Safi Khan – Soul Food The Journey to Allah 10
AI: Summary ©
The importance of moderation and pursuing one's worship, avoiding excess and deficiency, and avoiding excess and deficiency is emphasized in Islam. Prayer is crucial for one's health and mental well-being, and individuals should pursue their means of breathing. The importance of moderation and poverty is also discussed, and the need for individuals to strike balance between generosity andics and avoid becoming a neither one or the other. The speakers stress the importance of praying and not overburdening oneself with fear, hoping for justice, and community acceptance in the region.
AI: Summary ©
I really
I would love
I would love another chair
Okay.
Sure.
Go for it
are in sha Allah we're gonna go ahead and get started with Allah
who will hamdulillah Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah while he was
happy he Ultramarine so then why they come what happens a lot here
but a character who everybody shot hola everyone is doing well
welcome home Hamdulillah
we are going to continue on with our series at soul food, the
journey to Allah
just a couple of things Insha Allah, as we're all still
monitoring very closely the situation and Philistine.
You know, obviously, it does seem like it's getting more and more
intense as the days continue on. We make dua very, very intensely
and sincerely that Allah to Allah relieve the people of Palestine,
the people of Gaza and make it easy upon everyone in sha Allah.
And that you know that Allah subhanho wa Taala never allows the
OMA to ever lose hope. Because the loss of hope is something that
shaitan actually wants. Shaitan wants to take people apart.
Shaitan wants to take people down in their emotion and their
spirituality because shaitan knows that once a person loses hope
that's the moment that they stop praying. So never lose hope.
Understand that your hope. Your optimism is a part and parcel of
your worship. It's a part of your your relationship with Allah, the
more hope that you have in Allah, the more beautifully that you'll
be able to worship him and so our sincere is do as the Allah relieve
the people of Azusa and also the Allah subhanho wa Taala allows us
to continue to keep our foot on the pedal and never ever lose
sight of the hope insha Allah that we should all have for the relief
of the situation. So we're gonna inshallah continue on with the
journey to Allah. And we are on now chapter five which is titled
The meaning of moderation, marijuana and custody, right the
meaning of moderation, what is moderation, what is balance, what
is being in the middle, according to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wasallam. So he begins and he says, across the across the top
level, he says, moderation, moderation, and through this, you
will achieve your goal. And he says here that the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he actually mentions the word
moderation twice, to emphasize how important and how pertinent that
principle is in our deen that a person who neglects the idea of
moderation will not be able to sustain this relationship with
Allah subhana wa Tada and he says that it contains encouragement
towards moderation in worship, such that one avoids excess and
deficiency, and he says the word excess and deficiency very
interestingly, because those two things are not apparently related,
right excess and deficiency deficiency means that there's
something lacking an excess means doing something too far or doing
too much of something. Those two things are not synonymous to the
naked eye. But what Ibn Rajab is saying is that a person who
engages in excess, they don't realize truly but in their excess
in their delving into too much, they will become deficient and
whatever they try to do. A person who tries to fast everyday, they
try to fast everyday, don't leave any day in between to like, enjoy
some food with family and loved ones, etc. They will in fact, be
deficient in their fasting when they do fast. A person who you
know and Allahu Allah may, Allah may have created some people very,
you know, special, where they're able to do things every year, but
even the example of somebody who goes to hajj every year, or
somebody that goes to Amara every year, and they completely exert
themselves in doing so.
They may not in fact, really appreciate the process or the
experience if they were to do it once in a while, right? There are
certain things obviously like Salah and fasting Ramadan and all
the other obligatory is that one is supposed to do every single
day. But a person who does too much of something, they pray all
night to the point where they deprive themselves of their sleep.
They in fact will actually lack in quality of their Salah at night
because now they're tired, right? Y'all ever heard of the the
narration of if food is available and a person is hungry, that they
should actually delay their Salah obviously if there's time and they
should eat and then pray, right? What's the fucking what why is
there why is there wisdom behind that statement? Because a person
who thinks that I'm going to basically deprive myself of
eating, and I'm going to pray so law, they all they're going to
think about while they're praying is how hungry they are and what
type of food there's waiting for them. Right? And so this religion,
although it encourages us to, you know, be people who try our
hardest in terms of our efforts. Islam is also extremely reasonable
and doesn't expect the unrealistic from us. Right. And so he says
that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam one time he said Oksana
Kosti Phil fuckery Wilma, Arsenal cost the field honey. Right, he
says that excellent, indeed is the moderation in poverty. Excellent
indeed is moderation in a fluence. And finally, why am I asked
another costly fee arriba T. and excellence is
in moderation in worship? Why? He brings up these three examples. So
he says that there's excellence in poverty. So when somebody sees
that they're like, What do you mean, the excellent poverty, Brom
broke, there's no way I can be excellent. And my broken my
brokenness, what does it mean to be excellent in poverty? Well, the
explanation of this is that even a person who's been given the state
of being impoverished, they should, if they have a means of
becoming, to get out of that poverty, they should take it.
There's no sort of like, the dignity and honor and just staying
impoverished. Right? And this is where Subhanallah you know, this
is where it's so true that certain people who are not in certain
states, they actually over glorified those states, right?
Like, oh, man, like, I wish I was impoverished, I'd be a better
Muslim. Have you been? No, you don't enjoy having food, right?
Like, it's like saying that like, Oh, I wish I was in certain areas
or certain states like No, no, enjoy the blessing that Allah gave
you. Allah didn't test you with it, because you can't handle it.
Right? So the the Prophet saw someone saying that excellent,
indeed, is moderation and poverty is that a person who is going
through poverty, Allah has given them the, the quarter of being in
poverty, even in that state, the prophets of Islam is saying, if
you get a chance to leave it, try and leave it, right. Don't overdo
your poverty, don't try to take advantage of other people with
your poverty. And one of the most beautiful examples of this, by the
way is there is a man who came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, and he said, y'all so Allah, you know, give me such and
such right in terms of like money, like give me this other cotton
that sadaqa and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he
said, rather, do you have anything in your home that you can sell?
And this man he was like, Oh, yes, so Allah, I barely have anything
on me, I only have two pieces of clothing, one in which I wear and
the other in which I actually basically lay on the floor and
there's like, and we use like a bowl on top of it to eat as a
family and the prophesy. So then he said, Bring them to me. And he
brought those to the profits or some of the profits or something,
he basically started auctioning those items. He said, who's gonna
buy these two pieces of clothing from your who's gonna buy this
cloth this cloth and who's gonna buy this bowl for me? And people
from like the community, they said, Okay, I'll take you know
this for like one dinar or two dinars. And so when it sold or
profits or something, he sold those two things. And he got two
dinars, he said, take one of these dinars, and go buy food for your
family and let the other go by and x that you can work with. Okay, so
long story short, this hadith is really long, but long story short,
this man he went and bought an axe to the prophets awesome,
obviously, like what kind of x can you buy for one dinar, right? It's
like Dollar Store X like you, you strike it and it breaks. And he he
basically patched it up. And he gave it to this person. He says,
Go and work for a couple of days and then come see me. Go work for
a couple of days, chop down some wood or whatever it is and sell it
and then come see me. And basically after a couple of days,
the men came back to the Profit System with more money. And he
told this man, he said, Isn't this much better than you just basking
in your poverty? Not as a means of like putting him down but teach a
man to fish you feed him for life and catch a man a fish? You feed
him for a day? Right? So the prophets Islam wasn't a person who
used to like glorify poverty. Poverty is a state that Allah
gives certain people and certain people can't help but be in it.
But the prophets are some he always used to encourage people to
work hard to get out of it. Don't just stay in it. Don't just wallow
in it. Right. So he says, moderation excellent, and indeed
as moderation and poverty. And then he says excellent in
indeed is a moderation in in affluence and wealth. This is true
for the opposite if you have wealth don't lavish in your wealth
Don't Don't Don't you know show off your wealth because one day
that wealth can be gone. Y'all ever seen those people who
mashallah are super wealthy, but they drive like Toyota Avalon?
Right? They drive like Toyota Camrys and Corolla is even though
they could buy like Ferraris. Isn't it incredible? Don't you
want to hang out with those people? Well, I want 100% I do. I
remember for a long time I had a friend who Masha Allah like he
would never tell us like what his family did.
And he used to drive like this like beaten up like Nissan Maxima
from like 1998 Right? And I remember you know one time
somebody was talking to me and I wasn't I wasn't like close close
to him but I was close enough to like know certain things about him
but I never knew like what his family was you know, engaged in
and so I ended up asking somebody you know, just from a casual
conversation Oh Do you know what that family does? And they're like
oh yeah like that family they they're like part owners electron
masala is that crazy? Like obviously brush on masala is like
one of the staples of any Desi home mashallah Tabata Allah may
Allah bless his family's wealth, right? I mean, like, if it wasn't
for them half was wouldn't know what biryani tastes like, right?
No one makes berry from scratch anymore. So you got like all these
hacks now probably is like a machine that makes brownie for
you. Now, I don't know if you heard of it. But But anyway, like
he never told anybody about it. He never like he never gloated about
it. He never like flaunted it right. So the prophets was when he
says moderation and is excellent indeed, as moderation and wealth.
And then he says, just like that one my axon elasti fee, are you
dirty and excellent is moderation in your worship? That just like
the other two, right, because worship is also a state that Allah
gave you the honor of knowing, like if you didn't, if you didn't
know what worship was, think about, like, you just kind of
living your life without the idea of Salah and you know, DUA and
they can all these different things. So worship is a state that
a person who isn't and if you don't believe me, a state is
something that you have to have other conditions to qualify for it
and worship you have to in order to worship, in some acts of
worship you have to have will do. So worship is also a state. So the
prophesy ism he said be moderate and your worship, right. And so
then we have certain kinds of statements here that have been
Raja He gives us he says that there was a person by the name of
multiple ruff had been Abdullah had been shifted, he said, he had
a son who would strive greatly in worship. So he said to him, the
best of affairs is the middle of one. The good deed lies between
two evil deeds. And the worst of journeys is the one where one
strives so much that he in fact, or she, in fact, kills the amount
that they're writing on. And so they're left stranded. And there's
a really beautiful quote here from a scholar where he said that every
praiseworthy trait that a person can think of has to essentially,
like, blameworthy or fault polls, meaning that like, there's
something in the middle that everyone praises, and that thing
that's in the middle is always surrounded by other things that
are extreme. And so he gives the example he says, generosity is the
middle between miserliness and extravagance if you were to kind
of draw like a chart, you would see that if somebody is considered
generous, that generosity falls right in between being miserly and
being extravagant, right? That if you want to be a person who's
generous, you have to strike the balance between two extremes.
Because if you lean too far to one side, you become extremely miserly
and tight * with your wealth, right? You don't give to anybody.
But then you go to the other extreme, and you become too lavish
and extravagant. You just throw your money around you flaunt your
money. So what's right in the middle, that's generosity. And
then he says, courage is the praiseworthy trade in between
cowardice and recklessness. So if you look at like bravery, Bravery
is right in the middle. And what's on two opposite sides. One is
being cowardly, and one is being reckless. If a person is too
brave, if a person is too brave, they become a little bit reckless,
right? But I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna tell them like it is
right? I'm not afraid of anybody. And you're like Habibi, you're not
brave. You're just stupid. Like you're reckless. You're being
almost like negligent at this point. Y'all ever met people like
that? Where they're like, I'll just say it like it is. And nobody
likes that person. Right? Like, they think that they're like this
brave, courageous human being, but in reality, in fact, they're
actually being quite like negligent, they're being they're
actually being very, very, they're being very unwise and the way they
approach things, but then you have the opposite side, which is being
being scared of everything, right? Being cowardly. Being a person who
doesn't ever go up and say anything, right. And subhanAllah
think about, you know, the current situation and because
All right, think about like the balance in the middle. What does
it mean to be brave for the people of Palestine? What does it mean to
be brave for the people in Gaza? It means that you speak up when
you are in the position to speak up.
And Masha Allah, Allah has given everybody a chance to speak up in
their own personal capability, right? Whatever way that you have
of speaking up, you should speak up. So a person shouldn't shy
away. A person shouldn't just shy away from that bravery that
courageousness that they could display. But also at the same
time, it's not the wisest thing to like, walk into school one day and
be like, all of you guys are Israeli support, like what? Like
that's not the wisest thing, right? And if you think about it,
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam also didn't believe in that
form of Dawa the Prophet salallahu Salam didn't walk into the city of
Mecca and be like, all of you guys are Kfar Right? Like, what? Like
what's your goal man? What's your goal? Is your goal to basically
get everyone not just to hate you but to hate Islam? Because that's
what you're doing will lie that's what you're doing. Believe it or
not, oh my god, I hate plugging certain things that I'm a part of
that evidence to the real from last week so food that we had on
the routes Instagram account. Okay, so that was all about like
the, you know, the sentiment of Allah rewarding those who passed
away in Palestine, right? The children of Palestine will be in
the company of Prophet Ibrahim alayhis salam I talked about that
extensively last week. There was a comment on their May Allah to
Allah preserve this brothers online bravery. He was like, we
need to boycott these, these compassionate Imams. Oh, you know
exactly. I'm talking about he was you saw it. So somebody commented,
they said, We need to boycott these compassionate Imams. I'm
like, compassionate. Let me see if this is a horrible thing in the
dictionary, right? I look, I was like, Maybe this guy's a
definition that I'm not aware of. And I saw him like a person who
has great love and empathy for people around them like, Man
SubhanAllah. Maybe this brother thinks, you know, compassion is a
bad thing, right? I don't know. So I was thinking to myself, I said,
subhanAllah like, what does this person want me to do? They want me
to like step up on the podium and say, like, duck to the white.
Like, what are you talking about? Man? Like, what are we trying to
do here? I would never say that. Right? There are moments of
bravery, in which actually compassion is the bravery.
Compassion is the brave route. Think about it. Look at the
Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, to people like Hynd right Radi Allahu Anhu. We call Radi
Allahu anha. Now, she was the one responsible for killing his uncle
Hamza. Right. And he when he came back to Mecca, Hynde went into
hiding for a period of time. And when she came out of hiding, she
veiled herself, so that nobody would recognize her because she
was afraid that if a Muslim caught sight of her, they would
automatically try to like punish her for all the things that she
did pre Islam. And so when she went to the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wa sallam, she saw that the Prophet SAW Saddam was literally
worshipping in Mecca. He was worshipping near the Kaaba. And
she said to him, she said, like, I thought you were gonna come after
me. I thought you were gonna come after me and like, punish me for
the things that I did to you before this time? And he said, No,
no, no, he's like, my, my war is not with you. My battle is not
with you. My battle is with people who oppose Muslims. Like you could
change, you could change Allah Who Adam, you could change. And that's
why, by the way, we say, for the people that are in conflict right
now, between Israel and Palestine, we say our issue is for anyone who
supports this idea. Because people can change Allah who I'm going to
build a hut that wanted to murder the prophesies on the Monday.
Think about it, or a mother wanted to murder the prophets or someone
that he wanted to kill him one day. And in fact, Allah reversed
his heart and turn him towards loving the prophets of Allah who
Allah who said, No,
you don't say. So. In between two blameworthy poles is something
that's actually praiseworthy. So bravery is in between cowardliness
and recklessness, okay.
And so now I've been Rajab, he continues, okay. And he says here,
that this meaning is supported by the Hadith reported on the
authority of Abdullah ibn who said that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam said that this religion is powerful. He said, This
religion is powerful, so walk in it with gentleness Subhanallah
y'all know like cars that are really powerful to drive. If you
press that gas pedal like super hard, you'll be flying down that
street. You got to calm down most of y'all with like Toyota Corolla
is you're not to worry about that. Me neither do I drove like I'm
gonna record my entire life, right? I'm like, I'm pressing as
hard as I can. So we're going 60 miles per hour. But cars that are
super powerful if you treat those things with like, just as extreme
of a
reaction, you're not going to be able to handle it. And this is the
exact same analogy the professor is making. He's saying that Islam
is heavy. Islam is heavy. It is a powerful religion. Don't treat
something that is so powerful with extremists. You are actually going
to lose control of it. Islam is deep. Y'all ever y'all have you
guys in your life ever, like, experienced like a deep moment in
Islam? Think about it, guys think about it. I remember I had this
moment this epiphany the first time I went to Iraq. Okay, the
first time I went to Morocco, the first time I saw the Kaaba with my
own eyes, like it overwhelmed me. Honestly, it overwhelmed me. I got
like really moved by it. And, you know, I said to And subhanAllah I
was, I had the opportunity to speak to a person who live there.
And Monica, Can you guys imagine just rolling up to the Kaaba for
Isha prayer. It's a crazy thought, right? Like you're sitting in
Dallas, Texas, and you're like, thinking about it. Like, I gotta
go to a show. We're going to issue Oh, the Harlem and Mecca, right?
Like, I'm gonna go pray in the Kaaba, right? Just for Isha
prayer. I could go back home, eat some yogurt after I don't know
bedtime snack. Think about like, how incredible would it be to say
that? So I told this kid, it was a kid actually. Because at that
time, I was like, 2524 The first time I did Ramadan, and this kid
was like, 1918 years younger than me. And he was like a, like a, you
know, American kid who was local to the area. And I told the kid I
said, Man, y'all don't realize man. Like, if I just lived here, I
would be at the Kaaba for Isha every night. He's like, Oh, you
think so? He's like you think so? He's like, don't don't think that
even certain things like the Kaaba can sometimes be challenging for
some people. And in fact, you will feel worse about it. If you don't
make it to a shot at night, if you lived in Mecca. Think about that
statement. Right? This religion is heavy. Seeing the Kaaba is heavy,
right? So approach it with gentleness, don't just think to
yourself, the more that I do, the better it is. Right? The more that
I struggle, the better it is no, no moderation, moderation,
balance, balance, okay? And so he said that, and let not the worship
of Allah become burdensome for you? How real is that statement
from the Prophet SAW so don't do not allow the worship of Allah to
become a burden upon you.
You know, there is this, this truth to this principle, that
Islam is a journey. You know, how there's a statement in life where
they say
it's about the journey and not the destination, something like that.
It's about the journey and not like the final destination. Why?
Because the journey of Islam is something that's extremely
special. Right? Yes, Your destination is the hereafter in
sha Allah is going to be Jana. But don't allow yourself to miss the
destination, because you did injustice to the journey. Right?
You want to do justice to the journey, so you appreciate the
destination. Think about it, how many people Subhanallah I'll give
you a very easy analogy to follow. There are a lot of parents who
work their tail off to take care of their children, right. And some
of those, and they'll spend long hours into the night working at
the office or working at the store and whatnot. And they're working
so hard because they want to provide like 200,000 $4,000 a year
for their children to get to basically give their children an
easy life. But that child would have rather taken $100,000
lifestyle if their dad or their mom could have spend more time
with them.
Because the goal for that parent is to what? To provide a beautiful
life for that child that like that kid could have given up that extra
200k and said Baba, I just wanted you home at night. That's what I
wanted. So for us, our goal is to please Allah, our goal is to
attain Jannah and if that is truly our goal, then we would understand
that rather than overburdening ourselves in certain regards of
this religion, it would be better if you qualitatively spent more
time with Allah.
So possibly, it could mean that if you're really tired tonight, pray
a shot really well. And wake up for Fudger rather than trying to
stay up all night and falling asleep and you're Isha and
get some sleep. Right?
And this is why Allah says that what you're under no Macomb
Sabetta we've made the idea of sleep a form of rest for you. Why?
Because sleep has a maksud it has an objective. You sleep so you can
get up and worship. You eat so you can have energy to worship, right?
Y'all ever heard that? 1/3 1/3 1/3 rule of eating and drinking and
leaving 1/3 for air. Why is that? Why is that heavy, so relevant.
The other part of that hadith is so that you
Do not hunched over during your Salah. Think about it. Even your
eating has to do with your prayer and your worship. So everything
has like an objective behind it, okay. And so he says that a person
who takes worship as a burden is a person who will end up faltering
and is unable to continue. They do not have the ability to continue,
and they have neither shorten their journey, nor have they
preserved their mounts. They have neither shorten their journey,
meaning they haven't made their life easier. You don't you don't
don't pray all 17 raka of prayer at Fajr time. So you haven't
really done anything like quality heavy, and nor have you preserved
your mount. And we'll talk about what the mount is actually,
according to Ibn Rajab. So he says, work the deeds of a man who
believes that he will die as an old man. And beware of the fear of
a man who believes that he will die tomorrow. Now this is so
interesting. Check this out. Why is this interesting? Because so
many people they believe in the opposite. They say live every day
like it is your last y'all ever heard that before? It's like a
common sentiment right? Live every day as though it's your last and a
lot of us believing this right? Like every prayer that you pray
you should pray. Sola sola, sola salatu Murata, right, pray as
though it's your last prayer. And that's a very famous statement, by
the way, but it's been Rajab, he says here that the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam also means that you should not just
over exert yourself to the point where all your deeds are
resonating that you will die tomorrow in the morning. Because
you should hope that ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada will allow you to wake up
the next day. You should pray to Allah subhanaw taala that he will
allow you to do it again. And you want proof of this. Allah humma
Boliviana Ramadan y'all ever heard of that? Da? Oh Allah allow us to
reach Ramadan? Why? If that was if that wasn't the case, and
everybody would say, Oh Allah, allow me to die tomorrow and allow
this last Ramadan to be my last. A believer should never say that. A
believer should always say oh Allah allow me to pray one more
time. Oh Allah allow me to make one more dua. Oh Allah allow me to
perform one more Amara, Oh Allah, allow me to read one more idea of
Quran. Why? Because you should hope that Allah will give you
more,
you should hope that Allah will give you more and to think that
Allah does not have the capability to give you more, it's actually
against your belief system. To think that Allah cannot give you
more is against your belief in Allah because Allah is truly the
one who can give you everything without any sort of capacity, you
know that Allah subhanaw taala is capable of giving you more. So ask
Allah for more. Okay. And so he then says that this is because a
strenuous journey in which one strives greatly, is prone to end
suddenly without completion.
And this is what we call in modern day term burnout.
If a person over exerts to the point where they are so tired,
they are so weary, they are actually damaging the possibility
of future acts of worship. And this is where by the way, we have
to ask ourselves, what is my goal here? Is my goal to complete my
journey? Or is my goal to just do things blindly, without any regard
for my future?
The goal is to always reach the end. I want to reach the end, oh
Allah give me a great end. Oh Allah give me a beautiful ending.
That should always be the goal, okay. And so he says, a moderate
journey, however, is most likely or more likely to reach its goal.
This is why the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam stated
that the end result of moderation was the achievement of the
objective and whoever travels by night will reach his destination,
all right. And now inshallah we move on to this portion right
here. Right here Allah He gives certain Yachats of the Quran that
helps us understand this concept. And this idea, he says, yeah, a U
haul in Santo in naka de Haan Isla Rob big cat, the Hanford Mulethi
he says, You owe mankind are working towards your Lord
painfully toiling and you shall meet him know that your hard work
will pay off. Consistency is the key. He says in naka de Haan, ILA
Rob beaker cada Hanifa moolah KI know that your worship, in
consistency, sometimes it will be tough to pray consistently will
actually be the harder task. That one big, beautiful prayer that you
might pray may actually be the
easier route, but to pray every day moderately might be the harder
one. That is not what that is sometimes the harder route. So
strive through the path which is more is which is not traveled by
as much. And that is a path of moderation. And one of the, you
know, incredible reflections here I want to share this with you guys
is this, the younger generation, and this is really, really, you
know, tough especially because of just like the immediate
gratification generation that we live in, where people want to like
make that one like million dollar deal. Everybody wants to feel that
$1 million dollar salah, everybody wants to feel that $1 million
spiritual moment, I'll share something really interesting here.
A person who prays like that $1 million Salah a year, what they
want out of it is that feeling, they want to feel that feeling of
being connected to Allah. But the person who prays moderately every
day, logically, they're going to hit that spiritual high a little
bit more, because they're giving themselves a chance every day.
A person and this is almost like gambling, right? A person who
Gamble's they're gonna gamble, like once a year. And their hope
is to hit that million dollar jackpot. But the person who goes
to work every day, and they go to work, and they work hard for
seven, eight hours a day, five days a week, they are more likely
to actually yield the reward of working hard.
We are not a religion in which we try to go for that million dollar
jackpot. And this is why we always say balance yourselves out,
balance yourselves out. Don't try to make that one dua once a year,
make small dua every day and Allah will give you that feeling. Y'all
ever heard those stories of like Sahaba. And like, you know, other
people who are of piety, and they have those incredible moments of
like, just like spiritual connection with Allah. Why do you
think those stories exist? Because those people used to pray every
day. They just narrated that one time or two times where they hit
that spiritual moment.
Don't you think that sometimes you're going to pray and you're
not going to feel something sometimes, of course, sometimes
you'll pray Maghrib. And you'll be like, oh, man, like I just like, I
just completed it. I didn't really feel anything in that moment of
prayer. That's because that's why it's that's how it's supposed to
be. You're not going to feel a spiritual high every time you
pray. But if you do pray five times a day, I can guarantee you
one thing, you will feel something in those five prayers. Your Fudger
is going to be amazing. You're the heart is going to be amazing. Your
officer might be amazing. Your mother might be amazing. Your shot
might be amazing. But a person who only appraising shot. They're
going to like seek that like spiritual connection through just
their shot. Perhaps their connection was meant for the hurt
that day. But they robbed themselves of that experience.
Because all they do is they just try to pressure that's it. So
consistency and right and being in moderation. And then Allah subhana
wa Tada he gives a another area in the Quran where he says, WA Bucha
Rebecca had a TIA Tia aka Eliakim. He says and worship your Lord,
till that certainty comes. And what is a certainty? The scholars
they say that certainty is death. So you should worship Allah all
the way up until you pass away. Because Kulu nacinda It cut will
melt. Every soul will taste death.
But a person should pray until they know that they can't pray any
longer. Pray Until you know you cannot pray any longer. Okay? And
this is why he says that Allah Hassan, he mentioned the grandson
of the prophets was when he said, oh people be persistent. Surely
Allah has appointed the time of death, or the stopping of deeds to
be just before death. And then he recited the verse above, why are
both Rebecca had to Eliakim and he said, your souls are your mounts
so tend to your mounts. In this way they will convey you to your
Lord, Almighty and magnificent. He said, Take care of your souls,
don't neglect your souls. And then he mentions here really
beautifully. He says, the meaning of tending to one's mounds is to
be easy on them, and to keep them fit and healthy and not to
overburden them. And he gives the analogy of the mount meaning like
the animal that you ride on in your journey, which is your actual
soul. Don't overburden your soul, be kind to your soul, feed and
nourish your soul. Don't overburden it, how many people
have tried to like and this is really sad, by the way, a person
who tries so hard to overburden their soul with like reciting
Quran and memorizing Quran and they completely robbed themselves
of the sweetness of actually taking that Quran in. It would
have been actually better for them if they recited maybe just like
one page a day, but they overburden themselves.
To read like 10 pages a day and they got nothing out of it.
They tried to pray like so many times a day, but they don't even
remember one prayer that they prayed. Rather, do it in
moderation so that you remember these these beautiful memories,
okay? And then he says at the end here, that hope is the guide. And
fear is the driver. And the soul is between the two like a strong
animal. Okay, so very beautiful statement. By the way, he said
that hope is the guide and fear is the driver, right? So someone
should be balanced when you worship Allah subhanaw taala
always be in the middle of hope and fear that whenever something
goes too far to one side, just redirect yourselves right to the
middle. It's almost like it's almost like one of those like cars
on the highway that are almost like self correcting, that if
you're going too far to one side of the lane, the car swerves right
back into the middle. Because if you go too far, you might be going
off the road. And if you go too far to the other side, you might
actually be running into a car, so be right in the middle. And those
two extremes are hope and fear. If a person has hope and Allah and
only hope, they actually are missing that fear component, that
Hashem of Allah, that fear that there is something that's going to
happen if they don't do what they're supposed to do. But if a
person only lives in fear of Allah, they will never actually be
hopeful. And Allah, they will forget that there's a Jana, so
Jana and Johanna, are both necessary to understand that those
moments of laziness that there is a Jahannam that is true. And in
those moments of too much fear and too much anxiety know that Jana is
true, that those both exists to serve a purpose for mankind. A
person shouldn't be too fearful of one or too hopeful of another.
There should be right in the middle. How many of us wake up
sometimes and we worship because we're like, oh my God, I don't
want to miss Fisher because I don't want to go to *, right?
And then some people are like, I'm looking for federal, I'm like
floating to my will do station because I want Jana, right? Like,
you're hoping in the reward of Allah. So there's an importance of
the balance right in the middle, okay. And at the end, Inshallah,
we'll end with this.
He says, Fear is like a whip. And when a person excessively whips
the animal, it could very well die.
That a person who is constantly living in fear of Allah, they may
in fact, be harming themselves to the point where their soul just
dies because they die of fear. They don't have any hope and
Allah, they don't have any arranger and ALLAH SubhanA wa
Tada. And he says, as such, one must also strike it with songs of
hope, that would encourage it to eagerly revitalize its efforts
until it revived, it arrives at the destination. I want you guys
to think about the way the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam did it was
that famous Aya in the Quran and also Emraan that the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he Furby ma Rama, Tim in Allah He
linter home,
O Messenger of Allah, you if you are not lenient with them, lint,
Allah whom they would have completely turned away from you,
they would have flocked away from you. And I want you guys to think
about this, ask yourself this question. Am I too hard on my own
self?
Am I too harsh with my own self?
Do I think that if I don't, if I don't overburden myself with
worship, then I might as well do nothing. There's a balance right
in the middle. Don't think that it's always I gotta pray all five
of my prayers and pray all the way through the night and fast
tomorrow, or it's nothing be right in the middle. And he says that
there is a person by the name of Abu Yazeed, who said, I have
persistently guided my soul to Allah without letting up it
weeping all the way, then I urge it, and I urge it on until it
laughed. So your soul sometimes might be overburden, you have to
give it that hope at that moment. And that hope is Janna. Give it a
little bit of lightheartedness. Give it a little bit of
lightheartedness. Give it a little bit of hope and a moment where it
feels overburdened. But when it feels too much of that
lightheartedness, give it a little bit of that pep in IT stuff,
right. And this is the end of the chapter of the meaning of balance.
I want to end in sha Allah today with a message to kind of almost
bring to balance now we're talking about balance about what I talked
about last week. Since I've been labeled a compassionate Imam.
I wanted to share something with everybody today.
That although
when it comes to the situation in the BUZZA we are hopeful of the
Those children and those martyrs, those shahada, that Allah will
give them paradise. This is not a
means of us understanding that there will be justice for those
who commit those crimes.
That hopefulness for those who do good, should not be in lieu of
understanding that justice will be served for those who commit those
crimes.
That there is room for both and Islam.
That a person understands that those who do good when I know the
original Marcin, Allah will never allow the reward of those who do
good to be lost. But at the same time, Allah will hold the Lonnie
mean, to account for the crimes that they have committed.
And if you don't believe me, I want you to just to look back in
how many times that ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada has brought justice to
people who harm the worshipers of ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada. Think about
it. I'll give you one very easy example to follow. Think about
soil feel. Think about how there were a group of people who tried
to harm the city of Mecca. They tried to harm the Kaaba, the place
that Ibrahim alayhis salam built, because of his Tawheed and his
testimony of Oneness of Allah subhana wa Tada. And when this
army came in Allah subhanho wa taala. He said, Allah, I'm Tara
Keifa, for Allah rabuka be as heavy field. Have you not seen how
I dealt with the people of the elephant. And the reason why they
were known as the people of the elephant was because they were
proud. They were prideful. They came in writing on these animals
that the people of Mecca have never seen before. So I want you
to think about the modern day equivalent of that. Think about
the people of Gaza, the people of Gaza don't have an army fighting
for them. The people of Gaza don't have people to defend them
necessarily. The people of Gaza are quite literally walking on
their feet, fleeing from their homes after the oppressors quite
literally drop messages from the sky telling them that you have 24
hours to leave. And for all the people around the world who are
hopeless and then they say, what's going to happen?
When is Allah's help going to come? And Allah responds to these
people by saying either Jah or nostril Allah he will fit. Know
that the help of ALLAH to Allah is near.
And there will be an opening for these people. And that opening
will be something that you never thought of. Allah will hold these
people to account for the crimes that they've committed. He says,
hola mujer, al Qaeda, Humphrey Tallinn, he says, Have I not taken
their plan? The plan of the people of us have been filled when they
marched upon the Kaaba and they tried to destroy it. Didn't you
see how Allah turn their plan fee tell the team into complete
shambles. He destroyed their plan. These people who thought that they
could completely perform genocide upon a group of people, people who
thought they could ethnically cleanse an entire group of people.
You thought that they had all this power. They thought they had all
this money, Alam yoga alQaeda home feats of them. Were out of Sudan
are they hentai? You're on eBay, Abby, What did Allah sent to
defend Mecca 14 1500 years ago, died on a Barbie birds from the
sky. Literally birds from the sky, taught me him the hedgehog team
and CGT and each of them were carrying stones in their, their
claws or their talons and one in their beak for Jada home cast Finn
cool. And literally the people that tried to harm the Kaaba
became almost like unrecognizable after Allah had dealt with them.
So when it comes to our belief, in justice, we understand that Allah
Subhan, Allah to Allah is justice is better than our justice. The
justice that we can think of Allah Subhan, Allah to Allah is justice
is much more beautiful than whatever we can comprehend in our
mind. Because he's an adult, he is allowed, he is the one who serves
true justice. He is the one that will give the people who oppressed
his worshipers, the justice they truly deserve. Do you think that
going to jail for these people is true justice? Do you even think
that like whatever you can think of, in your mind is true justice
to what they have done. Think about the images that you've seen
the past three weeks, the children laying their bodies all over. I
saw a video today that completely broke me, parents or grandparents
carrying their young ones in their hands, wrapping them up, as in the
background, another group of people were praying Janaza for
another one who was wrapped up in front of them. I mean, it is Jana
Zott over Janaza over Janaza That's it. That's what's happening
in Gaza right now. Do you think there's anything that you can
formulate in your mind that would be just to this situation, then or
no?
This is where you call upon Aladdin, the one who is the most
just to give these people truly what they deserve. So as much as
we are hopeful that Allah will reward the victims with Jana, we
should have as much hope that Allah to Allah will hope that he
will hold the criminals to justice. As much hope as we have
of the children playing with Ibrahim, we should have hoped that
ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada will make sure to hold accountable those who
did this to those children, because one does not replace the
other. Think about what we talked about today. A Muslim is balanced,
a cost plus moderation, moderation, one does not mean the
other cannot exist. When you make dua for those children and those
families you should also make dua that ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada holds
those oppressors accountable for all that they did to them. And
this is what it means to be a Muslim guys. We don't have to like
we don't we don't have to like lean one way or the other too far.
We know that right in the middle means being a Muslim. We know that
when we are right in the middle Allah subhanaw taala will give
those children Jana and those parents Jana and Allah will also
give those people what they truly deserve the people who did this to
them, so our hope is always with ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada. Our hope is
with the people of Gaza. Our hope is that Allah subhanho wa Taala
relieves them. Our hope is that Allah subhanho wa Taala brings an
end to this crisis, our hope and our dua is the Allah Subhana Allah
to Allah gives the shahada the highest levels of paradise, our
hope and our doors that ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada gives those who
are criminals truly what they deserve, not only in this life but
in the Hereafter, because perhaps the answer to their crimes in this
dunya is not enough. Perhaps the hereafter is only the form of
justice that will actually hold them accountable for what they did
the heinous crimes that they committed. We hope that ALLAH
SubhanA wa Tada gives them that true justice in the hereafter. I
mean, a little bit out I mean, Subhanak Allah Houma will be
humbled when I shall do Allah Illa Illa and Nestor Fuuka wanted to
break which is not gonna happen, everybody, thank you so much for
being here today in sha Allah. Next week, we are going to begin
the chapter of traveling the path of Allah
azza wa jal insha Allah this is such a beautiful chapter we'll
talk inshallah a little bit about the people who have had their own
journeys towards Allah subhana wa Tada and how we can replicate
that. We just talked with him, so that's why they come to LA hate
about cats who will see all in Charlotte next Thursday.