Mubeen Kamani – Hajj 2024 Taqwa Awareness of Allah
AI: Summary ©
The importance of praising Allah as the one who opened doors and pathways for their life is emphasized, along with the importance of balancing hope and loss. The speaker emphasizes the need to protect oneself and avoid becoming an act of worship, as well as the importance of working on the "quality of" of remembering Allah's commandments and promises. The importance of maintaining consistency in small deeds and balancing hope and fear is emphasized, as well as the importance of explaining the concept of taqwa to children at a younger age to avoid hardships.
AI: Summary ©
We start by praising Allah,
the one who was worthy of all of
our praise and our gratitude is Allah
who invites us,
to his house.
Is Allah
who then
open the doors and open the pathways
and makes
Hajj and Umrah easy for us.
That's Allah
who gives us
the the awareness to see that this is
an important part of our life.
We then send peace and blessing upon the
prophet, the
one that was sent as a mercy to
mankind,
And we send peace and blessing upon his
companions,
his family members, those who helped him aided
him,
Ahmedabad thereafter.
Today's session that we have,
the title is Taqwa God Consciousness.
And Taqwa and Hajj
have a very
close relationship.
And the reason for that is,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, when he talks about
Hajj
in the Quran,
he mentions
that the best thing that you can take
with you while you are where while you
are on Hajj is taqwa.
God consciousness remembering Allah subhanahu wa taqwa. He
says,
And this
quality of being
conscious of a loss
being aware of a loss
This right here is an act that or
quality
that
can change
your life.
If you look at the Quran, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala tells us,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has not created
or jinn
except to worship Allah
And if we were to look at
in our 24 hour day, how much time
we spend worship Allah
The answer,
maybe
takes 10 minutes
and 5.
You can round that up and say in
an hour of the 24 hours.
We are serving the purpose of our creation.
Mean, the rest of the time,
we're doing something that we're not created for.
And this ratio is off, but how do
we fix that ratio?
And it's through this quality of
that a person can take any action of
theirs
and turn it into an act of worship.
Meaning,
while you are at work,
while you're driving, while you are spending time
with your kids,
while you are studying, while you are at
the shopping mall.
All of this can become an act of
worship
if done correctly.
I was speaking to
some of the students, and one of the
students asked me that, Sheikh, is there a
way that I could turn the 8 hours
I spend at school into worship?
You know, we were talked about how in
the classes that they take at the masjid,
that's an act of worship. So he turns
around and says, can I turn my 8
hours at school into act of worship? That
way, I'm worshiping Allah's one for a majority
part of my day. And I sat there,
and I said to him,
that can be achieved
through the quality of tahmah.
And this and this is why Allah when
it comes
to our major worship,
the the reason why we fast in the
month of Ramadan
is so
that you can gain.
The purpose of salah is to build an
awareness of Allah
to keep Allah
on your mind.
And
now
you're turning your worship
you're turning your mundane acts of going to
school, of going to work,
spending time with your family
to an action of worship of Allah
with the quality of taqwa.
And this looks like
when a person has taqwa
in those different scenarios,
they are conscious of what Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala wants them to do
in those situations.
So when you're at work, you ask yourself
this question, what does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
want me to do here?
When you're with your family, you've asked yourself
the question, what does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
want me to do here? You're playing with
your children or you're sitting with your children,
you're taking your family out, and you ask
a question, what does Allah want me to
do here? And in the Hadith, the prophet
tells us
Allah has written perfection
upon every single thing.
Now
that would then be
that when you are with your children, you
are with your children in the best manner.
You are present in that moment.
It's not that you are there. So many
times we spend time with our children, but
in reality, we didn't spend time with them.
We spend 8 hours at work, but in
reality, we didn't actually go to work because
our mind was somewhere else. We weren't present
in them. We weren't conscious.
We were neglectful.
So here, Allah
tells us that Allah
has written
perfection that whenever you do something, you do
it in the most perfect way possible, and
that right there is one of the aspects
of taqwa.
The second aspect is that while you are
doing the act, you refrain from disobeying a
loss of battle time.
So in your car,
as you're driving,
you refrain from sinning. And now sinning is
not just listening to haram, but also,
you
know, conducting yourself in a harmful manner towards
others, any type of haram.
So your commute to work, which is 20
minutes,
it becomes an act of worship. 20 minutes
back, that becomes an act of worship. And
you now take your time at work, and
you are working in the most
pleasing way to Allah
and those 8 hours become an act of
worship. And you
have 8 hours in the morning, the drive
time. And when you are at home with
your family,
you're turning that ratio of 1 hour
of fulfilling our purpose
and flipping that around where majority of data,
we are fulfilling that purpose of our creation
with the quality
of taqwa.
And, usually, when we
translate the word of Taqwa, we hear about
this concept Taqwa,
we often translate as fear Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
The person might say,
fear Allah.
But fearing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
in my perspective is a very
it's an incorrect
translation.
It doesn't give the complete picture. It's a
good it's not a wholesome translation.
A holistic translation of is to be aware.
Fearing something,
maybe fears a monster.
When I when I was young, I feared
dogs,
but I don't want my relationship with Allah
to be in the same
in the same way.
And, unfortunately,
for majority Muslims,
the fear of Allah
becomes so much that it then causes them
to lose hope.
And this is where the balance between hope
and comes in. The balance between hope and
a loss
and having fear in Allah
and this balance has to be
perfect.
If a person has too much fear, they
lose hope in the mercy of Allah. If
person thinks that Allah will punish me, Allah
will not forgive me, they now lose hope.
But if a person has too much hope,
then the fear of Allah goes down, where
they say, oh, love, Allah forgive me no
matter what. Now this person no longer has
fear, and you look at this within your
day to day life.
If your child fears you so much, then
your child will not have hope in you.
And your if your child has too much
hope in you, then they might take advantage
of you.
So this
fear and hope or fear and hope, this
balance is very delicate balance. And when and
when it comes to Allah,
Taqwa is
something even better.
And the
the scholars translate Taqwa by saying that your
fear Allah is not actually fearing Allah
in a scary fashion, but you fear Allah
that Allah
will become upset with you.
That you love Allah so much that the
last thing that you want is that Allah
is accept with you because of our actions.
And we understand this.
In our prime,
in our
when we were young,
maybe it was a spouse.
Maybe today, it's
a parent or it's our children.
As a father, the last thing I want
is my children to be upset with me.
As a husband, the last thing I I
want is my spouse to be upset with
me. And the reason
for that is I love them too much.
So now I fear
that my children are upset with me, or
I fear that my spouse is upset with
me, not because I'm scared of them, but
that's how much love Allah has put into
my heart for them.
And now we take this to Allah
We understand
that fearing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not
that we are scared of him. Yes. We
fear Allah's punishment.
Yes. We fear Allah's,
holding us accountable,
but we have hope in Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
But more than that, a person now
fears that what if a loss
becomes upset with me?
So now their actions
are
by the book.
Omar al Adhan was asked to define what
Taqwa looks like, and he said that imagine
you're walking a very narrow path.
You're going to throw out the trash at
night,
and it just rained. And everywhere, there's mud
everywhere.
And behind your house, there's a small little
pathway that you have to walk, but there's
mud everywhere. So what you would do is
that you will gather your clothes so that
the mud doesn't splash onto your clothes. And
before you step, you
carefully
analyze and look at where should I put
my feet.
So,
ma'am, says that that is what is.
That you gather yourself
and protect yourself as much as possible.
And every move of yours is calculated.
If I do this, am I falling into
the trap of?
If I do this, is it harming the
people around me? And this is a unique
thing that wherever Allah
tells us that something is forbidden,
it is only forbidden. Why? Because it harms
us, and it harms the people around us.
So having this quality of,
it comes down to something that's beneficial to
us and beneficial
to the people that are around us.
When I have
within my community, then when I see 2
people, I treat them in the way that's
pleasing Allah
and then that benefits them and in re
in return, that benefits me.
And what had you said, prophet says,
And the way that you treat people and
the the kindness that you treat them with,
it's half of your intelligence. Why? Because that's
what you will get back from you. So
at the end of the day, it's a
win win situation.
So having this taqwa where Allah tells us
so Ramadan says protecting yourself,
making sure you're making sure that every step
of yours is not harmful to the people
around you, but it's beneficial.
And now Allah subhanahu wa'an tells us the
benefits of taqwa.
And he says,
Whoever has
taqwa, you can adopt this quality. And now
this will take
it's not something that you obtain once,
but it takes
constant
work on
it. So you can't say, I have taqwa.
I'm good. Let's move on to the next
thing.
But it takes constant checkups.
It's like our iman.
Our iman sometimes is at high and sometimes
at low. Post Ramadan, your iman will be
at high. Now that you have Hajj
in your sights, your iman will be at
high.
You you are constantly thinking
that
soon I'll be standing in front of the
house of Allah
Soon soon I will be
standing in front of the prophet I
will be walking the holy lands. So your
iman will be at a high, but a
time comes in your life or throughout the
year that your iman, it takes a dip.
And our iman is affected by the
circumstances that we face.
When things are good, don't type of thing
When things are bad, sometimes we we are
ungrateful.
Sometimes
when things are good, we're neglectful of Allah
and we don't think about Allah. And when
things are bad, sometimes
we turn to Allah with hope and mercy,
asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the way
that our iman goes up and down,
and this comes with the Hadith
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam where
Hanzal Radha Wa Ta'ala is at home and
he realizes that his iman is different
from when he's with the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. And he goes out and he
meets
and they tell the prophet
what is this? Our iman is different. Maybe
we're hypocrites, and the prophet
tells them that, no, this is what iman
is. Sometimes your iman is at a high,
and other times your iman is at a
low.
And if your iman will always to always
to be at a high, then the angels
will come down and shake your hands.
So Allah
in the Quran tells us,
whoever
adapts this quality of taqwa and they constantly
check up on it and constantly work on
it.
Allah
will open doors for this person.
He will make pathways for this person.
Allah the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
says,
Be conscious of Allah
wherever you may be.
In every aspect of your life, make sure
you have taqwa. Taqwa is not just when
a person is at the masjid,
but everywhere.
And then the prophet
tells us that sometimes what will happen naturally
is even though you're trying to maintain taqwa,
what will happen is, will get the best
of you.
And you may slip.
You may fall.
You may commit a sin.
And the prophet
says, what
that follow-up with a good deed every time
you commit a
sin. It will erase it.
And whenever you do catch yourself slipping,
then
do a good deed.
It will erase the effect of that sin.
He's sitting with the companions and he says,
Says that, well, the prophet
he pointed towards his heart and he said,
lies here.
It doesn't lie on your face, or it
doesn't lie on your head or in your
clothing.
It lies within your heart, a place where
nobody can see.
So just because a person dresses in a
particular way, doesn't mean that the person is
a
person who has
taqwa.
And it's this taqwa
that raises ourselves in the eyes of Allah
and the lack of that drops us in
the eyes of Allah
So
is telling us that, look, the matters of
are here in your consciousness. It
it belongs in your heart.
And for that, a person has to continuously
work on their heart.
Imam
says that there are two parts of working
on your heart.
Number 1, removing the things that are harmful,
and number 2, putting in good qualities.
The things that are harmful to our hearts,
they slowly, slowly
cause rust,
jealousy,
envy,
hatred,
pride.
Each of these will cause rust into our
hearts.
In the very famous Hadith and prophet that
whenever a person commits to sin, a black
dot is found to their hearts. And this
black dot is solely, solely is added with
another dot and then another dot until it
becomes a cluster, and that cluster
becomes a cancer, and that cancer
overtakes this person's heart. And now
their heart is not willing to accept
is not
willing to be open up towards
the of Allah
and it become deaf and blind.
And then the hadith prophet
tells us that every time we send a
dot, a black dot is put, but when
we do a good deed, it's a white
dot. And now this is a war between
both of them.
The amount of black dots and amount of
white dots, which will the darkness overtake our
hearts, or will the of a loss
overtake our hearts?
But all of this right here
is the reason why Allah
is telling us, come to Hajj.
Because
this is what you want. So working on
your heart is important.
Now removing this the things that are harmful
and then replacing that with
good things,
things that will benefit you.
And that is, of course, the remembrance of
Allah.
So taqwa is always paired
with, remembrance of Allah. And that's why
remembering Allah
has an effect on us
spiritually.
It's something that you say,
but
the help
the the benefit of this
is internal.
It's a spiritual benefit.
Now
Allah in the Quran, once again, where he
says,
and another another place Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
he says, in the
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is with the people
that
have this quality of.
Another Hadith of prophet
says
that be mindful of Allah and Allah
will be mindful of you.
Be conscious of Allah, and Allah
will be conscious of you.
And be conscious of Allah, and you will
find Allah
ahead of you.
And when a person picks up this quality
so much, then the prophet
says that Allah,
he will become the eyes that you see
with, and the hear ears that you hear
with, and the tongue that you speak with,
and the hand that you grasp with.
That Allah will make it easy for you
to do good, and Allah will make you
you know, will give you this distaste
in sinning.
And it's for the very reason why the
prophet
read the dua that we see in Surah
Hujat
that
When a person gains his quality of taqwa,
that's when
habib ilaynal iman happens.
Faith,
deen, religion
becomes beautiful.
The way that currently for us sometimes sinning
is beautiful and sinning is joyful,
and we
find pleasure in it.
Here we ask
Allah Make spirituality
beautiful as well.
And beautify it in my heart.
And give me distaste
and make me hate.
Make it disgusting
that I sinned,
that I
disbelieve.
Well, isyan that I openly sin.
So all of this we see, it ties
into the condition of our heart and
which links into,
and this is the reason why Allah
here tells us that come.
Come to my house.
What you should take
while you while you would go to Hajj
and come back from Hajj is the quality
of taqwa.
And Surah Al Imran, the prophet Allah subhanahu
wa'am that tells us,
rush,
run,
hasten
yourself towards the forgiveness of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala,
and the person that does this
A person that rushes toward Allah and Allah's
forgiveness,
this for this person, Allah has prepared
paradises and gardens,
which the width of it is as wide
as the heavens and the earth.
And these gardens are prepared and put together
for,
simple,
for
For the people that have
this quality of.
So to look at everything that we spoke
about,
as
the time of Hajj slowly slowly begins to
come close,
We're just about a month away, and now
the Hajj seminars will be starting.
We want to start off today's session with
this quality of taqwa,
understanding that
this is one of the most important things
and the purpose of us going for Hajj.
And the purpose of our creation,
that this will help us fulfill the purpose
of our creation that we are constantly
in the worship of Allah
in our 24 hour day becomes
a worship of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Understanding
that this is not an easy quality to
to gain.
This will take constant work.
But we look at taqwa once again
from Hadith and Jibrei,
where the prophet is
asked about this quality of Ihsan perfection that
we said.
Right? Allah tells us that everything that you
do, you do in the most perfect manner.
And when the prophet
is asked about what is Ihsan,
he
says,
perfection is that you worship Allah
the way
as if you can see him.
And if you can't reach that level,
then know that Allah
can see you.
The beautiful thing about this hadith
number 1, Jibreel Islam doesn't ask what is
Ihsan in salah,
or what is Ihsan in the masjid?
But he says, tell me about what is
perfection.
How can I be the perfect father?
How can I be the perfect member of
my society and my community?
How can I be the perfect person as
an employer?
How can I be the perfect person as
a student?
And
didn't say that, okay, you worship Allah.
That and he didn't say that you you
praise Allah
in this manner, but he says, that
you worship Allah, understanding that any act of
ours can become an act of worship
if done correct
if done in the right manner, and that
right manner is
to bring in this quality of that you're
always conscious of Allah.
You know, often we say that when a
person is not thinking
of something,
they slowly, slowly forget
out of sight, out of mind.
It's not in front of you. You're now
beginning to forget.
And this is why the prophet
says that you worship Allah as if you
can see him. He's in your sight.
So you're conscious of
the
commandments of Allah and the things that Allah's
one has prohibited.
And often we give an example that imagine
you're driving and you see a cop in
front of you.
Your driving changes.
And if you don't see that cop but
you see a speeding camera,
you know that they might be able to
see you.
It changes,
but maybe not as perfect as the first
one.
And we take the same example. We understand
that when we were young kids
and we wanna do something that our father
said not to,
If he was there, our behavior changed.
Or if we were told that he's watching
us, our behavior changed.
And this is simp this is the same
concept
that we understand that Allah
is.
Allah
is Al Basir.
Al Alim is the one who knows of
everything that happens.
He knows
of our actions. He knows of our words.
He knows of our emotions.
And he knows that the things that
that you hide within your hearts.
That even the closest people don't know about
you.
You know?
The word may be harsh, but it's very
true.
Allah
knows of our demons,
the things that hold us down, the shackles
that don't let us move forward.
Allah
aware of that.
And
Allah is Al Basir.
He sees us,
and he hears us.
So when we are at work, the quality
of taqwa is important because we understand Allah
is watching me right now. And when I'm
with my family,
I'm aware that Allah
is watching me right now.
And the hadith comes to mind where the
prophet says,
Each of you is a shepherd, and you
will be asked about how you treat your
flock. And this is the same reason why
the prophet
we see when a person nika happens.
At the time of nika, we recite the
verses of taqwa
to understand that our relationships
and our
are based off of being conscious of a
loss.
And if you can bring this quality,
then
your will be perfected. Your relationship will be
perfected.
And if you bring this quality in your
then your will be perfected.
So any any aspect of our life that
we insert this quality of remembering Allah and
being concept of Allah,
you're now elevating
that action, and you're elevating
the status of your heart
with god consciousness.
Once again, this is a quality that
we're all looking to build in Hajj, and
the the the Allah subhanahu tells us
the best quality that you can take or
not just za'ad is not just a quality,
but it's the best
resource
that you can take.
You know, before Hajj, be
sending out a
suggested packing list, things that you should pack
with you
while you go on Hajj resources that you
should take. We
suggest that this is amount of money you
should take or these kind of shoes or
this kind of clothes or the food that
you should take or, you know, your toiletries.
The law says the best resource that you
can take with you
when you come to meet me
is.
And as you go, make sure
you continue,
and you take this with you.
But the, like we said before,
it has to come with remembering a lot
verbally.
So this right here,
was
a discussion the point of discussion today is
that we build this quality of and
of Allah
which will prep our hearts
and revive our hearts.
Understanding that Allah
in the Quran tells us
On that day, a person's wealth on that
day, a person's
child,
children will be of no benefit to
and to understand this,
For every person will be
in this situation of
I worry about myself.
And one of these tells
us that person will go to
their children and will ask the question, how
was I as a father? And they say,
you are best father.
You gave us everything that we needed. You
pay for our tuition. You got us clothes.
You fed us. You took us on vacations.
And the person will say, in return, give
me one good deed. And the the children
will say, you are the worst of fathers.
You did nothing for us.
Go. We have nothing for you.
And the person will go to the spouse
and similarly with the same dialogue, and the
spouse will at the end say, I have
nothing for you.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran told
us,
On that day,
your spouse will run away from you. Your
brother, your parents, your children
or
will run away from you. Each of them
will be worried about themselves.
And here Allah
says, on that day,
your children and wealth will be of no
benefit
except for the person who comes to Allah
with a sound heart,
whose heart has this quality of
who made sure that when they left the
month of Ramadan,
they took with them.
Who made sure that when going to Hajj
and returning back from Hajj that they work
on this quality of.
And because of this,
they're now
transformed.
Returning back from Hajj is not the same.
There's a transformation that happened, and that transformation
is that you constantly
have a loss
on your mind.
You know, if a person
is conscious of what they eat,
they always look and they always make sure
that I'm not eating something that I shouldn't.
A person
maybe has allergy, and they always
keeps
an eye out for that.
Similarly, for a Muslim,
we are conscious of the commandments of Allah
in the traps of Shaitan.
Every step of ours
is put
down precisely.
Yeah. I'm not falling into traps, Shaitan.
And Allah swan, very beautiful in the Quran
talks about a dialogue what will happen on
the day of judgment.
That so many times in our life, we
fall for these traps of Shaitan, whereas Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us,
Shaitan is your enemy. So take him as
your enemy. Don't befriend Shaitan.
You know, on that day,
Shaitan will turn around and say that
Allah made you a promise, and he kept
his promise. Why? Because Allah's promise is always
true.
And I'm kept I made you a promise.
So what? I broke my promise.
What did you expect?
The Quran says that Shaitan will say, don't
blame me, blame yourself.
I could enforce you, and you can enforce
me.
You do this for yourself, buddy.
And this is why we work on this
quality of
so that we are aware of the commandments
of Allah, and we're aware of the traps
of Shaitan.
And, inshallah, as we get closer to the
day of Hajj, we can work on this
and make sure that this is the transformation
that we bring back from Hajj.
What we'll do, we'll open up,
to some question and answers. I see
right now, there are a few questions.
So I'll read through the questions,
and then we'll try to answer them. Any
other questions
in,
we can take those as well.
During Hajj or anytime when we are trying
trying or in different difficult situation,
and
that that situation is testing our patient. What
steps can we take, or is there something
that we can recite to remind ourselves,
to have?
Right? Good question. Right?
While we're facing a difficult moment,
what should the course of action be at
that time?
Number 1, when you're facing a difficult situation,
understand that that difficult situation
sometimes is
a
blessing in disguise.
So
we often say a difficult situation is a
test
that Allah is putting us through.
But in reality, it's a test of how
we react.
That have we reacted in
a way that's pleasing to Allah Subhanahu wa
ta'ala?
This is
this test that I'm going through right now,
if I'm going through a test in my
health,
is that bringing me close to Allah, or
is it moving me further away from Allah?
The reality is
a hardship is a test
and a bounty is a test as well.
If things are tough, that's a test. And
if things are good, that's testable.
And what defines that test is,
was my relationship Allah
affected?
Now what can you recite?
The word,
it's often paired with,
and that is to have trust in Allah
So when you see yourself slipping in
at the time of facing
a, a difficult situation,
it's important that you build that
and
that is that you say,
Allah says whoever
has
the law
will be sufficient for them, and this is
why the Dua that we have
That it's okay.
This difficult situation that I'm going through,
Allah
is sufficient for me. I don't need anybody
else.
You know, when facing a difficult situation,
there's a hadith of the prophet
that comes to mind where Rasool Allah sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam tells
that if the whole world were to get
together and they try to
benefit you
even a little bit, they won't be able
to benefit you except for what Allah wills.
And if the whole world will try to
get together and they try to harm you
just a little bit,
they can't harm you except for whatever Allah
wills.
So in those difficult moments, understand that
Allah,
has put me in this situation.
And Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, will not burden
me more than what I can bear, and
he will give me the strength. And that
that time, it's important that you return to
and we ask Allah for strength.
Is there a connection between taqwa and or
happiness? I find myself
more confident in my decision
when making,
when
ultimately
causing happiness.
Now
first of all, the question,
is there a link between taqwa and happiness?
Wherever a person fulfills
the purpose of their creation,
this leads to spiritual contentment.
The days that you pray
all 5 years,
that night when you go to sleep,
that sleep hits differently.
You sleep very peacefully because, you know,
today,
I fulfill the purpose. I fulfill my 5
salas.
My
the burden
we take salaas a burden, but the responsibility
that I have that I fulfill that responsibility.
So whenever you make a decision and it's
based off a, yes. You know, you'll find
that you'll find happiness because
you are obeying Allah
command. You know that that decision of yours
is in it's in accordance to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala's will,
and that will bring you happiness.
Next question, I find iman al Taqwa
wax and white. What's the best way to
maintain
consistency?
It seems to be it seems to be
most difficult.
Absolutely.
Taqwa is
very difficult.
Iman is very difficult.
And so the reason for that, the reason
is
Shaitan doesn't want you to have this quality.
Because Shaitan knows that if I can
keep Taqwa and Iman
at a low in this person's heart, then
naturally they won't feel like
obeying Allah.
Their heart won't be inclined to our spirituality,
and I won the rest of the battle.
But if this person gains quality of,
then I've lost the battle. So you constantly
have shaitan trying to pull away from you,
pull away from you, pull away from
you.
But how do you maintain? What's the best
way to maintain?
And
the Hadith comes to mind where the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says,
The best and the most beloved actions of
Allah
are the ones that you do perpetually,
regularly,
constantly without fail.
It becomes a habit.
Not just any habit, but a habit that
you are present in.
Sometimes we do habits that our mind is
not even there. We're just doing it. Driving?
It's a habit.
I don't even know if I check my
my mirrors anymore.
But then when I'm present
in the habit, I'm doing it perfectly. So
here the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam tells
us,
the most beloved actions of
Allah is the one that you do perpetually
even if there's something small.
It's doesn't have to be big.
You know, the world that we live in,
everything has to be grand,
and everything has to be scaled up.
Not necessarily.
Find yourself some small deeds that you can
do.
Okay. These are some habits that I will
pick up that will show
that will reflect my,
my consciousness of a loss of Allah.
For example,
while I'm with my family is that I
turn my phone off
so that I can be present and I
can be a part of my family's life,
and that's what Allah wants for me.
So picking up small things like that will
help us build.
Any action we can do,
say started
a faulty niyyah
or without the correct intention, how do we
change,
the correct,
or change it with correct nia and complete
the action?
So first of all,
nia
is something that's within our hearts,
and this connects to our discussion.
It's not something that we have to say.
It's in our hearts the reason.
Usually, we translate as,
intention.
And intention is a very heavy word, but
a word that kinda resonates a little bit
more is motivation.
What motivates you to do this action that
you're doing?
What is your motivation for going here?
You signed up.
You,
you know,
attended the seminar today.
You made your mind. But what is
your intention or your motivation, your knee objective?
What drives you?
And if the thing that drives you is
incorrect,
then
because it's a matter of the heart, you
have to change your heart. You have to
turn your heart.
You have to turn your heart towards that
which is pleasing Allah.
And this can be done with
the help of Allah.
O turner of the hearts, turn my heart
towards that which is pleasing to you.
So if you are in the middle of
an action
and you take a moment to reflect, now
this is the important part that you take
a moment to reflect and you ask yourself
the question,
is my intention correct? And if it's not
correct, then in that moment,
you turn around and you ask the law
for forgiveness, and you
reassess your intention.
And make sure you're doing it for the
right purpose.
How can we build the taqwa muscle?
We talked about this. The taqwa muscle is
built by
doing deeds,
on a perpetuous,
you solely build it. Right? It's a gradual
build perpetually. You bring in their contents of
a lost
throughout the day. You
you continuously
you know, that's actually the purpose of salah.
As Muslims, why are we told to pray
5 times a day?
Because throughout our day,
we need that constant reminder of a loss.
When I wake up in the morning, I
have the reminder.
Midday, I have the reminder. Late midday, I
have the reminder. Sunset time, I have the
reminder.
And that reminder
is putting making me conscious of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. So that that's what builds that
muscle,
takha muscle.
Just continue to do this some fast after
Ramadan maintain the level of takha. Absolutely.
Right? And I think we have maybe maybe
we have 6 days
of Shawwal remaining.
Today is 4th, and so, yeah, maybe 6
days of,
of Shawwal remaining. That's why the prophet in
the very famous hadith says that follow the
30 days of Ramadan with 6 nafal fast
in,
Shawwal. Why? Because the 30 days were mandatory.
You had to do that.
So now when you're outside the mandatory, the
question is, do you continue?
Because you saw benefit in it.
Or do you leave it immediately?
I'm just gonna do the minimum.
Right? And that tells you that right there,
that mindset
is a
is a difference.
If you stick to the minimum, that means
you the action, maybe you
might not fully believe in the action, but
if you even do it after when it's
no longer mandatory, that means you believe in
this action.
So the taqwa
that we try to build while fasting because
while we're fasting, we're conscious. Is there anything
going into my mouth?
Am I saying something that's displeased to Allah
that you carry on outside the month of
Ramadan as well when it's.
If a lot of people or friends ask
us to make dua for them,
should we say their names individually?
In Hajj, definitely.
Outside of Hajj, you can kinda wrap them
and, you know, and in all inclusive dua.
Oh Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, anybody that's asking
you to make dua for them,
shower them with your mercies, make their matters
easy upon them, forgive their sins. Outside of
Hajj, yes.
Inside of Hajj,
we're going there to build.
We're going there to make du'a.
Really,
you have time. You have so much time
on your head. You'll have more than 10
days on your head.
Take time out
and
make du'a for people individually,
that would be great.
For my parents,
I need
I'm not sure what I'm not sure what
is. Maybe we can send it to
send send the question to.
Do
you know what what this might be?
The question that I need bidals,
for my parents, how can we get this,
get that opportunity?
I'm sorry, Sheikh. What is the question?
For my parents, I need Bedels,
bedbedels.
Maybe bedel? Oh, Haja Badal. Haja Badal. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. Sorry.
Haja Badal Haja Badal is,
that
they can no longer do Hajj and you,
ask somebody to go on behalf of them.
You know, if you know somebody that's going
that's already been before,
you can, you know, ask that person to
go on behalf of or, well, I'm not
if there's another way that you would suggest.
You know, if you would like to pick
up the cost of somebody else going, then
there are opportunities for that as well. There
are many people that would love to go
to Hajj, but they haven't been able to
by financial reason or for any other reasons.
If you would like to sponsor somebody to
go to Hajj, then I'm sure has a
program for them. They can help you out
with that as well.
Next question we have,
how do we find a balance between hope
and fear of a loss
and disappointment
that can be an off that can be
often difficult,
balance? Absolutely.
Right? And like we said,
too much of either one,
it's gonna
set you as it's gonna set you back.
You know, a lot of times, we have
this mentality that do whatever you want and
a lost one that will forgive you.
And that's a foolish mentality
that you have
the prophet
says
that
He says
that
a smart person is a person that controls
their nafs, their desires,
and they do actions for the hereafter.
But a foolish person,
he does whatever his desires tell him to
do,
and he has high hopes in
Allah. Allah forgive me. Prophet
says,
this person is foolish.
So having this balance is
always knowing,
the law is merciful,
but
you don't wanna push that mercy or you
don't wanna take advantage
or have the wrong hopes
in that mercy of Allah.
Which type of the 3 Hajj
are
Afzal, which is the best, or all 3
are the same?
Different scholars have different opinions.
Ramadan would say that if you're coming for
Hajj, then you only do ifrad.
So there are 3 types of Hajj. You
have Hajj Tamattu,
Hajj alifrad, and Hajj alikiran. Hajj alamattu is
when you do umrah. You exit the state
of Haram, and then you do Hajj. Hajj
alifrad is when you go and you only
do Hajj. Hajj alikiran is when you do
Hajj. You do Umrah, you stay in Haram,
and then you do Hajj.
Which of these 3 are better?
My personal opinion
is
is better.
And there's a reason why I say this.
So Hajj al Kiran is more difficult.
Hajj al Ifrad, again, sometimes because of your
itinerary.
Sometimes because of your itinerary, it may be
that Hajj al Kiran is the only Hajj
al you can do. Why? Because you don't
have time to get out of the state
of a ham.
Or it doesn't make sense. Or maybe you
might not you might not have time to
do.
But if you do have the time, my
opinion would be
And
this goes with
the Hadith of the prophet
where the prophet instructs
us to open our fast in the month
of Ramadan immediately.
The lost man have mercy upon a person
who opens their fast immediately
because you're telling Allah
this is something that I need, and I
only stopped it
because of your sake. And now that I
get the green light, I'm gonna go to
it quickly.
Similarly,
the state of Aram
using soap, using shampoo,
you know, fragrance, cutting our nails,
all of these things,
these are things that we need. And the
only reason why we're stopping it is for
you Allah.
On the other hand, you're saying, oh, I
could do this. This is easy. I'm gonna
go 10 days.
So that's why I would say,
but
they're
not taking away anything from.
You're putting yourself from a into an extended
state of Hajj. The 3 types, once again,
is Hajj and Tamato, where you perform Umrah.
You exit the state of Umrah. You shave
your head. You exit the state of Umrah.
And then when the days of Hajj come,
you put on Umrah a second time.
Hajj ifrah is when you do not
do umrah before your Hajj,
and you do the of Hajj. You with
that, you can do Hajj after umrah afterwards
if you like. That's fine.
And Hajj of Quran is where you do
umrah.
You maintain your haram. You do your hajj.
And after hajj,
you then take off your. So this is
a little bit more difficult.
There are scholars that give each of them
preference.
It will be based off of your itinerary,
what your itinerary will look like. Honestly, that's
what the main deciding factor will be.
But personally,
I think is
a is a is a good thing. It
protects a person from,
you know,
doing something that's unlawful in the state of
haram as well. If you're in the state
of haram, there's more chance that you make
mistakes.
You know, that way, you could you you
you are comfortable in between, and then you
put on your haram a second type.
At what age
should we be talking to our children about
taqwa?
I think
the concept of taqwa
should be
introduced at a later age when they're maybe
10, 11 years old.
But
the
so the word taqwa, you introduce them, but
the concept you introduce it earlier.
And that is finding things that are relevant
where your kids can have outside
of spirituality
indeed.
I gave some examples earlier, having,
you know, with your father or having
with your teacher.
You know, the other day, my son, he
got into the car. I went to pick
him up. He got into the car, and
he said, but today, I took a
car, a toy car
to school.
And he's telling me he goes that when
the teacher wasn't there, I would take it
out and play with it. And when the
teacher would come, I would put it back
in my pocket.
So he goes that I got away with
it.
You know, because the teacher wouldn't the teacher
didn't see it, so I took it out
and play with it. And when she was
there, I hid it.
And I had this discussion with him.
That the the reason why your teacher would
be upset because this is not something good.
It would distract you from your studies. And
my son is 5 years old, but he
understood that concept
that, you know, I should behave
as if she can see me.
This was taught to me
by,
Sheikh Hassan Sheikh. He's a imam in Detroit.
When I was a young boy studying,
we're studying in Detroit. We were studying in
Buffalo, New York, and it was very cold,
snowing.
And,
I didn't have a coat on. I didn't
have a jacket on. And he said to
me, Mubin, where's your jacket?
And I said, I don't need a jacket.
Why would I need a jacket? You know,
I'm fine.
And his word that it's been maybe 30
years, and I still remember his words. He
said to me,
if your mother would be behind you, would
you say the same words?
And I reply I reply back, I'm going
to get my jacket right now.
So the way that you build this and
you build it from a young age understanding
that, you know, if your mother was there,
if your father was there, you
the reason why they want you to behave
in that matter in their presence is that
action is good or it's harmful,
for you. So I think explaining this to
our children from a younger age, you you
know, like, for the my child, Mohammed,
he's 5 years old, and I explained this.
But the word,
we haven't introduced this yet.
When there's, you know, 10, 11
years old, you then sit them down and
introduce the name of the.
That would be beneficial.
I don't see any more questions.
But, Ahmed,
do we have anything else?
My love bless you. Thank you so much
for your time. If you like, you can
close the session anytime.
As well. So if there's no questions,
we'll ask Allah,
accepts
our intention of Hajj that Allah
makes
the pathway to Hajj easy upon us. Allah
invites us
over and over. The makes matters easy for
us there. The
accepts
our
intention, and he accepts our going to Hajj,
and he accepts all of our.
They give us ability to build this quality
of taqwa
from now that we are conscious and we're
connected to him from now. The law
makes
every aspect of Hajj beneficial to us.
Our standing
in front of the Kaaba, are standing salawat
upon the prophet are
walking to the streets in Madinah are
every aspect of Hajj is beneficial for us
that this is a means of getting close
to Allah
This is a means of us being good
members of society.
This is a means
of Allah forgiving our sins that he overlooks
our shortcomings, that he pardon our mistakes.
We ask that through the intention of Hajj
and through our worship that we do, we
ask the law that he makes matters easy
for our brothers and sisters in Palestine.
The law makes
opens his doors upon them as well.
The law of hand the showers them with
his blessings. Allah
puts an end to the oppression.
The law
protects
the sacred lands in the Haramain and.
The law
brings unity amongst the Muslims. The law
wherever there is a Muslim that's going through
any type of hardship, the law removes those
hardships.
The law grants us ease. The law does
not test us more than what we can
bear. The law gives us good in the
dunya
and gives us even better in the hereafter.
The law turns our hearts towards that which
is pleasing to him. The lost one that
gives us love for ima, and he beautifies
it in our hearts. And he gives us
distaste
for
and disobedience.
The law
bless
everybody that's worked hard and works behind the
scenes to make this Hajj it possible for
us. Allah
gives them the reward in their family. The
law
gives us all agenda. The
law
unites us together with the prophet that
he protects us from.
The law be pleased with us. Oh, Allah
be pleased with us.