Sulayman Van Ael – Divine Names 1b Why do we need to know Allah
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AI: Transcript ©
So as I said at the very beginning,
knowing Allah, believe me, is the only thing
which can keep you happy.
All the other things make you happy for
a certain amount of time.
Like you're supporting Arsenal or Liverpool or Birmingham
or whatever, Manchester, you are supporting them, Real
Madrid, I don't know if I've made somebody
angry now.
So you are supporting your team, you're happy,
they win today, they win tomorrow, yes they're
going to the final, oh no they're not.
So now you're what?
You're sad again.
So you see that people in general, they
connect their happiness to creation.
But as creation is not stable, they change.
Like if you put all of your happiness
in creation, then creation can take away your
happiness one day.
But if you give it to Allah, you
know what to expect from Allah.
So that was what I was trying to
say.
So let us continue with the benefits of
knowing Allah.
Knowing Allah is the most beautiful thing.
Knowing Allah they say is the most beautiful
thing.
And when our scholars said that don't talk
too much with those who know Allah about
other things apart from Allah.
Because they have found something far more beautiful.
So don't talk too much.
Like even when you talk about paradise with
them, say okay, good, paradise is good, I'm
not saying it's bad, of course not.
But I know something more beautiful than paradise.
It is the Lord of paradise.
And this is why when Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala refers to paradise, and then refers
to Allah, he says, لِلَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُوا الْحُسْنَ وَزِيَادًا
And for those who do good, there is
husna and there is more.
Now Imam Tabari rahimahullah azawajal mentioned in his
tafsir that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said
about this verse, husna is paradise and more
is Allah.
So what is the problem now, and you
will find me emphasizing on this very often,
is that when we think about paradise very
often, we think of paradise as being the
place where we will come at rest, where
we don't get sick, where we don't have
to work, where we don't have to do
these things, we just enjoy, we chill, everything
is good.
This is the way that people of a
weaker faith think about paradise.
Because they say the reason why I am
worshipping Allah is actually for my own sake.
I'm worshipping Allah because I want to get
into Jannah.
I'm worshipping Allah because I want to drink
from rivers made out of honey and milk.
I want to worship Allah because then I
get castles of diamond and gold and silver.
So their vision is still very earthly.
And then you have these other people saying,
wait, I want Jannah because Jannah is a
door, it's a means, it's not a goal,
because Jannah will allow me to be closer
to Allah.
So even their yearning for Jannah is not
because of themselves, their yearning for Jannah is
because of Allah.
They say I want paradise because in paradise
I can look at Allah.
In this life I was looking with my
heart and in the next life I will
be looking at Allah.
So this is why the people of Ikhlas
by Imam Ibn Ajiba were divided into three
categories.
Ikhlas is divided into three categories.
The first category are the people who worship
Allah because they want barakah in this life
and they want to enjoy paradise in the
year after.
That's not wrong.
When you worship Allah, Allah will give you
barakah.
With the proof of the hadith in Sunan
Ibn Majah where the Messenger ﷺ said that
Allah Jalla wa Ala said, يَا عِبَادِي تَفَرَّهُ
لِعِبَادَتِي أَمْلَأُ قَلْبَكَ غِنًا وَأَسُدْ فَقْرَكَ All my
servants, free yourselves to worship me because then
I will fill your heart with richness and
I will take your poverty for my account.
Is that last one clear?
Why did I mention this hadith?
What is the reason for me mentioning this
hadith?
SubhanAllah, high wikim is a strange place brother.
Every time, I said this last time as
well, when you speak to them, all of
a sudden it's like their soul needs to
come back to their bodies, like they are
these Awliya going around the Kaaba and then,
oh, Sulaiman is saying something, let us come
back.
Is this really happening?
So now, why was I mentioning this hadith?
In what context was I mentioning the hadith?
Yes, yes, okay.
And then I said, that's the beginning, I
was talking about ikhlas, then I said some
people, the lowest level of ikhlas is they
worship Allah because they want Jannah, but also
because they want barakah in this life, okay,
which is not wrong.
And then I gave the hadith where the
Messenger ﷺ said that Allah said that if
you free yourself to worship Him, that He
will enrich you, okay, okay, that's one.
The second level of ikhlas is that you
worship Allah, you don't want anything in exchange
for it in this life, but you just
want to enjoy in Jannah.
And that's the majority of Muslims.
The majority of Muslims, which is not wrong,
it doesn't turn you into a bad Muslim.
You say, you know, I just want paradise,
alhamdulillah, get rid of school, get rid of
work, get rid of all these things, just
sit down, look at the angels going around
the Arsh, drinking some nice juice, which the
Prophet ﷺ said, when the juice is served,
you know, on a tray, then there are
different glasses, and every glass has another color,
and every liquid in the glass has another
color, which you've never seen before.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He's creating every
time something new.
So you will never see a color that
you saw before.
We only know these primary colors, and then
we mix them, then you've got secondary colors,
there we are, yes, you see, everything is
based on these colors.
So and then in paradise, it's unlimited, tastes
are unlimited, perfumes are unlimited, Allah says about
the Jannah, Allah makes them enter Jannah, and
one of the meanings of Arrafaha, like Ibn
Al-Qayyim mentioned, is he perfumed paradise for
them, Arrafaha lahum, they enter a paradise which
Allah has perfumed for them, like we have
this Bukhur here, paradise has been perfumed.
So every time the Prophet says, when you
drink one juice, it will be better than
the best juice you had, and then when
you drink the next one, you say, hey,
this is even better, so in Jannah, everything
always gets better.
So now to come back, so some people,
they say, this is why I want Jannah,
I just want to have these beautiful things,
I enter in a castle, the Prophet said,
when you look up, you don't see the
ceiling, when you look in front of you,
you don't see the other wall, and that's
curved out of a diamond, so this is
what people want, that's the second level.
The third level is the level of people
who say, wait, when I go to Jannah,
I don't see the other wall, and that's
curved out of a diamond, so this is
what people want, that's the second level.
The third level is the level of people
who say, wait, when I want Jannah, I
worship Allah because of Allah, so when I
want Jannah, I want Jannah because in Jannah,
I can look at Allah.
So for them, even Jannah is just another
part of creation, because Jannah is creation, and
their heart in this life got connected so
strongly to the Creator, that they say, even
when I hear about Jannah, then I just
see it as a door that I pass
to get closer to Allah Jalla wa Ala.
Is it clear?
So the first two categories turned worship into
a goal, and paradise into a means, and
the last category turned Allah into the goal,
and worship into a means.
Is the difference clear?
Yes.
No, not at all.
Not at all.
Allah Himself said that He is greater than
Jannah.
So we're not saying don't ask Jannah, but
the reason why you ask Jannah is different,
and I also said that the two categories
are not bad Muslims, did I?
I said the two first categories are not
bad, they are not wrong, they shouldn't feel
bad, but there is higher, and this is
what we are talking about.
But let us carry on, the questions are
for afterwards.
Is that good inshallah?
Okay, thank you so much.
Okay, so the last thing we said is
what Ibn al-Jawzi said, which I often
like to quote, and I've said it many
times here already, if a voice were to
call out of the skies, and were to
say, which is impossible, all worshippers worship Allah
as much as you like, there is no
paradise.
And all sinners, sin as much as you
like, there is no *.
So imagine that everything you are doing now,
getting up in the morning to pray Fajr,
fasting one month of Ramadan during the summer,
there is no reward for it.
Would you still be doing it?
That's a question you need to ask yourself.
And if for the sins, there wouldn't be
any retribution, there wouldn't be any punishment, if
you were to sin, would you maybe commit
some sins?
So what is really stopping you?
Is it the punishment?
Is it the reward?
Or is it Allah?
You see?
So this is a question.
And that's why Ibn al-Jawzi said, when
a voice would say from the sky, all
worshippers worship Allah as much as you like,
all sinners, sin as much as you like,
there is no reward, there is no punishment.
He said that someone who loves Allah would
say, Ya Rabbi, I do not worship you
in exchange for what you give, I worship
you for who you are.
And this is very often our conditions with
Allah.
Say, what's in it for me?
If you tell someone, try to wake up
and pray Salat ad-Duha, or what's the
reward for it?
Like if I were to ask you, would
you like to come to my house today,
how much are you paying me?
Subhanallah.
Subhanallah.
Or brother, would you like to come to
my wedding?
What's in it for me?
This is the way very often that we
go about with Allah.
These rewards which Allah is giving, are just
showing us how generous He is.
But that's not the reason why we do
it.
And very often it is exactly the reason
why we do it.
Okay, now I'm going to pray these, for
example, Salat al-Shuruh, because then I get
the reward of Hajj al-Umrah.
No, do it for Allah, and the reward
will come anyway.
Do you understand what I'm trying to say?
So all these rewards for good actions shouldn't
be your biggest drive.
It should be Allah.
It's not wrong if you do it, but
it's not the highest level.
Clear?
So that's why I said there is nothing
better or greater than the knowledge of Allah
Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Then another thing, the scholar said, and I'm
taking this out of my book, but it's
in Dutch, so you can't read it.
It's Know Allah.
So these are the reasons why you have
to know Allah.
It's in Dutch.
So if you like, you can read it.
For the moment, it's being translated into English,
but I think it will take years.
I wrote it maybe in two weeks, but
I'm trying to translate it and it's taking
for about a year now.
So anyway, so our scholars said about knowing
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, they said, if
you want to know Allah, you need to
know yourself.
And sometimes this sounds very disturbing, because people
who don't know, they say, what do you
mean?
That a human being is Allah?
Of course not.
What do the scholars mean when they say,
if you know yourself, you know Allah?
They mean, if you know your mistakes, then
you will be able to get rid of
them.
And when you get rid of your mistakes,
then you will get to know Allah.
The only way to knowing Allah is by
getting rid of yourself.
And between us and Allah, the only obstacle
between us and Allah is us.
There's no other obstacle between us and Allah
than our own selves.
It's not the time where we live in.
It is not the family we are born
in.
It is not the distractions.
It is not social media.
It's not 2019.
It is but the what the self which
is in the way between us and Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So this is when one of the scholars
was asked, how should I do dhikr of
Allah?
How can I do dhikr of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala?
He said, I cannot teach you how to
do real dhikr of Allah until I first
teach you how to get rid of yourself.
And what is rid of the self?
It is the thing that is always saying
me in yourself.
What about me?
Why didn't think about me?
Why didn't they call me?
Why didn't they like me?
Who do they think they are?
That is the self.
This is the self.
The one that wants to be liked by
other people.
Look at my biceps.
They are one centimeter bigger than last year.
MashaAllah brother, one centimeter, you change the world.
Today, we are applauding for the wrong people.
You know, we are applauding for people who
do the most stupid things and they become
the heroes of the world.
But if you were to ask them get
rid of jealousy, they're not able to do
so.
If you were to ask them get rid
of greed, they're not able to do so.
So this is the things that we need
to get rid of to get connected to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And I always give the example of these
people that made something out of their lives.
From a pure dunya point of view.
Do you know that Usain Bolt, you know
him, right?
The record holder of 100 meter and 200
meter.
I know 400 meter as well.
So many different things.
When I look at him, I say subhanAllah,
if I were to be as invested in
getting rid of one atom weight of evil
within me, as he was striving to get
rid of a microsecond in his time in
running 100 meter, I would have been a
true mu'min.
He's training for a year.
Can you imagine?
Waking up, sleeping, his diet, sleeping, waking up,
all built around one thing.
Running faster next year.
I'm not talking an hour faster, a micro,
micro, microsecond faster.
And when he does this, like last year
it was 9.532 and then it's 9
.531, the world goes mad.
9.531 becomes 9.530. No, they don't
say Allah Akbar.
They say, wow, did you see this?
Incredible.
Everybody's partying, going out of their minds.
The flags of his country are there.
What for a microsecond?
He's training for this a year long.
Why aren't we training our souls in the
same way to get rid of atom weights
of bad traits?
You can say, Suleyman, you're exaggerating.
Atom weights?
Yes.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, someone
with an atom weight of kibr, of pride
doesn't enter into paradise.
Atom weights.
So we have these examples.
Imam Ghazali says in Al-Ihya, like in
the people of dunya, we find examples that
we can learn from if we were to
apply it in our life, our deen life.
They're training one year to make a microsecond
of difference.
So if we now next year look at
ourselves, we don't want to be the same
people.
Not because we are bad, but because we
want to become better.
And every day we should be better people.
That is what we were created for.
Because becoming better and getting rid of your
sins is the only way to connect to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Is the only way.
Because and this is what is stopping us.
When you climb and you find, oh, all
of a sudden you feel the sweetness of
faith.
You feel that you are becoming stronger.
You're enjoying your prayer.
You say, mashallah, that's so long ago that
I felt like this.
Ya Rabbi, it's so light in my heart.
The sweetness.
And then all of a sudden, next day,
back down.
What happened?
You were going fast.
You were climbing.
You were unstoppable.
And all of a sudden, down again.
Scholars say this is a sin.
The sin comes back even after 10 years.
The effect of a sin on your Iman.
The effect of a sin on your connection
with Allah will always be tangible.
Always.
And the weakest form is that you can't
improve yourself.
Some people say, alhamdulillah, I'm doing alright.
Not doing anything haram.
Praying on time now for 5 years.
You know, everything is stable.
That's the problem.
That everything is stable.
If you cry 2 tears today, you wanna
cry 5 tomorrow.
If you give 5 pounds away today without
feeling it, we want you to give 20
pounds away tomorrow without feeling it.
The problem is sometimes not in you being
punished and that you see it.
Sometimes the true punishment is thinking that nothing
is wrong.
That everything is alright because I'm not doing
haram.
While you could have been flying, figuratively speaking,
with your soul around the ash.
So why go for less if you can
have more?
Why go for less?
In dunya, everybody goes for more.
And that more of dunya will disappear.
And that more of jannah and akhira will
only increase.
And this is why the Prophet s.a
.w. said, like in the jami' of Imam
Suyuti r.a. It's also in the silsilatul
sahihah.
The Prophet s.a.w. said, Subhanallah, someone
who chooses for his hereafter will harm his
dunya.
And someone who chooses for his dunya will
harm his hereafter.
And know, he said, that the sweetness of
this life is the bitterness of the hereafter.
And that the bitterness of this life is
the sweetness of the hereafter.
But it's difficult in a time where people
seem to be bombarding us with love for
the dunya.
Wherever you look, you're reminded.
Wherever you look, you're reminded of, you know,
so many people come to me.
They say, we have a problem at home.
I say, what is the problem?
Well, we have watched so many real life
shows, reality TV shows, that we are no
longer able to distinguish between what is real
and what isn't.
You look at these reality shows, you think
that people are happy.
Everybody's rich.
Everybody's doing alright.
This is the perfect marriage.
That's the perfect couple.
So, you know, they're all shiny, happy people.
They never have problems.
And now I'm comparing my life to their
lives, and my life is nothing.
Why are they rich?
Why am I poor?
Why do they have five cars and I
only have a bike?
Why do they have a swimming pool?
I don't even have a bath.
Subhanallah.
And then you start comparing yourself.
And the Prophet ﷺ said, don't look at
those who have more than you, but look
at those who have less than you.
Because otherwise you won't be thankful, you won't
be grateful.
You won't recognize what you truly have.
Do you know that very often?
Subhanallah, what I found intriguing is that we
Muslims, Allah at this moment is really taking
care of us.
You know, look at our situation here in
the West, in Europe.
Yes, there are some challenges, but to be
quite frank, look at the challenge we are
in now.
Hi, here we are talking about Allah, names
of Allah, here in the middle of what?
Yes, that.
And so here we are, we go back
home, we know that we have a fridge,
we know we have food, we are not
afraid that when we go back home that
our parents are being bombarded, or that our
children are being killed or whatever.
Everything is good, we have some challenges.
But we are afraid of tomorrow.
While Allah has preserved us already for 10,
20, 30, 40 years, we keep on, oh
what about tomorrow, what about tomorrow, what about
my rizq, what about that?
Allah has shown us for all our lives
that He is there for us, but we
doubt about tomorrow.
And you know what the strange thing is?
That is at the moment that we are
talking, maybe there is a woman, a widow
now in Syria, fleeing away with three children,
one who is in need of his mother's
milk, but she can't give milk because she
hasn't got anything to eat.
And she is carrying the baby, another child,
3 years old, 5 years old, they are
holding on to their mother, they are being
bombarded, and the mother is saying, don't you
worry my child, tomorrow will be better.
What is wrong with us that when we
are in a good situation, we are afraid
to hope for tomorrow, and that the people
who have a bad situation, and they have
physically, that mentally and spiritually they are stronger
than we are.
What's happening?
She is saying, don't worry my children, tomorrow
will be better.
And we are trying, when our children look
at us, they hear us worrying about, oh
next week I have 50 pounds less, oh
poor you.
Why do we worry about tomorrow so much?
Sometimes we can learn from people who have
less than we have.
Because very often they are the example.
Allah SWT says in the Quran, فَلْيَعْبُدُوا رَبَّهَا
هَذَا الْبَيْتِ Let them worship the lord of
that house, يعني الكعبة Why?
الَّذِي أَطْعَنَهُم مِّن جُوعٍ وَآمَنَهُم مِّن خَوْفٍ The
one that has stilled their hunger and protected
them against fear.
So when you are not hungry, you are
not living in war, you have no reason
whatsoever not to worship the lord.
Subhanallah, even those who live in fear don't
have a reason.
But you are the least one to claim
that you have a reason.
So now to come back, when we will
get to know Allah SWT, we will get
to know a friend who will never betray
us.
Someone who will always keep his promise.
Someone when I turn my back to him,
that reaches out to me.
When I commit mistakes and errors, he forgives
me.
When I call him during the night, he's
there for me.
In the morning, he's there for me.
When I'm poor, he will give me.
When I'm sick, he will cure me.
When I forget, he will remind me.
When I'm misguided, he will guide me.
When I'm in the obscurity of my sins,
he will enlighten me.
With Allah, you have found everything you need.
مَنْ وَجَدَ اللَّهَ وَجَدَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ وَإِنْ فَاتَهُ
كُلُّ شَيْءٍ وَمَنْ لَمْ يَجِدِ اللَّهَ لَمْ يَجِدْ
شَيْءً وَإِنْ فَاتَهُ وَإِنْ وَجَدَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ He
or she who has found Allah has found
everything, even if he or she didn't find
anything else.
And he or she who lost Allah has
lost everything, even if he or she has
found everything else.
And this is why, very often, we feel
a void in our hearts.
Because we've tried to fill it with the
wrong things.
There's one emptiness in our heart, and that's
which is always pushing us to be happy.
I'm going to try to find it here.
Now I'm going to the movies, or now
I'm going to buy a new bag, now
I'm going to buy new shoes, now I'm
going this, that.
We are always trying to fill this void.
But this void accepts only to be filled
with one thing, with Allah Jalla wa Ala.
So if we don't fill it, we will
always have this feeling, like everything goes well,
and you wake up and something is missing.
You wake up and you say, SubhanAllah, I
have my children, I have my wife, I
have my husband, I have my car, I
have my job.
Ya Rabbi, what is it?
There's still something.
You know, let me do something to get
rid of this feeling that there's something missing.
It's Allah.
So this is what we need to be
looking for.
Wallahi, sometimes, you know, I have the feeling
that we live Islam without Allah.
Sometimes the feeling that Islam is a thing,
and that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is
not like within that what we are living.
We are so concentrated on the rules, which
is important, that we forgot about the Lord
of the rules.
That's not good.
So we need to be these Muslims, you
know, when everything goes wrong.
This is what we want to become before
we die.
When everything goes wrong, you say, I don't
care, I have Allah.
When your employer calls, and this is difficult,
you lost your job.
It's okay, Allah provides for me.
I mean, this is difficult.
To say it's beautiful, right?
Like this is a nice story.
MashaAllah, it sounds very beautiful.
I don't know how I would be.
I'm not going to try to impress you.
Everything I say, I'm in need of it
myself.
I'm speaking out loud, and I hope that
those who listen might get something out of
it.
Just looking at myself and looking at what
I need.
You know, our only example was the Prophet
ﷺ.
He was the only perfect, perfect, perfect example.
But apart from that, we all got flaws
and mistakes.
So we want to get to that level.
We can't accept any longer to be these
people we are today.
Not because we are bad, but because we
want to become stronger and better.
Does that make sense?
So this is what we want to get
to, subhanAllah.
When we ask Allah's beautiful names to grant
us, inshaAllah, to be close to Him, to
connect to Him, inshaAllah.
So now to continue on a lighter note.
When you believe, and that's the last reason
that I'm going to mention, why it is
important to know Allah.
When you know Allah, you know you can't
escape.
You can't escape from Allah.
You can't.
And like the shaykh said, وَإِذَا مَا خَلَوْتَ
بِرِيبَةٍ فِي ظُلْمَةٍ وَالنَّفْسُ دَاعِيَةٌ إِلَى التُّغْيَانِ فَاسْتَحْئِ
مِن نَظَرِ الْإِلَٰهِ وَكُلَّهَا إِنَّ الَّذِي خَلَقَ الظُّلَامَ
يَرَانِ And when you are alone with your
sin in the obscurity of the night, then
tell your ego, be ashamed, because the one
who has created obscurity can see you.
And this is why Abdullah ibn Abbas said,
when you worry about people finding out about
your sin, and you're not worried about the
fact that Allah already knew you were about
to commit the sin before committing it, and
that He knows and looks at you and
hears you while committing it, and that He's
aware that you didn't repent after having committed
it, so you're worried about that but not
worried about this, then know that your heart
is dead.
SubhanAllah.
They say before committing a sin, remind yourself
of the fact that now you're still in
a safe place.
Before committing the sin, you're in a safe
place.
Maybe you're still in the protection of the
divine love.
You're about to go on a journey where
you don't know how you will come back
from.
When you throw yourself in the jungle of
haram, there are many animals who can sting
you and poison you or kill you.
You never know if you're going to come
back from the world of sin.
Maybe that's the way you die.
You don't know.
If you were to really know that Allah
is the possessor of life and death, then
before committing the sin, you would say, I
have no guarantee that I won't be dying
during my sin.
You don't know.
And what if you die during your sin?
What if you die while you are yelling
or insulting your husband or your wife?
And that's the last thing you do.
What?
People looking at haram, listening to haram, whatever.
What if you die like this?
So now, before you sin, you're still in
a safe space.
So you're buying a ticket, but you don't
know if it's a return ticket.
Think about this.
And while you're in the jungle and you're
aware, then when you put your first steps
in the jungle, then just run back.
Because when you're too far off, you're lost.
First three steps, you can come back.
Say, okay, khalas, sorry Rabbi, I'm back.
But if you continue going, you look around
you, say, where am I?
I don't see the light anymore.
I don't feel anymore.
You know, when people commit the same sin
for a long time, they don't feel it
anymore.
They don't experience it anymore.
So now, and then when you come out
of your sin, you thank Allah for having
granted you life to come out of this
jungle to repent.
That He gave you the chance to repent,
to come back to Him.
So what I said is you can't escape
from Allah.
And this is why Allah will come with
the truth, even after years and years or
even on the Day of Judgment.
And this is a story from Al-Aqad
that I want you to listen carefully to.
Okay, so listen to this story, a true
story.
Al-Aqad, as I said, the general in
the 1920s, he said, In Iraq, there was
one day, there was a butcher.
And the butcher came back during the night,
he was walking towards his village, and he
passed some bushes and so forth, and he
heard someone scream.
And he ran, and he had his knives
with him, you know, the knives like a
butcher has them.
And he said, and he walked towards the
voice, and then he found someone who had
been stabbed.
So he said, I looked at the person,
and my knife fell into the leg of
this person.
So what did I do?
I took the knife, and I took it
out.
But all of a sudden, other people came.
What do you think they thought?
That he was the killer.
Right?
But he wasn't.
So he said, no, it's not true.
This person was stabbed before I arrived, but
it was my knife that fell into this
person, I just took it out.
I'm sorry, 1920s, we don't have cameras here
in the forest.
So they took him to the judge.
They all agreed.
The judge said, I'm sorry, but your case
looks quite weak to me.
He says, let me tell you a story.
Al-Aqad, he said, why?
He said, just, I ask you, I beg
you.
He said, go ahead.
The man says, one day in Iraq, there
was a young man, he was living with
his parents, he wasn't very rich.
The only thing he used to do was
take people from one side of the river
to the other side of the river on
a boat.
And he had a little bit of money,
but he used to live with his parents.
One day, there was a girl with his
mother, and they went to the other side
of the river, he took them there, and
he said, oh, this might be a girl
I would like to marry.
So he goes back to his parents and
says, Dad, Mom, I think I found a
girl I would like to get married to.
And they said, my son.
I mean, he explained them where she lived
because it was near to the river.
He said, my son, you are aiming too
high.
I mean, it's a rich girl, she's an
educated girl, and you just live with your
parents in this tiny little house with no
spare room.
How are you going to get married?
The boy said, no, I'm going to get
married to her.
So the parents left him.
So every time he would what?
He would take her from one side to
the other.
And one day, all of a sudden, she
stopped taking the boat.
It was done.
So the boy was asking himself, where did
she go?
What happened?
And he wanted to ask her for her
hand.
He went to the house.
She was no longer there.
One day she got on the boat a
couple of years later.
And he saw that the girl had a
baby.
So he knew that she was married.
And every time he had to take her
from one side of the river to the
other.
But he couldn't cope with it because it
went to his heart.
It became something evil.
And he said, why someone else?
Why?
I was working for it every day.
And now she got married to someone else?
He said, that won't happen.
So one day when she took the boat
with her child, he took her far away
on the river.
Far away.
And he said, look, you are going to
be my wife.
She said, no, I'm not.
He said, yes, you are going to be
my wife.
And this child, you're going to throw it
overboard.
He went mad.
The woman said, no.
He took the child and he threw it
overboard himself.
So this is still the butcher talking, right?
And the lady started yelling.
And he held her so that she couldn't
go after her child.
He said, now, if you don't do what
I say, I will kill you.
She says, then you kill me.
So he killed her and threw her in
the river.
Now this young man, nobody knew what happened
to this lady, nor did they know what
happened to the baby.
And he kept on doing his job.
One side of the river to the other
one.
But because it started to be a bad
feeling to be on the same river where
he dumped two bodies in a horrifying way,
he said, I can't do this anymore.
He said, so this man, this young man
now, was a man, got married, had children,
and he became a butcher.
He said, and one day this butcher went
to his village and he was walking.
And he heard someone scream.
You understand the origin, right?
Yes.
And he heard someone scream.
And he went to look at the body
and his knife fell into the leg of
that person and he took it out and
he was dragged to the Qadi.
And I'm that man and you are that
Qadi.
Are you with me in the story?
And he said, so now, this man said,
He said, this is justice that came down
from the sky.
I'm wanted for murder, but not this one.
It's that one.
And the reason why I'm telling you is
so that the murderer of that person can
be caught and they caught the other murderer
as well.
So the ways of Allah Jalla wa Ala,
the ways of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala
are incredibly, you know, subhanAllah, detailed.
And sometimes we don't understand whatever went on
in our lives until the moment we are
on our deathbed.
Then everything, subhanAllah, very strange.
Everything which happened in our lives was to
get us there where we die and in
the exact moment where we are about to
die with the life that we are leaving
behind that we are going to look at
right before dying.
So when you know Allah, you know that
you can't escape.
And this is why our scholars said before
you tread on your path to Allah Subhanahu
wa Ta'ala, get rid of all your
sins because they will keep on haunting you.
They will keep on following you.
And Allah will not accept from you to
climb high with you still being attached to
the strings of sins.
They will always take you down.
Every time, it's like the people of *.
When they're in *, they see that the
gates of hellfire are opened.
So they climb the mountain.
And at the end, they need to crawl
because it's like very steep.
They crawl until their nails bleed.
And the moment they think they're about to
leave the gates of *, they are closed
right in front of their faces.
Right in front of their face, it's closed
because despair after hope is much worse.
When you hope that it's finished and then
all of a sudden, you come to the
conclusion that there's another obstacle is worse than
just being in the problem.
Yes, Alhamdulillah, I found the solution.
Allahu Akbar.
Someone is going to lend me money.
Otherwise, they're going to come to my house
and take away everything.
MashaAllah.
And at the end, the brother says, Sorry,
bro.
Actually, I was thinking I can't lend you
this money.
So all of a sudden, oh, what's happening?
So this is the same with the sin.
Yes, oh, I'm there where I wasn't before.
I never was this high.
Boom, down again.
You need to cut these strings.
And these are the sins.
And I'm sure not everybody has a lot
of sins.
Not everybody, you know, commits very terrible sins
while all the sins are terrible.
But it can be something very small.
So go home.
And tonight you write down on a piece
of paper what you need to get rid
of.
Write it down.
Please do so.
I do it myself as well.
Write it down.
Mouth, what do I do wrong?
I talk about people.
I complain about Allah, whatever.
I exaggerate.
I complain about life.
You write down everything you do wrong.
With your eyes, write everything down.
With your heart, with your thoughts, with your
behavior.
And get rid of it.
Because we want this journey through the names
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be
transformative.
We don't want it just to be a
class.
Alright, mashallah, that was beautiful.
Learn something new.
And then we go on.
No.
We want at the end of this journey,
we want to be stronger people.
Better people.
People with more trust in Allah.
With more patience.
With more courage.
With more endurance.
With more insight.
You know, and really connected to Allah.
Because subhanallah, as I said very often, we
live Islam but without Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
And this is what made us heart.
So that's in brief what I wanted to
say, inshallah.
So now I can get to the questions.
And I will ask you, before leaving, what
do you take away with you today?
Inshallah.
What do you take away with you?
As you said, when you write things down,
the changes you're going to make, you keep
it there.
But I keep it there.
I say I'm going to do this, I'm
going to do this, I'm going to do
this.
Now I'm going to write it down, you
know.
And I write it down and it's going
to go to me and I'll collect it
back.
I don't believe this.
I believe that if we have, if someone
has regular reminders, regular classes, transformative classes where
keys are going to be given, not by
me, by anybody, where keys are handed over
to transform something in your life, then I
think bi-idhnillahi azawajal it will happen.
But if it's like Allah Akbar, if it's
like a reminder, if it's like a reminder
every month or every three months, then that
won't happen.
You need to be constantly reminded.
And that's why, look, the Prophet ﷺ, he
used to give a reminder to the women
every week.
I know the narration, twice a week.
So he would free himself just for the
women from his community.
And then they would ask him questions and
he would remind them.
You see this?
So this is the importance.
The Prophet ﷺ used to give the khutbah
but he would also sit with his companions
and remind them, remind them.
Because the reminders are very necessary in our
lives.
And especially in a time where we're constantly
reminded of other things.
I'm not saying you, people in general, you
know, through social media, through people surrounding them,
I mean the majority of people don't remind
you of Allah.
I'm sorry.
The majority of people don't remind you of
Allah.
I've seen this in the 25 years that
I'm a Muslim.
And the Prophet ﷺ said, like in the
Jam of Imam Suyuti, the best people are
those when they are seen whom remind others
of Allah.
That are the best people.
People who remind others of Allah.
So I would like everything you have heard
in this class, spread it.
I mean on Facebook, if you have Facebook,
then use it well.
Spread some of the things you have learned.
You have Instagram, use it.
Snapchat, use it.
You don't have anything of this but you
see your family every week.
Then spread it as well.
So that we can revive, bi-idhnillahi azawajal,
the connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Because you know what the problem is?
Like I said, now we are living a
very good life.
Wallahi, we have good lives.
We have problems but we have good lives.
The majority.
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam made
it very clear.
تَعَرَّفْ إِلَىٰهِ فِي الرَّخَاءِ يَعْرِفْكَ فِي شِدَّةٍ Yani,
do everything for Allah to know you in
time of prosperity.
To know you, He always knows you.
But that you distinguish yourself from others.
Do everything to distinguish yourself from others in
good deeds, in times of prosperity.
And Allah will know you in a special
way when everything goes wrong.
So if we don't do it now, then
when everything goes wrong, we won't have this
connection.
You see?
So we need to be prepared because we
don't know when lives will change.
We don't know when things will go bad.
We don't know.
Maybe never.
Maybe tomorrow.
Maybe today.
But if we don't have a connection with
Allah when everything goes good, then we will
have a breakdown when everything goes wrong.
Now.
Somebody?
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
That's what Imam Al-Ghazali said.
That's Imam Al-Ghazali who said this.
In Minhaj Al-Abideen.
I was explaining that book.
Yes.
Somebody else?
Yes.
No.
They are both together.
But ta'alluq is the soul and ta
'alluq is the body.
But I believe that through ta'alluq comes
ta'alluq.
For some people.
And some people would say the opposite.
Like it is by doing it that it
will come alive in your heart.
And some say no.
It is first by putting it in your
heart that your deeds will come alive.
But I believe they go together.
Ta'alluq and ta'alluq.
Yes.
Someone else?
No one?
Yes.
Yes.
No.
No, that last part.
No, the first part.
Yes.
Okay.
So the question is like the sin holds
us back.
But then it has been said that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala loves the sinner who
repents more than someone who doesn't sin.
And that's not true.
Someone who doesn't sin is better than someone
who sins.
Even if that someone who sins repents.
Because sinning is always a step back and
then you go forward.
And it can be that you come stronger
out of your sin after your repentance.
That you repent and you say never again.
And you try to become a better person.
What the scholars differ about is like they
mention in their path is who is better.
A person who has the urge to sin
but doesn't or someone who doesn't even take
the sin to consideration.
You see?
Like someone for example saying oh I would
like to I don't know drink a glass
of alcohol.
Oh I would really like.
I would really like.
But he never does it.
And someone who says alcohol I don't care.
Now who is better in this case?
Do you understand?
And this is where they differ about.
Some say it's the first one.
Because the other one he's not in Ibadah.
He's not in a worship.
Because he hasn't got the feeling of wanting
to do it.
So he doesn't even think about it.
And the other one wants to do it
but doesn't and leaves it for Allah.
So he's in more Ibadah.
Others say no.
The one who doesn't do it and doesn't
care about it is because he's fundamentally just
being good Muslim.
And he doesn't even think about it.
So anyway they debate about this.
But a person who doesn't sin a particular
sin is in that aspect better than a
person who commits this sin.
Which doesn't mean that a person who sins
can't be better than a person who for
example doesn't sin.
What do I mean?
Like for example It's becoming a long story
right?
No?
Is it okay?
Like for example the hadith in Sahih Muslim
where the Prophet ﷺ spoke about this man
who was brought to the Prophet ﷺ and
he was a drunkard.
And they say كان ممن يضحك النبي ﷺ
He was from amongst the people who made
the Prophet ﷺ laugh.
So you see that he was a sinner.
He was a drunkard.
Meaning sometimes he would drink.
But on the other hand the Prophet ﷺ
used to sometimes laugh with him.
Because him drinking that was the sin in
his life.
But did this sin turn him into someone
who breaks his promise?
Someone who's not pleased with the decree?
Did it turn him into someone who insults
other people?
Who gossips?
Maybe not at all.
So him being a sinner in that part
that's the part we don't like.
But the Prophet ﷺ liked apparently the jokes
of this person.
Now today if we were to see someone
who we know that he smokes weed for
example.
Smokes weed.
Then I would be afraid to even smile
at him.
أستغفر الله You sinner.
I have nothing to do with you.
Yes, you have nothing to do with smoking
weed.
It's haram.
But now is all of this person bad
and evil?
No, I don't agree.
And this is why so then when the
Sahaba رضي الله عنهم They started insulting this
person.
They said, How often are you brought back
to the Prophet ﷺ?
So they were angry at him.
And then the Prophet ﷺ said Do not
insult your brother.
Look at this.
He didn't say don't insult the drunkard.
He didn't say don't insult the sinner.
Don't insult the man.
At least he could have said don't insult
that man.
He said, No, your brother.
Because even though that he is sinning, everybody
is sinning.
كل بني آدم خطأ Every child of Adam
commits sins.
But that doesn't turn him into a non
-brother.
He still has rights over us.
His honor should still be held high.
We are not allowed to gossip.
We are not allowed to make our promises
with him.
Anyway, and then he said something really عجيب.
He said, Because I have been shown that
this man loves Allah and he is messenger.
Today, when a sinner, a brother who sins
or a sister sinning, if she or he
were to claim I love Allah, they would
say, Sister, why don't you first do this
or that before claiming that you love Allah.
Astaghfirullah, sister.
If you were to be loving Allah, then
you would have done this and not that.
You would have not shown this or that.
Subhanallah.
Who turned us into a judge?
That part of her life or his life
is the sin.
But doesn't mean that this person as a
whole doesn't love Allah.
Maybe this person loves Allah more than you.
Because maybe the sin, sometimes, subhanallah, we are
criticizing people of sins while we are hiding
sins which might be worse than the sins
of the people we are criticizing.
And if our sins were to be exposed,
then people would say, Hey, wait.
You are criticizing that person but she should
be criticizing you because that which you carry
in your heart is worse than what she
is doing.
So, we are no judges.
We judge over deeds.
Deeds, yes.
So, weed is haram.
This is haram.
That's haram.
No problem.
But we don't judge people as a whole.
We don't do this.
Is that clear?
Okay, it's 11-1.
Do we still have four minutes?
Who has four more minutes?
Okay.
Then I want to finish with the story
of Bani Israel.
That's the last one.
I think it shows us really the time
we are living in.
The Prophet ﷺ said like in the Sunan
of Abu Dawood and with a slight difference
in the narration in the Muslim of Imam
Ahmad.
The Prophet ﷺ said, كَانَ رَجُلَانِ مِن بَنِي
إِسْرَائِيلَ مُتَوَاخِيَينَ Two brothers.
There were two brothers of Bani Israel.
One of them was a abid, was a
worshipper.
The other one was a sinner.
Okay, one was a worshipper.
But he said, كَانَ مُجْتَهِدًا فِي الْعِبَادَةِ He
was really dedicated to worship.
Like a kind of person that he would
say, Oh, I want to be like him.
I would like this person to be my
son-in-law.
Worship.
كَانَ مُجْتَهِدًا فِي الْعِبَادَةِ And the other one
was a sinner.
And every time the worshipper would see the
sinner, he would tell him, أَقْصِر Stop, stop
doing this.
Stop it.
And then the sinner would say, خَلِّيني وَرَبِّي
Leave me alone with my Lord.
I mean, leave me with my Lord.
He said, أَبُعِثْتَ عَلَيَّ رَقِيبًا أَمْ جَعَلَكَ اللَّهُ
عَلَيَّ حَسِيبًا Were you sent as someone to
observe me?
Did Allah place you, make you responsible over
me?
And this is sometimes what sinners say.
We say, استغفر الله You're just saying this
to get away with your sin.
But he said, Leave it between me and
Allah.
You're not responsible for me.
It's between me and Allah.
So now, one day, he saw his brother
committing a very big sin.
I said it's in Sunnah Nabi Dawood.
It are not my words.
It's the Prophet peace be upon him.
It's a sound hadith.
And he saw him, عَلَى ذَنبٍ Committing a
big sin.
استعظَنَ He considered it to be a very
big sin.
And then, he said, وَاللَّهِ He said, By
Allah, O you sinner.
لَن يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَكَ Allah will never forgive
you.
وَلَا يُدْخِلُكَ اللَّهُ الْجَنَّةُ And Allah will not
let you enter Paradise.
Now, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala took the
lives of both of them.
So, what went on?
He asked the abid, the worshipper, أَكُنْتَ بِعَالِمًا
Did you have knowledge about me?
Did you have knowledge about me saying that
I wouldn't forgive this person?
أَمْ كُنْتَ عَلَى مَا فِي يَدِ قَادِرًا Or
did you have any power over me to
decide what I would be doing?
He said, مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يَتَأَلَّى عَلَيَّ أَنِّي
لَا أَغْفِرُ لِفُلَانٍ Who is the one that
swears by my name with his false courage
that I won't forgive this person?
فَقَدْ غَفَرْتُ لَهُ Verily, I have forgiven him.
وَأَحْبَطُ عَمَلَكَ And I have annulled all your
good deeds.
سبحان الله This person was committing a very
big sin.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said
to the sinner, Go to paradise with my
rahmah.
And he told the worshipper who worshipped all
his life.
He said خُذُوهُ Take him.
وَذْهَبُوا بِهِ إِلَى النَّارِ And take him, guide
him to hellfire.
Then Abu Huraira radiallahu anhu who narrates the
hadith said, He destroyed his dunya and his
akhira because of one single sentence.
What was the sentence?
Looking down upon sinners.
Looking down upon them.
We don't know whether they are crying during
the night.
You know a lot of people they sin
and they hate themselves because of the sin.
Some of the people who keep on sinning
say, I want to get rid of this.
Ya Rabbi, please, please.
I feel it.
I don't want it.
And some people who worship have pride.
And I'm not trying to say that a
sinner is better than a worshipper.
So that nobody takes away this message from
me.
I'm not trying to say this.
And I'm not trying to say sinning is
good.
Sinners are okay.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying that the attitude of the worshippers
is very often wrong.
Because you might be talking about someone.
Yes, that you see sinning.
But during the night is crying to get
rid of it.
Begging.
And the worshipper during the night feels better
than the rest.
Oh, if only they were to see me
praying in front of Allah.
So pride.
Worship which takes you to pride is worse
than a sin that takes you to repentance.
So this is in brief what I want
to say.
Jazakum Allah khairan.
I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
make this beneficial for all of us.
Please spread the word.
And next time we will be very focused
on the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
We will start with the names of of
divine power.
Next week, names of divine power.
And peace and blessings be upon our master
Muhammad and upon his family and companions.
And the last of our invocations.
We seek refuge in Allah, Lord of the
worlds.