Safi Khan – Soul Food The Remembrance of Allah
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of the concept of the mind in achieving reward and achieving success. They stress the need for a mindset to be holistic and flexible, and offer a 30 to 40 minute opportunity for participants to discuss their experiences. The flexibility of Allah's worship is discussed, and participants discuss their natural state and experiencing overwhelming workout. They encourage participants to let go of anxiety and fear and share moments of surprise and joy outside of formal worship.
AI: Summary ©
Okay.
Everybody.
Welcome home. Welcome to roots. Welcome back from
our,
small little hiatus, our Eid break.
Everyone,
was able to enjoy some
well earned time with the family, some,
you know, good food. Obviously, that
obviously has,
as a part of its culture,
but more importantly than not, some good well
earned rest and and, and a small break
inshallah. So we missed having folks, at Roots
for the past week. So we're back in
in full force now ready to hit the
ground running with our weekly programs and our
our our opportunities that we have for our
community.
And
so
we're starting tonight with soul food
where we're going to engage in a conversation
that is extremely,
extremely important.
And as we talk about today, you all
will realize insha'Allah
that it is something that is sometimes
overlooked and written off as just
very simple and easy.
But the conundrum with things that seem simple
and easy is that those things are often
neglected.
Those things are often overlooked. Those things are
often dismissed.
And today's conversation revolving around the topic that
we're gonna be speaking about
is all about this, which is the topic
of dhikr.
The idea of the remembrance of Allah
and the
kind of awareness,
the mindfulness that we have of Allah
I'm gonna share a narration with everybody that
I want everyone to kind of
get their mind in the right gear when
we're starting to talk about this this this
amazing amazing topic.
And it is a hadith of the prophet
that he shared with us, and it involves
his
friends, companions, Abu Bakr, Sadiq and Umar radiAllahu
an. And so the prophet
one time,
a man came up to him.
A man came up to the prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam and he asked the prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam, he says,
So he said, like, what type of, like,
striving or struggle
is the best
in terms of the yield of reward that
you get from it? And the prophet
he responds,
So he says that the
the best type of of personal struggle or,
you know, what's often misquoted as jihad
is in fact the remembrance of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, a person who remembers Allah Ta'ala
in everything that they do.
And
he says,
And he goes, alright. So who is the
best person, who are the best people, or
who are the people who fast that yield
the most reward.
And the prophet, he says,
The one who while they're fasting, they remember
Allah.
And then it says
And so this man kept asking the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he said, okay, you
Rasool Allah, after a person who's fasting remembers
Allah, then who's the next after them that's
the greatest and yields the most reward? What
about prayer?
What about, you know, zakah? What about sadaqa?
What about all these different things? And the
prophet
kept on responding to this man. The best
yield of reward of all of those different
categories is
Whoever amongst those people remember Allah the most.
And so Abu Bakr, he overheard this.
And him and Umar I want you guys
to imagine, like, 2 people having a conversation
about what a third party is saying. So
Abu Bakr and Umar are, like, hearing the
prophet
respond to this man's questions.
And so Abu Bakr, he leans over to
Umar. So
he says to Umar, he says,
He goes,
man, it seems like the people who are
the people who are who remember Allah
are, like, stealing everyone's rewards.
Like, the people the remembrance of Allah are
just taking all the rewards.
And the prophet
he leans towards them. He goes, yeah. You're
right.
So
really incredible
narration,
right, that teaches us a few different things
that
is
not just one individual act. Right? It's not
just one piece of memorization that all of
us, you know, remember.
Dhikr
is more along the lines of a mindset.
Because this man, you you you remember, kept
on asking the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam,
you know, who is the best that fast?
Who is the best that praise? Who is
the best that gives zakat? Who is the
best that gives charity? And the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, every single time he would say
He kept on saying any of those people
who remember Allah.
And it proves a couple of different really
important points.
One of which is that not all deeds
are the same.
There are a lot of performative things that
people do. A lot of people pray.
A lot of people fast. A lot of
people,
you know, give give charity. A lot of
people,
do righteous deeds.
But the prophet
is reminding us that
along with these
exterior actions,
the internal
must match up in order for that deed
to be holistic.
You never want your spiritual
outward deeds to be missing something
because if it's missing something, that means you're
not gonna yield the most reward from it.
So the prophet says
that a person who prays
and just prays without Allah in mind,
they're not retaining any spiritual benefit.
A person who fast and fast without Allah
in mind, they're not retaining any spiritual benefit.
But a person who does do those things
coupled with the remembrance of Allah, now they're
on, like, a whole different level to the
point where Abu Bakr, he said it seems
like those people are, like, running away with
everyone's good deeds. And, obviously, deeds, as we
know, the reward of Allah
is not limited.
That the reward of Allah, the of Allah
is completely unlimited because Allah is unlimited.
But if it were to have a limit,
the people who remember Allah through all of
their deeds,
they are the ones that would
absolutely take home the the the the the
first place prize.
And that is the what the prophet
is saying. So
we're going to engage in a little bit
of, you know, conversation with each other. If
you guys kind of see up on the
screen,
has a lot to do with
flexibility.
Not every is thundering outside. It's a it's
a mercy from Allah.
Dhikr has a lot to do with flexibility,
with the
blessing that it's not like a rigid type
of act of worship. There's a lot of
flexibility within
And dhikr sometimes actually is done by people
when they are in a state that they
don't even feel like, oh, I can pray
right now or I can read Quran right
now. So dhikr is something that is done
in a time and in a place where
people sometimes are, you know, even laying down
or sitting down, and they may not even
have wudu. And so that proves to us
in our religion, there are almost 2 categories
of worship. One category of worship, which is
more formalized like prayer, you have to have
wudu before you pray. You have to have
wudu before you read Quran. You have to
have, you know, you have to be in
an ihram state before you perform Hajj and
Umrah. But there's also this whole different category
in our religion
where it's almost informal
acts of worship. Right? So the question up
on the screen, it reads, has there been
a moment in your life in which you
remembered Allah outside of the formal and established
forms of worship? Has there been a moment
where you were just doing something casual and
you just remembered a lot at that moment
and you almost, like, surprise yourself? You're like,
wait a second. I didn't think that I
was gonna think about Allah right here, but
it it it doesn't seem like it's a
religious moment for me. But you'd be surprised,
And you may sometimes surprise yourself
by realizing and appreciating
moments of when
you completely would not think that that was
a moment of remembrance. So I'm gonna give
everybody about 30 to 40 seconds. I want
you guys to talk to the person next
to you or, you know, let's go in
a minute. I'll give you a minute to
talk to the person next to you, and
I want you guys to discuss
a time in your life where you actually
surprised yourself
by by by by realizing that maybe
I didn't realize that I actually thought about
Allah this much. But, subhanallah, look at your
natural state. Everyone's natural state sometimes takes them
back to Allah
in a moment where you wouldn't think about
it. So, inshallah, I'm gonna let you guys
talk for a minute and then we're gonna
share it together as a con as a
as a community. Go ahead, mister
Lam. Talk.
Alright. Inshallah.
It's a lot of good conversation going on
in here. I can I can just feel
it?
Alright. Who would like to share a moment
of surprise
in their own life where they,
realized a moment of dhikr in their life
that they never, you know, thought would be
possible? Anyone?
Anyone wanna share just wanna let go for
it.
Before an exam, Everyone's like, yes.
Absolutely.
Yes. Absolutely. Right? Before a big test or
an exam, even if you don't if even
if you don't know what to say. Right?
They're like, yeah, Allah, please allow me not
to fail.
That's all I got today. Inshallah, anything but
that would be acceptable.
So or a moment of remembrance. Right? Very
good. Anybody else? A moment that surprised them
that they remembered Allah.
Anyone?
Wanna share it? This has to be outside
of, like, salah and stuff like that. When
was the moment? Go ahead.
Right? Very good. A lot of us are
looking outside right now. You're like, oh my
gosh. I gotta do so much thicker on
the way
home.
Right? So very good. She she mentioned that,
there's a moment of of of maybe a
little bit of anxiety or fear.
And at that moment, I mean, how many
of y'all this is so that that resonated
with me a lot. Right? How many of
us sometimes, like, when you're when you feel
anxious
because you don't know what else to do,
but you're like, man, listen to music just
can't be good right now. I kinda, like,
turn my Spotify off and, like, start being
like Allah Allah, like something. Right? Something that
kinda help that spiritual boost.
So very, very good Anybody else wanna share
a moment that they surprise themselves with their
own at times? Anybody? Anybody have a have
a moment? Yes. Go ahead.
The guy next to you is like,
who's a lot? Right?
Oh, very good. Right? You're about to max
out. Right? You feel like your elbows are
about to cave in. Yeah, Allah. Like, just
get you over that.
No. That's beautiful. Right? That's beautiful. I mean,
you know, sometimes man, one of my, one
of my friends said this to me one
time.
We were,
you know, we were out, on, like, a
camp, like, a retreat,
and we were hiking,
and there was no,
significant, like, you know, religious halakah, you know,
during the hike. It was almost like a
just like kind of like a like a
workout in the morning after Fajr Salah.
Everybody would appreciate, you know, being out in
the open in nature and all that,
and I remember there was a person next
to me that was really, really engaging in
a lot of vikud. And so everybody else
was kinda, like, talking to their friends, hiking
up, trying to catch their breath. You know,
they're, like, ugly, like, heaving, breathing while they're
talking to their friends. It's never pretty.
But we noticed this one person next to
us, they kept on saying, like,
And we just kinda thought that, like, oh,
this guy's just, like, super, super in sync
with his, like, remembrance of Allah. And so
one one of my friends was, like, a
very, like, you know, he's like a open,
you know, book, and so he asked his
brother. He goes, hey. Can I ask you
a question? And I was like, oh, god.
Please don't say anything dumb. And so he
asked this guy. He goes, how do you,
like, how'd you why why do you why
are you doing this so,
so, like, almost aggressively right now? Like, why
are you why are you being so heavy
on your right now? And you know what
he said, and it blew my mind? He
said, you never know if these trees heard
the name of Allah before.
You never know if these rocks ever heard
the name of Allah before. So what Tabish
was kinda mentioning kinda jogged my memory. Like,
doing dhikr inside of a gym,
like, who knows, man? That gym may have
never heard of the name Allah ever in
its existence.
But
because of him, possibly,
he he introduced a little bit of barakah
into, like, 24 hour fitness.
Who knows? Right?
This is something that's very valuable in our
religion. It's something that's very, very quality heavy
in our religion. So very, very good. Anybody
else have a moment in which that could
almost surprise you? Go ahead.
What do you mean? Elaborate a little bit.
Yeah.
Yes. Yes. In a moment of conflict,
in a moment where, you know,
it may not be like a, you know,
clearly religious act, but even saying that, hey.
It's okay. I forgive you can be a
minute in which Allah ta'ala is extremely proud
of you. Right?
And maybe and maybe
it's besides your own personal, like, willpower to
forgive that person because you but you know
that Allah Ta'ala would be pleased
it, so you do it. So that moment
of dhikr, that moment of remembering Allah
transcends your own personal willpower and logic. Right?
How many of us this is very beautiful.
How many of us have ever forgiven somebody
because you just know that Allah would be
happy with you if you did? You're still
not over it,
but you're you did it because of Allah.
So it's such an amazing thing. Right? So
there's this incredible hadith of the prophet,
that,
was narrated
by a man by the name of Abdullah
ibn Busr. He's from Busra, from from from
this area in Syria. And so he went
he, he said to the prophet,
oh, messenger of Allah. Right? This man, he
said to the prophet, oh, messenger of Allah,
the laws of this religion are becoming too
much for me. I mean, how many of
us, like, kinda like, yeah, we kinda vibe
with that. We're like, man, that's a lot
of, like, to dos and not to dos
in Islam. Right? It's getting difficult. I don't
even know if I'm a good Muslim. Right?
So this man was very honest with the
prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. I want you
guys to imagine the type of relationship that
people must have had with him, alayhi sallahu
alaihi sallam.
Like, we're scared of going up to our
parents to tell us that Islam is sometimes
a lot for us. Imagine going up to
the prophet himself
and saying,
Islam is, like, challenging me a little bit.
Right? Like, it's hard for me. And, by
the way, there's nothing wrong with that. I
think, you know, when a person
is willing to admit that something is difficult
for them, they're actually admitting that they care
about it.
That's why I tell a lot of older
people who have children
that kind of, you know, say, oh, you
know, my my kid's not praying. My, you
know, my kid's not doing this and that,
but they're telling me about it. I said,
that's a that's that's a great thing, by
the way. Don't just be disheartened because they
find it difficult to pray.
Be glad that they're telling you it's difficult
to pray.
I mean, how many would you rather have
a person who could care less about it
and never talks about it, or would you
rather have a person who says to you,
hey. Listen. I'm struggling with this. There's a
part of them that wants to get better.
So Abdullah ibn Busra, he goes to the
prophet