Sulayman Van Ael – The Divine Names 16
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AI: Transcript ©
والصلاة والسلام وبركة على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله
وصحبه وبعده فنسأل الله عز وجل بأسمائه الحسنى
وصفاته العلى أن يجعلنا وإياكم من المستمعين للقول
والمتبعين أحسنى إنه سبحانه وتعالى ولي ذلك وقادم
عليه ثم مبعده بقوله الله جل وعلا ونحن
سنستمر برحلتنا من خلال أسماء الله وكذلك تذكر
أن كل أسماء الله سبحانه وتعالى يجب أن
تتأثر على الطريقة التي نفكر فيها الطريقة التي
نتعامل بها والطريقة التي نتواصل بها مع الله
سبحانه وتعالى وهذا هو المستوى العالي للإيمان إنه
يتم تغييره من خلال إيمانكم وعادةً نحن نتغير
من خلال الإيمان وليس من خلال الإيمان فالشيء
الوحيد الذي يبدو أنه يتغير هو الطريقة التي
نفكر فيها وعادةً نحن نتعامل بها عندما نسمع
المعلمين يتحدثون وعندما نسمع أشخاص عارفين يتحدثون عن
الله سبحانه وتعالى ولكن عندما نحن وحدنا فهذا
مثل صوت نسمعه وعادةً يتغير لذلك لا يوجد
فائدة في العرفة بدون التعامل إنه أكثر من
إعجاب للمعلمين لديهم معرفة لا يستخدمها لذلك كما
أتحدث عنها بشكل عادي مشكلتنا ليست مشكلة لا
يعرف is a crisis of not knowing how
to put what we know into practice.
So our crisis is not a crisis of
not knowing.
If we are going to have a look
at ourselves, we will see that we know
a lot of things.
But when we are going to compare what
we know to what we practice, then we
see that the amount of what we know
is far more than the amount we practice.
And this is dangerous because it is one
of the signs of nifaq.
It is one of the signs of hypocrisy.
And this is why it is better to
know one thing and to practice it for
the rest of your life than to increase
in knowledge and not putting anything into practice.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ made this very clear
when he said in Sahih Muslim, القرآن حجة
لك أو عليك The Qur'an is an
argument in your favor or against you.
Meaning that more than 6,000 verses are
either an argument in your favor on the
Day of Judgment or against you.
And this is why we need to have
a new look at the Qur'an.
What do I mean a new look at
the Qur'an?
Is we are going to explore the verses
in the Qur'an calling us towards actions,
towards good character traits.
We are going to have a look at
all the ayat in Kitab Allahi Azwajal.
We are going to read it from Surat
Al-Fatiha to Surat An-Nas.
And every verse we are going to ask
ourselves, What does this verse want from me?
This is the most important thing, you see.
But the problem is when we are going
to have a look at the entire Qur
'an, we see that one chapter needs to
be repeated over and over again.
It is a chapter if you do not
read it, you have no prayer.
لَا صَلَاتَ لِمَنْ لَمْ يَقْرَأْ بِفَاتِحَةِ الْكِتَابِ There
is no prayer, no accepted prayer for whomsoever
prays without reciting Surat Al-Fatiha.
Now, what is going on with Surat Al
-Fatiha then?
I mean, if we have to repeat it
17 times a day, there is a reason
behind this.
But I don't think we found the reason.
If we were to have found the reason,
then every time we were to recite Surat
Al-Fatiha, we would find it to inspire
us.
We would find it to elevate our spiritual
status with Allah SWT and so much more.
But the problem is that becoming familiar with
something makes you blind for the beauty within
it.
Maybe at the very beginning, when you were
married, you thought your wife to be very
beautiful.
You found your husband to be a very
attractive man.
But as time passed, all of a sudden,
you no longer see this beauty.
You see, yes, it's okay.
But the sparkle is gone.
The spark is gone.
But maybe when other people look at him,
they say, oh, it's a beautiful man.
So, the thing is that when you are
familiar with something, you become blind for its
inner beauty.
Familiarization is very dangerous.
One day I was sitting on a plane,
or in a plane rather, and there was
a lot of turbulence.
But really a lot, according to my standards,
right?
And I said, Ya Rabbi, is this the
end of my life?
And I was sitting at the back of
the plane and there was a man writing
on a computer, a laptop.
And I went up to the man and
I saw that he was actually working on
a program which had to do with planes.
The statistics of the plane and everything.
I said, can I ask you a question?
He said, go ahead.
I said, is this normal?
And he said, what?
And the plane went boom, like this.
I said, this.
He said, what?
I said, is it normal for the plane?
Oh, this.
He didn't say SubhanAllah.
He said, oh, SubhanAllah.
He said, no, I didn't even notice this.
It's nothing.
This is what we pilots call a hiccup.
You know?
And I said, okay.
So all of a sudden, because he was
so familiar to these turbulences, he didn't even
notice them.
Like if you were to visit someone in
New York, for example, and there is a
subway passing his house, right?
And everything trembles, he doesn't notice.
Say, oh, what was that?
He will say, what?
I said, everything started shaking and trembling.
Say, oh, that's the train.
Now the problem is we are all looking
for this magical formula to transform us and
connect us to God Almighty.
The problem is that this formula has already
been given.
It's Surat Al-Fatiha.
This is why Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allah
have mercy on him, in Zad Al-Ma
'ad, he says that Surat Al-Fatiha has
secrets.
It's not secrets that can't be found because
the Qur'an is not to have secrets
that can't be explored.
The Qur'an is Kitab Al-Mubin.
It's a clear book.
But meaning that every time you read Surat
Al-Fatiha, there is a new message behind
it.
How are we going to explore and how
are we going to understand the message of
Surat Al-Fatiha?
Well, through personalization.
We are going to personalize Surat Al-Fatiha,
meaning that every time you are going to
read Surat Al-Fatiha, you are going to
connect each verse to something actual happening, actually
happening in your life.
Why?
Why are you praising Allah today?
I mean, the reason before Dhuhr might be
not the same reason as after Asr.
So in your Dhuhr prayer, it will be
different.
In Maghrib, it will be different.
So you are actually going to connect your
emotions and your gratitude and your love for
Allah through Surat Al-Fatiha.
It is supposed to be your constitution, Surat
Al-Fatiha.
Because it is also, it are the only
words which make our prayer accepted.
Because there are no words good enough that
we can pronounce for our prayer to be
answered.
Allah says, it is not you talking, that
won't do it.
Even in Dua, the Prophet s.a.w.
said, every Dua which is not started with
a thana, with praising Allah jalla wa ala,
wassalat ala nabi s.a.w. and pronouncing
salawat over the Prophet s.a.w. will
not be accepted.
Meaning that the magic formula is not you,
you have already been given it.
So anyway, what we are going to do
now, we want to read Surat Al-Fatiha.
And it might be a very lonely journey.
Because the majority of people don't care.
The majority of people say, you know, I
pray my five prayers, I don't do haram,
leave me alone.
Ok, that's good, you are a good Muslim.
But the problem is, your hereafter will grow
in harmony with what you do for it.
And not everybody wants to do it.
Sometimes people fall back because they are waiting
for their wife to do the same.
Or for their children to do the same.
For their husband to do the same.
For their parents to do the same.
Because you feel if you want to grow,
you know, that all of a sudden the
participants will not grow with you.
The higher you go, the fewer the amount
of people will be that take part in
this journey.
I mean, you just have to look at
people climbing the Mount Everest, right?
And a good thing for the Hanafis, if
they climb the Mount Everest, Imam Samarqandi, he
said that if you climb, you are in
extreme cold, then you have an excuse to
wear your socks for longer than 72 hours
before taking them off to wipe over your
socks.
Normally as a traveller, there are 72 hours,
right?
He said in extreme cold, you can wipe
over your socks more than 72 hours.
This is also the opinion of Imam Madik
who didn't limit wiping over the socks, but
Imam Abu Hanifa did.
So anyway, why did I say this?
Yes, the Mount Everest.
So, the higher people climb, the more they
have to give up.
Isn't it?
I mean, at 3000 meters, everybody is happy.
Oh, the sun is shining, everything is okay.
Your lungs are still doing alright.
But then when you reach the full 5000
meters, all of a sudden, oxygen, your blood
starts becoming thinner.
So you don't have enough oxygen, some people
need to be put in an oxygen bag.
And there you are, losing your members, losing
fingers.
When you see this at 4000 meters, you
say, Oh, I'm just, you know, halfway.
And when we say halfway, it means in
distance, not in difficulty.
Because at the beginning it goes like this,
but then it goes like that, and then
it goes like this.
So the last 100 meters are the most
difficult ones.
So, you know, the higher you go, the
more difficult it gets.
This is when you want to reach the
climax of creation.
The climax of creation in height.
What if you want to reach the climax
in a world unexplored, unseen.
But on the other hand, the depths, the
depths, you know, in the oceans, are even
more deep than the heights of the mountains.
20,000 meters, you can keep on going.
So now to come back.
And this is what Imam Ghazali, may Allah
have mercy on him, clearly stated.
He said that, you know, when the goal
becomes bigger, the participants are fewer.
He said, He said, when the goal becomes
bigger, the participants become fewer in number.
So here we are, looking at the Qur
'an from beginning to the end.
And this is what our scholars used to
say.
You need to read the Qur'an in
three ways.
One is for the barakah, every month.
Believe me, if you read the Qur'an,
all the Qur'an, in one month, you
won't take away a lot of understanding.
But there is barakah.
There is barakah, the shaitan will leave your
house and so much more.
The second one is there where you try
to understand it.
And the third one is where you want
to practice it.
Three readings of the Qur'an.
And they say the last one is the
longest one.
The last one is the longest one.
Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud said, like Imam Ibn
al-Jawzi mentioned in his book Zad al
-Nasir.
He said, we used to learn five ayat
with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon
him, or ten.
No more.
Usually five.
Then we would go away from the Prophet,
peace and blessings be upon him.
We would understand these ayat, put them into
practice, invite people to these ayat.
And only after this, we would come back
to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon
him.
And this is why they say, we had
iman.
فَتَعَلَّمْنَا الْقُرْآنَ فَاسْدَدْنَا بِالْقُرْآنِ إِمَانًا We had iman,
then we were given Qur'an.
And with the Qur'an, our faith increased.
وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ And when the verses of Allah
are recited to them, their iman, their faith
increases.
So now, to come back, the names of
Allah are one of the things you are
going to find in the Book of Allah.
Which I found very interesting is that almost,
as I said before, read the Qur'an.
And the majority of verses about fiqh, al
-ayat al-fiqhiyya, are connected to al-asma
'il ilayhiya.
In the beginning it's fiqh, being it divorce,
menstruation, marriage, inheritance.
All these ayat are very theoretical fiqhi.
But at the end, it mentions the name
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Just read the Qur'an, it's ajeeb.
So that we would know that fiqh is
all about serving Allah.
And now today when we learn fiqh, it
seems to be very dry.
Why?
Because we disconnected fiqh from the one we
worship.
We are so focused on halal and haram,
very often, that we forget why we are
doing halal and why we are leaving haram.
And this is very often why some people
can't continue leaving haram.
Why?
Because they forgot why they have to leave
it.
Just rules.
And then we come like, subhanAllah, the same
thing.
When you have a rule not to pass
the red light, police officer is there, you're
going to stop.
Even if you were in the middle of
the desert, camera, woof, okay, you stop.
If the camera weren't there, you would continue.
Why?
Because he doesn't see me.
If you have the aqeedah that Allah jalla
wa ala always sees you, then you're always
going to stop for haram.
And this is why Ibn Ajeeba said, مَن
دَلَّكَ عَلَى الْعَمَلِ فَقَدْ أَتْعَبَكَ وَمَن دَلَّكَ عَلَى
الدُّنْيَا فَقَدْ غَشَكَ وَمَن دَلَّكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَقَدْ
نَصَحَكَ Someone who shows you the way to
perform deeds, he tires you.
Because if you don't know why you are
doing these deeds and for whom you are
doing them, one day you will give up.
So he said, if you remind people of
deeds, that's what is happening today.
The majority of people who talk is always
about deeds.
Do this, do that, don't do this, don't
do that.
At the end, we forgot why, for who,
you see?
But if we talk about the who, يعني
who in English, not the who, whoa, right?
It looks like, anyway, So if we talk
about the who, Allah Akbar, now it doesn't
leave my mind.
Okay, so anyway, and we talk about the
why, then eventually the rules will grow in
our heart because the desire to please the
one we know is so big.
Say, he's the one who created me, he's
the one who shaped me.
My child, subhanAllah, he's the one who created
it, gave it the color of its eyes
and its hair.
When it says daddy or abby or whatever,
or ummi, mother, it's he who made my
child speak, who put love in my child's
heart for me.
What big of a present is this?
So you start loving Allah, you start caring
for Allah, then you know that Allah is
almighty, he's the king, he's the sultan, he's
the khaliq, al-bari, al-musawwir, al-qahhar,
al-jabbar, al-mateen, al-qawi.
So now you are in awe, you're in
awe for Allah.
So you say, and this is why Imam
al-Ghazali says, if you have this love
and you have this awe, al-'iba, you are
going to say, what can I do to
please my Lord and tell me what I
need to stay away from so that I
don't make him angry.
On the one hand, al-fara'id, al
-mandoobat, al-mustahabbat, and here, al-muharramat, al
-makroohat.
If you really want this, my brother, if
you really want this, my sister, do the
fard and do everything which Allah likes, and
he will be pleased with you.
And leave all the haram and everything he
dislikes, and he will not be angry with
you.
But now we are doing the opposite.
A child grows up, no it's haram, no
it's halal.
It's important that it stays away from haram,
so I'm not trying to make this point,
but you're not teaching it to connect first.
This connection is very important.
Don't we see that at the very beginning,
all the ayat were about yawm al-qiyamah?
Everything was about yawm al-qiyamah.
SubhanAllah, everything.
If you look at the ayat al-taqwees,
surat al-inshiqaq, and so much more, these
ayat in the beginning in Mecca, they were
all about connecting to Allah.
Who is Allah?
Now we are, sometimes we have the feeling
that we are forcing ourselves to do forms
of worship.
They feel sometimes like a burden, sometimes they
feel like something heavy, but anyway, I have
to do it because I'm a Muslim.
That's not love.
Love is being driven to do whatever your
beloved one wants from you.
Like Ibn al-Qayyim said, in Madadj Saliheen,
You continuously keep on thinking about your beloved
one, and your heart is always passionate to
do what your beloved one wants.
And the first thing our scholars said, that
is a proof of your love for Allah
is staying away from all the Muharramats.
Like the shaykh said, He
said, you are disobedient to the Lord, yet
you claim to love Him?
This is something very strange.
Because when you love someone, you obey that
someone.
So, if we are not able to leave
bad deeds, lower our gaze, keep our mouths
away from gossiping or lying or breaking hearts,
then there is one reason.
The lack of love for Allah, and the
lack of awe for Allah.
That's it, nothing else.
Sometimes people say, I'm not very structured.
I pray too late.
Sometimes I go to bed before Isha, praying
Isha, then I wake up, subhanAllah, it's after
Fajr.
I have no structure.
Not praying on time is not a lack
of structure.
It's a lack of spiritual connection with Allah.
Nothing more.
It's not about being structured.
Praying is not about being structured.
Yes, thank you.
Praying is about being reminded.
Allahu Akbar.
SubhanAllah, they say in Jannah, some rivers are
whiter than milk, sweeter than honey.
SubhanAllah.
And there is no diabetes.
No malad sukkah.
Like here, I think it has been a
long time that I had something with sugar
in it.
But there you can keep on going, it's
not bad for your teeth, it's not bad
for your health.
SubhanAllah.
Okay, let's continue.
So, we want to connect to Allah, subhanAllah
ta'ala.
One of the things, ma'arakAllahu feekum, that
will come into existence when we love Allah
and have accepted Allah as our Lord, is
Ar-Ridaa Bil-Qadha.
Ar-Ridaa Bil-Qadha.
That you are pleased with Allah's choices in
your life.
This is what we want to talk about
today, Ar-Ridaa.
We are not going to mention the name
of Allah, we are going to talk about
the result of believing in Allah.
And one of them is Ar-Ridaa, and
this is a book I have written in
Dutch.
It's called Be Pleased With Allah.
So this is the book, but you can't
buy it because it's in Dutch.
The book is called Know Allah, Knowing Allah.
So I mentioned the reasons why it's important
to know Allah, and then in the second
part I talk about Ar-Ridaa Bil-Qadha.
I had another book which was published, I
think, a month ago, and it's called Spiritual
Pearls.
It's also in Dutch.
So inshaAllah, we started this.
All the books I've written are on my
computer.
They've been there for about 10 years, and
now I wrote about 430 books, so I
need to get them out.
InshaAllah, with your dua, they will happen.
Maybe one day they will be translated, who
knows.
So Ar-Ridaa Bil-Qadha, they say, is
your last step towards getting rid of yourself.
On your way to Allah, Allah doesn't allow
a heart to be shared.
Exactly as He doesn't want you to worship
others apart from Him, He doesn't want you
to share your heart with others apart from
Him.
You see?
Which doesn't mean that we are not allowed
to love creation.
We love people, but our love is within
a framework.
Very often we say, أحبك في الله أحببتك
في الله And the Prophet ﷺ said, أوثق
عرى الإيمان أوثق عرى الإيمان الحب في الله
والبغض في الله The strongest handhold of faith
is loving for Allah.
So loving for Allah.
What does it mean to love someone for
Allah?
The Prophet ﷺ also said, مَنْ أَحَبَّ لِلَّهِ
وَأَبْغَضَ لِلَّهِ وَمَنَعَ لِلَّهِ وَأَعْطَ لِلَّهِ فَقَدْ اِسْتَكْفِرَ
لِلْإِيمَانِ Someone who loves for Allah, then he
mentioned other things, has completed his faith.
So what is loving for Allah?
Once a man came to me, he said,
my wife is angry with me.
I said, why?
Because I told her, I love you for
Allah, sister.
I said, brother, this is not a way
to talk to your wife.
I love you for Allah's sake, sister.
I said, subhanAllah, why is this necessary?
Just tell her you love her.
And the sister thing makes it all very
strange.
Allah called her Zawta, at least say Zawta,
you see.
But anyway, he said she's angry.
I said, why?
Because of this.
I said, okay, that's one zero for her.
I understand.
If you come home and say, sister, I
love you, for Allah, there's no difference from
you saying this to a brother.
But she said, I want you to love
me for me.
I don't want you to love me for
Allah.
So I said, what do I reply?
What should I tell her?
Well, very often we get things mixed up.
What does it mean to love for Allah?
Because very often we have it in our
minds, but we don't know how to feel
it in our heart.
Well, loving for Allah, we have a natural
love, which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
given to mankind.
And this love between spouses is even stronger
than the word love.
وَجَعَلَ مَوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً And Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ
أَزْوَاجًا لِتَسْكُمُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُمْ مَوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً
Allah says that he has placed mawadda between
man and wife.
What is mawadda?
It's qimmatul hubb.
It is the climax of love.
This is mawadda.
Mawadda is the climax of love.
And then Allah said rahma.
Why?
When you just married, you think that you
are married to perfection.
Everything is perfect.
You don't see no shortcomings.
There is nothing which annoys you.
All is perfect, beautiful, in harmony.
And everything you see is what you want.
And everything you hear is what you like.
Then when the dopamine, after they say 18
months or so.
You know when the butterflies fly away.
When...
Uncles are laughing.
You know when butterflies go back to where
they came from.
All of a sudden you see clearly.
You say ok.
It wasn't as perfect.
This is with everything by the way.
You buy a new car.
It can be the car you think...
The most expensive car.
You buy it.
In the beginning you say, Oh my car
hasn't got any problems.
It's the best car.
Everybody who has a new car says this.
Listen to them.
It doesn't drink anything.
It doesn't consume anything.
It's good.
The tires are good.
No noise.
Nothing.
MashaAllah.
Best car ever.
I will always buy this brand.
When you see him five years later, you
say how was your car?
Worst car ever brother.
I say brother you said it was the
best car.
I'm never going to buy this brand again.
So this is dunya.
It was never perfect.
But you were blinded by its lie.
She deceives you.
You know.
She misguides you.
So anyway.
To come back.
Allah says, Because in the beginning there is
this love.
What blind love.
Everything is perfect.
And then things start to show.
Patience is a bit less.
Being the noble gentleman who always opens the
door.
Start saying, Open it yourself.
The man that used to get up when
you would pray to take you by the
hands and lift you.
There you go.
Now he sees that you can barely get
up because you are too tired.
In Ramadan he looks at you and he
passes.
You know.
So then the feeling starts to arise.
Are we still in love?
No.
But you love one another.
You see.
So Allah, Why am I saying all this?
Mawadda.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala placed al
-mawadda.
Right.
Mawadda.
Between the spouses.
Why did I say this?
How did I get to this?
Yes.
Al-hubb fil-lah doesn't mean that the
feeling you have is controlled or is mixed
with a love for Allah.
What it means is my feeling is love
but with my love I will only behave
within the limits of halal.
Done.
That's loving for Allah.
Loving you for Allah, Omar, means if I
am wrong according to the fiqh and you
are right then I give you your right
and I say, Sama'na wa ta'ala.
That's loving for Allah.
You see.
Or when you want my help you say,
not you, for example somebody else.
Yeah, there is somebody who wants my help.
I really love him a lot.
He says, Brother, I got a problem.
You know, I didn't ever tell you but
I'm actually addicted to weed.
But I really love him, you know.
He says, Please give me five pounds.
Just gonna buy a joint.
I will be right back.
He says, Brother, I can't do this for
you.
Brother, please, come on.
You told me you love me.
I love you.
But my loving you for Allah means that
my actions will not go, my love will
not allow me to perform actions which Allah
doesn't like.
This is al-hubbu fil daal.
Is it clear?
And very often we mix it up and
then we think, Oh no, I need to
love things for Allah.
No.
Loving things for Allah means love freely within
a framework of halal.
And don't do anything haram for the one
you love.
It's over.
That's al-hubbu fil daal.
Does it become clear?
And this is why a lot of people
say, I love you for Allah, I love
you for Allah.
But people actually don't know what it means.
I had a brother who always used to
tell me, I love you for Allah because
you are you.
You see?
So, to come back.
Rida, meaning being pleased with Allah.
The last thing that we need to get
rid of on our path, on our way
to Allah is ourselves.
Love for ourselves.
And with love, you have to love yourself.
The meaning, loving your ego.
And the last thing you want to give
up as a Muslim, as a human being,
is freedom of choice.
To be submitted to someone's will.
Because this takes away your freedom.
You see?
Nobody wants this.
People can, you know, if people tell you,
if you say, you tell someone, I'm going
to stay home for a week.
I'm not going to pick up the phone.
I'm not going to do anything for a
week.
Just chill out.
You will come at rest.
If now someone tells you, you need to
stay in your home for half a day.
Don't pick up the phone and don't go
out.
These eight hours are like * to you.
Actually, nothing happened.
You were just eight hours home.
But you feel imprisoned.
You feel limited.
This is how we were created.
Because we were created to explore.
We were created to be innovative.
To do so many things.
You know, this is within us.
And now Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
but when it comes down to me, you
shut your will off.
Turn it off.
I choose, you are pleased with my choice.
How difficult is this?
Allah is difficult.
It's difficult.
You know, when things happen that you do
not like in your life, you come back
home, your wife tells you, sorry, our child
has died while you were away.
And on top of that, imagine, a car
crashed into our car.
But I parked it in the wrong space,
so we will have to pay it.
Two days later, you get the news that
your mother died.
I know, I have been counseling people.
Some of the people I spoke to, a
woman lost her husband and two sons in
a year.
And everybody due to something unexpected.
This can happen.
It are not like fake things.
I mean, just think about Yemen.
Yemen now, while we were talking, how many
children died?
A lot.
Think about Ethiopia.
We don't always have to think about Muslims.
Think about these non-Muslim children, who have
to walk every day, four hours go, four
hours back, just to get 20 litres of
water.
They stop going to school at the age
of 11, because now they can carry buckets
on their head.
While we are talking, this is happening.
Think about Syria, think about Iraq, think about
all these places.
So yes, terrible things happen.
So now to come back.
How are we now going to find rida,
contentment, with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's choices
in our lives?
This is the last thing on our way
to Allah.
When something happens which we wouldn't choose for,
that we say, Ya Rabbi, your choice is
better than that what I desire.
Like, you want to get married?
It happens.
The night where you are going to get
married, and the new wife is waiting for
her husband, they say, subhanAllah, he died on
the way, a car crash, dead.
That this woman says, he was not destined
for me.
He was not my rizq.
My heart is sad, but Ya Rabbi, I
accept your choice.
These are the real people.
These are the real people.
And talking about it is beautiful, but doing
it is difficult.
And that's where we, as Muslims, show whether
we are strong in our faith or weak.
Very often, when people visit someone whose husband
died, whose child died, all of a sudden
they feel that they have to become preachers.
You know, they go, Sister, it was Allah's
choice.
Allah did it for you.
And they want to give these reminders.
They need to be sincere.
If it were to happen to you, would
you think like this, or would you fall
down on your knees and cry in a
little corner, not wanting anybody to remind you
of anything because you are in pain?
Tell me.
I, weak, I would be the second one.
I would like nobody to talk to me.
Maybe I would be weeping in a corner,
not wanting to be reminded.
Maybe, I don't know.
So instead of going there and preaching, go
there to be there for them.
Because when you preach something, Allah will test
you with it.
That is the themem, the what?
The price of reminding people.
When you remind others of something which you
are not, it will come in your life.
وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ صَدَقُوا اللَّهَ لَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَهُمْ It
says Allah, if they were truthful towards Allah,
it would have been better for them.
You see?
So, just go to these people and be
there for them.
Give your shoulder to cry on.
Make them some food.
Make them happy.
Try to take care of their children instead
of being Shaykh al-Islam, coming there, talking
about the deen.
Say, if you want, I can keep your
five children with me for a week.
That is Dawah.
And that's difficult.
Talking for five minutes is very easy.
So, anyway.
الرِّضَى بِالْقَضَى The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ spoke about
the virtue of being pleased with Allah's choice.
And he said, ذَاقَ طَعْمَ الْإِيمَانِ مَنْ رَضِيَ
بِاللَّهِ رَبَّ وَبِالإِسْلَامِ دِينَ وَبِمُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ
وَسَلَّمَ نَبِيَّ He said, he or she who
is pleased with Allah as a Rabb, and
Rabb is like a murabbi, the one who
forms you, educates you, does with you, makes
you go through things.
The one who is pleased with Allah as
a murabbi, as a Rabb, and with Islam
as his way of life, and with Muhammad
ﷺ as his guide, will taste the sweetness
of faith.
Sweetness.
Ibn al-Qayyim says, the sweetness of faith
can be tasted with the heart like we
taste food with the tongue.
It's something you feel here.
It's like your heart has been fed with
the most beautiful thing.
But what is the condition?
Being pleased with Allah's choices in your life.
And you know sometimes we complain about the
smallest, slightest things.
We want to park the car.
When we arrive, and it's very important, we've
got an appointment and we know it's a
very busy day, just when I think, oh
there's a space, somebody else comes and takes
that space.
Then how do you feel?
Some people, shiny happy people, say Alhamdulillah, MashaAllah,
Mubarak, and they mean it.
You know Mubarak, Alhamdulillah, I'm so happy for
him, it was his rizq.
That's not the majority of people, believe me.
Some people say, Ya Rabbi, again?
Last time?
This time?
I think three times already I've been looking
for a parking space.
You tell to your wife, and every time
I want one, there is none.
And after that you want to convince your
wife she has to be pleased with the
decree of Allah, and you want to tell
your children to do the same.
It doesn't work.
What you show is what you reap, right?
So the Rida bil Qadha is in the
smallest things.
You were looking for a cheap hajj.
How much is hajj these days?
Excuse me?
Okay, there's no cheap hajj anymore.
Excuse me?
Are you a tour guide?
For hajj?
With hotel?
And in Mecca and Medina?
Ten days, ten days?
Oh.
Okay, share this with me.
SubhanAllah.
Okay, so anyway, this can be Qadr, right?
So, anyway.
So, a cheap hajj, like you said seven,
he says three thousand.
So now I'm excited, because I say two
thousand nine hundred.
Yes, InshaAllah.
So now, when he will send it to
me, for example, tomorrow, and I will call
them, and they say, SubhanAllah, brother, Allah, three
minutes ago somebody called, and the last one
for two thousand nine hundred is gone, now
it is seven thousand.
Umari hajj.
Now, how will I feel?
SubhanAllah, why?
You know, I'm disgusted in a certain way.
Where is the Rida bil Qadha?
It's difficult.
It's that you know that this is better
for you.
Because we're not looking at money, we don't
know what the result of our choices will
be.
Maybe I go for the one with three
thousand, and maybe it will change my heart
and I come back as a bad Muslim,
as someone who doesn't like hajj, and doesn't
like anything because of my bad experience.
Maybe I pay seven thousand, and I meet
one of the scholars of the hereafter, who
changed my heart, my life, and myself for
the rest of my life.
So, we don't weigh success on money, or
paying more or paying less.
It is all where it brings us in
the hereafter.
And as we don't know what will bring
us where, we have a Rida bil Qadha.
Now, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows better
than we do.
How many people have been saying, I want
to get married to this man, I want
to get married to this man, usually I
say to this woman.
But anyway, man, woman.
So, I want to get married, married, this
is a good husband, this is a good
husband.
And then, the mother of that man says,
InshaAllah you will marry my son later on,
in two years when he finishes university.
And then all of a sudden you hear
he is married.
You say, but they promised me.
Yeah, but it's a shame, now you can't
talk, because he is married already.
What are you going to do?
So there you are, weeping in your corner.
Oh, this man, this man, subhanAllah, more than
two billion men in the world.
Oh, this man, this was the only man
as well.
This is the way people think, you know.
When they want something, they put their mind
on it, it's like it's the only thing
which exists.
So now, weeping, weeping, weeping, weeping, and then
all of a sudden your mother comes home.
She says, Alhamdulillah that you didn't get married
to him.
I just heard he is a drug dealer,
and he beat up his wife and she
is in hospital.
What are you going to do now?
Shukran Ya Rabbi.
It's the first thing I taught my son,
late.
He is now 14 months.
Shukran Ya Rabbi goes like this.
So, what is going on now?
So, five minutes ago, it was Ya Rabbi,
why?
Shukran Ya Rabbi.
Are we playing games?
You see?
The same with the man who went on
Hajj.
He was putting money, the Hajj was expensive,
7000.
He was putting a lot of money on
the side for two years.
So now in the morning he says, Darling,
I'm gone, children, hug, hug, bye, Salama, and
so forth.
He goes away, and he leaves his house
on time.
But then as soon as he is on
the highway, he is in a traffic jam.
He says, no problem, Alhamdulillah, traffic jam, no
problem.
I've left very early, so nothing can go
wrong.
So now, Is this phone mine?
Okay, so I will have, you know, later.
So now, it's true, it's 2895.
So now, he says, no problem, I left
very early, even an hour in a traffic
jam, no problem.
Time goes by.
An hour later, he has moved one mile.
But do you know these highways where you
can't go left or right?
There's no side road.
So there he is.
So he knows he's going to be late.
He says, no, InshaAllah, I did it for
Allah.
I put money aside, Allah will help me.
He has to help me.
I did it for something good.
So I think all the people that are
going to Hajj today are going to be
late.
So the plane is not going to depart.
So he thinks.
Then when he comes to late at the
airport, he sees Emirates Airlines.
That's his plane.
He knows it.
The little letters on the wing, on the
tail.
That's my flight.
What happened?
So now he's going back.
The children are still crying because daddy left
them.
The wife is a bit happy because now
she's got some time for herself.
So there he goes.
The children go, okay, let's open the door.
Who is this?
They open the door.
Daddy, we're so happy you're back.
But daddy is not happy, is he?
So he says, leave me alone.
And then the wife, what are you doing
here?
Can't you see what I'm doing here?
Do I need to explain to you?
Do I need to draw?
So anyway, the wife says, what's going on,
honey?
Please tell me.
And the more she asks, the more the
husband gets annoyed.
And the children are happy.
They're jumping because daddy is back.
So he goes to the room, slams the
door.
And there he is, sitting, pondering, bitter.
Why?
Why?
What is happening?
No assurance on his flight.
He's late.
He's not going to be paid back.
No Hajj this year.
And then, an hour later, Darling, leave me
alone.
Darling, I want to show you something.
Leave me, please.
Just one minute.
And then you can go back to your
room.
Okay.
Comes down.
She puts on Jazeera.
Flight crashed.
What is he going to do now?
The flight crashed.
It was not the Emirates Airlines.
The flight crashed.
So now what?
He's going to make Sadoodh Shukr.
All of a sudden, he was, Why?
Why?
And now, he goes, Shukra, Ya Rabbi.
Sorry that I was like this.
You know, we're just human, you know.
So all of a sudden, this ungrateful person
turns into a grateful worshipper.
Now, this is not correct, is it?
So what is happening?
This is why our scholars say, someone with
strong belief in Allah does at the beginning
of a test what a foolish man does
at the end of the test.
When you see why Allah has tested you,
you know that He was preserving you, that
He was giving you, that He was guiding
you to something which you couldn't have gotten
to if it weren't through this test.
Being it money, being it a job, being
it a wife, a husband, being it comprehension,
a deep spirituality, you don't know.
But we know that Allah, when He doesn't
give, it's not because He's stingy, He's rich.
When He withholds, He withholds with wisdom.
And when He gives, He gives with generosity
and wisdom.
So if you know that He withholds something
from you, then you know it's not to
tease you because this is not what Allah
does.
It's not just, you know, to annoy you
because this is not what Allah does.
Allah doesn't annoy people.
It's to teach you, to protect you, to
uphold you, to preserve you.
وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمُ اللَّهُ Fear Allah and Allah
will teach you.
So this is why they say at the
beginning of a test, our scholars used to
say, شُكْرًا يا رب I know that it
is behind the bitterness of medication, of medicine,
behind the bitterness of medicine is the cure,
the sweetness of the cure.
And this is the same with tests.
So you drink it with a smile because
you know that it's going to cure you.
You're on a table where Allah is taking
care of you.
We're not going to say like a surgeon
takes care of his patients, but this is
actually what's going on.
So just leave yourself in the hands of
Allah.
He will take care of you.
So this is رِضَى بِالْقَضَى أَن تَكُونَ كَالْمَيِّتِ
بَيْنَ يَدِي اللَّهِ That you are like a
dead person, a deceased person, from an emotional
point of view, a spiritual point of view,
in the hands of Allah.
And I want to finish with what Ibn
al-Qayyim said.
Being pleased with Allah's decree is the greatest
gate to Allah.
The biggest gate.
There are many gates, they're very tiny.
But if you really want to get connected
to Allah, it's being pleased with His decree.
No resistance whatsoever.
What comes, comes.
And this is why Ibn al-Jawzi mentioned
in his book about Amir al-Mumineen Umar
ibn Abdulaziz, the fifth Khalifa.
He said that Umar ibn Abdulaziz didn't find
peace of mind until he would say the
following.
اَللَّهَ مَرَضِّنِي بِقَضَائِكَ وَصَبِّرْنِي عَلَىٰ طَاعَتِكَ حَتَّ لَا
أُحِبَّ تَأْخِيرَ مَا عَجَّلْتَ وَلَا تَعْجِيلَ مَا أَخَّرْتَ
He said, when I said this, I found
peace of mind.
Which means, oh Allah, make me pleased with
your choices in my life.
Give me patience to fulfill what you have
ordained me to do.
And allow me not to want now what
you want to delay.
And not wanting to see delayed what you
want to make happen now.
He said, and when I said this, everything
left my heart.
So he says, the greatest, the biggest gate
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is contentment
with Allah's choices in your life.
It is paradise on the face of the
earth.
And it's the peace of mind of the
gnosts, those who know Allah.
It gives life to the soul and the
lovers.
And the worshippers rejoice therein.
And it is more beloved to those who
love them than their own choices.
And this is why Imam al-Dahabi mentioned
that one of the scholars whose dua was
accepted that one of his students said, people
come to you to make dua for them
and Allah cures them through you bi-idhnihi.
He said, why don't you make dua for
yourself?
He was blind.
He said, my son, Allah's choice for me
without me asking Him is more beloved to
me than Allah's choice after me asking Him.
And Allah cured him.
So we ask Allah, but we don't ask
Allah as someone who thinks that he has
to tell Allah something he doesn't know.
Or like someone who thinks he needs to
remind Allah of what he has forgotten.
When we ask Allah, we don't have a
bucket list.
You need to do this for me Ya
Rabbi, and do this, and do this, and
do this, and do this.
SubhanAllah, this is the way we talk sometimes.
No.
We always say, Ya Rabbi, if you know
that what I'm wanting is better for me,
my deen dunya and akhira, give it to
me.
And if it's not, then take it away
from me even if I would have wanted
it, desired it, and yearned for it.
This is the best thing you can do.
Salat al-istikhara.
Salat al-istikhara, the dua of al-istikhara
is...
SubhanAllah, look, last thing.
The Sahaba said, the Prophet ﷺ used
to teach us dua al-istikhara like he
would teach us al-fatiha.
Exactly as there is no accepted prayer without
al-fatiha, there is no accepted life without
al-istikhara.
Istikhara is the condition of life.
قُلْ إِنَّ صَلَاتِ وَنُسُكِ وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ
الْعَالَمِينَ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَبِذَلِكَ أُمِرْتُ وَأَنَا أَوَّا
الْمُسْلِمِينَ Say, my prayer and my sacrifice, my
life and my death are all for Allah,
the One.
And I do not associate any partners to
Him within that.
In my death and my life for Allah.
So that's why.
The istikhara is a true proof of you
believing in all the names of Allah.
The wise, the king, the decision maker, the
one who dishonours and honours, enriches and makes
others poor, gives some status and others not.
He is wise, he sees, he hears, he
knows, he is well informed.
So when things happen out of your control
and that you didn't provoke yourself, then you
know it's the divine will which is happening
in your life.
And if you are able to connect to
Him through your problems in life, then you
have understood why you are alive.
Meaning these tests of life, the wisdoms therein
can't be taught through books.
You see?
Through tests of life, Allah wants you to
understand something.
And as long as you keep on rebelling
against these tests, no I don't want it,
no it's not good, why are people doing
this?
Then you're blind, you're drunk, dunya made you
drunk.
But if now you want to be sober,
you look through your heart.
Say, what is Allah teaching me?
Even if it's very bad, like people that
you love, they are stabbing you in the
back.
People that you talk good about, that you
have been helping, are gossiping about you.
You don't look at what's happening.
You are looking at what you think Allah
wants you to understand.
And that's the reason why it's happening.
The reason why it's happening is not because
it's happening.
There is a lesson behind it.
What is it?
When you connect to the wisdom behind the
test, you have found a pearl which is
more precious than anything else on the face
of the earth.
If you want a treasure, you need to
dig through the mud.
If you want to connect to Allah, you
need to go through problems.
Surah Al-Baqarah Alhamdulillah InshaAllah
we will also, everybody will be informed with
regards to the prophetic soul.
The message will go out.
I will not say no more than this.
InshaAllah