Mufti Menk – When the Impossible is Possible
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As we're about to enter the 10 days
of Dhul Hijjah, which are the days in
which good deeds are more loved by Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala than any other days, we
need to realize one of the greatest acts
of worship
is Du'a,
supplication.
Call out to Allah.
If Allah did not love
you and I to cry to him for
our needs, wallahi,
he would not have had that in his
system.
If Allah did not love dua and supplication,
he wouldn't have made
any time or opportunity
for us
that would have arisen for us to feel
the need or the urge to call out
to him.
But because he loves it so much, he
has made us in a way that we
have no option but to call out to
him. That is Allah.
Think about it.
He has created
situations in my life and in your lives
in a way that you and I feel
helpless
only to watch.
What do you do? That's all.
Why?
Because the ultimate aim for you and I,
wallahi,
is nothing besides paradise.
You and I are going to go. We're
going to leave this world.
When we came in, one thing was certain.
We had to go out.
That's something.
So whatever
temporarily happens for the 60, 70 to 80
years here on earth
is actually only
for Allah to watch us see what we
do after having told us what he wants
from us and given us the brains, the
capacity, the ability to study, to distinguish, to
differentiate, to realize, to watch, to see, to
learn from example, to watch what's happening on
earth. And then Allah
will reward us for how we did. Whatever
we were supposed to do or
perhaps
punish
us if we didn't do it the way
we were. May Allah not punish us. May
he forgive us. We are in these wonderful
days
where Allah wants us to seek forgiveness.
Seeking forgiveness
itself
is calling out to Allah. It is a
supplication.
Why would Allah keep the need for you
and I to cry back to him to
say what you told us to do, we
were unable to do or what you told
us not to do, we actually did. That's
the plan of Allah.
No religion on earth
does not have. No religion on earth does
not have prohibitions. They all have prohibitions.
And every religion has things
in it that you have to do.
Islam is the strictest and the most disciplined
closely followed by Judaism.
And what does Allah want by all these
rules and regulations?
I tell you what he wants. He wants
to give you and I happiness, contentment,
joy and ultimate success in this world and
the next.
Amazing.
When you are strict and disciplined, you are
happier
than those who've lost themselves in this world.
They do as they please. They say what
they want.
Restriction
is everywhere. Let me tell you.
In the Quran, Allah restricts the way you
move your eyes. He tells
you. Watch out where you put your
eyes. Don't stretch them to that which you
are not supposed to be stretching
them towards in terms of what we have
favored some above others. What does this mean?
You see someone with a lovely motor vehicle
and mashallah there are many these days and
alhamdulillah we are happy. But you look at
it in a way
that should not
make you envious, rather be happy. Alhamdulillah. Why
not? May Allah bless them and bless me
too. You see, the me too has to
come in. Right? May Allah Almighty bless us
all. Similarly, there is control over your tongue.
Allah didn't just leave you loose, give you
a tongue and tell you do as you
want. He says watch your tongue. Control your
tongue. Don't say that which is not upright.
Be careful.
Say to my worshipers that they must only
utter that which is the best. Do you
have a brain? Yes, you do. If you
do, Allah says what do you want to
say to someone else? Be it your worker,
your spouse, your sibling, your relative or a
non relative. Allah says we gave you a
brain. All we are telling you to do
before you open your mouth. Think
how do I want to get to that
person? What I want to get to them
in terms of communication?
Is it the best way? If it is,
you have won. You won. Because Allah made
you live on earth and told you if
you follow my system,
you will live a lovely life. Be careful.
Don't sway people. Don't abuse them. No matter
who you are, speak to them with utmost
respect. We put them there. That's what Allah
says. You think that it's just by the
way this guy is walking the street. No.
Allah made him bump your car. He wants
to see because you're driving a roller, you
must come out and sway at him. No
chance. Allah says we're just watching. Forget about
it. No matter what car you no matter
whose fault it was, mistakes are made by
everyone, aren't they? You have no right to
come out and insult someone who bumped into
your car, made an accident as we say.
Allah was watching you fail if you did
so.
If not and you came out, yes, you
might want to say a thing or 2
that might be slightly negative for them, but
in a respectful manner,
then you've passed your test. Why? You were
respectful. I had to say to you, you
know what? It is your fault. They don't
like to hear it's their fault but you
said it in a respectful way. Sometimes you
might want to wait for higher authority before
you open your mouth. Perhaps the police or
the traffic men or whatever it may be.
But Allah tells you watch your tongue.
Then Allah tells you your ears don't listen
to anything unless it is pleasing to Allah.
Allah tells you that. Allah tells you what
how you communicate. We spoken about that. Then
Allah speaks about how you should not utter
falsehood and lies. Don't bear false witness. It's
easy to bear false witness. So easy. Someone
says, you know, did this happen? And you
know it happened. You say, no. It didn't.
I mean do you know You might be
thinking, well it doesn't cost me anything to
just deny and decline. Allah says, you think
it's minor.
It's actually major. It could be the tipping
item that would tip you against
the favor of you having gone to Jannah.
May Allah grant us paradise. Didn't I say
moments ago the main thing that you and
I are living for wallahi wallahi.
And as you grow older you realize it
is only preparation for paradise. How do you
prepare for paradise? Going back to what I
started with. Dua, supplication, calling out to Allah.
Allah knows He's not going to give you
the thing you're asking for. He knows it.
Terminally ill, He knows you're going to die.
He knows you're going to die. So what's
the point of calling out to Him? Let
me tell you the point. The point is
Allah loves the condition of hope in Him.
Why? Because you know you are helpless.
He can do it.
The fact that you are calling out to
him with so much hope
is such a great act of worship. You're
acknowledging
his status. That alone is enough for you
to go to heaven, to Jannah, to paradise.
Why? Because
I called out to my maker. I recognized
him. He can do even if he's not
going to do for me. No problem. He
can do. Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. So I
will make dua even if they told me
you have 1 hour to live. I will
pray, oh Allah grant me cure. I know
you can. I know your mercy is such.
Give me a miracle and I will die.
I will go down with that hope because
when I meet Allah, trust me. That could
be that would be my ticket to Jannatul
Firdaus.
So those who are terminally ill, those who
are going through issues, those whom the road
seems completely hopeless and closed. Wallahi, call out
to your maker in a way that you
have hope. He is the Lord of the
worlds. He's the most powerful. He will give
you. He can give you. He shall give
you. And if he decides not to, he
will give you something far better the minute
you close your eyes. Trust him. These are
the great days. The greatest days of the
year. They are known as the 10 days
of Dhul Hijjah. The greatest. There are no
days not even Ramadan
that can compare with these days. I may
have explained in the past. Let me quickly
say,
Ramadan, the power is the night. The nights
are multiplied. And
so on.
The power is the day. The day. May
Allah Almighty help us to increase our acts
of worship. Call out to Allah. Call out
to Him for your needs.
In fact, call out to Him for that
which you are able to do. You know
He's given you the capacity to do. You
are almost certain that you are going to
do it before you actually do it. Call
out to Allah. Oh Allah, make it easy
for me. Let me do it. Let me
achieve it. Let me do this. Let me
do that. You know when we enter the
motor vehicle in the morning, another example of
cars.
You want to go to work, you want
to drop the kids to school, you want
to go and do whatever you have to
in terms of errands. What do you do?
Do you not as a believer believe you
should supplicate to Allah? Oh Allah, I'm leaving
my home. I'm leaving it fully trusting in
you, oh Allah. Oh Allah. I'm in this
ride. I ask you to protect me. Why
do you do that when you know you
have the capacity and ability and you're going
to drive carefully and so on? Because the
believer knows that Allah
is in control.
Allah is in control. That's why even if
I know that it's easy to achieve this
or that, I will call out to Allah
and leave it in his hands. Then if
something happens,
it becomes a blessing of Allah.
Say for example, I read my dua, entered
the motor vehicle, and I went. Or I
read my dua as I left the home.
Bismillahitawakal
to Allah. Something happened. A thief might have
come or I may have made an accident.
Take it in your stride. You made your
dua. You trusted in Allah. This was the
plan of Allah. For what?
That's all. Just to look at how, what
are you going to do? We made sure
it happened. What are you going to do?
Are you going to thank him that you
didn't break bones? And are you going to
thank him that you're still alive? Or are
you going to be from among those who
comes out of your vehicle and swears at
everyone and pretends like you are the big
boss of earth, then who won and who
lost?
Calm down. Oh son of Adam, you are
only just a son of
Adam. Remember calm down. Chill as we would
say. Relax.
May Allah grant us humbleness and humility.
Nobody has ever been elevated by Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala when they are arrogant. No one.
To the degree that paradise does not have
a space for those who are arrogant.
No matter who you are, Allah says,
he will not enter paradise in whose heart
there is a mustard seeds weight worth of
pride.
Sahaba radhiallahu anhu were worried when they heard
this naturally so because people mix pride up
with that which is enjoying the favor of
Allah within the limit of Allah. So they
say, oh Messenger, sallallahu alaihi wasallam, we have
our conveyances, our homes, and so on in
our life today. We would say, I got
a nice car, nice house, you know, a
luxurious place. What about all of that? I
got beautiful perfume, maybe. Whatever it might be.
The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says that's it's
not pride to have ownership.
It's not pride to have ownership.
Pride is when you despise people. You look
down, belittle, I got.
They don't. Come on. You sound like a
fool, man.
Don't say that.
Enjoy what Allah has blessed you with. Alhamdulillah.
Humble. Come for salah. Greet people. Talk to
people. Masha'Allah. Smile with them. Interact with them
to the best of your ability. I know
as time is passing the quality of person
seems to be deteriorating. It's a sign of
qiyama. You may want to interact with less
people. No problem. But
remember when you do interact with anyone, make
sure it is a pleasant interaction.
Pleasant interaction. They see you. You interact with
them. Alhamdulillah.
The pride that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
spoke about. He says,
When you deny the truth, when you deny,
when you're
really a person whom the verses of Allah
are recited to you,
the instruction of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is
in front of you. You just deny it
blank.
I disagree. That's pride.
Or the truth comes to you in any
matter and you deny it knowing that this
is the truth. I am denying that is
pride. That is what pride is.
And secondly,
to despise people when you utter bad words
to anyone.
Pride. That's what it is.
Be careful. May Allah Almighty strengthen us.
Now if we call out to Allah for
our needs,
I spoke about that which you may think
might never happen. If you have true hope
and you know your Lord, Wallahi, he can
do it for you. I know people terminally
ill. They were told you have a few
days remaining. True story.
Something happened
and I went to see this person and
I actually started giving them what is called,
you know, end of life advice. Some few
words to say, don't worry. Insha'Allah.
We will meet Allah. We all will have
good hope. Allah looks at these, the repentance,
good words that you've uttered. Allah will always
judge you by your repentance, not by the
deeds. We've all made mistakes and errors, and
we need to have hope and we need
to continue to do good. That's what we
tell people, and we're telling everyone the same
thing. Don't be despondent. If you're going to
go, go with a smile. You prepared, didn't
you? You sought the forgiveness of Allah, didn't
you? You did. Then have good hope in
Allah. Have a good hope. My Lord is
forgiving. My Lord is merciful. My Lord is
kind. My Lord is amazing. I go back
to him. Alhamdulillah. I have a hope. I've
got a few good deeds, and I know
he will forgive my shortcomings.
A few days later,
the tumors that were in this youngster's body
started diminishing.
The doctors had already sent him home. A
little while later, when I visited a few
months later, he was healthy and walking. What
happened? Wallahi, they told him you're not going
to live. Dua changes things. Someone introduced him
to a certain medication
illegal in some countries, but the THC
of the cannabis in a way that it
was needed in that particular case with a
fully alkaline diet to treat these little
tumors that were cancerous.
And subhanAllah,
remember I'm not encouraging or discouraging anything. I'm
mentioning it. It's needed to talk about. But
the point I'm raising is how something came
about that started dealing with it. They couldn't
really tell the doctors what's happening because the
doctors were saying, wow. Look at the miracle.
It was a miracle. It was a miracle.
The guy is living to this day. It's
been more than 6 years. SubhanAllah.
And they told him 6 days, few days
you're gone. SubhanAllah.
The point I'm raising is when you call
out to Allah, something can happen. Anything can
happen. Someone can introduce you to some medication
that will kick in last minute. And you
know what? You were healthy. Mashallah. Everything happened.
Thank Allah. Call out to Allah. Another point.
Allah wants you to call out to him
so he creates an obstacle in your life.
Cry to him.
Do you know what's happening to our brothers
and sisters in Rafa today and what's happening
to them in different parts of Palestine today?
They are being butchered.
Why would Allah the most merciful do that
to them?
We are here. We feel their pain. We
cannot sleep.
We have to talk about it. My brothers
and sisters, Allah wants them and us
to do our best to be able to
protect them and save them. The minimum that
we can do, make dua, cry to Allah.
He is able. He is capable. You are
helpless. I am helpless
to a degree,
but Allah, no ways.
Allah knows. Allah says, what is the worst
they can do to you? I wanna tell
you something. The worst they could do is
kill you.
What happens to you? You go to paradise.
You either are victorious on the battlefield, so
you won. Or if they kill you, you
are victorious with martyrdom, so you've won. A
believer has ikhdalfusnayain.
A believer nothing evil can happen to a
believer in terms of your ultimate your ultimate
ending because
you either get victory on earth or victory
in the hereafter
or you have both. Allahu Akbar. So when
Allah wants to take a quota of martyrs
on earth, he's written their names in advance.
People are fortunate that they are martyred at
times because
Allah has their rank.
In
the middle, Allah says
the
the prophets
in Jannah and on the day of judgment
and the truthful ones and the pious ones.
In the middle, Allah says and the martyrs.
We put them together. So if they are
martyred, they're higher than you and I. Allah
chose them for challenges. But in the interim
the dua, the supplication,
may Allah grant them victory.
May Allah grant them protection by His power,
by his mercy. May the tables turn. May
they be victorious
and achieve what they need to achieve. Ameen.
Call out to Allah. Don't lose hope. Don't
let someone con you to say, but if
Allah is merciful, why is this happening? What's
the ultimate end? The ultimate end is death.
Where do I go after death? Wallahi, if
I die here and now today, it's a
mercy of Allah if he gives me Jannah
and paradise. Same applies to you. Don't worry
about what's going to be left on earth
because that worry will be there even if
you're 90 years old. It's not going to
go. Never mind. If Allah takes me now,
I'm prepared to go on condition that insha
Allah he gives me paradise.
Now that's a tough one because I don't
know for certain but I have hope in
Allah for certain.
My hope is certain.
There we are. Have hope.
So what? If I have to go, I
have to go. What about, oh, my lovely
people all around me. It's okay.
Everyone has lovely people.
May Allah Almighty bless us. We don't have
much time. Otherwise, I would have gone into
deeper examples. But my point here today is
simple.
We are about to commence the days that
are the most blessed days, the best of
the days
of the year, the 10 days of Dhul
Hijjah.
Declare the praise of Allah. Praise him a
lot. Read more Quran. Seek the forgiveness of
Allah. Don't forget.
Call out to Allah. Supplicate. Ask him. Ask
Him for things you know you can do,
things you know you cannot do. Ask Him
for the impossible
having hope my Lord can do it and
Allah will bless you. Through that hope, Allah
will give you paradise. Your status is raised.
And you know what? When you're calling out
to Allah, when you're calling out to Allah,
how can you be a person who doesn't
pray? How can you be a person who
is transgressing
clearly,
voluntarily
against the same Lord you're asking a favor
from. What that would mean is he is
tapping you to say just change your ways,
change your habits,
Change your way. You need something. Right? We
created the need.
We can meet it.
Change your ways. It's a tapping. Don't you
agree? In our lives, sometimes negative things have
happened. What did we do? We became initially,
we might have thought I can sort it
out. I can do this. When we couldn't
do anything about it and time passed, we
came to the masjid. We started crying to
Allah. Our life changed. We started praying. What
was that? That was a favor of Allah.
The best thing that could have happened is
your supplication was not given to you the
way you wanted it. That's why he brought
you to his house. He loves you. He
loves you. That's why you're seated here today.
May Allah bless all of us.