Safi Khan – Soul Food For College Students Dear Beloved Son Class 12
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of learning to avoid getting into trouble, having a positive mindset, and following worship laws to grow in one's knowledge and worship. They stress the importance of fasting, avoiding harm, and staying away from disrespectful behavior. The speakers also touch on the topic of hesitation and hesitancy to express one's love towards Allah, and the symptoms of disconnection, loss of gratitude, and lack of gratitude that can lead to health issues.
AI: Summary ©
The story of Luqman the wise So again,
if people are unfamiliar with it What I
encourage you guys to do insha'Allah after
soul food is over today Just pop open
the Qur'an and look up chapter 31
Chapter 31, which is a surah called Surat
al-Luqman Surat al-Luqman is about the
advices of a man by the name of
Luqman al-Hakim Luqman the wise, okay To
his son, alright And through this surah, Luqman
a.s. gives extensive advice to his only
son About the ways to grow close to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, okay And one
of the advices that Luqman al-Hakim, that
he gives his son He said, يَا بُنَيَّ
لا يَكُونَنَّ أَدِّيكُ أَكَيْسُ مِنْكَ He says, don't
allow the crow or the bird, the rooster
To be better than you or to outdo
you or out-clever you, okay And he
says, يُنَادِي بِالْأَصْحَارِ وَأَنْتَ نَائِمٌ He says, because
it calls out in the early parts of
the morning وَأَنْتَ نَائِمٌ While you are asleep
So, what he's saying here is That don't
allow like an animal to beat you, my
son Meaning that like, there's a threshold This
kind of honor that Allah has given human
beings That sets human beings apart from all
other creations of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
Actually, subhanAllah, if you guys look in any
of the prophetic narrations When you look at
hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
You'll see a very interesting pattern Whenever the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam talks about animals
in hadith He'll always talk about animals being,
you know, having certain qualities that are good
But then he'll talk about why Allah has
always preferred human beings over them, okay And
the reason as to why is because Allah
has given human beings the idea of ration
and reason, right Animals just do whatever they're
programmed to do Y'all ever thought about
that before?
Like animals just follow their preset software, right
They don't do anything else They just follow
this regimen that Allah has made them with
Human beings have this really incredible ability that
we call agency Agency is like kind of
what we call free will, right You can
choose left or right You can choose up
or down, right or wrong So human beings
have this ability to choose these things, right
And so because of that, when a human
being chooses to do good Their goodness is
so beautiful because they chose that goodness amidst
the evil that they were exposed to So
when a person chooses salah over like watching
a TV show That's an incredible honor because
that human being realized that salah is so
important for me at that moment When a
human being chooses to speak words of goodness
instead of backbiting Although backbiting was an option,
the human being chose something better for themselves
at that moment And so this is why
Allah SWT, the Prophet SAW, they praise the
human being a lot You can be the
best of all creation But at the same
time, if you are not a person that
does what they're supposed to do You can
also be the worst of creation, right So
human beings, I'll tell you one way you
can kind of almost like thematically categorize human
beings Human beings are categorized as potential You
have potential You can rise to the highest
of maqamats, the highest of stations Or you
can be reduced to the lowest of the
lows, right It just depends on the choices
you used to make in your life A
human being who makes the right choices can
be raised higher than the angels But a
human being that makes the worst decisions can
be reduced to lower than even animals So
Luqman is giving his son this advice Don't
allow a crow or a bird to beat
you You have been given this incredible ability
to think further than that animal has So
make the right decisions Then he shares something
beautiful He says وَلَقَدْ أَحْسَنَ مَنْ قَالَ He
says, and it was like when this person
said in an excellent manner And this is
the poem that I wanted to share with
you guys here inshallah If anybody wants to
write this down, it's beautiful by the way
So the poem, it reads, he says لَقَدْ
هَتَفَتْ فِى جُنْحِ لَيْلٍ هَمَامَةٌ He says, and
it's really interesting He says, he references a
bird هَمَامَةٌ همامةٌ by the way is kind
of close to the bird that we call
a pigeon So if anybody's been to like
New York or like you know Medina as
well by the way, like Medina, Mecca is
filled with pigeons So he says لَقَدْ هَتَفَتْ
فِى جُنْحِ لَيْلٍ هَمَامَةٌ That the pigeon called
out in the middle of the night This
bird, it calls out in the middle of
the night عَلَى فَنَنٍ وَهْنًا وَإِنِّي لَنَائِمُ He
says, and this bird is sitting on a
branch And it calls out to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala وَهْنًا in weakness Out of
whatever it needs In the evening this bird
calls out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
وَهْنًا You know by the way another part
in our tradition where the word وَهْنًا is
used Allah uses the word وَهْنًا to describe
the pain that a mother goes through When
she's going through like labor with her child
Allah He says وَهْنًا عَلَى وَهْنًا He says
stress after stress, strain after strain So وَهْن
in Arabic is like this word that describes
like When you're going through a lot of
difficulty in your life I want you guys
to think about that, right What was like
a moment in which you just felt like
it was trial after trial Difficulty after difficulty
Strain after strain What was a moment where
you went through that Think about that in
your life by the way, it'll wake us
up a lot Just think about your difficult
times in your life, okay So he says
that this bird is perching upon a branch
In the middle of the evening Calling out
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala وَهْنًا in
weakness Why do they call out to Allah
in weakness?
Why?
Because in order for a call to Allah
to be beautiful It has to be done
out of the acceptance that you're in a
weak state in comparison to Allah A person,
we talked about this in our dua series
by the way What are one of the
qualifications of your dua to be beautiful?
It has to come from a desperate situation
Or a desperate part of your heart I
cannot call out to Allah sincerely if I
don't feel like I need Allah ta'ala
I cannot call out to Allah if I
feel like I already have everything and there's
nothing else to ask for There must be
this sense that Oh Allah, before you, I
am weak I am humble I am nobody
This is me in front of Allah azza
wa jal I have to humble myself And
I spoke about this by the way in
the dua series when we said That when
you talk to human beings, it's difficult to
present yourself in that stage, right Sometimes, this
is what we talk to people, we say
about them that They have this almost like
an exterior safety net that's built around them
Because they feel like it's a little bit
too dangerous to show your vulnerability to people
around you But what is the reason why
we feel unokay with showing people our vulnerability
Because we feel like we might get taken
advantage of People might call us weak People
might do something to us that we don't
want them to do But in front of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, admitting weakness is
actually an honor It's an honor It's to
say, Ya Allah, I need you I would
be nothing without you So he says that
this bird is perching upon this branch And
it is calling out to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala in weakness وَإِنِّي لَنَائِمُ While I
was asleep وَإِنِّي لَنَائِمُ I was asleep while
this bird outside my house was calling out
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala By the
way, نائم in this particular poem doesn't just
mean physically asleep What's another synonym for asleep
spiritually?
Give me another one What's another adjective that
you can describe a person who is spiritually
asleep?
Give me something Hard-hearted.
Very good.
Anybody else?
Lost.
Very good.
Anybody else?
What about the word neglectful?
Neglectful, heedless, mindless A person who doesn't understand
the value of time A person who is
spiritually asleep They don't care to be spiritually
awake Spiritually being awake means that you take
advantage of each and every moment that you
can communicate with Allah But if a person
is spiritually asleep, they are just completely negligent
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in their
life So you're awake and you're playing video
games in the middle of the night But
you're spiritually asleep You've clocked out of that
segment in your life So he says, this
bird was calling to Allah while I was
asleep And then he says, Subhanallah He
says, I lied I lied to you I
lied to you by Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala's home He's swearing By Allah's home I
have lied to you When I said, That
I was a lover of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala I claimed that I loved Allah
I claimed that I revered Allah, that I
worshipped Allah But it was all talk Why?
So when you look at this word, by
the way There are three components of love
that are very important The first component of
a person who's truly one who loves another
person is that they're sincere in their love
Their love is not fake Their love isn't
fake Because love that is fake, guys, will
eventually fizzle out We know this, by the
way We know this That person that you
liked in high school, didn't last, did it?
A moment of silence for all our fallen
soldiers, right?
That love did not last It didn't last
very long Why?
Because it was done out of selfishness, possibly,
right?
That friend that we were only friends with
because there was some sort of transactional value
in that relationship It didn't last a test
of time Why?
Because it wasn't sincere Now, take that and
turn it into a relationship that was filled
with sincerity The brother that I have The
sister that I have The mother that I
have The father that I have My best
friend that I have That relationship can be
described as aashin Why?
Because it's a sincere type of love Anybody
have any friends in here?
Raise your hands Anybody in here have any
friends that you don't have to talk to
every single week But when you pick up
that phone and you talk to them, it's
like you never left off?
Yeah, those are the ones you keep around
They don't complain that you didn't call them
for a week They just pick up right
where you left off Okay?
This is sincere love The next symptom of
a sincere love is that not only do
you express that love within your heart But
you express it in your speech You express
it in your speech You tell this person
that you love them You tell them that
you love them This is like the tale
as old as time, right?
The people that complain, like, how do I
know that you love me?
You're like, I didn't complain about you, did
I?
Like, no, that's not love, man Love is
like, I care about you, I love you,
right?
When you guys say salallahu alayhi wasalam You
are proving that you love the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wasalam When you say alhamdulillah, subhanallah, allahu
akbar You are admitting that you love Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala Love must be professed
by the tongue You have to speak your
love sometimes Otherwise, how does that person know
that you love them?
You have to speak your love Number three
Number three is that that love that you
profess via the tongue Can never be complete
unless you do actions that follow up that
speech I can tell somebody I love them
all I want to But if I don't
follow up that speech with action Then how
sincere is my love, actually?
Right?
I tell Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, ya
Allah, I love you But I don't follow
up the praise of Allah with any actionable
items in my life I don't pray, I
don't make dua to Him I don't give
for the sake of Allah I don't make
decisions in my life depending upon if Allah
will be pleased with it or not So
that love is cheap So when Imam al
-Ghazali is saying here that كذبت و بيت
الله لو كنت عاشقا He's saying that I
have lied I have lied by claiming that
I'm a lover of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala And he says لما سبقتني بالبكاء الحمائم
He says because if I were telling the
truth I would also cry Not just leave
the crying to this bird outside my window
The bird is crying outside my window and
making dua to Allah But if I claim
to be a true lover of Allah I
would also join that bird in the crying
But I must sleep while this bird cries
So how can I claim to love Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala Subhanallah, it's interesting When
you look at this بالبكاء الحمائم He's comparing
himself to this bird I'll give you an
interesting example of this A person who is
true to the love of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala They will see other people who
worship Allah and want to be like them
You ever seen that in your life before?
You saw someone next to you in Ramadan
And they're crying And you're like, hey, what
did that guy do right?
I want to be like that Anybody ever
walked past somebody who mashaAllah just looks and
feels close to Allah And you're like, how
can I be more like him?
By the way, you're not alone here Everyone
who saw the Prophet was like They were
envious of how close the Prophet was to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala By the way,
can I just establish something really quickly?
Not all sorts of jealousy are bad Sometimes
we think to ourselves that jealousy is a
terrible thing Generally it's not good But there's
a type of jealousy that's actually good for
you Jealousy in which you want to emulate
a person because of what they have or
what they're doing But not have it taken
away from them is actually fine Like if
you see somebody that mashaAllah is really good
with their family And you make dua for
them and you wish well for them But
you also wish that was something that was
a part of your character and your life
That's totally fine The type of jealousy that
is harmful is when you wish for something
to be taken away from somebody else In
order for it to be given to you
So what's the purest form of jealousy in
this conversation?
Is when you see somebody worshipping Allah the
way that you want to worship Allah And
you're like, man, I want that I want
that Guarantee everybody in here You heard some
sort of beautiful qari of the Quran on
YouTube at some point in your life or
Spotify And in your car ride you try
to pull out those pipes You're like, yeah,
I'm going to kind of go ahead and
go a little hudayfi myself in here real
quick Nobody's watching me I'm going to try
to emulate Minshawi and Alhusari I'm going to
try to do this in the car when
nobody else is watching me Why do you
do that?
And when you play yourself back on your
recorder, on your iPhone You're like, oh my
God, who's that animal?
You play it back in real time That's
not me, right?
It's like when you play your voicemail back
in real time Like, but why?
Why do we do that?
Why do we try to copy people?
By the way, anyone who follows the sunnah
of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam Is in
a good way jealous of the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam's relationship with Allah You are emulating
the Rasul Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam You want to
grow a beard like him You want to
walk like him You want to pray like
him You want to make dua like him
You want to treat his family the way
he treated his family This is flattery in
its highest form When you want to be
like somebody, right?
So this person, he's saying That if I
was truly a lover of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala I would also cry just like
the bird outside my window is crying I
want to cry, I want to pray, I
want to fast I want to go to
the masjid like this person visits Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala And then he says He
says, I think that I'm actually sick He
goes, I'm sick, why?
Because I feel like my love I feel
like the love that Allah has for me
I'm not doing the reciprocal value of it
Allah has taken care of me Allah has
given me food Allah has given me water
Allah has given me a family Allah has
given me friends Allah has given me air
to breathe But I'm not reciprocating that love
He calls himself lovesick He says, I think
I'm going through pain in my heart And
then he says He says, for my Allah,
li rabbi I don't cry for him like
the animals cry for him It's such a
very sad poem when you think about it
It's a person who wants to love Allah
Who claims to love Allah But they're not
doing the things that follow up that claim
with action So all in this is to
say is that A person who truly truly
wants to love Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
They will look at the inspirations around them
And try their hardest to emulate them And
try their hardest to set the standards to
that level I will no longer walk by
somebody praying better than me And just be
like, yeah, you know what, I'm good No,
no, I want to be better Islam is
all about improvement Islam is all about improvement
Not necessarily about comparing yourself to other people
But always comparing yourself to yourself from the
past Look at Ramadan for example Ramadan is
a great time of the year to ask
yourself where I was Last year what did
I do?
This year what can I do better?
Islam is a constant journey of self-improvement
Of self-refinement I don't want to be
at the same level forever Because if I'm
at the same level forever It's like a
relationship that's progressing through time But I'm actually
not getting any closer in that relationship I
would hope that a husband and a wife
that have been married for 40 years They
love each other much more than they did
their first year of marriage I would hope
that a parent who had a child And
that child is now 18, 19 years old
That parent loves that 18, 19 year old
much more than they did when that child
was 1 or 2 Why?
Because of course the stages are beautiful But
now you have so much more experience in
the years A person who is a worshipper
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Should every
single year progress in their relationship with Allah
My 9th year of being Muslim should be
better than my 2nd year of being Muslim
Why?
I have 7 more years of experience with
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala now at this
point I should want my relationship to continue
to thrive and to get better My relationship
shouldn't get worse And so we now turn
to the chapter that we wanted to cover
tonight The chapter is about obedience And Imam
Al-Ghazali in this chapter he begins by
saying The essence of knowledge He
said it is to know what obedience and
worship are Two things, he said just learn
two things If you want to know, if
you want to be a person of knowledge
Master two things in your life Obedience and
worship If you can master those two things
you will be a scholar in your own
regard Trust me I know Sheikh Omar is
amazing I know Mufti Kamani is amazing I
know Sheikh Mikhail is amazing But if you
want to be a person who is strong
in their knowledge Understand obedience and understand worship
And how those two line up And he
says here Know You should know that obedience
and worship is to conform to the commands
And stay away from the prohibitions in both
In both word and in deed Okay So
a person who wants to grow in their
ilm They should understand that the highest level
of obedience and worship Is to do what
Allah told them to do And to stay
away from what Allah told them to stay
away from Both in word and in action
Don't just talk the talk, walk the walk
Right Do things that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala wants you to do Stay away from
things that he told you to stay away
from By the way, you know I think
a lot of times subhanAllah This is the
real kind of difficulty as a human being
That has so many flaws in their life
Which is that whenever we're told to stay
away from something We automatically think to ourselves
Well I know better Like why?
Right It's not that bad I can handle
myself I know what my limits and my
boundaries are But subhanAllah when you read one
ayah of the Quran It's going to actually
restructure your mindset When it comes to the
prohibitions of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala he said in the
Quran He said We have not
sent you this Quran to To distress you
To upset you To grieve you The rules
and the regulations of Allah Are not there
to make your life miserable The rules and
the regulations of Allah Is to protect you
from heartbreak and difficulty The next time we
want to do something that we think we'd
enjoy But Allah told us This is not
the best thing for you to do Know
that Allah knows better for you Because Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala wants better for you
than you want for yourself We all by
the way are people who are guilty of
harming ourselves We do On a daily basis
Whenever we choose to disobey Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala We unknowingly harm ourselves We unknowingly
harm ourselves It's like the equivalent of a
person who picks up something That we know
it's going to hurt us and we just
bash ourselves with it Nobody in their right
mind would do it You know subhanallah You
know sometimes like adults You know when we
get to a mature stage in life We
start looking at kids and we're like What
a stupid kid Why would they do that?
But then you realize adults actually harm themselves
in a different way than kids harm themselves
When I see Aya running around in the
house I'm like Aya mama slow down Slow
down And then she's like no And then
she runs like full speed ahead and trips
and falls on her face I'm like You
know like I have this moment where I
just deep sigh But think about how many
times in your own life If you could
watch yourself back and rewind Would you be
like Oh no no no Maryam Maryam Maryam
Please Don't do that Please Oh no no
no Bilal Please please please please please Don't
do that But in the moment when we
get caught up in our emotions And our
shahwah Our desires Everything that we want to
do We actually do ourselves such a disservice
Because we think that these things are good
for us But every prohibition of Allah ما
أنزلنا عليك القرآن لي تشقى Allah didn't give
you these rules in the Quran To bring
about difficulty in your life He gave you
these guidelines in the Quran To bring about
ease in your life Okay So he says
That you know the essence of obedience and
worship Is to comply by the rules and
commands of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Both
in their prohibitions And to do what you
were told to do Both in speech and
in action Okay And he says This means
يعني He says this means That what you
say And do And forsake Should be according
to the laws of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala This is actually a very interesting statement
I'm gonna explain to you guys inshallah a
little bit He says here That everything you
do Or say Or forsake Should be According
to the laws of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala You know what this basically means is?
Two things It means number one Any decision
you take Any decision you take in your
life For just a moment think about Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala Anything you feel Feel
it for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala Sometimes We hate things And our
hate is actually misplaced We hate people that
we shouldn't hate We hate things that we
shouldn't hate There are things that you should
actually dislike for the sake of Allah That
will actually be rewardable for you Dislike lying
Dislike You know Dislike zulm Oppression Hate when
people take advantage of other people There are
things that you can hate that are virtuous
Why?
Because you're hating these things for the sake
of Allah I'll tell you guys Anybody know
what for the sake of Allah means?
For the sake of Allah We just did
a session Just maybe an hour and a
half ago In UNT in Denton And I
said that doing something for the sake of
Allah Is to admit that you're doing something
for a greater reason From whatever you can
think of in your life If I love
somebody And I love them for the sake
of Allah I love them for a reason
that's greater than my own Because your love
can have highs and lows Right?
Are there not people that we claim to
love that we hate like in three days?
Like I love you so much In three
days you're like God, this guy again Right?
You claim to love this friend that you
met last year Then all of a sudden
No, this person's like on the blacklist, right?
Block them on your phone Twitter, Instagram, everything
Like how is that love?
Well When you love somebody for the sake
of Allah That love is sincere Because you're
saying that Allah I love this person For
a reason that is beyond my own ration
And my own reason So when the day
comes That your love that's selfish will fail
The love that you have for the sake
of Allah Will actually carry you through That's
what loving or hating something for the sake
of Allah actually means Okay?
Don't hate things for your own personal reasons
You know what the greatest example of this
is the Prophet ﷺ Whenever the Prophet ﷺ
used to get insulted by the Quraish What
did they used to call him?
Anybody?
Anybody know?
What were the names they used to call
him?
Liar, right?
Kadhab, Kahin, Sha'ir They used to call
him a magician, a poet, right?
They used to call him names and do
this and do that This would never bother
the Prophet ﷺ You know the moment the
Prophet ﷺ would get bothered?
Is whenever they would say something against Allah
That's when he got bothered You can take
shots at me man, I don't care You
can take shots at me I have no
ego about myself But what you cannot take
shots at is my Allah.
Because I will defend Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
I will be the first line of defense.
Not that Allah needs our defense.
But I will be the first one to
defend Allah against whatever you say about Him.
That is a person who truly loves and
hates for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
Right?
Look at the people, you know, when we
think about Gaza and Palestine.
Right?
When we think about the people that are
being oppressed in Palestine.
One of the greatest du'as is, Oh
Allah, protect your worshippers.
Protect your worshippers.
Why?
What are you admitting at this point?
That these people are not just people.
They are worshippers of Allah.
They're unique.
They're unique, they're special.
They have attachment to Allah.
Allah protect the people that worship you in
the way that you deserve to be worshipped.
Right?
So he says here, This means that whatever
you say, you do.
And even if you disapprove or forsake it,
Forsake it for the sake of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Okay?
And then he says, This is like the
example of fasting on the day of Eid.
And the three appointed days of the pilgrims
in the valley of Mina.
And how that is a sin.
Subhanallah, think about this.
And he gives a great example here.
He says, This is why obedience is greater
than whatever you think love is.
Obedience to Allah is true love.
Why?
Because obedience to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
means that on the day of Eid, There's
a hadith, but I'll read it out to
you guys.
The hadith of Umar bin Khattab radiallahu anhu
said, O people, the messenger of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala has prohibited you from fasting
on the days of Eid al-Fitr and
Eid al-Adha.
Now, couldn't a person be like, You know
what, I love Allah so much I'm going
to fast on Eid al-Fitr.
Because fasting is good.
Right?
Fasting is good.
I want to fast.
I just fasted 29, 30 days of Ramadan.
Why can't I fast on the day of
Eid?
Fasting clearly is good.
But the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he said,
Fasting on Eid al-Fitr and Eid al
-Adha is haram.
It's not discouraged.
It's haram.
It's sinful.
Why is it sinful?
Because on those two days, the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, he said, Eid al-Fitr, it
marks the end of your month of fasting.
Eid al-Adha is the day that you
enjoy eating from the sacrifices that you've made.
So it is haram upon a person to
fast on those two days.
Now, a person who's like, Well, I love
Allah.
So I'm going to fast on those two
days regardless.
No, no, no.
A true person who loves Allah, they will
not express their love to Allah in the
way they want to.
They will express their love to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala the way that He wants
them to.
This is like the example of a person
who buys a gift for someone.
And they buy a gift for someone out
of pure thought of what they think that
they should like.
You know what?
I like this type of shirt.
I think you should like it too so
I'm going to buy it for you.
And so then your friend gets the shirt
and they're like, Oh, Jazakumullahu khairan.
I don't really wear that but thank you.
Thank you so much, right?
But then the true friend, what will they
do?
They'll stalk them, right?
I'm just kidding.
They'll think of every shirt or every pair
of clothes that they like and they enjoy
the shoes that they like that they wear.
And they'll be like, No, no, no.
I know this person loves this brand or
they love this type of clothing.
I'm going to get this clothing for them
even if I don't like it at all.
Even if I don't like it at all
because I want to show my love the
way that they deserve to be loved.
That's how you know somebody is a true
beloved of somebody else.
Is if they're constantly thinking about the ways
to please them.
Not the way that it pleases me, the
way that it pleases them.
Because a person can say, Well, I love
Allah so much that I like fasting so
I'm going to fast on the day of
Eid.
But the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam, he said,
No, no.
Allah forbade it on that day.
And if you truly love Allah, your obedience
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will overtake
whatever you think is good.
Your obedience to Allah is going to be
the highest form of showing your love to
Allah.
Okay?
And so he says, at the very end
of this chapter, he says that this is
like the example also of a person This
is like the prayer or to pray in
a garment that is not right to pray
in.
That is not right to pray in.
He says that it appears to be a
form of worship even though what they're wearing
is incorrect.
So they can be wearing clothing that's not
appropriate for salah, but they're like, Well, I'm
praying.
No, no, no.
If you really loved Allah, you would pray
in the garment that Allah loves for you
to pray in when you're praying.
That's it.
It's not about doing things the way that
you think they should be done.
It's about doing the things in the way
that the one who you love would appreciate
it.
This is the whole essence of obedience.
The whole essence of obedience and knowledge and
love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And so I wanted to end with this
inshallah.
I wanted to share a few symptoms of
disobedience because in order for us to truly
understand what obedience is, you must appreciate what
the opposite of it is, right?
What is disobedience?
Why do people disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, right?
If you want to understand what light is,
you have to understand what darkness is in
order to appreciate light.
OK, so what is disobedience?
Where does it stem from?
Disobedience stems first and foremost from arrogance.
We have to accept this.
That if I choose not to listen, to
not obey, it is because fundamentally I think
that I'm too above listening to this person.
I don't need to listen.
I'm better than that.
I don't have to follow the rules.
I make my own rules.
This is the first symptom of disobedience.
And by the way, this was found in
Surah Al-A'raf when Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala was teaching us about Iblis.
Bow down to Adam alayhis salam, right?
Out of respect, bi ihtiram.
Out of respect for Adam alayhis salam.
Not out of worship.
Bow down to him out of respect.
Iblis says, You created me from fire.
You created him from clay.
Why should I bow down to him?
Allah never told you, hey, I want to
hear your explanation as to why you feel
like you shouldn't.
Allah said, do.
Do this.
That's it.
Allah didn't ask for your opinion at this
moment.
OK, so the first symptom of disobedience is
arrogance.
The second symptom of disobedience is an inflated
ego.
You think too highly of yourself.
You think too highly of yourself.
It's like the person that skips people in
line.
They skip people in line.
They're like, yeah, me, I'm a member here.
You know, I feel like I earned my
stripes, you know.
It's like people who sometimes, subhanallah, you know,
one time I saw this person.
Man, it's so sad.
It's sad that this stuff actually happens in
our own communities.
I remember seeing one time I was in
a masjid and it was time for salah.
And this person came in who frequents the
masjid, alhamdulillah.
They come, you know, almost every day for
Salat al-Isha.
But they were late that day.
And the first line for salah was already
like filled by people.
And he crossed through everybody and he said,
I'm a saf al-awwal type of person.
So I need whoever is here to go
to the back and I need my place
in the front.
I said, la hawla wa la quwwata illa
billah.
I know you guys are looking at each
other like, no, I'm telling you, this stuff
happens.
He goes, no, no, no, I'm a regular
here.
This is my spot.
I'm like, no, that's crazy, subhanallah, right.
Ego, ego.
We think too highly of ourselves.
This is a symptom of disobedience.
This is a side effect of disobedience, okay.
Number three.
Number three is ignorance.
A person who is just ignorant of truth.
They just, they don't care.
They don't care about obeying Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
They are completely oblivious to it.
They feel like their life is just fine.
Ignorance is bliss.
Anybody heard that phrase before?
I don't know, so I don't need to
ask about it.
We don't promote that, by the way, in
Islam.
Islam teaches you that if you engage in
something, you should know about it, right.
If you eat food, you should know whether
that food is halal.
If you wear those clothes, you should make
sure that those clothes are things that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala would approve of, right.
If you hang out with your friends, you
should know that these friends are good for
you, right.
These are good things for a person to
have, okay.
So, avoid ignorance.
Number four is lack of gratitude.
Lack of gratitude.
A person who is disobedient to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, they have a complete misunderstanding
of the gratitude that they owe Allah.
Truly, I'll tell you guys something, subhanAllah, very
very insightful.
If a person truly understood everything Allah has
given them and done for them, they would
never disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
the rest of their life.
You would never ever miss Fajr.
You would never ever miss Isha.
You would never ever miss a chance to
do some sort of khair.
You would always take that opportunity.
But it is because of those lapse of
moments in our lives where we forget how
much gratitude we owe Allah, that we are
like, you know what, I think I'm good
at this moment.
I can delay my prayer.
It's not that big of a deal.
But the moment you realize the gratitude that
you owe Allah, subhanAllah, you'll snap right back
into the obedience, okay.
So inshaAllah, those are the four symptoms of
disobedience that I inshaAllah wanted to end with
for the day, okay.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
make us of the people that obey Allah
in the way that He deserves to be
obeyed.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
make us of the people who truly have
knowledge of this deen.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
make us of the people who look forward
to our interactions with Allah, our growth and
our relationship with Allah.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to protect us from ignorance and kibr, arrogance.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
protect us from vanity and ego.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to allow us to be humble worshippers of
His.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to reward us both in this dunya and
more so in the akhirah.
Ameen.
Ya Rabb al-alameen.
Subhanak Allahumma wa bihamdik wa nashadu an la
ilaha illa ant.
Nastaghfiruka wa natubalaik.
InshaAllah next week we're going to be starting
this next chapter.
And the next chapter inshaAllah is going to
be all about the idea of sticking to
what Allah ta'ala has taught us.
And inshaAllah we're going to be talking about
making sure that we don't traverse out of
the straight path inshaAllah.
That'll be next Thursday bithin Allah ta'ala.
Jazakumullahu khairan.
We'll see you all inshaAllah next Thursday.
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Salatul isha by the way is at 8
.30. So inshaAllah we just want everyone to
kind of have a decent amount of time
to go and do their wudu.
And to inshaAllah head over to the masjid
for salat at 8.30. Jazakumullahu khairan.
Assalamualaikum.