Light Upon Light Cardiff
22 April 2019
Mufti Menk – A Fresh Start
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Salam alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh
As salam aleikum, wa Rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh
Mashallah my brothers and sisters as much as the light is on my face, I must say I can see that there are people seated right at the top of the, the third heaven when in the hill hamdulillah minmum Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us paradise and the loftiest level of it Alhamdulillah he was Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah Allah Allah, he was happy Jemaine, we praise Allah subhanho wa Taala. We send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, we ask Allah Subhana Allah to Allah, to bless our offspring, those to come up to the end. And to grant every one of us, goodness to open the doors of goodness and to close all the doors of evil and harm, loss and
danger. I mean, my brothers, my sisters, I'm excited to have travelled by train to this beautiful city of Cardiff. And I'm sure if you've been following the last few days, we've been
engaged in a cross country trip what Allah hamdulillah Mina mela accepted from us.
My brothers and sisters, I'm sure we've all done deeds that we're not too proud of. I'm sure we've all done things that we would like to undo. And I'm sure that every one of us today feels like
we're not the same person we were a few years back or sometime back, am I right?
So Panama, the older you get, the more sometimes you tend to mature, the more you tend to refine not just the way you think but your attitude, your character, and more importantly, your relationship with Allah subhanho wa Taala.
And for this reason, Allah subhanho wa Taala has given us opportunity upon opportunity to effect that positive change in our lives. Those who have bad habits, shape on on one hand comes in says it's okay don't worry sometimes shape and even tells you Allah is merciful. Do you know that
shaitan sometimes comes to say the truth, but what he wants from it is some deviation. So you come and tell you, Allah is merciful. I know Allah is merciful. You know, Allah is merciful. We all know that He is the Most Merciful. But when she tells it to us, He wants us to continue in our bad ways, with a false hope that you know what? I can engage in sin, because I'm dealing with someone who's the Most Merciful. So it becomes like a password into the sinful behavior, where we just think I'm gonna say, oh, Allah forgive me. And because of his mercy, he's going to wipe it out. Therefore, let me engage in the sin. No, don't let shavon entrap you in that way. This is what he does. He
interrupts us using good words. You know, when you're in a haram relationship, and you're doing everything Haram, and the one thing you say,
but she wakes me up for federal every morning, you know?
Yes, it happens. But you know, she's reminded me about the Koran. And you know, he's made me a better Muslim. Those are the same excuses that people use that shapen brings about in order to justify wrong or haram behavior. Yes, if there was nothing haram and if the behavior is permissible, you can say Mashallah, I appreciate what you're doing for me and so on. But we are talking of that which is wrong, and we are using a password, you know, Masha Allah tabarrok Allah, may Allah subhanho wa Taala guide us. So Allah gives us opportunity to change and Allah gives us from his mercy, moments that are different in value than the rest of the moments days that are different in
spirituality from the rest of the days. Can you tell me which day of the week is the most blessing as Muslims?
Friday? Why?
Why?
What's the reason?
Anyone knows?
Don't tell me we have french fries on that day. No, that's not the Friday we're talking about. Joomla is the Day of Gathering Joomla and jamara. We are gathering on that particular day. It is a blessed day. The true reason is simply because Allah chose it. That's the reason. If someone says why is Friday bless it, say because Allah chose it. That's it. And if you go back to the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, he says, that is the best day that the sun has risen upon because that was the day Ahmed chose and Allah
choices. unquestionable. Allah chose it to create Adam. He entered gentlemen that day and so on. It's a beautiful day the narration actually goes as far as saying, what are the commissar to interfere with? You know, the hour shall not happen except on the Friday. It's Allah who chose that it's a blessed day. So don't we admit that a Friday is not equivalent to the other days it is more blessed.
in a specific way, the same applies.
The times of the day are not all equal. There is a specific time that is more blessed than the other times of the day. Who can tell me that time?
Guess what time of the day, not the Friday, any day? what time of the day? Or let me word it differently. what time of the day or night is the most blessed?
Someone says fudger Can someone else try? Yes.
Someone says between acid and Madrid Can someone else try?
The last third of the nights of Hannah law from a specific angle it is the most blessing. When you want to cry out to Allah that is the moment Do you know why? There is a guarantee? When Allah is asking you? Who is there who is seeking my help? I can help who is seeking forgiveness, I will forgive who is repenting. I will accept who wants anything I will give? What are we doing?
What am I doing? Sleeping? May Allah forgive me and all of us.
It's not haram because it's not meaning it's not haram to be sleeping at that time. Because it's not compulsory to be up and engaged in worship at that time. But when you do and if you do, it is surely a sign of a few things. Number one is your closeness to Allah and your relationship with him. You get to a level where you make it a habit, maybe not every day, once a month. Is it difficult to get up for 200? Once a month? No.
When football is on we're up Subhanallah not just once a month, but the whole season.
We'll spend money and time, effort and energy will go The funny thing is the day of football I know young people who've got up
for what to make draft for the team that
imagine it's happening. It's a reality. It goes to show that you actually believe in Allah. Imagine even if you got up for tahajjud to make dua for your team. I might tell you that while you were making was very petty but one thing I know for sure you believe in Allah, you get the point. Because you did you did something that might have been petty, but you call out to the right one, the deity.
The one wonder your team keeps winning, Mashallah.
But the fact of it is my brothers and sisters, we know that there is a time of that morning, the early hours of the morning or the last hours of the night in, in the Hadith, it's called fudo to lead in the last third of the night, right? When Allah is calling out to you and I and many times we're sleeping, I was saying, You're either close to Allah or it shows that you believe in Allah, at least. You know, if I were to call out to Allah, the fact that I'm making dua to him supplicating unto him, already proves that I believe in him and his power and his ability. Isn't that a good thing?
That's why the Hadith says, a
supplicating calling out to Allah is in actual fact, worship of Allah, that is worship. That's the core of worship. And another narration says My name is Alina hierba. Ballet, whoever doesn't ask Allah, Allah gets angry with that person angry, meaning Allah is upset with that person, Subhana Allah because you're not calling out to Allah at all. That's why every one of us has needs needs that we ourselves don't really trust our own ability and capacity in fulfilling.
We ask Allah because Allah says, The moment we create that need in you and you've asked us, it proves that you believe in us you believe in the super power of Allah. When I say super power, I'm not talking of nations, I'm talking of the supreme deity.
The one like whom is none. That is Allah called out to him. So Allah gave us another opportunity every single day. But when you want something, you don't have to wait for a Friday. When you want to return to Allah and turn to him. You don't have to wait for a Friday. When you want to ask Allah you don't have to wait for the time of the 100 you can start calling out now and when you get to the time of the 100 you can get up again and repeat the dua. Do you get my point? Same applies if a person wants to repent to Allah, okay, you know, on Friday, I'm going to actually
something just came to my mind. I'll share it with you very interesting. Someone's
On Friday, you know, I will call out to Allah repent to him on the Friday and it's Wednesday. Who knows you're gonna make it. Can I give you an example, a true story happened in my community back at home.
So there was a sister who, who accepted Islam.
And she was married. So she told her husband, she built the courage to tell her husband, you know what? I, I've reverted to Islam. I went to the masjid here, I've been going for a while I've been looking at them. And I really believe that whatever is going on is actually not true. And so I checked them out. And I started studying and I found them to be absolutely correct. And I decided that I'm going to embrace this faith. And so on Friday, I went to the mosque, and you know, what, I changed my faith, I became a Muslim. And, and that's what I'm letting you know, that it's a faith. So the husband,
he was excited about it. So hon Allah, unlike, you know, people sometimes get angry, you know, he was excited. This is Oh, tell me more, tell me more. I want to know,
he was he belonged to another faith, right. And when she told this man more about it.
He said, Tell me about the beliefs. Tell me about this. And they spoke for hours on end. And he says, You know what, I I'm already part of this space. I love it. I love what you're telling me. And I had a feeling too. And I'm part of it. So how do I how do I actually go about it? So she said, Well, you believe in it, you can say the Shahada. But on Friday, we're gonna go to the mosque. And because that was the day he had off, he that was the day he was off work. So on Friday, we'll go to the mosque. And we will actually get the Imam to officiate this whole thing.
And so she made him say the Shahada between the two of them, you and I know that he's already a Muslim. And it so happened that on Thursday, this man passed away, he passed away.
On that Thursday, he passed away before he went to the masjid. Now, on that Thursday, I was contacted to say, Are we allowed to bury a person who's not even a Muslim in a Muslim cemetery? And I said, why would you ask the question? And so the people said, Well, this man, we've known him to belong to a different faith, his wife is claiming that he's a Muslim, his wife is claiming that he's a Muslim. So I said, Look, we need to verify, we need to find out let's get hold of the wife. Let's find out what the story is. And lo and behold, the story was told by one person, but exactly as I told it to you. Now there is a difficulty because if you're a Muslim, the expenses to be buried very
little compared to if you're not where you need so many things, and so much. So sometimes some of the community members, unfortunately, think perhaps this person is lying, that they're Muslim, in order to cut the cost of burial. You see what I'm saying? But that's not it. I decided on that day, that bury this brother, we will do the janazah we will do whatever else and we bury him with the Muslim.
Because he's a Muslim.
And I remember a few people started arguing with me saying, you know what, no, man, come on you we don't have witnesses. I said, That's enough. I'd rather make a mistake to bury someone who wasn't supposed to be in the Muslim graveyard with the Muslim mean, then to make the opposite mistake. Were you chasing away a person who was a Muslim and letting him go elsewhere? This was just the example. But the moral of this entire story was, Look, don't wait for the Friday, you may not know whether you're going to make it or not. Here's his true story. And the brother didn't make it. But the good thing is, he already reverted to Islam prior to that. He had a valid excuse, because he had worked
and so on, but he did revert. May Allah subhanho wa Taala, grant us success. Now let's get to the point. So the months that Allah has created,
they are not all equal. One is greater in its value as a month than the others, which is it.
The month of Ramadan in its value as a month, I'm reading this quite carefully, right. It is the highest of all of the other months, in terms of the month, the whole month, there may be days. In fact, when it comes to the nights, there is a night within that month, that is the most blessing night without a doubt within the entire year and what night is that?
Little cutter. Okay. The same applies to places not every place is the same. The blessedness of Mecca and Medina is not equivalent to the blessedness of my home and yours or the masjid down the road. No, those are far higher in value, and so on. So Allah gives us these opportunities and he lets us feel the difference. The moment you believe in Allah, you have a softness, even some of the disbelievers are made to feel some of the value of the places and the times.
You have people who walk into the house of Allah, they feel this beauty
Beautiful spirituality and ambience. When you go to Medina and you enter the masjid of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. How do you feel? There is something that moves within you. When you go to Mecca and you enter and you witness the Kaaba in front of you, isn't it?
That your skin happens to
develop goosebumps, right?
Because it's maccha if you went to Makkah and you still didn't turn to Allah, you're at a loss. If you went to Medina and you still didn't turn to Allah, you're at a loss. Just like if you witness the Ramadan and you didn't turn to Allah, you're at a loss. This is from the Hadith, the Prophet sallallahu Sallam says, Why you lemon Raka Ravana philomela farmleigh won't be upon the one who witnesses the month of Ramadan and still didn't achieve forgiveness, that forgiveness was on sale during the month of Ramadan, you and I need it and how could you have let the month go by and not achieved or got something you desperately needed? Subhan Allah so this is why Allah gives us these
opportunities.
And this is why I say we are not who we were before we hope it is a better version of us.
May Allah make us better as the days pass? And not worse?
Today
we are just a few days before the month of Ramadan Does anyone know exactly how many days inshallah approximately maybe they a day or two this way that way? How many days 16 days remaining for Oman? Is that right?
Some of you might say no 15 Some might say no 17 a day this way. That way. We're going to be seeing the moon inshallah, we're going to be seeing the moon shala Moon sighting they call it unfortunately becomes moon fighting in some places. May Allah subhanho wa Taala help us May he bless every one of us. But the excitement is building I promise you I am so so impressed by your attendance here today. You have only and solely come because you'd like your heart to achieve a little bit of motivation to gain closeness to Allah. We are not here to attack people. We are not here to to mention negatives about anyone. We are here to boost yourselves and ourselves for the pleasure of Allah by the
permission of Allah subhanho wa Taala so when I leave here, I want to feel a better person rejuvenated. I want to achieve the forgiveness of Allah before I depart and i'd love the same for all of you. May Allah forgive us.
May Allah forgive us
Mashallah, the way I didn't hear the I mean, the first time I thought I'm dealing with saints here, man, as it is the name of the hole is St. St. St. Davids. I think Allah subhanho wa Taala. Grant us ease.
My brothers, my sisters, this opportunity that we are getting his grant, you never ever know if you're going to witness the next Ramadan. And I can say something else. You and I don't even know if we're going to witness this Ramadan, the way the world is going at the moment, the amount of hate that we need to combat and fight and we need to prove that we don't stand for hate but rather we stand for love the amount of hate that is happening across the globe, one wonders if they would even make it across the road.
make peace with your maker. You have no option. make peace with your maker before you return to Him. Please give him that little reason that he's looking for.
To give you paradise.
Alone Allah wants you to try. Keep trying.
Don't become worse. I've given an example in the past. I want to give it again here today. As you get your first job and you're told you're going to be getting 1000 pounds a month. Is that a good salary for a first job?
guys want more money. Okay, fine. Let's make it 5000 your first job. Is that okay? Five by 12 Okay, that's about maybe 60,000 a month. Sorry a year. I think it's a decent salary. SubhanAllah
you worked first year and then they tell you Sorry, we're gonna be giving you 4000 for next year. What are you gonna do?
You're gonna say No, man, I want six. How can you go down it's gonna go up inflation and whatever else and you can use the excuse, excuse of Brexit and exit and whatever else it might be. This these are just excuses and you want a higher salary. Right? So you want
from five to go to six and from six to go to 10 and 10. You want 12 but would anyone want to take a demotion? Would anyone want to take a cut in salary? No, you
wouldn't like it but you know what we do that when it comes to our closeness with Allah
we've we've been fulfilling five Salah day we've been appropriately Mashallah dressed in a nice way we've been trying we've been, you know, reading the Quran and suddenly a day comes when we've gone backward and we've gone backward with so many things. Don't let that happen. If you don't allow it in your dunya please don't allow it in your day.
Did you hear what I just said? If you don't allow it in your dunya How can you allow it in your deen you don't allow it in your relationship with wealth? How can you allow it in your relationship with the owner of the wealth?
Amazing. I am breaking my relationship with Allah subhanho wa Taala because of what the older I get,
the closer I should get to my maker, even in my relationship in my acts of worship and so on. So Allah subhanho wa Taala gives us people who will come
and different things that will happen in our lives that will keep reminding us about Allah subhanho wa Taala
you might just turn on the radio. And suddenly there is a message that came to you that was designed by Allah. It had to come to your ears I always say what got to you was never meant to miss you. That's from the Hadith masaba Columbia Coolio in every sense of the meaning, what got to you was never meant to miss you. And what missed you even by a fraction was never ever meant to get to you.
Remember that? So if you heard something, if you turned on your phone and suddenly a tweet popped up, or some a message popped up, that was a good message or a reminder or whatever else it may have been. Remember, Allah designed it, he's going to question you about it. He's going to say, didn't we cause a message to pop up in front of you?
While we sent it to you? What did you do about it? Some Han Allah
Subhana Allah. So we are here today discussing this, my brothers and sisters, I am not doomed, and you are not doomed. We're still breathing, we have hope. We believe we believe in Allah, we are searching for the light upon light, Mashallah. We're indeed searching for the goodness upon goodness, we want to build on the light we have and create a double light, a triple light, quadruple light so that we can actually beam the light. That's why in Islam, it's not all about just learning things. It's about putting them into practice, and it doesn't stop there. It's about conveying it to others in a beautiful way. You don't make people feel unwanted. You don't make people feel like they
are doomed. You don't make people feel like there is no hope for them. But rather, the message needs to constantly remind them of the hope, even when you're talking about the punishment of Allah.
I started off by speaking about Shavasana.
And how shaytan sometimes uses positive, correct words, in order to entrap us. That's exactly what I said.
I want to tell you sometimes the way we talk to others as we are developing ourselves, as though we have a god given permission to belittle the rest of the creatures of the same God. Allah subhanho wa Taala remember, as you're growing in your closeness to Allah, soften up in your relationship with people soften, the comes up, thank Allah, he's guided you, and don't become hard upon others. Fabien
mean Allah He
was 101
Moomin.
Allah says it is but by the mercy of Allah, that you are lenient, or Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam towards those around you. It is by His mercy, that you are lenient. If you were harsh and hard hearted, they would have dispersed from around you who wants to listen to a person who's harsh and hard hearted. Johanna Johanna, Jan, Jan, what's that all about? The way you talk to the people as though they're all going to *? No. Tell them we're going to gender together May Allah gather us in general.
If you sin differently from someone else, it doesn't make you better than them. Just because you're sitting differently.
But when you turn to Allah and you cry, and you're concerned about your relationship with Allah, and you're concerned about your relationship with the creatures of the same Allah, then you are heading in the right direction. It will make you feel at least an equal if not worse than the rest of the people because your little sin you don't know whether the Almighty will forgive it. Whereas another person's major sin perhaps the Almighty will wipe it out. And so Allah gives you these opportunities. seize this Ramadan that's about to come see is it my brothers and sisters from now let's say to Allah
Allah, I'm gonna try to become a better person.
Yes, Vice is dangling in front of me, but I'm going to
quit it for your sake, I'm not going to follow the path of
the path that will earn your Roth, I'm not going to follow that path.
My brothers and sisters, your Salah, your prayers, five times a day, do something about it, try and improve on it improve on it. Number one is the quantity in the sense that many of us are weak, and we haven't yet even got to the five. Okay, as muslimeen that should not even be a point of discussion. But unfortunately, due to the adverse environment, and what's happening across the globe, and so on, and, you know, materialism and the laziness and whatever else is happening.
Many of us are not yet where we are supposed to be, even with the five daily prayers, I encourage you very strongly to do something about it. inch forward, move forward, you know why you don't want to lose out, you will be surprised when you get there on the Day of Judgment, and you see some of your own buddies, and they weigh ahead and you wonder what's gotten this guy? Well, you will be surprised as modern as they might have looked. They didn't miss a Salah. And as religious as you looked at that period, getting all the way to the ground, but you missed Salah Yes, it happens. And we looked at people who just kept on being this without beards, as though you know what?
This is gonna take me to heaven. May Allah forgive us? Yes, it's an important part of your Islamic identity, perhaps but it doesn't mean you should develop a chip on your shoulder. Because like I said, sometimes people's struggles are different. You don't know how they may be struggling. My brothers and sisters become a better person. Don't be harsh on anyone besides yourself. In fact, the term harsh on yourself is actually wrong. be harder on yourself.
Which means you want to achieve like at school, sometimes you see one person is very quiet. They hardly you know, hardly, perhaps, talk much. And they always seem maybe well mannered, but they're, you know, on their own, and everyone is laughing and so on when the results come out from Wow. First, a 123 I remember watching a video if you want you can go and have a peek at it. You can Google it. It's actually a YouTube video of an ecobee sister who got
18 medals. When she graduated, I think from University. She had the first in 18 different disciplines and subjects either it was the end of high school or it was a degree and someone sent me this link. And I was saying Subhana Allah, everyone was shocked. She was totally covered head to toe, and they called her name and they just kept on putting these little medals on her head as someone seen the video. Someone's nodding their heads. Yeah. And I was like, I wonder how her life might have been when she was studying and how people may have persecuted if not persecuted, at least made feel uneasy, and whatever other hate may have come in her direction. Today is a day to shine.
My brothers and sisters, if you can see that in this world, trust me, the day we will shine in the hereafter. Allah subhanho wa Taala tells us that's the day you can have that last laugh. And Allah subhanho wa Taala says, You know what, that's the day you can actually be happy and proud of your achievement. May Allah grant us our Book of Records in the right hand. something unique about Allah is that on the Day of Judgment, when the records are made done,
by your receiving of the book and the manner in which you will receive it, you're already going to know the good fortune. The moment you get it in the right hand, you know, I've succeeded even if you don't see anything after that, the moment it's coming towards the left, who may Allah never do that to us. So to wipe out your bad deeds and start afresh. You have so many opportunities right now we'd like to do it before we leave today. We want to all be the cleanest of people. We want to seek the forgiveness of Allah Oh Allah forgive us.
Oh Allah grant us a new and the fresh start. I mean,
we asked the almighty really and honestly, to soften our hearts.
You're not going to achieve much by sinning and transgressing against a law you won't achieve anything at all. In fact, the pleasure is temporary. It comes with a lot of regret thereafter. Develop your character your conduct. Fulfill your Salah, look forward to the month of Ramadan with all goodness and start a fresh turn a new leaf, Allah wipes out everything. I end with this verse kuliah A baddie alladhina savasana
foresee him
in
Germany in
see, oh my worshippers who have transgressed against themselves, never lose hope in the mercy of Allah. For Indeed Allah is most forgiving, Most Merciful. Allah will forgive all your sins. He is most forgiving, Most Merciful. All you need to do is turn to Allah in repentance. May Allah accept that repentance from us akula kolyada or sallallahu wasallam Oh Baraka, Allah Nabina Muhammad