Waasief De Vries – Jumuah Khutbah 23 February 2024
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AI: Transcript ©
The name to what?
It's mentioned in the holy Quran in Surah
Al Hawat
verse 29 at first.
Respected elders,
beloved brothers and sisters, Assalamu Alaikum.
Our topic
for today is maintaining a connection with Allah
outside of the Masjid.
Allah
says in the Quran,
That the Masajids,
the
precincts
of those places that was designated
purely for the worship of Allah
The Masajid of Allah,
This is a place
that reminds us constantly with Allah
or about Allah
When we come to the Masjid,
we intend to put our head on the
ground,
worshiping Allah
and Allah alone.
Therefore, Allah says,
because of the space that Allah has created,
When we come to the Masjid, we call
upon Allah and
Allah alone.
Allah is
The power of Allah
is not separated
nor does Allah
has have partners.
The Ever Living, the one who sustains, the
one who nourishes.
And as we are sitting in the Masjid,
we have pure conviction
about Allah
And our connection to the Masjid is of
2. There's this Aam connection, this general connection
that Islam and Muslims have with the Masjid
and there's also a specific connection that we
have. We do our best to attend the
Masjid. Some can attend 5 times a day.
Sometimes the imam can't even attend 5 times
a day. But sometimes 4 times a day,
sometimes once a day, sometimes we do the
best we can.
And we have a special connection with the
Masjid. But no doubt whenever we leave to
go to the Masjid, the intention is
to worship Allah
and Allah alone.
And every time we sit in a majlis,
in a gathering of dhikr,
reminding us about Allah, we hear an imam
speak about Allah, we our friends speak about
Allah, then something happens to us.
Our soul becomes content
because the soul that is inside is crying.
It is crying for the dhikr of Allah
Just like if we deprive the body from
food and water, it's going to die, it's
going to starve, it's going to become weak,
it can become sick. Just like that, the
heart becomes hard, the heart becomes
hungry, the heart becomes thirsty.
And the only sustenance of the heart is
the dikr of Allah
So when we come to the Masjid, we
have firm conviction.
The issue is when we leave the precincts
of this Masjid,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has made certain laws
about the Masajid, certain etiquettes in the mosque.
Like, for example, no trade is allowed in
the in the mosque itself.
So we are not distracted from Allah
But when we go outside,
slowly and slowly, that conviction fades.
Over a period of 15 minutes,
over a period of 20 minutes, it might
even take a day, but we start forgetting
The pressures of the work come in, the
pressures of the family comes in The distraction
of this dunya, it starts settling into the
mind, it starts settling into the heart.
Then the conviction we had in the Masjid
is no longer there.
Allah
says,
Don't be like those who forgot about Allah.
Don't be like those who forgot about Allah.
These are referring to people.
This verse is referring to people that was
reminded about Allah.
They had firm conviction of Allah, but as
time progressed,
they had forgotten about Allah
and the outcome and the result of that
Allah made them forget themselves.
Allah made them forget themselves.
So we forget our place in this world
and we have different priorities,
different objectives
The Yaqeen and the certainty of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala is no longer there. Allah makes
them forget themselves.
Remember,
Allah says on the day of Qiyamah, today
I will forget about you, like how you
forgot about me. May Allah to protect us.
But this wasn't one moment.
This was a series of events that led
up to this. It was day after day,
week after week, month after month,
continually
forgetting about Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
Only mentioning and remembering Allah in the Masjid
Forgetting that the Masjid is a reminder that
when we go out there that Allah
is constantly in our hearts.
So Allah says
Don't be like those who forgot about Allah
and Allah made them forget about themselves
So we don't know
our purpose in life anymore We are working
not for Allah, we are working for our
rizq
We have meetings
that we need to attend to We have
family
chores that we need to do. All these
things that
is making us stress,
this anxiety that we have because of all
the responsibilities.
This is part of the punishment of Allah
because he makes us forget
about who we are. What is our purpose
in this world? Allah says, Nabi Muhammad
if you make your concern one concern, then
Allah
suffice you. If we make our concern only
for the akhirah, then Allah suffices us.
But if our concern is spread out, that
is going to cause us stress and anxiety.
And this is what is happening today.
We cannot say Allah is sufficient for us,
if we don't rely upon Allah.
Allah is only sufficient for us if we
extend our hearts towards Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
But creation don't offer us the same guarantee
If we rely upon creation, they don't say
we will suffice you Work hard for me,
I will see that you're okay
Work hard for me. I will see that
you're okay.
This is creation. Allah
have a different promise.
The moment you make me a priority, I
will suffice all your worries. Allah
grant us the understanding.
So the question is, how do we maintain
a connection that we have in this Masjid
outside of the Masjid? We're speaking about in
the workplaces,
we're speaking about doctors that have patients lined
up Dentists,
bricklayers,
artisans, whatever we are, the stresses is coming
outside. How do we still maintain a connection
to Allah
The same that is in the Masjid?
Or is it that Allah
is only in the Masjid?
The connection is only here and out there
Allah
no longer exists.
This is what happened to the Quraysh.
They started getting prestige and honor because of
the Kaaba.
And Allah directed the attention.
Don't worship this house anymore.
Worship the Rabb of this house.
Allah
is with you wherever you go. Many people
make the mistake in Umrah
when they are in awe of the Kaaba
and they change their life And when they
come home, you find
the habits being kept in again
5 years later, same old person or even
worse
And you start asking him what is it?
What's the problem? He says I'm crying for
the Kaaba
The Kaaba changes me when I'm there,
mistake
Worship the Lord of the Kaaba,
grant us the understanding
So how do we ensure
a firm connection,
the same connection that we have in the
Masjid, the same connection we must have outside?
First of all, understand this, if we're travelling
and everybody's travelling, we're travelling through the passage
of time and nobody can escape that.
The time is ticking,
the heart is beating,
is waiting
and we're getting closer.
That death that we are,
that we are running away from, Every time
we got too cold, we put on something
warm because we don't want to get sick,
it's going to lead to our destruction.
We got too hot, we put on something
light, it's going to lead to our destruction.
Constantly running to the doctor, running away from
death, Allah says that death that you have
been trying to avoid,
running and fleeing from death
as if it is something harmful, it's going
to meet you at the end because you're
running in the direction towards death. And as
we are sitting here, we are passing through
time. So we are on a journey.
This journey is either gonna be successful or
unsuccessful.
There's certain ways we can know that if
it's successful now,
but we need help.
Abraha, that came to destroy the Kaaba, had
a very successful journey
up until a certain point.
Allah could have destroyed him in his bed.
Allah could have destroyed him long ago, but
Allah allowed him to get right to the
point of the Kaaba so he can meet
his end. And he realized
that I've been traveling in the wrong direction,
in the wrong direction,
and I thought I was doing something good.
I thought I was right. We don't want
that to happen to us. Not at the
end of our life because we can't turn
back.
Grant us the understanding.
So 2 things, understand this, if we have
these 2 things
in our journey, we are guaranteed success.
The first thing is we need to have
safety
any journey
You need to ensure safety
If you are not going to be safe,
you won't get to your destination
It won't be successful.
You are going to be harmed, you might
even be destroyed
in your journey.
So we need safety
and once we can guarantee safety, we have
taken provisions
and safety is not just to defend ourselves,
safety is also sustenance because we can be
destroyed
along the way because we don't have sustenance.
After safety, we need guidance. If you're traveling
and you don't know where you're traveling to,
then you won't reach your destination
and you won't be successful.
These two things, safety and guidance, Allah
speaks about this in the Quran. He says
and this verb comes in the Quran about
5, 6 times, where Allah
says
means to grab onto something.
So 5 places it comes in the Quran,
5 or 6.
And only one of these places Allah says
with the rope of Allah.
This rope, according to the Mufasirun,
is the rope
of life.
It's the rope of safety.
It is that rope that's going to save
you from drowning
when you are falling,
when you are in a well and you
need to come up, you need the safety
of a rope to bring you to safety.
If you're pulling on the wrong rope and
you find that there's nothing on the other
end, you're going to be destroyed.
So Allah says,
keep on firmly for your life,
for your success,
with the rope of Allah and the rope
of Allah is this Deen of Allah
This deen where Allah
has given us directives.
I need you to turn right. I need
you to turn left. I need you to
not look at that. I need you to
look at this. This mother of yours, you
need to honor her. This father of yours,
you need to honor them. Your siblings, keep
their ties,
be good to one another, etc.
These directives of Allah
This is the Sharia of Allah. This is
the hubble of Allah and it's not only
in the Masjid.
The Zerub of Allah is in our very
business
It's in our business and Allah
will take us to account for this He
has given us directives
This is how you need to deal
with your employees
This is how you need to deal
with your business dealings.
You should not do this, you should do
that.
If we don't have this rope of Allah,
which is the knowledge of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, then we don't have safety.
We cannot ensure that we are going to
be safe.
This is when Shaitan comes
in and he whispers
and he gives us directives because Allah's
knowledge is void. Remember,
darkness is not an entity.
Darkness is not an entity. Darkness is the
absence of light. If there's no masjid was
dark and you want to bring, you put
on the light and darkness evaporates.
This is Allah's
when it comes into the heart.
If Allah
is absent, then darkness settles in the heart
And this is the playground of shaitan. This
is where they make their waswas.
It's because Allah
is absent. But when you bring Allah
in the heart, then the darkness evaporates.
Grant us the understanding. We cannot be safe
if we don't have the rope of Allah.
We will be in danger.
We will be in grave danger.
And the worst thing is sometimes we don't
know we're being hunted.
Sometimes we don't know we're in the den.
We're about to be destroyed.
That is the one thing, we need safety.
And then we need guidance. Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala in other places in the Quran, He
doesn't say
He says
Keep unto Allah.
Keep unto Allah.
In the sense that keep Allah present in
your heart and it is Allah
that will guide you.
If Allah is not in our heart, knowledge
is secondary.
Knowledge is secondary
Shaitan know what is right and what is
wrong
We know what is right and what is
wrong
For many things, we don't need scholars to
tell us this is Haram and that is
not Haram That's not the issue
The issue is the heart. Once shaitan grabs
hold of the heart, the brain that we
have, it cannot function.
The idea is Allah
is
He is the light of the heavens and
the earth. If you look at
Allah's
light, it reflects onto the heart and that
reflection goes into the aqal
Now when we hear what is right and
what is wrong, we can make the proper
decisions. But if that heart is black,
filled with
sin, sustained with sin, we can sit in
any lecture, you can sit in any jumuah,
you can listen to any qari, it will
not penetrate the heart because the heart is
not going to reflect the nur of Allah.
It is only with the striving
to get Allah
constantly in our heart, that we find, that
we make proper decisions and we walk a
path that Allah
is pleased with. Remember the Sirat that we
have to cross this bridge that goes over
Jahannam
It can be wide, it can be thin
If we walk a wide path in this
world, I do what I want, when I
want, how I feel, a vast path
Then the path in the akhir is going
to be very thin and slippery and dangerous
But if we walk a thin path, and
there's also the idea of keeping onto the
rope of Allah, one line,
then the path over Jahannam is going to
be vast. May Allah
make it this way, I mean. But we
have seen there are 2 mechanisms. If we
have that, guaranteed success. The one is the
rope of Allah I find it amazing that
businessmen
are conducting their business for 20 30 years
and they can tell you the
philosophy of every detail When I see that
picture, it's to remind us about this. This
is how it was came for. This is
what I want from my Sacred, lectures after
lectures.
But the basics about
business is lost.
So this is the rope of Allah and
we need to pull it within us. It's
never gone. It is close to each and
every one of us. So this is how
we stay connected, pull onto the rope of
Allah, but that's only knowledge. That knowledge will
not benefit you at all if the heart
is not
illuminated with the nur of Allah
So how do we get there?
This is a successful journey, safety and guidance.
How do we get there? It seems very
hard because the minute we leave here there's
distractions in terms of what we must look
at There's distractions on our phone,
our business. There's this meeting. There's that meeting
There's so many meetings we need to attend
to there's so many chores we need to
do, so many responsibilities.
Mawlads don't understand. Only do we speak in
the masjid, we have technical lives.
Understand,
Allah
has warned us, you are in grave danger.
We are in grave danger.
Never mind the lion or the cheat or
anything like that. Shaitan is going to attack.
And if shaitan attacks,
there's no hope for us if we die
in that particular way.
Understand that we are in great, great danger.
There are those who recognize this
and there are those who do not recognize
this. If we have recognized this, we should
be feeling scared.
We should be feeling anxious.
We need to run.
How can I live a life that is
displeasing to Allah
and think I'm going to get to Allah?
I'm walking in the wrong direction.
So Allah gives the command and this is
the secret.
The word firaal is a verb, which is
a command verb.
It
means there's imminent danger. You make firaal when
there is a lion attacking you. Now you
make firaal. It's not just moving or rushing.
It is running for your life.
Allah gives this command, because when we realize
this,
Run.
There's different ways we can run.
There's
from Allah.
We run from Allah to other than Allah.
And this is those who are going to
be unsuccessful. May Allah protect us. Then there
are various levels.
The one level of firaal, which is in
a good direction,
is to run
from see wallah other than Allah illallah. I
need to come back to Allah. I need
to come back. I need to rush. There's
no more time left. I don't know how
long I got in this dunya. I need
to do what I can to get close
to Allah. This is rushing towards Allah.
Then there is the higher level of firaal,
which you should always strive for. This is
running from Allah towards Allah.
This is from the anger of Allah to
the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
And ultimately, it's running from the asbaab, this
means,
which can be in terms of the patients,
it can be in terms of the tenders
and the contracts,
the whatever we are doing, these are just
means
We run from that means,
to the one who sent the means.
Never ever do we lose sight that Allah
is the one who gave me the means
and the knowledge to do what I need
to do to attain the rizq that he
has guaranteed.
This rizq Allah
has promised us in the wombs of our
mothers. So we don't make the excuse that,
look,
I've been so busy looking after or going
for my rizq.
It does not make sense
to strive for something that is guaranteed,
which is our rizq.
And we neglect that which has been requested
of us, which is our salah, our zakah,
fasting in the month of Ramadan, getting close
to Allah
learning about Allah
It does not make sense to do that.
We're running and we're rushing and we're striving
for something that has been guaranteed.
We work the best we can, no problem.
But remember, this is means and we're dealing
with Allah
So in our hearts,
we're rushing
from
this means towards the one who has sent
down the means Now we're working hard, but
not for the boss anymore, not because we
want to please the clients anymore, not because
we need to get that tenders, we're working
hard to please Allah.
Which means we are constantly working towards Allah
even out of the Masjid.
Grant
us the understanding, Amin.
So the the the secret of fleeing to
Allah
is to go again from the means to
the one who has sent down the means.
Furthermore,
so when we are dealing
with somebody that needs to buy a packet
of chips in our shop, which is 250,
and this guy is gonna pay R5,000,
and we we we don't look at the
person that's not gonna bring us business, and
we rather give attention to this.
This is when we have
overlooked
Allah Remember the barakah can be in any
part of our plate. That one rice you
didn't take care of over there, that's your
barakah over there. And the barakah is the
one that gives you your health. The barakah
is the one that puts barakah in your
rizik, makes it grow.
That sometimes we are wasteful. It's the same
with our business. That little sail there that
you get nothing from, but you work in
a good way, Allah
can place barak in anywhere in our business.
We just need to strive to please Allah
flee towards Allah. Muhammad
or Allah
instructs him saying
that you are indeed
a warner of the fire of Jahannam.
You are a bringer of good tidings,
glad tidings
of those who will attain Jannah.
So Allah
is not restricted to the Masjid.
So I can take we can look at
somebody that is striving out there with all
the stresses in life, still connected with Allah
There's no excuse not to be connected to
Allah
There's many ways.
All of that is, there's this watch that
we have on our on our arms. Right?
And it's the the watch is over there.
That watch tells us we have appointment at
9, then I have another appointment at half
past 10, then I need to rush to
the meeting over here, and I need to
secure this deal over there. I need to
go for this interview. I need to go
there. This is how our schedule runs.
If we look at the clock of Allah
which works with what? It works with the
sun.
The sun is turning.
And we remember Allah
at the time of Fajr.
When the sun rises, that break of dawn,
that's also a clock. It's an indication
Fajr has set in. Just before that, before
the sun shone shone its light, there was
another indication Allah was waiting. Did we get
that appointment?
There's appointment 9 o'clock we're rushing to. We
missed an appointment with Allah
As 20 minutes after the sun has risen,
it's now duha. We cannot,
we cannot
miss duha. Why?
Because we are not able
to give shukr for everything Allah has given
to us in a day. It's impossible.
But Allah has made it easy. At
the time of Doha, which is about 20
minutes after the sun has risen, it suffices
us.
Then the sun moves further to the time
of zenith. We wait a bit. We don't
make zarah. And when the sun moves, the
entire world is saying the time of dua
has set in.
The sun is shouting that out. It's a
sign that dua has set in. Then it
declines a bit further, the time of Asr
has set in. But we're looking at the
clock on our arm, but Allah
is showing us a clock up there that
is telling us what to be doing.
So what do we do? There are all
the signs of Allah in the heavens. How
do we connect with that great signs of
Allah? With Ibadah
We connect with Ibadah.
If it is difficult to make these 2
rakaats, work towards it. There's a car park
there somewhere There's
a nook that we can create that we
can make these 2 rakaats
and this is how we constantly in the
connection of Allah.
I had a doctor, I have a doctor
friend,
he's an elderly gentleman and he was giving
me advice and he was telling me how
pressurized he was. He's constantly patience waiting outside
his door and he's so grateful for that.
But
he's starting to neglect a few things. And
he decided one day he's not going to
work on a Friday, and he just closed
practice on a Friday. And he said he's
going to sacrifice
that wealth for his family and for himself
and for Quran, etcetera.
Low and behold, what happened was the patients
that was there on Friday, they started coming
on a Saturday when he opened up his
practice.
And he got the same amount of rizik.
Now he's double rizik for less time. And
this is barakah that Allah
has placed. So we cannot use our logic,
and we cannot use the excuse
that we have become distant from Allah
My time is up. I just want to
quote one verse.
Allah
Allah He says, Allah
has allowed the massages to be open so
we can remember Allah alone. This is what
we were speaking about at the beginning of
our talk. In the next verse,
rijal, Allah speaks about men.
This is
this is brave men, this is true men.
At the time we were living with this
LGBT, when people can decide if they are
worse or a human, or you're a girl
or a boy, you make your own decisions,
Allah is saying, who is the true Rijal?
Why people are still trying to realize what
are they? Allah is directing this only to
the men
So boys don't listen to this, it's not
for us
I'm not part of them
men Allah praises them.
Does not distract them.
What does not distract them?
Trade.
Any Prophet
from the remembrance of Allah.
Establishing their salah, giving the Zakah
If you look into their hearts, it's not
at appointments that they're busy with. You look
into the heart, you see the heart is
shattering. It's fearful.
They fear a day where the heart is
going to shake and the eyes is going
to shake.
Dhikr, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam,
last two verses
Behold, the Dhikr
of Allah will make the heart content. How
does that work? How does Dhikr make us
content and we're so filled with anxiety?
Every time we go outside
and we see something beneficial, we're reminded about
Allah We see something beautiful, we're reminded about
Allah We see something perfect, we are reminded
about Allah constantly
In our business, everywhere we are What happens
to the heart now? We start falling in
love with who?
With Allah. We start falling in love with
Allah. I love my business. Yes, but those
who
Those who are in love with Allah are
more in love with Allah than their business.
So they fall in love and if you're
in love with their being, like Allah
the dunya is still going to present its
obstacles,
but it's not going to be that heavy.
The heart is going to be filled with
content because the heart is filled with love
and that love can overpower everything.
Remember, on the day of Qiyamah, Allah
is going to look at what? He's going
to look at the heart.
Everybody will fail
except those who come to Allah with a
with a heart that is filled with a
dhikr of Allah
On that note,
we ask Allah
to forgive us for our sins.
All those black spots,
every time the eyes trade, every time we
listen to what we were not supposed to
listen to, every time our anger got the
best of us, every time we slipped and
we must say Salah
Every time we were unmindful of our being
of Allah who is never unmindful of us,
may Allah forgive us for all of that.
May you wipe away the blackness and fill
that with Noor. May that Noor of Allah
Subhanahu wa ta'ala shine into our minds, then
every decision we make is with the Noor
of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. This Noor that
we're getting in the Masjid today, take it
to your families, take it into your businesses,
work and become better workers.
But bring Allah
present, and you will see the Barakah of
Allah
descend in tolerance.
Grants him a long that he may continue
to,
lecture at the masjid.
And then also that,
it's a timely reminder.
We it was not too long ago when
all the masajid were closed during COVID and
and how our hearts bleed for the masjid.
And we make dua that Allah
connects our all our hearts to the masjid
while the Easter time inshallah
as we enter Ramadan in the next few
weeks inshallah.
Just a few,
quick announcements. The one announcement is that we
will have
inshallah
our,
back to basics
course, which is still continuing.
The first lecture,
took place last week. So this week, inshallah,
it will be lecture number 2 and and
then next week, 3. It's Ramadan,
zakah, and itikaf. So all the basics and
what better way to connect your heart to
the masjid by having a deeper understanding
of all the rituals we perform inshallah.
So that's back to basics by.
Highly recommended.
You can still join, and you'll get a
recording of the previous lecture.
And then we have,
our Sunday program, which is our Nispi Shaban
program.
15 Shaban, also known as.
Inshallah, that happens between.
We'll have a short Kiraba,
Kari,
Mohammed Zubair, Paday,
followed by a short lecture by Mullen Nawazim,
about,
the significance of Nisbih Shaban.
And then, followed by Ishais Sala, which will
be at the time of Isha Inshallah.
And then our
we have also on the first of,
March.
That's next week, Friday. Inshallah, we will have
our community, and,
we've delayed it from Thursday to Friday
because
of Islam being available. So they are internationally
renowned
Islam will be
inshallah leading the
that's a well known Nasheed group
on Friday. That's a week from today.
Our and then,
very importantly, our Hajj seminar.
Now those of you who were at the
Hajj seminar last year, you know, even if
you've been on Hajj, you re experience. You
go through that entire experience.
We have
all
the
of the Hajj,
fraternity
who will be presenting.
And that is
the 2nd 3rd March. That's next weekend.
There are still places available, and we strongly
urge you to please join.
And when you subscribe, you also get a
free book. So inshallah, the Hajj seminar,
which is, the weekend next week, Saturday Sunday.
And,
a final note is also just being that
we have our placard demonstration
led by none other than Radu,
Faruk Pangaka. So that takes place at 5
PM today. We alternate it after
immediately after,
and then 1 week, we have it at
5 PM.
Inshallah to gain maximum exposure. So please try
to join. That's 5 PM today, and that's
at the intersection of and,
Road. And then last but not least, the
message from our sound man is doing some
amazing work at brother
Zohr. And he says, please, to the YouTube,
those who are catching this on YouTube, please
remember to like and subscribe.
Hazad.