Yaser Birjas – Ask Allah For Taqwa
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AI: Transcript ©
Alright, Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh, Assalamualaikum
warahmatullahi wabarakatuh, that's more like it.
Bismillah alhamdulillahi wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulillah.
Tonight inshallah wa ta'ala we're still continuing
from hadith from the book of Taqwa, Riyad
al-Saliheen, the chapter on piety and righteousness.
Short hadith, a dua from the Prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sallam to teach us about Taqwa.
In this hadith number 71, In
this narration, Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, the Prophet
salallahu alaihi wa sallam used to say in
the translation, O Allah, I ask you for
guidance, piety, chastity, and self-sufficiency.
Four things, I ask you for guidance, for
piety, righteousness, for chastity, and self-sufficiency.
Why are these so important that the Prophet
salallahu alaihi wa sallam mentioned in one single
line?
And the fact that the Prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam asked Allah azza wa jal in
one single line for these four issues, four
matters, that shows the value of these things.
The value of guidance, the value of piety,
the value of chastity, and the value of
being self-sufficient from the need to anybody.
So these are the four matters.
Number one, al-huda, guidance.
I mean, I don't have to emphasize the
importance of guidance, because we ask Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala for guidance every single day
and every single raka'ah of your salah.
Don't you say in surah al-fatiha, guide
us to the straight path?
Enough emphasis on the meaning of that.
And what is guidance over here?
Some ulama specifically, they said guidance means knowledge.
What does that even mean?
Because if you have the knowledge for something,
you've been given the guidance about it.
If you have the knowledge about who Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is, how to worship
Allah azza wa jal, how to fear Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, then you have that
guidance.
So some ulama specifically said it's knowledge.
And it's the only thing that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala commanded the Prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam to ask more from.
When he says, Ya Allah, increase me in
knowledge.
So that's the only thing he was asked
to ask more from.
And here when he says, I ask you
for guidance, means the knowledge that will give
me that guidance.
That's one interpretation.
But the other interpretation which is more inclusive,
like guidance in every aspect of my life,
in everything.
When I make my decisions, I want to
have guidance.
When I pray, with guidance.
When I learn with guidance.
When I deal with my enemies, with guidance.
In all aspects of my life, Ya Allah,
I ask you to give me guidance.
So you ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
for guidance.
And obviously if you're guided, what does that
mean?
The result of guidance is what?
It's khair in everything.
The result of guidance is khair in everything.
We spoke about different categories of guidance.
But if we would like to emphasize on
one thing, knowing that guidance also, it's something
that you need to keep asking Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala for, until you die.
Never stop asking Allah for guidance.
Why is that, Jamal?
Because in any moment, what could happen to
you?
Al-qalb, called qalb, why?
Which means, because it keeps flipping.
Qalb ya taqallab, which means, actually it's vulnerable,
and it keeps flipping.
So therefore, today, subhanallah, we are on the
path of guidance.
Tomorrow, Allah musta'an.
We just switch paths.
Somebody who is completely misled, and then subhanallah,
in one moment, their heart flips, and Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala gives them guidance.
You need to continue asking Allah for guidance.
That's why Imam Ibn Qayyim, rahimahullah, he said
that guidance comes in three categories.
Al-hidayah ilas sirat, wal-hidayah fis sirat,
wal-hidayah alas sirat.
So you need to ask Allah guidance ilas
sirat, to guide you to the straight path.
And to guide you alas sirat, to stay
on the straight path, not to leave it.
And to guide you fis sirat, which means,
as you walk through it, you know where
to go, not to go to different, actually,
other ways, on the path.
So you always ask Allah for guidance.
That's number one.
Number two, wal-tuqa, piety and righteousness.
And the ulama, they define righteousness, here usually,
the translation says, fear of Allah azza wa
jal, when they say taqwa.
But actually, taqwa is much more than that.
The word taqwa is a preventive measure, which
means you have a barrier between you and
everything that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
made prohibited.
And also, making sure that you always stay
within the limits.
That's what taqwa is.
That's why when Talqa bin Habib was asked
about taqwa, what did he say?
He said, have you ever been on a
path that was stony, and you have all
these bushes around?
He goes, yeah.
He goes, what did you do when you
want to walk through?
He goes, I grab my thobe, I grab
my thobe, and I watch where I put
my steps.
Like, I don't want my thobe to get
attached to any of these shrubs.
And I watch where I put my feet.
He goes, that's taqwa.
That's the definition of taqwa.
You're always careful where you put your words,
where you make your actions, where you put
your eyes, what you listen, what you do.
You always watch where you put your steps,
in that fashion.
And taqwa is, again, a shield that protects
you from violating Allah's rules and limits.
And if you're being given taqwa, what does
that mean?
That's the ultimate success.
Allah said in the dunya, that eventually, the
end result will be in favor of the
mutaqeen.
Allah accepts only from the righteous, the pious
one.
So taqwa is what you really need to
accomplish in this dunya.
Then he says, chastity.
And chastity comes in regards to staying away
from everything Allah subhana wa ta'ala made
haram.
Whether it's fornication, zina, drinking, anything that's haram.
But specifically, usually comes actually, avoiding that which
is concerned of the lowly actions, sinful actions.
Like, you know, just kind of like, cheating,
stealing, petty thefts, for example.
Committing zina, fornication, watching stuff, and all these
kind of things.
And you need Allah subhana wa ta'ala
to give you afaf, chastity against all these
behaviors.
Also, as zina has all its formats, because
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the
eye commits zina, the ear commits zina, the
hand commits zina, and every action it might
be falling into, some of those actions might
lead to the actual fornication or adultery.
So therefore, you ask Allah to protect you
from all these actions that might lead to
the actual fahisha, and then may Allah protect
us from the Lord of the worlds.
And al-iffah gives the person what?
Shining light in their face.
When someone is, mashallah, afif, is chaste, they
don't really commit these things, they don't look
at these aspects, they're always, alhamdulillah, have the
good manners, you can see it in their
face.
You can see it in their face.
But if they all will pursue their desires,
what happens?
That light is taken away from them.
They're always feeling guilty, remorseful, they're feeling shy,
they're feeling embarrassed, you don't see that shyness
on their face.
So if you would like to have that
shyness on your face, avoid these things, and
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give you
that light.
And Allah give us all that light, ya
Rabb al-alameen.
And the last one is qalu al-ghina.
The last one, al-ghina.
And al-ghina, to be self-sufficient, which
is the translation of the literal translation for
the word ghina is what, jama'a?
To be what?
Rich.
What does being rich mean?
When you're rich, what does that mean?
You don't need anybody.
How can you be, you know, in a
situation where you don't need anybody?
That means you have so much enough that
you don't need anybody.
Especially when it comes to wealth.
Wealth, finances, physical ability, alhamdulillah, mental ability, strong
with personality.
In many ways, I need nobody.
Although it's like impossible for human beings to
be at that level, but self-sufficiency is
everybody what they look for.
Because you don't need anyone to have a
favor upon you.
Otherwise you feel enslaved to them.
And I don't know if you remember, we
mentioned about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when
Allah calls himself in that regard, what does
he call himself?
Al-ghani.
In Arabic language, there are two words for
wealthy.
There is ghani, and there is thari.
Thari from tharwa, while ghani min al-ghina.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala never called himself
thari.
But he calls himself what?
Ghani.
Al-ghani.
Why is that?
Because al-thari comes from wealth.
Means you define yourself through that wealth.
But that wealth, even though you have so
much of it, it might not give you
the satisfaction to feel self-sufficient.
You're always afraid to lose it, you're always
freaking out if people are going to steal
it from you, and you don't feel confident
that this wealth is going to help you
with this.
So that wealth doesn't help at all.
Yes, you have all the money, but they
don't feel satisfaction.
And sometimes people unfortunately end their lives because
of that.
Not satisfied with that.
So al-thari doesn't necessarily mean they're ghani.
But if you're ghani, even if you have
nothing in terms of cash and money, you
still have that kind of self-sufficiency and
independence from the people.
And that's what we ask Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala for.
However, you have to keep in mind, you
can never be completely and absolute in life
of self-sufficiency.
Because Allah designed us in a way to
need each other.
You need to get married, so you need
your spouse.
You need to have the desire to procreate
and have the satisfaction of being a father
or mother.
The need for the people to work with
and work for you and work for them.
They need to save something, so we need
each other.
So that self-sufficiency is not in terms
of needing people in that regard, rather in
the heart.
Like, I still need your help, but I
depend on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
facilitate that for me, not you.
That's how you become self-sufficient.
My attachment is to Allah azza wa jal,
even though I still need that money from
you or that work to be done by
you, or finishing my job here and there.
I still need that from you, but, alhamdulillah,
my attachment, my heart is tied to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
May Allah azza wa jal give us all
al-huda, al-tuqa, al-afaf, al-ghina.
Let's repeat this dua together, inshaAllah.
Allahumma, inni, al-huda, al
-tuqa, al-afaf, al-ghina.
Allahumma inni as'aluka al-huda wa al
-tuqa wa al-afafa wa al-ghina, Allahumma
ameen.
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
Yes, the definition of, someone contemporary definition of
the word taqwa is to be mindful of
Allah azza wa jalla at all time because
if you are mindful of Allah that becomes
like a barrier for you to violate any
of these rules.
So that's one of those contemporary translations.
Before it was always most like fear Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
But in reality it's actually being mindful of
Allah azza wa jalla.
Of course.
Al-iffa to be not in need of
these desires through the people.
True.