Shakiel Humayun – Sheer Power 34th Sermon
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the power of Islam and its fear of actions, emphasizing the importance of fear and hope in worship and hoping to reach promises. They use the words hope and fear to describe the tools of Islam, including hoping for rewards and punishment, and the use of taqwa to navigate difficult situations and avoid sin. The importance of fear and hope in achieving the promises of worship is emphasized, along with the use of fear and hope to see what comes to mind tomorrow and hold onto the secret of passing a life test.
AI: Summary ©
Alhamdulillah.
We are all
safe with our families
after having a couple of days
of seeing the hurricane pass us.
The sheer power
of a hurricane
that lifts
6 feet of water
from Tampa
Bay in a reverse surge
and causes Tampa Bay to be dry.
From these phenomena of nature,
we can try
to understand
the power of Allah Subhanahu Wa'ala.
If this is the case of
a single storm system,
a single hurricane
on this
single planet, on this earth.
Then let's think about
the magnitude
of what Allah Subhana said,
If this is just a single storm,
single hurricane
on this tiny planet
which is a speck
in the universe,
then what about
when Allah said
and they do not give proper reverence to
Allah.
The whole earth
will be in his grip
on the day of judgment.
And the universe,
the heavens
will be rolled up and folded
by his right hand.
Imagine that power, the impact.
So Allah subhanahu
wa'ala.
The powerful,
the strong.
And understanding that Allah is powerful and strong.
What does that do?
Angels
who understand that Allah is all powerful and
strong.
Allah subhanahu
says that they fear their lord who is
above them.
This fear comes from understanding
the truth
that Allah is the most powerful.
He can turn nations upside down.
He can destroy universes.
And he can create
many more beautiful universes
all from his power.
This power, my dear brothers and sisters,
which creates fear because of the truth of
this power.
How do we understand this fear
of Allah as the angels have this fear?
The angels don't sin.
They do what they are commanded.
Why do they fear Allah Subhanahu?
This fear simply comes from the angels because
they recognize
the power of Allah Subhanahu.
And so, for us
fearing Allah is an act of worship.
Allah
said,
and then fear only me.
But someone may ask a question.
Usually, when we fear something we run away
from it.
How does the fear of Allah in Islam
draw us closer to Allah subhanahu?
And sometimes atheists,
they mentioned the fear of Allah. If God
is loving, how? Why does he want us
to fear Him? Why is He saying, Fear
me?
And so, to understand this,
number 1,
fear is an act of worship. Number 2,
fear of Allah draws us closer to Allah.
How?
We as human beings
are wired
to respond to rewards and punishment.
We're all here today
because we're hoping for rewards from Allah Subhanahu.
We saw during the hurricane, there was this
fear of
of looting.
So when the laws could be absent,
when the fear of being caught
has been diminished,
looting usually happens
because we respond
to rewards and punishment. We respond to hope
and fear.
So we're human beings
that do more of what we will be
rewarded for
And we will stay away from things
that we are afraid of.
So in this life when Allah has created
us in this life as a test
to see who will do good deeds.
There are things we must do
and there are things we must stay away
from to pass this test.
And these two elements, fear and hope are
tools for us
to pass this test.
So it is with hope that we do
good deeds.
We're hoping for rewards.
It is out of the fear of the
most powerful,
the most strong, Allah Subhanah.
It is out of the fear of his
punishment and his justice
that we stay away
from doing that which is
improper.
And so from this fear of Allah and
his punishment,
from staying away which from that which is
immoral.
We draw closer to Allah subhanahu.
And so this is the crux of worship.
To continuously
hope for Allah's mercy
and to continuously
fear his punishment
and his justice.
And that brings us closer
to Allah Subhanahu.
And there's one term in the Quran and
the Hadith which embodies
these two tools, hope and fear.
It's called Taqwa.
So whenever you see Taqwa
mentioned in the Quran
or the hadith,
it means to use these two tools.
To hope for the mercy of Allah
as hope drives us and motivates us.
And to fear Allah's punishment
as fear helps
us to withhold and abstain.
And this is why when you see great
matters being talked about in the Quran,
Allah mentions taqwa with it.
When Allah told us to
be concerned about the deeds
that we're sending forth.
The deeds that we've done for the hereafter,
Allah mentions taqwa twice. Oh, you have believed
have the taqwa of Allah.
Use fear and hope to get to this
point,
and see what your soul
has sent forth
for tomorrow.
Tomorrow meaning the hereafter.
And then Allah mentions
again
twice in the same ayah.
When it came to
the matter of divorce. And when there's When
there are divorces, it's turbulent. It's emotional.
People oppress Spouses oppress one another.
They abuse each other's
rights at times.
And Surah Al Talaq, the chapter of divorce
in the Quran is short. It's only 2
pages.
And those 2 pages, there are 4 ayan
back to back when Allah is talking about
the akham, the rules and regulations of divorce.
He peppers it with taqwa again and again.
Short surah but taqwa again and again. Why?
Because in matters of divorce, it's hard to
control the emotions and the soul.
But Allah is mentioning here
to hold on to the hope that your
situation right now no matter how difficult
it is,
have hope in Allah's mercy that it will
be easier and get better.
And your situation right now, no matter how
angry or upset you may feel, you have
no right to violate the right of this
other person.
Out of fear of Allah's justice and punishment
to take something that's not yours.
To do something that's not proper
proper.
So Allah mentions whoever has the taqwa of
Allah, he will make for him a way
out. And whoever has the taqwa of Allah,
Allah will make his matters easy. And whoever
has the taqwa of Allah, Allah will forgive,
expiate his sins, and magnify his reward.
So the tool of taqwa, the elements of
fear and hope,
help us navigate through our life test
and do that which is right.
My dear brothers and sisters,
throughout history,
these elements of fear and hope
have been used successfully
as Allah Subhanahu has mentioned the prophets.
That they worship us out of fear and
hope.
Allah describes the believers that they abandon their
beds at night to stand up to worship
Allah out of fear and hope
because these two elements are powerful. They motivate
you.
When you're sleeping and sleep is so comfortable,
what is it that will get you out
of bed at night to pray to Hajjood?
Fear and hope
will lift the body up
to make that 2 rakah.
It is these elements that throughout time, the
prophets and messengers and the righteous have used
to pass this test.
It's this secret
to balance between fear and hope.
And sometimes we go in extreme to one
element in fear and sometimes we go into
extreme in hope
and we cause this misbalance and we create
a misguidance.
An example, the prophet Muhammad
mentioned about a man
on his deathbed. He told
his children. He said he told him told
them that when I die, burn my body
into ashes and then take my ashes
and then go over the sea and scatter
it in the wind.
Because if Allah subhanahu raises me,
he will punish me because of his doing.
This is extreme fear
lacking hope that Allah is all forgiving.
The other example of the prophet Muhammad Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam mentioned
that a woman entered the hellfire because of
a cat.
She tied the cat, did not allow it
to eat or
run freely and eat from the vermin of
the earth.
Here's extreme lack of fear, extreme hope that
Allah is forgiven. No problem. Everything is okay.
But just because of that, actually entered the
hellfire.
So the secret to passing this life's test
is understanding the balance of hope and fear
and you have to at times
adjust the metrics.
So if someone's at a death bed
dying, they're already facing difficulty.
This is not the time
to tell
them.
That Allah subhanahu is
very severe in punishment.
Because he's already facing the last moments of
his or her life.
But this is the time to adjust and
balance since there's a lot more fear here.
We increase the hope
and we mentioned about Allah being
merciful and forgiving.
And when there's good times,
when we are we have wealth and food
and luxury,
this is the time to pick up the
fear of Allah because we tend in in
times of luxury to lack
in worship
and get relaxed and lazy and not come
out to seek knowledge or worship Allah. This
is the time to pick up the fear
a little bit.
So we are in constant balance between free
and hope.
I ask Allah subhanahu
to make us amongst those
who master
the metrics of balancing between fear and hope.