Journey to Allah - Session 3

Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen, wa salatu wa salamu ala al mubarooti wa ahmatu lil alameen, nabiyyina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'een, allahumma laka alhamdulillahi khadda tardaa, walaka alhamdulillahi iza radheet, walaka alhamdulillahi ba'da ridhaa. So we started the sessions two sessions ago, we had only two sessions, we haven't mismatched. And all we did was introductions. So this is where we are starting with the actual stuff, right? And what we are talking about is in terms of the journey to Allah, that this is not a journey that we are taking alone. This is a path that a lot of people before us took. So there are things that they have told us that have to have worked for them. And therefore it's way easier for us to just follow suit, follow the path that they've taken and perhaps achieve the things they've achieved. And the primary, primary, let's say role models for us is the Sahaba of the Prophet ﷺ. And the Sahaba were trained by none other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala himself. It wasn't just the Prophet's ﷺ influence on them as a personality living with them. Rather it was the commandments of Allah given directly to them and they received it that it is directed towards them and they implemented it. So when the Qur'an ayah said, قُمْ فَأَنْذِرْ وَرَبَّكَ فَاكَبِّرْ قُمْ فَأَنْذِرْ وَرَبَّكَ فَاكَبِّرْ And the other one, قُمْ اللَّيْلَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا نَسْرَهُ أَوِدْ قُصْ مِنْهُ قَلِيلًا يَا أَيُّهَا الْمُزَّمِّنُ is the person who is covering himself after Prophet ﷺ immediately after receiving the Wahi, he runs to Khadijah ﷺ and asks her to cover her up, زَمِّنُونِي زَمِّنُونِي So the next chapter is basically addressing the Prophet ﷺ or the one who is covering. And he says, قُمْ اللَّيْلَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا Get up and pray the whole of the night except a few, a little. The whole of the night except a little. And then the next ayah says, نِصْفَهُ Half of it. أَوْزِدْ عَلَيْهِ أَوْلِ أَوْلِ قُصْ مِنْهُ قَلِيلًا Or pray half of the night or a little more or a little less. So Allah is telling the Prophet ﷺ to stand up and pray. And this is not something that the Prophet ﷺ did alone. The immediate Sahaba who accepted Islam at that time also followed suit. And so much so that they didn't have five times prayers during the early days of Islam. Guess how many years it took until the five daily prayers became mandatory? Around nine years. Eight years, nine years. Because when did it become applicable is in Isra'il Mahraj when the Prophet ﷺ attended to meet Allah. And that was one year before the Hijrah. Hijrah happened ten years after his birth. And one year before was almost nine years. So for nine years they didn't have a structured way of five daily prayers. So what was happening during that time was the Prophet ﷺ praying almost all the night basically. And it was actually a mandatory prayer for the first year. So the first part of the Surah Al-Muzzammil was revealed immediately to the Prophet ﷺ after Surah Al-A'laq. And then the last verse of the Surah which says that إِنَّ رَبَّكَ يَعْلَمُ أَنَّكَ تَقُومُ أَدْنَا مِنْ صُبُتَي اللَّيْلِ وَنَصْوَهُ وَطَائِفَةٌ مِّنَ الَّذِينَ مَعَكَ Allah knows that you pray a third of the night or two thirds of the night and a group with you. And He knows that among you are those who are sick and among you are those who are traveling. And it is difficult for you. So pray and that is better or else you read Qur'an. So it became kind of a sunnah rather than a fard. So the first year it was fard. So this is basically a mark that is established by Allah for the earliest of early people who accepted Islam. And so that becomes a kind of a mark for us, the generations who come after, that if there is a way to become closer to Allah, that is one of the most effective ways to do that. And then coming to the subject of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala making mandatory stuff and forbidding a lot of other stuff for us, the ummah, came a lot after. So all the do's and don'ts and things like that came after Allah prepared the hearts. And prepared the hearts with the substance of Iman, with the substance of the belief, the true belief in Allah. So what is this Iman that we are talking about that filled their hearts so much that the Prophet, when the ayah said, Are you going to stop? And this was about the litters. The Arabs were famous in their consumption of alcohol and they used to even have poetry competitions about the consumption of alcohol. And when Allah said, They spilled out the alcohol in their houses, on the streets. Although we know that it came in three parts, the Tahrim. But when the ayah said that this is it, you stop, they stopped. So it becomes a bit difficult for us. So what is it that drove them to be so much so that they would accept the revelation and implement it immediately? It's an immediate implementation. So what are these driving forces? So driving forces is Dawafah. In terms of what drives a person to do any action, Could be love, could be hate, could be fear, could be need. So there could be so many different drivers for an action to come out from a person. So example of a mother who spends the whole night taking care of the newborn child is basically love. And Allah actually establishes that what connects us to Him is love. And He says, He uses the word hubb in our connection with Him. He says, Allah made, I want to translate it properly, yes. So Allah has endeared to you the faith, made it dear for you. Iman, He has made it dear for you. And zayyanahu fi qulubikum, and beautified it in your hearts. One, He made it dearer for us and beautified it in our hearts. And has made hateful to you the disbelief, defiance and disobedience. So He inculcated in us at the same time both the feelings, love as well as hate. He fed us love of Iman, of faith, of true belief. And He also inculcated in us the despise, the hatred of kufr, disbelief, fusuq, meaning disobedience and asyan, defiance. So all those things have been made, inculcated in us, both those feelings, the love and the hate. And that becomes the driving force for us. So if your love is not really complete and it's not really perfect, if you don't love and hate at the same time, you love what the lover also loves. And you hate what the lover also hates. And you love what brings benefit to your lover and you hate what brings harm to your lover. Until and unless that love-hate relationship is there towards the person, towards the being, towards Allah, towards even any other human being that you have, it's not really complete. So that mixture of those feelings is fed to us by Allah. And then He says that you could love so many different things at the same time. And there is no issue with that. But what becomes superior is وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَشَدُّ حُبًّا لِلَّهِ And those who believe are extremely and very much highly loving of Allah. So that means that that supersedes any other love they have. They do have other love. They have so many other people that they are loving. But the love of Allah comes as every other love. And Allah describes that love. He says مَنْ أَحَبَّ لِلَّهِ وَأَبْغَضَ لِلَّهِ وَأَعْبَى لِلَّهِ وَمَنَعَ لِلَّهِ فَقَدْ اسْتَكْمَلَ الْإِيمَانِ Whoever loves for Allah, he loves another party because that other party gets them closer to Allah. Hates another party because that other party draws them far from Allah. And gives for the love of Allah. And holds on and doesn't give and denies giving for the love of Allah. If one person has that فَقَدْ اسْتَكْمَلَ الْإِيمَانِ So he has completed Iman. So your dealings, your feelings are driven by the love of Allah. That level is what completes our love for Allah. So it's one thing to say that I love Allah. It's one thing to live. There is in between. There is saying and there is doing things that you believe will get you close to Allah. And the third is that your system works that does this please Allah? I'll do it. Does this please Allah? I'm not doing it regardless of what happens. Regardless of who the other party is, how the other party is reacting to my action. To my giving or to my holding on. So this becomes the driving force of how our behavior is. And that is driven by love of Allah. And then you would see that Iman is somehow or one of the ways of or drivers to action is need. How does need connect to Iman? Driving force of any action can be love, can be need. How does need connect to Iman? How does need connect to believe in Allah or loving Allah? You understand it by the opposite of it. In Surah Al-A'la Allah says, كَلَّا إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَيَقْرَىٰ رَآهُ اسْتَغْدَىٰ No, but indeed man transgresses. Because he sees himself as sufficient. He does not see the need for Allah because he is doing well without Allah. So you see where it's going. And then Allah says, حَتَّى إِذَا كُنْتُمْ هُوَ الَّذِي يُسَيِّرُكُمْ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ حَتَّى إِذَا كُنْتُمْ فِي الْفُلْكِ وَجَرَيْنَ بِهِمْ بِرِيحٍ طَيِّبَةٍ وَفَرِحُوا بِهَا جَاءَتْهَا رِيحٌ عَاصِفٌ وَجَاءَهُمُ الْمَوْجُ مِن كُلِّ مَكَانٍ وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُمْ أُحِيطَ بِهِمْ دَعَوْا الل And the person who transgresses or disobeys because he sees himself self-sufficient and therefore doesn't need Allah. And the opposite of it is Allah gives an example of that he's the one who enables your travels in the seas, in the skies, and you will be in a ship sailing and there will be some good wind coming and you enjoy the wind and suddenly a storm comes in and the waves start throwing you around and you expect that you are doomed, you're dying, that your own ship is drowning. That's when you truly supplicate to Allah. That's when you feel the need of Allah. That's when you're like if you should save us, we'll surely become thankful. So that need has become the driving force for us for connecting to Allah. So he's like, فَلَمَّا أَنْجَاهُمْ إِذَا هُمْ يَبْغُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ But when he saves them, at once they commit injustice upon the earth without right. So that moment of weakness, they somehow see the need of having Allah in our lives to protect us and save us from this ultimate doom that we are foreseeing, that is our death. Save us O Allah. Once they are saved, they go back to their injustice. So this need is what becomes one of those drivers. And then this need is something that even the prophets before us used. Hud Al-Islam for example, he talks to his people and he says, وَاتَّقُوا الَّذِي أَمَدَّكُمْ بِمَا تَعْلَمُونَ أَمَدَّكُمْ بِأَنْعَامٍ وَبَنِينٍ وَجَنَّاتٍ وَعَيُونٍ إِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ I fear for you and fear He who provides you with which you know, you know the stuff that He has provided you, provided you with grazing livestock and children, gardens and springs. Indeed, I fear for you the punishment of a terrible name. So there is this, He, Allah, the Provider has provided you all this. So you do need Him to continue providing you. You do need Him to continue making sure you have your livestock, meaning your cattle alive and well. And the grazing food for the livestock readily available. And your children and your families alive and well. You want Allah for Him because the opposite of it is He gives you an a'zab, a punishment. Punishment could be that all of this is wiped out. So this need is one of the things that the anbiya, the prophets before and the Prophet ﷺ talked about. And they all addressed their people with their need. So it is us also that we have to create this need for us. How do we create the need? And this is the last topic that we will have today. We need to become better Muslims, create need internally, internalize the need of what gets us closer to Allah. What is it that we want from Him at the end? We want His pleasure. We want His forgiveness. We want to enter Jannah. We want to be saved from Hellfire. So Allah also addresses these very issues. He says, وَسَادِعُوا إِلَى مَغْفِرَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَضُّهَا السَّمَاوَاتُ وَالْأَرْضُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ And He also says, فَمَنْ زُحْزِحَ عَلِ النَّارِ وَأُسْهِدَ الْجَنَّةَ فَقَدْ فَازُوا So He basically talks to us about what we can expect. What we can expect and He drives us through that need that He wants to build in us. And He says, And hasten, or fast, or become fast, or take action in terms of to His forgiveness, the forgiveness of your Lord and the Garden, which is the Jannah, as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the righteous. And He also says, Every soul shall taste death, and you will only be given your full compensation in the Day of Resurrection. So he who is drawn away from Hellfire and admitted to Paradise has attained his desire. So this desire that you have is by attaining Jannah and being removed. زُحْزِحَ عَلِ النَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ الْجَنَّةَ زُحْزِحَ Look at the word impact also. When it says, the Qur'an says about the shaking of the earth in the Day of Judgment, إِذَا زُلْزِلَتِ الْأَرْضُ زِلْزَالَهَا As if it's creating an earthquake just by the sound bite. Right? Similarly, وَمَنْ زُحْزِحَ عَلِ النَّارِ Whoever has been dragged away or saved away or has been saved and killed off of Nahr, the Hellfire. So there is this, as if it's a conveyor belt leading you to end up in Hellfire. As if the autopilot mode will end you up in Hellfire and you need somebody to drag you off that path to save you. So there is this need that is supposed to inculcate in you that you need some mercy of Allah to be dragging you away from that conveyor belt without His mercy, I'm ending in Hellfire. See? So that need is what should be driving first. Then, opposite of the glad tidings of Jannah, the two verses before was actually talking about Jannah. وَسَارِعُوا إِلَى مَغْفِرَةٍ وَجَنَّةٍ Right? But on the opposite, Allah also uses this fear as a driving force. He says, إِنَّ جَهَنَّمَا كَانَتْ مِصَادَةٌ لِلطَّغِينَ مَآبَةٌ لَابِسِينَ فِيهَا أَحْقَابَ لَا يَذْوُقُونَ فِيهَا بَرْدًا وَلَا شَرَابَ إِلَّا حَمِيمًا وَغَسَّاقَ جَزَاءً وِفَاقًا So indeed, Hell has been lying and waiting for us, for all of us. May Allah protect us. Immediately, He says, okay, for the transgressors, for the ظالمين. A place of return. It's where they are going to return. لَابِسِينَ فِيهَا أَحْقَابَ They are going to remain in there for ages and ages and ages. لَا يَذْوُقُونَ فِيهَا And they will not taste therein any coolness or drink. إِلَّا حَمِيمًا وَغَسَّاقًا Except scalding water, meaning very hot water. And جَزَاءً وِفَاقًا It is very much an appropriate recompense, meaning that's what is appropriate for them. So, as if they laid back in the conveyor belt, very comfortable, and didn't respond to the caller of Allah. To get up and pray. And get up to take the actions that the caller required them to do. They were too relaxed. Or they closed the ears when the caller was calling on to them. So that they don't get the light of what the caller was giving them. So, the whole impact of not adhering, not following, not complying, not taking heed of the voice of the caller. And what does the caller hear in our context? What for us is the caller? Who for us is the caller? Who is calling us? What is the medium used to call us now? The Prophet is dead. Who is calling us? Allah through what? Through the Quran? Adhan? Adhan is one, but Quran is what is calling us. The verses of the Quran are screaming, screaming at us. Screaming at us that, Screaming at us, As if a coach is shouting, run! Sarihoo is basically, take fast steps, run! So there is this coach calling us to take action. So this action is to be taken by us. It could be that once the Adhan is called, we are fasting enough to reach the mosque. Once the caller is calling the Adhan, we are immediately taken, we go to take our steps to reach the mosque. Once everybody is going to sleep, we just fight our urge to also doze off. To just stand up and pray those two extra rakats at night. And pray with an extra. And pray those times. Once the caller's alarm is belled, we set the alarm to fast those extra fasts which are sunnah fasts. So it could be so many different things that we could do that is leading us to the end result of, So this is what I have for you today. This is kind of how the material is. Very broad, very generic, but creating, inculcating the need to action. And what is the need to action in terms of, let's say, Philistines? What are our calls to action in terms of Philistines? I was listening to a scholar speaking during the week. And he said one of the issues that happened in the fall of Baghdad is the scholars were sitting and speaking and giving dars, but they never addressed the armies which were coming to destroy the whole of Baghdad. What are the things that we should be doing for our brothers in Philistines? One. One. Boycott. Boycott. Excellent. Donation. Donation. Excellent. Awareness. Awareness. Excellent. So, see, you are not powerless. You would see that, for example, if there are certain posts in Instagram, which how many? Forty-three million shares that are on Razza, right? All eyes on Razza. All eyes on Razza. It was an Indonesian young man, right? Created an AI-generated picture, and everybody was using that. And it was just not just Muslims. Celebrities, even Indian celebrities, were sharing it, right? And it was probably a guy just like me and you. So, you don't underestimate the power of one, the one that you are, right? And dua, by the way, you would be saying, telling me that, yes, I do do dua. But there is this extra mile that you can. You could, for example, choose the timings where dua are accepted. Example, between the Adhan and Isha, the Iqama of Isha, is a time which all duas are accepted. So, you, huh? Isha. Yeah, mainly Isha. A lot of emphasis is given on Isha. So, you make it a point. Niyya in your heart itself. Adhan is being called. You know the time. You make a niyya that I'm going ahead early on, so that I sit down and pray for my brothers in Raza. Right? You're fasting these extra days in hope, ya Allah. At Iftar, you answer dua. So, I'm going to pray for Raza. You know Fajr is at such and such time. You set your alarm for half an hour earlier. You pray just two rakaat. Nobody's saying that. Just two rakaat sitting and praying for Raza. So, there are things that you as an individual can do. And sometimes we're even complacent in doing those simple things that we can do. Right? You know, when the assassins of Hamas, when they're targeting the videos which came out as them killing certain Israeli soldiers. They know their rank. They know their name. They know exactly what was the incident that that exact person was boasting of doing. So, they actually are extremely meticulous in who they're targeting and what video they want to capture. They're not capturing all the videos. They're capturing especially the ones who were mocking the Palestinians. Let's say like a person who was standing by the children's caucuses. Right? Caucuses. And he was making fun and taking pictures. That guy, this IDF army member, he will be traced and followed two nights, three nights, four nights until they find enough spots that they can shot shoot him. And they kill him. So, they're meticulous people. So, they probably don't need fighters like us. We probably fear them if we go. The minimum we should be doing is du'a, is boycott, is awareness. So, my plea is that you do that for them. Right? SubhanakAllahumma wa bihamdika shabbollahi wa barakto.