Nadim Ali – Who Are You
AI: Summary ©
The importance of not letting fear and anxiety dominate our lives is emphasized, along with the need to be mindful of our actions. The shepherd and responsible nature of Islam is also discussed, along with the importance of acknowledging natural and organic nature of Islam and seeking seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek seek
AI: Summary ©
Indeed, all 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
ourselves and from our bad actions.
Whoever Allah guides, then there's no one who
can mislead him and whoever Allah causes to
go astray, then there's no one to guide
him.
I bear witness. We bear witness that there
is no deity except
Allah who is unique and without partners, and
I bear witness that Muhammad is his worshiper
and his messenger.
May the 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 judgement.
Or you who believe fear Allah as he
should be feared and don't die except as
Muslims again. Or you who believe Fear Allah
as he should be feared and don't die
except
as Muslims. No mankind.
Be careful of your duty to your rob
who created you from a single soul and
from it created its mate and from the
2 of them, he spread forth many men
and 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 I would keep over you. All you
who believe, fear 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 Allah and the best guidance is the
guidance of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
and the most evil of all affairs are
newly invented matters which has no precedence in
Islam. And indeed, all innovations are straight and
each astray is in the hellfire.
Oh, Allah. Save us from it. Oh, Allah.
Accept our dua.
And when we read this,
each week,
that should be enough.
That should be enough
for
the the proper guidance.
The proper guidance that we are to receive
from Allah. Just like, Imam Shafi'i, Rahim Allah,
he made the statement about Surat Asa. He
said, if only Surat Asa was revealed,
then that should be enough for the guidance
for mankind.
But Allah gave us a whole book, a
whole book.
And inshallah, it's our duty. It's our
job to
bring forth
gems from the book so
the gardens
and water springs of paradise. It will be
said to them,
enter therein, the paradise in peace and security,
and we shall remove from their *
any sense of injury that they may have.
So they will not be like the brothers
facing each other on the thrones.
They they will they they so they will
be like brothers facing each other on this
thrones. No sense of fatigue
shall touch them
nor shall they be ever asked to leave.
And it's a ayat from the Quran.
And
Abu reported that the prophet
said,
there are 7
whom Allah will shade
on the day when there is no shade
but his. And we'll
basically get into the 7, and we're all
familiar with the Hadith about the shade at
7.
And the question I wanted to ask brothers
and sisters
today,
based on this Hadith,
who are you?
And I ask myself that, who am I
based on this particular hadith? And this is
then that's one hadith
when you read about the shade at 7
and it's
online, it's offline, it's everywhere.
When you read it, I just want you
to compare yourself because again, that's the yardstick
that we measure ourselves by.
The companions,
the prophets who who have given us the
message. This is these are the yardsticks that
we have to
basically
determine who
are we. They are the mirrors.
The prophet peace be upon him said that
we should be mirrors of one another
and so
based on the reflection that we see in
each other, what are we seeing and who
are we?
That first person,
the just ruler,
the just ruler.
And is the ruler just one who
rules over a nation?
Or is it a person who also has
responsibilities?
Responsibilities
over people, whether it could be,
supervisor or or a,
employer at a at a job or
it you know, someone who just has certain
types of responsibilities
for other people being just, a just ruler,
but it can also be the ruler of
a country.
It was just like when we look at
all of the corruption
in this country and all these corrupt leaders
that have come forth
in this country.
It's a reflection
of the condition of the people.
The people have gotten so far they they
say this is a Judeo Christian society, but
they have gotten so far away from Judaism.
But they've
gotten
so far away from Judaism as well as
Christianity. They they will promote it. This is
a Judeo Christian society. So there's
so
much corruption, and they're so far away from
what that which Allah would have them be
a part of.
And so you get corrupt leaders.
What is this saying? That the people get
the leadership that they deserve.
And so as Muslims, we have to be
of those who are striving if Allah gives
us responsibility, even if the responsibility
of just our own families.
What's the prophet said?
That the best of you are those who
are best to their family, and I'm the
best of you because I'm the best of
my family.
In the Muslim world, there should be no
domestic violence shelters.
There should be no
elderly homes, old folks homes, or where you
tuck your parents away
in their latter days.
So we should be of those who are
the best to our families. And if if
that's the response only responsibility that we have,
a just ruler.
What did the prophet
said?
Every one of you is a shepherd and
responsible for his flock.
The leader of the people is a guardian
and is responsible for his subjects.
A man is a guardian of his family
and he is responsible for them. A woman
is a guardian of her husband's home and
his children and she is responsible for them.
The servant of a man is a guardian
of the property of his master and he's
responsible for it. No doubt. Everyone of you
is a shepherd and responsible
for their flock.
We all have responsibilities and so we have
to take that responsibility
seriously.
What's the number 2? Number number 2 person
who's will receive shade on a day in
which there will be no shade.
And so the youth who grew up in
the worship of Allah,
a youth who grew up in the worship
of Allah,
I took shahada on my 23rd birthday
and
me and some of the brothers were talking
this morning about
the things that happened. And when my kids
talked to me, what were you like when
you were growing? I said, I don't talk
about anything before 1978.
You know? You know, they they they didn't
know the answer when they asked me a
question.
I was raised in the projects,
and
I pray I wish that Allah had given
me Islam
during that time, the early days.
And for those of you who have come
into Islam in their youth, and, I believe
there'll be a youth or 2 taking shahada
today.
And so
you get an opportunity to get so much
good done
remembering your lord in your youth,
Not to take Shahada as a means of
a gang initiation or or just to to
the popularity of no. In Philadelphia, that's been
one of the things that you have people,
you know, Islam has become more like a
fad in in that city and like other
cities. And so we have to get away
from that because
when we took Shahada, and again, those of
us who were
dealing in in in in in all sorts
of illicit things in the streets,
and we recognize hypocrisy
because we were
committed religiously to the corner.
And so when we wanted to come to
a religion, then
we wanted to be serious about it just
as serious as we were about the seeking
the world.
And so we recognize people who were hypocrites.
And so if we wanted to come to
Islam,
then we didn't wanna be hypocritical about it.
And so it's important
young people who are coming to Islam, Islam
should facilitate a change in you. And I
use the term intrinsic change. Intrinsic means an
inside change.
Extrinsic. You can wear a kufi. That's outside.
You can wear a kufi. You can wear
a thole.
What did Imam Jamil used to tell us?
You can dress up a dummy, but he's
still a dummy.
You know, and so you look wise. Another
saying he had, look wise and to do
otherwise.
And so we want to have intrinsic change.
The prophet said about
everything can rust.
Even the heart can rust. And that which
removes the rust from the heart is the
remembrance of Allah And
so
if we had the opportunity
to be a Muslim in our youth, you
have the opportunity to do so much good,
as well as you have the opportunity to
do so much wrong.
Because a person could be a Muslim and
still engage in wrong.
I was sharing this morning about a story
I read about a man who became a
Muslim. I believe he was, in the Netherlands
or somewhere, and he became a Muslim, but
he got Dawah in the shooting gall gallery.
If you know what a shooting gallery is,
where people shooting heroin. He was a heroin
addict,
and he was there with another person shooting
heroin.
And and the guy, he gave him his
name and said, what kind of name is
that? And he I think the brother was
from Morocco. And he said, yeah, I'm a
Muslim,
but,
you know and he explained to him what
Islam was. He said, what I'm doing now
is not Islam. I'm a bad Muslim. I'm
a bad Muslim.
And
this person who went out and sought more
about Islam, he became a Muslim. He got
off drugs and everything. We don't know what
happened to that person. This person gave him
Dawah in the dope house.
He's still a Muslim
because guess what, brothers and sisters? There'll be
Muslims in the hellfire.
And you say the hypocrite gets to the
depths of the fire
because the hypocrite,
you know, they will basically,
you know, say, you know, oh, well,
the the haram things I'm doing are okay.
They'll try to make wrong right and make
right wrong.
And so we have to be of those
who will be the best Muslims that we
could possibly be. And then as long as
you have breath in your body, there's an
opportunity
for change. And again,
intrinsic change
is more valuable
and more more welcome than the extrinsic change.
Just dressing the part is not enough. You
have to basically live the part.
Because Islam is a way of life. It's
not just a religion. Religion is just a
set of rituals. The the aspects of Islam
which are religiosity,
but also there's aspects of Islam which means
that you are living a way of life.
Deen means way of life. In other words,
you are making a total change,
not a partial change.
And and we change just like the seasons
change. Allah say he is El Latif, the
subtle. He will change you.
You know, just like I'm looking at old
pictures of me. I remember one time I
ain't had no
gray. No gray. And I look back,
look now and see all the gray and
look at the old pictures in the same
way. But inside, how much have I changed
from that person that took Shahada on March
29th
in
1978? How much have you changed?
Who are you?
Who are you?
We have to ask that question each and
every day.
Because you have Muslims as the the Hadith
says that, you know, that there will be
some people who will do the work of
Jannah and get a hand span. And the
scholars say a hand span is from the
elbow to the fingertips.
A hand span to Jannah and start doing
the work of the hellfire
and get the hellfire.
And there will be some people who will
do the work of the hellfire all their
life,
get a hand span
to the hellfire
and start doing the work of Jannah,
and they'll get Jannah.
So it's how you go out of here
that matters.
Remembering your lord and your youth, remembering
Allah every day.
The prophet, peace be upon him, said, keep
your lips moist with the remembrance of Allah.
It doesn't mean that we can't work and
we can't socialize with other people,
but again, just think how much time we
do so many other things.
In the sur,
that I read all every week, surahman,
the refrain, it says,
which of the favors of your lord do
you deny?
And you don't appreciate breathing until you can't
breathe. You have labored breathing. You don't appreciate
walking until you no longer have the ability
to walk or talking until you no longer
have the ability to talk or hearing
until you have the no no longer the
ability to hear or seeing until you have
no longer have the ability of sight. Which
of the favors of your lord do you
deny?
And these are some of the basic biological
things that Allah
has given us. But who are you?
How much gratitude
do we show to Allah
We're reflecting on the ayat this morning about
how
was it
there were some street terms we used, but
I won't use that here.
That you are made from a fluid despised,
yet you stand as an open disputant.
We didn't create ourselves.
Allah, He's al Kalik, He created us.
He caused us to be formed in the
womb.
And so we have to recognize the favors
that Allah has given us.
Again, be a good shepherd.
And we'd look at the youth
that we read about in the Quran,
Ibrahim
when the fire was cooled for him, Yusuf
when his brothers betrayed him, the companions of
the cave
who were the remembrance of Allah allowed them
to get out of that cave. And
Ali
Became a Muslim at a very young age.
And even when I was living in Saudi
Arabia,
I used to see people who were born
Muslim.
Maybe never had never remembered a relative that
wasn't a Muslim.
Great grandfather, great grandfather, all the way back
to the time of the prophet peace be
upon him. And they used to say, I'm
a wait till I get old and become
religious.
And I'll just tell him, I'm the first
man that made it past 30
in my family. My 2 brothers died. 1
died at 18. 1 died at 27. You're
not guaranteed
a 105 years.
You're not guaranteed
tomorrow. We will not guarantee the next minute.
Remember your lord in your youth. Remember your
lord in your middle age. Remember your lord
in in the elderly town. Keep
your lips moist with remembrance of Allah.
Don't wait to get old to become righteous.
Number 3,
the one whose heart is attached to the
masjid.
The one whose heart is attached to the
masjid.
And I know we were in COVID,
and during that time, many of the masjids
were shut down.
Well, I think we're a little bit away
from the detriment of COVID.
And many of the masjids throughout the nation
have become more more like mausoleums than Masjids.
A brother came in the other day.
He said, I guess Ramadan over. He says,
me and the Muwaddan and somebody else sitting
in Masjid.
Guess Ramadan over.
And so are we just showing out just
for Ramadan or Jummah?
A day should not go by that you
shouldn't visit some Masjid. You don't necessarily have
to come to our mosque,
but visit some Masjid every day, everyday, especially
for the brothers.
25 to 27 times the blessings are increased
when you when you pray in Jamat at
the Masjid.
But shaytan says, no, you know, chill.
Chill. You know, you can you can pray
here, you can pray there.
And this is one of the things that
we have to look at. We have to
get into a post COVID
type of of worship, an ibadah. You know,
we had certain basically exemptions during that time.
But,
you know,
Allah has lifted that test off of us
for the most part.
And so we need to get into
the proper attitude and be able to start
to visit the Masjid on a regular basis
more regularly
more regularly.
One whose heart was attached to the Masjid.
Again,
you can be broke
and
have your heart attached to the Masjid, brothers
and sisters.
You know,
like I stated earlier, you know, many of
us were attached to the corners, and we
went to the corner religiously,
religiously.
We we thought we would miss something if
we even get off that get on that
corner.
You know,
If we basically put half the energy
in what we sought in the world and
in the dunya and and on the corner,
if we just put half that energy into
our dean,
then we most likely, we all get gender.
We all get gender because you can see
that stuff.
You can see that stuff,
but you can't
see or perceive
what's happening, what's coming next. Just like we
couldn't perceive
what was going on
in the world when we were in our
mother's womb.
We couldn't perceive. That was our world
bouncing around.
And this is just, again, as I mention
all the time, this is just another womb
true life begins once we leave this phase
of life. That's when true life begins.
Anas ibn Malik
reported that the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam said,
from the nearness of the hour
is that the crescent moon will be sighted,
enlarged, and it will be said,
it is the 2nd night
that the mosque will be taken as mere
fairways
and that sudden death will become prevalent.
And so a fairway is just just, you
know, just a play area.
Just, you know, just something that,
you're on your way to something.
In other words, the masjids will not be
taken seriously. And that's these are signs of
the hour.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
he was once sitting
with his most beloved companions Abu Bakr,
Omar
Ali, and Utzmar radiAllahu anhu.
And he said,
I wish I could see my brothers.
And they all started looking around and and
then they asked him,
are we not your brothers?
The prophet replied,
you are my companions,
but my brothers
are the ones that will come after me
and they will believe in me even
though they have not seen me. They will
believe in me even though they have not
seen me. So we who believe
in the prophet's mission
are his brothers.
And we have to ask, do we believe
in the prophet's mission?
Number 4,
2 who love each other
and meet each other and depart
from each other for the sake of Allah.
To who
loved each other meet each other and depart
from each other for the sake of Allah.
Abu Huar radiAllahu anhu
relates to that the Prophet
said, Allah will ask on the Day of
Judgment,
Where are those who loved each other for
the sake of sake of my glory?
Today, on a day in which there is
no shade but mine,
I shall shade them with my shade. It's
a Hadith from Muslim.
Hadith from
And we have to reflect on these. Again,
this is our job description. Who are we?
Who are
we?
Number 5,
a person who is tempted by an attractive
person of high status, but rejects them saying,
I fear a lot. A person who is
tempted
by an attractive person of high status,
but rejects them saying, I fear a lot.
He was just like
a person like Elon Musk or
whoever, you know, the the billionaires and the
trillionaires. They come at you and say, hey.
You know, just just do this and do
that. There was one brother. He, he was
in the in the comedy field, a Muslim
brother, and he was,
going to he was interviewed for a job
on Saturday Night Live.
And he was saying how during the interview,
the man said, oh, I see you Muslim.
And,
he said, yes. He said, well,
if you had to do a skit that
is against your religion,
would you do it? He said, no. The
man said, have a nice day.
Have a nice day. Just, you know, that
he he he he would have gotten the
keys to the kingdom
if he would have compromised his deen.
But he knew who he was,
and he knew who he is. And he,
he went on and got a master's degree
in Islamic Studies as well.
And he he he, you know, he not
only uses comedy, but he also he's able
to,
you know,
drop pearls of wisdom,
you know, you know, on on a weekly
and daily basis. And so, we have to
know who we are, brothers and sisters.
We don't just say that we're Muslim.
Because the law says, don't say that you
believe, but belief has not yet entered your
heart. Only say that you're Muslim, and then
allow again that intrinsic change
to occur.
The prophet
said, by him in whose hand is my
soul,
if you do not sin, Allah would replace
you with people who would sin, and they
would seek the forgiveness of Allah
and he will forgive them.
They would seek the forgiveness of Allah and
he will forgive them. So again, as human
beings, we go into error. We go into
sin, but the important thing is to
seek the forgiveness of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Allah also says that if you are tempted
by shaitan,
then seek refuge
with Allah indeed. He alone is the all
hearing and the all knowing.
And Anas ibn Malik
said that the prophet
used to supplicate,
oh, turner of hearts.
Keep my heart firm
upon your religion. Oh, turner of hearts. Keep
your heart firm
upon
your religion.
Again, seeking refuge
in the law, recognizing that temptations are test
that the law sends to us.
Self vigilance is guarding oneself.
And then how what do we
do quietly? You know, we have to wake
up before Fajr and pray the rakats of
the tahajid.
Indeed,
Allah says that shaitan whispers to those mindful
of Allah.
And when he whispers,
they remember their Lord, then they start to
see things clearly.
Number 6,
one who spends in charity and hides it
and such that their right hand does not
know what their left hand is given.
And the prophet
said that charity is due for every joint
in every person on every day the sun
comes up. To act justly between 2 people
is charity.
To help a man with this mount, lifting
him onto it or hoisting him up up
to it
is is a charity.
A good word is a charity and removing
a harmful thing from the road is a
charity. This is again from Bukharian Muslim.
And the prophet
also said, when a man's die when a
man dies,
his deeds come to an end except for
3 things. Sadak Hajariyah, in other words, ceaseless
chariot charity,
a knowledge which is beneficial,
or a virtuous descendant
who prays
for them.
A virtuous descendant
who prays for them. Again, that's from a
Muslim Hadith.
Number 7,
One who remembers
Allah in private and weeps.
One who remembers Allah in private and weeps.
The prophet
says that,
he said
when 2 eyes
will not be touched by the fire,
and the 2 are, an eye that has
cried from the fear of Allah and an
eye that has stayed awake guarding for the
sake of Allah. It's again a Trammid I
Hadid.
And so when
the people are holding security, that's again
that's
an eye that won't touch the fire. So
it's important
that we
review
the shaded 7
and see how close we are to any
of them.
And because, again, the shaytan will make us
want to forget
these people, the shaded 7.
Who are we?
Who are we?
If I've said anything that's inconsistent
with what Allah has given us and the
prophet
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,
our praise belongs to Allah.
Remember the again, the shaded 7,
the just ruler,
the youth who grew up
in the worship of Allah, the one whose
heart is attached to the Masjid.
2 people
who love each other for the sake of
Allah.
The person who gives charity
secretly such that their left hand does not
know what the right hand has given. The
person who remembers Allah in solitude
and their eyes fill up with tears. The
one who refuses the advances
of a person who is attracted and of
a high stature
saying, I fear Allah.
And the law says,
and those who keep their duty to their
lord
will be led to paradise in groups
till when they reach it. And its gates
will be opened before them
before their arrival for their reception and the
keepers will say, peace
be upon you. You have done well.
So enter here to abide therein and they
will say all praises
and thanks be to Allah who has fulfilled
his promise to us and has made us
inherit this land.
We can dwell in paradise where we will
know how excellent a reward for the pious
and good workers.
Again, this is from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and that's the message that was given to
us
in the last testament, the Quran.
Who are you?
Who are you? And again, we have to
ask that question each and every day.
And
in closing, just a brother had asked for
us to pray for his paternal uncle who
died in India on Wednesday.
His name is Riaz
Riaz Ahmed,
and we ask Allah to grant him gender
for the good that he have done and
also comfort
those whom he has left behind.
And, oh, Allah, you know, again, allow us
to be guided
by the the the loss of the death
of any of your servants.
Our lord, take us not to task if
we forget or fall into error.
Our lord, laying on another sub 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 give us, forgive us, and have mercy
upon us. You are our protector and grant
us the victory over those who disbelieve.