Sulayman Van Ael – The Divine Names 1
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AI: Transcript ©
Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim.
Okay, we are going to start inshaAllah.
And with the will of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, we are going to start with
a journey through the names of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
And it might seem very strange that we
are starting with this topic as every Muslim
is supposed to know Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
But when we look at Sahih Muslim, the
Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that a
day will come when no one on the
earth will say Allah, Allah.
There will come a day when people on
the face of the earth will no longer
say Allah.
So now we might think like, okay, alhamdulillah,
this hasn't happened yet.
Because look at all the Muslims, they still
say Allah.
What we should know is that shaitan goes
gradually.
He doesn't take very big steps.
He goes, wa laa tan tabi'u khutuwati
shaitan.
And he does not follow the footsteps of
shaitan.
He drags you into haram, he drags you
into ignorance, step by step without you noticing
it.
It's like looking at the shadow.
It moves but you don't see it.
That's the way shaitan goes with us.
He drags us slowly, we think we are
not changing.
We think we are not far from Allah.
We think we are far from haram.
But without knowing it, we are approaching it.
So now this is the same thing with
Allah.
We won't immediately have no one on the
face of the earth saying Allah, Allah.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ even went further
and said, and people will say Allah, I
have heard this before.
My grandparents used to say it, subhanAllah.
So now if we look at this hadith
of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the
one hand, and on the other hand we
know that shaitan goes gradually, then we see
if we look at the discussions amongst Muslims,
we see that the majority of Muslims no
longer use the majority of the divine names.
Not in their discussions and not in their
dua.
So it seems as if a lot of
these names have been erased from the Muslim
dictionary.
Like I became a Muslim 24 years ago.
I don't remember when I sat with someone
talking about al-Jabbar or al-Latif or
so many al-Hayyi, al-Quddus, al-Qayyum,
al-Azim, and let alone people invoking Allah
by these names.
And it's a haq, it's Allah's right upon
us that we invoke Him by all of
His names.
وَلِلَّهِ الْأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَةُ فَادْعُوهُ بِهَا And to Allah
belong the most beautiful names, and this is
a command from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
فَادْعُو, it's fi'lu amr.
Allah is commanding us.
فَادْعُوهُ بِهَا So invoke Allah by these names.
So it is very important for the Muslim
to understand that every name of the divine
names should have an effect on the way
we think, an effect on the way we
behave, and an effect on the way we
look at life.
You see, all of these names are keys
to certain rooms, figuratively speaking, that we need
to open the door to, to understand our
journey on the face of the earth.
وَلِلَّهِ الْأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَةُ فَادْعُوهُ بِهَا So now, the
Messenger ﷺ, on the other hand, like in
the Sunan of Imam al-Tirmidhi, the Messenger
ﷺ said Allah has 99 names.
مِئَةَ إِلَّا وَاحِدَةَ Yani, 100 minus 1.
مَنْ أَحْصَاهَا دَخَلَ الْجَنَّةَ The one that does
Ihsa of these names will enter Paradise.
But what does it mean, Ahsaha?
I remember when I was a small boy,
I was 12 years old.
I visited some Moroccan friends.
I wasn't a Muslim yet.
And they had this poster on the wall.
And it had these 99 squares with beautiful
names in it.
I said, what is this?
They said, these are the names of God.
I said, is there more than one God?
They said, no.
These names, they explain you who God is.
And I said, oh, that's beautiful.
And they said, if you memorize these names,
you go to Paradise.
I said, this is easy.
So I went home, and I started memorizing
these names when I was a non-Muslim.
I said, if God would exist, because I
was an atheist, I said, if God would
exist, I would go to Paradise, because I
would memorize these names.
But Allah didn't allow me to memorize all
these names.
I memorized 87 names, and then I became
Muslim.
Subhanallah, Allah didn't allow me to complete the
memorization of the 99, until I became a
Muslim.
So anyway, I memorized 87 names before I
became a Muslim.
So now to come back.
Ahsaha in this hadith of a Tirmidhi doesn't
mean memorization.
When we are going to look at one
of the first people that wrote a commentary
on Sahih al-Bukhari, he was a Maliki
scholar.
His name was Ibn Battal.
He said, man ahsaha, ay, man fahimaha, wa
hafidaha, wa amila bimuqtadaha, wa da'allaha biha.
Four things.
He said, man ahsaha will enter Paradise.
The one that memorizes the names, understands the
names, lives up to these names, and asks
and supplicates Allah by these names.
So he said, these are the four dimensions
that you need if you want these names
to take you to Paradise.
So for me it was very strange to
see when I embraced Islam and people told
me, you have to get to know Allah.
I said, good.
But then when I grew older and years
passed, I saw that the majority of Muslims
didn't memorize the names of Allah.
Even if I were to ask at university,
who memorizes the names of Allah?
They memorize everything.
Engineers, doctors, whatever.
But if I ask them, do you memorize
the names, the 99 names of your Lord?
The majority will say no.
This is not the only thing.
Another principle.
I'm sharing principles with you.
So on the one hand, the Messenger of
Allah said there will come a day that
people will no longer say Allah, Allah.
We said that it will go gradually because
this is the way that shaitan goes about.
So he's slowly but surely erasing these names.
From what?
From our conversations.
From our dua.
And even from our teachings.
If it weren't for the Quran, then a
lot of the names that we find in
the Quran, we wouldn't even pronounce them anymore.
Subhanallah.
If it weren't for reading the Quran, when
would we, you know, mention the name Ashakur,
for example, or Wahab, or Quddus, or Al
-Barid, or Al-Musawwir?
We wouldn't maybe even use it.
This is how far we are away from
these names.
So now, he will go gradually.
Then we said there are four dimensions to
Ahsaha.
If you want paradise through these names, memorization,
understanding, application, and supplication.
Memorization, understanding, application, and supplication.
Exactly.
So that was the last thing we said.
And then we said Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala has these 99 names.
But does Allah have more than 99 names?
Well, in the authentic hadith, the Messenger ﷺ
said something very, very beautiful.
He said if you say the following dua,
Allah will remove all your worries and all
your sorrows.
You know what often the problem is with
us?
We see that the Messenger ﷺ says something,
and usually it's the last thing we try.
Like the Messenger ﷺ gave us the key
to this, for example.
It's the last thing we're going to do.
When all doors are locked, all doors of
creation said, I'm going to try this hadith.
Won't work.
Because you didn't give it its due value.
These things are so strong that if you
were to believe in them the way you
should believe in it, and direct yourself on
the first moment to these supplications, they would
work.
So if they do work, we don't work.
They do work.
They're stronger than a paracetamol.
But when I ask my wife for a
paracetamol, because I have a headache, the moment
she brings the paracetamol, I already feel my
headache going away.
When she puts it in a glass or
in my mouth, and if it doesn't work
after two minutes, I say, it's not working.
Why is it not working?
I have yaqeen.
I have yaqeen that it will work.
But when it comes down to my Lord
who promised me, I doubt.
If our yaqeen in dua and adhkar would
be with the same strength and conviction as
we have with the paracetamol, miracles would happen.
Miracles would happen.
وَمَنْ أَصْدَقُ مِنَ اللَّهِ أُقِيلًا وَمَنْ أَصْدَقُ مِنَ
اللَّهِ حَدِيثًا النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم الصادق
المصدوق يعني who speaks more the truth than
Allah and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
was affirmed to be truthful by the truthful
سبحانه وتعالى So this is the Messenger صلى
الله عليه وسلم said, if you say the
following supplication, following supplication, when you are sad,
Allah will remove your sadness, will remove your
sorrows.
اللهم إني عبدك ابن عبدك ابن أمتك ناصيتي
بيدك ماض في حكمك عبد في قضاءك أسألك
بكل اسم هو لك سميت به نفسك أو
أنزلته في كتابك أو علمته أحدا من خلقك
أو استغفرت به في علم الغيب عندك I
will translate it, not the first part and
then the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم said,
Oh Allah, I ask you by every name
سميت به نفسك that you gave yourself أو
أنزلته في كتابك or that you have revealed
in your book أو علمته أحدا من خلقك
or that you have taught one of your
creation and they say these are the Prophets
for example and there's a difference about it
I'm not going to mention it it's باب
العقيدة and then أو استغفرت به في علم
الغيب عندك or these names that you have
kept for yourself in the unseen in the
world of the unseen we have the names
that we need but Allah has more names
is that clear?
by all the names that you kept for
yourself the names we need to develop ourselves
as Muslims to become better people on the
outward يعني in our أخلاق our behavior and
on the inside and in the way we
think are all in these names that the
Prophet ﷺ gave us and Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ
تَعَالَى in the Qur'an so the journey
through the names of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى
is a journey which I call سَفَرُ في
أَسْمَاءِ اللَّهِ تَعَلُّقًا وَتَخَلُّقًا وَتَحَقُّقًا try to memorize
it if you can التعلُّق meaning spiritual attachment
to the name that's التعلُّق التخلُّق is behaving
in the light of this name sometimes this
can be by doing exactly what the name
means الرَّحِمُونَ يَرْحَمُهُمُ الرَّحْمَنُ the ones who have
mercy the merciful will grant them mercy so
some of these names we are going to
apply the way that they are you know
understood some names we are not allowed to
put into practice in the way that it's
understood but by doing what the name wants
from us like المُتَكَبِّر سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى we are
not going to say okay now I will
have Kibr I will say now I will
have a humility is that clear so Allah
is الواحِد so I'm not going to be
egocentric egoistic narcissistic no I'm going to be
what dependent so some of these names thus
have a message that we have to put
into practice and other ones we have to
live in the light but are not allowed
to put the name literally into practice like
المُتَكَبِّر for example or الأحد يَسْتَرِزِمُ مِنَّ الْعُبُدِيَّ
if these principles are clear so the names
of Allah سبحانه وتعالى تعلُّقًا spiritual attachment تَخَلُّقًا
is outward behavior and تَحَقُّقًا this is the
highest level التحقق what does it mean it
means that now you you are so aware
of the names of Allah سبحانه وتعالى that
you no longer need to go through your
mind to convince your soul you no longer
need to go through your mind to convince
your soul sometimes we are doing the accountancy
of the divine decisions for example somebody wronged
me somebody wronged me two years later he's
in prison what am I going to say
look what Allah did he wronged me he
shouldn't have wronged me look look what happened
to him like if we know what Allah
سبحانه وتعالى is doing why he is doing
it what the result of it will be
so we are at a certain point in
time we are pretending that we know why
Allah is doing things the result of things
only become clear at the end of the
road it's actually when we are on our
deathbed that we know why we lived what
we lived because it brought us to that
instance and made us the life journey made
us the person that we are then at
that particular instance so now to make it
clear they say is that you do not
want anything else than that what Allah سبحانه
وتعالى wants I mean that you turn out
wanting something else than what Allah سبحانه وتعالى
made happen in your life we are not
going to talk about this now تعلق and
تخلق meaning spiritual attachment and acting in the
light of the name and this is what
we are going to do in this journey
we are going to look at the names
of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and we want to
connect to them we want to behave in
the light of these names and the example
I gave in the bayan was and I
am going to give it again is the
bayan or is the name رزاق سبحانه وتعالى
to give you one example of تعلق and
تخلق we all believe Allah سبحانه وتعالى is
a رزاق we believe it we don't doubt
it but there is a difference between believing
and feeling and between feeling and living there
is a there is a it is like
between the east and the west so now
we are the 31st or the 30th I
think yes so maybe some days ago people
that have an employer they start counting their
risk which is not wrong because we need
to organize ourselves in life so ok how
much will I have and how much will
I earn this person will give me some
money I have to pay this so we
do the accountancy of the next month but
that's not the problem Allah wants us to
be organized with our minds but wants us
to be connected with our hearts and souls
so by Allah the one that says I
know that Allah is a رزاق did you
ever ask Allah for rizq that comes through
your employer through your employer I'm not saying
you're in a problem Ya Rabbi help me
no at the end of each month you
go down on your knees you say رزاق
يا رزاق ارزقني Oh Allah I think I
spoke too loud no it's not that it's
this here it's a battery ok can I
continue ok so the question now is maybe
it's better to wait Mawlana what do you
think I continue ok so when you see
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he says
thank you so much thank you for your
effort talking about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
consumes a lot of battery ok Bismillah it's
good so now the question I'm asking is
what you have through your employer do we
get down on our knees at the end
of the month and say Ya Rabbi رزقني
we are so convinced that rizq comes through
my employer comes through whatever welfare whatever that
we even don't ask for our rizq and
when it comes too late yes from a
human point of view from an organizational point
of view I will call my employer excuse
me usually it's on the 31st or whatever
and it's too late this is with my
mind but with my heart I'm somewhere else
with my heart I ask Allah so this
connection when you believe in a rizq then
why didn't we make this connection the only
thing we see we get mad angry why
it's too late it's impossible we forget that
there it's not the system that is providing
us it's the Lord of the system it's
like Subhanallah there is an iron sky that
is built above our heads and we don't
seem to see it this is dangerous because
this is actually what weakness of faith means
and Imam Shafi'i rahimahullah azwajal he said
in his diwan توكلت في رزقي على الله
خالقي وإيقنت أن الله لا شد رازقي يعني
concerning the rizq I put my trust in
Allah and I don't doubt a single moment
that Allah will provide for me وما يكون
رزقي فليس يفوتني ولو كان في قاء البحار
العوامق and what is has been destined for
me to be my rizq it will not
escape me even if it was in the
deep shallows of the oceans ولو كان في
قاء البحار العوامق سيأتي به الله العظيم بفضله
ولو لم يكن مني لسان بناطقي look at
this Imam you know sometimes when we look
at this we say oh it's beautiful no
this were the expressions of their inner feelings
they were sharing it with us he said
and what is destined to be my rizq
Allah will come with it even if I
were not to ask for it ولو لم
يكن مني لسان بناطقي ففي أي شيء تذهب
النفس حسرتا فقد قسم الرحمن رزق الخلائق so
why are you tying your nafs while you
know very well that Allah has divided the
provision and the rizq of his creation so
yes we have two dimensions dimension of organization
the rational dimension but then we also have
the connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and the problem is that the majority of
Muslims is now just living with this that's
dangerous because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
observing us isn't he so we need that
was just one example of a ta'alluq
that you connect to the divine name and
then you have the ta'alluq the ta
'alluq the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam كان
ينفق كالذي لا يخشى عليه من الفقر he
used to spend like someone for whom one
doesn't need to fear to become poor like
if the king of Saudi Arabia would give
me or you 10,000 pounds would you
say poor person he will be poor very
soon you don't fear for him 10,000
is nothing this is the way the messenger
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam used to spend but
he didn't have anything sometimes he wouldn't have
كان خديجة رضي الله عنها said when the
messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came back after
he saw Jibreel she said you are the
one that gets people what you don't have
yourself what does this mean the messenger sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam if you would come to
him you would ask him for milk and
he wouldn't have milk then he would buy
you milk and if wouldn't have the money
to buy you milk he would borrow money
to buy you milk and he would pay
it this is who he was sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam and this is a تخلق this
is putting this name into practice our problem
we don't have a crisis of not knowing
we have a crisis of not knowing how
to put what we know into practice it's
so beautiful to sit here like I'm sitting
talking about beautiful things but how difficult is
it to put it into practice when nobody
sees you visiting the sick when nobody knows
giving the last of the money you had
in your pocket you wanted to buy some
new shoes you buy them for somebody else
nobody knows this is difficult this is Islam
talking about Islam it's easy I don't mean
it's easy you have to learn you have
to study but on the other hand وَإِذَا
رَأِيتَهُمْ تَعَجِبُكَ أَجْسَامُهُمْ وَإِن يَقُولُ تَسْمَعْ لِقَوْلِهِمْ Allah
says about the منافقين when they talk you
listen to them and when you look at
them their appearance you are marveled by their
appearance Ibn Kathir said that this ayah is
about the منافقين that used to talk before
the khutbah like they would sit I don't
mean talking before the khutbah it's like nifaq
but they wanted to show off they would
wear their best clothes and talk about Allah
but they were منافقين so now to come
back تَعَلُّقَ تَخَلُّق we don't have a crisis
of not knowing alone but our biggest crisis
is not knowing how to put our knowledge
into practice or being afraid to put our
knowledge into practice so in this journey بِإِذْنِ
اللَّهِ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى we want to be transformed
through these names والله the more we know
his names the more we will see our
weaknesses the more we will see his beauty
and his strength the more we will be
able to trust in him sometimes we trust
ourselves more than we trust Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى
and the only way to change and transform
is by being honest with ourselves where am
I who am I on the inside because
they say أَسَّلَفْ كَانُوا يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ لِمَا يُخْفُونَ مِنْ
أَعْمَالِهِمْ they used to do istighfar not only
for what they did but for what they
felt when they did good like I can
now sit here and say everybody here I
go 5 pounds, 50 pounds I start giving
it everybody will say رَجُولٌ كَرِيمٌ he's a
very generous man but on the end on
the inside I feel it that hurts 5
pounds 20 it's like breaking my heart if
I could have I wouldn't Allah will judge
me يَوْمَ تُبْلَ سَرَاجٍ he will judge me
on what I hide behind what I do
so now the journey forward is by really
looking at who we are for Allah and
who are we for Allah the one we
know who is inside of this body it's
usually not the one that we show it's
the one that he knows of and when
we admit this when we are humbled and
crumbled because we know how far we are
how weak we are that's the moment when
the journey begins this is the moment when
you dig deep then the journey will start
say رَبِّي أَمْدِسْ I'm this, I'm this not
in front of the people it's in the
sunnah to dishonor yourself in front of people
but to pretend in front of Allah he
knows يَعْلَمُ السِّرَّ وَأَخْذَ he knows the secret
and that which is more hidden than the
secret so we are going through all of
these names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and we are going to look how do
they change my behavior how do they change
the way I connect to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala you know this is for me
the practical side of فَفِرُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ فَفِرُّوا
إِلَى اللَّهِ يعني flee towards Allah flee towards
Allah يعني to the knowledge of him and
to bring into practice this knowledge and to
live up to its standards ok so these
are the things inshallah subhanahu wa ta'ala
that you can expect بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ subhanahu wa
ta'ala and you know every time when
you ask a scholar the scholars when they
write a book in grammar or morphology or
fiqh or aqeedah or hadith everybody says and
this is the most noble knowledge Mawlana will
know this when we read our books say
yes fiqh is the most noble because it
shows you this and that a mufasir will
say this as well but at the end
it's all about Allah this is the most
noble knowledge and this is why Imam Abu
Hanifa rahimahullah azwajal when he spoke about aqeedah
he named it fiqh al-akbar the greatest
fiqh the largest fiqh and fiqh in the
language means correct understanding correct detailed understanding so
fiqh al-akbar is that we correctly in
a detailed way understand the names of our
Lord subhanahu wa ta'ala do you have
any questions about what has been said until
now inshallah do you have anything you want
to add or want to ask then we
can do this of course we can't
here this will be a weekly or two
weekly course so you can already start here
inshallah step by step yes this will all
be mentioned in the courses like every week
or every two weeks I will give you
like three names explain you how to live
up to them you will have homework meaning
that you will live in the light of
these names and that you are aware of
these names throughout that week so that will
be one of the assessments and homework inshallah
that will be given inshallah and the thing
is books are good one can read books
there are beautiful books about the names of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala like the book
of Imam Ghazali you have the book of
Imam Qurtubi of al-Baydawi of al-Isnawi
I mean you have even of Imam Qushayri
you have so many books about the names
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but at
the end a book is there to be
taught you see because very often when we
read a book we might have a wrong
understanding of what we read so when a
book is explained so I base myself on
I think 25 different books about the names
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so I
hope in the office of Shaykh Ibn Ajeeba
Ahmed Zarouk all the other books so inshallah
khair so that we will do that in
the evening inshallah the only thing I didn't
understand yet is how long these classes should
like how long should they be because last
time you told me after 25 minutes that
was finished half an hour is good enough
how long did we do now half an
hour yes we did 29 minutes and 19
seconds okay that's good that's good inshallah I'm
subjected to the instructions so I don't have
an opinion excuse me okay
and people who are I won't say bored
but people who have something else to do
they can leave I don't mind at all
so inshallah khair so bismillah subhanahu wa ta
'ala we will then in the future inshallah
we're going to do it 45 minutes bismillah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is that good ankor
okay inshallah it's on Tuesdays yes yes inshallah
the timetable is on the website so you
can find it there inshallah inshallah it's on
the website you can see it inshallah inshallah
do we have any other questions about the
subject yes yes well
I really believe that that which we see
in front of us is a straightforward proof
that there is a creator I mean if
I would take a toothpick here you know
toothpick we say toothpick right and I would
tell people this created itself they wouldn't believe
me you know it's just a toothpick and
I mean so seeing something is the very
proof that there is someone I mean they
say this about everything apart from creation and
nature so how do we get away from
this I don't think that I think we
are able to harmonize between faith and science
and when science outwardly contradicts faith then it's
either because we have wrong we have wrong
conclusion how do we say made yes or
because science hasn't yet found out what what
it really is so but I believe that
science and faith they don't contradict one another
it's just in the way we explain it
and look at it so Allah I don't
think we need to run away from anything
I think we need to go straight forward
is there another question no ok Alhamdulillah I
love you so we agree then from next
week onwards it's 45 minutes I agree that
you come from far you said ok ok
really Subhana I understand 45 minutes would that
be sufficient but you know yes but
actually I wouldn't mind even teach an hour
and a half you see so if people
don't want to stay until the end they
can they can go so let us say
an hour and 20 minutes something like that
that's what I need to finish this course
and that's how long I usually teach it
for ok so ok so those who want
to leave already they can I will continue
a little bit so then they can use
the break to leave inshallah ok
so I will leave I will wait if
you want to leave ok was
the content clear for now was it clear
for everybody ok I am just going to
wait 2 minutes and then we will continue
so inshallah we are going to do 1
hour and 20 minutes Q&A included inshallah
ok I mean for me to speak so
today it will be a big mess Alhamdulillah
do you come from far as well you
we go like all over we go all
night really mashaAllah that's good inshallah we will
have all night with Allah I had a
heart attack yesterday it's ok no it's good
it's good ok uncle are you alright yeah
ok I am just waiting for some water
and then we will carry on inshallah did
you give literal translation or one word translation
I know you explained ta'alluk yes one
word translation I know it's hard to ta
'alluk would be connection but we call it
spiritual connection ta'alluk ta'alluk means behaving
any behaving in the light of the name
and ta'alluk means realization bismillah so
if we have understood these principles then it's
very important to know why is it important
to get to know Allah subhana wa ta
'ala and I am going to give you
one reason where there are many and this
is the reason that Ibn Ajeeba rahimahullah azawajal
mentioned in his book Iqab al-himam when
he rahimahullah azawajal said man dallaka alal amali
faqad at'abak wa man dallaka alal dunya
faqad ghashak wa man dallaka alallahi faqad nasahak
meaning the one that advises you or points
you in the direction of performing deeds good
deeds has tired you I will explain this
the one that you know guides you into
the dunya has wronged you and he has
I don't know anyway so let us say
like this and the last thing he said
and the one that shows you to the
way of Allah has truly and sincerely given
you a good advice so what does he
mean like if we are going to look
at the dawah today we see that very
often the emphasis is on performing deeds which
is good like fast read Quran not fasting
Ramadan I'm talking about extra deeds right fasting
reading Quran visiting the sick crying for Allah
doing this doing that so at the end
it's a lot and very often it's it
takes a lot from us to do all
of these things Ibn Ajeeba says no there
is another way if we point you in
the direction of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
you will never feel tired serving him you
won't get bored it won't feel too heavy
it won't be too much because when we
look at the angels Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala describes them as never getting bored and
never being exhausted so if we always remind
people of actions actions actions then at the
end actions become a goal but Allah is
our goal so if we now and this
is what Imam al-Ghazali says in his
book min haj al-abideen ila jannati rabbil
alameen if we show people the way towards
Allah then they will look for ways to
please him you see it's the other way
around so this is when we look at
the period of Mecca we see that the
very first verses were all about Allah all
about qiyamah all about akhira jannah na and
the emphasis was not as much as on
performing deeds only at the end of the
Meccan period period when when the Prophet ﷺ
was ascended with so now you see that
at the very beginning Allah was the focus
and when these people were inspired through their
belief in Allah subhana wa ta'ala then
Allah jalla wa ala put the actions the
commands upon them and they accepted it because
they were sort of ready for it is
that clear so very often when you go
to someone and say no it's haram stop
doing this stop doing that but does he
even know Allah if he would know Allah
he wouldn't do it now if you know
Allah you don't disobey Allah and in harmony
with your knowledge of Allah you will serve
him more and you will fear him more
this is how it works so this is
why Ibn Ajeeba says وَمَن ذَلَّكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ
فَقَلْ مَصَحَكَ the one that shows you the
way to Allah he has given you the
true good only sincere advice this is the
advice so Ibn Qayyim he looks at it
and he says every haram that you do
is out of love and it's due to
a lack of love an excessive love for
pleasing your ego and the lack of love
for pleasing Allah that's it so every haram
is due to an excess of love and
a lack of love the excess of love
for pleasing your ego and the lack of
love for pleasing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
so even the maasiyah even the sin is
driven by love but a wrong love ok
so this is the first reason we want
to be inspired by our belief in Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala so that we can
find the energy the ongoing energy to get
to know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala another
thing that I find very interesting when looking
at the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala is that it's the only ongoing knowledge
that will be everlasting fiqh we don't need
fiqh in Jannah aqidah we don't need to
know the kinds of tawheed and the characteristics
of prophets in Jannah but ihsan knowing Allah
this is why Jannah was created because knowledge
of Allah is endless is limitless it has
no limits because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's
beauty is unlimited so he created a world
that is eternal with people that live therein
eternal lives so that every second and no
seconds in Jannah but at every moment in
time will be a moment in time where
they get to know Allah so the journey
that you start when you learn the names
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is an
everlasting one is the only knowledge that you
will take with you to Allah even in
your grave first question man rabbuk who is
your lord if you are munafiq the messenger
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said a hypocrite then
you will say ah ah oh oh la
adri i do not know sami'tun nas yaquluna
shay'an i heard the people say something
why?
because it was not really in your heart
your knowledge of Allah was weak so your
knowledge of Allah you even take it into
your grave and even on your deathbed the
messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said man mata
wakana akhiru kalabihi la ilaha ilallah mukhrisan min
qalbihi dakhalal jannah the one that dies and
whose last words are la ilaha ilallah sincerely
with his heart will enter paradise he didn't
just say the one that says la ilaha
ilallah so the stronger and the vaster your
knowledge is of Allah the stronger your shahada
will be look at this person this man
that came to the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam while he was resting and he hung
his sword on one of the branches of
a tree and the man came and he
took the sword and he went like Muhammad
who will save you now?
the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam didn't experience
any kind of fear he was who will
save you now from me and my sword?
the messenger said the word the divine name
with this yaqeen certitude with this subhanallah pure
heart and deep understanding of what it means
so he said Allah the way he said
Allah with the belief the strength of this
belief that came through his mouth the man
trembled and the sword he dropped the sword
and then the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
took and he said and who will save
you from me?
he said ya Rasulallah he said ya Muhammad
he said do not kill me I promise
you that I will go back to my
people and tell them that I came from
the best man on earth and I will
never ever fight against you then Muhammad a
.s. let him go the man turned and
after a few steps in another narration the
man came back sat down and said ya
Muhammad teach me what Islam means and when
the sahaba radiallahu anhu they saw this from
far away they came running they came running
and they said what's going on?
they saw a man with a sword pointed
at Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and he
said leave him leave him he has accepted
Allah and his prophet this is the strength
of just Allah which we say in every
adhan Allahu Akbar which we say in every
prayer Allahu Akbar which we say in janaza
Allahu Akbar which we say after prayer Allahu
Akbar Allahu Akbar Subhanallah just this saying Allahu
Akbar should inspire our hearts with awe and
fear and humility this is when we understand
what we are saying and the prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam he gave us the example
of what it means to be lost in
the understanding of Allahu Akbar when he said
Allahu Akbar one of the supplications he used
to say وَاسْأَلْلَهُمَا بَاعِدْ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ خَطَايَا كَمَا
بَاعَدْتَ بَيْنَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ like in Bukhari he
said O Allah remove my faults from me
exactly as you have removed the east from
the west the moment you say Allahu Akbar
the east and west is nothing the universe
is nothing the multiverse is nothing nothing O
Allah remove my sins from me as you
have removed the east from the west so
this is why Abu Talib Al-Makki he
said in his book Qutub Qulub he said
do not open your prayer with a lie
do not open your prayer with a lie
they said what do you mean opening your
prayer with a lie he said by saying
Allahu Akbar and thinking about others than Allah
because the lie is not that you say
Allahu Akbar because Allah is most great even
if you don't think about it but outwardly
it's a lie because you're saying something which
you do not experience on the inside so
he said do not open your prayer with
a lie the moment it's Allahu Akbar no
time for me just dedication, submission so now
to come back when we have this strong
belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala miracles
happen even for non-prophets like Khalid Ibn
Walid radhiAllahu anhu who walked over the sea
with his horses they would say oh no
I don't believe this this is impossible you
know gravity this that so it's impossible they
should have a certain magic trick no they
didn't you know that when they mentioned the
sea and Khalid Ibn Walid went with the
horses over the water that there was one
man in his pocket how do you call
this a pocket a cup his cup sank
right so everything everybody was walking over water
it was normal and when he arrived he
was crying I said why are you crying
he said I think Allah is angry with
me I said why he said everybody you
know passed the water the river or the
ocean whatever and they didn't lose anything my
cup sank he didn't look at I went
over the water with a horse myself I
didn't sing I didn't drown nothing no this
and then he went and he stood you
know on the beach and he said oh
my lord if you are pleased with me
then please give me back my cup and
then subhanallah a wave brought him the cup
and he was the happiest man this is
how they looked at it they weren't astonished
اقتربت الساعة واشق القمر Prophet S.A.W.
points at the moon moon splits you know
I mean we believe and he was a
Prophet S.A.W. but we believe that
there are miracles but the biggest miracle is
not that you walk on water is not
that you fly through the sky the biggest
miracle is that you attain the climax of
your existence that the small tiny little soul
gets connected to the creator of all this
is the miracle that the connection is made
now it's disturbed like when you take your
antenna and you put it a little bit
like this you have an image but it's
not clear this is what we are having
it's a bit there it's not there I
feel it I don't but the moment that
it's in the right direction you know it
people say how do I know that I
have established this connection the answer is if
you would have you wouldn't ask you would
know it you would know it so the
miracle is that the soul gets connected to
the creator of all and this is why
Imam Ghazali r.a he mentioned also in
Muqaddimah of his Munkhidh and others where he
describes his journey he says when he was
in the minaret of course Palestine or the
Quds and he said I experienced things in
that minaret if I were to tell you
what it was you wouldn't believe and I
wouldn't believe myself he said because every time
I thought that I had you know found
the climax of connection with Allah the next
day there was more next day there was
more and if yesterday you would have told
me that there is more I would say
no it's impossible subhanallah and this is what
we want we don't want to go for
silver we want to go for gold we
don't want to go for gold we want
to go for platinum we don't want to
go for that we want to go for
the highest thing which doesn't exist you know
we look at all these sportsmen rich and
so forth subhanallah there is one thing you
cannot pay one thing that's connection with Allah
subhanallah ta'ala it's no longer about how
much are you ready to give it's about
how much are you ready to lose to
give up because the last thing you will
have to give up on is yourself and
that's what we like love most and this
is why imam al-sha'arani rahimahullah azawajal
he said in his book tanbih al-mukhtarreen
he said it's strange to see that someone
thinks that he sees a shortcoming in his
brother or sister a small one a tiny
one and he doesn't like him anymore it's
sufficient for you that somebody doesn't text you
back to hate him I text you three
times I called you five times you didn't
reply Allah calls you five times everyday so
he says like you didn't text me whatever
so you see a small mistake in your
brother or your sister and you become angry
you think you see a mistake shortcoming he
says but when you look into the mirror
you look at someone from whom you know
everything from the past and the present the
heart and the actions the feelings, emotions he
says but you continue to love him how
strange is this when I think I see
a shortcoming I hate someone and I'm sure
about mine but I love myself the last
thing between us and Allah is our own
ego and when we are able to turn
this off there we are there we are
and we will be so happy that we
say if this is the feeling of the
people of paradise that's sufficient if this is
what the people of paradise feel when I'm
this close that this is sufficient but there
is more every time more and more and
more subhanallah so this is why we want
to get to know Allah because we want
to be happy and the happiness that we
are looking for we are looking for it
and there we won't find it like if
I put a polar bear in the desert
it will yearn for ice and cold and
if I put a camel on the north
pole it will cry for desert and the
heat why?
because it's not in the right environment and
we are continuously stopping our souls from being
in the right environment and this is why
we are not as happy as we should
be when we look at everything we have
we should be the happiest people on the
earth if you look at our beds and
our heating and our food this is better
than the kings 300 years ago so we
should be happy right?
but we don't have a horse we have
so much horse power in our cars the
journeys in few hours what they had to
do in a few weeks we should be
the happiest people on earth but we are
not and the Prophet ﷺ this is the
last thing I want to say when Omar
bin Khattab r.a who looked at him
and this is Anas ibn Malik saying this
and he looked at him sleeping on the
ground and he saw the traces of the
palm leaves on his back he said Ya
Rasool Allah do you sleep like this?
while the emperors and leaders of Rome and
Persia they sleep on beds made out of
gold and blankets of silk he said even
you Ya Allah are you saying this?
if somebody else would say it are you
saying this?
don't you want this to be for them
in this life and for us in the
hereafter?
so which doesn't mean we are not allowed
to have luxury but we shouldn't long for
it is the difference clear?
we shouldn't long for it and this is
why Imam Ahmad said when someone asked can
someone possess 100,000 Dinar and still be
a Zahid?
and he's someone who abstains from the dunya
he said no if his wealth is in
his hand and not in his heart how
many people in small huts dream of a
palace and how many people in a palace
dream of Jannah?
they're never content but why are we not
content?
because we haven't satisfied the hunger that we
have there is something an emptiness within us
that cannot be tamed but by connecting to
Allah Subhanallah so as long as we don't
have this we will keep on looking for
this something that will eventually satisfy me but
we are not until we know Allah وَمَا
خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونَ the only reason
why I've created jinn and mankind is لِيَعْبُدُونَ
Imam At-Tabari Rahim Allah he mentions in
his Tafsir that the Sahabi Jalil Ali Radiallahu
Anhu said إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونَ إِلَّا لِيَعْرِفُونَ I have
created jinn and mankind to know me that
the meaning of worshipping that in Arabic it's
used like that worshipping is the result of
knowledge so he has created and knowledge leads
to knowledge sorry, worship leads to knowledge anyway
Allah has created us to know him and
if we know him we will worship him
that's the result of knowledge is that clear?
so these are some of the reasons why
we want to get back to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and the last thing the
very last thing is the closer you get
to Allah the harder it gets subhanallah because
you know it's like you're in an oven
like gold that needs to be cleaned and
purified you know and if you really want
to melt away be that gold you know
then you need to get rid of all
the filth and that can Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala will then take away everything that
he sees being an obstacle between you and
him might be your honor it might be
your wealth your status your family your children
look at the prophets اِذَا أَحَبَّ اللَّهُ قَوْمًا
يُسِبْنِهُمْ when Allah loves people he will test
them and the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said
when Allah loves someone and this is in
the Jamia of As-Suyuti rahimallah when Allah
loves someone tests will come down upon him
quicker than rain is poured down on the
earth like this when you sleep and you
hear it on the window well that's nothing
compared to you if Allah loves you and
if you love the messenger of Allah a
.s. that what you're hearing on your windows
that is your tests all the time and
we we complain about these tests why they
are proved that Allah loves us why did
this happen why me always me it's always
something look at it not with your aqal
but with your iman and then you will
understand that afflictions may Allah protect us are
a doorway to the divine presence I ask
Allah s.w.t to make that what
has been said beneficial we have had an
hour approximately so starting from next week inshallah
an hour and twenty minutes but then also
there will be time for questions and so
much more inshallah ok so what did you
get out of the class for yourselves so
what what did it inspire you with what
what do you feel what yes no very
good being present in everything you read in
everything you do and so forth very good
what else no the importance of the name
of Allah names of Allah s.w.t
what else be mindful ok what
else yes very nice knowledge knowledge is essential
for understanding anything everything yes something else so
we are a million years far away from
reality subhanAllah Allah Akbar yes subhanAllah
what else yes very
good connection everything try to share this with
people I don't mean the recording your knowledge
what you have learned I am not asking
you to sit in a mosque and teach
everybody but share what you have learned the
importance of the names make a summarized version
for yourself put it on whatever social media
you have and you don't have to attribute
anything to me I mean the important thing
is that it gets out there that you
remind people around you in your environment parents
children neighbors sisters brothers friends what it's all
about and what really matters I ask Allah
s.w.t to make this beneficial and
to accept this from us inshAllah and to
grant us a long life so that we
can go over all of his names and
put them into practice ameen wassalamu alaikum wa
barakatuh