Safi Khan – Soul Food The Journey to Allah 8 & A Duaa for Palestine
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of following the Sun and following the sunless path in Islam, as it is better than striving hard. They emphasize the need to be mindful of one's actions and not be harmed. The importance of following the sun and following the sunless path in Islam is emphasized, as it is better than striving hard. The speakers also emphasize the importance of not overcomplicating one's life and not being around anyone. They stress the importance of following the Sun and following the sunless path in Islam, and encourage individuals to take responsibility for their actions to alleviate suffering and loss for family members.
AI: Summary ©
Alright.
We're gonna,
go ahead and,
get started.
Everyone is doing well.
Obviously,
today is,
you know, I think any
religious
director, teacher, leader
who has held a program this week,
Their hearts have been extremely heavy,
because of the
ongoing
situation that's taking place in the Gaza.
And, you know, the the the heart should
feel heavy
at this moment.
So it shouldn't really be easy to just
carry on like nothing's going on.
In these particular situations, it's always
a
sign of someone who
is close to Allah that
they feel some sort of way about what's
happening. Right?
And
because of, obviously, you know, the overexposure
to media
and to all the
accessibility
factors that we all have,
it's very easy to become desensitized to things.
And this is why I was actually speaking
to somebody
before today's session,
and I was saying that, you know,
the exposure to media is almost a double
edged sword
where
you have a lot of awareness, so you're
aware of the gravity of the situation.
But also at the same time, people are
in danger of almost being desensitized to a
lot of things.
So I always tell people and remind people
that it's important to make sure that you
and I both realize that
these are very real time situations that are
taking place. And
because of this, right,
at the end of today's session so I'm
gonna plan right around, like,
805,
805, 810, maybe, like, in another, like, 30:35,
40 minutes.
I'm going to pause the session,
and we're actually going to do a dua
for the people in Philistine inshallah,
because I feel like it is our obligation
to do so.
You know, it's so important.
Right?
I I remember I saw something that someone
wrote earlier today
where they said they almost feel guilty about
being alive at this time. Like, it feels
weird
to, like,
know that, like, you have air conditioning
and you're walking in and eating and drinking
and enjoying
moments. Right? And when you open your phone
and you see
the news and what's going on and you
see parents dragging the bodies of their children
out of buildings and and and their own
homes.
And, I mean, it's a very, very tough
situation. So,
we're going to be engaging in a dua
at the end of today's session
to just,
call out to Allah. Right? Dua. We're literally
going to call out to Allah,
and,
Right? So Allah will respond to us in
whatever way that he,
deems fit.
So we are going to, for the time
being, continue on with our,
reflections of
this particular text that we've been going over.
Last week, y'all probably remember
if you were here, Sheikh Omar was with
us and helped us kind of make sense
of a couple of different, you know, points
and, parts of this particular text.
And
so we now reach this part of the
text
where
the author, Ibn Raja,
he
says, this is now entering into this part
of the hadith called
Right? What does that mean? Because, again, just
to refresh everyone's minds, we're talking about a
narration where the prophet
he said that no one will enter
paradise
by their own deeds alone
unless they are enveloped, wrapped in the mercy
of Allah
and then he gives some advice. And one
of the advices that we'll share today
is the advice
of.
Now what does that mean? Okay?
So he begins by saying that
the statement of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
it means to be firm, steadfast,
and balanced. Right? These three concepts.
As a Muslim, you are expected
to be firm,
to have firmness in your belief because, again,
you know, it's easy to say but
it's a whole another
part of your deen to now stead you
know, stand fast on that belief. Right?
And
that's one of the key components of our
deen. It's to not just say things. It's
to actually believe them and act by them.
Right?
So be firm.
Number 2, be steadfast.
Right?
Don't waver from that path. The prophet he
mentioned one time that there will come a
day in which a person's adherence to their
faith
will be like them holding onto
hot burning coals.
Okay?
Meaning that it's gonna be very difficult for
a person to be able to hold steadfast
to their faith because there will be elements
that will try to
take you down
from so many different directions in your life.
There will become a challenge from the left,
from the right, from the top, from down,
and it will all challenge your
your your faithfulness,
your your your loyalty to your way of
life.
And so the prophet, he said that it
will quite literally be like a person holding
onto a hot coal because
holding onto a hot coal, I mean, most
people have probably not done it, and nobody
does it on their free time. It's not
like, oh, yeah. I held onto a piece
of hot coal yesterday, so this is how
it felt. No one can imagine doing that
for funsies. Right? No one does that. And
so the prophet is saying just as you
can even imagine holding on to a hot
piece of coal,
the people will be challenged one day in
the reality of the earth where
their religion will be like that. They'll be
trying to hold on to a hot piece
of coal that they'll wanna drop at the
first moment of inconvenience. At the first moment
of trouble, the first moment of trial, they'll
wanna drop it. They don't wanna hold on
to it. It's uncomfortable. It's painful. It's easier
to let it go. Right?
And so he says, be steadfast,
be firm, be steadfast,
and be balanced.
Be balanced in whatever you do. Okay?
And so to be balanced, there are a
couple of different narrations that I wanted to
share with everybody when it comes to the
idea of balance. We talked about this with
Shahomer last week a little bit,
but there are a couple of narrations that
kinda help illustrate what balance is. Right? So
the first thing he mentions here, he says,
it needs to take a balanced path in
worship, not being deficient by leaving off what
one has been commanded
with or by taking on more than one
can bear. So there are 2 components of
being balanced according to Ibn Rajab. The first
thing he says is
not being deficient
by leaving off what one has been commanded
with.
So a part of being balanced is to,
essentially, in Islam,
do as you're told. Right? Not making up
your own rules.
Making sure that you are not leaving that
which Allah has told you to do. Right?
People
who claim that certain parts of the religion
aren't a part of the religion. Right?
You know, there's a whole different conversation, by
the way, in struggling with your faith and
struggling with your worship
versus saying that something is not a part
of this deen. Right? For example, I'll give
you guys an easy example to follow.
If a person says that I struggle with
my prayer,
this is something that is totally within the
understanding of Islam.
People struggle with different acts of worship. Some
people struggle with prayer. Some people struggle with
fasting. Some people struggle with reading Quran. Some
people struggle with other components of faith. That's
fine. To struggle with something is fine. This
is why there are hadith of prophet that
says that if a person reads Quran and
they're, like, stumbling over their words, they will
receive twice the reward because they're struggling with
it.
So struggling
is completely okay.
Do it. Try your best to do it.
But
to say that because I struggle with it,
it's not a part of my deen, it's
a whole different thing. Right? And I remember
there was a particular, you know, I was
listening to, like, an interview with a Muslim.
I don't wanna call him influencer because I'm
not really influenced by him. But
he said that you know, he was being
interviewed. He's a Muslim. He was born Muslim.
And, you know, there was a movie that
he was a part of in which he
said that,
or he was trying to portray the reality
of how a lot of American Muslims grow
up
lying to their parents when their parents asked
them if they did things like prayer. Right?
Like, oh, betta, did you pray? And he
would say, yeah. And then he would just
be in his room, like, playing video games
or, like, texting on his phone or something
like that. And the mom asked him, did
you pray? And he says, yes. Right? So
he's, like, describing, like, a reality of a
challenge of, like, being a Muslim youngster. Like,
you just you know, you you you lie
about certain things. And, again, not condoning it,
but it's the reality sometimes.
So he was asked during this interview,
so, like, prayer. Right? Prayer. Is it something
that, you know, you obviously in the movie
portrayed yourself as something that you struggled with?
So as a Muslim, are you supposed to
pray? And he's like, yeah. Well, you can
if you want to, and if you don't
want to, you know, god understands.
Well, I had a problem with that statement
because the reality is you can struggle with
it all you want to, but you can
never say that if you don't pray, it's
okay.
You guys understand that?
Like every Muslim who even struggles with salah,
they understand that this is something that I
need to work on. By saying that it's
just okay, it's whatever, that's not a part
of our deen. Right? So ibn Rajab, he
says here that leaving off what one has
been commanded with. Right? You don't take away
from this religion what Allah has told you
to do because you don't have a right
to do that. This is not something that
you yourself created. It's not your own law.
And in fact, that's a part of our,
like, stress relief when it comes to Islam
is because you're not in charge of making
the rules. Right?
Like, you know how many people are are
asked, like, well, you know, why is pork
haram? Right? And, like, every Muslim becomes, like,
biologist 101. They're like, well, brother, listen here.
There are enzymes within the pork. And, like
like, we get it. Right? Like, sure. You
can scientifically rationalize it, but the ultimate reason
why you don't eat
eat eat pork is because Allah says don't
do it.
That's
relieve yourself. You don't have to explain to
people exactly the intricate detail of why you
do or why you don't do. Allah has
told you to do certain things, and it's
almost like, you know, when you're growing up
and you're a kid and your parents have
certain rules and you don't really know why
they have those rules, but you know there
is a reason. You just don't really get
it yet. Like, sometimes it's hard to kind
of, like, make sense of them if you're
trying to explain it to somebody else. But
another person there's, like, another level of kid
who's like, yeah. My parents just said it,
so I just can't do it.
You know what I'm saying?
And by the way, there's wisdom to it.
I know that sometimes it sounds almost like
ignorant. Right? Like, oh, you don't really know
why you do what you do. No. No.
No. There's a beautiful simplicity to a person
saying that, like, I'm just not allowed to.
Right? Like, my mother, you know, my law
rewarder, she used to always have one rule
for me, is I was never allowed to
sleep over at any of my friend's house.
A lot of Muslim people can vibe with
that. Everyone's, like, staring at, like, him too?
Right? Like you know, it it is a
thing. Right? It's a thing. My mom my
mom just never allowed it. She was like,
yeah. You can spend as much time as
you want there, but when you sleep, you
sleep in your room. Okay?
And for the longest time, I'm like, oh,
yeah. But, like, it's okay. Right? This and
that, all that stuff, and we we trust
this person and that person. But there are
so many elements of
not being around
your own place with your own family in
the odd hours of the night that post
threats to a parent's just sanctity.
And as though and and although you may
not agree with it, it is their prerogative
to to share with you their fears and
their anxieties and what they what they would
like for you to do.
And so when it comes to this religion,
this works the same way. You don't feel
like you have to, like, answer for everything
that a person asks you. Just say, Alhamdulillah,
Allah asked me not to do this so
I just don't engage in it. Right?
Like, when Adam alaihi salam was told,
don't go near that tree. Don't go near
this tree. He was asked by Allah. Imagine
if prophet Adam Alaihi Salam was like, well,
the apple is like a golden delicious, man.
Like, it's a it's a it's a Granny
Smith. What's haram about apples? Like, what's wrong
with that? Apples are never haram. It's not
like pig or like alcohol. Why can't I
eat an apple? Allah said,
don't go near it. Why? Because I told
you to. Because if you go near it,
there may be something that's harmful within it
that you don't understand just yet. How many
times have we done things that have harmed
ourselves when we, at a moment of just
making the decision to go towards it, didn't
really deem harmful. But now that we engaged
in it and we saw the results of
it, we're like, oh my god. Why did
I do that thing?
Right? I thought that this place was safe.
I thought that person was okay. I thought
that this thing was alright. And then we
learned to a certain degree a hard way
that it wasn't as it seemed. Right? So
I'll so so he says, by leaving off
what what has been commanded with. The second
is
or
by taking on more than one can bear.
This is so incredible. There's a story that
goes along with it. Okay.
So there's a story that says that the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he was speaking
to one of his companions, Abdullah ibn Amr.
He was speaking to Abdullah ibn Amr,
and he told him, yeah, Abdullah ibn Amr,
recite the Quran completely every 7 days. So
Abdullah ibn Amr was like a very, very,
like, charismatic,
emphatic,
right, like, energetic Muslim young man.
So, you know, like, when you dive into
the religion, you're like, yeah. I wanna do
this and that and this and that. I
wanna pray at the Hajj. I wanna do
this. I wanna finish the Quran every few
days. I wanna go attend this class. I
wanna go to heart work. I wanna go
to Sheikh Mikael's Wednesdays. I wanna go to
soul food. I wanna go to Sheikh Omar's
Tuesday nights. I wanna do all these different
things. So the prophet he told Abdullah ibn
Amr, he said, yeah, Abdullah ibn Amr, recite
the Quran completely every 7 days. Okay?
Because Abdullah ibn Amr one time said that
I wanna do it every 3 days.
Like, I wanna do it every 3 days,
Let me do it every 3 days. And
the prophet said, no. No. No. No. Pace
yourself.
If you're gonna complete the Quran, do it
every 7 days. I know a lot of
you like, 7 days? That's long? Like, we're,
like, 7 years maybe for this guy. But,
you know,
this was, again, like, a part of, like,
their culture, their tradition. This is how devoted
they were. 7 days to them was, like,
a long time.
So he said, do it every 7 days.
Because he said, the one who recites it
in less than 3 days,
they don't truly understand
or do justice to it. They're just going
through it.
Right? Because a part of your deen is
not just to, like, go through the motions.
It's to actually comprehend and understand what you're
doing.
And there's another famous story. There are a
couple of men who came to the home
of Aisha Radhaalahu Anha when the prophet he
was in there and they said to Aisha
Radhaalahu Anha, they said, you know, we are
so devoted to this religion that we have
told ourselves that we are going to fast,
like, every day.
We're gonna fast every day and we're not
gonna eat, like, during the daytime anymore. We're
just gonna only eat at night after the
sun sets
and then we're going to pray
through the night. Like, we're gonna, like, deprive
ourselves of sleep and we're gonna pray all
night
And on top of that, you know, like,
when that person says, like, the last thing
that's, like, a little crazy, they're, like, and
we're not gonna get married because girls are
a distraction.
So, like, they just straight upset it. They're
like, we're not gonna get married. Right? It's
gonna distract us from this deen. It's gonna
distract us from this religion.
And so I was
just taking notes. Right? Just taking receipts. She
was like, alright. Cool. Screenshot, screenshot, screenshot, screenshot.
And then, the prophet SAW Salam came home
and she goes,
There are a couple of people that came
to visit you. And he's like, alright. What
did they say?
And she said, well,
they
promise. Right? Their devotion to the religion is
so intense that they're only going to fast
from here on out. They're never gonna eat
during the daytime again. They're going to fast
continuously.
They're going to also not sleep at night
because they wanted to pray to Hajjid all
night. And last but but not least, they're
never gonna get married because they want to
devote themselves to this religion.
And then the prophet
he went the narration mentions that he went
and he actually sought them
out. He went to seek them out to
find who they were.
And once the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he
found who they were, he says to both
of them, he says, are you the ones
that share that you will not,
you know, eat during the the day anymore?
You're not going to sleep at night, and
you're not gonna get married? And they're like,
yeah. That's us. You know, like, when you're,
like, expecting, like, praise for somebody because of,
like, how much you wanna, like, kind of
impress them? You're like, yeah, Rosola. That's us.
Like, are we gonna be part of your
starting 5 now or what? Like,
put us in coach, and the prophet he
says,
do you not see what I do?
And he's like, what do you mean? They're
like, I eat and I and I sleep.
I eat and I fast.
I pray and I sleep,
and I also get married.
And then he gives them like this like
kicker of a line. He says,
He says a person
who abandons my sunnah, they're not from me.
A person who leaves what I taught them
to do, they're not from me. They're not
from my people.
Because clearly, you think that whatever you do
is better than whatever I've taught you to
do.
So you think in a weird way that,
like, you got better, like, rules and and
example than even me.
So
a person who is completely void of my
sunnah,
they're not from me. They're not from my
people. So go ahead. Be be be this
religious person that you wanna be, but guess
what? You're not doing Islam justice. Okay? So
there's this whole kind of conversation about a
person striking balance between making sure that
they're not cheapening the religion,
but also they're not overcomplicating
it. Okay?
And so then he continues on
and he says that when a person sticks
to the middle path, right, when they stick
to the middle path, the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam or sorry, ibn Rojib he
says,
upon them, there will be glad tidings.
Like, there will be glad tidings from Allah
when they stick to the middle path. Okay?
And he says, it means whoever obeys Allah
upon firmness and balance
for him are glad tidings from god because
he or she will reach the goal and
outstrip the one who expends a great deal
of effort in performing their deeds.
That, you know, a person
who strikes a balance in their life and
they do justice to that balance,
it seems like the other person who's, like,
completely expending their energy and praying all night
and fasting every day and they're doing everything
visually that seems to be Islamic,
the person who's balanced, but they're steadfast in
their balance, they will be surpassing this person
who goes overly excessive. Okay?
And then he says, this is one amazing
line that I want everyone to really, really
keep track of. He says here that the
path of balance and firmness
is better than all other paths.
Being balanced and following the sunnah is better
than striving hard
in other than it. And he mentions he
says,
He says, and a person who
essentially abandons it,
a person who traverses his path will find
it closer to Allah than any other path.
So if you wanna know how to get
closer to Allah, do what the prophet
did.
Look at the sunnah of the prophet
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would fast on
what 2 days of the week guys?
Mondays Thursdays.
Right?
So don't overcomplicate
your life by saying, oh, Mondays and Thursdays
aren't enough for me. This guy,
Tuesdays and Wednesdays as well. Right? In a
weird way of hoping to impress a lot.
It's almost like a a a student
who gets like an assignment from their teacher,
and their teacher tells them to do x,
y, and z, but rather than focusing on
x, y, and z and doing it really
well, they try to outdo themselves in a,
b, and c
to the point where now they neglect x,
y, and z.
And not only that, but they don't do
justice to x, y, and z.
The teacher told them, hey. I want you
to write me a paper that's
2 and a half pages long.
And now this person, at the expense of
writing a quality 2 and a half 2
and a half page paper, they write, like,
a 6 page paper to try to impress
their teacher, but they didn't do any of
it really well.
They didn't do any of it well. They
just wrote a 6 page paper. You know,
it's like the equivalent of a lot of
people. You know, like, that famous, like, TikTok
comment, like, that person said a lot of
nothing.
They spoke for, like, 20 minutes straight, but
they said a whole lot of nothing.
In Islam, I want you guys to know
that we are substantive people and not performative
people.
There's a big difference in being a person
of substance versus being a person of performance.
When a person's performative,
all they care about is what it looks
like on the outside.
Right? They're only concerned about, like, oh, what
does my prayer look like to other people?
If that person walks by me and they
see me praying, like, I wonder what they
think about me.
People of substance, it doesn't matter.
They will pray the same
when they're in their room by themselves
at 12:30 AM as they would at Jumah
at 1:45.
It doesn't
matter. That's a person of substance. Alayhis
salam, he said a very faint very, very
famous quote. Alayhis salam, there was a quote
that was attributed to him where he said
that the true sign of a believer is
when they actually hide their good deeds
to the same degree that they hide their
sins.
You know what I'm saying? Like, that's
extremely
deep.
Think about the way that we choose to,
like, conceal our faults and our mistakes. We
don't wanna expose those things. Because if we
expose those things to the public, people will
start watching us and looking at us differently.
But the same thing people should ask, like,
do I the minute that I get a
chance to expose my good deeds, like, the
moment that I pray really well or the
moment that I made that powerful dua, now
I just wanna, like, share with everybody what
I did.
Yaqub alaihis salam, he says that a person's
true belief is based upon the fact that
they're not so eager to show off their
good deeds that they do. Right? And so
now we move on
and Ibn Rajab
he says something very beautiful here.
He says at the end of this page
that some of the pious people, right, they
say none who reached the heights
did so through a great deal of fasting
and prayer
rather through generosity
of soul, soundness of the heart, and sincerity
to the nation.
You know, this is something that's very obvious,
and I want you guys to take note
of this.
As Islam started to grow in the in
the in the ummah of the prophet,
there were different challenges that actually posed a
threat to the ummah. Because when they were
all in Mecca,
everyone was concerned about believing in Allah and
his messenger and the final day, and that
was it.
Right? Because people were just focused on the
basics.
Well, what starts happening once a person starts
to kinda solidify their foundations,
now they try to put depth to their
religion. And when a person starts to put
depth to their religion, this is where sometimes
things get a little bit kind of dicey.
And this is why the bay by the
way, in Medina, why there was such a
threat of hypocrisy there. Right?
People who seemed
to
do everything that everybody else used to do.
They prayed like everybody else. The prophet used
to say this by the way. The hypocrites,
they're praying right next to you and me.
Like, when they're when they're praying, they're saying,
Allahu Akbar. They go down just like we
do. They go down for their rakka'a and
their sajdah just like we do.
But
the difference between a hypocrite and a Muslim
is that when they're down for their,
a Muslim says,
and a hypocrite just stays there silently.
They're just performing. They're going through the motions.
They're doing yoga. The difference between a Muslim
and a person who tries to fake their
way is one is doing yoga and one's
praying salah. It's that simple. Right? Are you
a person who does yoga or are you
a person that does salah?
There is a another incredible statement of the
prophet
where he kind of, like, gives us almost
like a challenge. He says that, you know,
there will come a time in my ummah
where people will pray, but they'll be praying
and making sajdah like chickens or birds basically
just like peck their beaks into the ground.
If you're going down for sajdah, you're supposed
to go down there and say
and you're supposed to be connecting to god,
but certain people are just going through that
performative motion. So all it looks like is
like they're pecking the ground like birds when
they feed on the ground.
They're just pecking their noses onto the ground,
and the minute, like, they're done putting their
nose on the ground, they just put it
back up. They're not really focused on it.
Y'all ever seen somebody get that gets lost
in their sajdah? Not for the sake of
sleep. I'm talking about prayer. Right? They're, like,
down there, like, man. That guy is, like,
like, super long. Right? No. I'm talking about
people who are, like, they're into
it. They're into it. When they go down
for
they're like feeling it. You know? That's why
they say that when a person's in their
sajdah, that's the closest that a person's with
with with when it comes to their relationship
with Allah.
Because their forehead on their nose, it's touching
the ground. It's the most honorable part of
your face. It's on the ground and you're
saying to Allah
Oh, Allah, you are the most high. You
are the most elevated. You are the most
you're the greatest. Right? And you're saying that
when you're at your physical lowest.
So a person who's void of kind of
appreciating that moment, they're void of so many
other things. Right?
And then he continues
and he mentioned something that Ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu
anhi said. He says that Ibn Mas'ud, that
great companion of the prophet he said to
his companions
to his companions, not the prophet's companions because
Ibn Mas'ud, he lived after the prophet passed
away as well. So ibn Mas'ud, he by
the way, y'all know, like, what it's almost
like when,
a person's not around you anymore. So you
remember what it was like to be with
them. And everybody else now, like, you're just
trying to convey to them what, you know,
what what what this person was like, and
sometimes you really can't do it justice besides
the fact that just telling them, like, you
just have to be there. This is the
way the Khadija, this is the way the
prophet described Khadija
When people asked about Khadija
they said,
you speak so highly of her. Tell us,
like, what she was like. And he would
say, like,
you just have to be there, man. Like,
I can't describe to you, like, how amazing
she was. And so when Abdullah ibn Mas'udhiallahu
an, he would speak to his companions after
the prophet passed away. He said that you
fast and you pray sometimes even more than
the companions of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam did.
Like, you're fasting and praying even more than
the prophet companions did. Like, physically, you might
be doing more,
but they were way better than you.
Okay. But they were way better than you.
And they would ask Ibn Mas'ud and they're
like, how?
How? How's that possible? If we're praying more
than they did, if they if we're fasting
more than they did, if we make dua
more than they did, how are they better
than we? How are they better than us?
And ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu anhu he says,
they were more
abstinent of this world than you and more
desirous of the hereafter.
Yeah. You may no longer than them, and
I want you guys to think about how
real
this is in our time right now.
Think about this.
You know, a lot of the knowledge that
and I'll even, like, kind of share this
about Dallas specifically.
Dallas is such a blessed city where you
have so many opportunities of learning. Right? You
can gain inspiration from here, from there, and
from this place and that place and that
person and this person
to the point where sometimes you could say
to yourself, man,
like, we have access
to more
than even some people that came before us
did.
But the question is,
how many of us can claim to be
better than the people that came before us?
We might know more.
Some of us might even act more,
but ibn Mas'rud, he says that they were
way better than you.
Why?
Because they were more abstinent of this world
than you,
and they had their hopes in the hereafter.
Yeah. Sure. They may have recited Suratul Ikhlas
in their prayer. Yeah. Anybody here have, like,
a very simple grandparent?
Anybody in here? Like a very simple grandmother
or grandfather
in their salah. They don't know many Surahs.
Right? It's so incredible. Right? Like when we
see our grandparents, sometimes we're like, oh, look
at this like nice, you know, uneducated woman,
this uneducated man. They're so simple. Right? They
just pray. They read
and.
They can't even pronounce. They say, and
I say
because I'm just like the super, like, erudite
human being.
They're so simple,
but how many of us can claim that
we're closer to Allah than they are?
You know when I see my grandmother even
to this day? She's, like, 92 years old
right now. And I look at her, and
I'm like,
I'm jealous.
I'm jealous. Truly, I'm jealous.
Because when I see her and I see
the way that she prays, I'm like, man,
I'm not even close to that.
I'm not even close to that.
The way that she prays when she goes
into her mode of salah,
it's like you know those stories that you
heard about the companions of the prophet, like,
scorpions biting their feet and they continued their
prayer?
Like, we
would get, like, a notification on our phone
and we're like,
that must be for me. Right? Like, prayer
broken.
That's all it takes for us to get
distracted.
For us, we hear like a little ping
on our phone.
Meanwhile, like there's like a scorpion quietly biting
the foot of a companion of the prophet
and they're, like,
crying their way through their salaha.
There are stories of companions having arrows shot
at their back,
and they still wouldn't break their prayer. I'm
not saying this is standard. Like, if someone's
shooting a gun at you, please break your
salah and run.
But what I'm saying is, like, these people,
this is their level of.
Their level of
was like
if a person's shooting an arrow at them
and it's hitting them, could you imagine if,
like, a group of people just walk by
them and talk about, like, the last episode
of Netflix, whatever they watched? They're, like, they
don't even remember that that person was there
in their salon.
They could care less.
They don't remember. Nowadays, we're, like, standing in
salah, and we're, like, oh, yeah. I remember
what, like, Amina was wearing, the jalbaab color,
the hijab color. Dang. Where'd she get that
from? Right? Like,
in our so the guys are like, man,
like, man, like,
this brother out here wearing, like, nice pants
over here. Like, where did he where where
did he get that hat from? Like, really?
The kefaya, man. Like, where did he get
that? You know? Like, we're so distracted.
The companions,
they probably wouldn't even remember what the person
in front of them, who the person in
front of them was.
They're so engaged. Right? But they were simple
people, so never undermine simplicity.
Okay?
And at the very end, I'll share here,
this is a powerful, powerful reminder
that
ibn Rojib, he says here that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala,
he the proof of this, the proof that
Allah cares more about quality than quantity is
right here.
And he mentions here in this particular part
of the text,
he says
that
some examples of the ease
that resulted through
the blessings
that Allah has given you is that an
example of
the statement of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
One who prays Isha in congregation,
it is as though they prayed half of
the night.
And the one who prays Fajr
in congregation,
it's as though that they pray the entirety
of the evening.
And so we understand from this particular
part of the book
is that Allah
cares more
about the little that you do with quality
than the quantity that you do with very
little quality.
Because the prophet, he said,
pray isha in congregation.
Just try that.
Go pray isha. Every Muslim on earth is
supposed to pray isha. Not every Muslim on
earth is expected to pray half the night.
You guys agree with that statement. Right?
Like when Allah Ta'ala puts his expectations upon
the ummah, he expects Muslimen to pray Isha.
Right?
But he does not expect everyone to go
and pray tahajjud until half the night is
over. So he says, if you do pray
Isha, but you pray Isha well, and a
part of that quality Isha is praying it
in congregation,
Allah will write up for you as though
you prayed half the night.
And if you pray fajr in congregation,
Allah will write for you that you prayed
the entire evening.
Another con another,
example is the one right in the middle.
Whoever fast 3 days of every month, it
is as if he fasted the entire month.
Have you guys ever heard of the the
the rewards of days like Arafah? What is
it? What happens when a person fasted and
fasted with quality the day of Arafah? All
of their minor sins are forgiven for
the past year and the coming year.
Y'all ever thought about that?
Could a person just be like, yeah. I
don't really feel like fasting Arafah, but, like,
I'll go ahead and try to do whatever
I can to get my entire sins forgiven
my own way for the pastor in the
entire coming year.
Allah is like, no. No. No. I gave
you this gift.
Use it. Use it well.
Y'all ever heard, like I remember one time
my teacher was telling me a story about
how there are certain people who are so
religious,
like, when they travel, they just wanna pray
everything even regardless of the fact that Allah
has given them compensation for travel prayer. Right?
Like, when you travel, what can you do?
You can either shorten your salah or you
can combine them. There are certain people who
think that Allah will love them so much
if they pray all of their prayers exactly
like they would if they were home.
No. No. No. Don't belittle the gifts that
Allah gave you.
Take advantage of Allah Ta'ala's gifts because these
are not things that are lighthearted.
Right?
And at the very end, I wanna share
with you guys this before we break for
our du'a for Palestine.
It says here,
it is for this reason
it is for this reason
that there's an authentic hadith that mentions
that it is well possible
that one who prays by night
gets nothing from it except
fatigue,
and a person gets nothing from their fast
except hunger and thirst.
So you could just be doing the things
that are,
quote, unquote, good in our religion.
You could be praying all night, but all
you get from praying all night is that
you remember that you were tired.
And all you get from fasting
continuously
is that you were starving at the end
of the day of your fast. That's it.
Rather,
he says,
be a person
who prays,
but you remember your salah.
And a great way, by the way, to
test yourself right now is ask yourself this
question. And I try to do this as
much as I can in my life is
when I pray,
I try to make sure that I remember
the Surah that I recited in my prayer.
If I can remember the Surah that I
recited in my prayer, that means that I
prayed somewhat quality.
I prayed with somewhat quality because I have
memory of it.
I have memory of it. Y'all ever been
asked about like a prayer that you really
remember?
Like, what's one salah that you prayed in
your life that you really, really have ingrained
in your memory? Does everybody have one?
Yeah.
Why?
Why do you have that memory?
It's because there was something in that prayer
that you poured your heart into.
There was something in that experience
that you really just
connected with
and you remember it.
Think about your core memories in your life.
Why do you have core memories? You know,
we had a funny core memory moment yesterday
at roostering Sheikh Mikael's class, because we have
cameras over here,
and we forgot to, lock one of the
the sahaba,
closet doors in the back.
And that's, like, where we keep all of
our police. Like, don't go, like, ransacking or
raiding the sahaba closet for after this. But,
like, the the like, that's where we keep,
like, all of our, like, snacks and, like,
you know, whatever we put out for the
community, etcetera, during programs and stuff like that.
So
myself and Asad Abdel Rahman and brother Momin,
who is, one of our facilities guys here,
we we got, like, a ping on our
phone at, like it was, like, after or,
like yeah. I think it was, like, after,
like, so it was probably around, like, 8:30,
8:45.
And it was just, like, an image of
a girl
in the closet, like a little kid. Right?
Like a little little kid. And she was
like, I wish I could show it to
you guys, but just privacy, I can't. She
was, like, running through the closet back there
with, like, the greatest smile on her face.
Like, we couldn't even be mad at it.
Because, like, we're like, oh my god. We're
gonna lock that door, make sure no kids
get in here because this before this becomes,
like, a crazy mess with kids running around,
like, eating chips everywhere. But me and myself,
Murphy were like, this girl looks so happy.
She has, like, a bag of Doritos in
her hand just, like, running, like,
you know, like, I was like, looks
so happy.
This has got to be one of her
core memories of the masjid.
You guys imagine that? Like, think about go
back to your childhood.
Think about, like, a core memory in your
childhood.
Right? Like, you're with a friend print you
know, playing in the break playground outside
at the masjid,
running around. Right? There may have been ice
cream after Jumah, like, something that's a core
memory.
Why was it a core memory?
It was because you connected
with that moment.
So when a person is void of core
memories in their Islam,
isn't that one of the greatest forms
of robbery,
spiritual robbery that they can perform upon themselves?
A person lives 83 years,
and they can't even remember
the salah that they prayed for 70 of
those years. I don't remember what I did.
70 years, I prayed. I think I prayed,
but I can't remember.
Right?
So we gotta make sure that are people
of of of of memory, that we remember
these things. Memory is one of the greatest
gifts of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
You know, like when we see elderly people
or even young people who Allah challenges with,
like, memory loss and Alzheimer's and all these
different things. You see them and
like, what a what a challenge from Allah.
Right?
What a challenge from Allah to not remember
things that were so beautifully experienced in your
life.
So we don't wanna be a person who
has memory loss of our worship,
That we we we remember, like, the motions
somewhat,
but we have no idea what we did
within those motions. Right? We ask
Allah to protect us.
Alright.
We are going to wrap up the session,
short,
at that mo at at that spot,
and inshallah, we're going to engage in a
little bit of dua
for our brothers and sisters in Philistine.
Before I begin sharing this dua, I
wanted to
just say
that
there are 3 things
that the ummah should be doing right now
in regards to the situation in Palestine.
Number 1,
we have to feel something.
We have to feel something.
When you see videos and pictures of fathers
and mothers
dragging
white sheets with their children underneath them,
out of buildings and homes, and our hearts
do not skip any beats,
there's a very severe issue right there.
If we are desensitized to the point where
it does not even
just create a flutter within our hearts,
we know that there's an issue right there.
The first thing that the ummah should feel
right now is pain. The
prophet
he said
that the sign of an ummah
is that when one part of the ummah
is hurting, it's like the body. The other
part of the body should also hurt.
When the arm is hurting on one side
of the body, the sign of an ummah
is that the other side of the arm
should also be feeling that pain.
We're one body.
We're one body. We're not separate we're not
separate beings.
When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala resurrects us on
the day of judgment
and the prophet
he says,
we all rise as one.
Whether you're living in Dallas, Texas right now
or you are in Gaza or in Syria
or in Jordan or in Egypt, we all
rise as one.
So the first thing is we feel for
these people. We feel for our family.
We feel for our ummah. We feel for
our community.
Number 2 is
that
this is the time
to really
it's in enough is enough.
Enough
of just looking at things and passing by
them. It's time now to take action.
There are organizations all around the nation right
now, Baytul Mal, Islamic Relief, etcetera, etcetera,
that are sending aid
to a place where their own
surroundings have cut off their aid.
So it is now time even if you
felt like I can't give here, I can't
give there, you have no idea even as,
like, a broke student
how much how far your dollar can go.
There are
2,000,000
2,000,000 people in Gaza right now that do
not have water.
You have no idea how far your dollar
can go.
Be someone who takes an active part in
this.
And last
but definitely not least,
it is now time
to put yourself
in some sort of inconvenience
because our brothers and our sisters
are grieving in inconvenience right now.
If we have any ability
to breathe free air,
to drink clean water,
to hold our loved ones,
we must inconvenience
ourselves in some way for the sake of
our brothers and our sisters.
If that means waking up in the middle
of the night to pray tahajjud for them,
if it means raising our hands after salah,
sitting there for 20 minutes after our salah
is over,
we must engage in that
act. So we are going to make dua
right now for our brothers and sisters. I
wrote this dua out earlier while I was
sitting down in my office, actually. So inshallah,
it's all in English.
So inshallah, everyone should be able to understand
exactly what we're going to say.
And inshallah, we will
just spend some time really collectively thinking and
in you know, just,
you know, really, really just internally reflecting over
the state right now that our Ummah
isn't.
You Allah,
relieve our brothers and sisters in Palestine.
You Allah relieve them of their pain and
their suffering, you Allah.
You Allah, every drop of sweat,
tear,
blood allowed to be a reason that they
enter paradise with ease, you Allah.
You Allah, every parent that has lost a
child allowed those children
to drag their parents into paradise with them
you Allah.
You Allah for every family member lost
allow them to
be you Allah.
You Allah, allow them to be forgiven for
every small mistake that they've ever made because
of this difficult trial that they're going through,
you Allah.
You allah give them relief from this oppression
freedom from this occupation
and jannah for their hardships you allah.
You Allah, allow our ummah to come together
as one in support of the people of
Palestine.
You Allah, allow the ummah to come together
to cry and to make dua for our
brothers and sisters who are in pain right
now.
You Allah do not let us sit idly
by and feel nothing, do nothing, and say
nothing. You Allah, protect us from feeling nothing,
you Allah.
You Allah, allow our hearts to ache for
this situation.
Allow us to feel pain as your prophet
said that the ummah is 1 body. If
one of us is hurting, all of us
should be hurting. You Allah allow us to
live the meaning of this hadith you Allah.
You Allah ease the pain of everyone who
has lost a home,
lost their families,
lost their lives.
Allah relieve them of this pain you Allah
you Allah allow them to be in the
company of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in
the hereafter you Allah
You Allah allow them to drink from the
kawthar, the fountain of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam in the hereafter you Allah.
You Allah, replace the homes that they've been
stripped from in this dunya with palaces in
Jannah, you Allah.
You Allah, allow those children who are being
tested with hunger, with thirst, with pain
right now to be a means of expiation
for their entire family and their country, You
Allah.
You Allah allow their good deeds to never
be lost.
You Allah allow their good deeds to never
be lost. You Allah allow their good deeds
to never be lost. Yeah. Allah, you say
in the Quran,
You Allah, shower your rahma upon them as
you have upon any people that have been
oppressed, you Allah.
You Allah, we know that you are always
with those who are oppressed and wrong, so
be with them, you Allah.
You Allah, never allow us to take for
granted any of the blessings you have given
us, you Allah.
You Allah, we see the challenges and the
test of the ummah, and we can never
lose sight that you have favored those you
have tested, you Allah, and will forgive those
you have tested, you Allah.
For us you Allah please allow us to
feel for these people
you Allah free them from this tyranny you
Allah
You Allah, hold the people accountable who are
doing this to your worshipers you Allah. These
people are your worshipers you Allah. These people
are the people who pray to you you
Allah. These are the people who pray their
salah. They pray. They pay their zakah, you
Allah. There are people who fast in the
month of Ramadan, you Allah. They make dua
to, you Allah. Their hearts cry out to
you, you Allah.
Free your worshipers, you Allah.
Allah hold the oppressors accountable for what they
do, you Allah. Hold the oppressors accountable for
what they do, you Allah. Hold the oppressors
accountable for what they do, you Allah.
Allah hold them accountable for each and every
moment of evil they have committed, you Allah.
Hold them accountable to the way that they
have oppressed the people around them, you Allah.
Hold them to justice, you Allah. Allah, you
have shown us how you punish those who
harm your worshipers, you Allah, protect those who
worship you, you Allah.
Allah, some of them may get away with
their crimes in this dunya, but never allow
them to get away with their crimes in
the akhirah.
You Allah some of them may get away
with the crimes in this dunya but never
allow them to get away with their crimes
in the akhirah.
You Allah bring justice to those who harm
your worshipers you Allah. You Allah bring justice
to those who harm your worshipers you Allah.
Allah never allow those who perpetuate evil in
this world to win, you Allah. Allah never
allowed them to win ultimately in this world,
you Allah. Allah hold them accountable on the
day of judgment for whatever they have done,
you Allah. Allah give them justice the way
that justice is to be served in the
hereafter, you Allah, for what they have done.
You Allah, do not allow them to succeed
in this dunya or in the. You Allah.
You Allah, you have dealt with so many
in the past that have oppressed your people.
You Allah. Allah, deal with these people in
the way that you deem fit, you Allah.
Allah, you are the one who is the
most merciful. You are.
You Allah, you are the one who is
the most just, you Allah.
You are the one who is the most
kind, and you are the one who is
the most generous, you Allah.
The one who knows our state better than
we do ourselves, you Allah.
Allah, give us a way out of this
trial, you Allah.
As you say, you Allah, in the Quran,
for those who are conscious of Allah, there
is an exit for them from every one
of their ordeals and hardships.
And you will provide for them
from places where they never thought imaginable.
You Allah, free the people of Palestine. You
Allah, lift the oppression and the occupation off
of their shoulders. You Allah,
give them freedom. You Allah, give them
You Allah, Allow them to be the witnesses
for this ummah, Insha'Allah,
You Allah. And allow us to learn from
them. Allow us to learn from their iman.
You Allah, allow us to learn from their
sabr. You Allah, allow us to learn from
their shukr.
You Allah.
You Allah. You Allah.
You Allah forgive us for all of our
moments of trials and our moments of mistakes
that we've committed against ourselves, you Allah. You
Allah, allow our hearts to cry and to
feel and to feel the pain that they're
all going through right now, You Allah.
You Allah. You Allah. You Allah.
We are
again, you know, we this was a collective
dua that we make here for them,
but don't allow this to be the only
dua that you make.
Go home, make more dua. The personal duas
are sometimes the best. So go home in
your own words, share whatever you feel in
your heart.
These are things that inshallah will, you know,
weigh heavily on our hearts inshallah in this
life and in the hereafter as well.
You know,
there was a moment, Insha'Allah, I'll share this
before I I end the session.
There was a moment I remember a lot
of people, they undermine the power of Dua.
There was a moment, you know, maybe 15,
20 years ago while the occupation was going
on in Palestine,
in which there was a lot of, you
know, back and forth,
similar kind of a situation.
And I remember it was Ramadan,
and every masjid that I knew of in
Ramadan was making collective dua for the people
of Philistine.
And the day after,
there was a ceasefire.
So never undermine the power of your dua.
Right? Although you may not be able to
do anything physically right now, never undermine the
power of the words that you call out
to Allah
to aid the people that worship him.
So, we'll
wrap up the session with that. We ask
Allah
to accept from us. We ask Allah
to accept our dua for the people of
Palestine.
We ask Allah
to allow us to be people who continue
to worship him and continue to think of
the people who worship him, and we ask
Allah
to forgive us for all of our mistakes
and our shortcomings. And we ask Allah
to elevate those who have passed away into
the highest of ranks in the hereafter. I
mean,
everybody. Thank you so much.
Tomorrow,
if you guys haven't heard,
we have a really incredible, you know, event
planned for tomorrow. It's kind of like a
bonfire fireside session inshallah.
So tomorrow,
if you guys,
are are, you know, open inshallah, the Root
space will be open for y'all. We'll be
hosting a reflection
tomorrow outside, and the outside space is good
weather. So,
we'll be,
having that,
tomorrow
right after Maghrib
So,
from 7 to, Isha. So 7 to 8:30,
7 to 9. We'll be hosting that session
just for y'all. So, inshallah, if you would
like to be a part of that, there's
an RSVP,
online. So I believe it's rootsdfw.orgforward/,
college fireside, something like that. So, you'll find
it on our, social,
platform. So, we'll love to see you guys
tomorrow evening
at 7 o'clock.
Everybody. Thank you so much for being here.