Nadim Ali – The Forgotten
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AI: Transcript ©
And do not be like those who forgot
Allah, so he made them forget themselves.
It is they who are truly rebellious again,
and and do not be like those who
forgot Allah.
So he made them forget themselves.
It is they who are truly rebellious.
And what we wanna just talk about
today and just talking about the forgetful and
and forgotten,
you know, for the most part. Because when
we see things
that are happening in the overall society that
are inconsistent with what a law would have
us do. You know, we tend to talk
about it. You know, the different types of
things that's going on that's totally against what
Islam
has
even given us. And so we have to
understand that these are people who have forgotten
the law.
You know, we look at this from a
sort of the hardship that I had 19.
And the largest clearly says,
you know, don't be like those people.
You know, when we
the the the Hadith says that when you
follow a people,
you know, you are of that people. And
so we have to basically
start to assert ourselves as Muslims
and remember a lot consistently. And then in
this eye of the law warns us
not to be like those who forgot him.
Because as a result, they forget themselves.
And you hear about the but the I
have where it says that
a lot
you know, again, he does not change the
condition of people until they change what is
in their hearts. And then shaytan, he is
our vowed enemy,
and he will make you forget. That's his
that's his big,
his big,
tool that he can use against us, that
he makes us forget a lot.
It is said that shaytan goes through our
system like blood, and we don't fill our
blood for the most part.
He goes through our system like blood and
before you know it, you know, you've engaged
in behavior that's inconsistent with what Allah would
have you be engaging in.
And then we get that sense of shame
over us. The shame and the guilt.
And with the scholars of psychology says that,
you know, you know, guilt is when you
say I I made a mistake. Shame is
you say I am a mistake.
And that's where you get people. They get
to a point where they feel so much
shame that they become suicidal. And I've ran
into Muslims in the work that I do
who became suicidal.
Even in a country like Saudi Arabia, there
were suicides over there. You talking about demons,
monsters all around, scholars all around. But yet,
she time
he basically
caused the person who was dealing with mental
health issues
to kill themselves. So
we have to recognize that we're human beings
first.
And as Muslims, Allah has given us this
beautiful book.
It's a rule book for we should be
living. Again,
let's not be like those who forget Allah
because the law will make you forget themselves.
And again, this is a stern warning
against heedlessness
and taking the laws remembrance for granted.
Remembering the last
is not just
victory, not just engaging in vicar, you know,
a 1000 times, 2 1000 times, a 1000000
times. I mean, that's a part of of
our team.
But we have to
recognize and remember a lot 247365
in all the things that we do.
You know, and again, what happens is that
will raise
your level of consciousness, your level of god
consciousness. It'll increase your taqwa.
It'll increase your humility because, again, you're walking
as one who is
in the presence of Allah
as it says that he's closer to us
than our jugular vein. And then that consciousness,
it seeps in and it helps
us to change our behaviors.
You know, we have to have that level
of consciousness of the creator and all the
things that we do and the work that
we do and how we deal with each
other, how we deal with our families.
Because, again, that's the dollar.
Because the people outside of these this room,
for the most part, have forgotten a lot.
And we, you know, even though they may
not know anything about Islam,
we remind them of Allah
from the visual aspects.
So we have to get to the point
of reminding them verbally.
We have to increase the dollar.
And not just bringing people Islam in Islam,
just like putting, you know, notches on your
belt. Oh, I've got this many shahadas and
that many shahadas. But how many people
have you taught Fatihah?
How many people have you taught at least
Iqlas?
How many people have you encouraged to be
consistent in going to the Masjid, and are
you there,
when that person is there?
Because
again, throughout the country,
the Masjids,
they're suffering for the most part.
And so what happens
is that, you know, people take them for
granted. You know, we have numerous
Muslims, you know,
but it's like,
what the Hadith talks about, they said that
the Muslims
will be numerous, but the fear of the
Muslims
will be gone.
The fear of the Muslims will be gone
because at one time,
Islamic
orders, Islamic countries, Islamic provinces were the super
powers of the world.
And so it's not about just having power.
It's about, you know, how do you use
that power?
It is said, somebody did research, and they
said if the Muslims just pay zakat, there
will be no more poverty amongst the Muslim
lands.
And then they said they went even further
and say there would be no more poverty
in the world if the Muslims just pay
zakat.
That's how much zakat is not being paid,
because it can't be enforced.
And Abu Bakr who was now mandated when
the people didn't want to pay zakat, you
know, he was going to go to war
with him.
And so
we have to start with the basics.
And if Allah
raises
a Muslim
group that's
strong,
and
strong not only spiritually, but materially and politically,
then what will be in our hearts? It's
not again, it's not just about a land
grab. It's not just about having riches and
resources.
It's about
doing things for the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
And we have to start small
because if Allah gave us that today,
you know, what is our characters? What did
the prophet say? He only came
to improve character.
We have to recognize that Islam is a
holistic way of life, mind, body, and spirit.
It's not just a religion.
You can't just
say, oh, I'm Muslim and then go out
swinging dope. I'm Muslim and and go out
and and and and and engaging in robbery
and illegal behaviors,
You know, because
that's one of the things that has been
the problem that the Muslims have just, you
know, wore the Islam on their sleeve and
and didn't get into,
you know, the the the depths of Islam.
And Islam is an ocean, it's not a
creek.
It's an ocean.
We're bombarded
with things like social media, technology, material possessions,
which can lead us away from the the
path of righteousness. And so again, we have
to, I'm not saying not to engage in
those things, but use them as the tools
which Allah has given them, to be used
for. Use them as righteous as you get
engaged in digital Dawah if that's your
thing. You know,
Allah reminds us in the Quran
that remembrance of him is the key
to success. To success and not only in
this life,
but in the hereafter. And again, remembrance is
not just the act of vickering, again that
is a part of our deen.
It's not apart from our deen.
But
we have to, our behavior should be 1,
1 series of dhikrs.
Allah says in the Quran, and remember your
Lord within yourself in humility and in fear,
without loudness of voice in the morning and
in the evening. And do not be of
those who are neglectful.
Don't be of the neglectful or the forgotten.
Remembering Allah again is not just
limiting, let me, limit, limiting
your actions to justify daily prayers. Again, it
also includes making duah,
Making duah. That's the power, as the Sheikh
Mohammed,
Sharif, he talks about the
the smart doers, you know, he said that
the many of the enemies of Islam have
smart bombs,
but we have smart doer. We can aim
those doers,
you know. But we can basically,
you know, aim the du'a so that the
people of Palestine, and the people who are
dealing in Sudan, and the people who are
struggling in Niger, and all throughout the world
where the Muslims are suffering, we have to
use the tool of du'a.
Reading the Quran, engaging in dickering throughout the
day,
throughout the day.
You know by doing so again, it strengthens
our connection with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and
it keeps our hearts focused
on the purpose of our existence. Because again,
why were we created?
Why were we created?
He said he only made men and gen
but to worship him.
So in between that, you know, we can
engage in you know, getting getting a livelihood
and dealing with our families and dealing with
the the work that we do and volunteering,
but don't forget the worship.
The worship is essential. The worship is essential.
We don't want to be of the forgotten
or the neglectful.
Because all of the the ills of the
overall society that's infecting the world
is as a result of people forgetting Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. If I've said anything that's
inconsistent with what Allah has given us, I
take full responsibility for that. And if I've
said anything in which you have gained some
new insight, as always, all praise belongs to
Allah.
O Allah send peace and blessings upon our
beloved prophet Muhammad and his family and his
companions and O Allah increase his honor and
elevate his station and grant him the highest
place in paradise and bless him with your
divine mercy and O Allah bless us with
his intercession on the day of
judgement and forgive our sins.
Again, forgiving Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
can lead to dire consequences
both in this life and in the hereafter.
And this is a purification stage you know
we have to purify ourselves
to the best of our abilities
at this juncture.
Because again, the Shaytan, he's gonna
attack us on so many different levels.
He's real.
And so we have to understand that Allah
is just as real, or even more real.
He created, he's the creator of the universe.
He's the creator of the universe. And so
that we have to basically up our practice,
up our participation in this, this this deen.
You know there's a story that comes out
the the Middle East and they talked about
how,
this person is it was a yahood who
the Muslim worked for him. And he used
to ask you know, how many people were
at Fajr?
You know, and he would then he would
say, okay, that's many. And then he would
next time he would come and say, well,
how many people were at Fajr? He'd say,
oh, that many.
And, he said, okay. Then the next time
he asked, he'd say, wait a minute, why
do you keep asking me, you know, you're
not Muslim, why you keep asking me how
many people
at at at the Fajr salah?
He said,
I ask you because,
my people have been around your people since
the beginning,
and we've learned not to worry about y'all
until there are just as many people at
Faja as they are in Juma.
So he said we don't we don't worry
about y'all, because y'all not praying, you know,
for the most part. So the people are
not worrying
about us
until we start to basically be more serious.
And that seriousness shows when you shake off
that sleep and you could you come in
to fudge it.
And you're making Naysha and making that effort.
No matter what part of town you're in.
You know, again, at one time, we only
had 4 massages in this city,
and we made an effort to catch we
many of us didn't have cars, and we
would make sure that we would catch the
bus to get to prayer.
And now we, you know, law has increased
our wealth and we we can drive everywhere
and all of that, and we're snoring and
slobbing whenever the island is cold.
So it's important to recognize
that,
you know, that no matter where you are
in this area, it is there's close to
a 100 masajid
in the Atlanta area.
So there's no excuse for not
to be able to to make a congregational
salat. Because again, what is it?
You can you get the blessings of 1
salat by yourself, you get the blessings of
25 to 27
when you when you when you join in
the ranks,
when you join in the ranks.
And so specifically for our young brothers,
you know, that's
one of the things that,
we really wanna emphasize. Make sure that your
your your salat is stronger.
Now we're sharing
something the other day, as we were doing
our morning walk. And I remember one time
I missed
a string of,
of fudges. You know, I got up late.
I was working 2 and 3 jobs, and
I missed a series of fudges for the
most part. And I was older, my sister,
she she she said, brother, you need to
get get to that masjid and make fudges.
I married a fudge making man, and she's
put water on me and didn't stand go
to the other side of the room.
And sister,
it's okay for y'all to, you know, slap
that brother with some water.
Get him out of that house.
Because
if a person loves Allah, if the the
brother loves Allah,
he gonna love you.
You know, if a brother doesn't love Allah,
then the love that he has for you
is gonna be deficient.
And so that's that's that's your insurance, making
sure
that
the brother has
a commitment
to this deen to the point that sacrificing
sleep to be able to get in the
ranks.
Again, when we forget a law, we become
heedless of his commands and
prohibitions, and then our behaviors
change.
What they say, thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Thoughts, feelings, and actions. And so we we
have to
happen in our personal lives such as broken
relationships,
financial difficulties, and lack of peace and contentment.
There's a connection between when you're doing bad
and
what you're doing in regards to the deen.
You know, because what happens is you you
you start to look at, oh things are
going so smooth and you recognize, oh okay
I've been consistent in my prayers, I've been
fasting, I've been given charity, you know I've
been volunteering at the masjid.
And but when
you, what happens is when you're doing really
bad, then what happens is you don't make
the connection. And that's what the shaitan does,
wanna keep you in a desolate state.
So we don't wanna be of the forgotten.
Forgetting Allah, again can lead to spiritual decay
and weak iman.
Spiritual decay and weak iman. Again when we
neglect our relationship with Allah, again we become
vulnerable to the wit, to the whispers of
shaitan.
Again he seeks to, you know he needs
company in hellfire.
And again, that hellfire is the purifying fire,
and there's a hadith about the last person
coming out of *.
You know, but
if Allah say you go to * for
a minute,
and the minute to him is like a
thousand of our years,
you know, and you living in that fire.
I mean, it's real.
Because in this phase of life, when we
want to purify something, what do we do?
We boil it. We boil it.
And so we want to purify ourselves in
this plane of life
and have less filth.
When we
go to the next plane of life, when
we go past the barzakh, the barrier of
life and death.
The Prophet Muhammad
said, the strong believer is better and more
loved by Allah than a weak believer.
While there is good in both, the strong
believer is better and more loved by Allah
than the weak believer while there is good
in both.
And again,
this strives encourages us to strive for excellence
in faith.
You know, to be stronger in our iman.
And again, we don't wanna become lazy or
complacent.
We want to continuously seek ways of improving
and deepening our connection with Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
We recognize in today's world there are many
examples of consequences
of forgetting Allah.
Again, the moral decay that we
see, you know, the confusion,
and what does it say? Satan will make
your deeds fair seeming to you. The violence
in many societies,
you know, people have forgotten Allah's commandments. They've
abandoned the Allah's commandments, not only in this
society, but also in the Muslim world. You
know, again, we see the negative effects of
materialism,
consumerism,
where the people again are more concerned with
acquiring wealth, possessions,
than remembering Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and fulfilling
their religious
obligations. Because again, you can read the history
how when the Muslims were tight,
Allah gave them the whole world.
And then as they started to just chase
the materialism,
then Allah slowly
caused
an erosion
in the Muslim empires.
Again, when we get serious, you'd be surprised
what Allah
will give us.
And I remember I was when I was
visiting when I was living in Saudi Arabia,
I remember
a sheikh came to me and he said
it is it is our prayer that Islam
will come
from the west.
And
I really didn't comprehend what he was saying
at that time, but but he was saying
basically that,
you know, a lot of the Muslim society,
they're just practicing the religion of Islam, not
the deen of Islam. And deen translates into
complete way of life. And once we
Islam. And deen translates into complete way of
life. And once we start practicing the deen
of Islam, Allah will give you the kings,
the keys to the kingdom.
Again, all the problems in Gaza, Sudan,
Niger, anywhere where Muslims are suffering
will be dealt with because there will be
certain leadership.
But it starts with
basically increasing the prayer, increasing the charity.
And then that will help us to be
empathetic towards our brothers and sisters throughout the
planet. The prophet
said that the believers in their mutual kindness,
compassion,
and sympathy
are like one body. When one of the
limbs suffer, the whole body responds to it
with wakefulness and fever.
You know, again, we want to take heed
to the warning in in the ayat from
Surah Ta Hasher,
Hasher.
And strive to remember Allah in all aspects
of our lives. Let us again make a
conscious effort to engage in dhikr throughout the
day, read the Quran regularly and to perform
the prayers if you can in congregation.
If you can't make sure you're even making
it throughout the day.
Again, when we do that, we will again
strengthen our relationship with the law.
And again,
you know, we want to seek Allah's forgiveness
throughout the day. Seek his mercy and attain
not only success in this life, cause not
just about
having wealth in this life,
but true wealth is that contentment in this
life. And then
getting the
the the beauty of the hereafter
that we get attained gender.
And there are levels of Jannah, but based
on your activity here, is gonna be a
determining factor on if Allah gives you Jannah,
what level of Jannah you will be on.
So we have to
recognize that this Islam is real.
It is real. It is not just a
religion.
And we have to avoid the shirk. We
have to avoid the mushrik. We have to,
again, try to teach our family.
And then when people create a Dawah moment
for us to be able to give the
Dawah as to, you know, why you do
this? Why you don't eat that? Why do
you dress like this? Those are Dawah moments.
But
as
a lost
until we change what is in our heart.
And so we have to ask ourselves daily,
are we practicing
the deen of Islam
or are we practicing the religion of Islam?
Again, if I've said anything that's inconsistent with
what Allah has given us, I take responsibility
for that. If I've said anything in which
you have gained some new insight. As always,
all praise belongs to Allah.
Our lord, take us not to task if
we forget or fall into error. Our lord,
lay not on us a burden such as
you did lay on those who have gone
before us. Our Lord lay not on us
a burden which we do not have the
power to bear and overlook our faults, and
forgive us and have mercy on us. You
are our protector and grant us the victory
over the disbelieving people. He come in me,
father.