Yaser Birjas – Observing Watchfulness At All Times
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
We're still studying together Kitab al-Muraqabah, the
chapter on watchfulness and knowing that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is observing you and watching
you and watching over you.
Here in hadith 61, hadith 61 of Riyad
al-Saliheen.
Three beautiful statements from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam.
Statement number one, he says, qal ittaqillaha haythu
ma kunt, ittaqillaha haythu ma kunt, fear Allah
azza wajal, whenever you are or wherever you
are, wa atbi'a al-siyyi'at al
-hasrata tamhuha, and follow each sin that if
you do something wrong, perform good deed after
every mistake that you do.
Hopefully it will erase that.
wa khaliq al-nasa bi khuluq al-hasan,
and then behave decently and treat people beautifully.
wa khaliq al-nasa bi khuluq al-hasan,
treat the people in a beautiful manner.
So this hadith is considered a road map
for life, literally a road map for life.
I remember, sheikh nasheikh al-shanqiti hafidh allahu
ta'ala al-madina, one time he was
asked after a class, sheikh, could you please
help me out find a daily plan?
Like, you know, I want to become more
committed to the deen and have my life
organized and do the right thing and maximize
my reward.
So he was asking the sheikh to give
him like a full program from the morning
all the way to the evening.
And I'm sure many of us would love
to have a program like this, right?
I know what to do in the morning,
in the evening, in the afternoon, at night.
Alhamdulillah, it's a beautiful program.
So everybody, the sheikh said, well, that's a
beautiful question.
Bismillah, get your pens and papers ready so
we can give you the program.
And everybody's just getting ready, bismillah, and we
started from fajr time, before fajr time.
The sheikh, he says, you fear Allah wherever
you are.
And follow any bad deed you do with
another good deed, it will erase it for
you.
And treat people kindly.
He said, this is the best road map
I can give you.
Let's explain that, what it means.
So the first part says, what does it
mean exactly?
Know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
watching you.
Know that Allah is watching you wherever you
are, whenever you are, whether you're at work,
at home, privately, publicly, secretly, openly, with friends,
with foes, with anybody, doesn't matter where you
are.
It doesn't matter.
If you always know that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is watching you, what are you
going to do?
You going to challenge Him?
Are you going to defy Allah azza wa
jal?
Are you going to disobey Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala?
If you truly and genuinely know that Allah
is watching you, you're going to behave.
Or hopefully you will behave.
So that's why if you always have that
observation and that kind of concept that Allah
is watching you, and muraqabah, if you have
that sense of muraqabah, that Allah is watching
you everywhere you are, everywhere you go, that's
number one, you will find yourself doing well.
So I don't have to give you a
detailed program, because I know you will just
do well.
That's the first category, the first thing.
The second one, وَأَتْبِعَ السَّيِّئَةِ الْحَسَنَةَ تَمْحُوَا۟ and
follow the bad deed with a good deed
that will erase it for you.
What does that mean?
That's mean because Allah knows no matter how
much we try to be always perfect in
our good deeds, as much as we try
to always observe that, and know that Allah
is watching us, we're humans.
We forget, we get lazy, we get distracted.
So what's going to happen from us?
We're going to make mistakes.
I'm going to make a mistake.
Astaghfirullah, major, minor, doesn't really matter, but mistakes
will happen.
But alhamdulillah, part of Allah's mercy, He doesn't
expect us to be perfect.
So He said, if as you try to
always observe Allah in your life and you
make mistakes, it's alright, not the end of
the world.
Just follow it with something good, hopefully it
will erase it for you.
If it's something minor, what do you say
after you make something wrong?
You said something to somebody and it's like,
I did something wrong right now.
So what do I do?
How do I fix that?
Astaghfirullah, alhamdulillah, good.
You looked at something you're not supposed to
look at.
So you turn your face away and what
do you say?
Astaghfirullah al-Azeem.
But if you do something really, really serious,
it requires what, a jama'ah?
Tawbah.
I have to get up and make wudu
and pray two rakahs and ask, Ya Rabbi,
forgive me what I've done.
It's kind of serious business right now.
But the point is, as much as I'm
trying to be perfect and have the watchfulness
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah's watching
over me and watching me all the time,
I'm going to forget, I'm going to make
mistakes.
Or sometimes I just, I don't know, just
like, you do it.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala opened the door
for tawbah and to fix the problem.
So if I make a mistake, I can
fix it with good deeds.
Alhamdulillah.
The last part of the hadith right now
is, Qul nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, wa
khaliq al nasa bi khuluq al hasan.
When you treat people, treat them with good
manners.
What does that mean?
Like look, if you don't fear Allah azawajal
day and night, and if you don't have
the capacity to do good deeds after making
bad deeds, make sure your mistakes are on
yourself.
Don't involve anybody else in that mistake.
Like don't hurt other people with your faults.
If you're going to make a mistake, don't
hurt somebody else.
So no backbiting, no physical, astaghfirullah, kind of
like violence, whatever.
Don't hurt anybody.
Treat people kindly.
Like if you're going to mess up, mess
up on your own self.
Make a mistake that's between you and Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Do not allow yourself to make your mistake
involving other people.
That will hurt them.
Whether you're stealing from them, lying to them,
backbiting them, you messed up big time right
now.
So that's why the Prophet says, if you're
going to make any mistake, just be personal.
When you deal with people, treat them kindly.
Khaliq al-nasa bi khuluq al-hasan.
I mean, if you look at this beautiful
hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
wallahi, this is a manifestation of jawami' al
-kalim.
Very comprehensive meanings in a few words.
Like it's truly, truly a road map for
life.
You don't need a detailed plan.
Wake up before fajr half an hour, do
tahajjud and make wudu.
Every time you make your salah and pray
fajr on time, stand till shuruq and then
do the isbih and adhkar.
I can give you something detailed.
You're going to realize that you're getting overwhelmed.
But if you just observe this and you
know that Allah is watching you, you have
that surveillance over you all the time, you
will observe and you will watch what you
say, what you do, what you watch, what
you listen to, what you touch, what you
hold.
You will be careful.
And as much as you try, you're still
a human being.
You're going to make mistakes.
So it's not a matter of if you
make a mistake.
No, it's when you make a mistake, fix
it.
Fix it with tawbah, with good deed.
Hopefully it will erase it for you.
If you're unable to do any of that
stuff, at least make those mistakes personal.
Don't hurt other people.
Treat them with akhlaq and good manners.
That is the best thing you can do
for yourself in this dunya and in the
akhirah.
So the point from the hadith here is
to know that if you like to observe
al-muraqama, know that Allah is watching you,
it has to be at all times, at
all times of your life, privately, publicly, with
your family, with other people, all the time,
know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
watching you.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us
that sense of taqwa, Ya Rabb al-alameen,
and the ability to have that watchfulness and
that muraqama in our hearts.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
give us taqwa, haqqa, taqwa.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to make us among those who always repent
back to Him, Ya Rabb al-alameen.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
beautify our akhlaq, our manners, in a way
that is most pleasing to Him, Ya Rabb
al-alameen.
Wallahu ta'ala alam.
Any questions, Jamal?
Okay, a request from me to all of
you in regards to your akhlaq and good
manners to the other people, inshallah, in the
masjid.
Please, when you guys come for Salat al
-Isha, or Salat al-Fajr, Salat al-Maghrib,
Salat al-Asr, any salah, please, please drive
slowly.
Drive slowly, and when you start coming into
the parking lot, don't go straight from the
street into your parking spot.
Slow down, get slowly, don't hurt anybody else,
Jamal.
Unfortunately, we had some, a few incidents, almost,
I would say, almost incidents where someone could
hurt.
So we ask you to please be careful
as you come to the masjid, especially if
you're going to want to catch the imam
before he says, salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah, salamu
alaykum wa rahmatullah.
That means you're too late anyway, so please
slow down.
But seriously, if you're coming to catch the
salah on time, so please slow down and
make sure to keep that in mind.
Jazakumullah khair.
Salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh.