Safi Khan – Soul Food for College Students The Du’a Series Class 13
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of understanding the concept of others' experiences and moments of joy, as it is the result of how people think about their experiences. They emphasize the importance of finding a personal connection with Allah through actions and words, finding a partner, and finding a way to connect with him. They also discuss the importance of gratitude and balancing personal growth, finding one's own success, and forgiveness and empowering others to take their actions. The speakers emphasize the need for one to strive for one's spiritual health and finding one's own success in life.
AI: Summary ©
Alright.
Okay.
How's everyone doing?
There's so much to be thankful for.
A lot of our,
a lot of our colleagues and friends and,
just community members that we know that went
to Hajj, this past month,
they came back and they were kind of
telling us about their experiences and, you know,
how they,
just kind of endured through the journey of
Hajj and all of its different components. And
one thing that Asadullah,
one of my close friends who teaches the
Arabic program here at Qalam, he told me
he said after he got back from Hajj,
he felt more inclined to never complain about
anything ever again.
Just because you realize after a journey like
that, truly, like, what tests and trials really
are.
I remember I was speaking to him about,
like, the idea of, like,
like furniture and, like, beds and and whatnot.
And he was like and I was talking
we're talking about, like, king beds versus queen
beds and these different sizes. And he said,
you know, in, in in in Hajj, in
the Mina camps,
the bed sizes that they have for everybody
are, like, around 20 inches
wide. And they're even talking about making it
around 16 inches wide next year, which is,
like, barely above a foot. So, basically, you're
gonna be, like, turned over on your side
sleeping.
So anyone who in here has been complaining
about their twin mattress, may Allah
allow you to be happy with what you
have.
There's just so much more,
that could be challenging other than, you know,
the things that we consider,
difficult. And so,
you know, it's always, you know, the prophet
always teach us that there's a famous statement
which basically in Arabic it means,
you know, all praise is due to Allah
upon every circumstance imaginable. Right? The good, the
bad, the easy, the difficult, all of the
above can be something that is,
said, you know, Alhamdulillah is stated for the
for those particular situations. So
inshallah, today,
we are going to aim to finish the
book inshallah. Okay?
And then inshallah, what we have next week
for July 18th is Sheikh Yasir, who will
be coming on to the session,
as like a final wrap up q and
a with all of us, a little bit
of, like, a meet the author type of
event,
where I'll be kind of hosting him in
almost like a q and a format, talk
show host format type of session.
But today, we'll finish up the last two
chapters of the book. And today, we're gonna
go by a little bit quickly just because
a lot of things that I feel are
almost like review, just kinda looking over it,
but almost like just really solidifying the our
our understanding of it. The first thing that
the author talks about as a conclusion
part of the book
is the idea of what we call.
He says, the concept of has been referred
to many times throughout this book. It is
one of the most important etiquettes of dua
and one of the greatest factors that increase
the chances of dua being accepted.
Tawasul, however,
can be something if not
studied or discussed with people of knowledge,
can be a little bit of a tricky
subject because some people, unfortunately, they use this
particular concept
as a form of thinking that you can
offload your dua to other people, and your
dua has a better chance of being answered.
So in order to clear that up and
to give us a little bit more of
a kind of understanding of it, we're going
to talk a little bit about what it
actually means. Okay? So he says here
that linguistically,
means to come closer to an objective and
to gain proximity to a desired goal.
So, literally, when it comes to dua, we
talk about this. Right? When it comes to
dua, it means trying to get closer to
Allah
through the means that have been prescribed by
the Quran and the sunnah.
So how does one get closer to Allah
through their dua?
What can they do in their dua to
grow in proximity closer to Allah
Now we already know that Allah he mentions
through the Quran
that I am
closer
to my my my creation, my worshipers,
then
hablil warid. I mean hablil warid. What what
does that mean? Hablil warid literally means then
his own jugular vein. Right? That Allah
is closer to you than that. Now although
we can't attribute proximity to God physically, because
Allah
does not exist within, like, our own, like,
realm of seeing. Right? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is unseen. And if you could see Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, it would actually be,
almost like
a a a a deterioration of your thought
of Allah because your eyes are imperfect. So
how can you see Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
with things that are imperfect?
But that proximity of Allah being closer to
you than your own jugular vein means that
Allah
is closer to you than you can ever
imagine in your life.
Right? That Allah is much, much closer to
you. Spiritually,
emotionally,
mentally, within your soul, Allah
closer to you than you can imagine. And
this is why Umar, Radiallahu ta'alaan who he
narrated that the prophet
one time he said that Ihsan, this concept
of Ihsan,
this concept that is translated out to excellence
in your worship.
As the prophet said.
Excellence in worship
is worshiping Allah as though you can see
him.
And although you cannot see him, know that
he can indeed see you. This is the
excellence of worship. Is that although you physically
cannot see God, you conduct yourself in your
life as though you can see him.
Right? And and and this is so
relatable in the examples of, like, you know,
when you're driving down, like, a highway
and you see those, like, cameras underneath those
overpasses or underneath, like, those toll those toll
tag areas. And whenever you see those cameras
immediately, you're like, oh,
no more 100 for this guy. Right?
And you automatically slow down. And you see
a police officer and you're like, oh. Right?
Sometimes, like, that police officer situation is so
bad because, like, police, they know that you
don't go from a 100 to 60, like,
within, like, 3 seconds. It's actually dangerous. Right?
But the reality is that when you see
those kind of forms of accountability
on the road,
you automatically begin to behave much better. Right?
You don't drive as recklessly. You don't behave
as irresponsibly.
And so with Allah, one thing that we're
encouraged to do by the prophet is that
you worship Allah as though you can see
him. So when you pray, when you step
up to the prayer rug, although you feel
in your physical space, in your visibility,
there's really no one around you. You're in
your room privately in the middle of the
day or in the middle of the night,
and you feel like rushing through your salah.
And you're not really paying too much attention
to it. You're going through it as though
you you you have other things to do
in your life. At that moment,
You worship Allah as though you can see
him. But what does the prophet say?
And
although you know you can't see Allah,
a believer knows that they cannot physically see
Allah
You have you must have conviction
that Allah can see you
everywhere you go. Anything that you do, Allah
can see you. So there is this concept
that Allah is close to you no matter
where you go and what you do. And
so,
right, this idea of
doing things that
close in that proximity between you and God
is something that is encouraged when it comes
to your dua.
As Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the
Quran
And he says,
He says, oh, you who believe,
do your duty to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and seek the means of
Waseelah.
Waseelah means
to approach Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Meet Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Go out of your way and try to
meet Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Now what does
that mean? It means that if you love
someone,
you will try your hardest to meet them
where they're at.
You don't wait for them to come to
you.
And even with that, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
tells us that the son or the daughter
of Adam,
they walk towards me, I come running towards
them.
They take one step they they they they
take one step towards me, I come towards
them even more so.
But
we don't live in a relationship where we
just expect all the time that Allah will
come to us. No. No. No. Rather when
we love someone, we actually go over to
them.
We almost inconvenience
ourselves
to meet with them. Think about in your
human relationships that you have with your friends
and with your family, your loved ones, how
many times do you, like, forego
a very, like,
solid nap
to go and meet with somebody that you
love?
Or you forego, you know, that that that
relaxation because you wanna go pick that person
up from the airport.
You inconvenience yourself because you wanna show this
person that I'm coming to get you.
You don't have to come to me. I
wanna come to you. And Allah
by the way, he does this several times
through the Quran, through with with his prophets.
He talks about how when it comes to
the concept of the the story of Musa
alayhi salam, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he wanted
Musa to come to him.
Yeah, Musa. He said, come to me. This
fire on the side and on the side
of this mountain,
right, on the side of Mount Sinai. And
then the greatest example of Allah
now showing his love and closing proximity between
him and a and a creation of his
was when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala sent Jibril
alayhi salam to the prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
That the prophet I want you guys to
think about that. There was a period of
time in the prophet's life where the prophet
used to go and he used to seek
seclusion
in this cave
called.
And he used to do so almost like
just traditionally out of his own culture and
his own customs because he knew that his
grandfather used to do it. And from that
vantage point, you could see this the the
the city of Mecca very beautifully. Like, through
a clear sky, through a clear night, you
could see the Kaaba. And so the prophet
used to go up there to meditate,
to clear his head, to get away from
the difficulties and the troubles of life. He
used to go up there and try to
connect with Allah. And in one of these
evenings, we know the famous story of Allah
sending Jibril alaihi salam down to him. And
through Jibril came
what?
The
Quran.
Right? And so through that story, Allah teaches
you how Allah will come to those who
he loves.
But at the same time, we have to
make sure that our relationship with Allah is
also
it's something that's it's it's it's something that
you meet Allah
halfway in.
It has to be reciprocal. You have to
also want to go to Allah
So strive towards Allah
And so the author here, he says that
there are a few ways that one can
strive to gain proximity with Allah
in the manner of dua.
So the first one that he gives is
through Allah's names and attributes.
Through Allah's names and attributes.
That one who knows the names and attributes
of Allah will automatically
be one who is closer to him.
You guys ever, like, you guys ever have,
like, a very personalized customized
name for a friend of yours or, like,
what you save on, like, their Apple ID
card? Right? Those of you who have Samsung
have no idea what I'm talking about. May
Allah heal you guys. So, like, you know,
you you you have those specific contact customizations
for those specific friends. Those, like, the the
the Apple ID, the, you know, the the
image of them is something that's unique to
you and your memory of them.
You know them better than other people possibly.
You know these stories, these moments with them
better than anybody else,
and you know things about them that perhaps
other people do not.
You may call them certain things that other
people do not. This idea of naming
the identity of somebody else because you know
them better is something that's very unique and
special. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
used to do this. You know, there's a
very, very beautiful story that,
one time, they're in the battle of Uhud.
Okay. In the battle of Uhud,
the prophet
it was a battle in which he himself
was
injured in. And injured to the point where,
actually,
a person from the opposing army, they threw,
like, a spear at the face of the
prophet
and luckily he was wearing a a helmet,
but it hit the side of his helmet
to the point where the helmet itself was
ingrained into the cheek of the prophet.
And so to get that helmet out of
his own cheek, there was a companion
who basically had to pull that helmet out
of his skin. And he didn't wanna use
his hands
to do it because he thought it would
be disrespectful.
So he actually used his own teeth
to pull out this helmet from the side
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam's face.
And in that process, he radhiallahu an, the
companion, he lost some teeth.
And so after the battle was over, this
companion who's like an older companion, he would
walk around the streets of Medina with like
missing teeth, and some people used to like,
kinda crack jokes at him. Be like, oh
yeah. You know this guy, Look at him.
He's like a baby. Right? No teeth. No
no teeth to chew with. And the prophet
used to call him the most handsome toothless
man he's ever seen in his life.
That was like a story that he and
the prophet had personally. Right?
These are things that are are very memorable
to to to to human beings. Okay? And
when you translate that reality over to your
relationship with Allah, you realize how special your
relationship can be with Allah. And so the
prophet he said in this particular narration
that he heard a man
say, in istashahhud.
He said, oh Allah, I ask you by
your virtue of the fact that all praise
belongs to you. None has the right to
be worshiped but you alone having no partner,
the greatest bestower of all blessings,
the originators of the heavens,
the possessor the possessor of majesty and honor,
the ever
living,
oh sustainer and protector of all that exist.
He continued to, you know, say these names
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So the prophet
he said to his other companions, he said,
do you know what he has made dua
with?
Do you see what he has made dua
with? And they said,
Allahu Allah and his messenger know best. And
the prophet he said, by him in whose
hand is my soul, meaning Allah,
he, this companion,
has made dua to Allah by his greatest
name
his greatest name
or his greatest names.
The one that if he has called upon
by it, he responds, and if he asked
by it, he gives without any sort of
holding back.
So this idea
of calling out to Allah
by his names is extremely
beautiful in closing that proximity between you and
Allah. Okay. And he says an example of
Tawasul,
through the names of Allah or the attributes
of Allah is found in the hadith of
the prophet where the prophet prayed with the
following dua. Oh, Allah, I ask you by
your knowledge of the unseen
and your power to create that you cause
me to live as long as living is
better for me, and that you cause me
to die when you know that death is
better better for me. This is a a
a a a a dua that the prophet
used to frequent himself in, but he used
to praise Allah through this dua. And so
in this dua, tawasul was sought through the
attributes and the knowledge and the power of
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. You know, one of
the greatest ways to personalize your dua
is to ask Allah for what you want
in that dua
with the name that is affiliated with what
you're asking for.
So if you're asking Allah for Maghfirah,
use.
Right? If you're asking Allah for some sort
of, like, wealth or provisions,
you ask Allah through
the one who gives provisions.
The one who is free of any need,
and you are the one who is in
need. You see how, like, those names kind
of really line up with what you're asking
for. You have difficulty in your life. You're
going through anxiety.
Call Allah
Why?
Because you are saying Allah is the originator
of any sort of peace that I've ever
experienced.
So if I want peace in my own
life, I'm going to ask the one who
is the giver of peace.
These and and by the way, like, this
is normal to do in even human human
tradition.
You wanna go up to, like, a like
like a person asking them for, like, a
donation to, like, a masjid. You're like,
This generous brother. Right? Like, it's so related
to what they do or what you're asking
of them. So do the same with Allah
Okay? Number 2,
by mentioning Allah's
favors.
By mentioning
the favors of Allah
What does this mean?
Another manner in which a person may do
is by mentioning the favors of Allah. For
example, a person might say, oh Allah, you
have guided me to Islam
and placed me a love for knowledge and
its people. O Allah, cause me to increase
in this knowledge and cause me to be
amongst those who are righteous. Okay? And he
references here the dua of prophet Zakaria alaihi
salaam, which we went over in the earlier
stages of this class.
He is mentioning
the the the this particular part right here
of the dua highlighted for you guys, and
I have never
been
unblessed
in my dua to you.
Think about everything that Allah gave you. When
you make dua, think about everything that Allah
gave you. Oh, Allah, I
I'm asking you humbly for,
like, a a a good job
that has a good salary.
You, Allah,
thank you for the
the the wealth that you've given me already.
Oh, Allah. Now that I've thanked you for
what you've given me, now I can ask
you for something else.
Never forget to thank Allah for what is
already existing.
And, again, this is something that we do
in human tradition.
When you ask somebody for something, you don't
just start off by asking them for something
with you need or you want. You thank
them for what they've already given you. Right?
Imagine, like, turn back the clocks and go
back to when you were a kid. When
a kid asks a parent for something, customarily,
the parent is more likely to give that
kid what they want if that kid begins
their question with a thanks.
Mom, dad, thank you for for for giving
me what you gave me already.
I'm so grateful for the food that you
put on the table. I'm so grateful for
the clothes that you buy me. I'm so
grateful for the fact that you're able to
pay for my school.
And then it shows a sense of appreciation,
then you move on to your request or
what you're asking for. Okay? And so ibn
Taymiyyah
Rahimullah, he says,
the meaning is you have made me accustomed
to receiving your response,
and you have not deprived me by rejecting
me and cutting off your help for me.
So it is
to Allah by the blessings that he has
previously given
of answering his duas and his good.
Say to Allah, Allah, I've never been disappointed
with you.
I've never been disappointed with you. You've always
always given me what is best for me
you Allah.
So now with that same hope
that I've grown accustomed to, I ask you
for x y and z. This is something
that is mentioned by
the tawasul of recalling the blessings of Allah
Number 3,
by mentioning
the state that you are in.
Tell Allah where you're at in life.
You ever called somebody to update them about
where you are?
It's, like, usually, like a family member, but
how are you doing? I'm good.
Still in college? Yep. Right? Like, you know,
just going through what you're going through in
your life. Right? Where are you? How are
you? What are you doing?
What what do you have to update Allah
on as although Allah
knows everything about you,
isn't there something sweet in a relationship
between 2 where a person says to the
other, hey. I'm going through this and this
and this and this. I wanted to tell
you a little bit about my life.
I wanted to update you about my current
circumstances.
This is where I am.
Allah knows where you are, but a servant
who tells Allah where they are, they are
sharing with Allah, you Allah, I I need
you to acknowledge that this is my current
state.
And so
he uses the same dua of Zakariyah.
Zakariyah is saying that although he's never been
disappointed with Allah's response,
he's saying here,
my my my bones are brittle
and my hair has turned white. This is
the current state that I'm in. And then
he continues to talk about the dua of
prophet Musa alayhi
salam. Or he or he talks about the
the the dua prophet Nuh alayhi salam. He
says,
He says, then he made a dua to
his lord saying, you Allah,
I have been overpowered
by the people around me. They're not listening
to me, you Allah. I complain
to you and only you about my current
situation.
Sometimes I'll tell you guys something really sad
here.
Sometimes,
when it comes to this concept of, like,
venting
and
offloading our burdens and our
difficulties,
we do so with people before we even
think about Allah.
Like, we pick up the phone and call
our friends
before we even thinking about turning to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and telling him about our
affairs.
And that's a very unfortunate situation because,
you know, the reality is when you pick
up that phone and you call your friends,
they they could fall short in their response
to you. I'm I'm sure everybody in here
has the has an experienced, you know, has
experienced that in their life at some point.
You call your friend hoping to, you know,
share some very very serious circumstances in your
life, and you want their ear, you want
you want, you know, a very, you know,
merciful lending ear of theirs to kinda listen
to your troubles and what you're going through,
and the friend may not pick up.
Or the friend may pick up and they
don't really understand what you're going through.
Or you tell them everything and they they
misunderstand it. Or they may
betray you. May Allah give us all good
friends. Say.
But all of those possibilities are true with
human beings.
But when you vent to Allah,
when you vent to Allah,
you are guaranteed
that Allah is Sameer Al Basir.
That Allah will
hear you
and he will see the situation that you're
in and understand it.
And Allah
will never reject you. There are some duas
that are so beautiful that the dua is
not even asking for something. It is just
telling Allah
what you're going through.
You Allah, you see the state that I'm
in.
I I actually can't even think of something
that I would that I can vocalize with
my words, you Allah. But you see the
state that I'm in, you Allah, I'm in
need for your help.
Just tell Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala where you're
at in life.
Dua is more than just asking for something.
It's more just talking, calling out to Allah.
Don't you ever call on the phone and
not have something to ask somebody,
but you're just kind of talking to them,
sharing with them?
That's what dua is supposed to be.
And he quotes here the dua of prophet
Musa alaihi salam,
He says he calls himself this word right
here right here that I'm I'm I'm I'm
moving my cursor over. The word
comes from literally, like, what what it means
to be absolutely, like, homeless,
desperate,
in need of anything.
And he calls himself that in front of
Allah
What does that mean?
He is vulnerable in front of Allah to
tell him, you Allah, I have nothing.
I am a nobody. This is Nabi Musa
alaihis salaam.
This is the great Musa alaihis salaam
who Allah elevated above so many other people.
But in front of Allah, he crumbled down
like a mountain being brought down to its
ground,
to its floor, to its absolute nothingness.
And he says,
I'm in need of whatever good you have
you you can give me.
I just need something, You Allah. I'm a
nobody right now. Right?
So I know sometimes it hurts the ego.
Right? You raise your hands and you say
to Allah, you're like,
Allah, although like I'm in college and
Allah, I although I have a, like, a
decent job and it's not too bad and
my family is good,
I feel bad even saying that I have
nothing. And sometimes shaitan I'll tell you a
really interesting trick of shaitan. Shaitan tries to
make you feel bad about anything you ask
for.
Y'all ever felt that before in your life?
You're like, I can't make that dua.
That's too much.
I I would seem ungrateful.
I would seem like an ingrate. I would
seem like a person who is like,
Right? Like, I'm I I don't wanna I
don't wanna be an ungrateful person,
but
you know in front of Allah,
you can be as much of a grateful
person as you are a needy person.
And this is why when it comes to
like the divine realm,
you can never translate that relationship over to
your dunya relationships.
Because a person who is extremely grateful in
the dunya for their dunya relationships,
they logically cannot be in a state of
extreme need because they're so grateful for what
they have.
But when it comes to Allah, a person
can be extremely grateful and also extremely needy
at the same time. What other relationship in
your life can you say that that's true?
But it is true with Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala,
and it is actually encouraged.
Be grateful and be needy at the same
time. This dua highlights that.
He says, oh Allah,
I am in desperate need for any good
that you have, are, and will be giving
me.
Don't you think Musa alaihi salaam was extremely
grateful
that Allah saved him from certain death
when he was a baby, when he was
a child? Of course.
Don't you think Nabi Musa being a prophet
was grateful that he was reunited with his
mother just like Allah promised him in the
beginning of Surat Al Qasas?
Absolutely, he was.
Does that mean in this state, he said,
oh no. I can't ask Allah for anything
because Allah already gave me so much. No.
No. No. No.
You can be in a state of need
and be in a state of gratitude at
the same time. Don't allow shaitan to trick
you into thinking that it has to be
1 or the other.
A Muslim is a balanced person.
What does Allah say?
You are a balanced nation.
You can be you you don't have to
choose
sides all the time.
Be a person who is grateful, but be
humble and meek in front of Allah
Okay.
And he says, and this type of tawasul
is even used amongst people? For does not
a beggar, when he stands up to ask
for money, announce I'm a person with a
large family, and I have many debts to
pay back and cannot find work? SubhanAllah.
Like, you
you can and I know it sounds really
kind of very weird. Right? Like, yeah, Allah,
I'm a I'm a 21 year old college
student at UTD.
You know how difficult it is on that
campus.
Right?
You know? The Jum'ah prayer, you Allah, is
ever expanding.
I'm having trouble parking.
Don't think anything is too silly.
Allah knows your Allah knows your circumstance.
Yeah, Allah. My financial aid is dwindling.
You know, Allah,
for some reason, is more and more difficult
to continue to pay my my school loans
or my school tuition.
Say these things as weird as they as
they sound.
Say them. It will increase you in your
your your your proximity and your love for
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Number 4, is tawasul
or growing close to Allah through good deeds.
And Allah
mentions this in the Quran. He says that
those that say
he says
those people Allah is quoting people who make
dua beautifully.
He says, oh Allah, we have believed
We've believed you Allah.
We've believed. So forgive us.
Believing, telling Allah that you're a believer is
a part of your good deeds.
Oh, Allah. I did x, y, and z,
you Allah. But here's the trick to this
particular one. This particular point is,
do not repeat those same things
to
people
because that now destroys your sincerity.
Right?
Like, it's one thing if you you make
dua and you say, oh, Allah,
I donated, like, $500
last week, and I had no business doing
it.
My bank account is at, like, a solid
$27.33.
Chase Bank is calling me and telling me
that they're going to cancel my bank account.
Allah, I I gave $500, and I told
no one about it.
But I just did this between me and
you, you Allah.
Tell Allah
about it. And by the way, that is
encouraged through a very beautiful hadith of Abdullah
ibn Umar that narrated the prophet said this
beautiful story. And I think we've went over
this story several times before, so I don't
need to go over it again. But long
story short, the the 3 men that were
trapped in the cave, and each one of
them, because they were trapped inside of the
cave, there was a boulder that was at
the mouth of the cave that they could
not move. They made desperate du'a to Allah
about 3 things that each one of them
did.
The first one did not go to sleep
at night, did not return back to their
own home without making sure that his parents
had food before his own family did.
And
Allah moved the boulder. The second man, as
you can see right here,
was a person
who was in love with someone, had had
desire for someone. And this person was in
need of financial
financial help, and he said, well, I'm I'm
I'm willing to help. I'm willing to kind
of, you know, have her I'm I'm willing
to give you what you need, but it's
in in transaction, I want a relationship with
you. And he said he was about to
commit zinnas, one of one of the worst
crimes or one of the worst sins that
a person commit in this dunya. And he
said right before he was about to commit
this heinous sin, he remembered Allah
and he said, take this as a sadaqah
from me, and I will leave you, and
you will never come back to me ever
again. Allah, if I stop myself from doing
this sin just because of you, help me
in this situation right now. And the final
person as he says he says, I employed
some laborers and paid them their wages except
a single person who did not take his
wages and went away from me. I invested
his wages and it grew a great deal
of property. Then after some time, he came
to me and he said, oh, servant of
Allah, give me what you owe me. So
I said to him, all of the camels
and cows and sheep that you see are
all of your payment.
And he said, oh, servant of Allah, stop
messing with me.
Don't mess with me. Like, just give me
my $7.25
of minimum wage that you owe me. He
said, no.
This $1,000,000
is yours.
And he goes, I could have kept it
for myself.
I could have given him that minimum wage
that I owed him, but I gave him
what I gave him because You Allah, I
wanted to please you and I never told
a single soul about it until now.
Very beautiful exercise, by the way.
Think about a deed that you've done that
you've never spoken to people about.
It's only between you and Allah.
And if it was like your dying dua
that you were to make,
that you could put all of your kind
of hope and dreams and aspirations in,
what would that memory be between you and
Allah?
Nobody else knows about it. And by the
way, that's very that that's very custom with
these three stories.
These men did not tell anybody else about
that moment except that
they only told Allah.
And I'll tell you what,
that sincerity
through which you tell Allah about that good
deed
is what will move and shake that dua
through the heavens.
Because Allah knows that you didn't initially just
do that deed to get something that you
wanted.
No. No. No. No. You're not that type
of person. You're not a person that just
does something to get something out of it.
You're not a transactional human being. You're a
person who does things for the sake of
Allah.
And when it comes time to these modes
of communication with Allah, you bring it up
to only Allah
Okay? So he says this hadith is clear
proof that one of the means of tawasul
is mentioning one's good deeds while making dua.
Oh, Allah.
I stopped myself from doing something horrible the
other day, and I only thought about you,
you Allah, while I stopped myself. So if
that was something that I did sincerely for
you, you Allah, allow me to have this
thing that I'm asking for, you Allah.
It's a very beautiful concept. Okay.
Number 5,
tawasul through mentioning the effect of the dua.
And a lot of people, they get a
little bit kind of they get a little
shaky with this one because they get nervous
about this one. Why? Because this one has
a little bit of, like, a promise to
it. Right? And he gives the example of
the hadith of the prophet where he says,
when a person comes to visit the sick,
let them then let him say, oh Allah,
cure your servant, your Abd. Cure him or
her, for he will then inflict a wound
on an enemy or walk for your sake
to the salah.
This is a little bit of, like, kind
of like a contextualized,
you know, dua,
but translated over to your time. Right?
So when you go over to visit somebody
who's sick, say, oh, Allah,
relieve this person of their sickness. Give them
shifa because you Allah, this person will pray
to you you Allah.
And it's okay for you to say, oh
Allah, if please, you Allah,
if I am granted x, y, and z,
Allah, I will try my best to be
a good Muslim from here on out. How
many of us have made that dua, by
the way? Usually, it's when your backs are
against the wall, by the way. Right? When
your backs are against the wall, you're like,
Allah, please.
I promise I'll never miss Fajr again.
Right? Usually happens. One one of one of,
I was I was speaking to somebody.
One time he said that I make one
dua that is like I he calls it
the dua of promise, and he goes, I
only do it in one circumstance. I was
like, what's the circumstance? He goes, whenever I
hear a tornado siren. I
said, Allah, if you spare my life and
my home, I will be a better Muslim
after this day. I'm like, wow. So in
Dallas, you make that dua about 7 times
a year. Like, it it just continuously happens
seasonally. Right?
So and and and again, sometimes,
you know, we feel guilty because we're like,
oh, I'm I'm just asking Allah to allow
me to be safe from a certain situation
because I promised him of something that I
aspired to be. Don't it's you can only
feel bad about it if you know that
you're lying about it.
You can only feel bad about it if
you know that you're lying about it when
you make it.
So as a part of that part of
your dua,
make the make the intention that you're gonna
be truthful.
Allah, if you give me this jaw, I
will never ever use my money to buy
haram ever again.
And this happened, you know, Allah it's
so bizarre and so bizarre in the best
way possible
with a person
who I remember I I don't know if
I told this group this story, but I
knew a brother one time who owned, like,
a convenience store where he used to sell
things that were not so permissible,
and he wanted to get out of it
so badly,
desperate to get out of that situation.
And then he made this dua to Allah.
Oh, Allah, allow me to go to Hajj.
Allow me to go to Hajj.
And so he had, like, a lump sum
of money that he had in savings from,
like, a gift that a person gave him
because he didn't wanna use his haram money
that he gained from his business to use
for Hajj. So he said, oh, Allah, if
you allow me to be invited to Hajj
to meet to for me to be accepted
to going to Hajj, I will use my
savings, my halal money, and I will give
up this job that I have, and I
will continue on to do a job that
pleases you. And so he went to Hajj,
and as soon as he got back from
Hajj, his convenience store was bought out, and
he opened up a halal grocery store.
Isn't that incredible?
And now he's, like, known to be, like,
one of the, like, best, like, halal grocery
store owners in, like, the entire community in
the in the city that I'm talking about.
But he told Allah, Allah, please I would
love to go to Hajj. If I go
to Hajj, I will start my new life
as a person who only makes money to
please you.
And look how
Allah granted him that. And you think that
you're beyond that? No. Absolutely not. This brother
was a person that's, like, a regular person
in the community.
Don't think that that this is like dua
of, like, prophets. No. No. This is the
dua of normal people like you and me.
Okay?
And so
finally,
number 6, and this is where it gets
a little interesting.
The Tawasul by asking a living per living
person to make dua for you. Now here,
there's a little bit of, like, kind of,
like, a, like, an asterisk, like, a little
bit of, like, a, kind of, you know,
be careful, be cautious here
because this is the one where certain people,
they take it a little too far, and
I'll tell you what that too far is.
Okay? So he says, it is allowed for
a person to make tawasul by asking a
living person to make dua on your behalf.
If you feel that such a person is
a true and righteous person, so it is
permissible to go to a scholar or a
pious person and say, oh so and so,
I ask that you make dua to Allah
that he cure my son from such and
such illness. Okay. And he quotes this particular
scholar Safwan bin Abdullah who narrated, I went
to Syria and visited Abu Darda in his
home, but he was not present when I
arrived.
Darda asked me, are you going to perform
Hajj this year? And I replied to her,
said yes. And she said, in that case,
do not forget to pray to Allah for
us. For the prophet
used to say, the dua of a Muslim
for his brother or sister in their absence
is responded to. In his presence, there is
an angel that has been assigned to them.
Every time he or she makes a dua
for his or her brother with good, with
khayr, the angel assigned to him says, and
for you as well.
So
make dua for other people.
Grow in this tradition of making dua for
other people.
Know, one of the greatest examples of this
is actually found in Suratul Fatiha. Anybody know
where?
In Suratul Fatiha, you ask Allah for something,
not just for yourself, but for everybody.
Don't you think Allah could have easily said
in
guide
me to the straight path. Allah says
Something that is so beautiful,
guidance,
hidayah,
you should want for everyone around you.
And when you want that for people around
you sincerely, the angels will say, and just
Allah give it to this person.
Give it to this person.
They are so selfless with what they're asking
you for. Give it to this person just
as they are sincerely asking for it for
other people around them.
So you want good wealth?
Ask it for your friends as well.
Like, y'all wanna roll deep together.
You don't wanna be the only wealthy person
in front of, like, a bunch of broke
friends of yours. Right? You're like, yes.
For some reason, this makes me feel better.
Right? Like, no. No. No. No. No. You
wanna share in that.
You wanna share in the wealth. You wanna
share in the knowledge. Right? And I'll tell
you something. Subhanallah,
it is a sign of an insecure person
who does not want other people to have
the same good fortune that they have
because they think, oh, well, if I have
if if my friends have wealth and I
have wealth, then I wouldn't be special anymore.
If my friends have knowledge and I have
knowledge, then I'm not gonna be the most
knowledgeable person anymore.
When in reality, when a person makes dua
for somebody else, Allah will Allah may give
it to that person, but Allah will give
it to you even more so because you
asked it for the other person.
Incredible, incredible
something to to think to think about.
But something here that's also important is
the author, he says, although it is permissible
to ask others to make du'a for oneself,
it is better not to do so for
personal duas.
When it comes to personal duas,
ask Allah directly.
Ask Allah directly, and he gives us some
reasons as to why. Number 1, the general
rule is that a person should pray for
himself
just like he does his other acts of
worship. You don't ask somebody to pray dulhur
for
for you. You don't ask somebody to to
be like, hey. So,
in, like, 30 minutes, you got me?
Right? Like,
like, No. No. No. How do you pray
for yourself? Right?
You're like, hey.
So fasting Ramadan.
Double it for me,
2 for you, maybe 1 for me, or
8 no. No. No. No. We don't do
that. Right?
When it comes to, like, our general framework
of Ibada,
our religion gives us a direct connection
to Allah
Everyone say
that you're
Muslim. Say You don't believe in this idea
of like an intermediate intermediary
that is between you and God.
Because this is very common in other religions,
by the way. You have to go to,
like, a a scholar to ask him to
pray for you. You have to go to
this rabbi or to this priest or to
the whatever. You have to ask them to
pray for you, to absolve you of your
sins. Now,
the most sincerest of duas are the ones
that you make directly to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
Okay?
He says, asking others is a type of
request that is done to other than Allah
and shows a need or poverty that a
person feels towards mankind. In this, there might
be a type of humiliation for that person,
so you don't wanna always tell people the
most intricate details of your life. Keep that
between you and Allah. Number 3, there is
no one that will feel more sincere than
the one making du'a for himself and his
loved ones.
And this is just pure logic.
You can't go up to a sheikh and
be like, sheikh, please, you Allah, make dua
that I get married. And the sheikh's like,
yeah. I heard 80 of these before you
came along. Alright?
But your desperation to get married is desperate.
Right? I'm I'm just being I'm not I'm
literally being literal, not being, like, mean here.
Like, how how desperately you want something
is very, very personal to you and your
experience.
That sheikh will not be able to feel
that for you.
That sheikh will not be able to feel
your desperation for you.
So if there's something that you desire personally,
ask Allah
personally for yourself in the most sincere of
ways. This act many this act leads many
people to leave dua themselves.
And this is where Wallahi actually gets very
dangerous and a realm of scholars
themselves actually completely
disavow themselves from this entire idea
because it leads to some of this where
people say, well, well, I can't make dua.
I have to go to, like, my piersab
to make dua for me.
I have to go to my sheikhsab to
make dua for me.
We got brother Burhan in the back.
Like, we we we we we sometimes as
human beings tend to go to the extreme.
And we say, you know what? Like, this
person's
looks better Muslim than me. So I'm gonna
go up to them, and I'm gonna ask
them to make dua for me. Never should
it ever cross your mind that I will
eliminate my own dua by asking somebody else
to make dua for me. No. No. No.
No. Never.
The scholars who even say that this is
good for you to do, they will never
say nix your own dua and go ask
somebody else to make dua for you. It
should always even if you do this, it
should be accompanied by your own duas.
Never ever say, I'm never gonna sit in
front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for 30
minutes and make dua because another person will
do it for me. We don't believe in
that in this in this religion, y'all.
We don't believe that somebody can feel for
you. We don't believe that somebody can worship
for you. That's not a part of our
deen. Okay? It might lead to arrogance on
the part of the person being asked and
and and so on and so forth. Okay?
Finally,
we're gonna finish up
the session
and our
book and our study with this final chapter
that we're gonna go through in the next
10 minutes Insha'Allah.
Dua and its relationship with Qadr and Qadha.
Okay?
This is one that everyone has asked about
at some point in the past two and
a half months. Okay?
Because I heard that dua is one of
the things that can actually change your
decree. So let's talk about it. Okay?
He says here
that many people ask if everything has already
been destined to occur,
then of what use is dua?
As if Allah has written what I want,
I will get it without making dua. And
if it is not written for me, then
I will never get it no matter how
much dua I make. So what's the point?
Okay.
He says, the response to this question is
actually very simple.
It lies in understanding
that the outcome of anything
is dependent on the performance of the efforts
that are necessary to procure it.
It is all about your effort.
In other words, it has already been decreed.
For example, and he use he gives a
great example here, that a seed will give
fruit if planted.
We know that if you plant a seed,
the trajectory is that it will grow fruit.
That's what Allah has created seeds to do.
Seeds will sprout. That's what Allah has made
this thing to do.
But this will not happen unless the person
takes the appropriate efforts in watering the crops,
maintaining it, protecting the seedling as it grows,
and ensuring as much as they can that
the factors are amenable for the plant to
give fruit.
So, yes,
you as a person, could Allah have decreed
it for you to
maybe pursue a certain degree in your life?
Could Allah have decreed it for you to
marry a certain type of person in your
life? Sure.
But
how you do so is left to you.
How you do it is left to you.
The way you want it is left to
you.
Not not every outcome
is the same.
Are 2 people who end up being doctors
the exact same 2 doctors, they went through
the same journey? Absolutely not.
Are 2 people who ended up getting married
and having a family that have 2 children
in it, do you think that their experience
was always the same? No.
One person could have gotten that easily and
one person could have struggled with it their
entire life.
And I'll give you guys that example very
personally.
I find it very problematic when people complain
about children.
Wallah, I really do.
Because when people complain complain about children, you
have no idea. Like, you're like, oh, you're
a parent. You get it.
And possibly you, the one who's complaining, Allah
has given you the ability to have children
so easily that you have, like, 5 or
6 kids. And the person you're complaining to
has one child that
barely
barely made it.
You're like, yeah. You're a parent, aren't you?
You're complaining to a person that Allah has
tested to their limits.
Their child could have been, you know, premature
in the NICU for like a year.
Their heart couldn't beat on its own for
months.
Yeah. You 2 are both parents, but look
how different that journey was for the other
person.
So, yes,
your decree is already given to you by
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Who you are going to marry,
who where where you're going to end up
living,
what kind of job you will have, what
kind of lifestyle you'll have when you're older,
what your children will be like, whether you
will have children or not. This is all
in the knowledge of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
But the pathway you take to get to
that Qadr
is something that is dependent upon your efforts.
Your effort is so important here. And so
dua is a part of that effort.
So he says, so even though a person
believes in divine decree, he or she must,
at the same time,
strive all they can to ensure the desired
goal occurs. So dua is the means that
one uses to achieve the desired goal.
Sorry. The the dua is the means that
one uses to achieve that desired goal that
one has. And this means in no way
contradicts the destiny that has been written for
that person by Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And
he says that there's a hadith of the
prophet
where he says, nothing increases
one's lifespan
except
good deeds
and nothing repels
or changes
divine decree
except du'a.
And verily, a person may be deprived of
sustenance
due to a sin that they commit. In
other words, the performance of good deeds is
a cause of increasing one's lifespan. So if
a person puts in necessary effort, the results
will be achieved, and this is also destined.
So both the means to achieve a goal
and the fulfillment of the goal are a
part of their Qadr.
And at the very end of it, I
wanna be and and I I wanna share
this last bit before we before we wrap
up
It's right over here.
We find out at the very tail end
in this very this very final part.
To summarize,
then the divine decree cannot be used as
an excuse to not make dua. For just
as one strives to ensure that one attains
worldly needs of food, drink, and family,
so too must one strive in one's religious
deeds to attain their desired goals.
Would any one of us ever be like,
well,
Allah already decreed whether I'd go hungry or
be full today, so I'm just gonna sit
here and figure it out.
No. No. No. You would get up, and
you would try to find some sort of
food to nourish your body.
Would you ever say, well,
Allah kind of decreed whether I'm gonna pass
college or not, so I'm just gonna lay
in bed until, like, 2 PM every day
and kinda, like, figure this thing
out. No. No. No. No. You will get
up. You will wash up. You will make
an intention, and you will drive yourself to
campus and take those classes.
Because at the end of the day, you
believe that your efforts are important into making
sure that decree that Qadr of Allah
is fruitful.
So we don't treat our spirituality
in a different manner. We don't say, well,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has already determined whether
I'll go to Jannah or Jahannam. So what's
the point of me making dua? No. No.
No. No. No. No. Sure. Allah may already
know where you're going, but
two things. Number 1, that has never stopped
anybody from working hard. And number 2,
you are not Allah, and you do not
know where you're going.
Stop trying to play the role of God.
Now
The people who say, well, what's the point?
They're the same people that almost believe that,
well,
Allah already knows. So what's the point of
me even trying? No. No. No. The point
is you do not know.
You do not know.
And isn't it of the immense mercies of
Allah that he actually doesn't allow you to
know? Could you guys imagine? What would be
the point of living life if he knew
everything?
What would be the point of life?
What would be the point of getting up
every single day and going and doing what
you do every single day if you already
knew the outcome of every single matter or
every single issue or every single circumstance that
you had in your life? No. No. No.
A part of the beauty of being a
human being who lives under the the lordship
of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is that you
do not know and you yourself, Allah has
given you the honor of putting an effort
to dictate where your life can go left
or right sometimes.
Enjoy the process.
Enjoy the process.
Be hopeful,
be optimistic,
but enjoy the process of not knowing everything
and discovering life each and every step of
the way that it goes.
Okay? And so, we will wrap up our
study
of the dua series,
Shafi'asir kind of kind of goes on a
little bit about, you know, some miscellaneous topics,
but we'll we'll cover some of these things
with him,
next week in class. But other than that,
we have concluded our book, and we ask
Allah
we're gonna make a dua together inshallah, and
then we'll ask Sheikh Yasir to do a
dua again,
next week as well. We ask Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala to make us of the people
who increase in our duas to him. We
ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to never decrease
us in our ability to make dua.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow
us to enjoy each and every dua that
we make. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to allow us to be grateful for the
blessing of making dua in and of itself.
We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that we
never grow restless in our duas.
We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that we
never grow tired of making dua. We ask
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that we never grow
hopeless in any of our duas that we
make. We ask Allah
that every dua that we make, we make
it with the sense of optimism.
We ask Allah
to allow us to have the best idea
and the best hope in our lord, You
Allah.
We ask Allah
to allow us to make dua
like the duas of the messengers of Allah
salallahu alayhi wasalam.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow
us to learn from the Anbiya.
May Allah
be pleased with each and every single one
of them. We ask Allah
that whatever difficulty that we're going through, we
use those difficulties to channel energy and effort
and intention and sincerity for our duas. We
ask Allah
that all of these people that have been
coming to this class for the past 3
months, you Allah, we ask you to relieve
them of their hardship that they're going through.
You Allah, if there's anybody in this room
that is going through any sort of trials
or tribulations, whether they be in health,
whether they be mental health, whether they be
physical health, whether they be emotional health, you
Allah, we ask you to cure them from
their difficulties.
You Allah, we ask you to make our
duas strong, not only for ourselves, but for
our ummay Allah. You Allah, we ask that
you allow us to make dua as sincerely
for our ummah as we do for ourselves,
you Allah.
You Allah, we ask you to free the
people of Philistine, you Allah. You Allah, we
ask you to free the people of Philistine,
you Allah. You Allah, we ask you to
free the people of Philistine, you Allah. You
Allah, we make dua to you as sincerely
and as humbly
to hold those, to hold those who have
oppressed your worshipers, you Allah. We ask you
to hold them accountable, you Allah.
You Allah, we ask you to allow us
to learn from those who have been oppressed
in Gaza, in Rafa, in Sudan, and in
all other parts of the Muslim word, you
Allah, we ask you to allow us to
learn from their examples, you Allah.
You Allah,
we ask you to allow us to be
united with those who are
those people who have passed away in this
world for your sake, you Allah, we ask
you to allow us to be united with
them on the day of judgment, you Allah.
You Allah, we ask you that every dua
that we make be made with sincerity, you
Allah. You Allah, we ask that every dua
that we make be made with ihsan, you
Allah. You Allah, we ask that every single
dua that we make, we make with clarity,
you Allah.
You Allah, we ask that you listen to
our duas although we may not even be
finding the words to speak, you Allah, we
ask you to listen to our hearts, you
Allah.
You Allah, you are Sameer al Basir, you
Allah. You are the all hearing and the
all seeing, You Allah, the all knowing, You
Allah, you know what's within our hearts, You
Allah, except from what's within our hearts, You
Allah.
You Allah, we ask that you forgive us
for our many mistakes that we've made through
our lives you Allah. And we ask you
to take them away from our scales on
the day of judgment you Allah. You Allah,
we know that admittance into your paradise is
only by your mercy, your rahmah, You Allah.
We ask you to shower your rahmah upon
us You Allah. You are a rahmah, You
Allah.
You Allah, any sort of good that we
have get we have done and conducted in
these past few months, you Allah, we all
we ask you to allow these deeds to
be accepted, you Allah. You Allah, we ask
you that our deeds be be be one
of the reasons why we gain your pleasure,
you Allah, and not gain your your your
displeasure, you Allah. You Allah, we ask you
to continue us to to to grow and
continue to allow us to get closer to
you and continue to allow us to grow
in love and bond for our community, you
Allah. And we ask Allah
for your love and your mercy,
everybody for for being here. Inshallah, you're not
gonna wanna miss, next Thursday's session with Shah
Yasser.
He'll be here. I have, like, a really
beautiful slate of questions that I'm gonna ask
him, about his entire process of writing this
book, of why he wrote this book, why
he wanted to focus on dua. He's
going to be here next
Thursday to join us for the conclusion session
of this series
So we'll see you guys
next
week. Everybody.
Also, if anybody would like to join,
the,
group chat that we have for our