Suhaib Webb – Nearness To Allah
AI: Summary ©
The importance of being near Allah's name is discussed, including the use of various phrases to describe experiences and the importance of learning and being proud of one's accomplishments. The importance of being aware of Allah's power and dealing with him is emphasized, along with the importance of being aware of his presence and dealing with his demands. The transcript also describes various chapters on Islam and its importance, including learning and being proud of one's accomplishments.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu alaykum to everybody, masha'Allah it's
been quite a long time since I've been
May Allah ﷻ bless all of you and
bless us all and increase us in khair,
alhamdulillah.
So insha'Allah every Sunday evening around 10
p.m. I'll be coming on lives to
read from a very nice treatise written by
a scholar who died in the 10th century
after hijri, Sheikh Al-Hussam al-Din al
-Muttaqi al-Hindi, known as al-Muttaqi.
A person who was like very dutiful to
Allah, very mindful of Allah according to his
contemporaries.
And the essay that I'm going to share
with you and read with you and explain
to you is one that I translated, alhamdulillah,
on nearness to Allah, how to be in
close proximity to the mercy and guidance and
blessing of Allah ﷻ.
And so I want to start by asking
a question, and that is, what are we
near to?
Like ask yourself, what are you near to?
And then think about why you're near to
those things.
So for example, first thing that comes to
my mind are my children, especially my 4
-year-old and my 5-year-old and
my 2-year-old.
Just now, like a few minutes ago, I
heard a noise upstairs, and immediately I ran
upstairs.
And there was my 5-year-old on
the stairs, you know, Baba, I'm scared.
So I had to lay down with her
and comfort her and placate her.
So that's something I'm near to.
That's something that's in my thoughts.
That's something that is in my heart.
That's something that moves me.
So I want you to think about that
in your own life right now, is to
ask yourself this question, like what are you
near to?
And how do you know you're near something
is you're willing to sacrifice for it.
Abu Ala al-Mawdudi, he said something very
beautiful.
That we will not be near to Allah
until we care about Islam like we care
about our sick children at night.
SubhanAllah, and this just happened to me, right?
So I remember that statement of al-Mawdudi,
rahimahullah, the mujaddid.
That we will not be near to Allah
until we have concern, ihtiman bidinihi, like we
have for sick children at night.
So what I want you to do is
before we start reading from this text, because
it's such a beautiful text and it will
answer so many questions that people ask.
Like how do I know if I'm near
Allah?
How do I know where my relationship with
Allah is?
How do I draw near to Allah?
How do I maintain that nearness to Allah?
It's all in this really beautiful text, alhamdulillah.
But let's ask ourselves this question, let's interrogate
ourselves momentarily, because the way of the seeker
is to clean house first, instead of to
buy furniture.
If you and I, we go buy a
bunch of furniture and our house is a
mess, we're only going to soil that furniture.
So that's why tuhliyah before tuhliyah, that cleaning
comes before starting new things, so to speak,
religiously.
So let's start by interrogating ourselves.
What is it that we're near to is
usually indicated by what we will sacrifice for,
what we're willing to sacrifice for.
And so then we can ask ourselves, what
are we sacrificing for this deen?
What efforts are we making to draw near
to Allah?
Subhanahu wa ta'ala, what type of effort
am I putting in to see that result?
So that's the text that we're going to
be going through for the next few weeks,
alhamdulillah, here on These Different Lives.
And the recording will be posted on the
Swiss YouTube page.
And this text is called Tabi'in Turuqi
ila Allah ta'ala, clarifying the ways to
Allah.
Clarifying the ways to Allah.
And he begins, Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
Of course he begins Bismillah ar-Rahman ar
-Rahim because the Qur'an, it begins with
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
So any serious thing that we want to
do, we should say Bismillah with the names
of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
When you say Bismillah, you're not saying with
the name of Allah.
If you speak Arabic, this is called Adhafatul
Mufrad bi Tufidul Jama' That a singular possessive
actually means a plural.
This is so amazing.
So when you say Bismillah ar-Rahman ar
-Rahim, actually you're saying bi Asma'illah.
All the names of Allah.
SubhanAllah, just that one phrase in that moment
of difficulty, that moment of success.
When you say Bismillah, it's like you're calling
on Allah by all of His names and
His attributes that you know and that you
don't know.
That He revealed and that He didn't reveal.
Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And then there should be a colon there,
Bismillah colon ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
The most important names to know after Allah's
name is ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, especially for
the seeker.
Because on this path, we're going to make
mistakes.
On this path, we may feel overcome.
So how do we climb the mountains of
our own lack of self-worth and self
-esteem?
With Allah's rahmah.
And maybe we work really, really hard, we
feel like it's not good enough.
It's not good enough and shaitan comes to
us.
It's not good enough, it's not good enough.
And we remember Allah is ar-Rahman ar
-Rahim.
Kataba ala nafsihur rahmah.
The Quran says that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala commanded for Himself, He prescribed for Himself
rahmah.
Sabakat rahmati ghadabi.
My mercy comes before my anger.
The hadith of Sayyidina Abu Huraira radiAllahu anhu.
So the Shaykh, he begins his book, Bismillah
ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
Subhanaka.
We say SubhanAllah all the time.
But the word Subhan is actually from Sibaha,
to swim.
Masbaha is a swimming pool.
Because we say SubhanAllah when we find ourselves
drowning in this dunya.
When we find ourselves overcome either by incredible
success or incredible difficulties.
Like now we see what's happening in the
Muslim world, we pray for the people of
Syria, we pray for the people of Lebanon
and Gaza and Sudan.
And all over the world, in Pakistan and
Bangladesh.
We see all these things happening.
SubhanAllah.
So we may find ourselves drowning.
So how do we, if you will, surface
to the top of the dunya and not
allow the waves of this dunya to drown
us?
We say SubhanAllah.
Sibaha, to swim.
Kullun fee falaqeen yasbahoon.
Allah says that all of the celestial bodies
are floating like in space.
So we say SubhanAllah.
So he begins with the verse from Surah
al-Baqarah.
Subhanaka.
The angels said Subhanaka.
La ilma lana.
Because the creation of Adam is something mind
-boggling.
And the creation of Adam is something, of
course the angels don't have aqal.
But they were awed by the power of
Allah in their own way.
Subhanaka.
La ilma lana.
There is absolutely no knowledge that we have.
Illa ma'allamtana.
Except what you taught us.
If that's the case of the angels, that
the only knowledge they have is what Allah
gave them, what about you and me?
Allah says, akhrajakum mim bultuni ummahatikum la ta
'lamuna shay'ah.
You were born, you knew nothing.
So all knowledge comes from Allah.
And the most important knowledge we can learn
is how to be near Allah.
In this age where we're near to so
many things that are taking us away from
Allah, that's why this text is very important.
It allows us to re-center ourselves on
a life dedicated to Allah.
La ilaha illallah wa ma khalaqutul jinnah wa
insa illa liya'budoon.
I did not create you except to worship
me.
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali says, i'lam anna
thamaratul ilm ibadah.
That the fruit of all knowledge is worship.
So he says, with the name of Allah,
the most gracious, the most merciful, glory be
to you.
We have no knowledge except what you have
taught us.
Then he begins, he says, alhamdulillah.
Why does he say alhamdulillah?
Because that's the way of the Qur'an,
bismillahirrahmanirrahim, alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen.
And the Prophet ﷺ, he said, alhamdulillahi tamla
'ul mizan.
To say subhanAllah will fill the scales for
you.
Like maybe someone listening tonight, I'm not that
good of a Muslim, in your own mind
you're saying this to yourself, I'm struggling, I
have challenges, all these things are happening, just
say alhamdulillah.
As much as you can, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, tamla
'ul mizan.
It will fill the scales for you in
the hereafter.
That's why the Qur'an, subhanAllah, in six
chapters, alhamdulillah, surah Fatiha, surah Kahf, surah An
'am, surah Fatir, surah Saba.
You can stay with me, you scared?
Yeah, you can stay.
Surah Saba.
All those chapters of the Qur'an begin,
subhanAllah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen.
Alhamdulillahi khalaqa al-samawati wal-ard, wa ja
'ala al-durabati wal-nur.
Alhamdulillahi alladhi anzala ala abalihi al-kitaba, wa
lam yaja'al lahu wa iwaja.
Alhamdulillahi fatir al-samawati wal-ard.
So over and over in the Qur'an
we see so many different chapters saying, alhamdulillah,
alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, in different contexts, to remind us
that in every situation, in every situation we
should say, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah.
So the Shaykh he says, alhamdulillahi al-hadi.
One of the names of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is al-hadi.
Al-hadi is the one who guides.
Why would he say that name?
It's called barat asti'lal, to tell you
that the purpose of the book is guidance.
And the only one who can guide us
and keep us on guidance is Allah.
That's why subhanAllah we say what?
Alhamdulillahi alladhi hadana lihaza, wa ma kunna linahtadee,
lawlaa an hadana Allah.
Amin.
Allahumma wafiqna wa ayyakum.
So we say, alhamdulillahi alladhi hadana lihaza, wa
ma kunna linahtadee, lawlaa an hadana Allah.
So, all praise be to Allah who guided
us.
And so, hidayah is from Allah.
The word hidayah is from hadiyah.
Hadiyah is a gift.
Hadiyah is a gift.
Because anyone who's been given Islam has been
given the greatest gift.
Ya Allah.
If you feel bad, if you feel down
in your life, just say la ilaha illallah
muhammadur Rasulullah.
When you say la ilaha illallah muhammadur Rasulullah,
you have the best gift.
That's it.
And that gift can only come from Allah.
Qul innal huda huda Allah.
Say, guidance is from Allah.
Yahdi Allahu binoorihi man yashaa' Walam yaj'alillahu
noor, famalahu innoor.
Allah says in Surah Noor, he guides by
his light who he wants.
By the Quran and Sunnah.
And who doesn't have light from Allah doesn't
have light.
Allahumma zidna noor.
So he says, alhamdulillahi al hadi ila siratil
mustaqeem.
Praise be to Allah, the guide to the
straight path.
Wa salatu wa salamu al atammal al akmalani
ala Sayyidina Muhammadin.
Rasulihi al da'i ila al minhaj al
sadeed, ila al minhaj al sadeed wa al
maqsid al adheem.
Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
One second.
Hold on, I think the microphone is here.
If you want to turn off that light
so you can sleep with me.
Turn off that light and come back.
You can sleep.
Come, come.
So my wife is out of town.
So I'm multitasking alhamdulillah with my habibati.
So tonight we have to make it quick
inshallah.
So he says, alhamdulillahi al hadi ila siratil
mustaqeem.
Wa salatu wa salamu al atammal al akmalani
ala Sayyidina Muhammadin.
Rasulihi al da'i ila al minhaj al
sadeed, ila al minhaj al sadeed, ila al
minhaj al sadeed, wa al maqsid al adheem,
wa ala arihi wa ashabihi al sarikeen, masarika
al deen al qaweem.
So he says, all praise is due to
Allah, the guide to the straight path, the
most complete and perfect blessings and peace upon
our master Muhammad, Sayyid Walid bin Adam, sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam.
His messenger who invited us, al da'i
ila al minhaj al sadeed, to the straight
method, wa al maqsid al adheem, minhaj al
sadeed means Islam, wa al maqsid al adheem
means ibadah, ibadah, wa ala arihi wa ashabihi
al sarikeen, masarika al deen al qaweem, and
upon his family and companions and those who
trotted the path of the upright faith.
We're going to have to make tonight short
because this little girl has school tomorrow.
Amma ba'alu fayaqulu ahqaru ibaari allahi, to
precede the humblest of servants, ari ibn husam
al deen al shaheeru bimuttaqee, known as, his
name was ari ibn husam al deen, the
writer of this book, known as al muttaqee,
says, i'lam ayuha sariq al taarib, i
'lam ayuha sariq al taaribu li qurbi mawlaka
jalla dhikruhu, it's beautiful in Arabic, know, O
seeker, who desires closeness to your Lord.
That's all of us.
Subhanallah, every one of us, we want to
be close to Allah.
i'lam ayuha sariq al taaribu li qurbi
mawlaka jalla dhikruhu, arsharakallahu ta'ala wa iyana
ila mardati, may Allah guide you and us
to His pleasure.
inn man qasra maqsan azeeman wa taraba sha
'nan jaseeman, fala budda lahum min ma'rifati
sababin, wa tureeqin yuwassiluhu ila dharika al maqsin.
Here he says something really nice, guys, and
I have to keep it short tonight, forgive
me.
He said, no, this is the first point
in the book that we need to think
about, that whoever seeks a great destination and
pursues a significant matter must necessarily know the
provisions needed for the journey.
Like if you want to go somewhere, I
want to go somewhere, if we're going to
do it correctly, we need to know where
we're going, but also we need to know
what is needed for the trip.
Allah says, fa inna khayra zzali taqwa.
Fa tazawwadu fa inna khayra zzali taqwa.
Allah says, prepare yourself for the journey.
What journey?
To Allah.
Wa anna ila rabbika al muntaha.
The ending is with Allah.
Fa inna khayra zzali taqwa.
Because the best provision, the best provisions you
can take on the journey is taqwa.
So here the Shaykh is reminding us of
the importance of learning and why we learn.
Why do we learn Islam?
What's the purpose of learning Islam?
So he says that anyone who seeks a
great destination, inna man qasara maqsadan azeeman wa
taaraba sha'nan jaseeman farabuddara hu min ma
'rifati sabamin wa tariqin yawassiluhu ila dharika al
maqsad.
Ya salam.
That whoever seeks a great destination and pursues
a significant matter must necessarily know the provisions
needed for the trip and the path that
will lead him or her to that destination.
Like what is the path to that destination?
That's why we say, ihdina al sirata al
mustaqeem.
Guide us to the straight path.
Islam.
Because Islam is the bridge to Allah.
Islam is the only way to Allah.
wa man yabataghi ghayra al islami deenan fa
lay yuqabbala minhu wa huwa fil aakhirati minal
khasireen.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la said
that whoever seeks a deen other than Islam
will not be accepted from them and they
will be losers in the hereafter.
So the provisions are knowledge.
The journey is to Allah.
The means to draw near to Allah is
Islam.
Therefore the one who treads the path to
Allah who wants to be near Allah the
Exalted must know the meaning of nearness.
What does qurba mean?
Am I near Allah?
I want to be near Allah.
Are you defining it subjectively or are you
defining it Islamically?
And the path at least to Allah's proximity.
Thus he said fa hadhihi risalatun mursumatun bi
tabyeeni turuqi ila Allahi Ta'ala So therefore
he says I wrote this short text on
clarifying the paths that lead to Allah's proximity.
May Allah make us close to Him.
How important is it to be close to
Allah?
Look at SubhanAllah the story of the wife
of Musa the wife of Fir'aun who
was so oppressed and abused and was tortured
and that's that's why in the surah Tahreem
rabbi bani li'indaka baytan fil jannah wa
najjini min fir'auna wa amari wa najjini
min al qawmi al dharmi Do you want
to go upstairs?
I'm coming.
We want to stay here.
Look at the wife of Fir'aun as
she's being tortured and dying.
What is her first dua?
rabbi bani li'indaka baytan fil jannah If
you speak Arabic she doesn't say rabbi bani
li'indaka baytan fil jannah Oh my lord
give me a home near you.
That's not what she said.
rabbi bani li'indaka my lord build for
me near you a home in jannah because
for her even in jannah to be near
Allah is the greatest blessing more than houses
and all of the beautiful things that will
be in jannah the first thing on her
mind rabbi bani li'indaka I want to
be with you.
SubhanAllah even in jannah so we say some
of our teachers used to say about this
dua of Asiya al qurba afdaru min al
ni'ma wa qurba tuqaddam ala al ni'ma that
being near Allah is in front of any
blessings so that's why for example maybe we're
making dua for stuff get into this grad
school marry this person get this thing in
dunya and maybe we don't get it those
are ni'ma but even if we don't get
those things but we are obeying Allah we
have qurba subhanAllah so we are with Allah
even though we didn't get the ni'ma so
we should think like even if I didn't
get these things into this grad school this
job, this child, this marriage whatever something I
didn't get something I was trying to achieve
but I'm still devoted to Allah binda Allah
subhanAllah la tuqaddimu bayni yadayhi Allahi wa rasoolihi
wa taqoola so in that case even if
my dua is not answered if I'm worshipping
Allah and obeying Allah I have qurba and
that's a greater blessing and if I get
all of the things I'm asking for but
I'm not worshipping Allah then I should be
worried so here we see the sheikh he
says the first thing farabud min ma'rifati
al qurba someone has to know what that
means and then how to arrive to that
proximity so he said fahadihi risalatun mursummatun bitabini
turqi ilallahi ta'ala mushtambilatun ala hatayni alma
'rifatayni wa adna fa'idatiha liman ahata bimabmuniha
an ya'rifa altureeqa al mustaqeema min alma
'ooja wa maghwiya ila an yufiqahu Allah ta
'ala li sulukiha ya salam and he says
rahimuhullah that is why I wrote this short
essay called clarifying the path to Allah that
encompassed these two pieces of knowledge what does
it mean to be near Allah and how
to be near Allah and he says the
least benefit of this text is for those
who study it like we're doing now every
Sunday at 10pm is that they may distinguish
the straight path from the crooked and misleading
ones so may Allah subhana wa ta'ala
guide them to follow it inshallah we have
to stop now because my baby girl woke
up and I need to put her to
sleep so forgive me for not being able
to go one hour but alhamdulillah as you
can see there is a lot of khair
in this text and just every week you
can spend one hour on Sunday night at
10pm and you imagine you can say ya
Allah I spent one hour trying to be
near you and don't underestimate one hour the
Prophet ﷺ said that Allah subhana wa ta
'ala said everyone knows the hadith if you
walk to me I run to you if
you come one hands distant to me then
I will come an arms distance to you
subhanallah so don't underestimate and that is
how alhamdulillah we learn so this is one
of the texts that we learned from our
teachers years ago in the madrasa alhamdulillah that
was taught to us step by step alhamdulillah
and it's one of the more important texts
that introduces these important ideas that sometimes are
confused between different extremes right?
Islam is a deen wasatiya a deen of
moderation warabbaniya alhamdulillah number one nearness to Allah
number two how do we draw nearer to
Allah number three how do we preserve that
so that we don't fall into being too
hard on ourselves or too easy inshallah forgive
me today I don't have time to take
questions because I have to put this girl
to sleep who is scared see you next
week inshallah salam alaikum