Muhammad West – Connecting to Allah
AI: Summary ©
The importance of Islam in shaping society is discussed, including finding a sense of comfort in one's life during busy times and avoiding overwhelming stress. The importance of learning from the Hujj and finding connections to Islam is also emphasized. The importance of performing regular deeds and staying consistent in one's actions is also emphasized. The speaker emphasizes the need to be prepared for life challenges and finding ways to boost one's confidence and trust in one's deeds.
AI: Summary ©
I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed
Satan, in the name of Allah, Most Gracious,
Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of
the worlds.
And peace and blessings be upon the most
honored of the messengers, our master Muhammad and
upon his family and all his companions.
My beloved brothers and sisters, may the peace,
mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of
the worlds.
We begin by praising Allah.
And we testify that there is none worthy
of worship besides Allah SWT, our Creator, our
Sustainer.
He is the one and the only and
to Him is our return.
And we send our greetings and our love
and our salutations to our beloved Nabi Muhammad
SAW, to his pious and his pure family,
to his Sahaba, his companions and to all
the Anbiya, and to all of the Muslimin
and may Allah bless us to be amongst
them.
Ameen.
Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, I was gone for two weeks.
Alhamdulillah, I just returned from Umrah, may Allah
SWT accept from us, and from all the
Mu'tamireen and Hujjaj, may Allah grant all of
us, every single one of us, to return
again and again.
Ameen, Alhamdulillah.
I returned, but my voice is still on
its way back.
Alhamdulillah, so excuse the throat.
And just some thoughts and reflections on the
Umrah.
So Alhamdulillah, it was very very full.
I saw a stat that the Jeddah airport,
for any month, including Hajj and Ramadan, December
2024, was the busiest the airport has ever
been.
And no matter how many times the authorities
expand and add more and more capacity, the
Ummah just brings more people.
And the amount of South Africans, subhanAllah, that
we saw there, I don't know who was
left in Cape Town, was there even Salah
and Jumu'ah happening, there's so many Mashayikh
and Ulama that were there.
So Alhamdulillah, it's amazing to see how many
people come to Mecca and to Medina.
And the question I had was why?
Why?
Umrah is not easy.
It's not cheap.
We work very hard for the year, Alhamdulillah.
Those who can afford, you can go sit
somewhere on an island, in a halal way
and relax and enjoy yourself.
Nothing haram with that.
To have a wonderful holiday, that's fantastic.
Nothing wrong with that.
Why would you spend so much money?
If you tell your co-workers, what was
your holiday like?
Well I went to this place, I had
to be up an hour and a half
before sunrise, fight with about a million people
to get a spot and I stand there,
and I wait for another hour until Fajr,
and then five times a day I need
to be there.
What else?
Well that's it.
The whole day revolves around that.
If I want to get a meal, it
takes another hour in a queue.
But yet, you go and you say, to
your colleagues it must sound, well that's a
terrible kind of experience.
You say, oh I wish I can go
back again.
Why?
What is so amazing about this and why
do we feel this connection?
In the past even, people would say, I
wish to see the Kaaba and the Haram.
Well now you get to see it.
You can see it on TV and all
that.
Hajj we understand is different because I have
to do that to get to Jannah.
Hajj is an obligation, so that's why we
have to go.
Umrah is not an obligation.
And once you went once or twice, you
would have thought, okay, unlike another destination, you
don't go to that same holiday place three,
four times again.
I've seen it, I've done that.
But Umrah is different.
Why?
Why is it that we have this connection
to this place?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us that
everything that has been created, everything that exists,
every atom, every drop, every sand, every star,
every being, has a fitrah, an innate DNA,
that they want to connect with their Rabb.
You want to connect with Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
You want to feel closer to your Rabb.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in
the Quran, تسبح له السماوات السبع that the
seven heavens make tasbih of Allah.
والأرض and the earth.
ومن فيهن and everything inside them.
Meaning everything in the Samawat, there are aliens
and everything.
Everything in the Samawat, every living thing, every
animate, inanimate thing, makes tasbih of Allah.
وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلَّا يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ And there
is not a single thing in existence, this
carpet, the light, the stars, there is not
a single creature or object, except that it
worships and it makes tasbih of Allah.
وَلَكِن لَا تَفْقَهُونَ تَسْبِيحَهُمْ But you O' Insan,
you can't understand their worship.
إِنَّهُ كَانَ حَلِيمًا وَقَفُورًا And Allah is Most
Forgiving and Most Merciful.
Allah says everything in the universe makes tasbih
of Him, except of course some Insan who
never ever make tasbih of Allah.
And Allah says that He is Most Forgiving,
Most Merciful.
And in this connection with Allah, you find
the purpose of your creation.
In worshipping Allah, we find a sense of
why we are here.
And that is why you can have a
lot of fun, but you can have a
very empty life.
And I reflect that some people in their
holidays, this period, they would have had a
lot of enjoyment.
Especially that enjoyment beyond what is halal.
But you come back feeling empty, feeling miserable,
feeling less than.
And that is why the societies that have
the most freedom, and the most fun, and
the most limitless hedonistic life, they are the
ones on antidepressants.
They are the ones who are committing suicide.
Your soul needs to be nourished with a
connection with Allah SWT.
And Allah says this in the Quran, الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا Those who believe in Allah, وَتَطْمَئِنَّ كُلُوبُهُمْ
بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ And their hearts find a sense
of peace.
Their hearts find a sense of tranquility.
أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنَّ الْكُلُوبُ That really in
the remembrance of Allah, in connecting with Allah,
you will find a sense of comfort.
And you should find within your ibadah.
You don't have to go all the way
to Makkah.
And today inshaAllah, I wanna talk about how
we can connect to Allah.
If we are fortunate enough to go to
the holy places, والحمد لله There are certain
places which connect us to Allah.
There are certain times of the year, Ramadan,
we all get connected to Allah.
But we should not live of these sort
of highs.
It should be part of our life.
And every single one that sits here, the
same high that you feel during Ramadan, or
when you're on Hajj, or in Umrah, when
you're standing before the Kaaba.
And the same contentment, we should feel that
way when we make Salah here at home.
When we open the Quran and we recite
the Quran.
When we sit in our car in traffic
and we make Tasbeeh.
This is what ibadah should bring us.
And I know it's very difficult.
Why it's difficult also?
Because we are drowning in a dunya that
disconnects us from Allah.
We have to actively get out of our
lives.
And that's why Ramadan, and maybe going on
Hajj and Umrah, it forces you to shut
down.
It forces you to, your internet doesn't work,
you're not anymore surrounded by whatever it is.
And this now brings you back to your
natural state.
This is not a balanced way of living.
We should find a way of connecting to
Allah all the time.
And those special occasions, just take us to
another level.
And really as I said, ibadah for most
of us, and I don't exclude myself.
What is ibadah?
What is worship?
It is either something which, an obligation which
we feel guilty for neglecting.
I didn't make my Salah on time.
So there's a sense of guilt.
Or it's a sense of burden.
Oh, the waqt is almost gonna go out.
I need to get there.
That's for many of us.
If you do it on time, it's still,
alhamdulillah, that's iman.
That's iman.
I'm watching this thing, I need to pause
the Netflix, I need to go and make
Salah.
That is still alhamdulillah, a sense of obligation.
And even for the ones that are, prioritize
their Salah and ibadah, it is a sense
of, you know, like the guys who are
extreme, like the steps, mashallah, I got my
20,000 steps.
Mashallah, I did my tahajjud.
Mashallah, it becomes part of a lifestyle.
But it's also like an achievement, whereas there's
a level above that, subhanallah.
May Allah get us to that.
Where it becomes genuinely your thing that you
look forward to.
Ibadah becomes your retreat.
Ibadah becomes your holiday.
Ibadah becomes the thing that you most look
forward to.
You can't wait to get to the musallah.
You can't wait to find peace.
That's a very high level of connection with
Allah.
And we find this with the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
He would say, when things would become difficult,
when he had to face trials, he would
call Bilal, he would say, Bilal, relieve us,
relieve me.
Why, Bilal, how is Bilal relieving himself?
Like, give the adhan so I can make
Salah.
Let me get out of this dunya, so
I can find my peace.
The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he would
say that, and then he recited the ayah,
وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِصَبْرِ وَالصَّلَحِ And seek comfort, and seek
assistance, and seek support in your Salah, in
patience and Salah.
And this should really be where we get
to.
How many of us, when we go through
work challenges, school challenges, family challenges, when we
pick up our hands, Allahu Akbar, everything melts
away.
If we're not there, it's something that we
should aspire to.
May Allah grant that for us.
So how do we live a lifestyle of
Ibadah?
When you get to this lifestyle of Ibadah,
Allah says, O son of Adam, your life
must live around worshipping Allah.
And perhaps that is also why, subhanAllah, we
feel a sense of it on Hajj, Umrah
and in Ramadan.
On Hajj, Umrah and Ramadan, your schedule is
based on the waqt.
Your schedule is based on the Ibadah.
I need to be ready for Salah at
this time.
I need to break my fast at that
time.
Work and everything else kind of needs to
fit around that.
Whereas the normal lives we live, Ibadah fits
in wherever I have time.
And that is part of the problem.
Allah says, O son of Adam, when you
devote yourself to my worship, when your life
revolves around worshipping Allah, what will happen?
I will fill your heart with happiness.
You will never have work anxiety.
You will never have stress.
Yes, you still will have sickness.
You'll still have poverty.
But it's not going to bother you anymore.
You will feel peace.
And Allah says, I will take care of
your dunya issues.
SubhanAllah.
When you live a lifestyle where everything is
about Ibadah, everything is about my Salah, everything
is about how many times, how much closer
I can get to Allah, you will not
feel sad anymore.
You will not have grief or anxiety.
And Allah says, as a bonus, I will
take care of your dunya stuff.
Your dunya will take care of itself.
You'll think, Ya Allah, but if I close
the shop now, Jumu'ah time, I'm going
to lose the customers.
Don't worry about it.
You're going to get more customers after Jumu
'ah.
So, let us look at how InshaAllah steps
that all of us can embark on.
To feel that sense of connection without having
to first fly to another continent, or having
to wait for Ramadan to get there.
That we don't have to go into Itikaf
to feel that thing.
It must be part of our lifestyle.
Our deen is one where we need to
live in this dunya and worship Allah continuously.
That's what it means to be a Muslim.
We don't believe in this concept of disconnecting
completely all the time, live in the mountains.
That is not what the Nabisim advocated.
You need to live here.
You need to struggle with Ummah.
You need to struggle with bulls, and your
boss, and all those things, and traffic.
And at the same time, be worshiping Allah
continuously.
That is perfection of our deen.
So, let's see how we can connect to
Allah.
And I reflect this on the Hajjis.
I'm listening to the Hujjaj.
Also, I was like a matawf for the
first time in my life.
I don't know if I will ever do
it again.
May Allah make easy for those things.
It's really a challenge and a half.
Subhanallah.
But now, for me, it was a wonderful
learning experience to understand the Hujjaj, the Murtameereen,
what it is that they want, and like
I said, why they are there.
I would ask them, why are you here?
Why don't you just go to Mauritius or
something?
And they said, you know what?
It's just something that we felt.
Allah called me and I felt like, you
know, it resonated.
And I wanted to know, where do they
find their highs?
Many times we first have to get to
a place.
This Ziyarah place, in this city, and that's
I feel the high.
And some people, subhanallah, they will stand there,
and they will look around, and they will
see everyone crying at the Ka'bah.
What's wrong with me?
Why am I not crying?
I'm at the Rawdah, at the Qabir of
the Prophet, everyone is crying.
I'm not crying, there's something wrong with me.
So, how do we find this connection?
Everyone is trying to find this connection with
Allah.
One of the first ways of connecting to
Allah, remember, Ibadah is the process.
It is the means by which you connect
to Allah.
It is not the end objective itself.
Making Salah is not like, Jim, I have
to do a hundred reps, I need to
do a hundred Raka'ahs.
You can do a hundred Raka'ahs, and
you have not connected to Allah.
And a person can stand, and otherwise just
contemplate, and he's connecting to Allah.
Why?
There is a incorrect way in which we,
we as a problem, as Madrasahs and Imams,
we teach ritual, before we teach Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
When our kids come to Madrasah, we give
them a whole list of Du'as.
And a whole list of, you must do
it like that, and you must do it
like this.
And if you don't do it like that,
Allah is gonna punish you.
And you get this whole list of do's
and don'ts, and that's it.
They don't ever go to Madrasah again, you
grow up, and so you focus on the
ritual.
For ten years, the Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
in Makkah, there was no Salah.
There was Salah, but it wasn't compulsory.
If there isn't Salah, there isn't Zakah, there
isn't fasting, what exactly were the Sahaba, the
elite of the elite, doing for the first
ten years of Islam?
And the bulk of the Qur'an was
revealed at this time.
The bulk of the Qur'an was revealed
in Makkah.
Which means the Qur'an's, yes, our purpose
is to worship Allah.
The bulk of the Qur'an is not
about rules and do's and don'ts.
The Sharia is a core part of it.
The bulk of it is to teach you
who Allah is.
Why you are here, about Qiyamah.
And I think this is where we fall
short.
Learning about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
I was very sad, when I speak to
the Hujjaj, the minds of the Ajis, the
Mu'tamireen, the mindset of Allah is like a
policeman.
I need to wear Ikhram properly, and I
need to say this Zikr, otherwise Allah is
not going to accept my Ibadah.
Allah is not a policeman.
And your Ibadah is an examination, so that
you can be disqualified.
Allah says in the Qur'an, He is
the one who created the heavens and the
earth in six days, and then established Himself
over the throne.
He knows whatever happens and goes into the
earth, and whatever comes out of the earth.
He knows whatever descends from the Samah, whether
it is angels or rain, whatever.
And He knows whatever ascends unto Him.
And look at the ayah completes, وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ
أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ And He is with you
wherever you are.
He is with you constantly, in Cape Town,
in your boardroom, in your homes.
He is with you wherever you are.
وَاللَّهُمَّ تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرًا And He sees whatever you
do.
Now, usually when we recite these ayahs, Allah
sees what you're doing.
It's like a policeman.
Allah is watching you.
Perhaps the correct way of translation, Allah is
watching over you always.
You are never alone.
In the most difficult times of your life,
you are never alone.
And that's what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
should be.
When you look at how dhikr and salah
is described, it is your safe place.
Allah is your refuge.
Allah is the one I turn to.
I'm never alone.
No matter how difficult things are, how many
people abandon me, how many people rejected me,
how bad I am, I'm with you always.
And I'm always there to assist you.
And I think this is where we should
really focus on learning.
And perhaps it requires us, once you have
become an adult, when you are a child,
you must learn the rituals.
You maybe can't appreciate Allah in that sense.
But as we become older, it's an opportunity
to return back and understand.
Tawaf isn't going around a circle seven times.
Sa'ai isn't running up and down seven
times between two mountains.
If that's what you've learned, then you've missed
the purpose of it.
Yes, inshaAllah you'll get the reward for it.
But it should be a life-changing experience.
It's not the object, it's not the place.
But it is living, being closer to Allah.
And you can't get closer to Allah without
knowing who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is.
Without, when I think of Allah, I feel
in my heart a sense of comfort and
peace.
And therefore when I make ibadah, and I
get closer to Allah, I feel even happier.
And so that is really, I would say,
a big focus area.
MashaAllah, our community is very ritualistic.
There is goodness in that as well.
We wanna make things correct.
But that is not the end, that is
not the real purpose of the ibadah.
Then when we do deeds, so the first
thing is learn Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And maybe we talk about the resolutions.
Join a class that's going to teach you
about who Allah is and the purpose of
life.
That's the most important thing that you live
on and die upon.
The next thing is, do deeds properly.
Yes, the Nabi says, do deeds properly.
Sincerely and moderately.
This hadith can be unpacked in minutes.
But the first thing is, do it properly.
Yes, there are rituals which we must follow.
You cannot worship Allah the way you want
to worship Allah.
You cannot say, I feel close to Allah
by sitting on my head, and this is
what brings me closer to Allah.
That's not ibadah.
But if you actually look at the rituals
of Salah, there's not much for fasting.
Zakah is not too much either.
Hajj, you can learn all the rituals of
Islam within one week.
If a revert embraces Islam, will teach you
the postures of Salah, you can learn that
within five minutes.
We tell you, if you need to know
Surah Fatiha, Subhan Rabbil Aala, Subhan Rabbil Azeem,
Subhan Rabbil Azeem, Subhan Rabbil Azeem, Alhamdulillah you
know how to make Salah.
The rituals are very simple.
The rituals are actually very easy.
When we teach our Hajj and Umrah classes,
within one day, we can teach you the
whole Hajj and Umrah class.
One day.
The rituals are not complicated in Islam.
We have over complicated it.
But still, we must make sure we do
those rituals correctly.
So yes, when we worship Allah, and again
this goes to education.
So the Nabi says, do your Ibadah correctly.
Make the Salah, the Wudu, the Hajj, the
Umrah correctly.
And then once you've learned the rules, be
sincere in it, and then be moderate in
it.
Don't overburden yourself.
We'll talk about the second point.
And know that your deeds will not make
you enter Jannah.
We'll talk, what does this mean?
Subhanallah, what does it mean?
I've seen many videos where they will say
that, you cannot go to Jannah.
No matter how much Salah you make.
What does this mean?
And the most beloved deed to Allah is
the one that is regular and constant even
if it is little.
So now, once you've learned what Allah is,
you ask yourself, what does Allah want from
me?
Allah wants me to make Salah.
How do I make Salah?
You can learn that very quickly.
And then you realize, Subhanallah, in the Tawaf,
in the Sa'ai, there's only one Dua
that has to be said.
In the whole Tawaf and the Sa'ai,
there's only one Dua that you must say
which is, رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيِ حَسَنَةً وَفِي
الْآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّعَابِ And people look
at you and say, but is that it?
What else must I say?
The rest is yours, it's an open canvas.
You speak to Allah, but what do you
want to speak to Allah?
If you want to make Istighfar, make Istighfar.
If you want to praise Allah, praise Allah.
If you want to ask Him for money,
ask Him for money.
That is your appointment with Allah.
Umrah is your appointment with Allah.
You are standing before Allah.
Allah says, ask what you want.
It's your opportunity.
So to get closer to Allah, part of
a lifestyle, you learn who Allah is.
You learn the rituals which is very easy,
and do those rituals.
Then it's about moderation and consistency.
Subhanallah.
The Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam tells us, and
he advocates, and he discourages the Sahaba from
doing extreme acts of worship.
From spending the whole night in Salah.
He says, this is not sustainable.
It is not sustainable to make Ibadah where
you cannot continue it.
Rather what Allah wants you to do, is
to take five minutes every day, and this
will be my five minutes as much as
I can until I die.
That is better than to spend one month
in extreme Ibadah.
The Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says to Aisha, O people,
you must only perform deeds you are capable
of doing.
Don't overexert yourself.
By Allah, Allah will not give up on
you unless you give up on Allah.
Do not feel that I can't get to
Jannah without doing so many Khatams and so
many Adhkar.
It's not about the number.
The quantity of Ibadah will never guarantee you
Jannah.
Jannah is eternal.
Jannah is forever.
No amount of Salah, even if you made
Salah from the day you are born to
the day you die, a hundred years of
Salah is not going to be equal to
eternity of Jannah.
So Allah doesn't need excessive Ibadah.
The Nabi says, make Ibadah to the extent
that you are capable of.
Verily the deeds which Allah loves the most
are those performed regularly, even if they are
few.
And I think this is where we need
to focus on.
This is where we need to almost make
a commitment to ourselves, a Niyah with Allah.
Ya Allah, I will recite a page of
Quran every day.
O Ya Allah, once a day I'll be
in the Masjid.
Yes, the obligations of Salah is non-negotiable.
The five Salawat you must do on time.
The extra, choose one act and make sure
it's going to be that thing.
One Dua, I'm going to sit in traffic
and I'm going to say, Subhanallah, a hundred
times in traffic, even if I get there
early, I'll sit in the parking until I
finish with my 100.
Even if I'm late, I'll make sure I
don't, that day does not end until I
finish my regular act of Dhikr or Ibadah,
whatever it might be.
And it doesn't only have to be Salah
or Quran.
It could be, I'm going to, once a
day, I'm going to phone my mom.
Once a day, I'm going to give someone
a five rand.
That is my act of Ibadah.
Once a month, I will fast one extra
day.
And Ya Allah, to the best of my
ability, I'm not going to miss it out.
That is for the resolutions.
This is what Allah loves.
Allah loves this more than you going and
immersing yourself for a month and disappearing for
a month in the desert and worshipping Allah
alone.
That's not what Allah wants.
Allah wants you to be part of a
lifestyle.
The most beloved deeds are those that are
performed regularly.
Even if, Aisha said, when the family of
the Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam committed to a
deed, then we would be determined in it.
We would do it.
We won't stop doing it.
And also don't, again this is a reminder
the Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam actively discouraged the
Sahaba from doing deeds that were not sustainable.
The Prophet said, the religion of Islam is
easy.
Islam is not meant to be a burdensome
thing.
Islam is not an exam.
Ibadah is not something which you need to
feel guilty about.
I need to get to this number of
calories, this number of kilometers, this number of
rakahs before I get to Jannah.
No, that's not how Islam works.
Islam is easy.
And whoever makes Islam rigid, it will overpower
you.
And again, it speaks to the way we
teach.
So many, you know subhanAllah, when the Mu'tamilin
asked me, what is the niyah for the
tawaf?
I said, I don't know what the niyah
is, because the Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam never
said a niyah for tawaf.
I don't know if your Mawlana told you
that.
Or that you can't look at the Kaaba,
you can't even walk backwards, the Kaaba can't
be behind you.
We add things, and it makes our life
difficult without any benefit in it.
Don't add things that are unnecessary.
Do not make Islam difficult.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made the religion
easy to connect to Him.
Made it easy to connect to Him.
So don't overburden yourself, but be consistent.
It is normal, number five, it is normal,
the sahaba experience this.
We all experience this after Ramadan.
We all experience this, whoever been on Hajj
or Umrah.
When you leave, you're in such a spiritual
high, and you promise yourself, I'm a new
person.
And within the first few days, old habits
come back.
And there is this deep sense of emptiness.
Like, what did I actually do?
What actually happened?
The Nabi says, look at this hadith, he
says, وَإِمَانِ Verily the faith of one of
you will wear out within him.
Your iman constantly erodes.
The dunya erodes it.
It's not you, it's just the nature of
the dunya.
It will erode you.
Just as a shirt, or a piece of
clothing, over time it gets worn out.
And so ask Allah to renew your faith
in your heart.
You need to find ways of reviving that
iman.
You need to find ways of boosting your
iman again.
You have to find ways.
And perhaps this is why Allah gives us
Ramadan.
Why Allah gives us those special occasions, Ramadan
and Umrah.
Those are not the things that we should
do.
I mean if you can do Umrah every
month, well Alhamdulillah, you're very fortunate.
But Umrah, the Nabi only did four Umrahs
in his whole life.
In fact, if you count it, the first
one he was stopped.
The second one was a compensation for the
first one.
The first two kind of go together.
That's the first genuine one.
The second one wasn't really an Umrah, he
was conquering Mecca.
When he conquered Mecca, then he made Umrah.
And the last one was Hajj.
The Nabi actually only went with the intention,
purely for Umrah once in his life.
And that is what we are trying to,
what Islam is trying to show you.
You don't have to get to, those highlights
are highlights, once in your life, twice in
your life.
But you should not live off those highs.
You should not live from Ramadan to Ramadan.
Ramadan takes me there and I go down,
and when I start Ramadan, I'm on empty,
and I get back there.
Charity organizations work like that.
The funding only comes through Ramadan.
But for your Iman, you must find a
way of keeping it constant, and those special
occasions, Laylatul Qadr boosts you.
Alhamdulillah.
What I also found, very problematic or sad
for the Hujjaj, or those who make Umrah,
there is such a deep, you know, lack
of trust, or confidence in that which you
do.
Yes, our deeds are small, but it's great
in the sight of Allah.
I was sitting on the bus with MashaAllah,
so I didn't learn this.
I thought when I'm on my Tawaf, I'm
gonna have my group, with my family and
that's it.
But when you get there, there's like 10
other groups, and you need to assist all
of them.
Alhamdulillah, that's a topic for another conversation.
And I was taking this other group, which
I hadn't met, I met them in Madinah,
I just take them to the Miqat.
For those who don't know, before you go
to Makkah, you need to enter Ihram, and
you do that at a place called the
Miqat, which is just outside Madinah, maybe 10
-15 minutes from Madinah, so they do that.
So I'm on the bus with this group
of Hajjis, and that bus was like a
janaza.
I'm like, what is happening in this bus?
You're going for Umrah, you're going to Makkah,
this is why you came, this is to
spend a week in Madinah, we're all very
sad, everyone feels a different kind of sadness
when you leave Madinah.
If you've never been there, you won't know
what I mean.
For those who were there, you would know,
there's a different kind of sadness when you
leave Madinah, even more than Makkah.
But I said, beyond that, why are you
so worried?
They said, no, we're not doing enough, we're
guilty, our ibadah is short, what if I
make a mistake?
I said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala called
you, you left your family, you left your
home, you've traveled 10,000, 12,000 kilometers,
you've put everything on hold to come and
meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Allah is greater than us, if someone did
that for me, I gave someone a phone
call and said, come for supper, and he's
in Australia, and he said, I'll book a
ticket, and I'll fly all the way, and
I put my whole life on pause to
come for that supper that you've made it
10 o'clock on Wednesday.
How honored would I feel?
And I said to the ajiz, you know,
you come here, and you see this ziyarah
place and that ziyarah place, for Allah, you
are the highlight, Allah wants to meet you,
that's what it is.
When Allah calls you, hayya alas-salah, Allah
is calling you, come and spend time with
me.
Don't underestimate you and your ibadah.
Don't underestimate you and your ibadah.
And that is why in this hadith, the
nabi says, the religion is very easy, and
whoever overburdens himself, he will find that he
will not be able to continue, so he
should not be extreme.
Then the nabi says, but try your best
to do as much as you can, and
then he says this beautiful part, he says,
and receive the good tidings that you will
be rewarded.
Allah has already accepted your ibadah, inshaAllah, on
the intention already.
When you made that niyyah, Allah already gave
you the reward.
Subhanallah.
If you, you know, if ladies, for example,
they go, and they get their haid, and
they can't do all the things, they can't
be in the haram for three, four days,
they're out of action.
They feel very despondent, I understand why.
But in terms of rewards, you got the
full reward already.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is never gonna
shortchange you.
And I feel sometimes we forget the power
of our ibadah, even the fact that you're
sitting here.
You've left work, you've left lunch, you've left
everything.
No one forces you.
No, I'm not gonna hit you if you
didn't come to jumuah.
That is purely from yourself that Allah has
put the tawfiq in your heart to be
here.
Don't underestimate yourself and your ibadah to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And lastly, and this really is what it
all comes to, this hadith, explain this hadith.
The nabi says, none of you will enter
jannah based on your good deeds alone.
Your ibadah will never get you to jannah.
Many Islamic critics, they use this against us.
They will say, Jesus guaranteed you paradise.
You can make salah your whole life, you
won't get there.
Why?
Your prophet says this.
That none of you will enter paradise based
on your good deeds.
Nor would you be saved from jahannam based
on your good deeds.
Even myself, even me, I haven't done enough
ibadah to attain jannah.
What this is explaining is, your ibadah is
not the reason why you'll enter jannah.
It is the mercy of Allah.
And your ibadah is small, Allah's mercy is
infinite.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not looking
for an excuse to put us into jahannam,
He's looking for an excuse to enter us
into jannah.
And that's why throughout, if you study the
seerah, you'll find sahaba, they did one action,
and the nabi says, your jannah was guaranteed.
Othman, you bought that well, you're already guaranteed
jannah.
Allah has already given it to you.
The lady, she gave the dog water, her
jannah is guaranteed.
Allah is looking for one sincere, beautiful deed.
And He says, this is why you're gonna
enter jannah.
After this, I've already forgiven you.
After this, I've already guaranteed your jannah.
So subhanAllah, if you're gonna put some faith,
you know, as I said to those hajis,
while yes, we are feeling guilty, we don't
do enough, and we're worried about our ibadah
being correct, and we're trying our best to,
that's good, that's part of iman.
But bigger than the khushu of Allah, is
trust in His mercy.
Is belief in His mercy.
His mercy, and that's how He introduces Himself
in the Quran.
In the name of Allah, ar-Rahman ar
-Rahim.
The first thing He wants you to know,
is Allah is one of infinite mercy.
And if you're going to feel anything, you
should feel confident, that inshaAllah, as bad as
I am, as weak as I am, as
insignificant as my ibadah is, as great as
my sins are, Allah's mercy far exceeds all
of this.
And inshaAllah, there is something in my heart,
as a hadith I mentioned, I end up
with this, that on the day of Qiyamah,
when everyone has been taken out of Jahannam,
for whatever reason, Allah will see people in
Jahannam, that didn't even do a single good
deed.
But there was something in their heart of
goodness, and Allah will take them out of
Jahannam.
InshaAllah, we hope we are better than that.
Ameen.
والحمد لله والحمد لله JazakAllah Khair Wassalamualaikum Warahmatullahi
Wabarakatuh