are
punished for sin,
you are rewarded
for rejecting it. And when a person is
surrounded with sin
and living strong as a Muslim and a
believer,
rejecting every sin that comes before them,
they will get to the level of
much quicker than any other time before.
Now is the opportunity brothers and sisters. Let
us not blame
the sins and
the lusts
and the
societies around us.
Because this is an opportunity
to achieve that level.
And I'll end with this. This is why
the Messenger
said, In the end of times, the people
that will defend this ummah will get the
reward of 50 of you.
The sahaba said, You Rasulullah, who was the
sahaba? Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali,
and the rest of the sahaba, the 10
that were given glad tidings in jannah, they
will get the reward
of 50 of you.
50 of you.
They said,
Do you mean them You Rasool Allah? Did
you make a mistake?
He said, No. 50 sahabas,
50 of you.
Why?
This factory
of upright believing men and women needs to
start now.
We need to start getting there now
because the stakes are high but the rewards
are higher.
What Allah offers us
in return for our lives
is expensive.
It's jannah.
The highest thing we could strive for in
this in the afterlife is jannah.
And the highest thing
we could strive for in this dunya is
freedom from tyranny.
And we are striving
for the 2 most sacred things
for humanity.
So let us make du'a
to give freedom to our brothers and sisters
in ghazah,
to end the bloodshed and end the war.
We ask Allah
to give them a clear and complete and
absolute victory. We ask Allah
to show us a day
where the people of Palestine are free free
of occupation.
We ask Allah
to
end the oppression and the tyranny that we
are seeing in Palestine. We ask Allah to
be with our brothers and sisters who are
oppressed all over the world, to feed those
who are hungry, and to give drinks to
those who are thirsty, and to clothe and
shelter those who need clothing and shelter.
We ask Allah to make us from the
awliya Allah salihim.
We ask Allah to make us from those
who supplicate to him and never get rejected.
We ask Allah to make us from those
who reject sin and reject anything that disobeys
Allah
We ask Allah
to make us from those who call to
that which is good, forbid that which is
evil, and those who are answered when they
supplicate. We ask Allah
to rectify
our affairs as an ummah. We ask Allah
to rectify our affairs as an ummah. We
ask Allah to give the greatest reward of
martyrs to our brothers and sisters in ghazza.
We ask Allah to reward them and to
raise them, and to make them from those
who intercede for their families.
We ask Allah
on this blessed day of yawmuljum'ah,
as there's an hour where the dua is
answered
to give victory to the ummah of Islam,
and to allow us to live to see
the day where the ummah lives freely, and
Allah
banner is raised freely. We ask
Allah to show us a day,
a dark day for the tyrants, and for
the oppressors, and for the transgressors,
and to allow us to see a day
with justice
and freedom
for everyone who is striving for it.
Brothers, can you move in inshallah? Move into
the main the
main
just a couple of announcements inshallah to make.
Tonight inshallah we have a program with, Sheikh
Majid Mahmoud,
who is a guest from Al Marib Institute.
He's going to give
a talk between Maghrib and Asha about perished
nations
from the past.
It's a very it's going to be a
very nice talk. He's an amazing speaker.
I encourage everyone to come.
We also have a bonfire for the for
the younger sisters
at night as well, inshallah.
For the tarbia program, for the parents of
the tarbia program, I did send an email.
You know, tonight is we're not going to
have,
tarbia because we have this program,
from Maghrib to Isha. Insha Allah.
One other
we have 2 duas to make.
1 for the son
of, one of our sisters, his name was
Kwam Adunsi.
And,
another brother,
Sayyid Rafiqullahak
from Allen,
Masjid.
They passed away,
in the past few days. We ask Allah
to have mercy on them. We ask Allah
to forgive them.
I think that's it. I'm forgetting something, but
it's okay.
Today, there's no.
Is
later.
Oh, the robotics
Yeah. There's also robotics
fundraiser
tomorrow
that's gonna be at the JEM Center. Right?
So, we have the and today I'm I'm
also going to be for those who are
doctors here,
specifically orthopedic doctors,
I'm going to be doing a fundraiser,
for
an organization
called Al Fajr,
Scientific.
So,
if,
you are a doctor, inshallah, and you're interested
in helping this campaign,
for Palestine,
doctors that are standing for Palestine
then do come and help.
Yes. They're reviving. They're reviving Islamic,
tomorrow.