Nadim Ali – Imam Soul Cancer Jumah 4 23 21
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Indeed, our praise belongs to Allah, the most
high. We thank him, and we seek his
aid and we seek his forgiveness,
and we seek refuge with him from the
evil of our selves and from our bad
actions.
Whoever Allah guides, then there's no way who
can mislead him. And whoever Allah causes to
go astray, then there's no one to guide
him. And I bear witness. We bear witness
that there is no deity
except the law of Nazir Meek and without
partners.
And we all bear witness that Mohammed is
his worshiper and his messenger, and may them
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him
and his family and his companions, and those
who follow them with good intentions
until the day of judgment.
Oh, you who believe fear Allah as he
should be feared, and don't die except as
Muslims. Again, oh, you who believe fear Allah
as he should be feared, and don't die
except as Muslims.
And all mankind,
be careful of your duty to your ab
who created you from the single soul. In
front of created its mate, and from the
2 of them, he spread forth many men
and many women. Be careful of your duty
to Allah whom you demand your mutual rights,
and be careful of your duty to the
wounds that bore you. Indeed, Allah is our
over you.
Or you will believe for Allah and always
speak the truth. He will cause your deeds
to be beneficial, and he will forgive for
you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and
his messenger then he has truly achieved a
tremendous accomplishment.
For indeed, the best speech is the book
of the law, and the best guidance is
the guidance of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And the most evil of all affairs are
new in the matters
and which has no precedence in Islam. And
indeed, all innovations are astray, and each destroys
in the hellfire. Oh, Allah, save us from
it. Oh, Allah, accept our
Allah says,
and they ask about the soul.
Say,
the soul is sent through from the command
of Allah, and you are not given from
the knowledge but a little.
And if we so will, we shall surely
take away what we have revealed to you.
But then you shall find no one to
rely upon against us in this manner.
But it is a mercy from the lord.
Great is indeed his favor upon you. And
it's from Surah Al Isra. It's 85 through
87.
And when we look at the soul and
many of us we have, we think we
have some idea of what the soul is.
You know, the law says that we ain't
in there a little. We ain't in there
a little.
You know, but there's a concept called the
diseases of the heart.
And so just as if the heart can
become poison, it's just like when men concern
with alcohol and they damage their liver, and
the liver can can basically it's it's basically
the sewage station of the body. It purifies
the body.
And so if you engage in behaviors that
damages the organs, the liver specifically, the kidneys
also,
If you engage in those types of behaviors,
then it can poison
the whole body
because the purification
ability
is limited at that point.
Just like if we do not do things
that are,
basically healthy for our hearts, our spiritual hearts,
then we can damage our spiritual soul.
And at that point, we can
we can develop a state of soul cancer.
Soul cancer.
We have to recognize
that
just like the body can get sick, the
soul can get sick, my brothers and sisters.
And I just wanted to share
this with you today. When it gains cancer
again of the soul, it's like a spiritual
malady.
Again, just like we have,
that type of sickness in the physical realm,
when we look at people who are suffering
from different ailments, different flames of cancer, we
see cancer as a disease that consumes the
body, whichever part of the body is impacted
by the cancer. So you can imagine from
a spiritual perspective
how
soil cancer can basically
erode your ethics. It can erode your ability
to determine what is right and what is
wrong. In in psychology,
they call those type of people sociopaths.
Sociopaths. People who can't distinguish what is right
and what is wrong.
But I've seen many people who have been
labeled sociopaths, they go to prison, and Allah
brings them to Islam, and they become model
citizens.
And so we have to recognize
that
Islam
is the cure for soil cancer, not just
perfecting it or professing Islam with your tongue,
but internalizing
Islam with your heart.
One of my teachers used to say, you
can be Muslim
in name or Muslim by commitment. And I
used to wonder, what was he talking about?
Muslim by name or Muslim by commitment? I
was living in Saudi Arabia at the time.
And you talk about how the whole country
there for 98% of the country is Muslim,
but very few of them are committed Muslims.
And so just like we can have numerous
Muslims in this country,
but how many of us are committed Muslims?
How many of us are making the effort
to fast to make the Ramadan? How many
of us are getting up for fajr in
the Masjid specifically for Bevis because the Bevis
get the most blessings coming through the Masjid?
That,
Hadid, has not been abrogated, brothers.
You
know, I know we're in this pandemic,
but we can still take the necessary precautions.
Allah has given us this
pandemic.
It's a form of adversity.
He gives us adversity so that we will
learn humility.
So how much humility? How have we humbled
ourselves during this this pandemic?
As I mentioned last time I spoke,
how many ayats of the Quran have you
learned? How many hadith have you learned? How
much Islam have you basically tried to internalize?
How many classes, whether it's online or in
person, have you attended?
Because when when the pandemic is lifted, we
look back and said, man, I had all
that time
because all our distractions were taken away.
And why give you all that time? And
if all we're doing is eating and going
from the couch to the refrigerator and you
get that pandemic 40 on your belt.
So we have to basically use this time
as a means of of growing in our
dream.
Allah gave us this time.
You know, just like the the the there's
so many millionaires who have now become billionaires
just because they're exploding the pandemic. That's the
person that makes the mask. They're making money.
You know, people making the the hand clothes,
they're making money.
But we don't want to basically just make
a whole lot of money. We want to
basically accumulate a lot of good
so that
our real retirement plan, our real, you know,
retirement plan is the retirement plan when we
stand before Allah.
What would be in your account? What would
be in your account?
What would be in our accounts?
And why gives us this time as a
means of of basically accumulating the wealth of
the soul? The prophet
said, richness is not having diamonds and gold,
but richness is having contentment in your soul.
Are you content with your life? Are you
content with what the law has given you?
We have to avoid these illnesses, the diseases
of the heart.
You know, again, when you look at these
types of actions, again, it contributes
to, unethical behavior.
And it's a form of spiritual sickness and
it's form form of spiritual
fitness that you don't have the level of
being fit spiritually fit.
If we live a healthy life, we can
have a healthy body.
If we live a whole life and the
law takes us and we're living a good
life, then we're gonna have a healthy soul.
If we're living a ratchet life, we're gonna
have a ratchet soul.
As I said, that, you know, the Quran
that we know will be shade
on upon us on the door of judgment.
It'll be our shade. So if you only
know a few ayats, you're just gonna have
a little
kneel cap.
But if you
know, if you're living in many of the
ayats, you can have an umbrella, tent, or
a canopy over you. So you have to
visualize what it's going to be like on
the day of judgment because this is just
an illusion. This is not reality, brothers and
sisters.
But, Shaitan, he will try to make you
think that it is the real deal.
Time will be killed.
There'll be no more time than any after.
And so it's your time will try to
infect us with this soil cancer,
and the soil cancer can take the form
of resentments,
not wanting to forgive people,
ending there all the time,
being able to, again, engage in all sorts
of unseen and unethical behaviors. If we engage
in illegal behaviors, not just illegal from this
standpoint, from the society standpoint, but illegal from
the standpoint that the Allah
gives us, illegal in the form of the
Sharia.
We're not supposed to be engaging
in selling the pork and the alcohol and
selling the drugs. We're not supposed to be
engaged in lobbying and stealing and and all
sorts of unsealing behavior. We we're supposed to
allow Islam to clean us up.
The prophet said the best out of Islam
are the best in Islam, and the worst
out of Islam are the worst in Islam.
So what you bring to Islam,
it basically you have to do an assessment.
What do I need to get rid of?
When you start to compare yourself. When you
start to compare yourself to the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, to the companions,
and to the righteous Muslims who are around
you all all the in in every city,
all throughout the world.
It's simple mathematics. We have to basically
we have an account and Allah is the
master accountant.
And so if we're engaging in sin, then
we're not paying.
If we're
engaged in intoxicants,
your prayers are not accepted.
Your prayers are not accepted.
And so,
you know, the more you engage in the
intoxicants, then your prayers are pushed out to
being accepted. Imagine if Allah took your sword
in that state.
And so you don't want to bring
the old behaviors
into Islam. If you bring them in there,
you have to treat it. You have to
treat it.
You have to allow the you know, the
Quran to be your medicine. You have to
allow the hadith to be your medicine.
You have to allow the the prayers to
be your medicine. Ramadan to be your medicine.
I remember when our friends started fasting with
Dick Gregory. He challenged us in college. He
came and said, you know, fast for 24
hours. Even with fasting, he said, get the
CIA CIA out of your life. Fast for
24 hours from sunset, Friday to sunset, Saturday.
And when I fasted, the first time and
the second time, I started recognizing that I'm
not eating, but yet I'm being sustained. And
when I was a young
man,
they put me on a whole different spiritual
level just by starting to fast.
And that's why Allah gave us fasting. He
gave fasting to the people who came before
us.
And the year made, I was missing.
Date, I was missing because I start I
start recognizing
something sustaining me.
Because, again, many of us have religion. And
just like we can have Islam as a
religion,
but do we have Islam as a deen?
If we're practicing Islam as a religion, again,
that could be a form of soul cancer,
brothers and sisters.
But if we're practicing Islam as a deen,
then what happens is
we're taking the medicine and the medicine is
taking effect. Just like when we get the
shot, the vaccine for the for the COVID.
Some people have a negative reaction and others,
real
smooth. You know, so what we have to
do is be able
to inoculate ourselves with Islam.
And I know the world and the the
society around
us, they do everything that's anti Islam, anti
what the Quran says. And so we cannot
get sucked into that mess. We cannot be
of those who are,
you know, just basically seeing,
things that's that's that's that's attractive to them
and they they run after it.
A lot talks about, have you not seen
the one
who takes his own desires?
Then would you be responsible
for him?
And what he's saying is
that taking your own desires as your lord.
Because, again, when you put your desires above
what Allah desires for us, then you're taking
your own desires as your lord. If the
law says don't get high, if you get
high, then you worship him at whatever you're
getting high on. If the law says don't
steal, you still, then you worship him thievery.
And if Allah says don't eat certain things,
don't eat during certain times of day, then
we're worshiping whatever the desire is. If Allah
says do not engage in behaviors that are
inconsistent with Muslims and Islam, then we're worshiping
that behavior. That becomes your god.
So what we have to do is really
do an assessment. Use Islam
use Islam
as a way of changing ourselves. Use Ramadan
as a means of assessing ourselves.
Because, again,
we
it is imposed upon us at this juncture.
But what we have to look at is
say, okay. You know, what do I need
to clean myself up the rest of the
year? Because Ramadan is like a mirror.
You know, it lets you see all the
things that you are attracted to.
And then what happens is you spend the
rest of the year working on it. Then
Ramadan comes again. You might get rid of
one thing and get rid of another thing.
And then it it was said that the
expiations are between prayers, prayer to prayer.
Jummah to Jummah,
Ramadan to Ramadan, Umr to Umr, and Hajj
to Hajj. Those are the expiations
to get rid of sins. So we pick
up sin throughout the day, and again, the
more sin we accumulate
just like cancer,
the more cancer soil cancer that we can
have. So if we minimize the sin, it
can minimize the spiritual sickness. If I've said
anything that's inconsistent with what Allah has given
us and what the prophet has taught us,
say, take responsibility for that. If I've said
anything and that you have gained some insight,
all praise is due to Allah.
Again, it's essential that we recognize the diseases
of the hearts can impact us and impact
our soul. And
during this month,
you know, it's not just giving up the
food and the drink and the sleep. It
is a rehearsal.
It is a rehearsal for us to give
up the behaviors that are displeasing to Allah.
It's just a microcosm.
You know, just like when we we are
judged on the day of judgment. You know?
When we break that fast, it's like basically
getting judged.
You know? So each day Ramadan
is like a life
in a micro from a from a from
a concept of a microcosm. So we have
to look at Ramadan. We're fearless. We're not
just saying, you know, I just just wanna
make it to sunset to eat.
But what is the spiritual lessons in Ramadan?
Specifically for our brothers and sisters who are
new in Islam.
Use these tools that Allah has given us
so that you grow and to do. And
I've seen, you know, brothers and sisters come
to Islam
and I've seen them grow
exponentially
just based on your sincerity.
Because if you have sincerity, Allah will give
you the knowledge. Allah will allow you to
learn the Quran. Allah will allow you to
grow and to and to have so much
more, so much spiritual light
that you're blind the the ignorant. That you're
blind the ignorant.
And so we have to be of those
who
can show the difference.
To show the difference. We cannot come to
Islam
and still practice Islam.
We have to be of those who are
basically
showing the way because the people I mean,
many people, they are of certain religions and
they say, well, I'm not practicing. You know,
I may do this and I may do
that. I'm not practicing.
And so we have an ample opportunity to
give dawah to people. We have an ample
opportunity to show people what Islam is and
what Islam isn't. But if you go away
with family and friends still doing the same
thing, what dawah are you giving?
When I was looking at Islam,
I used to say, well, I'm not gonna
be like such and such. I'm not gonna
be like such and such. These were Muslims
that did things
with us when we walked in the streets.
And we said, well, you listen.
And we again, I hear this all the
time. We call them the PTMs, the part
time Muslims.
You know? And so you wanna be a
full time Muslim. In fact, you wanna work
overtime.
You wanna work overtime
and and give you dedicate your whole self
to Allah.
We want to purify
ourselves.
And just we wanna take minimal sins
across the barzakh, the barrier between life and
death. We wanna take minimal sins
because Allah is all forgiving and most most
merciful.
He's all forgiving and most merciful.
And so
if, day of death, we he forgives our
sins that we carry,
then we won't be able to we won't
have to go into the fire. Because in
this in this part of in this world,
when you wanna sterilize something, what do you
do? You boil it. You cauterize it. You
burn it.
And so the fire is designed it's a
purifying fire. It's designed to purify
our souls.
We wanna purify ourselves in this this phase
of life.
It is let's say the sun is
is hellfire cool down so many times. So
you can imagine
what the hellfire would look like. You have
to ask yourself, if a lie gives you
80, 90 years on the planet, can you
maintain
a system
of consistency,
a practice of avoiding the haram
and permitting the halal,
of avoiding the sin and and permitting righteousness?
And that's what we're supposed to be. We're
Muslim. We're those who submit.
And, again, we want to be of those
who are truly submitting and not just be
Muslim by name only.
Because you get certain,
privileges,
certain rights, certain certain,
gifts just by being a Muslim.
But as we say in our prayer, we
want the best in this world and the
best in the hereafter.
For some people who get the best in
this world, you got people again. People making
billions during this pandemic.
That's the best in this world.
But what are they doing with it?
Who are they worshiping? Are they worshiping that
money?
So we have to be those who continuously
strive to
to be the best people that we can
be, to get the best in this world
and the best in the hereafter. And, again,
making money is not haram.
It's what you do with it.
Just like during this this this time, you
know, we're supposed to pay
the zakat al fitter. In next week, we'll
have more information on that.
You know, we'll give him charity.
You'll get exponential
blessings by giving charity during Ramadan,
giving to the masjid to help the masjid.
During this time, we've had tons of bills.
The the bills kept coming even though the
people haven't been coming.
And so we valued safety.
And so it's important,
you know, that you do
what you need to do to help
cure all the cancer in your soul. The
spiritual cancer that's in all of our souls.
And just like
the the the physical cancer,
it can be eliminated.
It can be eliminated, but Islam is the
cure for spiritual cancer. The soul cancer.
That's the cure.
And
I went brothers and sisters to make duet
for brother Abdul Aziz Hegird. He is
dealing with illness,
dealing with the cancer,
and we ask him we ask Allah to
to purify
his body so that he is not stricken
with it again. We also wanna ask our
brothers and sisters to pray for Imam Jamil
In this present situation, we ask a lot
to free him. And we want we'll be
having new information
on activities
designed to help free Imam Jamil. And again,
keep him in the doors as well.