Nadim Bashir – Do You Suffer From Low T – Taqwa
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The importance of the month of Ester for learning, training, and preparation for life is discussed. The benefits of taqwa, including the ability to stay away from falling into sin, and the importance of knowing the concept of taqwa, which is the foundation of one's life. taqwa is a sign that one is not a victim of the time and is a connection to others, and it is the only way to be content with what they have. The speaker emphasizes the importance of resolving past mistakes and staying away from certain people to increase one's taqwa.
AI: Summary ©
I I ask Allah
that just as he has gathered us here
today on this day of Jum'ah, in the
month of Ramadan. May Allah
gather us along with our families,
in in the companionship of Rasulullah
and his sahaba
Brothers and sisters, there's always
a time and a place
for everything.
You want to go read a book.
You generally go to the library to go
pick up a book.
And when you go to the library, you
understand that this is a place where people,
they come, they stay quiet, and they read.
You have health concerns,
you go to the one place where everyone
goes to. You go to the doctor's office,
or you go to the hospital.
There's a place for everything, and there's a
time for everything.
Ramadan
is the time
to develop
the one thing that we cannot generally develop
throughout the entire year.
And that is called Because
what happens in the month of Ramadan
is that we excel
in so much good,
And there is a
community,
there is a environment
that has been surrounding us for 30 days
constantly.
30 days of Quran.
30 days of fasting.
30 days of dhikr.
30 days of qiyam.
30 days of sadaqah.
And there is just so much reminders over
and over again.
And not only that, but there are 30
days
where we stay away from fulfilling our desires.
Where we stay away from falling into any
sin that can be destructive.
Whether it is gossip.
Whether it is hurting anyone else. Whether it
is wasting time. Whether it is anger.
So in essence,
the month of ramadan
is a time of the year
where Allah, he gives us opportunities,
and he surrounds us with things that can
help us become successful.
And He creates a situation for us that
we can scale back on the sins that
you and I, we commit throughout the entire
year.
Why does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala create a
situation like this? And more importantly,
Allah has removed
the greatest
obstacle in our life, which is called shaitan.
So that we can focus in these 30
days, and we can develop
the taqwa, the consciousness, and the awareness of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
When you go to We have right here
a police academy.
Every single time you see
police officers
putting down the cones, driving through the cones.
Is the objective the practice in itself?
Or is the objective
that we come here to the police academy,
we practice,
you know, all the skills that are generally
necessary for a police officer
to function at the highest level. We're gonna
come here and practice over here, so that
when real life opportunities,
when real life
situations,
and circumstances
present themselves, I am ready to go.
The month of ramavan is that time to
practice.
The month of ramavan is that time of
training. So that when Ramadan is over, you
and I, we have gone through a a
serious exercise for 30 years.
A spiritual
exercise for 30 for 30 days, so that
later on after this, when the time of
Shawwal comes, and now no one is fasting,
and people are not reading Quran, and people
are not doing dhikr, and people are not
coming to the masjid. I am from those
few who are still connected to the Quran,
who is still giving their sadaqah, who is
still reading the Quran. This is what the
purpose of the month of Ramadan is.
To develop that taqwa, brother and sisters, you
need to be in an environment, and hence,
Ramadan is that environment.
Now the question of course is that what
is Many people, they say that means the
fear of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I talked
about this very briefly in my last week.
That what are the three objectives of Ramadan,
and I briefly talked about But today inshallah,
in this I want to expand
the what is taqwa, what are the benefits
of taqwa, and how can you and I,
we tell if we have taqwa in our
life, and how can we gain taqwa.
First of all is, what is taqwa?
Many scholars, in fact many sahabah
they have given their own understanding
of what taqwa is.
Says, is to have the awareness and the
fear of Allah
It is to apply the Quran in our
life.
That means that there has to be a
certain presence
of the Quran in our life. Whether we
are reading it, whether we are understanding it,
whether we are comprehending the Quran, or whether
we are trying to apply the Quran in
our life.
And then he says that whatever Allah has
given us to be thankful on that, and
to be content with that.
Because often,
we are not thanking Allah for what we
have, we are usually complaining
about the things that we don't have in
life.
So says
that also means that we are content with
what Allah has given us. Yes, a person
can ask for more, but whatever Allah has
given us, we are content with that. And
then he says to prepare
for the day of judgement. Meaning, that we
say and we do those right things
that are going to put us in a
better situation in the hereafter.
Some based on the request of Umun Khattab
what they said that
basically means that you're walking in a place
where you have pristine clothes on, and there
are thorns everywhere.
And the way you are so careful of
how you maneuver through that garden, and you
make sure that your clothes do not get
caught up into the thorns, that is what
is.
Brother and sisters, is overall
the ability
to stay away
from falling into sin.
Whenever sin presents itself to us, we say
that Allah is the one that I owe
everything to. And Allah is the one who
has given me everything. And for Allah's sake,
I will stay away from that sin. And
we stay away from that situation.
This is what is.
A person,
thus greater the they have,
the greater
the they have, the more they're gonna be
able to stay away from sin. And a
person, when they have okay?
Or which you can call it low t,
okay? Not that t,
Okay? When you have low
then on that situation,
any situation that can take you away from
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, a person would choose
that option.
Brothers and sisters,
when we observe the life of the Prophet
when we go into the Quran,
it is so clear, it is evident as
daytime
that the only way that you and I,
we can benefit from the Quran is through
taqwa.
This is why we need to apply taqwa
in our life. Because if we don't have
taqwa,
then there's no way we can go into
the Quran.
It's as if you come to a mansion,
and the only way you can benefit with,
you can only benefit of what's inside the
mansion, is you have to go through the
door. You have to unlock that door. That
key is called
Tapuwa. The only way we can get into
the Quran, the only way we can benefit
from the Quran, and the only way the
Quran can have an impact in our life,
is through taqwa. A person who does not
have taqwa, they'll be truly deprived. Though they
may read the Quran, but they will be
deprived from the essence and the beauty of
the Quran.
We also learn about the importance of taqwa.
That when it came to the prophet
often study his ahadith.
You We will learn that often whenever he
gave any kind of advices,
he will begin with When
it came to
and he is about to leave, the prophet
he gave him 3 advices.
The very first advice Think about it. Imagine
someone is leaving, You may not even see
them again, and you're giving them 3 advices
that they will hold on forever.
Think about the magnitude of those 3 advices.
And not only that, but out of the
3 advices,
the very first advice has the most amount
of weight. And the prophet
out of all the advices that he could
give, and he chose 3. And out of
those 3, the very first one that he
mentioned was about taqwa. He says,
Be conscious of Allah
wherever you are. This is what the prophet
he
is telling.
When the prophet
he is
standing
in front of the masses
on the day of Arafah,
on the day of Arafah, in his only
hajdah he conducted,
and he performed,
what was the very first advice that he
gave to the Muslims? Understanding
that he may not be alive next year.
He could give so many advices, and he
has to choose the right advice.
Brothers and sisters, his khutbah is well known.
But the very first advice that he gave
is the fact that the ummah has to
be conscious
and aware of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
He imparted
taqwa on the ummah On his own ummah
Not only that, but we find subhanallah,
even later on, after the time of the
Prophet
whenever
Abu Bakr radiya allahu anhu would give advices,
he would always begin with
Whenever he will begin a khutba, he will
begin
with When Umar ibn Khattab radhiyallahu an, he
will write letters to his governors,
telling them how to run their affairs.
The very first thing that Umar ibn Khattab
will write in all of his letters.
In all of his letters is
Be conscious of Allah
The one who puts you in this position,
O governor, is Allah
And it comes with a responsibility.
So brothers and sisters,
when we see the pro Allah
emphasizing on taqwa, when we see Rasulullah
emphasizing on taqwa, and reminding people about taqwa,
and giving parting
advices, and beginning with taqwa. And the khulafa
rashi'dun
will remind each other about taqwa. And not
only that, but even the olema, and the
tabi'on, and the tabi tabi'on. Afterwards,
whenever they would give advices to each other,
they would begin the advice.
Not at the end, they would begin the
advice with
taqwa. Why?
Why taqwa?
Because without taqwa,
we have no understanding, and we have no
awareness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And Allah
is the core of our entire life. If
I don't have a core in my life,
then what direction do I have in my
life? What focus do I have in my
life? So this is why brothers and sisters,
we have to always keep in mind that
taqwa is the most important thing in our
life. And as a prophet
he mentions in a hadith that
a man came, he says, he says that,
O sunni You Rasulullah,
Give me an advice You Rasulullah.
What did he say? He says,
I advise you to be conscious of Allah
And then he says,
This is the foundation.
Taqwa is the foundation
for all the
and all the good that we can possibly
imagine. So this is why brothers and sisters,
it is so important
that we don't trivialize
the concept of taqwa. If I have taqwa,
no problem. If I have taqwa, alhamdulillah.
If I don't have taqwa, no problem. No.
We have to take this taqwa concept and
this idea
extremely serious.
Now the question is,
how can I tell if I have taqwa
or not?
How can I tell if I have taqwa
or not?
First of all, is that there are many
things that we find in the Quran. I
will quickly just share only a few. First
of all, is that we find
that in the Quran Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
he talks about people who go through difficulties
in life.
And when they go through difficulties in life,
either they're gonna come closer to Allah, or
they'll become distant from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
As Ibn Qayb
mentions,
a man asked him that how can we
tell a difficulty
is a rahma from Allah or is it
an adab from Allah? How can I tell?
Because people will say that, No. It's a
rahma. Some people say, It's an adab. Ibn
Al Qayiv, he gave a very beautiful answer.
He said,
if the calamity,
if the difficulty
increases you in religiosity,
if that difficulty brings you closer to Allah,
and it connects you to Allah,
then that difficulty was a rahman from Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. And if that difficulty
takes you away from Allah, and you become
ungrateful to Allah
and you decrease in your religiosity,
then that
and calamity
has been an ada for you. When we
go into the stories of the Quran, every
single story in the Quran, especially in terms
of the are all about difficulties.
But I wanna draw your attention
to a particular verse in Surah Yusuf.
Think about the Think about first of all,
Yusuf alaihis salam
his entire life.
As a child being hated by his own
brothers. Thrown into the well.
Sold into slavery. Not only that, but when
he's being called to commit haram, he says
and he runs away. A person could say
that, You know what? I've been a victim
all my life. Now if I commit haram,
it's absolutely fine. No. He did not victimize
himself. He said that if there's a situation,
no matter how much I've been the victim,
but if there's a situation that I'm being
called towards haram, I'm gonna run away from
the haram. Not only that, but in order
to protect himself,
he put himself in difficulty, and he stayed
in prison. Not just for a week, not
for a few years, many years.
After all this, after all this, then Allah
brought him into 'izzah. And Allah
united
Yusuf alaihis salam with his brothers, with his
parents. And not only that, but they admitted
to their mistake of how they treated Yusuf
alayhis salam. What does Yusuf alayhis salam say?
What did Allah say about Yusuf alayhis salam
at the end of the Surah? He says,
Whoever has the consciousness of Allah
and they are patient.
Then Allah will never let their efforts go
to waste. So the very first sign of
having taqwa is that when we go through
difficulties in life, understanding
that this is part of the temporary
life, and the eternal life insha'Allah. If I'm
going through difficulties today, Allah
will give me relief in the hereafter.
And hence we are We come closer to
Allah. Another sign of taqwa is that those
who give sadaqa,
those who give sadaqa
in the times of good, and in the
times of difficulty. No matter what the situation
is, these are people who are always giving
for Allah
Another sign of taqwa are those people, that
when people make them angry and upset,
the Allah
says, These are people who suppress their anger.
Does not only mean that a person unleashes
upon the other person, and now when they
have run out of all energy, then they're
gonna take a step back and say, I'm
gonna control my anger. No, that is not
what controlling the anger means. This is not
what
means that you suppress the anger in such
a manner
that it's not even evident on your face.
There are There are no signs
of any anger.
This is called ultimate suppression.
You suppress your anger in a certain degree.
Another sign of is,
that when a person does commit a sin,
because we all are human beings at the
end of the day. Yes. We will commit
sins, but a person who has
is a person that when they do commit
the sin, or they commit a transgression against
themselves,
they turn right away to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. So these are just a few signs
that we find in the Quran, that these
are sort of a litmus test for all
of us. That am I amongst those who
have taqwa or not? These are the things
that we find in the Quran.
Another important aspect of taqwa is,
what are the benefits? What do I get
from taqwa?
If I am cautious about Allah
If I stay away from sin, if I
give for Allah, if I suppress my anger,
if I When I commit a sin, I
turn to Allah
If I have in my life, if I
have all this good,
what do I get in return from Allah
First of all, is Allah says in the
Quran,
Allah loves those people who have taqwa in
their life.
Can you imagine
if a person says, I love you.
Or someone says to you, I love you.
It is not a superficial love.
It could be a superficial love. But when
it comes to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, there
is no such thing called a superficial love.
When Allah says, He loves a person,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves a person. When
Allah loves a person, everyone loves that person.
And when a person is loved by everyone,
though you may not have the materialism
as others, but wallahi, if you are light,
and you are cherished, and you are valued
by others,
then that is the most important thing that
a person Many people they want in life.
It's just to be connected to others. If
Allah loves,
other people will love also. We also find
in the Quran,
the most is the most dignified person.
The most dignified person is not the person
based on the color of their skin,
or the language they speak.
Yes. There are other religions where they have
caste systems.
Our deen does not have a caste system.
The question is, who is the most dignified
in the eyes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?
It's not based on our
our economic and our financial status. It is
not based on our race, or the language,
or the color of our skin. But rather
is
based on how much we have to Allah
Allah says,
We also find that people who are struggling
with
money and finance,
Allah
says in the Quran,
Often we apply for jobs and so forth.
But a person who has Allah
will bring them opportunities from places
they cannot even possible imagine. You thought that
you will not get a job, but you
got a job just like that. How? Because
some And sometimes, it has to do with
a lot with our taqwa. A lot of
times people are saying that I have too
many difficulties in my life.
I have too many difficulties in my life.
How can I bring ease into my life?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
Who has Whoever has taqwa in their life,
Allah
will all make make their make their affairs
easy for them. So these are the benefits
of taqwa.
I ask Allah to
make us from amongst those who have taqwa
and will apply taqwa in their life.
The last part when it comes to taqwa.
We talked about the importance of taqwa.
We talked about how to see if we
have taqwa or
not. The third thing we talked about is
that what are the benefits of taqwa. The
last thing is, what do we do if
we are suffering from low tea? What do
we do if we're suffering from lote Taqwa?
First of all, is that it always begins
with a mindset.
It always begins with a mindset.
I have to make the intention internally myself
that I want to come closer to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
I want to be from those who that
Allah wa ta'ala loves.
So that is the very first thing that
a person has to do. See a lot
of times what happens is that we feel
like everything has to be set up for
us in order for us to attain taqwa.
Well, as it is right now, if you
think about Ramadan, the whole stage has been
set up for us. Everything has been done
for us. An environment has been created for
us. Now the the ball is in our
court. The choice is in our hands. This
is where we need to do come forward.
Allah has done his part. Now we have
to come forward and make a strong resolve
that I have to bring taqwa into my
life. Another important way
to to bring and increase our taqwa
is that often
when people commit sins, they are surrounded by
certain people, or they are in a certain
situation.
So the most important thing is, that if
there is a particular person, or you are
surrounded by certain people that always take you
away from Allah
They make you forget about the akhirah, that
in that situation we must stay away from
them. This is the only way. We find
this in Surat Kahf also. When it comes
to protecting your faith, you have to be
in the company of those who are going
to remind you of Allah. We have to
be in the company of those who are
bring us closer to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So hence, we have to be surrounded
by good companionship.
Additionally, if there are there is a certain
if there is a certain situation
that can bring that can take us away
from Allah, that can
trigger a
trigger within us committing a certain sin, then
we stay away from those kind of situations.
So the very first one is the resolve.
The second one is making sure that we
stay away from anyone that can be a
trigger or a place that can be a
trigger. And finally, the most important thing is
to always make dua to Allah There's
Rasulullah he would often
ask for taqwa. So these are three things
that we can do for anyone who is
suffering from low taqwa.
And and especially when we find ourselves coming
into the month of Ramadan. Majority of us
are suffering from this. Let's use this opportunity.
Let's try to keep all these things in
mind, insha'Allah. And let's try to increase our
taqwa, so that after Ramadan,
when everything has gone back to normal, we
are still amongst the few whose taqwa is
at a high level. I ask Allah
Allahumma
Allahummainna
Straighten lines, fill in the gaps. There's still
ample amount of space inside the main hall.
Brothers in the back two rooms, please make
sure you're coming inside the main hall.
Brothers in the in the multipurpose hall, please
make sure that the lobby is full first.
Come inside.
Brothers in the back two rooms, please make
sure that you fill up the main hall
first.
Sisters, straighten lines, fill in the gaps.
Please make sure the rows are straight. The
rows are complete, sisters.
And inshallah, after salat, I just need only
just 5 minutes of your time, inshallah.