Sikander Hashmi – Develop the Feelings of a Believer Friday Message
AI: Summary ©
The importance of spirituality and deepening connections with Allah is emphasized in the context of mental health and faith. The heart is the seat of the heart, and the holy spirit is a mixture of hope and fear. Learning about Allah's teachings and sharing experiences is crucial to achieving the desired feelings and connections. The importance of balancing fear and hope is emphasized, and the need to be mindful of words and actions is emphasized. The importance of feeding the poor and patting the heart of the orphan is emphasized, and a fundraiser is given for their own projects.
AI: Summary ©
Respected elders,
dear brothers and sisters,
my young friends,
Assalamu alaikum urahmatullahi
wa barakatuh.
I
hope you are all doing well by the
grace and mercy of Allah
Today,
subhanallah, is a beautiful day.
We thank Allah
for all of his blessings,
including
the beauty that we see in his creation.
And there's a forecast of snow coming as
well, a big dump of snow,
starting tonight, I believe, or early tomorrow.
So hopefully, there will be a lot of,
good white stuff for the children to play
in as well and, to,
maybe have some snowball fights,
and so on.
We thank Allah
I,
I hope, that,
everyone is safe. As you know, the situation
the COVID situation has,
gotten quite serious.
Protect us all.
There is a stay at home order in
effect in Ontario. As you probably know, in
Quebec, there's a curfew between 8 PM and
7 AM.
And,
here in Ontario,
we are to be staying home with some
exceptions,
exercises amongst them. So you are allowed to
go outside and walk.
Even skating rinks in mountain hilts are open,
although we're not supposed to congregate.
No more than 5 people outside with distancing
unless you're with your own family.
You're allowed to go out for food to
pick up food,
for health reasons,
if you really need to go to work,
you're not able to work from home.
And, also, religious services are also permitted,
the limit of 10 people with distancing and,
masks, of course. And this is something that
is important for mental and spiritual
well-being.
Maybe not for everyone, but especially for some
people. So just as physical exercise is important,
mental health spiritual health is also very important,
connected to a person's well-being,
and that is, perhaps one of the reasons
that, we are able to get together for
Salat,
but only with
the limit of frustration.
And all those details are at canadamaslims.capass
or reopen both sites. You can find the
link, on our website.
Last week, my brothers and sisters,
we talked about the importance of increasing our
spirituality,
increasing or improving our spiritual response at this
time
while,
tiering to public health guidelines and following
all physical or taking all reasonable physical needs.
So the physical measures that we take, like
masks and cleaning, sanitizing the pads, and maintaining
distance,
and vaccines for those who are, taking them.
All of those things, you know, are important,
but the spiritual response is just as important,
if not more important as well. So we
don't leave 1 or the other, but we
we go, we and we we do both.
We take the physical means,
but we also respond spiritually, and we place
our trust in Allah
And some of the key ways
to connect
spiritually that we discussed
was to increase our istighfar,
our seeking forgiveness from Allah
to say, Astaghfirullah,
Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah. There are many benefits that
we have as we discussed,
last week and previously as well. So try
to increase
your istighfar, try to improve
the quantity and the quality
of our salah, to connect with Allah
in sujood, in the state of prostration,
with humility in front of Allah
And in indeed turning to Allah with humility
in prayer, but also outside of prayer as
well, being in a state of humility and
gratefulness towards Allah
and, of course,
repenting
for our misdeeds and for our sins. Now
all of this has to do with spirituality.
Now, you know,
not too long ago, a, a very sincere
young man, may Allah
bless him, he came to me seeking help
regarding his faith. And when a person comes
seeking help regarding their faith, even though they
may be, you know, a victim of doubts
and they may be, struggling with their faith,
when a person comes for help, I tell
them, and honestly I believe this, that that
is the greatest sign that
Allah wants well for them, and Allah
wants them to be guided. Because if a
person
does not care, right, if a person
believes in the doubts and doesn't care about
their faith anymore, if a person has lost
their faith, they're not gonna go seek
help. They're perhaps going to be indifferent or
worse yet, we see sometimes people turn against
faith and become,
you know,
broadcasters or, you know, proponents of
of of of of of, you know, actively,
trying to,
harm not harm faith, but actively trying to,
trying to argue against faith and to try
to, prove,
the Deen wrong, which, of course, is not
possible because it's the Deen of Allah
Many times they end up making a fool
out of themselves, but that's a separate topic.
So if a person seeks help and seeks
guidance and then they're searching for the truth
and they're searching for help, that is one
of the greatest signs that Allah
wants goodness for them and wants them to
be guided and Allah
creates avenues and provides means for them, to
seek that reassurance and to seek,
that that that that which they which they
are missing. So one of the things that
this young man mentioned to me, may Allah
bless him, is that he was never able
to develop any feelings.
He was never able to develop any feelings
related to faith and spirituality.
So what he said was, you know, Ramadan
and and and went, and he didn't feel
anything. And people would be, you know, talking
about it, and he would see people crying,
and they're immersed in prayer, making dua,
and, you know, people are reciting Quran, and
they're feeling it. But he he did all
those things and he said, I didn't feel
anything.
And the reality is is that my brothers
and sisters, he's not alone.
There are many of us who are in
the same situation
that we may believe
and we may practice,
but there's not much feeling
associated with
our living of Islam
and our faith and our imam.
Many perhaps have been introduced
to Islam, have been taught Islam as a
religion of just do's and don'ts, of just
rituals, of just things to memorize
and even practice,
that it's all
the movements of body and tongue and in
the mind, it's not in the heart.
Perhaps you're able to relate,
Right? That it's and it's not that these
things are not important. Of course, the guidance
of Allah
and his messenger
contains do's and don'ts,
do's of the things that are good for
us, don'ts of the things which are harmful
for us because Allah is our creator, and
he understands us better than we understand ourselves.
And, of course, there are rituals and and
as more, you know, as research takes place,
we find out the rituals,
especially, you know, religious practices are good actually
for our mental health, to have a routine,
to have, you know, things that that that
enable us to to find,
meaningfulness and and to and and that improve,
you know,
help us become more aware as an example,
and more conscious,
of of our of our of our actions
and that connect us with Allah
Those things which those are things which are
important for us, not just spiritually, but mentally
as well. And when we have, you know,
things to memorize and duas
and and and things that we practice, all
of these things are important.
There's not that they're not important. They're important.
But there there's, there's a a purpose behind
them. There's,
there's the the letter of the law as
I say and the spirit as well. And
that is so so important because that is
something that touches the heart.
And the reality is that feelings and emotions,
my brothers and sisters, are a very big
part of our faith. And it's amazing there's
many of us who may be hearing this
right now and saying, hey, I never knew
that. I never realized that. No one ever
taught me that, that I'm supposed to develop
feelings for Allah.
I'm supposed to have feelings associated with different
parts of prayer that, you know, different elements
of my salah that I know I should
have feelings when I'm reciting Quran or making
dua. And subhanAllah, you know, the thing the
foremost thing for the believer
is to have feelings of love towards Allah
Yes. There are other, feelings as well which
I will discuss. But first and foremost, our
feelings of love towards Allah
Allah
tells us in Surat Al Baqarah
And yet amongst the people are those who
take other than Allah as equals to him,
and they love them as they should love
Allah.
SubhanAllah. Is telling us that there are people
who take equals to Allah,
you know, who who who take other than
Allah as equals to him which is, of
course, wrong. And what does Allah mentioned here?
Love.
They love them. They love those other things
whether it's, you know, objects, whether it's it's
wealth, whether it's people, whatever it is. They
love them as they should love Allah.
But those who believe
are stronger in their love for Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. They are intense in their love
for Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. They have deeply
stronger love for Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala who
those who believe.
So here my brothers and sisters, we find
that love for Allah
is a salient characteristic,
a feature of the believer or should be
the characteristic of a believer. And what type
of love, what level of love more intense
and stronger than anything else that exists.
Our love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
should be greater than any other love that
we find inside of our hearts. Does this
not have to do with feelings? Of course,
it has to do with feelings. Allah tells
us
in the Quran, addressing the prophet
say, oh, prophet
If you sincerely
love
Allah, if you love Allah,
but be only then follow me. So prophet
is told to say this to who? To
us? To people?
To
humanity that if you sin if you love
Allah, then follow me.
What will happen? If you fall if you
love Allah and you follow the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasalam as a result, then what will
happen? Allah will love you and will forgive
you your sins. For
Allah is all forgiving, most merciful. So here's,
Hanallah,
we find that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
associated
following the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, following the the the message, the
commands, the guidance of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam with love for Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. If you love Allah, if you claim
to love Allah, or if you want the
love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
what is it associated with with following the
prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam? And if you do
that sincerely, inshallah,
Allah will love us, and Allah
will forgive us. May Allah grant us his
love and forgiveness.
The prophet
has also told us as an example of
another feeling.
May
Allah
protect us. The prophet
said related by Abdullah
that
no one who has the weight of a
seed, who has an iota of arrogance in
their heart will enter Jannah, will enter paradise.
Very scary when you think about it. Even
an iota, a speck, this doesn't mean that
if there's a believer who has arrogance that
they will never enter into Jannah. But what
it means is that most likely Allah
will decide or it is possible that Allah
will decide that that arrogance that is found
even if it's a speck inside of their
hearts, it needs to be purified
with heat
first on the day of judgment or in
the hereafter
before that heart, before that person is allowed
entry into Jannah. Now you tell me, this
arrogance, what is it? It is a feeling
which is the opposite of humility.
Right? So it is a feeling of considering
oneself to be greater than others, considering oneself
to be more superior than others. The prophet
tells us that what does it lead to,
the true arrogance which is prohibited? How do
you recognize it? It is what leads people
to
to deny the truth and to look down
upon people. So if we find ourselves, we
don't think about others, we think about ourselves.
If I find myself denying something which is
true
simply because of my ego, or if I
find myself looking down upon others, considering others
to be less worthy of anything because of
any reason,
then this
may be a sign of arrogance that is
inside of my heart, and I must be
very concerned
because the prophet has told us that a
person who has even an ayota, even a
speck, even a seed of arrogance will not
enter into jannah. May Allah
forgive us and purify our hearts,
especially of arrogance. I mean, You Rabbala Alameen.
So, again, we are talking about feelings.
Allah
tells us in the Quran
that the only true believers
in our relevant revelation are those who, when
the revelation is recited to them, they fall
into prostration.
And what do they do?
And they glorify the praises of the Lord,
and they are not
arrogant. They are not arrogant. And then immediately
after that, Allah tells us about hope and
fear.
That they abandoned their beds, invoking their word.
And Allah
doesn't just stop there, but he gives us
the condition that gayfiyah, the condition
of their invoking their Lord. When they wake
up, they abandon their beds in the morning,
in the middle of the night or the
later part of the night, and they invoke
their lord, they turn to Allah
and they remember
Allah and they call upon Allah
what is their state, what is the condition,
with which feelings do they call upon Allah
They invoke their lord. They call upon their
lord with hope and fear.
And they donate from what we have provided
for them. So here, Allah
doesn't just tell us about something that these
believers do, but rather he tells us about
their condition when they actually do what Allah
wants them to do. And Allah
also tells us about the believers.
That barely they would hasten to do good
deed.
From heaven announced
that all people.
That if a caller
from heaven announced
that all people would enter Jannah
together, except for man, except for one person,
that Omar Ibn Khattab
said,
that I would be afraid.
I would fear that I am him. Can
you imagine? This is the level of fear
that Umar ibn Fattah radiallahu anhu had, the
companion, the great companion of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam
saying that if the caller from Jannah announced
that all people will enter into Jannah
together except for 1, I would fear that
I am that one person who is not
going to enter. But then on the other
hand,
On the other hand, if a caller
announced that all people would enter hellfire
together except for 1 person, except for 1
man,
I would hope that I am him. And
from this, we learn this balance of hope
and fear. And on the one hand, we
have hope in the mercy of Allah
On the other hand, we have fear of
the punishment of
Allah both of which are true and which
are real, which are the haqq.
Allah
The believers,
the true believers,
are those whose hearts tremble at the remembrance
of Allah.
A feeling.
It's a feeling.
Their hearts tremble at the remembrance of Allah
They feel something in their hearts. They don't
just tremble, but rather Allah says,
so their hearts tremble, and heart is the
place of feeling and emotion.
And their, when his revelations are recited to
them, their faith increases, their yakin increases, their
conviction
increases, and they are the
ones.
They put their trust in their lords, my
brothers and sisters. Once again, we hear about
feelings and the importance of feelings towards Allah
Subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
Rahimahullah,
he
said,
that the heart on its journey towards Allah,
the spiritual
heart towards on its journey towards Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, Allah the exalted
is the example of it is like that
of a bird.
It's like that of a bird.
That love is its head
and the fear and hope and fear and
hope are its 2
wings.
And he goes on to say,
That
when the head, meaning the love, is healthy,
then the two wings which are hope and
fear, they will fly
well. What will happen? They will fly well
when the love went head is
healthy. And
when
the head, meaning the love, is cut off,
when it is missing, then what will happen?
The bird will die, meaning the spiritual heart
will die. And
and when either of 2 wings is damaged,
meaning either the hope or the fear that
those feelings found in the spiritual heart are
damaged, then the bird becomes vulnerable to every
hunter and predator. Meaning the heart becomes vulnerable
to every hunter and every predator. SubhanAllah.
You know, when we we we read the
words of our salaf our pious predecessors,
It was so true. Right? And we see
this is happening that people we find are
missing
love in their spiritual hearts. And when their
love is missing, then we also find that
the hope and the fear for Allah
is also something which is lacking. And what
happens then? That the that the hearts the
spiritual hearts become vulnerable to every hunter and
predator, subhanAllah.
Shaytan is out there. The nafs is out
there. The haters are out there. Every single
one who is trying to target the spiritual
hearts of the believers that is trying to
steal that iman that lies within, and
they become the hearts become victims
to varying degrees
of these predators. May Allah
protect our iman. May
Allah protect our hearts. Ameen You Rabbala. Ameen.
My brothers and sisters, all of this has
to do with feelings and the heart is
the seat of the feelings and emotions. And
you see in every in nearly every culture,
many cultures of the world, people use metaphors
that directly
or indirectly
allude to the heart.
Right? We call certain types of people hard
hearted, not just Islamically, but just generally. Right?
Usually, why? Because they show no mercy or
kindness. Likewise, we say that people have cold
hearts and some have warm hearts or they're
warm hearted. You know, we speak of people
perhaps, you know, wearing their hearts on their
sleeves because they cannot conceal their emotions,
from others. And when someone says something and
it touches us, you know, we say that
they touched our hearts. You know, we say
that my heart has been broken or so
and so broke someone's heart, won someone's heart.
You know, so the heart, subhanallah,
is such an amazing creation of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. I mean, we know that about
the mind, about the the the intelligence,
and, about the brain, but, subhanAllah, even the
heart is something which is not fully understood
from a physiological point of view. But we
do know that it is a extremely sophisticated
part of the body with secrets that are,
you know, hidden, that are still hidden from
us. The prophet
told us,
that verily in the body is a piece
of flesh fat flesh.
That which is if it's sound, then the
entire body is sound.
And if it is corrupt, then the entire
body is corrupt.
But truly, it is indeed it is the
heart, and this is related by Muhammad ibn
Bashir
found in Bukhari Sahibullah Husayn Sahib Muslim. Now
my brothers and sisters, the question is,
how do we develop?
How do we develop those right, those good
feelings that we should have as believers? So
the first thing we make clear is that
as believers, we should have feelings.
Our faith, our Islam, our iman, our practice
of the deen
should be linked with feelings,
and it should
be causing us leading us to feel things
in our heart, to be in certain states
spiritually and emotionally.
And maybe that is not happening. Maybe it
is happening, but it's not happening as much
as you would like,
especially as the month of Ramadan approaches us,
you know, entering
into now 3 months,
to to the month of Ramadan,
It's really not a lot of days, 90
days till the month of Ramadan. So this
is a good question to ask ourselves right
now to prepare
that,
you know,
what do we need to do
to get these feelings, to develop these feelings
that we should have as believers?
So brothers and sisters, we need the right
conditions.
We need the right conditions, right, for anything
to flourish.
You need the right conditions.
Right? I give the example of trying to
plant a mango tree, right, in Canada, especially
in the winter. Is it ever gonna give
mangoes? No. Day tree. Right? Outdoors, is it
gonna give dates? Day palm tree? No. It's
not gonna give dates. Right? Or any plant
right now, really. Right? If you try to
get fruits, bite in the snow. It's not
gonna happen. Right? Similarly, anything else that we
wanna do, that we want to achieve, it
needs to have the right conditions in order
to flourish. If the right conditions are not
there, then perhaps it it it may not,
you know, grow at all. It may not,
you know, sprout at all or perhaps it
will, but it will be deficient and it
will not be able to give the intended
fruit,
the intended fruit. So, therefore, the right conditions
are very, very important. Now, of course, it
becomes harder and harder with the state of
the current state of the denia of of
society in general around us, you know, and
and and of our lives, to be honest,
and the things that we engage in. It
becomes very, very difficult, you know, for that
for,
those conditions to be there. So we have
to struggle harder
to find those conditions and to make those
conditions around us. So first of all, some
tips,
that may be helpful.
So the first one
is to learn about Allah
and to learn about the greatness of Allah
to gain a deeper appreciation
You know, we know of Allah,
but how many of us actually know Allah?
We know of Allah
Right? We for example, you have a classmate,
you know, of someone, you know, who's a
classmate or you know of, a colleague, but
do you actually know them?
So we need to examine, ask ourselves about
our relationship with Allah
that, yes, we have heard about Allah
We believe in Allah
So we know of Allah, we believe in
Allah, we believe in Allah, we know Allah
exists, but how many of us actually know
Allah
What efforts have we made to learn about
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and his greatness and
his characteristics and his qualities and,
and, you know, to to try to gain
a greater recognition
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And when that
happens, when that truly happens, then we develop
deeper appreciation for Allah
and that
gives room for the love of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala to grow. So that is number
1, my brothers and sisters, which is extremely
important. Right? When sometimes, you know, we come
across questions that people have and doubts and
things like
that, and, you know, you you say, subhanAllah,
you know, this is clearly a person who
has who knows Allah, a person who who
has spent some time recognizing Allah
and learning about him
would never be able to ask such a
question. Not that any question is wrong. It's
good to ask questions when you have doubts.
So I'm not trying to discourage that. But
what I'm saying is what is often lacking
is this recognition
and and and knowledge of Allah
of truly who Allah
is, his true greatness and his magnificence.
So that's number 1. Number 2, my brothers
and sisters, is to remember his innumerable favors
and gifts upon us and to thank Allah
in every situation
and that increases our love for Allah
When you think about all of Allah's blessings
upon you and the fact that Allah
was not compelled to give you any of
these things, and if he had chosen to,
he could have taken away everything from you
and given it to others. But Allah
blessed you, and you find and you look
for these blessings. You know, a lot of
times we don't realize because we're not looking.
We're not looking for blessings that Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala has given us. We're not trying
to appreciate them, so we don't see them
and we're not able to appreciate them. Right?
But if you actually look and we reflect
and then we realize
how many ways Allah has has blessed us,
that even then we can get a full
appreciation of all of his blessings or even
the the the the depth and the magnitude
of all of his blessings because it's not
possible. But when we reflect
and we get appreciation and we thank Allah,
that will help us increase in our love
for Allah
Also my brothers and sisters is to learn
some of the wisdoms and purposes
behind the acts of worship
and to try to remember them regularly
so that we are in the right state
when we are doing our ibadah, when we
are doing our worship. You know, yes, we
teach our children. May Allah bless you all,
may Allah bless us all, the parents who
have taught their children how to pray, the
teachers, and it's very important.
But associating meaning
with those rituals, with those acts, with those
positions even,
that what do they actually mean? What do
they signify? Why do we do some of
these things? We will never know why for
sure because Allah
wisdom and knowledge is unmatched. We can't get
there. There's no way. But we can try
to explore some of the deeper meanings and
the wisdoms, and this helps us appreciate
the the the wisdom behind these obligations
and gives helps us, you know, enter that
state, that mode
that we we are intended to be in
when we are doing those acts.
So try to explore those and learn those.
So associate
meanings and feelings with various positions in various
acts of worship. To remember how small and
insignificant we are in front of Allah
in this world, in this universe,
how small are we really? Right? I told
you this before. I'm amazed when when, like,
I fly. I haven't flown in a long
time now, of course, because of COVID. But
when I fly, it amazes me because I
look down and it's
so
quickly that we lose sight of the people
first. You'll still see the houses, the buildings.
You'll see the see the cars even. But
the people,
like, it's just a few 100 feet not
even, and you can't see any more people.
But that's how small and insignificant we are
in this universe, in this world, and especially
in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. To
remind ourselves of that, then that should make
us humble. And we get feelings of humility
and neediness and weakness in front of Allah
that helps us fight arrogance
and conceitful pride.
Learning, my brothers and sisters, about the day
of judgment, the predicament that people will be
in, how how difficult of a day it
will be, that will create fear inside of
us. Thinking about our own faults, our weaknesses,
our sins,
fear. But it should be balanced. Right? As
we we read in the quote,
that it's they're both wings,
hope and fear. Right? So there's a balance
between the 2. If you have too much
of 1, then you can't maintain balance. Right?
If you're too much tilted on one side,
there's too much weight on one side, it's
not balanced anymore.
So, yes, the fear is very, very important,
but not fear that leads us to hopelessness
because the other wing is hope. Right? So
the fear has to be balanced with hope
and the hope has to be balanced with
fear. The person has too much hope, then
it's wishful thinking. Right? Then they might be
deluding themselves. Right? They may be overconfident.
Right? They may be taking things for granted.
And on the other hand, if a person
is too fearful,
then they are denying the hope that Allah
gives us, The great forgiveness of Allah, the
great mercy of Allah.
Right? All of the mercy and compassion that
exists from the beginning of time till the
end, to the beginning of the world to
the last day. All of it that we
find amongst humanity and the human beings and
all the the animals, all the creation of
Allah. You know, all of that is only
1%. Allah sent only 1%
of mercy and compassion that we see, and
that has been existing in this world. And
99%
of Allah has kept for the day of
judgement.
Goodness. How great is the mercy, forgiveness of
Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. So
you never lose hope in the mercy of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. But a true believer
is one who balances that with fear as
well. It doesn't take it for granted. Verses
of the Quran, my brothers and sisters, you
know, we recite them. We try to understand
them, but also try to feel them. Associate
feelings with the verses of the Quran.
Ask yourself, how is this supposed to make
me feel? When I recite this verse,
let let me try to think how Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala wants me to feel when
I read this message of this. And listening
to reciters who recite with emotion, personally, has
been very powerful for me. Right? Because I
listen to it and I say, why is
this body why is this reciter
crying and and he can't go ahead of
this verse without sobbing, without, you know, shedding
tears, whereas I'm totally indifferent
to it. Why why is it like that?
Why is he feeling that I'm not? What
what am I missing here? Let me reflect
upon this as well. Let me try to
build that feeling inside of me as well.
Right?
Versus a fear and hope, feel those. Versus
of Jannah and Na, feeling those. Versus of
the greatness of Allah
feeling those, you you know. And, of course,
for those, of us who who maybe Arabic
is not our first language, like, it's not
mine. You know, we try to pick up
the vocabulary so that we are able to
connect. And even those who speak Arabic, right,
reflecting upon the Quran, making, you know,
connecting with those words as we're hearing them
and reciting them, not just being distracted. But
all of those things are needed to build
this condition. Remembering death and the hereafter.
Something we don't like to think about. Right?
But it's a reality for every single one
of us. I have to go. You have
to go. Every single person that has to
go on there. Right? So thinking that can
be a real reality check for us and
can put us into the zone, into the
mode.
You know, offering the Hajj prayer, night prayer
in the last part of the night, the
last 3rd of the night in the darkness
alone with all of these thoughts can be
very, very powerful.
Right? When you think about all of these
things alone in front of Allah
about your weakness, your your your your sins,
about your your mistakes, about your future, about
your fears, your hope, all of those things
together at your death. The hereafter being alone
in front of Allah,
right, answering to him. That is that something
that reminds us of that. When we do
that, like, you know, reminds us of that
day when we do that at night alone.
Right? So these are things again that can
help us build these conditions. And and listening
and reading to such people who have these
qualities because it's contagious in a good way.
Right? If you listen to people,
speakers, scholars,
you know, learned people of knowledge and taqwa,
and if you read their their writings, who
are talking about these things, who talk with
this love and these feelings and this hope
and fear, then it's contagious in a good
way because you you start feeling it as
well Right? And try to lessen our distractions.
You know, there's many things which will distract
us from Allah
in this world that will distract us from
these these states.
But,
you know, we need to engage in them,
but we try to keep them to a
bare minimum. Right? To whatever is required, whatever
is necessary. I'm trying to, you know, tune
out gossip and back fighting and useless talk,
useless watching. Right? Because all of these things
are harmful for the spiritual heart. They put
the spiritual heart to sleep. They make it
harder, you know, they don't make it soft,
they make it harder and then they they
they make it distracted from these states and
these conditions and the true love of Allah
subhanahu for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And there's,
you know, books and chapters of hadith, in
hadith books
on on softening the heart. So reading those
and, you know, reading the verses,
of the Quran, the the the words of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
which, you know, help us soften our spiritual
hearts. And finally, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
said that,
if you want to soften your heart, you
know, a person came and he was complaining
to the prophet,
regarding, you know, the hardness of the heart.
So the prophet
said that if you want to soften your
heart, if you want to soften your heart,
feed the poor
and pat the head of the orphan. If
you wanna soften your heart, feed the poor
and pat the heart the head of the
orphan.
So, my brothers and sisters, may Allah
grant us hearts that have the right feelings
that are softened for the love of Allah
for hope and fear and all of these
states and feelings that we're supposed to have
in our hearts. And as I always end,
Allah
tells us,
whoever is mindful of Allah,
he will make a way out,
who will make a a way out for
them,
and provide for them from sources that they
could never imagine.
And whoever puts their trust in Allah,
then he alone is sufficient
for them.
Certainly, Allah achieved his will.
Oh, Allah, all praises for you. Oh, Allah,
we thank you with our hearts, our minds,
our tongues, and every limb of our bodies
for all of your blessings and your favors.
Oh, Allah. Oh, Allah. You are so great.
Oh, Allah. You are so mighty. Oh, Allah.
You are all knowing. Oh, Allah. You have
so many qualities and characteristics.
Oh, Allah. Please guide us so that we
truly appreciate you. Oh,
Allah. So that we truly love you.
Oh, Allah, we can never thank you enough
for all of your favors and blessings.
Oh, Allah, there were so many other people,
so many other creation of yours that you
could have chosen to bless instead, oh, Allah,
but you chose us as well.
Oh, Allah, we thank you in every way.
Oh, Allah, please count us from amongst the
shakireen, amongst the grateful.
Oh, Allah, we have round ourselves. Oh, Allah,
please forgive us. Oh, Allah, otherwise, we'll be
from the losers. Oh, Allah, please forgive us.
Oh, Allah, please forgive us.
Oh, love. We are your weak sitting servants.
Oh, love. Indeed. We have sinned. Oh, love.
Indeed. We have gone against your teachings. Oh,
love. We have gone against your guidance. Oh,
love. We have done that which we were
not supposed to do. Oh, love. Oh, love.
We have gone against the guidance in the
way of your beloved messenger.
Oh, Allah, please forgive us and guide us.
Oh, Allah, make us the way you want
us to be.
Oh, Allah, please grant us strength and bring
us closer to you.
Oh, Allah, we live in today's times. Oh,
Allah, we are surrounded by fitna. Oh, Allah,
surrounded by trials and tribulations.
Oh, Allah, we are surrounded by temptations.
Oh, Allah, Shaytan is praying upon us. Oh,
Allah, our naps is praying upon us. Oh,
Allah, the haters are trying to target us.
Oh, Allah, please protect us.
Oh, Allah, please protect our future generations.
Oh, Allah, every single one of our progeny
till the day of judgment. Oh, Allah, make
them and us, those who die upon.
Allah. Oh, Allah, please resurrect and soften our
dead in our hard hearts, You Rabbi Alameen.
Oh, Allah, please fill them with feelings that
you love and that are pleasing to you,
You Rabbi Alameen.
Oh, Allah, please guide us to that which
is most pleasing to you. Oh, Allah, grant
us the best return to you, whatever it
has been decreed for us. Oh, Allah, please
open the gates of halal sustenance for us.
Oh, Allah, for all of your faithful servants
in your creation.
Oh, Allah, please cure all of our brothers
and sisters who are ill. Allah, especially our
elder sister who is in pain and weakness,
our brother and sister who are suffering from
long term pain and injuries, oh, Allah, our
elders who are fighting cancer and other illnesses,
oh, Allah, all of those who are ill
or at risk of becoming ill, oh, la,
all of those people suffering from COVID 19
at this time and all different types of
illnesses, oh, la, you are the protector and
you are the healer. Oh, love. Please protect
them speedy recovery. Oh, love. Protect them from
all illnesses and pain and suffering.
Oh, love. Please protect us and all of
our fellow human beings, especially the health professionals
who are put in their line on line
on the line to to serve others. Oh,
Allah, the first responders and others who are
on the front lines. Oh, Allah, please protect
us. Protect them and all of us.
Oh, Allah. Please grant relief to all of
those who are in pain and grief and
stress and anxiety. Oh,
Allah. Please replace all of these feelings with
happiness and peace and joy.
Oh, Allah. Please shower your mercy and your
forgiveness upon our sisters, who we will return
to you after a battle with cancer. Oh,
Allah. And all of those who are returned
to you, oh, Allah. Accept all their good
deeds and charity. Oh, Allah. Grant them the
best place in Jannahud for those, oh, love.
His grant and patience to the patience to
their loved ones.
My brothers and sisters,
accept from all of you. May Allah
bless you all and reward you with the
best reward in this world and the and
the hereafter. May Allah
protect you and your future generations always.
And my brothers and sisters, please go ahead
and offer, 4 rakaz of Dhor salah.
And also, just note that, foodie Fridays continue.
I wanna give special thanks to all the
sisters who are involved, who worked so hard,
and all of those who have supported us.
And also,
the most magnificent with Masjid contest,
received a number of entries.
Beautiful are works of art. Please do check
it out at canadamustlims.ca/mm.
Three times. Canadamusims.ca/mm.
The deadline to vote,
for the, for the entries,
is tonight at 11:59
PM. So please go ahead and do that.
It's also a fundraiser for our Masjid project.
So
to everyone who has participated and has been
involved in running that contest. And, remember me
and all of us in your dua. May
Allah keep you all safe, and we'll connect
with you again.
Special,
salaam to my young friends who I'm not
able to see and I'm missing all of
you, our elders who we haven't seen in
a long time, all of the sisters and
brothers who have not been able to come.
We we we miss you all, and, we
love you. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's,
protection and love be with you.