Muhammad West – 9 Step Strategy to Attain Jannah
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of achieving success in Islam, including achieving aer's dedication and satisfaction with their actions. They stress the need for a strategic plan, personal relationships with the creator, and achieving success in social activities. The speakers emphasize the importance of achieving success in various pillars of Islam, including achieving aer's satisfaction with their actions, maintaining good character and deeds, avoiding major sins, and avoiding major sin. They also mention a book called "The Greatest Waste of the world" that suggests avoiding major sins and discuss the importance of avoiding major sins in a strategy to overcome hardship and avoid sin.
AI: Summary ©
I'll be lying on a sheet on rajim Bismillah R Rahman Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi Morain. My beloved brothers and sisters As Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen always we always begin with the praise and the thanks of Alana should of Allah Allah and Allah, we may witness that he is none worthy of worship besides Allah subhanaw taala and we say no love greetings salutations to beloved Nabi Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam to spice up your family whose companions and all those who follow and look upon the Sunnah until the end of time. May Allah subhanaw taala police us to be amongst
them. I mean, I mean, will hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah these past few weeks have been a very tough couple of weeks. For me personally, from a work perspective, it was all financial year end. And last week at Hamdulillah, our company we released our set of financials. And during this process, you know, with all the blood, sweat and tears, I was amazed and thinking about how much effort and how much time goes into scrutinizing how well a company is doing every number is assessed. And it's audited externally, and we measure the company on different levels to to determine is this company successful? Is it achieving strategy? Is it returning value to shareholders? And I wondered if we
were to do a similar kind of assessment, if we were to give a person a set of KPIs, a set of key performance indicators and measures and to assist us as Muslims were as I was, so how well would we do how well could we say we are at achieving our strategy? And what is the plan that you would put forward to attain Jana? Is there a way we can set the dice because ultimately, you know, in a nutshell, life is simplified. Allah Subhana. Allah has placed each of us on the dunya. And he's given each of us a different set of tests and challenges and blessings, ups and downs of life, some of us will have long some of us will have short, some of us will have money, some of us will be
poor, whatever it might be, that is in the discretion of Allah Subhana Allah, but ultimately, we all have an objective, and that is to come through life. And at the end of the day, to intergender to Theodosian, Melba, grant all of us to attain Jana and Allah grant all those who have passed away to attend genital Puratos mean, so how do we get the and so there I thought if we were to give a strategic plan to get to Jana, what are the key performance indicators are the key objectives we'd need to achieve to attain Jannah and so this quick bench Allah is a nine step strategy to attain Jannah and step number one, and this is a very clear and this the primary is the foundational step
of our religion. It is La ilaha illa. That is none worthy of worship besides Allah. When Allah says when Mahatma Jinnah will insert Ilya but don't that I have not created men and Gene exhibit you should worship Me. And this is the ultimate theme of Islam and it's the ultimate theme of the Quran. And it's something that we don't reflect on very often. I had a class this week with new students. And before we began the class I asked him, you know, what is the Kadima mean? You know, before we learn anything, the first thing you do, I'm gonna revert before they enter into Islam. The first thing we do is the Kadima. And we sometimes never fully reflect on the Kalama. The key appreciating
matter of Islam is this concept of though hate all religions believe in one Creator. Now, the Christians, the Jews, folk religions that will believe in one supreme creator, one supreme law of the universe. So believing in one Creator is not something new. It's not something unique to Islam. What is unique to Islam is that La ilaha illa, Allah means that there is none worthy of worship besides the Creator. And so, you know, if we use our Christian friends and colleagues as an example, they believe you want a creator, but in times of difficult when they are in hardship in the hospital, or when they are happy, who do they turn to, in pray, and in worship, they tend to Jesus,
and you know, other groups, they will believe in a creator, but they will turn to the ancestors or the spirits, or the saints are certain objects, you know, idols or statues or, or things that they wait for prediction. All these things are worship other than Allah subhanaw taala. And what Islam came to bring mankind is to say that nice none that you need to worship besides your Creator, that there's nothing that can benefit you or harm you. None that can save you. None of that can forgive you other than your Creator, and you have a personal link with your Creator. You don't need to go through an imam or Sheikh oily, where grave or economic you don't need to go through any of these
things. You all you need to do is raise your hands and Allah subhanaw taala is connected to you. And so your number one objective in life is to have a personal relationship with the Lord to speak to him and to worship Him. And if you are living your life, no matter how much success you have, but you do not worship your creator, you do not acknowledge him, he's a part of your life, then you failed at life. And so this is the number one primary objective of life to worship Allah subhanaw taala alone. The next priority the next step on our strategic plan, Allah Subhana Allah tells us there's a hadith called the Hadith of the Wali, the hadith of those who are closest to Allah and
Allah Subhana. Allah says, in this long Hadith which is basically mentioned this one part of it, he says, Allah Himself says this, the most beloved thing with which my slave comes nearer to me, is through that which I have made compulsory upon him. So Allah tells us that the things that we need to focus on all the primary from
Are the things which are compulsory. Our five pillars are after the climax, the four pillars and those things which are compulsory after that. And then Allah says, and then of course, my servant comes closer and closer to me through performing more now I feel deeds until I love him until I love him. And so for us, it is very clear that after worshiping Allah alone, the next primary focus on the pillars of Islam, and perhaps the one that we need to work on the hardest is that of surah in the Hadith, the Prophet says and tells us that the first thing the people will be accounted for meaning the believers after after we pass the test of the Kadima Whoo, is that your worship, and if
you worship any besides Allah, then we know that Jana is made prohibited for Humalog protectors, but for those who are Muslim, meaning that they have accepted the Kalima, then the first thing will be tested on the first, the first important measure the first KPI the Muslim will be tested on is Allah will say, Look at my servants Surah where they complete or not, did we complete our praise on time Allah Subhana Allah will look at our salah, and we will have be answerable if we have fulfilled those Salah and if they will complete it will be written back when you have been completed. And if they were incomplete, in other Allah's mercy, Allah will look at how much extra Asuna salah they are
to make up the deficiency in Salah and then also Clinton himself says that we're on the proximal says that if he Salah is complete, and if he Salah is deficient, then the rest of his deeds will be dealt with in the same manner meaning if you're able to pass the question of Salah Ahmed fKM the rest of the questioning will be made easy you'll pass the rest of the exam and if you fail, with Allah subhanaw taala in your Salah than the rest of the question. It becomes very very difficult in that Allah protect us and so Salah is really a measure of how successful we are in terms of our of our Eman if we are punctual and our Salah and we make make them on time. What hamdulillah Al
Hamdulillah that's good that for those who are very special Salah is part of their life, they enjoy Salah when we get to that level, we salah is the most important thing in the daily routine, everything stops and Salah takes priority Alhamdulillah it's good that some of us that you know we fit Salah in just on time before the Walk goes out. You know, as long as it's on time, that's good, but we have work to do. There are those of us who miss one or two walks every day. And for those we need to work very, very hard we are failing in something which is of primary importance to Allah. And then of course there are those of us who are very negligent with our salah. And if we are in
that bucket then and Hamdulillah we have time we'll start with one you know if you don't perform any Salah at all, this is a very dangerous area of territory to be in. In fact, the Sahaba are very clear in the Allama them former life of Victoria that someone will completely neglect Salah, the Tarik Massara, the one who doesn't perform his surah in such a person it's really questionable whether you even a Muslim whether you are even eligible to attain Jana Nila. So if you are not performing your Salah on time you're missing them regularly, then at least stop with one or two or three and make it part of your life. Don't focus on anything else. But focus on perfecting your
Salah on time and insha Allah it will become part of your habit and your life. So that is the second most important part of strategic plan making sure how to Hades in tech. The second thing is to make sure our Salah is our salah and the other four are in are intact. The third part on the strategy to attain Jana is not to do beyond the basics. And the one who really once you go beyond this is we Allah subhanaw taala becomes close to us and Emma loves us is when we do that extra above the ferocity and the Prophet Sonam says so how do we mean when we start there's so many sooner to do there's so many extra fasting extra charity, extra Salah to do extra because he knows Panama when
you take a book of two hours you think how do I how can I be sustained and recite all these two hours in a day it's it's mind boggling. And so then once I start to become overwhelmed, we only can emulate his lifestyle as much as possible. And then a B some says that the most beloved D to Allah the deeds which Allah loves the most and the ones that are going to count the most are those that are done regular and consistently even if they are little so don't take on a lot of sunnah a lot of now I feel that we can only do for you know a few days or a few weeks and the spiritual high and then everything gets lost after after a few weeks in Japan Ramadan is maybe like that we decide so
much Quran during Ramadan after Ramadan very little is carried over. But what we should be doing is we should be doing one action so look at the Sunnah Sunnah of the Nabisco and look at his, you know, different acts of worship and say, you know, I'm going to take one action, and I'm going to make that this is going to be my sunnah, that if it's charity, you know, maybe spawnable. You might say, Look, I'm going to make sure that every day I'm going to give someone a slice of bread, and I will do that every single day. No matter how tired I am, no matter if it's weekend or during the week without exams. This is going to be my sunnah and I'm going to be steadfast on that one. I'm going to
take a certain chapter of the Quran or certain Surah or certain page and I will recite this all the time.
And of course, within the Sunnah we are in the tradition of animism, there are certain habits, which we know are small indeed, they, they take a little time, but they have big rewards. And we shared this many, many times. I mean, I shared regularly it's called the shortcuts to Jana simple deeds that give massive returns, you know. And so for example, that the famous Hadith when we went out with budget, his wife Joy area, our mother, she was sitting on the masala and she was making cider. And they went and came back just before the word, she was still on the masala making economic masala. And so then Abby Sanlam said to her, were you sitting like that all the time? Were you
basically on the masala this entire time since I've been gone? And she says, yes, I've been like this all the time. And so then I'll be salaam says, Should I not tell you about something which if you recited this, you know, if you decided these three things, it would have been better for you when spending all this time on the masala. And so he said I recited four words, that is more rewarding than all these hours just been under masala. And so he said those words are Subhanallah behind the end of the holiday he was in Itachi. And with equanimity when you don't have say Praise be to Allah equal to the number of his creatures I praise you Allah equal to all your creation. And
I praise you Allah equal to the weight of your ash. And I praise you Allah equal to the ink it will take the amount of ink it will take to write your words. And I praise you Allah, equal to the amount of Majesty and pleasure that you have with yourself for words takes you 30 seconds. He said, I see these four words and Allah gave me more reward than you sitting here all these hours. I mean, I've got and so then so Salam wants us to look at the quickest, easiest, most successful shortcut to Jannah and social Rashid those lists that those list of shortcuts for you. Again, it's not about doing all of them 100 If you can do all of them, but it's rather to take one and to say this is
going to be my my sunnah that I'm going to uphold every single day and I'm going to be consistent in that and that is really what is what the animism is encouraging us. So that is step number two after the to hate Salah number three is trying to do something extra regularly and consistently. Number four is about reoccurring returns or reoccurring sunnah reoccurring actions, one realizes that if you even are the most pious of the only, there's only so much Salah that you can do how much they can you can do how much charity you can do before you pass away, life is finite, eventually, we will die and our books will be closed and there's no more solid that you can do. And so it's almost like
we have a limit which we cannot go beyond the is however certain deeds and and this is the we'll talk about psychology area, certainly rewards that continue even after we pass away. That is a perpetual, we've left something behind in the dunya that continues to live on after we pass away and recall that as we said a couple Giardia in a very famous Hadith than a piece of Salam basically categorized as a couple Giardia he said, When a man dies, all of his deeds come to an end except three things, a charity, and there's something physical house, a masjid a well, something physical, a hospital that he left behind, by which people animals, anything of creation benefited from it the
three, then he gets a reward so long as that sadaqa pertains, or he left behind some knowledge. You know, he taught somebody something, and someone then continued to use it and that person told someone else and that continuum of payments panela very simple selectable God, I share with you the shortcuts to join now, you know, if even if you don't fulfill those shortcuts, share it with a friend, share it with somebody that might make benefit of it. You might not do any of those things on that list. But someone takes that list and they do something good. And you get rewarded just by passing on that knowledge, rather share some beneficial knowledge, then, you know, things that we
mature about, like we said last week thing that we are not we don't know if it's truthful or false. We know all those things where if you don't see it, you're gonna spend 20 years 20 million years and Jana, you know, don't share those kinds of things. So she beneficial knowledge. And of course, if you can't build something that will be a psychology area, you can't share knowledge, and at the very least, so businesses are pious child who continues to pray for you and be a good parent. And may Allah grant our kids to continuously to remember us and make dua for us even after we pass away. I mean,
and so this is the the fourth strategic plan is to have in your, on your account, some kind of sadaqa to God and everybody needs to think about that, that if I were to die today, you know, hamdullah even if I lived a good life, does my account come to an end today? Or is the something that will outlive me, and so make a point to be part of something that will continue after you pass away? Bismillah if we look at the last four things, these are all things between you and Allah subhanaw taala you know, though hate worshiping Allah alone, making Salah doing Malika in our field, then at least have some tells us that part of being a good Muslim and part of your successful
strategy to attain Jana is not just you and Allah. It's how you treat the creation and your character. In fact, the responses there is nothing that is easier on the day on the scale on the FTM than good characters.
vanilla meaning the one who has good character will attain a status by which the one who forced and praised the evidences or even more than that, that you can attain Jana, you can attain the highest levels of Jannah. Just by being good to the people around you. In another Hadith, we're gonna resources, the person with the most perfect of Eman is the one who has the best character. And the best of them is the one who is pitched to his wife, Subhan Allah. So instead of doing 1000s, and 1000s of ADKAR, and giving millions and millions and charity, all you need to do is to be good and nice to your wife, speak to her nicely make her happy, have good character, the people around you to
say that it's not just a tweet to be seen, but for your co workers, your colleagues, your employees, your employees, to say that this man, this woman has never said anything hurtful against me, and they were genuinely a good person, there is nothing that's going to count heavier on your portfolio than being a good person in terms of your character, another Hadith, which, which really tells us the power of good character than Amazon says, Shall I not tell you about something that is even better than extra fasting and better than extra salt as soon as surah and beta an extra sadaqa? And they said yes, yes. What is it that is better than all of us? What is more rewarding than all of
that is in reconciling between people. In times of dispute, you are the one that brings peace, when things are the cases and people are fighting, you are the glue that keeps people together. When your family is falling apart, you are the one that means but he just this one Allah is something which is going to count. Not even like gold, it's going to count more than sunnah good deeds that you could do. And so Subhanallah make it part of your life to be to be a person with good, polite character speak to people well, even when they speak harshly to you, don't do it for them, do it for yourself. But this is going to attain my agenda, after we've done those things, and those are all things that
we should do you maintain your domain, you make sure that you do the follow up, you do the extents, you do select to Jharia you know, you implement good character in your life, we should also be aware that there are certain things which can destroy our portfolio, there are certain things we must avoid, because if we fall into it, it can ruin our portfolio. And so there are certain things which are so bad, they completely nullify I call them the Nullifiers they wipe out all the good deeds that you do. And of course, the worst of them is chick when Allah says, and it was already revealed to you and to those before you that if you commit to Chile or other than if you associate any with
worship besides Allah, then all your works will become null and void. And you will be among the losers Pamela there are people that just because of a little bit of shake, just because there was some, you know, amulets around the neck just because they went to someone to hold off some evil, all the solder all the false thing that they did was wasted. Subhanallah one little bit of shake. Can you know Allah subhanaw taala will not admit anyone into Jana, if they have even the slightest bit of shake on the accounts to avoid, she'll completely shake is the one thing to worship anyone besides Allah to turn to anyone in worship, besides Allah will nullify all your good deeds. And this
is the biggest loser on the day of karma, the person who did so much of effort on the dunya, but he turned to others in a bit of worship. And so Allah nullify his account attached to that it's not just about sheer, there are other things which can nullify your account. We know that hadith of the man who is bankrupt, and this is the person it really who did a lot of good deeds in terms of fasting and salah, but he was a terrible person to the people around him. And so on the day of Kiama, there'll be a queue of people to have a count against him for all the harmful things he said to the media to them. And slowly he has to give up all his good deeds, until SubhanAllah. All his
good deeds, his or his life of good deeds is wasted, is used up is given away to pay these people. And then he still has people that he has harmed. And he's not taking the sins on latex, Xena, he takes the Haram that they used to do and the time that they need to spend in Jan number years in Jannah goes to him. And so don't be like the movies, the banker person who nullifies his good deeds because he looks down on others and really, there is a danger to have a type of spiritual pride. And this is the set of beliefs that you have of maybe a very close relationship with Allah in terms of your Ebeid Masha Allah, but when you look at others, this in your mind, that's a sinner, and that
person doesn't wear hijab and that person's beard isn't long enough and that person you know, I never see him in the masjid so I'm better than them and I speak to them I want to inspire Allah in doing so you are winning yourself, you are winning yourself or you remind people of the good that you do spinal that's another Nullifier that you got the one that gives charity Masha Allah you do a lot of good deeds in the community, but you make a point of everybody knowing the good deeds that you do. And in so doing, you are like you're burning all your all your all your good deeds with Allah is being thrown away May Allah protect. So those are the modifiers they completely wipe out
the good efforts that you do. And of course number seven that we need to avoid our sin. Now we can never avoid sin completely. We're only human beings and we all commit sin, but we can almost pantalla at differentiated between the major sins and the minuses. Them
lessons are many. And it's an endless list of minuses. But there are only a few some of them I have made it 70 And sometimes it's 50 Some I've seen even less than that. They are the Kadar if the big ones and other ones that are you know we can think about them we almost most of us know them when you need they are mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah. Those sins that have a penalty attached to him Xena drinking wine murder, stealing, you know, maybe some that we even overlooked like backbiting These are major sins and Allah says InTouch then evil cabal uromodulin Hona Luca Frankel's the article that Allah says that and this is really a gift from Allah. He says that if you avoid the
major sins, so there's a list of 70 big sins, don't do any of those sins. And if you come to Allah with no major sins that Allah says we will remove completely all your minuses and we promise you into Jana. So this is an amazing strategy that for someone who doesn't do a lot of good deeds maybe and you don't do all the external awful, but you say Allah, I worship you alone. I do the compulsory things in terms of my salah I don't hurt anybody. I'm a you know, a basic person. I'm not the best of people, but I'm not the no one can say I hurt them, you know, and I avoid the major sins. I don't go out drinking, I don't sleep around. I don't steal my money is basically Hello. I live a very
basic life. This is a beautiful person. And Allah says if you come to Allah on the FGM without any of the major sins in all the little sins, looking at something haram, saying something haram listening to something haram, you don't dressing appropriately yet and they Allah wipes out all those sins, but Nila we're not saying any of those things are small. We're saying we don't belittle our sins, even the smallest of of Sins of serious, but they are major sins. And if we avoid those major sins that Allah promises, He will wipe out those small sins no matter how many they are out of His mercy. And so this is an important part of the of the roadmap, ensure we have not committed any
major sins. Now the next step someone might say, but I already committed a major sin maybe in my youth, I was a bit naughty, I drank something I shouldn't have I did some act I shouldn't have. Allah subhanaw taala allows us while we're alive to compensate for those things, so the earth those things called you know, compensators that I call them, there are certain things even without us asking Allah subhanaw taala puts those things in our path that wipes out our sins. And we know that anyone who goes through hardship in life, that hadith, whoever is tired, feels exhausted, depressed grief, any you know, anyone who has that Monday blues, anyone who else has any kind of harm or
difficulty in his life, even to the point where you, you know, you pick your foot on the phone, then Allah will remove your sins. So while we are committing sins, and we do it wrong, Allah subhanaw taala out of His mercy, He removes our sins through the challenges in life. And so one of the beautiful ways of actually making you tuner, your strategy, a passive kind of income, is a passive kind of rewards is whenever you go through some hardship in life, and we've been going through so much hardship, so much stress and, and difficulties these past few weeks and months, take it with patients and take it with sugar with Allah subhanaw taala. And that will wipe away all those sins as
we go in through those hard days. Allah subhanaw taala will compensate us for that. And so this is one way of getting closer to Allah. And the last thing and this is perhaps the most important thing of all is that no matter how good we do good deeds we do, no matter how much sin we avoid them or damage so many so far we make, then it's still not going to be enough. We know the Hadith that no one is going to attain Jana, through the deeds or other will only attain Jana through the mercy of Allah. And ultimately, no matter how good our strategy is, and how good we execute that strategy, you will never ever be enough. But what we do put our hope in and our faith in is in Allah's mercy.
And there's many, many Hadith about the Mercy of Allah one Hadith, very, very long Hadith. It's a home party and I asked you all to, to actually go and research the full Hadith about Allah speaking to the people on the Deaf gamma, but one section, Allah subhanaw taala. It's mentioned in a recent mentions that, you know, people will be off to the questioning, some will go to Jahannam, then the believers will be crossing over the rock the bridge over Janam spa protectors, all of us will have to pass over this is very dangerous breach, and those who are very good, they will cross the bridge and they won't fall into Jannah. As for some believers, and many believers, may Allah protect us,
they committed sin. And so they will have to spend some time in Ghana. And so many believers, many people who could let the heat in their heart they will be in Ghana, and then those who were saved and look at this hadith, the businesses, those who are saved and they're going to Jannah before they get guilty Jana, they say Oh Allah, our brothers in Ghana, they are those people there are people in Jannah who are brothers, and we I vouch for him that he used to make Salah and he used to force with us and they were with us in the IC remember he made the good deeds, you know, obviously in the in the in Jannah yeah Allah he says I'm a witness for Him. And then Allah will say to the believers, go
into Jana and take out anyone who's hot has equal to a gold coin of Eman gold to Janam and look for anyone that you can recognize as a as a good person and take them out of Jannah and so that will be done. And then Allah will say
given to them go in and take anyone out to as Imam equal to half a gold coin. And then Allah will say and then go in and go back again. Take up anyone who has an atom's weight of Eman. Anyone who has any goodness that you can recognize he did one good deed in his life. Go and take him out. So long as he did not come a cheap guard again, goes all the way back to ship. Anyone who has no ship on his account, but he's done just you know, it's one of the smallest of good deeds take him out of of jahannam. When that happens, the prophecy says at that point, the newbies the Ambia had interceded ask Allah for His mercy. The angels had interceded for the for the sinners. Even the
believers have now interceded people have asked Allah for His mercy. Then Allah will say, now after all of you have interceded now remains mind decision. Now Allah's Mercy is what remains. And then Allah subhanaw taala in His Majesty in a way before His Majesty, he will pull out of Jan Nam, a handful of people who are so burnt, they are unrecognizable. And it's fine. What if we think the previous group had an atom's weight of good in their hearts, Allah will take out people who had almost no good in them, they had a life completely committing of sin, the only thing that we can say about them as perhaps they did not come a chick and then Allah will remove them from Jana. And so
from this, no matter how weak we are, how bad our strategy is how deficient we are, we have a lot of hope in the Mercy of Allah subhanaw taala that if anyone did any kind of good deeds with ALLAH, any little good deeds, and he did not come a chick, then the evening Allah Allah subhanaw taala will compensate that person with Jana mela grant as His mercy and His forgiveness and Governor General for the dose before we conclude two announcements one very happy and one really sad and sorry for the sad news that our Imam Imam Hashem Sally was a longtime support and read of the Quran was our movement was the chairperson of Sol org and many many organizations, Imam Menon but mostly for many
years he has passed away in LA when he needed it on he was very close to us. And we thank Allah for blessing him with a passing on your Majumdar. Allah admits him into genital for those important it will be since and may Allah Subhana Allah Quran savoured to him and his family. And then we also would like to announce that hamdulillah next week in sha Allah, if the curve continues to fall, then the machine will be open for our Juma of the many weeks of being close with Alex and will be open for Juma and we remind you that the US of course protocols only 50 People will be allowed if there are extra people then we will try and spill over onto the road but you have to register and we'll
send out the registration details and of course you know by now that you need to come with your masks and you need to come that we do facilities are closed and you need to come with your masala and of course that if you are if you have any comorbidities or you have any symptoms of being sickness, please do not attend the machine. I don't put anyone at risk and of course hamdulillah it's permissible for you to make Salah at home. We love to see you next week. Zack law fade was allotted number from an early OSAP Islamize serene hamlet of LATAM Salaam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh