Yaser Birjas – The True Meaning Of Watchfulness

Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, mubaraka

nabiyyina Muhammad, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa

sallam, wa tasliman kathira thumma ma ba'ad.

So Imam al-Nawawi rahimahullah wa ta'ala

is done with Kitab al-Sidq, the chapter

on truthfulness, being truthful and telling the truth

at all times.

What do you expect the next and the

following chapter would be about?

Try to make a guess, unless you know

the order of the books, right?

The sincerity and the intention?

We talked about this earlier.

But now what would come after that?

After being truthful, what do you need to

do?

Huh?

No?

Al-muraqaba, watchfulness.

What does that mean exactly?

Being truthful requires what, Jamal?

Consistency.

How can you make sure that you are

truthful all the time?

By doing what?

Knowing that Allah is watching over you.

That's called muraqaba.

Like divine surveillance, basically.

If you believe and you know and you

truly, genuinely have it in your heart that

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is watching you,

and He's always watching over you as well,

then you would watch what you say, what

you do, what you see, what you hear,

all these kind of things.

So muraqaba is extremely important.

And as a matter of fact, it's one

of the highest levels, of course, of your

sincerity and also your truthfulness.

Because you're always true about Allah subhanahu wa

ta'ala being there in your life.

So he says, rahimahullah, he began the chapter,

qaal baab al-muraqaba, the examination and observation,

of course, being watchful.

He is the one who sees you, Ya

Muhammad, when you stand up, which means alone

at night, and your movements among those who

fall in prostration to Allah azza wa jal.

Like when no one else is watching you,

he is seeing you when you wake up

at night, alone, even your family who is

sleeping next to you don't even know that

you woke up.

They don't even feel that you move out

of your bed, and you stood up alone

making ibadah, and you spend your night among

those who put their forehead on the ground

in prostration to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Imagine in a moment of seclusion and solitude

like this, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is

watching over you and watching you.

Qaal, wa huwa ma'akum aynama kuntum, and

he is with you wherever you go, wherever

you are.

This is called ma'iyya, which means he

is with you, the withness, basically, as we

call it.

And we studied that together, if you guys

remember, from the book Imam al-Rajab, rahimahullah.

We explained the meaning of this ma'iyya.

Like what does it mean that Allah subhanahu

wa ta'ala is with you?

That means that he is with you in

terms of, first of all, his knowledge, that

he knows where you are.

He is with you, subhanahu wa ta'ala,

in terms of watching you and seeing you

at all times.

He is with you in terms of helping

you and aid you and support you and

taking care of you.

He is with you in many aspects.

But one of them, that he sees you

and he is watching you, subhanahu wa ta

'ala.

So what does that mean?

You can't hide from him.

Like the foolishness of those who think they

are alone when they commit sins.

What are you talking about?

I mean, who are you hiding from?

He is there, he is watching you.

So even when you think that you are

alone, you are not alone.

That is just an elusive feeling of being

alone.

Because he is there watching you, subhanahu wa

ta'ala.

Wa qala ta'ala, inna allaha la yakhfa

'a alayhi shay'un fil ardi wa la

fissama'a.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he says in

this ayah, truly nothing is hidden from Allah

azza wa jal in the earth or in

the heaven.

Like nothing is hidden.

Isn't he who, subhanahu wa ta'ala, knows

the number of droplets of rain that they

come down from the sky?

Isn't he the one who knows how many

leaves fell from the trees and where they

fall and where they go?

He knows all of this, subhanahu wa ta

'ala.

So nothing is hidden from him in the

heavens or in the earth.

So if nothing is hidden from him, how

do you think that you can hide from

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or hide your

deeds from him?

Qala ta'ala ya'lamu kha'inatal a

'yuni wa ma tukhfus sudur.

Verily your Lord is ever watchful over, he

says subhanahu wa ta'ala, Verily your Lord

is ever watchful over them.

Actually, no, that's another ayah, sorry about that.

So the ayah here, inna rabbaka labbil mursad.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is always watching

over them.

Always.

But the last ayah he says, Qala ya

'lamu kha'inatal a'yuni wa ma tukhfus

sudur.

And Allah knows the fraud of the eyes

and all that the hearts conceal.

What does it mean exactly when he says

know the frauds?

I don't know if the translation is actually

right, but kha'inatal a'yun means the

deceitful eye.

What does that mean?

So Ibn Abbas explained that.

He says ar-rajul, you'll be sitting with

friends, and then a scene that is not

supposed to look at, it kind of emerges

or appears.

Like somebody walks in front of you, you're

not supposed to look at them.

Right?

And then while everybody is kind of like

talking to them, and he's showing you're not

watching, but the moment you see the people

not looking at you, you go and you

sneak a peek at that sight.

So that's kha'inatal a'yuni.

Like you're pretending not looking, right?

Allah musta'an.

You walk these days, everywhere you go, you

have all these scenes that you're not supposed

to be looking at.

So you pretend that you're not looking.

Oh no, I'm not looking.

And then you really sneak a peek just

to see that.

That's kha'inatal a'yuni.

So even that little subtle look, that you

think it's just no one paid attention to

it, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saw that,

and he registered that subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So this is what he's, alhamdulillah, began with,

and mentioned many, many other ahadith, beginning with

the first hadith, the hadith of Umar ibn

al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him,

about Jibreel coming in the form of a

human being.

But we're going to discuss this tomorrow, insha

'Allah, wa ta'ala.

Keep in mind, as you walk out from

this masjid, Allah is still watching you.

And as you go to your car, Allah

is watching you.

And when you go into your house, to

your office, or to your bedroom, wherever that

you go to, Allah is there watching you,

so make sure when he's looking at you,

make sure that he looks at you when

you are doing something that is pleasing to

him.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us

all true to this faith, ya rabbil alameen.

Any questions, jama'at?

Yes.

Is taqwa and muraqabah the same?

Well, taqwa is an overall, you know, meaning

to find a shield, or build a shield,

build a barrier, between you and that which

is displeasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So it's a preventive measure, right?

Al-muraqabah is one of the tools that

will help you acquire this taqwa, or keep

that taqwa.

Like to keep your guards up, you need

to have muraqabah, right?

So to have taqwa, you have to make

sure that you're always knowing that Allah observes

you.

Wallahu a'lam.