Suleiman Hani – The Revival of the Ummah #06 Having Taqwa of Allah
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
We started this series with intention on covering
as many traits as possible to revive our
hearts, our families, and the ummah. And alhamdulillah
that we covered the topic of Ikhlas week
1.
The 2nd week we covered the topic of
iman. What is belief in the heart and
in one's actions?
The third thing that we covered is salah,
the first act of worship,
and the confirmation of your iman.
The 4th thing we covered is tawakkul, to
trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And finally, last week we covered which topic?
Who can remind us?
Hope and fear, jazakmohiran,
hope and fear.
And we mentioned there are a lot of
things related to hope and fear one of
which we will cover today InshaAllah Ta'ala and
it is the topic of taqwa.
But before we begin officially,
I just want to emphasize
again and again
you know with all that is happening in
Gaza
in Palestine and around the world
that we are required as much as we
can,
within our individual capacities
to channel our
pain or any grief
that we experience to something that is pleasing
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. It could be
a dua in that moment,
it could be you making sure
your character is good with the people around
you, it could be that you are fulfilling
the obligations in Allah, it could be that
you are repenting
shtawba from a sin. It could be that
you're raising awareness around the world. It could
be that you're taking action in a strategic
wise manner.
But at the end of the day, we
are also different in our personalities and what
we can handle. So if you are consuming
something
that is causing you to feel like you
can't do anything anymore, that you've lost all
hope and motivation,
then there's a different ruling for the one
who is in that state than the one
who is able to consume and continue moving
forward. You are to consume less than perhaps
of some of the images and videos, but
channel the productivity, the energy to doing something
for our brothers and sisters and also fulfilling
your responsibilities.
Because to go about living your life
with your school, your work, raising your children,
this is an act of worship that is
part of taking care of the ummah long
term we cannot give up our responsibilities
either while we are feeling that pain we
channel it something productive, channel it something beneficial
And the reason I say this is because
it is very, very, very difficult, especially for
those who are watching and following every single
thing throughout the day and night. These pictures
and videos really can can affect this in
a manner that for some people, they're not
moving forward anymore. They're not doing anything anymore.
And that's not productive. That's not what we
want. So if you're in that state,
find yourself taking in the the updates that
will help you
to continue benefiting our our brothers and sisters
who are physically going through what they are
going through and not just, emotionally and mentally.
We are living, Alhamdulillah, with many blessings and
freedoms and privileges here. So whatever you see,
channel it into something that is of gratitude,
that is beneficial for them, InshaAllah Ta'ala. May
Allah
alleviate the fears of our brothers and sisters
in Mavazah and bring down his aid and
support and allow us to continue moving forward
with optimism, with perseverance,
with jihadu nafs, with striving as much as
possible to liberate them for what they are
going through. Let's
begin with the topic of tonight.
Who said these words?
Who said these words?
The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
These are found in number of narrations, authentic
ahadith where the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
would advise the companions to have taqwa of
Allah and you will notice
we will define this word, the word taqwa
the topic of tonight InshaAllah Ta'ala
but after we define it with the English
meanings and translations we will stick to using
the actual term
And the reason being,
oftentimes, there are certain terms in Arabic,
especially if they're very common in the Quran
or the Sunnah, you will find that there's
no equivalent foreign English. And so to use
the English sometimes will miss some part of
the meaning, so we will try insha'Allah ta'ala
to define what we are talking about.
I advise
you be taqwa Allah to have taqwa of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. One time the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said to the famous
companion Mu'ad bin Jabal radiAllahu an
said to him, oh Mu'ad it's a famous
hadith
have taqwa of Allah wherever you are
and if we were to take this part
of the hadith, there are 2 other parts,
2 other lessons but just this first part
and we were to implement it our lives
would change significantly.
To have taqwa
wherever you are,
whether you're home alone
or with people in public, whether you're around
Muslims or non Muslims, whether you're with friends
or strangers,
wherever you are
it is one of the most concise
but powerful pieces of advice we can receive
and implement from the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
Many of the righteous
they would begin their letters of advice to
each other, they would begin out of love
for one another
I advise you to have taqwa of Allah,
one of them said you will find this
in Jami under Ulum Al Hikam, he said
I advise you to have taqwa of Allah
for it is the most honorable thing that
you can conceal
and the most virtuous thing that you can
present
and it is your prime investment.
May Allah help you and us to have
taqwa and may he reward us for it
immensely.
Taqwa sometimes is translated
unfortunately, it's translated as fear.
Some of us have seen the translation especially
maybe 20 30 years ago the Quran translations
that were common when you would read it
it would say what fear Allah.
So the word that was in English, the
translation that was used is fear but fear
we spoke about last week and fear has
a very different meaning. There is a component,
an element, a type of fear that we
will talk about that is part of taqwa,
but that's not the precise
translation.
And the word for fear in Arabic is
what?
We spoke about this last week. There's also
a similar word, kashia. These are different words,
but it's not taqwa.
Taqwa has more than that, it's more extensive,
and it comes from the root that also
has the meaning, so you have,
but it has the meaning of protection.
And we talk about protection we have the
example from the Quran itself where Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says
which means their Lord protected them
from the punishment of the fire. Another example
this is an example from Suratul Insan so
taqwa
is to have a protection,
a shield,
a barrier between you and something what is
that thing and why?
Taqwa is for you to have a shield
between yourself
and the anger of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
breaking the laws of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Sometimes we have a type of fear
and a type of trait
that prevents all of us from ever committing
a single crime
and that there are many reasons for that
but that deterrence
protected us from something harmful and we wanted
to stay away from the harmful
because of some consequence, there's some reason, you
value that law, that rule or you want
to stay away from the harm, so taqwa
is to stay away from the punishment of
Allah, from Allah being angry with you, upset
with you taqwa is for you to fulfill
the commands of Allah, to fulfill
all of the commands and to stay away
from all of the prohibitions to stay away
from the doubtful things to try to do
as many of these sun and the recommended
things and to stay away from the things
that are considered makru or disliked by Allah.
Ibrauj ibrahamullah summarizes and he says the essence
this word we hear about all the time
the essence of taqwa is to make a
shield
which guards you against the anger of Allah
and the punishment of Allah and this shield
what does it look like he said it
is to obey His commands and stay away
from the prohibitions.
This is the summary of that shield.
But then he said, perfect
taqwa
requires that one tries to do all of
the voluntary things, the recommended things to refrain
from all of the prohibited
and disliked things. He says this is the
ultimate form of taqwa meaning there is taqwa
but there's a higher level of taqwa, second
degree if you will and that is for
you to go beyond just the obligatory, beyond
just saying I'm just gonna do the 5
prayers to try to have more of a
shield,
more of a shield why? Because there's something
you value, and of course at the end
of the day, the thing that gives us
value is not our race, our skin color,
our languages, our passports,
nationalities or anything else.
At the end of the day
the most honourable of you in the sight
of Allah are those who have the most
taqwa and that's not something you can wear
on your sleeve that's not something that is
tied to a degree or a job or
the city that you live in or how
much money you have or what kind of
car you drive
so the wise believer
is chasing after that, the wise believer is
looking for what does Allah want, what is
pleasing to Allah ibn al Qayyim Rahamalaha he
says in his book Al Fawad that taqwa
is of 3 levels, by the way when
we say some scholars say 2 levels, 3
levels, 4 these are categorizations that the scholars
have given to better explain something like the
3 levels of fasting you hear about in
Ramadan so he says taqwa has 3 levels
number 1 is to protect the heart and
your limbs
from committing sins and forbidden actions that's the
the simplest way to understand Taqwa
The second level is for you to protect
your heart and your limbs from undesirable things
the makru
And the third is to protect yourself
against curiosity
and that which does not concern you mean
does not benefit your akhirah.
And he utilizes for this one the evidence
from the famous hadith one of the most
famous narrations
from the good characteristics of the believer is
that he leaves that which does not concern
him. Sometimes people apply this, some scholars
literally which means mind your own business don't
get involved don't ask about people's private details
you're not supposed to do that but also
the things that don't concern your akhirah they
don't benefit your afterlife stay away from those
things that's the 3rd level he's saying in
other words that's the hardest thing to do
but that is the most complete type of
taqwa to stay away from as much as
possible
I noticed as I was doing the the
research for this and preparing it a really
interesting observation from the Quran
we noticed for example
is in the Quran 89 times
loosely translated as all believers
and we stated before when you hear you
ayyuhalladeenaamaloo
as some of the companions would say pay
attention
for Allah will tell you about something that
is important
to implement
or something prohibited or harmful to stay away
from. So anytime you're reading the Quran, if
you start noticing yourself you're reading a juz
or 2 or 3 and you're slacking off
and suddenly you read or hear
pay closer attention
pay closer attention and I'll give you an
example if you're listening to the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and you have just
2 minutes
to receive a device from him, you're like,
give me the best advice you can in
2 minutes.
You're going to pay very, very, very close
attention. He's emphasizing an advice for you. And
if you were listening to him for a
1000 hours,
at times you may need a reminder, pay
attention, pay extra attention. You may even need
your name to be used, Ahmad, Khaled, Ibrahim
pay attention.
So you start listening attentively
to the message, Allah says
89 times in the Quran. It It doesn't
mean we don't pay attention the rest of
the Quran, but we pay closer attention because
now we are being addressed very, very exclusively.
So what's the interesting observation? What am I
talking about? On numerous occasions, I found in
these 89 occurrences,
there's a link between
and taqwa.
What are some examples we'll go through quickly
and as we go through these these are
some examples
think to yourself if you are implementing what
Allah is calling you towards the
first
All you who believe have taqwa of Allah
as He deserves He has a right upon
you so have that level of taqwa based
on what is right
and do not die except in a state
of submission to Allah
O you who believe be mindful of Allah
and say what is correct
He
will bless your deeds for you and forgive
your sins
Whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger has truly
achieved a great success
are we implementing this?
Fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here fear is
used in one of the translations because of
a major sin that follows be mindful of
Allah have taqwa of Allah and abandon
dealing with interest if you are true believers
Riba
O believers
pay attention again what does Allah say be
mindful of Allah have taqwah Allah and seek
the things that will bring you closer to
Him what are we seeking and struggle in
his way
has multiple connotations of course we understand the
difference between the physical jihad that is applicable
in some context and the jihad that is
always applicable which is jihadunna striving against your
desires so
that you may truly succeed are we implementing
this?
Surah Tawba O believers have taqwa of Allah
be with the truthful
always speak the truth and be amongst the
truthful may Allah
make us sincere and honest in all times
and places
are we implementing this
Another example
O believers have taqwa of Allah, believe in
the Messenger and Allah will grant you a
double share of His mercy, a greater reward
meaning than the previous umam and He will
magnify your good deeds, He will provide you
with a light to walk
with this is the light of guidance in
this world and the light that is literal
on the day of judgment when you're crossing
over the hellfire and He will forgive you
and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is the All
Forgiving, the Most Merciful, are we implementing this?
Another example one of the most famous and
I will wrap up with these 2
you will notice something different about this ayah
can anyone tell us what it is?
What's different about this one?
Twice
exactly Jazakmukhiran
twice Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says it's a
Allah
this verse in Surah Al Hashr
and generally in Friday hutbas here and there
you might hear it I prefer to utilize
this one in almost every Jum'ah prayer
it is the only verse amongst these that
has an a command it taqwaah twice in
that context in that wording and it's also
very short aya so
This is in in between the 2 commands
of taqwa. Let every soul
reflect.
Means reflect, think, hold yourself accountable
and think honestly
about what you have sent ahead for tomorrow.
If you have something important tomorrow, Thursday, if
you have something important tomorrow,
you you perhaps can think for yourself, okay.
In a few minutes, these are the things
that I've prepared for tomorrow. That's what's waiting
for me, and these are the things that
are not prepared, if you have an exam
tomorrow you know what you've prepared and what
you haven't, if you have a job interview
you know what you've prepared and what you
haven't, if you have an event you are
organizing or a wedding you know what you've
prepared and what you haven't
think about what you sent ahead for your
akhirah
It's really hard to think because you have
to think through the years
of doing maybe many, many, many acts of
worship or also falling into many sins and
forgetting. May Allah forgive us for the things
we've forgotten and the things we remember.
So what's interesting about this, many scholars say
why does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say it's
a Allah twice
and in between he tells you prepare for
your afterlife out of his mercy he says
he
doesn't say for the akhira
he says for tomorrow
so that he brings the day of judgment
psychologically closer to you your akhira closer to
you by using the word ghad tomorrow so
that you believe realistically
your afterlife is as close as tomorrow meaning
you can leave the soil at any moment
because your akhirah begins when you depart
and as for why the command is there
twice there are many reasons one of the
scholars said it's the takid it's for emphasis
because you need it in this case prepare
for the akhirah Be mindful of Allah. Prepare
for the akhirah. Be mindful of Allah and
emphasis.
But another reason the scholars say an interesting
interpretation,
the first time Allah tells you taqulah in
this ayah you are to repent for your
past sins
and then if you follow through the ayah
the command you
start thinking about your akhir you know what
what am I doing with my life? What
about these major sins? What about the Ibadat
I'm abandoning? What about my character?
When you start thinking about what you've prepared
for your meeting with Allah, the second time
Allah says what tatullah,
one of the scholars he says, I think
this was based off of Qataad al Rahmullah,
the 2nd generation Mufassir,
he says this will protect you now it's
a against future sins. You've repented, the first
time you heard a tapulah, you have asked
Allah for forgiveness you start thinking about ta'akhira
and as a result when Allah says what
taqulla you have a barrier a shield a
taqwa
that will protect you from falling into sin
again
Allah is aware of everything you do and
then finally this one starts a little different
This one I did not select from I
selected a different one.
This one has a different type of introduction,
say, or Prophet,
to the people that Allah says
there's something through the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam command and remind the people of such
and such say this
for those who do good in this world
they will have a good reward and hasana
means you'll be given a lot more than
what you earn
and Allah's earth is spacious
those who endure patiently,
they persevere will be given the reward without
limits We apply this to anyone who has
taqwa. We apply this to all the believers,
generally speaking,
that we hope and we pray
those who hold on to their iman and
they have sabir in nama yuffasabirun
ajram bi rayi hisaab and they are killed
for that in Gaza or or anywhere around
the world now or in the future,
that they are given a reward without any
limits. They will be given things beyond our
imagination from Allah
taqwa
sometimes is translated as God consciousness
mindfulness of Allah type of awe and fear
mixed in one awareness a shield against Allah
displeasure
one time,
you know many times people come up and
they ask or they send emails and they
ask you know I feel like living in
such and such country
is haram for me or my family or
Muslims are we supposed to move? This is
a very common question in America
especially every time something new happens in terms
of immorality,
terms of fakhisha that is spreading. So in
recent years, this has been asked perhaps more
than previous years. Is it permissible for Muslims
to live in this environment that environment this
land or that land where should we live
and the ruling in short varies from family
to family but Alhamdulillah for the many Muslims
doing amazing work, Dawah work in their character,
with their families raising their children being part
of this society and trying to change
a lot of the policies and reform society
for the better Alhamdulillah
but somebody asked one of the great scholars
of the past Al Fudayi
which country do you advise me to live
in? Where do you advise me to go
or live in? He said there's no connection
between you and any country, the best country
for you is the one that helps you
to acquire Taqwa,
you can be living in a land surrounded
by Muslims as many Muslims are and they
have no Taqwa meaning some of the children
have no Taqwa whatsoever,
you can be living in a country like
this and Alhamdah you've not just implemented taqwa
but you're reviving taqwa in many parts of
the world you are contributing in some way
or you are facilitating taqwa through structures or
systems or charity or schools or masajid and
so on and so forth, The place in
which you can have taqwa is the best
place for you.
Taqwa
is to be so mindful of Allah to
know who Allah
is His Majesty,
His perfection, that your heart becomes soft
and you you start worrying about displeasing him.
Yeah, I don't want to break your laws.
Yeah, I don't want to displease you out
of after everything you have given me. I
don't want to do the thing that you've
commanded me to stay away from. This is
what Taqwa does for us. So it is
to obey Allah
commands. It is a fortress
against sinfulness without remorse
taqwa is what protects you what gives you
a shield if a bad thought ever crosses
your mind or bad environment that protects you
from that and you find yourself looking for
something more pure, a pure thought, a pure
environment,
tapwa is the thing that that makes you
cautious in everyday life so you're not playing
around with fire, you're not messing around with
your relationship with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala you're
not reckless. Now I'll give some examples of
recklessness and cautiousness.
A common example.
Sometimes when people buy very expensive vehicles,
they'll anytime they'll park in a parking lot,
they'll park far away from other cars. And
why do they we've all seen this or
maybe some of us have done this. Why
do they do this? They just they are
so annoyed by the number of times they've
parked next to somebody who does not care
and they open their door right into their
car and they scratch the expensive pin off
the car. So what do they do? They
park far away and say you know what?
I'd rather walk a little extra rather than
somebody damaging this expensive car. Why are they
being very cautious here? They're being cautious because
they've valued
their vehicle they've placed the value and they
don't want anything to harm it so they've
taken some action
some people with work mashaAllah every job is
different but some people with their jobs
they are the most punctual of people they
will show up on time which means early
a few minutes not literally on time they
will show up on time they will preserve
their career reputations, they will treat other people
with dignity, they will never violate the policies
of their company,
they will respect other people, and they also
wanna pass their annual reviews. They don't wanna
be laid off the next time there's a
layoff, and maybe they're even looking to get
promoted in the future so they don't mess
around with their careers.
They don't violate the laws of the company.
They don't cause problems and drama between people.
Why? Because they have a shield.
They're placing a shield between them and the
thing that they
they value. So they don't want to lose
their jobs. They don't want to be harmed.
Some parents, for example. Now, here's a common
example. A lot of mothers
are amazing at protecting their children from very
harmful things. And so they will study things,
look into things, assess the studies, the research
about the best way to raise this child,
the newest studies, the latest things. They'll do
all these things, and sometimes some people even
document these things so their parents will benefit.
This is a very common thing now.
And they do this especially in an era
in which there is more harm. There are
more problems. There are more risks.
Why? Because that shield that they've placed,
the shield of care and love and fear,
protects something they value their own child. And
of course, this applies to mothers and to
fathers.
Sometimes people buy expensive things and they value
them, so they protect them. So Taqwa
is to avoid being reckless with Allah.
Taqwa is to have figure out for yourself
what is your shield.
So when you have, for example, a device,
a phone,
what types of takwa do you have with
this device? What rules and practices have you
implemented or do you implement as a habit
when you have a computer at home or
for your children, laptop or a TV or
access to the internet what types of principles
and shields would you want there to be
between your child and something harmful
When you when you're thinking about your purpose
in life, your environment,
the things you watch, the things you consume,
the
videos, the
any audio, the things that you choose to
listen to, what are the the principles of
taqwa that you have put between you and
Haram?
These are the questions we all have to
ask ourselves frequently
because at the end of the day, we
need to be vigilant. We need to be
cautious. We complain at times there's so much
haram in the world, but we don't know
or we don't take measures to stop ourselves
from even thinking about the haram or falling
accidentally into it. I've given an example before.
I know some people don't like this example,
and I apologize for being very direct.
But if we're not direct here, where are
we going to be direct?
An example is
with some types of platforms, social media platforms,
you can control 100% of the things that
you see. So with some websites, you use
adblock. You can't see advertisements.
With some websites, you choose the pages you
follow. So, you know, it's all news or
it's, let's say, Islamic pages or education, something
about society. So you know what you're going
to see. Your eyes will fall upon the
things that you've subscribed to. It's like choosing
maybe, let's say, the emails that you're getting,
newsletters, whatever it is that you're doing.
But then the reality is there are some
types of apps
In which you cannot guarantee 100% the things
that your eyes will fall upon.
And at times you will find. And if
you had to count and measure, maybe 1
out of 10 for some people, literally 1
out of every 2 videos or 3 videos,
they will hear something or see something that
they know they should not be watching or
see.
And yes, you can say, okay, scroll away
from it. That's all that you have to
go. Scroll away. Move on, move on. It's
not a big deal. But if you do
this a 100 times a day
and many studies are finding people are watching,
people on social media 3 4 hours a
day now, if you're doing this for a
long time and your eyes are constantly falling
upon haram 5% of the time,
you're putting yourself in a position where you're
constantly seeing this thing rather than protecting yourself.
Is there a way to take a measure
even in that case? I know this sounds
like a very extreme example.
It does sound extreme to many people because
we become desensitized. May Allah protect us. But
if we don't talk about the things we
desensitized with, the things that become normalized, where
are we going to talk about them? How
are we going to address them? And we
are not doing so in a manner that
is also
unreasonable,
so if there is a way to change
the conditions of what your eyes will fall
upon and it will only be things that
are pleasing to Allah alhamdulillah,
tawqa is to aim for the highest, the
greatest shield possible. And if you were to
die in the moment you were watching that
video, you would not be afraid that your
eyes fell upon something prohibited by your choice
or listening to something you should not listen
to. Of course, in addition to this, many
scholars have noted in Islamic psychology, many times
people are introduced to something haram in those
moments and then the curiosity kicks in, so
the highest level of tahkhu is to protect
yourself from those moments as much as you
possibly can in in a reasonable manner find
something that is alhamdulillah more beneficial and more
effective and there are many platforms like that.
Why do you have taqat at the end
of the day? Why is there a shield?
What is it that you value? Like the
man who values his car, the parent who,
the mother who valued her child,
why at the end of the day are
you doing all of this? Are you taking
these measures? Are you being consistent? It's because
you value the right of Allah.
It's because you want to please Allah it's
because you're thinking of your meeting with Allah
you want to be the best human being
possible
and that requires shields
that required some barriers and this is the
place that you want to end up in
a in a place that Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala is pleased with but then there's the
question that many people ask where does fear
come in Why on earth when we hear
about taqwa, sometimes do we hear it's about
like a type of khashiya or khoof.
And there is a healthy part,
a healthy type of fear that is an
element of Taqwa as we mentioned last week
and I'll summarize the example of this it's
the type of fear
of being misguided it's the type of fear
of breaking the laws of Allah it's a
type of fear in which somebody says you
know what what if I fall into this
sin and I don't repent I get prevented
from tawba or I end up committing it
again becomes a adah, not tamil but adah
continuous habit
or the fear that I might die in
that state. Some people have died committing sins
may Allah protect us all and many people
die doing good things the fear of obviously
shortcomings the fear of future regret So there's
a type of healthy fear that someone has.
It's one element of Taqwa. But at the
end of the day, that fear is one
element and it is a healthy type. It
is the type that allows you to keep
moving forward.
It's balanced with knowing that Allah forgives all
sins so long as you're seeking that forgiveness.
We need an equilibrium in our lives. I
gave the example last week and some people
asked me about it,
like they found it to be very shocking.
The example of the student
that was drinking alcohol and I found out
later that she was a Muslim student
and Alhamdulillah years later or months later I
think repented from what she had done but
her thought that you know what Allah is
merciful Allah will forgive me it's not a
big deal if I drink this was her
mindset at that time so this is an
example of ignoring the obvious that this is
an extreme
misunderstanding of what Allah's mercy is about and
it's missing what's the element of a healthy
type of fear Taqwa is to balance between
the 2. I will summarize by saying this.
There are
many blessings to taqwa, many fruits. And if
we were to summarize every single one sorry
if we were to talk about every single
one we'd be here for another couple of
hours but to list all 10 just to
give an example kind of like a survey
10 blessings of Taqwa that are all found
in the Quran
number 1 is guidance if you have Taqwa
wa ataam taqwa if you have Taqwa Allah
subhanahu will increase you in guidance Number 2,
Allah will make things easier for you, the
ease of matters. Number 3, you will earn
the love of Allah. Allah loves.
Number 4 is Allah will give you a
way out.
Also, number 5, provide you with sustenance in
a way you did not expect.
Number 6, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept your
actions. What is the proof of this from
the Quran? Allah
accepts from those who have taqwa, this is
a very liberating ayah as well number 7
salvation from the fire number 8 Allah will
give you the ability
to distinguish between truth and falsehood
number 9 Allah subhanahu grant you success and
number 10 Allah will grant you tranquility of
the heart a type of paradise and peace
in the heart that no one can take
away from you. Many people ask okay
after hearing all of this and the benefits
and the things we should do, what is
the practical advice, how do I move forward
from here? So what can we do? Number
1 hold ourselves accountable, think frequently
This is why I prefer to utilize this
ayah
in almost I think every single Friday, let
every soul reflect because we are in need
of reflecting,
especially today
when every type of app and phone and
device and responsibilities are distracting us and calling
to our attention. Seems like many people don't
have the time to just sit and reflect
with some peace, just sit after salah for
a few minutes seems like everything is back
to back everything is rushed you're never caught
up, there's always more to do and for
those who are young perhaps and feel like
you have a lot of free time and
sometimes you tell your parents I'm bored, why
you're gonna regret saying I'm bored one day?
There's no boredom in the dictionary of the
believer why there's always something beneficial to do
and in fact boredom if you explore it
as a Muslim is if you explore as
an opportunity to learn something new you will
find yourself unlocking more of your potential.
This
is why Umar radiAllahu anhu he said
hold yourselves accountable
before you're held accountable,
hold yourself accountable in this life as Al
Hassan al Basirah Muhammad said, if you do
so in this life, it will be easy
in the afterlife. When you are actually held
accountable by Allah, it will be easy, but
if you don't hold yourself accountable in this
world, meaning you just live life recklessly, you
commit sins and you don't think twice, at
the end of the day you don't care
what happened that day, the next day you're
just doing the same things over and over,
committing sins, ignoring Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la and
then you leave this world in that state,
he says your accountability will be very heavy
and difficult in the next life so be
a person who holds themselves accountable An example
from business school and coaching they all say
is what gets measured gets managed. If you
measure things often like a project, if you're
always in project manager, if you're always measuring
where you are, you're likely to make some
progress inshaAllah ta'ala, you're likely to look at
the areas in which there are shortcomings if
you're managing a group of people at work
in your company for example if you're not
following up as a manager, you'll notice after
some weeks months go by, some people will
notice. Not every employee is going to be
top notch productive,
if there's no, like, follow-up for their managers.
So you have to follow-up, you have to
make sure what where are things at this
week, what system are you using to follow-up,
the more you measure things the more progress
you will make. So as believers we apply
this to our taqwa as well:
hold yourself accountable, this is the greatest thing
to measure in fact. The second practical advice:
so every day hold yourself accountable,
reflect reflect and if you don't have time
make time to reflect after every salah take
some time before you go to sleep reflect
whenever you can InshaAllah Ta'ala.
The second advice that is very practical as
we wrap up here is self discipline, obedience
to Allah. Sometimes people say, I want to
enjoy
my act of worship and that's when I
will be consistent. Like somebody has said, many
people have stated, you know what? I don't
feel anything in salah, so why should I
pray? And this is working our way backwards
this is saying what I don't feel anything
in salah so let me give up salah
you're already praying which is an act of
worship now look for what improving the quality
of salah how do I enjoy it more?
The sweetness of salah so look for the
resources that will help you to enjoy it
but at the end of the day it's
self discipline
there are 2 types of pain you either
choose pain now or in the future the
pain of self discipline now which is short
term and eventually changes to a sweetness of
haybala
or the pain that is long term of
regret the pain that is long term of
regretting
may Allah protect us from that type of
pain and allow us to choose the pleasure
of,
servitude to Allah now and the pleasure that
is long term as well the third advice
as many scholars stated this is actually based
on the practice of the Sahaba
if you find yourself falling short
with regards to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's right,
you committed a sin or you fell short
with your standards,
then some of the sahaba would punish their
nafs, so what would they do? An example
of this, Umar radiAllahu an, one time look
at what happened, Umar radiAllahu an miss salatul
Asir in jamaah
that was his for him that was his
shortcoming
miss salatul Asir in jamaah So what did
he do? He donated
in charity a very valuable piece of land.
In fact, his son took this from Abdullah
binarama radiAllahu anhu and what he did once
he missed the prayer in Jamaa
and one of his friends reported about him,
Abdullah binar, that he started to pray Qiyamulay
in the entire night. That night he prayed
the entire night to punish his nafs from
ever like slipping up, from ever feeling like
you know I missed something and it's not
important, no it is important. So what does
this mean? This is an example, you don't
have to do the same thing. We have
certain standards, obviously we're far from this example,
that I miss salat al Asad in jamaah.
So I'm going to give all my wealth
and charity. We're not thinking about that. Some
people are barely praying their 5 prayers on
time.
So the punishment of the nafs, the scholars
say, is to remind the nafs that you
are in control, number 1, not your desires.
And number 2 so that you don't become
desensitized
you know what you slipped up
but if you think it's not a big
deal you're going to do it again and
it won't be a big deal the second
time the third time becomes a hada may
Allah protect us
so when something happens that you find alarming
for yourself keep it keep it as something
alarming think of it as like no no
this is a big deal and don't just
say I'm just gonna say astaghfirullah muhanu ask
yourself what's an extra act of worship I
can do to wipe out this sin? What's
something I don't usually do? For example if
you don't usually pray qiyamulay
and you found yourself slipping up one day
in something you know what I will pray
a rakas of qiyam tonight. I will read
more of the Koran tonight. I will fast
tomorrow because I committed this sin today. Don't
intend to commit the sin and do the
act of worship. What I'm saying is if
you fell into the sin,
as the prophet
said in the same hadith,
follow-up the the sin with a good deed
to erase
it so this is an example
of physical discomfort jihadu nafs
to force yourself and your Nafs not to
think that it is in control and to
avoid becoming desensitized as well. So you are
punishing the Nafs for the sake of Allah,
to get closer to him and as well
good deeds erase the sins what do we
do with all of this in mind you
have love
and you have fear you have hope that
we spoke about last week and today we
talked about taqwa
taqwa is the shield and to summarize all
of it in one place
ibn Rajib
says he who worships Allah
with fear, love and hope
is a Muwahad, the one who really believes
in the oneness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'alaam
practicing.
A true believer in the oneness of Allah
in tawhid will not lean towards one or
another emotion,
imbalanced
of hope, love or fear, as many deviated
groups have done for this leads to an
imbalance not only in emotions, but also in
beliefs.
Rather, a balance is maintained among every emotion
so as to motivate the individual to follow
the true path with the right intention. So
again, we look at the acts of worship,
make sure you are fulfilling all the obligations.
Somebody asked me once, you know what? Even
that advice
that you gave,
a few years ago I actually gave this
in the the Friday Chutla here and somebody
said what how do I do that? Like
just think,
you can actually do that by surveying and
thinking about all the obligations. Are there any
obligations you're missing?
Survey and think about all the the potential
sins. Are you falling into any kaba'ir or
sahwar? Are you falling to any sins?
And then start thinking about these sunan, are
you doing any volunteer acts of worship? Start
thinking about as well the Makruh acts, are
you staying away from those as well? And
then eventually you'll start to stay away from
anything that is doubtful as well, a barrier
between you and the makruh and the haram.
One of these scholars Yaheb bin Muadh he
said congratulations to those who leave this world
before it deserts them, to
to those who leave this world before it
deserts them, to those who build their graves
before they enter them, and to those who
please their Lord before they meet him. So
wherever you go in life, be a person
of balance.
And if you find yourself right now in
a phase of life, in a stage in
which there's an imbalance,
pay attention to your emotions and to your
actions and look for the solution in the
opposite emotion. If you have too much hope,
go to the act that that will remind
you to have a little more fear. If
you have so much fear and there's no
hope, go back to the ayaat about hope
and the mercy of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and you will notice this will help you
as well with advising family members, advising your
children, advising
others in the wisest, most strategic, prophetic manner
possible to be people of balance. At the
end of the day, we are in need
of taqwa. It is a shield
that guarantees,
the mercy of Allah
guarantees paradise. May Allah
make us amongst Al Muttaqeen who practice with
balance and moderation.
May Allah forgive us for all of our
sins, the past, present, and future, the sins
that are public, the sins that are private,
the sins we remember, the sins that we
forgot. May Allah
aid us and assist us in worshiping him,
in remembering him, in praising him in the
best manner possible. And may Allah
alleviate the affairs of our brothers and sisters
in Al Ghazza and and all around the
world and utilize us
for their relief and for their justice and
grant us consistency as well. May Allah
leave this world in a good state and
to meet him in a good state and
to be forgiven and standing in safety on
the day of judgment amongst Al Muttaqeen.