Safi Khan – Soul Food for College Students The Du’a Series Class 1
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of the seasonality of their church's approach to sex, including the concept of "appian deivity" and the importance of experiencing emotions and understanding one's values in worship. They also discuss the use of dunya words and the insecurities of dretion, and the importance of seeking aid and guidance in one's life. The segment emphasizes the need for guidance and finding aid, and provides insight into the mentality of du signs and how it can create connections with oneself. The speakers also recite sermons and encourage listeners to follow the same path.
AI: Summary ©
Let's go ahead and begin.
How's everyone doing? Alhamdulillah.
Everyone recovered from Ramadan?
Eid. Right?
Hamdulillah.
Another Ramadan comes and goes.
Obviously, we
miss the month of Ramadan, but I usually
kind of mention this every single year,
which is that,
you know, if Ramadan was every month of
the year, then it wouldn't be Ramadan anymore.
Right? You wouldn't have that lead up to
that special time of the the year, and
it wouldn't feel the same,
as it does because it is once a
year. Right? When human beings have this opportunity
to really take advantage of a a small
amount of time,
we usually do take things a little bit
more seriously just because of that restraint, right,
or that, that that that small little amount
of time.
One of the things that I really missed
about,
or during Ramadan was actually our Thursdays.
Thursdays,
at least for me, has become like a
really, really special tradition in my in my
my life, my year,
that I get to spend it with with
you guys and, you know, reflecting over different
series that we we we benefit from.
So during the month of Ramadan, I was
kind of thinking and reflecting,
what would be really amazing to do with
the college community,
you know, after Ramadan's over, after Eid, like,
what would be really beneficial?
And so we did things, like, for example,
last year, we
read an entire book called The Journey to
Allah by Ibn Rajab.
We finished that. And then pre Ramadan, we
did the entirety of Surz Al Hujalat
going through the the different wisdoms and reflections
from Surz Al Khurjarat.
And
what I was wanting to do with everybody,
Insha'Allah, for this new series that will probably
last a few months, 2 to 3 months,
Insha'Allah,
is called the Dua series.
Because, you know, Dua, first and foremost, is
something that I think everybody
is curious about.
It's something that, you know, we
know is a very personal form of communication
between 1 and Allah.
But along with that, there are a lot
of questions about dua. Right? People have very
common questions about dua. Number 1, how do
I make it? Right? How do I make
dua? How do I supplicate?
How do I ask Allah? Right.
Another question that comes up very normally about
dua is how do I know my dua
is done properly?
How do I make sure that my dua
is done with quality?
Number 3 could possibly be, like, what do
I do if I don't see the answers
to my dua?
What happens if I ask for something sincerely
and Allah still doesn't give it to me?
Another thing could be, you know, what are
the best times to make dua? All these
different questions are in the realm of dua.
Dua is such a broad topic
that you can literally
find something different to talk about every single
week,
about it just because there's so much nuance
and depth to this idea of dua itself.
So our goal inshallah is going to be,
for the next few weeks, to kind of
go
over all the different depths and levels of
what du'a is. Okay.
Because the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
one time he mentioned in a very famous
hadith, he says,
He said that dua in and of itself
is worship. Okay? And the scholars, they kind
of talk about this that this hadith can
actually be kind of almost like a, you
know, like a reversible shirt. No one wears
reversible shirts. But, like, if if there's, like,
a reversible item, right, it would kind of
work both ways. A dua
that dua is worship, and worship is also
dua. Okay? It's not always true that, you
know, one thing can be the other, but
the other thing cannot be that first thing.
But in this scenario,
these are very mutually exclusive to one another.
Okay?
That when you make dua, you're engaging in
worship,
and any form of worship that you engage
in is actually a form of dua when
you think about it. Right? So off the
top of your head, just think about any
form of worship that you can think of
in your mind. Right? You think about salah.
There's a concept of Dua in it. When
you talk about fasting, there's a concept of
dua in it. When you're, you know, performing
Hajj or umrah,
100% there's dua in that. Even when you
give money, sadaqa, zakah, there's dua within that.
Allah except for me. I'm doing this because
of you, you Allah. Right? I mean, there's
so many forms of dua within all these
different acts of worship, and so this is
why the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
says, a duaahu alibada. That dua is ibada.
Okay?
So
one of the things that I wanted to
share about dua, first and foremost, is
that dua is something
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he commands us
to do in the Quran.
Okay.
Although dua is not obligatory,
meaning that it's not like your 5 prayers
a day. It's not like fasting in Ramadan.
It's not like Hajj if you're able to
do it. Dua is not a command from
Allah
in terms of obligatory,
but
dua is something that Allah
tells us to do
with frequency
because it sets the tone for other things
that you do in your life.
When a person makes dua to Allah,
it's very, very likely that that person engages
in their prayer
consistently.
When a person makes du'a
consistently in their life, it's very probable that
they fast with a lot of quality. Right?
Dua is almost contagious because dua
before and we'll define what dua is, but
dua before it's a formality,
du'a is a feeling.
Du'a is a feeling that you have.
Du'a is a relationship. It is a connection
between you and Allah
That it's not, you know, something so formal
where you have to treat it like your
salah. Like, there are, you know, rules of
of when you get up and sit down
and bow down and what you say in
your and you say in your. No. No.
No. It's not like that. Because dua before
anything, it's a mentality.
And this is why Allah ta'ala, he says
in the Quran, he says, verily,
They hasten to me, or they hasten to
do good deeds, and
and they used to make dua.
They made dua
with hope and with fear.
Why was that something that Allah mentioned? Because
dua is filled with emotion.
It's supposed to be something that has emotion
in it. It's not like this robotic form
of communication.
It's something that Allah wants you to have
feelings within it. And that's why he says
that it's filled with
You should have hope when you make dua.
You should also have a little bit of
fear when you make dua. And and and
and you know what I say to people
a lot is
when it comes to our deen,
one thing that a lot of times we
rob ourselves of is the ability to experience
a spectrum of emotions while we engage in
worship. Right? And I'll give you guys an
example as to why this is important.
When you guys wake up and you are
on your way to classes or on your
way to work or whatever you're doing,
there are certain times where
fear
will motivate you. I don't wanna
fail. Right? I don't wanna lose this job.
I don't wanna lose this opportunity. I don't
wanna lose this fear this this position.
So that fear drives me to do something.
Right?
But if the fear is the only thing
that drives you, then you don't have any
love and passion for what you do. Right?
Because sometimes that love and that passion will
drive you. Sometimes I go to class because
I'm really excited because there's something that I'm
I'm finally going to engage in that involves
my my passion, my hobby, my career, whatever
it may be, and sometimes that will be
the vibe. Right? But the reality is you
will not get
you will not get each of these all
the time.
Fear to an extreme extent is not good,
but only only happiness and excitement to an
extreme extent is also not good. You need
a healthy balance of both, And this is
why I can guarantee you every single person
in here who has ever made dua, sometimes
you make dua because you're scared.
You're terrified. Right? Allah, please. I'm about to
fail. I'm not gonna become a doctor. My
parents are gonna disown me. Right? All these
things are gonna happen. You go through this
entire playlist in your head. Okay?
And then sometimes you make du'a because you're
hopeful and you're excited.
And Allah mentions that you need a little
bit of both of these. And this is
why Islam, by the way, guys, is such
a
it's a religion that really it it it
touches upon your your iman, your faith,
but Islam also touches upon the humanity of
every single individual
because everyone's different.
Everyone's different. What draws one person into an
act of worship will not be the same
thing draw draws another person to act of
worship.
And everyone walks in different forms in life.
Everyone comes from different parts of life. For
some people, they're like, yeah. I wanna know
about, like, the technicalities, and some people, like,
no. I wanna learn about the emotional part
of it. Right? Y'all over Ramadan, you witness,
like, a spectrum of people on Friday nights.
Right? Sheikh Mikael, who is, like, the energizer
bunny sheikh. Right? He comes in yelling at
you about emotional intelligence.
And then you have, like, Mufti
Montasser, who, Masha'allah,
is, like, turban and white thobe, but, man,
he wowed everybody with the advice that he
gave people this time. Right? Then you have
people like Sheikh Mahmoud, who was with me
in the final week of Ramadan.
He comes from a different walk of life.
Right? Sheikh Abdullah Aduro, who was, like, talking
about discipline. And you know what's really interesting,
by the way? I don't know if anybody
kinda got this vibe when we're doing Ramadan
nights this past month,
but I actually specifically
tailor made every topic we spoke about on
Friday to fit the strength of the speaker.
So Sheikh
Abdullah from Capel, and he also does a
lot of stuff with Sheikh Omar at Yaqeen.
I chose the topic of and
discipline for Sheikh Abdullah. Why? Have y'all ever
seen this man's Instagram? He is, like, at
the gym at, like, 3:30 AM.
It's insane to me. I'm like, this man,
is like he is on it. He is
on it. There is nothing that's gonna stop
this guy from doing what he has to
do because he's an extremely poised individual. Right?
Then Sheikh Mikael came in and talked about
the idea of being emotionally aware. That's what
his passion is. Right? So every Muslim has
their own passions
and what draws them to the deen. And
so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and one of
the beautiful things about Dua is that you
actually
love Allah for knowing that about you.
Imagine if Allah only addressed the people of
one certain lifestyle in the Quran.
Everybody has to fit this mold. Everybody has
to act one sort of way. No. No.
No. Allah in the Quran addresses so many
spectrums of emotion. Why?
Because Allah
knows you better than you know yourself. There's
literally an ayah in the Quran where Allah
he says that I'm closer to you
than your own, like, jugular vein. I'm closer
to you than your own, like, something that's
within your own body.
Why is that something that that was said
in the Quran? Because Allah wants you to
know that
whatever fears and the anxieties that you have,
Allah knew you before you were born,
and Allah will know you after you pass
away. People will pass away and humanity will
forget about you eventually, but Allah ta'ala will
never forget about you. And a person
who who sorry. A being, Allah,
who
never forgets about you clearly knows you better
than even how you know yourself.
Right? So this is something that's really important
to understand. So
after the prophet he says
the prophet he said he quotes a very
beautiful ayah in the Quran. He says,
Allah, he commands, but then he makes a
promise. Okay? Now this is fascinating. Why? Because
this is what separates right here
your relationship
when it comes to asking
of the duniya
and the asking of the divine.
Because the asking of the dunya will have
limitations just as the dunya has limitations.
But asking of Allah,
the divine,
there is limitless nature to Allah to
begin with. So
Allah, he says,
I want
you
call out to me, make du'a to me,
astajibulakum,
and I will respond to you. You know
what's fascinating to think about? It's a little
bit of nerdy kind of point here. But
a lot of times in Arabic,
when you have, like, these kind of relationships
of, like, do this and this will happen,
there's always, like, the command
and then there's, like, a common word used
or, like, a common set of words used,
then I will respond to you. Or call
on me,
and then I will respond to you. Right?
Or or or because you did that, I
will respond to you. Allah literally
completely negates any sort of filler word
that talks about condition,
and he says
Call upon me, I will respond to you.
Like, there is no
if, then, after,
sooner than later, I will get back to
you. Because those are
words of dunya.
Thumma,
fa, wa, these are dunya words.
Allah completely negates that. He says, you called
to me and I'm I will answer you.
No doubt.
No stopping. Why? Because
Allah wants to distinguish between himself and any
other time that you ask anybody for anything.
Because when you ask Allah, it's not like
asking anybody else. How many times have we,
as human beings, reached out to others, human
beings,
and
we were disappointed.
Right? You had certain expectations.
I called this friend in a dire time
of need, and this person either, a, didn't
pick up the phone, b, texted me back,
like, a week later, or c, texted me
back and wrote one letter back to my
dissertation.
And I don't know why this happened. Right?
And then we go through, like, the endless
void of why.
Does she hate me?
Does he not wanna be friends anymore? Like,
was this dumb? Right? We we grow these
insecurities
about when we call.
Oh, should I not have called?
Should I have not texted?
Should I've just kinda kept that internal? Should
I have just kind of, like, gotten over
it without, you know, reaching out to anybody?
That's what happens when you make a dunya
call because that's the nature of dunya.
But Allah says,
You call upon me and I respond to
you no matter how stupid you think your
dua is.
And how many of us have ever, like,
said to ourselves, like, man, that was a
dumb dua. Like, should I really make that?
Like, I don't know. Like, well, you know,
y'all ever seen, like, the stupid G Wagon
duologue on TikTok?
Like, I don't know. Like, I'm just, like,
making like, like, people, like, people are making
fun of it. And and and I get
it. Right? Like, people are trying to, like,
comedically
relate to people, whatever. But at the end
of the day, you know, is there really
any Dua
that is
dumb or or or or insignificant?
Of course, as long as it's like a
halal dua. Like, you can't ask Allah for
something haram or impermissible.
But even if you want something that's like
a stretch,
isn't it actually haram to think that it
is a stretch for God?
Isn't it actually impermissible to assume that this
is too much for Allah,
who nothing is too much for? Right? Isn't
that really what the impermissibility
is? Okay. So the prophet, he says,
this is so beautiful that
and then he says
He says that
verily
the only ones who will not make dua
to me are the people who are. They're
the ones who are arrogant.
They don't feel like they need me.
They don't feel like there is anything to
ask for.
And
here's the
second
idea of why dunya versus divine is different.
Because in dunya,
when you feel like you have everything you're
like, alhamdulillah, I'm good.
But when it comes to Allah,
it's always good to be needy. I want
you all to really distinguish between things that
you translate as dunya'i
deficiencies
as actually things that Allah would love.
Being needy
is a it's a very annoying trait in
dunya. Right? Hey. I miss you. You just
saw me, like, an hour ago, dude. Can
you stop texting me? Right?
Oh, like, when are we hanging out next?
Like, we just hung out this morning.
What is this guy's problem? Right? Like, what's
going on here? Right? Why is this person
nonstop? Right? He's spamming me. Like, I gotta
put this guy on, like, do not disturb.
Why, like, why is he like this or
why is she like this? I want you
to know that that emotion of feeling like
I'm I'm I'm I feel deficient because of
my
do not translate that over to your relationship
with Allah.
Being needy with Allah is actually encouraged. Why?
Because Allah, ta'ala, he loves it. Okay? And
so
here,
one of the things that I wanted to
share with everybody today is how do you
define du'a? Anybody wanna wanna take a shot
at how you personally define dua? By the
way, there is no one definition of dua,
and we'll actually learn about this. There's not
one singular definition of dua,
and there's a spectrum of what dua could
mean in our religion. What does dua mean
to you? Anybody wanna share?
From your experience, what does dua
mean to you? Go ahead. My communication with
the
Communication.
Very good. Literally, like that line between you
and God, you talk to him through that.
Yeah. Very good. Anybody else?
What does mean to you personally?
Yes?
A conversation.
Sure.
Good. So something that's not
not, you know, attached to solely your prayers.
Okay. Good. Good. Anybody else? Yes.
Yeah. It's like it's like an emotional, like,
release.
Right? Like, times of good, times of difficulty.
Right? Any type of emotional,
you know, need that you have, it's some
time and an opportunity to help kind of
express that to Allah. Very good. Anybody else?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah. Absolutely.
Another thing. Right? Therapy. Right? This is a
very good word that she used actually. And,
again,
think about that. Right? She said therapy. Think
about and and even you, when you said
that, you almost felt like a negative stigma
attached to it. Therapy.
Should I go? Like, I don't know. Like,
my basic parent might tell me that I
have a gen in me. I don't know.
Like, I don't know. Like, like, why? Why
go to therapy? We have food at home.
Right? Like like, you know, these negative stigmas.
Right? Why do you need to go to
counseling? Why do you need to go to
therapy? Right? Like, I'm here. I'm a kind
of a therapist myself, says dad. Right? Like,
all these things that we have negative
stigmas and stereotypes towards,
subhanAllah, think about a therapy session with Allah.
You know, as kind of, you know, cheesy
as that sounds.
What is therapy at the end of the
day?
It's a time to be able to literally
heal.
It's a way to heal. And how and
what Muslim
can with a straight face say that I
don't need to heal ever.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to
all have the humility to heal with Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. Everyone say I mean. So
very good. Anybody else?
What's another? Yes.
Beautiful. So were you gonna say the same
thing, Ben?
Yeah. This is actually a very beautiful point
that some of the scholars they bring up.
The reason why you can't make dua to
other things is because other things do not
have the same unlimited nature like Allah.
Allah is
He's the one that hears everything and he's
the one that sees everything. Right?
I cannot fully, fully
tell somebody and expect them to fully understand
me if they have limitations in their understanding,
they're seeing, and they're hearing. I can.
How many times think about this, guys. How
many times have we put
unrealistic expectations upon people?
Like, I don't why don't you get this?
Right? It's it's not because they're bad.
It's it's very quite possible that they literally
do not have the scope and the capability
to understand what you're saying.
Right?
There are certain people who Allah
has given them a very, very, like, simple
mind. Right?
And what you're saying to them might literally
not register.
They literally might not get it. Of course,
there are and and and and, you know,
moments of etiquette that a person should still
listen to you. They should still sympathize with
you, but you cannot hope and and and
and put that expectation that everyone should literally
unlimited in their in their listening and in
their hearing and their understanding. It's not possible.
Right? So like he said,
sharing
with Allah
because he has unlimited nature. Very, very good.
Anybody else? Yes?
Yeah. Yeah. Which proves one very, very obvious
point, which is that it's not you just
informing Allah about things that he doesn't know.
It's actually you just wanting to reach out
to him. Right?
It's so incredible, man. SubhanAllah. I think to
myself a lot of times about, you know,
it's so interesting. Like, Aya,
she's about to turn 2 next month.
So, like, I'm, like,
half
imam, half dad, half Sesame Street
connoisseur.
Like, 3 days ago, I had to, like,
purchase an entire Amazon order of, like, all
the the Sesame Street stuffies.
And,
so, Hannah, like, you know, sometimes
she
like, whenever she gets hurt, right, she's in,
like, the walking running stage of her life
now, but she's also, like, the 2 year
old running stage of your life, which basically
means that you have zero control over anything.
You will run straight into walls. You will
run straight into, like, concrete sidewalks. Like, it's
just a part of your life. So, naturally,
it means scraped knees are like a part
of, like I'm I'm a little bit of
a doctor myself now. Okay? So my parents
are much, lot of very proud of me.
Getting those jab.
So,
you know, whenever she gets hurt,
it's interesting to me because, you know, obviously,
I know every time where when she gets
hurt, it's obvious, like, through her behavior.
And you really think about this. You know,
one time I was talking to a friend
of mine, and he said that when you
think about adults are actually just exaggerated versions
of children.
We we we whine and complain just as
much in just a little bit more of
a sophisticated way. Like,
so
I'm I'm in pain. Right? Like, you're basically
doing what kids do, but just a little
bit more, like, maturely. Okay? So I every
time she gets hurt or she falls, I'm
usually my wife and I are the first
people to see it. So, immediately, we're trying
to, like, kind of make sure that her
knees are okay. If it's scraped, then we
put some antiseptic on her and put a
Band Aid over her, whatever it may be.
But Aya always does one thing that I
it's so it it, like, it makes me
melt as a father. She comes up to
me, and she's like, hurt.
Hurt. Right? Like, she said she's in, like,
the one word phase of her life, so
she can't string 2 words together. Hurt. Right?
Sad. This is what she does. Okay?
And it's so funny. Like, if she was
older, I'd be like, I know it hurts.
I see it hurting. Right?
But the fact that she communicates with me,
it means so much to me.
It means so much to me.
How many times do people feel things, but
they hold it inside?
Right?
Like, don't you think that certain times, like,
it's it's it's very easy to see it
on a person's face when they cry,
when they're going through some sort of, like,
emotional distress on their life? You can tell,
like, this kind of, like, human change in
behavior. Right? I can tell it's hurting. But
for them to come up to you and
tell you that it's hurting or that they're
hurting,
it just like
it it it means so much for that
relationship.
And so what she mentioned is that, yes,
Allah knows everything that you're going through.
Allah is Al Hakim.
He's Al Alim. He is all wise and
all knowledgeable,
but it means so much
to Allah
that you go up to him and tell
him that you're feeling hurt,
that you're in pain,
that you're happy, that you're grateful.
It's less about the emotion and more about
the call.
Right?
It's so important. Y'all ever picked up with
the phone and called somebody and you had
nothing to talk about?
They usually happens with family. Right? You call,
you're like, hey. What's going on? So
weather, Like like, there's really not there's really
not much to talk about. But, you know,
when you pick up the phone and you
call them, man, you know, sometimes this happens
even, like, with, like, with elders in the
family.
Like, when I used to
live with my my grandmother this is so
funny to me. When I used to live
with my grandmother,
we used to always be around each other.
So, like, you know, we we didn't really,
you know, talk besides whenever she, like, told
me that I need to pray more, which
is great.
But ever since I moved out of my
parents' house, my my grandmother lives with my
parents. This is over, like, 7, 8 years
ago.
Whenever I call her, she's a simple person.
She's, like, 92 years old, man. Like, what's
a 92 you're gonna talk to you about
in terms of, like, life? Like, okay. Cool.
How's, like, Elon Musk doing? Like, the space
shuttle x, like, launch it? I don't know.
Like, she has no idea about any of
these things. So when I talk to her,
she's like, she literally only has a couple
of things that she wants to talk about.
She wants to talk about how Aya is
doing because that's literally her the apple of
her. I shouldn't care about me anymore.
2 is this, like, how's how's prayer? Right?
How's prayer? How's the masjid? Right? 3 is
how's my wife? Okay. Are you taking care
of her well? 4 is, are you eating
properly? I'm like a 31 year old man.
Like, I eat probably way more than I
should. So she asked me about these four
things usually. Right? And
after that's over,
I'm like, I answered these questions, and it's
almost like rudimentary. Like, it's like the same
conversation. And I'm like, Dada, how are you?
Right? Doing okay? How's your health? Are you
are you eating properly? Are you are are
are you feeling okay? How's your health doing?
Blah blah blah. That's the same thing. Right?
You would you would deem that conversation to
be very dry,
but then you know what my parents tell
me? They're like, she said that that was
a highlight of her week.
She talked to you about her health and
your health for literally, like, 40 seconds,
but that is what made her entire
week,
which means that she doesn't care about the
conversation.
She cares about just the time spent.
That's all it is.
That's all it is.
The the the the the challenge with young
minds I'll tell you guys this is really
honestly a disease that we all have. The
challenge with young minds is that we wanna
be blown away every time we do anything.
We wanna have, like, an existential
experience.
Right? If I pray, I wanna have, like,
this, like, renowned idea of salah.
If I fast, I want it to be
my best memorable Ramadan of all time.
If I have a meal, it has to
be 5 out of 5. If it's anything
below 4.8,
I'm not happy about it. We wanna have
these, like, crazy experiences
when we forget. Sometimes,
the experiences
are actually made
by how consistent you are with those things.
And you only realize how special they were
until
until it's over,
until you haven't done it in a while.
Then you realize, wow, subhanallah, the memory that
I made doing those things, even they were,
like even if they were, like, very normal,
the fact that I did those things was
actually the special part about it. Okay. So
there are a couple things I want everyone
to kind of jot down because this is
important.
The first thing is dua. Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala he mentions on the Quran
is that dua, first and foremost, is worship.
Okay? Dua, first and foremost, is worship. Meaning,
that every time you engage in it, you
get rewarded for it.
For people who are looking for that kind
of
that reward,
you're being rewarded every single time you engage
in it. 1st and foremost, the Quran says
that dua is worship.
Okay? Call upon Allah
This is a form of worship. A
du'a is worship.
So a person who wants to strengthen their
worship, they strengthen it with dua.
You want to strengthen your prayer? Ask how
well you you make dua. You wanna strengthen
your reading of the Quran? Ask how well
you make dua.
You wanna be better at being generous in
your life? Ask how well you engage in
your dua. That's number 1.
Number
2 is dua
is the seeking of aid.
The seeking of help.
Needing help from the one who can give
help, the seeking of any sort of aid
in your life.
Whenever you need, ask of Allah before you
ask of anyone else. This is what dua
is.
Right?
Like, think about it. Like, whenever, like I
I I ask this to a lot of
people. Whenever you go through something that hurts
you in your life, what's the first thing
you think of?
Do I think of human beings as my
form of therapy, or do I think of
Allah
and I think of how Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala would heal me in this particular situation?
You know, there's narrations literally of Sahaba
who used to,
make dua before they used to go and,
like, purchase shoes from the market.
Sounds so
frivolous. Right? Like, why?
Like, when you why Allah you know, I
need shoes.
Can you help me decide which shoes I
should buy? It sounds kind of it sounds
kind of, you know, why? Why would you
do that? But this was a level of
devotion that they had to their dua,
right. There was a story of Ibrahim
alayhis salaam.
Ibrahim alayhis salaam one time,
he, you know,
was a person who used to have a
very routine life. Okay. And one time he
was engaging in business and, you know, taking
care of his family. He did not come
home until late in the evening, and that's
when he began to eat and he began
to make, dua and pray.
And so and and so the narration mentions
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala asked, yeah, Ibrahim,
why have you come so late
to do what you normally do earlier? Right?
And prophet Ibrahim alaihi sallam, he would say,
yeah, Allah, I was worried. I was out
there in the market, you know, selling things.
I was worried I wasn't gonna be able
to bring out enough, you know, money and
food home to myself and my family.
And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the the
the narration mentions, Allah says, you you wouldn't
ask of me?
You didn't ask me? You didn't make dua
while you're out there?
He goes and by the way, what was
the thing that Allah used to call himself
for Ibrahim? Wa taqaddallahuibrahima
Khalilah,
a friend, a close friend of Ibrahim.
So he goes, what kind of friend would
I be
if I wasn't the first person you called
when you needed me?
What kind of friend would I be to
you, Ibrahim?
And so Ibrahim,
the narration mentions that he responded. He said,
you Allah, I didn't wanna
I didn't know. I I thought I could
just do it myself. He says, yeah, Ibrahim,
you should even call upon me if you
need more salt in your food.
This is a narration.
So, like, even things that are frivolous. Right?
Any sort of aid that you need. Think
about any small aid that you need, even
if you think you're annoying.
Ask that of Allah. Okay? Number 3 is
a humble request.
Any sort of request.
One of the misconceptions
of du'a is that du'a is only for
times that you need something.
Is there a difference between need and want?
Is there?
Yes. Absolutely. There is. Right? You need certain
things in your life, and then you want
certain things in your life. When you need
something, you need it desperately. When you want
something, you can say, yeah. You know, I
can live with it. I can live without
it. No problem.
Dua is not only for need. Dua is
also for want.
Dua is for things that you think that
are not worthy of asking. Oh, Allah,
allow me to, like,
enjoy my time
with my friends later today.
Oh, Allah, allow me to, you know, make
this much more. I'm happy with what I
have. By the way, du'a,
asking Allah for more does not negate gratitude.
That's another misconception.
I can't ask for more because I don't
wanna be ungrateful.
That's not that's not a part of dua
because
that it would be ungrateful if you complain
to other people about what you have.
But when you ask Allah for more,
it's not ingratitude because you're actually asking the
one who gave you.
In gratitude is when you ask
someone for something when they weren't the ones
that gave it to you in the first
place.
That's what ingratitude is.
But when you ask from someone who gave
it to you and that that that being's
nature is unlimited,
that's not ingratitude. That's actually
I gave you and now you trust me
to give you even more. So ask.
It's a humble request.
Number 4
is dua is
a
call.
Number 4 is that dua is a call
to Allah
The day
that you will be called. Allah
talks about that about the day of judgment.
That's the day when you'll be called. He
used the word, yadurukum,
like you're gonna be called on that day.
So dua is a call.
Call. Call. Pick up pick up the phone
and call us, like, spiritually. Right?
Don't wait around to say that it's too
late. I can't call to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala anymore. Call to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
when you have the ability to, when you
have the time to, when you have the
heart to. Call to Allah Ta'ala as long
as you have a beating heart. Number 5
is dua is praising Allah
Du'a is also
praising God.
Mix in some praise in your du'a. How
many of y'all only get called when somebody
needs something from you?
Like, hey. It's me again.
So
you know me, 19 1998 Camry. That thing
doesn't really run very well. So,
could you come do a little scoop?
Come grab me real quick from my house.
And then boom. You're a good person. You
pick that person up, you drop that person
off. For the next week and a half,
nothing. Crickets.
Next time there's a hangout, hey, assalamu alaikum.
It's me,
right? Like your favorite guy, like I'm here,
I'm back again.
So I heard you're like handing out rides,
right? Like
only calls you, texts you when they need
something from you.
But imagine if a person calls you because
they just wanna speak to you.
You know how sad that is? Because we've
almost become a society
that gets super suspicious when a person just
calls to talk.
Like, we're like, uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Okay.
Alright. So what do you want?
The person's like,
nothing. Like, I I don't want anything.
Has that ever happened with y'all's parents before?
That's the saddest part, by the way, when
we do it with our parents.
And I'm not saying that, like, the your
parents are, like, clean slate angels, by the
way. Like, I know parents do that as
well. They come sit down with you, and
they're like, hey. How's it going? How's school?
How's your studies?
How's life?
How's your career going? And you're like, good.
Okay.
And they're like, so I noticed that, like,
you didn't pray us. Right? You know, like,
yeah. It it we don't want that relationship
to be a thing.
We wanna talk just to talk with Allah
We wanna communicate just to communicate with Allah
Number 6,
and somebody said it here, is dua is
literally
communication.
That's what a dua is. Number 6 is
communication.
You gotta keep that line of communication open.
You know, one of the reasons why you
guys ever thought of this? Why were the
prophets so close to Allah
Because their life depended upon their line of
communication with God.
Every single time they needed something, they would
communicate with Allah.
Every single time they had an emotion, they
would communicate with Allah.
That communication was almost like it was like
it was nature to them.
How they see, hear,
feel.
That communication with God was literally like sight
to
them. If I don't talk to Allah,
I'm not using things like my eyes. If
I don't talk to Allah, I'm not using
my ears. Like, these are it's it should
be second nature to me by that point.
And then the last thing
is a dua is
clarity
of anything that may be confusing in your
life.
Dua is clarity
to anything that may be confusing to you
in your life. It's guidance.
How many of us recite
every single day?
How many times have y'all asked that question
or made that request?
Allah guide us to the straight path.
Guide us. Right?
Why like, why do you keep on asking
for that? Don't you know what the straight
path is?
Like, don't you know what it is? It's
Islam.
Go do 5 pillars. Pray. Give zakat. Right?
Say the shahada, fasten Ramadan. Go do Hajj.
Don't you know what don't don't you know
what the right path is? Why do you
continue to ask? Because it's important.
It's important to ask and ask and ask
and ask.
Because asking proves that you want to continue
to get better.
This is why it's so important as a
Muslim
to continue to have that growth mindset. The
moment you say that I know everything is
the moment that you fail as a believer.
Ask Allah. You will never be a finished
product. Anyone who thinks they're ever finished products,
that's a number one sign they're not on
the right path as a Muslim.
To say, yeah I'm I'm good. I'm good.
Because literally the meaning of Dua is,
I need Allah.
I'm broken.
I am a nobody.
I don't have I I I I I
need him without Allah I would be nothing.
Okay.
And so,
insha Allah, we'll end the session today with
a really powerful reminder.
Because at the end of every session, what
we're gonna do is we're going to share
one dua from the tradition of the Quran
or the prophet
that's going to really kind of, like, just
really
sync in the lessons of the date. So
I'm gonna inshallah share the screen with you
guys,
and you guys can kind of follow along
with me inshallah.
So this dua
comes from Surah Maryam.
Okay?
So I'll,
let me just go ahead and kinda share
screens with y'all
so I'll be able to see it. Inshallah.
Okay.
Alright.
No? Yes? No? Okay. I'm a have to
switch the the settings real quick. One sec.
Okay. It should pop up online.
It would actually not be a Muslim event
if it wasn't for technical difficulty. So we're
right on
schedule.
So what I want you guys to do
what I do want you guys to do
is
if you all
can,
on your,
if you all can on your devices,
just go to,
verse
number
4.
Okay?
Go to Surah Mariam verse number 4
and,
you guys will be able to follow along
with me on your on your own app.
Okay.
So this
aya,
it's a dua that was made by a
prophet by the name of Zakaria alaihis salam.
Okay?
Zakaria alaihis salam
gives us an incredible, incredible
glimpse as to what du'a, what mentality a
person should have when they make du'a is.
Okay.
So I'll recite it inshallah I'll translate it.
So he says
Okay? He says,
my lord,
indeed
my bones have become, like, brittle. They're weak.
Zakariyah alayhi salam, by the way, at this
point in his life was an extremely old
man. Okay? Anybody know what he was missing
in his life?
Very good. He didn't have any offsprings. Okay?
So he was kind of like
he he was venting about his loneliness in
his life. He was venting about, like, how
he's getting older and he wants to have
a a a child to kind of continue
on with the tradition of his family and
and and to give love to. So he
goes
You know, this right here he goes and
my head has flared up with like
gray and white hair because of old age.
By the way,
it basically it's like it's the imagery I
want you guys to imagine, it's like the
the Arabs they use is when it comes
to, like, fires. Like, when a fire takes
over, like, a land, like grass,
it turns the grass that was green to
complete, like, white and yellow and, like, a
different color. It discolors it completely. Right? So
he's saying about his hair. He goes,
Like, my hair is like I I was
like a young man, and before I knew
it, I looked up and it was like
a fire went through my head and all
my hair is white now.
Okay. And then he goes,
and I have never
ever made dua to
Allah except
that
it has been something that was pleasing to
me. I've never been disappointed whenever I reached
out to you.
Why is this duas special?
Number 1 is because he is establishing some
himself as a person
who is
really suffering from the weaknesses and the limitations
of a human being.
And and think about this. Right? When you
think about this Dua, think about if he
was saying this to a person. He goes,
man, my bones hurt.
My hair is white. You're like, oh, god.
Why is this guy gonna stop?
But to Allah, this is like
don't take this like literally, but this is
like music. Right? Now I'm gonna have one
person go, but but, hey, Ustad, music is
haram, I thought. Right? No. No. No. I'm
talking about figuratively. Right? This is, like, beautiful
to Allah.
Why? Because
he is telling Allah about what Allah has
given him naturally.
My bones are hurting.
My hair is turning white. Right?
Everything is changing in my life, you Allah.
I'm getting older.
But then he goes,
But I have never reached out to you
in a way in which I was left
disappointed, you Allah.
Every time I talked to you, I felt
better.
Every time I reached out to you, I
felt happier.
By the way, is the opposite of which
means to be happy.
He says, I have never been left a
person who was disappointed with you, you Allah.
Every time I spoke to you, I ended
up happier than I was before. Every time
that I felt like my my my bones
are hurting, every time I looked in the
mirror and I saw that I'm getting older,
I'm not I may not be as beautiful
as I was when I was younger, but
every time I make dua'a, Allah, all that
stuff just disappears.
All those complaints disappear.
Why?
Because Allah
speaking to you, like she mentioned earlier, is
therapeutic for me.
Look at every element of this.
It includes
acknowledgment of weaknesses,
acknowledgment of need,
talking to Allah because he's in a state
of emotional
distress.
But then telling Allah how every time I
reach out to you, I'm never ever
disappointed that I did.
That's what du'a is. Okay. So insha'Allah,
we're going to embark upon this journey of
du'a
and,
insha'allah ta'ala, we are going
to kind of go through several different,
you know,
topics, you know, what happens when du'a isn't
answered, what are the best times to make
du'a, what are the etiquettes of du'a, what
you should do before you make du'a, all
these different things inshallah, we're going to talk
about in the series. We ask Allah
to be, pleased with us. We ask Allah
to accept from us. We ask Allah
to allow us to be people of dua,
and we ask
Allah to never allow ourselves to cut ourselves
off from him in terms of our communication,
our asking of him, our calling to him.
And we ask Allah
to free the people of Gaza, to give
all the broken families reuniting in Jannah in
the highest levels of paradise. We ask Allah
to allow the people of Gaza, the people
of Sudan, the people of Barama, the people
of all the other areas of the world
who are suffering because of oppression and persecution.
We ask Allah to relieve them of their
pain.
Is in just a couple of minutes. So
inshallah, we will walk over to the main
for prayer.
We'll see you guys all next Thursday.