Musleh Khan – Life #13 The older I become, the weaker my Emaan
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the benefits of aging to gain more experience and knowledge. They explain that aging is a sign of gradually but surely closer to death, and that older individuals should be at least at least getting stronger and closer to Allah. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of reaffirming one's faith and trusting oneself to achieve progress.
AI: Summary ©
The older I get, the weaker my iman.
How come?
Do
Do you find yourself
sometimes
as you age in life,
you would assume that your faith will become
stronger?
You would gain more experience, more knowledge, you
would learn more about life and understand your
priority is I need to get closer to
my creator.
And aging is a sign that gradually but
surely we are getting close to our death.
So all of these things are signs
that your iman should be at least getting
stronger and closer to Allah.
But that's not the case
for a lot of Muslims.
Instead, the complete opposite happens.
As they get older,
thinking that our iman would also grow with
us but instead it becomes weaker.
And some have even lost
their faith as they got older.
How does this happen? Here is one point
that I want you to think about from
Surat Al Kaif.
This is an ayah in reference to the
young men that were in that cave and
they stayed there for 100 of years.
Allah
describes one important
quality they all shared.
Allah
says
This group, Allah says
we wrapped their hearts.
We enveloped their hearts
that when they stood they prayed and made
dua
to our
Master.
He is the Master of the heavens and
earth.
We're not going to associate
or call upon
any other deity
except
the one true deity of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
If you pause here, what is the real
message in this ayah?
Allah preserved
and protected
their belief system
between them and Allah.
Think about that.
When was the last time
that you put yourself through a spiritual
exercise whether it mean
studying or learning or
understanding
and spending some alone time reflecting,
praying tahajjud,
really isolating yourself from all of your responsibilities
and the things you're involved with in this
world, and just spending some
alone time with you and Allah.
And you did this
with the intention,
I just want to reaffirm
my faith.
That's the message of this ayim.
These brothers, these young men
reaffirm
their belief in Allah as they continue to
age and grow older. Remember,
300 plus years they're in this cave,
So they definitely age from the time they
went in, from the time they came out
until their death.
But in the midst of all of that,
this dua
came towards
closer to the end of their life.
And that's really interesting
that Allah would highlight they wrapped their hearts
with this belief system,
they continued
to reaffirm that there was only one deity
worthy of worship.
How does this translate today?
This day and age, what does this area
look like?
This is the time brothers and sisters.
If you find yourself
your iman is getting weaker,
it should be much easier for you to
point at and figure out where the source
of that weakness is coming from.
Because with age is wisdom.
You understand
yourself.
You know yourself more now than ever before.
Nobody is going to advise you or help
you through this more than you.
Because you've gone through the experience. You've gone
through the years. You understand
the things that affect you and the things
that don't. It's just a matter of you
don't take it for granted but just pause
and just think what is it that's causing
me to lose my faith or to cause
my faith to become weaker and weaker?
For a lot of us it's just distractions.
As we get older we might just,
as we get older these distractions just have
a bigger effect on us. So you point
out what are those things that distract your
life and you try to sift them out
as much as possible. This could literally
be anything,
but in the midst of all of that
you try your very best just to keep
reaffirming your faith. Oh Allah,
you are the one true deity worthy of
worship. You start to build your life with
repetition,
the qar and the tasbih of Allah. Things
like
You're constantly
reaffirming and repeating these phrases.
As we get older
our memory starts to go.
Certain things you take for granted you can
suddenly forget, or you'll have to sit there
and think for a few seconds. All of
that is okay as long as you're paying
attention.
So my brothers and sisters,
reaffirming
your tawhid,
your belief system with Allah can surely,
by Allah's promise, cure this weakness
and put you back on track on a
track of progression
and a track in which your iman becomes
stronger. And of course the ultimate goal just
being closer to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. May
Allah
make it easy for you and for me.