Shady Alsuleiman – Friday Spiritual Reminder
AI: Summary ©
The importance of steadfastness and confidence in pursuing a health and success after the pandemic is emphasized. The success of their partner's relationship with Islam and their plans to attend the Mas Mas Mas J servings is also discussed. The use of the current COVID-19 pandemic for social gatherings and the potential for social distancing are emphasized. The importance of not abandoning one's identity and not leaving the social gathering area is also emphasized. The success of their own success and the need to overcome negative consequences of the pandemic are also emphasized. The importance of re-evaluating their plans and avoiding any barriers is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
In the name of the most high Bismillah
ar-Rahman ar-Rahim Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen Wa
Salatu wa Salamu ala Sayyidina wa Habibina al
-Mubasiri rahmatan lil alameen Muhammadin wa ala alihi
wa sahbihi ajma'een All praise is due
to Allah SWT and peace be upon Muhammad
SAW I testify that there is no God
except Allah and I testify that Muhammad is
the Prophet and the Messenger of Allah My
brothers and my sisters Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi
wa barakatuh And I welcome every single one
of you once again to this quick inspirational
and reminder and talk on Friday just to
continue reviving the Friday spirit given the current
situation on lockdown that we can't attend the
Masajid and attend Salatul Jumaa which is one
of the most important things in our lives
and we thank Allah SWT for the opportunity
that He gives us and the opportunity that
Allah SWT continues to give us to continue
serving Him and to continue calling to His
Deen and reminding people for the Deen of
Allah SWT My brothers and my sisters we're
already halfway through the month of Ramadan halfway
through this blessed month a month that Allah
SWT blessed us with a month full of
mercy a month full of forgiveness a month
that Allah SWT gives and gives and gives
as Allah SWT describes Himself as the most
generous and He's generous and always generous and
generous in the month of Ramadan in all
months and the Prophet Muhammad SAW was always
generous and he was more generous in the
month of Ramadan than any other month and
for that my brothers and my sisters as
I mentioned already halfway already half of the
month of Ramadan had finished and we started
the second half of the month of Ramadan
and now you need to start reassessing yourself
you need to make this personal re-evaluation
How did you get in the first half
for you to improve in the second half
and subhanAllah if you did not do too
well in the first half then you're going
to struggle in the second half so make
sure that you do the best in the
second half so you could make up for
what you missed out on the first half
and subhanAllah we're just talking about the commencement
and the beginning of the month of Ramadan
already halfway through the month of Ramadan few
days from now we'll be talking about the
end of the month of Ramadan and few
days from now we'll be talking about what
we're going to do after the month of
Ramadan and you know what we need to
start preparing ourselves and we need to start
planning for what's after the month of Ramadan
how steadfast are we going to be after
the month of Ramadan because what you gain
in the month of Ramadan will help you
for what's after the month of Ramadan and
steadfastness is a very important topic that we
need to emphasize on you and I need
to remind ourselves of the importance of steadfastness
how important it is for us to be
steadfast to be on the path that will
continue to be connected to Allah SWT connection
to Allah SWT is not limited to the
month of Ramadan a connection to Allah SWT
is not limited to the masjid a connection
to Allah SWT is not connected to any
time, to any space, to any place our
connection to Allah SWT is 24x7 our connection
to Allah SWT is always and subhanAllah one
beautiful verse to Allah SWT makes mention in
the Holy Quran in which Allah SWT addresses
the Prophet Muhammad SWT in Surat Al-Duha
مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَ O Muhammad Allah
did not abandon you nor did Allah SWT
abandon you Allah SWT revealed that verse to
the Prophet Muhammad SWT after many days in
which the Prophet Muhammad SWT had disconnection from
the revelation and it wasn't a permanent disconnection
it was more of a training and more
of a development to the Prophet Muhammad SWT
where Allah SWT is training the Prophet SAW
to develop the Prophet Muhammad SWT after the
Prophet Muhammad SAW was receiving revelation every single
day and every single night or ongoing revelation
from Allah SWT suddenly no revelation will come
down to the Prophet Muhammad SAW in which
brought stress upon the Prophet Muhammad SAW and
you could imagine the Prophet SAW receiving this
regular communication from Allah SWT and this regular
revelation from Allah SWT then suddenly no communication
suddenly no revelation from Allah SWT you could
imagine right now I could imagine how stressed
and depressed the Prophet Muhammad SAW was when
the Prophet Muhammad SAW stopped receiving revelation from
Allah SWT so later on Allah SWT revealed
to the Prophet Muhammad SAW مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ
وَمَا قَلَ Allah SWT did not abandon you
Allah SWT did not isolate you but it's
all part of the training process where Allah
SWT is training the Prophet Muhammad SAW and
this is also part of our training right
now Allah SWT did not abandon us Allah
SWT did not abandon you just because we
are in lockdown just because we're in isolation
just because we're not coming to the masajid
just because we're not seeing each other and
we are getting together for the iftar just
because we're not getting together in the gatherings
in the masajid and Islamic centers or in
other occasion in other gathering doesn't mean Allah
SWT had abandoned us but it's all part
of that training process and you know what
I want to talk about myself I feel
like I've been trained by Allah SWT in
this situation I feel that I'm connected to
Allah SWT in a different way I feel
that I'm closer to Allah SWT in a
different way before it was about coming to
the masjid and about coming to Salatul Jummah
and seeing the beautiful brothers and seeing the
sisters and seeing everyone coming together Alhamdulillah it's
about Salatul Taraweeh where we get the brothers
and sisters coming to the UMA for example
and coming to the other centers and the
other masajid and you find hundreds if not
thousands of brothers and sisters are attending the
masajid and subhanAllah through them you feel connected
to Allah SWT because they remind you of
Allah SWT someone saying Salam Alaikum just by
you responding and reply back to Salam Alaikum
Wa Salam Rahmatullah you are rewarded shaking hands
with your brother you are rewarded just giving
something to a brother you are rewarded the
brothers and the volunteers that we used to
have at the center ushering them and the
directing people are coming to the centers you
get rewards for that subhanAllah giving someone a
cup of water you get rewards for that
breaking your fast and you give someone dates
or breaking the fast of someone and giving
them food you get the rewards for that
smiling to the face of your brother or
your sister you get rewards for that subhanAllah
now we are in isolation now we are
in lockdown and now subhanAllah this is where
you need to explore the other avenues that
Allah SWT has opened for us and I've
been mentioning this I've been mentioning this time
and time again where Allah will close one
door and Allah SWT open other doors not
that he opens one door if Allah SWT
closes one door he doesn't open one door
he opens multiple doors for you to get
closer to him he'll open multiple doors for
you to get closer to him and multiple
doors for you to be connected to him
and subhanAllah in this situation that we're in
right now in the month of Ramadan which
is a different Ramadan to you and I
yes it's a bit of a different strange
Ramadan we've never experienced Ramadan like this Ramadan
is about the social gatherings Ramadan is about
coming to the masajid Ramadan is about seeing
your brothers and sisters subhanAllah this Ramadan no
social gatherings no attending masajid not seeing your
brothers and your sisters face to face obviously
it's a strange different Ramadan to us but
alhamdulillah Allah SWT has opened other avenues and
you know those avenues keep this in mind
if Allah SWT opened for you it doesn't
mean Allah is going to close them later
on if he opens the other door maybe
one door is shut right now that later
on Allah SWT will open it and he
opened other doors for you it doesn't mean
if he opens the other door that he
shut the other doors that he opened will
be shut no Allah SWT will continue opening
all the other doors and Allah SWT will
continue to open all the gates that will
connect you to him because as much as
that you want to be connected to Allah
Allah SWT wants to be more connected to
you subhanAllah how beautiful is Allah as keen
as you are that you want to be
connected to Allah SWT Allah SWT is more
keen if the word applies Allah SWT is
more keen in connected to you than you
being connected to him subhanAllah yes this is
Allah SWT this is Allah SWT you want
to be connected to Allah SWT Allah SWT
wants to be connected to you more you
want to come to Allah SWT Allah SWT
is there for you and what resonates to
my mind is the hadith of the Prophet
Muhammad SAW where the Prophet SAW says Allah
SWT says if my servant remembers me in
himself I'll remember him in myself and if
my servant remembers me in a gathering I'll
remember him in a better gathering than the
gathering that he had remembered me in subhanAllah
you think of Allah Allah SWT remembers you
you remember Allah SWT in a gathering Allah
SWT remembers you in a greater gathering than
the gathering that you had remembered Allah SWT
in but it doesn't stop over here there's
more where Allah SWT says and if my
servant gets closer to me one hand span
I'll get closer to him two hand spans
if my servant gets closer to me one
arm's length I'll get closer to him two
arm's length you take one step to Allah
SWT you want to be one step closer
to Allah SWT Allah SWT becomes two steps
closer to you and then Allah SWT continues
to say more and if my servant comes
to me walking I'll come to him running
Allahu Akbar subhanAllah how beautiful is Allah SWT
you get closer to Allah once Allah SWT
gets closer to you twice you get closer
to Allah SWT twice Allah SWT gets closer
to you double that you take one step
closer to Allah SWT Allah SWT takes two
steps closer to you you walk to Allah
Allah SWT runs to you Allahu Akbar so
if you're eager in getting closer to Allah
SWT Allah SWT is more eager and Allah
SWT is more keen if the words apply
because Allah SWT is beyond us and beyond
these words Allah SWT is more eager more
keen in getting closer to you you want
to get closer to Allah Allah SWT wants
to get closer to you more subhanAllah this
is Allah SWT and that's why Allah SWT
bless us with the month of Ramadan and
already half the month of Ramadan had finished
and we are starting we just started the
second half the month of Ramadan and it's
a matter of time the month of Ramadan
will be over so where you gonna be?
where you and I gonna be?
are we gonna be closer to Allah SWT
in next half of the month of Ramadan
and closer to Allah SWT after the month
of Ramadan in which Allah SWT will be
a lot more closer to us or we're
gonna be distant away from Allah SWT so
my brothers and my sisters we are in
a tough challenging time but subhanAllah you could
see the doors are opening and you could
see the opening is coming soon and you
could see the light at the end of
the tunnel and subhanAllah we are getting closer
to that light in which Allah SWT is
making it possible and at the end of
the day yes, if the government or the
authorities are the ones who are lifting the
restrictions those restrictions have been lifted by Allah
SWT before anyone else Allah SWT is the
one that's making things easier on us but
the most important thing is before we lift
any restriction we want to lift any restriction
between us and Allah SWT the restrictions that
we put between us and Allah SWT what
restrictions are we talking about?
when you commit the sin you put a
restriction you put a barrier between you and
Allah SWT when you turn your back on
Allah SWT you put a restriction between you
and Allah SWT right now there are restrictions
which are imposed on us by the authorities
for the best well-being of people but
you know what?
we put restrictions between us and Allah SWT
our disobedience to Allah SWT is a restriction
the sins that we commit are restrictions the
haram that we fall in are also restrictions
so after the restrictions are lifted then impose
restrictions between you and Allah SWT then go
and put restrictions between you and Allah SWT
Allah SWT had removed the barriers between you
and Him and the month of Ramadan is
a great month that Allah SWT removes all
the barriers that Allah SWT forgives and Allah
SWT saves from the hellfire and Allah SWT
continues to have mercy after the restrictions are
lifted then go and put restrictions between you
and Allah SWT keep that relationship with Allah
SWT right now this is the time that
you need to re-evaluate this is the
time that you need to assess this is
the time that you need to start looking
into okay half the month of Ramadan had
finished what am I gonna do in the
second half for what's after the month of
Ramadan we need to start planning from now
we need to start planning from now we
need to start putting things into place what
are you planning to do for the next
two weeks and what are you planning to
do for what's after the month of Ramadan
because I don't want to have any restrictions
between me and Allah SWT I don't want
to have any barriers between me and Allah
SWT no matter what restrictions have been imposed
or lifted I don't want to have any
restrictions between me and my Lord I just
want to have an open line of communication
between me and Allah SWT as the Prophet
Muhammad SAW was stressed when Allah SWT did
not reveal to him revelation for few days
Allah SWT said ما ودعك ربك وما قال
Allah SWT did not abandon you Allah SWT
did not put any restrictions between you and
him but it's all part of that training
process it's all part of that development Muhammad
you're going to be the leader you're going
to be the Prophet the messenger of mankind
you need to be trained and subhanAllah if
you think not attending the masajid and not
being in the social gatherings that we love
to be in the month of Ramadan and
not attending the mosque is a huge burden
on you can you imagine the burden the
Prophet Muhammad SAW encountered when Allah SWT did
not communicate with him or reveal to him
for few days and nights if you think
it's a huge burden and it's a heavy
heart on you right now not coming to
the masjid which it is the reality is
yes, yes it is it's a big burden
on us not to come to the masjid
in particular month of Ramadan right now I'm
talking to you in our time we usually
at the masjid Salatul Jum'ah we attend
Salatul Jum'ah and Khutbatul Jum'ah and
it is a huge burden right now for
you not to be in the masjid during
Salatul Jum'ah if you think that's a
burden then it would have been a lot
more greater of a burden on the Prophet
Muhammad SAW when the Prophet Muhammad SAW did
not receive that revelation from Allah SWT and
yet Allah SWT told him Allah did not
abandon you and Allah SWT did not turn
away from you but it's all part of
that training process and right now what we
are going through it's all part of that
training process for us to be connected to
Allah truly connected to Allah strongly connected to
Allah genuinely connected to Allah SWT and to
be connected to Allah SWT forever not to
be connected to Allah SWT for now forever
to be with Allah SWT forever and after
Allah SWT revealed that verse to the Prophet
Muhammad SAW the revelation from Allah SWT was
ongoing upon the Prophet Muhammad SAW so right
now we are encountering a burden that we're
not coming to the masjid and we're encountering
a burden that we're not having the beautiful
social gatherings for iftar we're encountering a burden
that we're not going to see each other
in a month of Ramadan but inshallah after
this burden there's going to be an ease
after this hardship there's an ease and subhanallah
what comes after this surah is surat al
-inshirah where Allah SWT says inna ma'al
usri yusra so the verse that Allah SWT
makes mention in surat al-duha that Allah
did not abandon you O Muhammad follow that
surah there's that surah in which Allah SWT
says after hardship there's an ease after hardship
there's an ease and inshallah there's going to
be an ease not an ease that Allah
SWT will make an ease upon us when
the restrictions will be lifted and inshallah this
virus will be abolished but the ease with
us and Allah SWT the ease with us
and Allah SWT because unfortunately we are the
ones He had established we are the ones
who put the barriers between us and Allah
SWT we are the ones that impose the
restrictions between us and Allah SWT and Allah
SWT did not put any barriers between us
and Him and Allah SWT did not put
any restrictions between us and Him and this
is the time inshallah we'll learn we'll learn
never ever put a barrier or a restriction
between you and Allah it's only with Allah
pleasing Allah the pleasure of Allah until you
meet Allah and enter the paradise of Allah
and now we are in the half of
the month of Ramadan preparing for the second
half of the month of Ramadan for what's
after the month of Ramadan so your preparation
right now you started the month of Ramadan
preparing for the month of Ramadan the second
half of the month of Ramadan is preparation
for what's after the month of Ramadan to
be with Allah SWT always and forever to
be with Allah SWT in every single moment
in every single place in every single situation
so let us prepare for the second half
for what's after the month of Ramadan let
us be ready for what's after the month
of Ramadan to be connected with Allah SWT
always brothers and sisters may Allah SWT reward
you may Allah SWT accept from you may
Allah SWT make it easy upon us all
may Allah SWT remove any barrier between us
and Him and may Allah SWT remove all
the restrictions that will keep us disconnected from
one another that will keep us connected from
one another may Allah SWT remove any barrier
that will keep us away from each other
and keep us away from Him SWT may
Allah SWT accept from you Jazakumullah Khair Subhanak
Allah Muhammadik Nashadu an la ilaha illa ant
Nastaghfiruka wa natubu ilayk Salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi
wa barakatuh