Mufti Menk – Have You Declared

			Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh
		

			Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim al hamdu Lillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah where Allah Allah He was
happy here Jemaine we praise Allah subhanho wa Taala. We send blessings and salutations upon
Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his household, his companions, may Allah bless them bless
every one of us and grant us goodness, my brothers and sisters, when a person is interested in
entering the fold of Islam, we generally ensure that they have understood the five pillars of Islam.
And that happens to be Firstly, the the concept of belief
		

			in the oneness of Allah subhanho wa Taala, the one creator, then the messenger ship of Muhammad
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the finality of it, and that is one pillar. The second would be that
of the five daily prayers, then that of fasting in Ramadan, then that of giving arms to the poor,
and then that of fulfilling the Hajj or the pilgrimage, following the footsteps of the Prophet
Abraham May peace be upon him, as well as the footsteps of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, if
one is able and capable to do that, they should be doing it once in a lifetime. So that is the first
thing that the person who wants to enter the fold of Islam would actually know. And believe in and
		

			accept and acknowledge secondly, they need to know the pillars of he man. He man meaning the belief.
If you notice the five pillars we spoke about just now Pillars of Islam. They are connected to
something that a person can see, physically one can utter the Shahada. You can see them praying you
can see them abstaining from food, you can see them giving arms to the poor, and you can see them
going for Hajj. But when it comes to the pillars of Eman, and they are generally said to be six
pillars of Eman, we find that those are connected to the heart. No one knows that besides Allah, do
you really believe in the statement there is none worthy of worship besides Allah and Muhammad
		

			Sallallahu Sallam is His Messenger. When you have that belief in your heart, it goes beyond what is
just on your tongue. So that is a man first pillar of Eman to have that in your heart thereafter.
		

			To believe in the angels melodica to believe in the books to believe in all the previous books that
they are from Allah, in their original pristine, uncontaminated form. We believe in them to believe
that the Quran is the last of those books and that it is uncontaminated unchanged. And that can be
proven over time. In fact, in our age, there has been absolutely no change since our own guaranteed
living memory. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us a deeper understanding. So then we believe in
all the messengers, none of them are to be blast themed whether it is Jesus May peace be upon him,
Moses May peace be upon him Musa alayhis salam, e Salli. Salam or any of the others. That would
		

			alayhis salam, David Solomon, Suleiman, Alayhi, salam, all of these we will never utter a single
derogatory word against them. We believe they were the loftiest and the highest of their communities
and of their time, may Allah subhanho wa Taala, grant us that understanding, will yo millefiori then
we would expect that a person who wants to enter the fold of Islam believes that there is a last day
when everything will come to an end in this world. And all creation, Allah subhanho wa Taala will
decide how when it will be destroyed, or it will come to an end and he will decide what happens
next, etc. Whatever he has told us we believe what he did not tell us we know that we perhaps
		

			leave it to Allah because he didn't want us to know he wants us to believe it. He is the all
powerful what he chooses. Nobody can have a say in that is Allah. So we believe there will be a last
day. And we believe that good and bad faith comes from the Almighty. That's the sixth pillar of
Islam. We believe that good and bad faith comes from the Almighty. That's the that's the the sixth
pillar of Islam. When something good happens for as long as you have tried your best to do what is
beneficial for you. If something other than what you wanted happens, you have to praise Allah even
more than if it were to happen according to what you wanted. The reason is, I want an Allah once.
		

			And ultimately I believe that what Allah wants is going to happen. So when I want and I try to
achieve and it happens I think Allah because then he also wanted what I wanted Subhana Allah, but
when I want and I try to achieve and Allah does not give me once and twice and 10 times I need to
thank him that he has taken command of it and chosen otherwise. For me. That is belief in Allah. If
it was good, I believe it
		

			from Allah, if it was bad, it is still the choice of Allah, the power of Allah in play, I surrender
to it. Allah doesn't want me to become depressed due to a loss I have suffered. And he doesn't want
me to become proud due to something I have gained for the balance between the two, he would love us
to release that totally, wholly and solely to him such that we believe firmly, it's all from him, if
he gave you, it's from him if he took away it from him his choice. So we also believe in judgment
day, it's part of believing in the last day and the hereafter, some consider it a seventh pillar,
but a lot would actually take it into that pillar of belief in the last day and the hereafter, which
		

			means I am accountable for everything I say and do. And all my thoughts and whatever else the
Almighty has told me, I'm accountable to none other than my makeup. So when a person believes this
Islam and the Pillars of Islam and the pillars of Eman, we would tell them, say your Shahada. I'm
sure you've heard that term before. Some say, say the kelemen. I'm sure you've heard that term
before. What is that? kalama? What is that Shahada? What makes it so important? It's like stepping
on, or crossing that line between disbelief and belief. That's what it is. La ilaha illAllah
Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that is a declaration. It is just a declaration. It
		

			is a statement actually, it means there is none worthy of worship besides Allah and Muhammad peace
be upon him is his slave and His Messenger. Okay? That's the literal English translation of it. It
doesn't do justice to it completely. But I want to spend the next 20 minutes approximately
explaining this.
		

			When a person wants to become a Muslim,
		

			they would have to say that I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship besides Allah. In
other words, a shadow a shadow means I bear witness, a la ilaha illAllah that there is no god worthy
of worship, man worthy of worship, besides Allah and who is Allah, my maker, my nareesha, my
cherisher, my provider, my protector, Mike, you're the one in whose hands lies, absolute control of
every aspect of existence. He is the only one who is old worship. I bear witness that no one is
worthy of worship besides Him. SubhanAllah that's the first part of the declaration. You're now
halfway there. Thereafter, we're our shadow, Mohammed Abu rasuluh. Or you could say why shadow,
		

			Mohammed and Rasulullah
		

			and I bear witness that Mohammed May peace be upon him is the Messenger of Allah. Within that we
believe is the final messenger of Allah. We believe he's the slave of Allah. Because he is a slave
of Allah he worshiped Allah subhanho wa Taala and he never called anyone to worshipping Him. Now,
why is that such a statement that it enters you into the fold of Islam? If it is, and it definitely
is such a powerful statement, then all of us should be repeating it on a daily basis eyeshadow Allah
ilaha illallah wa shadow Anna Muhammad Abu rasuluh the Hadith says men can assay rucola Amina dunya
La ilaha illAllah de hallen Jana, whoever's last statement as they were passing away, in the from
		

			this life was La Ilaha Illa. Allah, Allah will grant them Jenna, Allah will perhaps excuse them of
whatever shortcomings they have had in the past, and they will enter the fold of meaning they will
enter the gardens of Paradise May Allah make us from those who the last statements are the best of
our statements. And the best of all statements is now ilaha illAllah Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu
sallam.
		

			If we were to analyze this statement, we would realize whether we are actually true Muslim or not.
		

			So what is the meaning of La ilaha illAllah? Let's analyze it. Let us analyze it in a very simple
way. We're not going to make it difficult.
		

			In the English language, we all know since we were children, we grew up saying there is no one
worthy of worship besides Allah. I remember when I was little, we used to repeat it in chorus with a
lot of the other children sometimes at the madrasa and we used to say there is no one worthy of
worship besides Allah, right. But we never ever realized the key word there.
		

			worthy of worship.
		

			That's the key word.
		

			Obviously, it's all about Allah. So I'm not going to say that Allah is a key word because Allah is
the head of everything, the height of everything, right at
		

			The top way beyond what we can term a key word,
		

			but we're talking of when you're analyzing the meaning of it worthy of worship. What that means is,
I promise that I'm not going to render any act of worship for anyone or anything besides Allah.
That's what it means. Did you hear that? Let's say again,
		

			I bear witness there is none worthy of worship besides Allah. If I really bear witness to that, it
means I will never ever render any act of worship for anyone or anything besides Allah. That goes
Subhana Allah.
		

			So any act of worship, any act of worship can only be valid, if it is rendered for Allah and to
Allah, we don't worship anyone or anything besides Allah, because that is the declaration that
enters us into the fold of Islam. And if we do worship anyone or anything besides Allah, considering
them a deity or rendering acts of worship for them or to them, we have automatically blemished that
statement that we have been making where we need to go back and revisit it, and we can delete, re
ignite it, renew it, and declare that worship back for Allah alone. May Allah subhanho wa Taala make
us from those who worship Him alone. But we have one big problem. What is the problem? A question
		

			arises, how do I worship Allah? It's a very good question because some people just shake their heads
looking at the sky, and they think that's the worship of Allah. Is it really the worship of Allah,
some people wave at the clouds? Is that the worship of Allah, some people might jump or dance or,
you know, do whatever else, some even intoxicate themselves and claim that this is the worship of
God Almighty, and they do all sorts of things across the globe. as Muslims, we believe that the
second part of that statement and declaration solves the problem. What is the issue? The issue is
how do I worship Allah, Allah told me, none shall be worshipped besides Allah, I believe it, I
		

			declare it, and I say, Oh, you who made me or you whom I'm going to return to you who is in control
of all aspects of my life, I worship you and you alone, I have hope in you, I run the worship in
you. You are the cure, you are in absolute control of all aspects of my existence. I will meet you
one day and I'm looking forward to meeting you one day, and I will never render an act of worship
for anyone and to anyone besides me. So he gave us the favor. The greatest of all favors, were a
shadow ana Muhammadan rasul Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad peace be upon him is the
Messenger of Allah. If I told you, my brother, that businessman has sent you a messenger, what will
		

			you say? Where is the message? Am I right? If I tell you, that men's messenger has come to you first
question, you're gonna say what is he brought? Right? Do you start worshipping that man who came,
		

			you will respect him, you will honor Him because He is the messenger of someone who you respect
Subhana Allah and you will do whatever you have to as per the instruction of the one who was sending
the messenger.
		

			So you get the letter, and you look at it or the message and you look at it and you act accordingly.
So when you have declared an I have declared that there is none worthy of worship besides Allah, He
says, I've sent you a messenger. He has the message, he conveyed the message. That's why we say why
shadow, Kabbalah Teresa lotta data monitor, or messenger, we bear witness that you have delivered
the message and you have fulfilled the trust that was entrusted upon you by Allah subhanho wa Taala.
We bear witness, we have the Quran we are reading it, we know it is not tampered with.
		

			So now we have the Quran what is the Quran, it is the message of Allah, the word of Allah. It
started from Allah, it was spoken by Allah, it was sent via the messenger peace be upon him for you
and me for all of us, you and I may Allah subhanahu wa taala grant us an understanding. So the
messenger peace be upon him was sent to us, to show us what Allah wants from us.
		

			So now when a person is entering the fold of Islam, they are told how to clean themselves. How do I
know what is considered clean and unclean? Well, I just have to look at what the messenger brought
from Allah because I believe in Allah, whatever he says is clean is clean. Whatever he said was
unclean is not clean, and it's done easy Subhan Allah. Thereafter there is something known as halal
and haram.
		

			halal and haram meaning that which is permissible and impermissible prohibited. I need to make sure
that I got that message clearly.
		

			I'll Holla Holla Holla Holla Holla Holla Holla Holla Holla is that
		

			which Allah has made halon he says this is good enough to eat, you eat it, or it's good enough and
pure enough for you to consume or to associate with you will do so. If he says it is not it's not
surrender. Or Americana Lima meaning
		

			me nothing either
		

			a coup, a akuna homolka to mean him. It is not for a believing male or female that when Allah and
His Messenger have decided and declared something that they feel, they still have a choice about it.
They don't have a choice about it. If you declare your belief, you will surrender to Allah. If you
have not declared your belief, you have not surrendered to Allah you have chosen something else.
Your reckoning and account is between you and Allah. We don't need to insult you. We disagree with
so many people across the globe, there is no need to insult becoming aggressive, becoming violent,
when Allah tells the messenger for in LA, Bella who eyeliner is
		

			your duty is to convey the message that accounting, we will do. So hannula so when you see people
believing differently from you and I, there is no need to spew hate to become abusive, to be
disrespectful, to become violent, to hurt to harm, etc. No need. You keep on conveying the message
in a beautiful way. They may or may not see the light but you've done your duty. What was your duty
to convey the good message, the message of who is Allah, what it entails? How to worship Allah? What
who was the messenger why he was sent? That's what we're doing today. May Allah subhanho wa Taala
guide us on the messenger peace be upon him was sent with the message. Allah sent him to show us how
		

			Allah wants to be worshipped, because we declared there is none worthy of worship besides Allah. Are
you following how the two are connected? The moment you say, I bear witness, that there is none
worthy of worship besides Allah? Didn't we say it means I bear witness that I'm not going to render
any act of worship for anyone or anything besides Allah. Then Allah says, here's the messenger, he's
going to teach you how I want you to worship me. So now we say I bear witness, he is the messenger.
Where is the message? Here it is, let me look into it. That's why all of us are supposed to be
looking into this message.
		

			We are wrong. If we don't look at the meanings and translations and deeper understanding of the
Quran, we are wrong. People are fearful of the word of Allah and Allah is your maker. He's going to
ask you I sent you the message. I sent you a messenger, you declared that he was the messenger, but
you never ever bothered to read that message of mine, Allahu Akbar. Look at this. People must not
scare you. You need to read the message. When you don't understand something you will ask about it.
The Quran has goodness and purity in it that needs to be understood in the correct context. Let's
see. May Allah subhanahu wa taala grant us a deep understanding. So when the Prophet peace be upon
		

			him said you shall pray how many times a day five? Where did I get it from? The messenger peace be
upon him. Praying five times a day is not in the Quran. People can go high and low they can turn red
in the face of blue or green. Praying five times a day is not in the Quran. But we are not people
who say I'm only going to take the Quran and that's it because the Quran itself tells you in more
than 10 places to follow the messenger peace be upon him. So if you really read the Quran, it would
show you there is a messenger who came with a message. And Allah kept that messenger such that his
life was so beautiful. If you followed his life, you would know that by emulating it, you would
		

			solve your problem. I want to give you one unrelated example. Any problem you have in your life,
trust me, the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him has been through worse than that. And he dealt with
it with a man. So if you were to read the life of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam his
biography, it will bring within you comfort, it will bring within you a lot of contentment because
you know, when Allah loved him more than all of us and tested him with so much, we would probably be
going through more than that, but we are actually going through less than that. May Allah strengthen
us. Going back to what I was saying, I will fulfill my five daily prayers. How exactly as the
		

			Prophet peace be upon him taught me because he was sent by Allah. And a huge I can say a big deal
was made of the sending of this messenger because he was the biggest ever the highest in rank
Subhana Allah so we should be giving him such great importance. Today when an important figure walks
into the masjid everyone wants to turn around. Let's not give the example of a machine when when a
popular figure who is popular for sin happens
		

			To be in our midst or communities, a lot of us would pay to see them SubhanAllah. Why? Because they
are popular. I'm just saying it's a reality. However, imagine the messenger peace be upon him
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, we claim we follow but let's follow up that claim with the truth from
him from within our hearts. If I say he's the messenger, it means Allah sent him to teach me how to
worship Allah. So I will not engage in any act of worship. That was not done or taught by him
simple. It's as simple as ABC. If he didn't do it, you don't need it. Why? He was sent as the
messenger this manuscript is complete, and neoma acumen Tula calm Dina, come on this day I have
		

			completed and perfected your faith, while at twilight. Mati, my gift upon you has been completed, it
is see leads complete, there's nothing new to add the Prophet peace be upon him says, Man, Amina
melon, laser la Marina for whoever, whoever does a deed, an act of worship, wherever does an act of
worship that we have not instructed or taught or done, it will rebound to him in sin. I cannot just
choose to jump with my right with my right leg up and down and claim I prayed and then I walk out of
the mosque, I would be foolish. I need to start the way he taught I need to face the place where he
taught me to face I need to be in the condition of ablution that will do will be how he taught I
		

			cannot decide even to start with the Messiah of my head before the washing of my face. I cannot even
change the order. When I'm praying. I cannot read lower before I read. For example, the next Salah I
cannot read one before the other and change the order of it claiming no I'm making Madrid now
because I'm lazy to read all four. I just do three now I'll count it as Maverick, you cannot do
that. It's foolish. So why then when we know that you cannot change an act of worship, which is not
taught by Allah how on earth can we add entirely new acts of worship and claim? No I'm sure if the
Prophet was here he would love it stop Villa you have insulted him. You know whoever claims that
		

			there is an act of worship that the Prophet sallallahu Sallam forgot to teach us did not teach us
all would love it if he were here but he didn't say to us he has insulted the status of the Prophet
peace be upon him. He was the final messenger he came with all goodness the Prophet peace be upon
him not only acts of worship, but the Sahaba of the Allahu anhu say mataranka hieron in la de la la
he won a shotgun in the Hazara Minh who had tell Hirata I will Harada. He says that the Sahaba of
the Allahu anhu him say, there was nothing good that the Prophet peace be upon him for God to teach
us about. There was nothing bad that he forgot to remind us about including how to wash yourself
		

			after you relieve yourself some hand Allah, how to wash yourself after you relieve yourself. My
brothers and sisters, I want to say something very important.
		

			If there is a direct act of worship that was not done by the prophet sallallahu sallam, stay away
from it, don't do it. Don't waste your time because there are so many that were instructed by him
taught by him undisputed that we have not yet done that nobody would blame us or even comment about
if we were to do and we haven't yet done them. You get up for tahajud? Is anyone going to complain?
No, we won't get up for 200. But we will do another extra deed that no one has done or it was not
done by the prophets of Salaam or the companions and claim that this is going to be pleasing to
Allah. And Allah says, hang on, who do you think you are? Didn't you just declare there is none
		

			worthy of worship besides Allah, and I believe Muhammad peace be upon him is the messenger, the
final messenger of Allah, either there's a problem in your declaration of the finality of the
prophethood because you're declaring that someone else came and taught you something else, or you
don't even believe he was the messenger because you have a message that was not from Allah. It's
like dialing the wrong number. May Allah subhanahu wa taala, forgive us, what will happen to your
email when you have a small mistake in that address, rebounds? Same applies to our acts of deeds.
When we do a deed that was not taught by Allah that was not taught or instructed or done by Muhammad
		

			Sallallahu sallam, trust me, we are at the greatest loss.
		

			So this is why it's so important for us not just to look at people entering the fold of Islam, and
telling ourselves Wow, they declared the Shahada. Ask yourself Have you really declared the Shahada?
If you really have declared the Shahada, you're going to start cleaning your act. Islam is simple,
we make it difficult. We add just like we add spices and salt in the food. We start adding things
and adding cultural matters that have nothing to do with the deen. Yes, innovation in Islam, and the
Islamic terminology and context is only
		

			connected to acts of worship. Anything that is not a direct act of worship is not included in the
term innovation in the shadow context. So if I were to have paint and if I were to have electricity
and cars and and aircraft and whatever else all that is not considered the Sheree innovation, but
rather those are natural normal advancement of men, which is not only permissible but it is even
recommended and it can be used to earn the closeness of Allah subhanho wa Taala. But we are talking
of direct acts of worship, you cannot make dua to anyone besides Allah. Do you know I've been
speaking for 25 minutes My time is actually up the topic of La ilaha illa Allah and its meaning we
		

			need to actually spend much more time on it, because that is the core and the crux of who we are our
identity who we believe in where we are going May Allah subhanahu wa taala grant us the true belief
in his oneness. akuto kolyada wa sallahu wa salam ala nabina Muhammad