Zakariyya Harnekar – Pearls of Wisdom #5

AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of finding a good state of heart and staying in the present moment to spend the night making shots. They stress the importance of not delaying the timing of gifts and not losing hope for Allah's response. The speakers also emphasize the importance of practicing lowliness and finding oneself in front of Allah's eyes. Finally, they emphasize the importance of achieving a position of lowliness before Islam.
AI: Summary ©
How's everyone today?
Good.
I hope you guys
are always good.
If you're making the ad, then hopefully it's
getting better.
Now,
I hope everybody's
okay. Well, there were many opportunities for Leila
Dulkadir,
but,
you know, some of the say that
the 27th night is it.
We'll never know with definitiveness,
But perhaps one sign
that it is that night is the fact
that Allah makes people come out in their
throes and their scores,
and they ask of him, and Allah loves
to give.
So perhaps he chooses the night when most
people ask.
We don't put all our eggs in one
basket, but, you know, we we hope in
Allah.
Alhamdulillah.
So, why I'm saying that is I hope
that you guys are pumped up
for tonight.
We're gonna have
coffee
inshallah. Alright. So over the past few days,
we've
been speaking about the number of the hikam
of.
And a lot of those hikam dealt with
the subtleties
of our relationship with the dunya and our
relationship with Allah and how to manage the
2. Right?
Both physically as well as internally,
how we should manage our
expectations of this world, how we should manage
our aspirations of the year after, all of
those things you spoke about. And if I
could summarize it into a nutshell, and in
fact, all of the hikam leave it on
the hikam of.
If I can summarize,
like all of Deen,
it's that your gaze must be firmly fixed
on Allah.
Your heart must be the work of your
heart
is
knowing Allah.
The work of your heart is loving Allah.
The work of your heart is being in
awe of Allah.
The work of your heart is hoping from
Allah.
The work of your heart is
is Allah, Allah, Allah. There's no other purpose
for your spiritual heart.
Right? And the work of your limbs may
be different to that
but there should never be a contradiction between
the 2.
Right? So
the very next hikmah, I'm not gonna dwell
on that one too much because it speaks
about a similar topic.
And that is, though there's again a subtle
a subtlety in
the hikmah
as there was in each of the previous
ones that made it different from the one
before it.
And sometimes, in fact, they seemed slightly contradictory,
but we, alhamdulillah, discussed what seemed contradictory and
hopefully found a lesson in that.
But in this 5th one that we are
at
for today,
which is supposed to start with today,
he says,
your exerting effort
regarding that which has been guaranteed for you,
meaning your rizq.
You're exerting effort regarding that which has been
guaranteed for you
whilst at the same time,
whilst you are falling short
in relation to what has been requested from
you. Allah promised you He's gonna see to
you, and He asked you to make his
ibada.
Right? And falling short
regarding that which has been sought from you
or requested
from you, is a sign
that your intellect
or your insight
is waning.
It is,
blurring.
It's not working correctly.
Right.
So if that continues to happen, then it's
a sign that Allah
has taken away your ability to see things
correctly.
Your ability to weigh things up as they
should be weighed up.
Right?
And so I think all that I'll say
on that one is
all that I will say on that one
is because we discussed a lot of things
that pertain to the same topic,
is
that don't let it ever be,
don't let it ever be that your pursuit
of this dunya and we came to discuss
that pursuing the dunya in circumstances
is sometimes wise,
and generally it's permissible as long as you're
paying your Zakah.
But
let that pursuit of the dunya,
you know,
at bare minimum, let
it never be at the expense
of you fulfilling what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
has sought from you.
Right?
Allah says,
I have not created mankind
nor jinnkind except to worship Me, except for
My
And this concept
of here,
it's a broad concept of
It includes all of those actions that we
have to do in life,
like going to the bathroom, going to work,
all of those things.
But it's only a form of Ibadah if
it's done with the correct intention.
If it is done to please Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, and you can never do something
to please Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala when it
is something that He has told you He
dislikes,
or when it is something that He has
told you that He has prohibited.
Right? So as long as it's not disliked
by Allah, as long as it's not prohibited
by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, you can do
it.
But if you want to
step up your game, if you want that
to be a means of gaining closeness to
Allah, even if it's something mundane like going
to toilet or brushing your teeth,
then it must just be done with a
good state of heart. It must be done
with a good intention, with consciousness.
Right? And our they say
that Aniyah
an intention,
presence of heart
and focusing your heart on Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala when doing something, it has the power
of changing a mundane act.
Something that you usually do without thinking about
anything from changing that mundane act, a habitual
act, to an act of of worship.
So let us thrive in all of our
actions of the world
or worldly actions, whether it be earning a
riz or
brushing your teeth or going to the bathroom
or eating, whatever the case may be
of doing those acts, as well as our
acts of 'ibaydah,
for the sake of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
We're doing it to please Allah, and every
actor has a potential for that. When you
brush your teeth, what's a good intention for
brushing your teeth?
You don't make another person suffer from your
bad breath. That's one.
Right? Before that, directly focus on Allah. Allah
loves beauty.
So in brushing my teeth, I'm beautifying my
breath.
Hopefully, you're not using some crazy toothpaste.
But there's always a good intention that you
can have. I'm going to the toilet. What
good intention can I have? Allah gave me
a body that I'm supposed to look after.
So in going to the toilet, I'm relieving
myself, and I'm looking after that body.
There's a good intention that you can have
for every action that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has made permissible for you. I'm eating food.
Why am I eating this food? I want
to maintain the body that Allah gave me.
What if the food is nice? I want
to appreciate the favor that Allah gave me.
There's always a good state of art that
you can have with Allah
as long as it's not something that Allah
has made prohibited.
Right.
Well, that's it. We'll move into the next
one,
the next Hikma.
And this next Hikma is very beautiful and
pertinent
because it has to do with our relationship
with Duaa.
Right?
And finding ourselves on the potentially the precipice
of Laylatul Qadr,
it may have been, but that Allah
let let us not have fallen short in
finding it. So we hope, we hope that
it's either tonight or one of the remaining
nights.
But
when we find ourselves in this moment, what
is important is that we're gonna spend the
night making Dua to Allah
That we're gonna ask Allah
for many things.
But what's our relationship with dua? How should
we be viewing it?
So even he
tells us,
Let not
a delay in
the timing of the gift.
Let not a delay in Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala giving you a gift.
Whilst you are persisting in dua.
You're making dua every single day. You're asking
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for this thing every
single night.
He says,
Let not
Allah delay in giving you what you are
asking for.
But he doesn't actually say, Allah give you
what you're asking for. He says, let not
a delay
in the timing of the gift
because it's important. It's a gift.
Whilst you are being persistent in making your
dua, and you should be persistent in making
your dua.
That's how the slave, that's how the bigger
is, is persistent.
Let it not be mujib and lyeksik.
Let it not lead to you despairing.
Let it not lead to you losing hope
that Allah
will give you.
Let it never ever lead to that
state.
But then, what does he say further than
that?
Because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
He has guaranteed for you.
He has guaranteed for you a response.
He has guaranteed
that He will respond to you, but what?
He will respond to you with regards to
what He has chosen for you.
Not in relation to what you have chosen
for yourself.
Listen to this.
He says, don't let a delay in the
timing of the gift
whilst you are being persistent in your dua'am
make you lose hope in Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
Why? Because He has guaranteed you that He
will respond. He has guaranteed you the response.
However, He has guaranteed you the response
regarding that which He has chosen for you.
Not regarding that which you have chosen for
yourself.
You read,
and He has guaranteed you the response
at the time in which He
wants to respond to you.
To read, not in the time that you
want him to respond to you.
Right.
Oftentimes,
we make dua to Allah
and we say, you know, I've been making
dua, but my dua hasn't been answered.
Or if we don't say it, then we
think that I'm making a dua every night.
But it's just not coming
right.
So the first part He tells you, look
man, don't ever do that. Don't ever do
that.
Despite your persistent asking of Allah
and Allah delaying in giving,
Don't ever lose hope.
The first thing you must know is
that the
the thing that Allah gives you,
it's a gift.
It's
You know, in Arabic we use the word
It means to give something, but there's many
words in the Arabic language that mean to
give.
Some of those who study some Arabic might
know them.
Means to give as well.
Also means to give.
There's a number of words that mean to
give,
and also means to give.
Many words.
So what's the specificity?
What's hidden in the meaning of this word
Allah
uses it in the Quran.
When Allah says to Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa
sallam, certainly I have gifted you Al Qadr.
The connotation of this word ata
is when somebody gives you something not expecting
anything in return.
They don't have to give it to you
in the 1st place, and they give it
to you not expecting anything in return.
So like a present almost.
Right. But it doesn't have to come at
a specific time or anything like that.
So the first thing you have to get
right is
that whatever Allah gives me, even if it
comes as a result of me making dua,
it's Allah's gift.
I didn't deserve it in and of myself.
It's Allah
gift.
And then the second
thing that I want to speak about is,
what is dua?
What is dua?
The first component of dua is a talab,
is that there is a request.
When you're making dua to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, you are asking Allah of something for
something.
If you're not asking Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
something or you are not seeking something from
Him,
then saying his name, etc.
Is simply zikr. Zikrullah.
And when I say simply zikrullah, I'm not
saying one is better than the other.
Right. I'm not saying one is better than
the other. I'm just identifying for you the
difference between the two.
So the first component of dua is that
there is a request. You're seeking something from
Allah.
But the second component of dua
is that you're seeking from Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala
is that you're asking Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
with a humble heart.
That you are seeking Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
with the highest degree of humility.
With recognition that, O Allah! I'm only your
slave, O Allah! And I'm only a beggar.
You don't have to give me anything.
So you're asking Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
but you're not only asking Him, you're asking
Him with the highest degree of humility, of
submission,
of self effacement.
You're not asking him like a warty person.
Dua is not,
dua is not
simply remembering a few words
and then letting it roll off your tongue.
Is
that
with humility and submission?
Does it fulfill that condition?
There is a dua.
You must have presence of heart. In fact,
dua, what Rasulullah
teaches is it's
In other narrations he says,
dua is Ibadah.
Dua is the essence of Ibadah.
There is no Ibadah that you undertake
except that it has the main component of
dua in it.
Right. Even if at times, even if you're
making zikrullah or you're reading Quran,
there is an element of dua in it,
in that you are saying that, oh Allah,
your halal, your state, your actions are showing
that, oh Allah,
I'm making them feel or I'm making empty
salah of what you have required of me.
I'm
doing what you have asked of me.
And generally when you do it, you do
it and you do it seeking a reward
from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So maybe it
hasn't been verbalized, but there is a nonverbal
talab. You are seeking something from Allah in
doing that.
But why is it
Why is dua the essence of worship?
Why is dua worship itself?
Because in making dua, you recognize that, oh
Allah, I have no ability to attain
for myself whatever I desire.
Oh Allah, you are the one who gives.
Oh, Allah. I am incapable. Oh, Allah. You
are capable.
Oh, Allah. I am poor, poverty stricken.
Oh, Allah. I am in
dire need.
I am in desperation, oh Allah. Oh Allah,
You are Firhina. Oh Allah, You are rich.
Oh Allah, You are self sufficient. Oh Allah,
I am dependent. Oh Allah, You are independent.
All of those things, all of those sentiments,
they are the essence of the nature of
slavehood.
They are the essence of the nature of
slavehood.
And self sufficiency,
independence,
not needing anyone or anything. That is the
essence of the
essence of divinity,
the essence of kingship, the essence of grandeur,
and that is what Allah
has.
So in du'a, we are recognizing to for
ourselves, Oh Allah, you are great. Oh Allah,
you are big. Oh Allah, you are all
of those things.
And we are saying with the tongue of
our state,
we are saying, Oh Allah, I am nothing.
But that doesn't happen. That doesn't manifest
if you are simply rolling off your tongue
certain words that you have memorized.
So you must ask of Allah
with firstly a present heart
and then a humble heart.
A present heart and a humble heart. Imagine
if I go to somebody, I go to
my let's just say my dad
and I'm asking for something.
And then
let's say he's sitting over here in front
of me. Right? Now I come to him,
and then I start, you know, looking at
my laptop.
I'm doing whatever I want to things that
I really want to be doing. I say,
Abi, give me this and that.
Does he really think that this guy is
like, he really needs what he's asking for,
so I must give it to him. Will
you feel sorry for me and give it
to me?
Or I'm busy playing a game, and then
I
and then I ask my boss, you know
what? You know what? I need a raise
or something like that.
You think your boss is gonna take you
seriously?
You think you're messing with him? You come
in to ask him for a raise. You're
asking to ask him for something, but you're
busy with something else. So that thing doesn't
even require your attention. It doesn't mean so
much to you.
That's when we're dealing with people.
That's when we're dealing with other people like
us.
They won't take you seriously at all. What's
still when you're speaking to Allah
Why do you expect Allah to take us
to take us seriously?
Here we find ourselves making dua to Allah.
We're asking Allah
for things, and whilst we're asking Allah for
things, we're not even thinking about what we're
asking Him.
We're not even our heart isn't even present
in our request from Allah
But then when it doesn't come,
then we say, you know what? We were
asking Allah so persistently,
and it hasn't even come yet.
And we start losing hope in our dua.
How can it be?
How can it be? You hardly even made
duas that can even be called dua at
all because it didn't have that humility
and that,
and that presence of heart.
It can't even be called dua, but you
want to say, you know, it doesn't even
come as if you are deserving.
As if your dua is actually you saying
doing magic, you know,
waving your wand and then it's supposed to
come. Allah is not your genie in a
lamp.
Allah is not our genie in a lamp.
Right? Neither are you Aladdin.
So
that's the first thing we must get right.
Before we can even
think about
the outcome of our dua,
we must keep dua right.
We must ask of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
with presence of heart
and we must ask of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala with the highest degree of humility.
Right? With the highest degree of brokenness and
humility, we must ask Allah
Then we can say we've made dua.
Then we can say we have made dua.
The second thing you must know is as
I mentioned before already,
you ask Allah only with the if you
have done it like that, can you say
you have made dua'am?
But then you must also know that you
have requested something from Allah. You have asked
something of Allah and you must know that
if Allah gives it,
He doesn't give it because He had to
give it because you made duaan.
It's still a gift from Him.
It's still
a gift from him.
The second thing that you must have in
your dua is,
when you come to Allah
you must remove the barriers between you and
Him.
Now what are the barriers between yourself and
Him?
The barriers between ourselves and Allah
are the sins that we commit.
The barriers between ourselves and Allah are the
sins that we commit.
Am I saying that you must stop all
sinning? You cannot have committed a sin or
you must
really not have done any sin before you
can make dua to Allah?
No. I'm not saying that.
I'm not saying that.
But what I am saying is
you must make an attempt at removing that
barrier.
So when you come to Allah
you must come to Allah with Tawba.
Before you go in to ask him what
you want, you must come to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala with
Tawba.
Oh, Allah. I'm coming before
you. But I have done everything that shows
I have done everything that shows that I
don't deserve to be standing in front of
you.
Oh Allah, overlook all of that.
I was running towards sun, You Allah. I
was running towards dunya unfitter, You Allah. I
was running towards my pleasures. I was running
towards all that displeases You Allah. But I've
turned away, O Allah.
I've turned away from all of those things
and I've turned to you.
O Allah, you also turn to me. Tawbah
means to turn.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about those 3
companions
that it was almost thought that they were
going to be excommunicated.
That they were going to be cut off
from the Muslim community. That's a story for
another time.
But Allah says about him,
Allah turned to them so that they could
turn to him.
Allah turned to him so that they could
turn to him. Allah made tawba of them
so that they could make tawba to him.
Right? So the first thing we must recognize
is I'm not saying you must never have
committed a sin. You can only come to
Allah if you're an angel. No.
Our scholars tell us
that
what?
All the the meaning is this,
come to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala limping and
broken.
Come to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala limping and
broken.
And don't wait for a time that you
are perfect.
Because waiting for a time that you are
perfect is futile.
Come, come limping and come broken.
Come with all your sins.
Come with all your sins, but at least
when you're coming to Allah
turn away from those sins and say O
Allah.
O Allah, I'm turning away from those sins
and O Allah, I'm turning to you. O
Allah, you also turn to me. I'm turning
to you in repentance O Allah, you turn
to me in forgiveness.
So that you can at least have attempted
to remove those barriers between yourself and Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And then you ask,
then you ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
with that broken heart,
with that recognition of deficiency
and imperfection
and need and poverty,
and with that recognition of Allah's
grandeur,
his richness,
his ability to give, in fact with his
recognizing his love for giving.
Then we ask Allah
And when we ask Allah, we ask like
beggars.
Now, why is all of this important?
You see, sometimes
we get our knickers in a twist
About our dua not being answered.
And sometimes we also get our understanding of
dua twisted.
Dua is not a means.
What did Rasulullah
tell us in
this
hadith?
Dua
is
the essence of
but sometimes we think about Dua as a
means.
We don't think of dua as the end.
We think that dua is a means to
getting whatever we want.
I'm asking Allah and I'm looking at that
dua as a means to get whatever I
want.
But in Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam telling us
that dua is Ibadan. He's telling us that
dua is the end. It's not the means.
Dua is the end. Dua is not the
means.
Why? Allah tells us in the Quran, I
have not created you. I have not created
you except that you worship Me. And Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is telling you that Dua
is worship.
Dua is worship. It is the essence of
worship.
So all that I'm responsible for is what
I can do.
So when I find myself making dua, I
am fulfilling the purpose of my existence.
Dua is the end. Dua is not the
means.
When Allah gives you something after you may
have made that dua.
That's Allah's business.
That's Allah's business.
If Allah had told you, you must make
dua for me and when you make dua
for me, I'm gonna give you nothing.
You should still make dua to Allah.
The only reason we can hope in that
outcome of the dua is because Allah is
guaranteed for us and Allah has told us
For making dua to Allah is not simply
a means of fulfilling all of my desires
and my wants or even my needs.
Dua
is simply responding to the command that Allah
made of us.
Ask me.
And then Allah says,
I will respond to you.
Does anybody have a lawyer
that they could take Allah to court to
and say, O Allah,
I asked of you and I asked of
you and you didn't give me. Does anybody
have that lawyer?
Does such a lawyer exist?
No.
If you asked Allah and He didn't give
you, you can do nothing about it.
Because you have no right over Allah.
You have no intrinsic
right over Allah. There is no such lawyer.
If you think there is somebody you can
run to that will take Allah to task.
Because you asked of
him, then you're sorely mistaken.
There is no such other being that can
do that.
Allah giving you is simply because He wants
to give you, not because you have a
right to be given.
Right?
So dua is the end.
Esat means.
Dua is the end Esat means.
So when you find that Allah
has brought you in front of Him, asking
of Him and begging of Him with a
broken heart,
then be happy.
Be happy not because you expect the outcome,
but be happy because you're fulfilling
what your Master has asked of you.
Not because he's going to fulfill what you
have asked of him.
Be happy because you are doing what Allah
has asked of you, not because you expect
him to do what you have asked of
him.
Dua is the end my brothers. Dua is
not the means.
And then after we have made the dua.
What then?
He says,
so on account of it don't ever despair.
Right?
Because Allah has guaranteed you a response.
He has guaranteed you a response
regarding that which He has chosen for you.
Not regarding
what you have chosen for yourself.
Now you may think, hey, does it mean
that I'm gonna go, I'm gonna do what
Allah has told me to do? I'm gonna
make dua to Him, and then He's gonna
give me something else.
So I'm not actually gonna get what I
want.
The first thing you must know is, Allah
won't give you a lesser than you've ever
asked of Him.
If Allah gives you something in place of
what you have asked of Him,
then you must know that what He has
given you is pitiful you than what He
has given to you, what you have asked
of Him.
You must know that what He has given
you
is better than what you have asked of
Him. If you have asked Allah, Oh Allah
give me wealth and Allah gives you poverty.
Then you must know Allah gifting you that
poverty is better for you than Allah giving
you wealth.
Perhaps it's on the account of that poverty
that you continue to ask Him.
And asking Him is fulfilling the purpose of
your existence.
And perhaps it may be that He gives
you wealth and then you stop asking.
And then you cease to fulfill the purpose
of your existence.
Remember,
Dua is the end, it's not the means.
So He has guaranteed for you a response,
but regarding that which He has chosen for
you.
Not regarding that which you have chosen for
Him.
And at the time that He wants for
you, not at the time that you want
for yourself.
Why?
Because Allah knows that's better for you.
All that you as the slave must be
worshiped must be must be focused on is,
am I being a good slave?
You see?
All that we as a slave must be
focused on is, am I being a good
slave?
The slave must be focused on his slavehood.
The master will focus on being a generous
master.
The slave must focus on his
need.
Right? And his need is to worship Allah
and the master will see to the needs
of his slave.
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Sharia of
Islam, Allah didn't outright prohibit slavery.
From the companions who were those who had
slaves, in fact, rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam
also had servants.
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, in this
human relationship,
both of you are human beings and in
front of Allah you are equal.
Just because one person is a slave in
this slave owner relationship that exists in the
world,
In reality in your core both of you
are God of Allah and you are equal
in this in the sight of Allah.
And that's why in our Islamic legacy you
may have had people who were slaves,
but then became the best mufasir in the
authorities in tafsir.
All of the you know, who was the
master mufasir?
The greatest mufasir was considered to be Ibn
Abbas radiAllahu anhu because Rasulullah
made dua for him. Ibn Abbas radiAllahu anhu
were slaves.
But they were slaves not to do work,
not to let go, plow fields for him
and stuff. They were slaves. All they had
to do was to learn tafsir from him.
Right? They had to learn tafsir from him
to the extent that they became the biggest
scholars of tafsir.
And then they imparted that tafsir.
They may have been slaves. They may have
become freed slaves. But you and I, when
we want to look for commentaries on the
Quran, we must go to them.
We must look to the the freed slave
of Ibn Abbas
When we want to look for fatwa, you
know, in the time of the Sahaba, shortly
after the passing of Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa
sallam, the Mufti of Makkah was Ataibunu Abi
Rabah.
In the descriptions of him, they say he
was a black man with cornrow hair.
It was like,
you know,
describing the hair that we might know
of black people.
And he was a slave, a freed slave
that was put into the position of Mufti.
Such that the companions, the great companions would
say nobody gives fatwa in Makkah if Ata
is there.
So in
the court of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
they're equal.
But in a human relationship, the one may
be a slave and the other may be
a slave owner.
But Allah
has regulated that relationship.
If a person has a slave, then he
has responsibilities towards that slave.
You cannot own that slave and not see
to the needs of the slave. You must
see to the needs of the slave. You
must feed them. You must clothe them.
And all of those things,
you must shelter them.
So imagine if Allah made it
a wallmark of the
owners or the the masters of this world
that they must see to their slaves,
will Allah not see to his slaves?
Will Allah not see to his slaves?
And if there existed even a master
like ibn Abbas, who would have his slaves
there just dedicated to learning tafsir from him.
You know, many people now would want to
give up the whole world so that they
can walk that path. It's such a wonderful
path.
Then is Allah not more generous?
So the slave must be focused on being
a slave.
He must focus on finding himself in front
of the door of Allah. He must find
himself asking of Allah. He must find himself
expressing his nature as being a slave and
leave Allah's business to Allah.
Leave Allah's business to Allah.
And I guarantee
you, oftentimes
it is the delay in the response of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
that increases your expression of your nature of
being a slave when you ask of Him.
When you've been asking Allah, and you've been
asking Allah, and you've been asking Allah, and
Allah doesn't give you.
And you cannot find
refuge in anyone else,
and you cannot find anybody else to fulfill
your need,
that's the moment in which you were really
experienced.
That's the moment in which you will radiance
that I'm nothing.
That's when you really
experience
that I can do nothing without Allah.
Just ask the cancer patients.
Just ask the people who have
some
problem that nobody else can find a solution
for them. Find those people who have
those sicknesses that when they go to the
doctor, the doctor can't find anything wrong with
him. Ask them how they call on Allah.
Ask them how they hope in Allah.
So oftentimes,
it's that delay in response from Allah.
That's actually the gift from Allah.
Is that delay in response from Allah? That
is actually the the gift from Allah.
So, let us never belittle that gift.
Let us never belittle that gift and think
to ourselves, you know what?
I've been asking enough now.
It's time for a response. No.
No. No.
Just
keep
knocking.
Just keep knocking.
Allah
tells us that Allah
has guaranteed the response to the slave.
He has guaranteed the response to the slave
as long as the slave does not become
hasty.
As long as the slave does not become
hasty.
So may Allah
grant us that,
That understanding.
What is it?
What is it?
That understanding is
that understanding is that I am a slave
and all that I must be focused on
is slave stuff.
And Allah is Allah
and Allah will be focused on Allah's stuff.
But I mustn't try to be focused on
Allah business.
Because I have no ability to be there.
I have no
right to even think I can be doing
anything there. And in fact,
the moment I try to enter that realm
of of focusing on Allah Business,
then that is a sign that I've forgotten
to show my own slave hood.
I've forgotten my own reality.
So may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guide us.
And and I think if there's something else
that I need to mention on this wisdom
is that is what?
Oftentimes
or
there are 2
ways
to realize that
There are 2 ways
to realize that,
to realize that nature as your slave. Because
it's easy for me to say, you must
ask Allah like you're a slave and all
of those things.
But we have this nafsina that's always telling
us, no. No. You're good, and you're a
master, and you are you're wealthy, and you
have so much stuff. And that nafs is
always there. Shaitan is always whispering to you.
So it's easy to say you must ask
Allah like your slave.
But
perhaps some
recognition of how it is that we come
to realize that slave, that slavehood,
that we come to actually
know and be certain within ourselves
that we are slaves and start acting like
slaves.
The first is
constantly
constantly
placing yourself
in a lowly position,
Constantly reminding yourself of your own lowliness.
So when you see somebody,
maybe somebody that became a Muslim
shortly.
Instead of telling yourself, yo, he has no
good deeds.
You tell yourself, SubhanAllah, he has no bad
deeds.
I have so many bad deeds.
Or when you see yourself in front of
a child,
then you don't think to yourself this child
is so
can't do anything for himself.
You think to yourself, subhanAllah,
how pure this child is. Allah didn't even
make him responsible for his own actions.
If he dies, he won't go to jahannam.
Rather than thinking of yourself, you know, I'm
an adult. I'm mature.
When you see a
a person that's done a lot of sins,
then you think to yourself, subhanAllah,
maybe he's done all of these sins, but
he makes a lot of tawbah.
Or
even better than that, you think to yourself,
what I'm looking at from this person is
it looks like sins, but perhaps in relation
to him it's not a sin.
Maybe I find somebody, they're eating or they're
engaged in a Ribawi contract. Yes. On the
surface of it, Riba is haram. If you
know the person and you're in a position,
you must tell them, look, don't be engaged
in haram. But I'm talking about something else
now.
I'm not talking about Amr Bil Ma'ruf telling
people to do what's right and and causing
them to refrain from bad. I'm just telling
you, look, when you see the person sinning,
think to yourself that perhaps in relation to
them, what they are doing is
Allah has created a need for them. Maybe
they don't have any money. So for them
it's permissible to be eating from the Haram.
But I know I've committed many sins.
When I look at them, I look at
them and I see, you know, this looks
like a sin. Maybe it's even something that's
permissible for them. But, you know, I doubt
I have doubt in whether their sin is
a sin, but I have certainty that my
sins are sins.
I have doubted their sins are sins, but
I have certainty that my sins are sins.
So in every moment that you find yourselves,
you are you are looking
for an opportunity to occupy the position of
lowliness.
And when you practice that all the time,
when you practice that all the time,
then you will be able to realize it
when you stand before Allah.
Right?
So
may Allah
allow us to practice that. Never think ourselves
better than the next person.
Whoever it is, there's a way
to think that that person is better than
you.
Here's
a a big
He has nothing.
He asks people all the time. He's not
supposed to be asking people. It's haram too
big. Why doesn't he go to work?
Why doesn't he do all of those things?
Perhaps in the night,
when he's lying under the cold,
when he's talking to Allah whilst I'm playing
on my phone.
So the first way is to practice that.
To practice reminding yourself all the time that
I I actually am
not better than anybody else I see.
No matter who it is, whether it's a
drunken,
whether it doesn't matter.
Like I said,
you may be lying down there when he
comes down from that
Baba Lass, or whatever it may be.
When he's lying there in his state of
brokenness,
with nobody to speak to, maybe he talks
to Allah.
And maybe it's us
that in our facade of
obedience,
we think that we are okay.
And we don't we don't ask of Allah
with that sincerity.
And the second way that
knowing that
or attaining that position of brokenness and loneliness
before Allah
is when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala gives us
a calamity.
Right?
When Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala gives us a
calamity.
So never look upon them with scorn. Oftentimes,
it's when people are in the doldrums.
I was just talking to one of the
brothers yesterday.
On on more than one occasion, on a
few occasions, I've spoken to brothers who left
Islam,
who became Murtad.
And
most of the time,
actually in all the cases that I've dealt
with,
it's only been from wealthy guys.
Some of them
some of them before, they were doing lots
of.
I mean, one of them I know to
be a person who, in his young days,
would go to the masjid for fajr every
day.
He was a Hafiz.
He would lead tarawih, we read 1 Jews,
and then it's long. They would read 2
and a half Jews,
And then they became Mufted.
And one of them that one actually told
me once.
And I make dua'at that Allah turns his
on. And if it is, I see no
deen. Those are deen of our children.
But once he told me that, you know,
if I didn't have the affluence that I
have, then my then my atheism would cripple
me.
So,
the other way to attain that that
brokenness
that standing in front of Allah like a
slave,
is when Allah gives you a calamity.
And we don't wish the calamity upon anyone
but sometimes that calamity that comes from Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
That is Allah's gift to you.
Corruption
has become apparent
on the land and in the seas.
On account of what man's own hands have
earned.
To give them a taste of what they
have earned.
But Allah doesn't just do it like that.
Allah said, it's not a tit for tat.
You've done wrong. Now I'm giving you something
to taste your own meats. No.
Allah
says,
Allah allows all of that to happen
so that perhaps they can come back.
So that perhaps they can
come back.
So may Allah
make us those who always come back to
him. You know,
I want to do it in a while
ago already, but
there's just one
Whilst I was reading Quran one of the
days something just came to my mind and
I think it embodies both of these things
that I spoke about.
In Surah,
Surah Hud.
Allah speaks Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks about
many of the prophets
and how the people transgressed against the prophets.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks about
Ibrahim alaihis salam.
And there's a dialogue
between the wife of Ibrahim alaihis salam
and
the angels that came to visit him on
their way to destroy the people of Lut
alaihis salam.
Right?
And Allah destroyed the people of Lut alaihis
salam like
with
insane punishments.
Allah caused the earth to be raised and
then crashed down upon them.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala caused it to rain
stones upon them.
Allah destroyed them thoroughly.
But the dialogue begins with Ibrahim alaihis salam
almost becoming
shocked and afraid at the visitation of these
angels.
But his wife is not shocked. She talks
to the angels.
And then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
When the fear left Ibrahim alaihis salam and
he received the good news because in that
time that Ibrahim alaihis salam was shocked.
The angels were telling the wife of Ibrahim
alaihis salam that Allah blessed her
with a child
and she was already very old and barren.
So Allah says,
He started arguing with us
about the people of Lut Allah
says that Ibrahim alaihis salam started arguing with
us
about the people of Lut. Why?
You know, elsewhere in the Quran Allah says,
you are saying
No, don't destroy them. Lut is with them.
Allah says, we know better who's there.
But look at this. It's a sinful people.
They are committing
Like even if you read Surah Hud, Allah
speaks about all of the sins that the
people committed.
But when Allah comes to that sin,
the tone is even more severe than all
of the other sins.
But here's Ibrahim
He sees the angels coming on their way
to destroy those people sent by Allah. Angels
don't do except what Allah has sent him
to do. But Ibrahim
he argues on their behalf.
You know, these people, you know, making excuse
for them.
And then Allah praises him,
and Allah says,
He's doing something.
Allah has commanded something and then Ibrahim alaihis
salam argues against that.
Then Allah praises him for arguing against that
and Allah says about him,
indeed Ibrahim
had a soft heart.
Ibrahim was forbearance,
very extremely forbearance.
Awa!
You know,
he he often expressed regret over the wrongs
and he turned back and Munib is also
like that. He constantly turned back to Allah.
And then in the next verse Allah says,
You
Ibrahim Then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells him
after that.
How does it go You Ibrahim
Allah tells him, oh Ibrahim,
turn away from the stopness.
So, he's doing something that Allah doesn't want
him to do.
But before saying that he must stop doing
it, Allah says Allah praises him for the
softness of his heart.
And that comes about on account of occupying
the position of
of,
you know of of of humility.
And it comes from oft turning back to
Allah.
Allah praises him for being one who constantly
came back. Now, he never turned away from
Allah at all.
He was a prophet of the highest order.
He didn't turn away from Allah, but Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala said he was constantly turning
to Allah meaning he was he was like
constantly coming to a closest state with Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Sometimes it comes on account of occupying that
position of Tadal Noon. Sometimes
it comes on practicing Tadal Noon. Sometimes it
comes via Allah sending us our calamity and
that calamity makes us turn back to it.
And that calamity shows us our deficiency.
So may Allah
let us come to him through the easy
of the 2 doors.
May Allah
come to him through the door of recognizing
our only reality.
May
Allah not test us with calamity.
But may Allah
make it such that when we stand before
him tonight and every other time,
that we stand before him recognizing that we
are slaves
and recognizing that He is the Master.
And may He open our hearts
to ask of Him,
not expecting of Him.
May we ask of Him may He open
our hearts to ask of Him because asking
of Him is what He has told us
to do.
Not because we see it a means to
fulfill our own desires.
This I end. What is happening in Quran?
Are
there any questions?
If not, we'll end there for today and
we'll continue tomorrow with
the same