Usama Canon – Keep Good Company Who Are Your BFFs
AI: Summary ©
The importance of knowing one's friend's state before going out with them is emphasized, as it can be a weighty decision. The speakers discuss the human tendency of being thankful for one's actions and the importance of protecting Islam, protecting meaning and broader elements of life, and protecting meaning and broader elements of life. They also touch on various signs of Islam's importance, including the fifth sign of being the Forgiver of the world, the fifth sign of being the only person who would perish, and the fifth sign of being the Forgiver of the world.
AI: Summary ©
Sayyidina Uthman ibn Arfan is reported to have
said that there are signs of taqwa.
So every Jum'ah we come and we're
reminded the same reminder, we receive the same
admonition that we should be people of taqwa
or piety, of God consciousness.
And an intelligent person would want a way
to gauge that.
They would want a way to say, I've
been told this time and time again, and
I have attempted to realize this time and
time again.
So what are some signs I can use
or some gauge that I can use to
measure the extent to which I have realized
this idea of taqwa or piety.
And the first thing he says is that
a person of taqwa, a person of true
God consciousness does not sit with somebody except
for some, a person who is concerned about
the affair of religion and somebody who has
control over their desires and over their tongue.
The Prophet ﷺ is reported to have said
a person is on the religion of their
companion.
So let each of you consider who they
keep company with.
Whoever you're with, which is another saying, whoever
you're with, you will be in that person's
state.
So when the Prophet says you are the
religion of your companion, literally you're on the
way of your companion.
That means that your religious matters, your worldly
affairs, your personal cycle, emotional, social wellbeing is
going to depend primarily and largely on the
company that you keep.
So let each of you consider well who
you keep company with.
Naturally there are people who we spend time
with or by necessity engage with that we
would not consider our companions.
People who are going to be casual associates,
people who may be colleagues, neighbors, et cetera.
People who are peers at school that we
wouldn't apply the standard to.
We wouldn't say that the company isn't full
of really righteous people I'm quitting or if
the school isn't full of completely righteous people,
I'm dropping out of school.
That would obviously be erroneous.
What's being talked about here is Suhaibah, who
you keep company with, who are the people
that you spend one, a lot of time
with and two, who you spend meaningful time
with the people who you are with most
often.
And in that regard Ibn Ata'illah tells
us, لا تصحب من لا ينهدك حاله ولا
يدلك على الله مخاله Do not keep company.
Do not be a regular companion with somebody
whose state does not elevate you and whose
speech does not guide you to God.
In other words, when you're around them, they
lift you up.
They make you feel closer to Allah.
They make you want to do better things.
ينهدك حاله Just their state before they say
anything makes you want to do better.
It wakes you up.
And you've all been around people like this.
You're around certain people.
You say, why was it easier to get
up and pray?
Why was it easier to avoid that which
is prohibited?
Because you were around a person whose state
elevated you.
ولا يدلك على الله مخاله And their speech
does not guide you to God.
So this is one of the ways we
can measure the first sign.
The people that we keep company with, how
do we feel when we're around them?
If we feel that we get dragged down
when we spend extended time with people, then
we should consider that.
And this is very important, especially for young
people to, you know, to say that BFF
the person was my best friend forever.
Granted, I just met them last week, but
all of a sudden they're my best friend
forever.
Until Monday.
Friendship has become cheap nowadays.
It's become something that people take lightly.
But for us as Muslims, it's a very
serious thing.
It's a very weighty thing.
And so if you say that a person
is your friend, and because you call them
your BFF, best friend forever, it doesn't matter
what they do.
You're right or die.
I'm going to go out with them no
matter what.
Even if they're going to do something really
stupid, that could cost me my life.
Like they say, we're best friends.
We're good friends.
If you cry, I cry.
If you laugh, I laugh.
If you're happy, I'm happy.
If you're sad, I'm sad.
But if you jump off a cliff, I'm
going to miss you.
Because what?
I'm not going to say, Oh, right or
die.
He's the one who jumped off the cliff.
Tell him we'll pray for you.
As-salamu alaykum.
He jumped off the cliff.
No one told you how to jump off
the cliff with them.
And what do you have to prove?
And it's one thing to say that you're
down for your friends, that you like to
be supportive of your friends.
It's another thing to say that you would
be willing to be dragged into destruction for
the sake of someone who you said was
your friend.
And I remember when I worked in a
prison not far from here as a chaplain,
there was a young boy about 19 years
old from a Muslim family, born Muslim.
It was a good boy.
And I thought to myself, what are you
doing in prison?
Why are you here?
And he said, do you want to know
the real story?
I said, yes.
He said, I had a night shift at
the company I worked at and a friend
of mine asked me to give him a
ride home.
So I went and picked up this guy
after work to give him a ride home.
And the police pulled us over.
And when the police pulled us over, he
had a firearm on him.
He had a gun on him and he
put it under the seat.
And when the police searched the car, they
found the gun.
And then he said that the gun was
mine.
And that gun had been used in a
robbery and had been used to kill somebody.
And his friend said that it was his
gun.
So this young boy spends nine years in
prison just because he wanted to give his
friend a ride home.
So one little decision, if you're around the
wrong people, it can make or break you.
The right decision can also make you.
If you're around the right people in the
right place at the right time, it can
mean everything for you.
And if you think about it, how did
the companions, Allah be pleased with them, attain
the great station that they attained?
Besides the fact that they were graced to
be companions of and the company of Sayyidina
Rasulullah Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
So we should choose our friends wisely.
And he says that you do not keep
company with someone except someone who is concerned
about the matter of religion and a person
who has control over their tongue and over
their heart.
The second thing he said about a person
of taqwa, a sign of a person of
piety, is that if a great fortune befalls
him from the dunya, he or she deems
that a trial.
In other words, if they get increased in
worldly matters, if they get more money or
they get the job that they had been
seeking or any number of things that you
can apply those two by analogy, an increase
in worldly matters, they see that as a
trial.
People tend to think the opposite.
God must love me because I'm getting all
of this really good stuff.
I'm too blessed to be stressed and too
anointed to be disappointed.
Everything's fine.
Peachy keen.
Why?
Because I've got a lot of increase.
But a person of taqwa, if they get
an increase in worldly matters, they deem that
as a trial.
And what does he say?
فَأَمَّا الْإِنْسَانُ إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاهُ رَبَّهُ إِذَا مَا
ابْتَلَاهُ رَبُّهُ فَأَكْرَمُهُ وَنَعَمَهُ فَيُقُلُوا رَبِّي أَكْرَمًا As
for the human being, when his Lord tries
him, by what?
How does he try him?
By treating him with honor and making him
lead an easy life.
He says, my Lord has honored me.
وَأَمَّا إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاهُ فَقَدْرَ عَلَيْهِ رِسْطَهُ فَيُقُلُوا
رَبِّي أَهَانًا But if he tries him differently,
and he limits or strains to him his
means of sustenance, he says, my Lord has
disgraced me.
So in other words, what Allah is talking
about here is a human tendency for people
to say, if I'm getting increase in good,
my Lord is honoring me.
But he calls that ابتلاء.
He calls it a trial.
Or if the provision has been limited, it
has been strained for them.
That's also ابتلاء.
And the human being tends to say, Oh,
my Lord is disgracing me.
So for all of us who are seeking
success, we're not people who were to be
seeking failure.
We're seeking success and we have aspirations and
we have ambitions and we have goals and
we should work to fulfill them.
But when the fortune comes, we see that
also as a trial.
And why is it a trial?
Because we have to be thankful for the
good that we have been given.
And that's why Imam Ali said, how wretched
wealth is.
حلاله عسار Permissible wealth is something you're going
to be accounted for.
So all of the good that we have,
all of the wealth that we have, it's
a عسار.
We'll be asked about how we spent it.
Where did we get it from?
Were we attached to it?
وحرامه إيقار An impermissible wealth is something that
we would be punished for.
So it's a trial.
And when one has to ask himself, what
did I do to gain this new fortune?
What did I do to gain this new
good and to see it as a trial?
And this is really, really important, especially as
we sit here in at least relative safety
and at least relative luxury compared to many
of our own community members, not only globally,
but nationally and sometimes even locally.
When we are enjoying by the grace of
Allah abundant good, and other people are suffering.
Well, do we think that we're somehow chosen
people?
Do we think that we're somehow better than
they are?
Or do we see that we are being
tested through ease while other people are being
tested through difficulty?
And remember the example of the companions.
When they would have good times, they would
be worried.
When things are going easy, they would be
worried because they know that that inevitably will
be followed by what?
Difficulty.
And when they were having difficulty, they would
find ease.
They would find rest.
They would be at ease because they knew
that that would inevitably be followed by good
times.
The third sign, he says, is that if
he or she finds a practice to be
from the deen, to be from the religion,
they cling to it, even if it may
seem insignificant.
If they find out about something, it's that
the Prophet ﷺ, it's from the Prophet's example.
It's from the way of the righteous people
that they cling to that, even if it
seems insignificant.
And there's really two points I'd like to
reflect on here.
The first one is this.
As Muslims, we have a lot of things
that we do that if you don't know
any better, it could seem insignificant outwardly.
So as we came here today, we entered
the mosque, inshallah, with our right foot.
And we're going to leave, inshallah, with our
left foot.
And that's something that most people are mindful
of.
Unless, of course, you're trying to Instagram your
foot as it enters the masjid.
So you can get people to like, or
take a vial of yourself, getting ready to
enter the mosque, getting ready to pray Fajr
prayer, Snapchat.
That's obviously, you may forget that you're entering
the house of Allah.
But most people are going to be mindful
of the fact that you come in with
your right foot, and you go out with
your left foot.
Do we hold on to that?
Or do we take the attitude toward the
deen and say, it's just sunnah?
The early Muslims and the lovers would never
say something like, it's just sunnah.
They would say, what?
It's sunnah.
I might not be able to fulfill that
thing.
But the fact that the beloved did it,
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, means it's an honorable
thing.
And you've heard the story of the Sudanese
man who would be offered watermelon at parties.
He'd be at a wedding, and they'd offer
him watermelon.
He'd say, no, I don't like watermelon.
And next time he'd be at another gathering,
they'd offer him watermelon.
And he'd say, no, thank you.
And then one day they saw him sitting
there eating watermelon to his fill.
And he's got seeds everywhere and watermelon rinds.
And they came to him and they said,
I thought you didn't like watermelon.
He said, to be honest with you, I
didn't.
But then I heard that the Prophet liked
it, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And I did not want to dislike something
that the Prophet liked, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
The point isn't that we all go out
and eat watermelon.
That's not the point.
The point is that if something is a
practice from the practice of the deen, we
cling to it, even if we deem it
insignificant.
Because in reality, it's not insignificant.
And remember, one of them came to the
door of the masjid and he walked in
accidentally with his left foot.
And then he said, woe unto you, speaking
to himself.
He said, woe unto you.
Would you come into God's house, come into
the house of Allah and you're heedless?
I swear that I will fast a year
as an expiation to repent from entering the
masjid with my left foot.
Now, again, if we forgot to do that
today, it doesn't mean that you have to
fast a year in expiation.
But the point is, if you hold fast
to something because it's from the religion, that's
a sign of taqwa.
And this has very serious implications as it
pertains to the preservation of Islam as a
community, for the Muslim community.
I was once with a student and they
covered, we were sitting in the courtyard in
front of the school, this is a Muslim
school, and they covered the water vessel, the
cup, with a pen.
And I said to the young lady, why
did you do that?
She said, oh, it's just Bosnian culture.
And I said to her, it's actually not
just Bosnian culture, it's a sunnah of the
Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam that you should cover
up a water vessel.
If you have a glass or a cup,
you should cover it up.
She said, oh, I didn't know that.
What's the point?
The culture had adapted something that was part
of the practice of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam
and it became the default cultural norm so
that Islam becomes a healthy practice.
Now, obviously, we have to have knowledge to
differentiate between those things that are just made
up and those things that are authentically from
the religion.
May Allah make that easy for us.
The second point here is that if we
give meaning to something that seems insignificant to
us outwardly, that enables us to be able
to see broader meaning in society.
27 plus percent of college-age male American
students say they believe that life is nothing
more than a meaningless existential *.
That life is nothing more than a meaningless
existential *.
In other words, it's all pointless.
It's all meaningless.
It doesn't mean anything.
What's the big deal?
You only live once.
And this is what leads to phenomenon like
the knockout game.
I'm sure that you guys have heard about
the knockout game.
People walking down the street, knocking people out,
one blow KO throughout different American cities.
You can Google search it, but don't do
it until after Juwan, obviously.
The knockout game.
People walking up on the street and hitting
people has knocked them out as a game.
Old men, young men, old women, young women,
and it's become a popular thing amongst youth.
Let's just see if we can knock a
person out.
One lady had a gun and shot the
kid when he came to do it.
How could you, you know, and people used
to do that thing, but they were at
least trying to rob somebody.
Or there was a point, not that that's
a good thing, there was a point to
it.
Now, let's knock people out and hit them
in the face.
And this leads to ultimately people being willing
to kill, to take human life with no
justification whatsoever.
And isn't this what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam told us?
That at the end of time, killing would
become so prevalent that the person killing doesn't
know why they killed, and the person who
was killed doesn't know why they were killed.
Because we begin to see things as meaningless.
So tying this back into our practice as
Muslims, that when we give meaning to even
the simplest things, it enables us to be
people who preserve meaning and the broader elements
of life.
I remember once sitting with a teacher of
mine in Egypt, and it was, we were
up late.
There was a group of students with the
Shaykh up late.
And all of a sudden we heard the
dawn call, the dawn Adhan, Adhan al-Fajr,
the call to prayer for Salat al-Summah.
And the Shaykh, as he sat there, he
said, Astaghfirullahil Azeem.
Innalillahi wa inna ilayhi rajuluhu.
La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah.
And we're thinking, what?
Why are you, that's not the prayer you
say after the Adhan.
Why are you, so someone said to him,
Shaykh, why are you saying all of those
prayers?
He said, I forgot to pray Witr.
I forgot to pray what?
Witr.
He heard the Fajr prayer coming, and he
almost wept because he forgot to pray Witr.
He had a more exaggerated, visceral reaction to
missing Witr than one of us may have
to missing Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Eid.
As if somebody told him a loved one
died because he forgot to pray Witr.
And this is what good practice develops in
us.
It develops in us a dedication.
And this is why the companions, Allah be
pleased with them.
If they took on a sunnah of the
Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, they did so
and they intended to do that until they
died.
They didn't just take on a bunch of
stuff and then leave it, and then take
it on and leave it.
When they adopted a prophetic practice, they did
so and attempted to die practicing it.
May Allah make it easy for us.
The fourth side of a person of tough
work is that he or she would avoid
filling their stomach with that which is halal
out of fear that the haram may be
mixed with it.
In other words, they would avoid overeating food
that is permissible.
They would avoid engaging even in food that
is permissible out of fear that that thing
may be mixed with what is haram.
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Imam al-Shajiri
were contemporaries.
And they benefited greatly from one another's company.
And Imam al-Shajiri once came to visit
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
And he served dinner and Imam al-Shajiri
ate well.
He ate his fill.
And then after dinner, he went to rest
and he slept the entire night.
And Imam Ahmad's, ostensibly, they thought he slept
the entire night.
Imam Ahmad's daughter was shocked by that.
She said, you're always talking about the greatness
of this man, Muhammad ibn al-Shajiri.
And I noticed that when he came to
your house, he ate like normal people eat.
He didn't avoid the food.
He ate his fill.
And then when he went into the room,
he slept the entire night.
He didn't wake up for tahajjud or wake
up early for night prayers.
So Imam Ahmad, after he heard his daughter
make this complaint, and this is why you
have to be careful when you judge people.
You don't know what's going on.
So he goes to Imam al-Shajiri and
he said, my daughter took issue with the
fact that you ate your fill at dinner
and then you slept all night long.
He said, actually, the reason I ate as
much as I did at your table is
because you're one of the only people whose
judgment I trust as it pertains to bringing
permissible food.
Because I knew your food was permissible.
I knew that the food you had was
halal, I ate my fill.
He said, OK, what about the not praying
night prayers?
He said, actually, I lay, I laid in
bed thinking about a particular ruling of Islamic
law all night long.
And my mind was preoccupied all night long.
And that's why I didn't get up to
pray night prayers.
So this is someone who we looked at
and you would say, oh, he was just
eating and sleeping.
But in reality, he had intentionality when he
ate.
And when he went into his room, he
was busy thinking about a ruling all night
long.
And you heard the story of the man,
an Adam, a scholar who spoke truths to
power.
He spoke against the power structure of his
time, the ruler.
And so the ruler said he had to
be executed.
They were going to kill him.
And how are they going to do that?
By bringing a hungry lion and feeding him
to the lion in front of the whole
court.
They used to be really brutal.
They're still brutal now.
They just have other ways of doing it.
Sometimes they're just brutal.
But he so he brings the cage and
the lions in the cage and has been
starved for days.
And now the sheikh is brought in.
He's supposed to be eaten by this lion
in front of everybody.
So they open the cage and push the
sheikh into the cage.
And when they come, the lion lies down.
He doesn't attack the sheikh.
But just before he lied down, they said
that the sheikh started to become pale and
was profusely sweating.
And the king, seeing the lion unwilling to
eat the man, he said, let him go.
Because why isn't the lion eating him?
He's starving.
So he let him go.
The reason the lion wasn't eating him is
as they say in haafullah haafuhu kullu sheikh.
Whoever is fearful of Allah or mindful of
Allah, everything fears that person.
So as they left the room, the student
said to the sheikh, why were you sweating?
And why were you turning pale?
We weren't used to you becoming afraid.
He said, by Allah, I wasn't afraid of
being eaten.
They said, then why were you sweating?
He said, I forgot the ruling of lion
saliva and whether or not it was najis,
whether or not it was impure.
And I was sweating because I didn't want
to die and have an impurity on my
body.
I didn't want to die with a najis
on my body.
I was worried.
I forgot, was the thing pure and pure.
So naturally Allah makes the lion not attack
him because that was his level of dedication.
May Allah make it easy for all of
us.
Now, the fifth sign, which we'll talk about
after the jaloos inshallah.
Sayyid Uthman said that the fifth sign of
the person of taqwa is that this person
supposes that if all of the people were
to be saved, he would be the only
one who would perish.
If everybody was to be saved, he would
be the only one who would perish.
I want to say this and I ask
Allah's forgiveness for me and you and the
message to the Muslims.
So ask His forgiveness, He is the Forgiver
and the Merciful.
Allah, Ya Allah, Allah.
Alhamdulillah wa kafal wa salamun ala ibadihi ladhina
as-shafa' wa sallallahu wa sallamu wa barak
ala rasulillahi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa
man wala wa salamu tasliman kathira ya ayyuhal
mu'minoon al-hazirun inni usi nafsihil khati wa
ayyakum mi taqwa Allah fa taqwa Allah ta
'ala fima amarakum bihi wa taqwa fima anhaakum
a'nhu wa as'alallahu ya ja'ani
wa ayyakum min al-mutaqim So the fifth
sign of a person of piety or taqwa
according to Sayyidina Uthman ibn Affan, he says
that this person supposes that if everybody were
to be saved, they would be the only
one who would perish.
This is a very, very powerful and very,
very significant element of Islam's understanding and the
Muslims' lens through how they should view the
world.
A very similar statement is attributed to Sayyidina
Umar ibn al-Khattab who is reported to
have said that if it was called on
the Day of Judgment, everybody will enter the
garden except for one person.
I would fear that I would be that
person.
And you've got to wonder, what would be
somebody who gave half of what they own
for the cause of Allah?
Somebody who the Prophet ﷺ was reported to
have said, if there was a prophet after
me, it would have been Umar.
Somebody who the Prophet said that when Umar
takes a roadway, shaitan takes a different one,
etc., etc.
What would be somebody who he knew the
Prophet said these things?
None of us here, not a single one
of us has a hadith about them.
Some people think they do, but they don't.
None of us has a hadith about them.
The Prophet ﷺ didn't mention me by name
or mention you by name.
He mentioned Sayyidina Umar by name.
And he still says what?
I fear that if on the Day of
Judgment, it was said everybody was going to
go to Jannah.
Now, do you think Sayyidina Umar is confused
about who's going to be there on the
Day of Judgment?
He knows that he doesn't just mean the
people from his age.
Who is going to be there on the
Day of Judgment?
Everybody.
From all times, anywhere.
And I still think that if everybody was
going to go to Paradise, and there was
only one person in the whole creation ever,
who was going to be damned, it would
be me.
What happened to their hearts?
What happened to them to be able to
see the world that way?
But he also said something else.
And if it was called on the Day
of Judgment, that everybody was going to go
to the fire, except for one person, I
would hope that person was me.
That's called sincerity with God.
That's called sincerity with Allah.
I want to go to Jannah.
I really hope I do, but I haven't
done anything to deserve it.
I haven't done anything to deserve it.
I don't want to go to the fire.
May Allah save us all from the fire.