- Seminars and Lectures abroad / ٠01 Masjid At-Taqwa- Morning lectures 1
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- Masjid At-Taqwa- part 1
Belief in Allah and being upright:
Dear brother, in the following Ayah, Allah the Almighty says:
﴾Verily, those who say: "Our Lord is Allah (Alone)," and then they Istaqamu, on them the angels will descend (at the time of their death) (saying): "Fear not, nor grieve! But receive the glad tidings of Paradise which you have been promised!* "We have been your friends in the life of this world and are (so) in the Hereafter. Therein you shall have (all) that your inner-selves desire, and therein you shall have (all) for which you ask for* "An entertainment from (Allah), the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."﴿
Interpretation of Allah's Saying "Fear not, nor grieve":
Wherever the following phrase is mentioned in the Quran, it refers to things in different periods of time:
﴾"Fear not, nor grieve! ﴿
It definitely refers to all periods:
﴾"Fear not, nor﴿
It is a reference to the future; they will not fear the future.
﴾nor grieve!﴿
Nor will they grieve over the past. Hence one of the characteristics of the believer is that he neither fears (the future) nor does he grieve over (the past). In another, Ayah Allah says:
﴾Then whoever follows My Guidance shall neither go astray, nor fall into distress and misery.﴿
Then this following Ayah completes the previous one:
﴾And whoever follows My Guidance, there shall be no fear on them, nor shall they grieve. ﴿
Upon putting both Ayat together we conclude that the one who follows the Guidance of Allah shall neither go astray, nor shall his soul fall into distress and misery, and he shall never fear the future, nor shall he grieve over the past. Do you think man can gain better happiness than this in the worldly life or in the Hereafter?
Interpretation of Allah's Saying, "Verily, those who say: "Our Lord is Allah":
﴾Verily, those who say: "Our Lord is Allah (Alone),"﴿
By the way, when Allah says the following Ayah, you should believe beyond doubt (in Allah as Your Lord Alone):
﴾"Our Lord is Allah (Alone),"﴿
Hypocrisy emerged later on, but believers were ordered earlier to believe deeply in Allah as their Only Lord. However, when people started to utter what pleases other people (instead of Allah) hypocrisy prevailed.
﴾Verily, those who say: "Our Lord is Allah (Alone)," and then they Istaqamu,﴿
Faith without uprightness is worthless:
Dear honorable brother, faith without uprightness is worthless, and hereby are so many proofs:
((Know that some people from my Ummah (my people) will come on the Day of Judgment with good deeds like the white mountains of Tihama, but Allah will make them scattered dust." Thawban said, 'O Messenger of Allah, describe them to us, so that we may not be one of them without knowing it!' He said, "They will be your brother, and from your people, and they will take from the night as you do (meaning prayers, etc.), but they are a people who, when they were alone with the prohibitions of Allah, violated them))
This is with regard to Salah.
((Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (PBUH) said, "If one does not eschew lies and false conduct, Allah has no need that he should abstain from his food and his drink."))
This is concerning Sawm.
((Whoever performs Hajj by Haram money saying: O, Allah, Here I came to you, Allah the Almighty will say back: You are not welcomed and your Hajj is not accepted))
This is related to Hajj.
((Whoever says, "There is no Deity worthy of worship but Allah Alone believing in it deeply he will be admitted to Paradise." They asked, "How does anyone believe in it deeply?" He PBUH answered, "It is avoiding what Allah prohibits him from committing.))
Though Salah, Sawm, Hajj and Zakat are the ritual acts of worship, they should be preceded by uprightness, so that one can reap their fruits. As you know Salah is the pillar of Islam, the safeguard of certainty, the mother of offered sacrifices and the believer's journey to the Lord of the heavens and the earth. However, unless it goes hand-in-hand with uprightness, man will not reap its fruits.
Islam is one entity, so it cannot be applied partially:
Muslim sometimes takes Salah lightly, and he overlooks other important matters like wondering about his income whether it is earned lawfully or not, whether it is suspicious or not, whether it is made by committing sins or not. If man comprehends his ritual acts of worship as a separated matter from other crucial religious matters, he is deviated seriously from the truth. Muslims now are more than one billion and 700 millions, yet they do not own the upper hand, other nations decide for them, and they are oppressing them in thousands ways, so we may wonder why Allah does not fulfill his promises to us.
﴾ And never will Allah grant to the disbelievers a way (to triumph) over the believers. ﴿
The west is oppressing Muslims in thousands ways. Why is the Divine Promise not fulfilled?
﴾ Allah has promised those among you who believe, and do righteous good deeds, that He will certainly grant them succession to (the present rulers) in the earth ﴿
We, Muslims, are not granted succession in the earth.
﴾As He granted it to those before them, and that He will grant them the authority to practise their religion, that which He has chosen for them (i.e. Islam).﴿
Not to mention, our religion is not practiced freely on earth.
﴾And He will surely give them in exchange a safe security after their fear ﴿
We, Muslims are not secured, nor are we granted the succession in the earth or the authority to practice our religion (i.e. Islam), so this means that there is something wrong with us, but what is it? Allah says:
﴾(provided) they (believers) worship Me﴿
When Muslims fall short in worshipping Allah, they do not deserve to have the three Divine Promises fulfilled.
﴾Verily, those who say: "Our Lord is Allah (Alone)," and then they Istaqamu,﴿
Allah says in another Ayah:
﴾And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."﴿
Faith entails uprightness, while calling to Allah entails Ihsan (philanthropy). When we are keen on offering the ritual acts of worship, but we overlook the transactional acts of worship we do not then deserve to have the Divine Promises fulfilled. The transactional acts of worship are very crucial in Muslim's life and they were mentioned in details in the speech delivered by Ja'far when he met with An-Najashi after he was asked by the latter to tell him about Islam. Ja'far said:
((O King, we were a people in a state of ignorance and immorality, worshipping idols and eating the flesh of dead animals, committing all sorts of abomination and shameful deeds. breaking the ties of kinship, treating guests badly and the strong among us exploited the weak. We remained in this state until Allah sent us a Prophet, one of our own people whose lineage, truthfulness, trustworthiness and integrity were well-known to us.))))
This means that the true Muslim never tells lies to people, he is trustworthy upon being entrusted and he remains chaste if his lusts are inauthord.
((He called us to worship Allah alone and to renounce the stones and the idols which we and our ancestors used to worship besides Allah. He commanded us to speak the truth, to honor our promises, to be kind to our relations, to be helpful to our neighbors, to cease all forbidden acts, to abstain from bloodshed))
Dear brother, the things Ja'far mentioned are simply the transactional acts of worship. We, Muslims, should believe for certain that the ritual acts of worship (Salah, Sawm, Hajj, Zakat and Shahadatain) do us no good as long as we are not upright, and as long as we do not implement Allah's Orders:
﴾Verily, those who say: "Our Lord is Allah (Alone)," and then they Istaqamu,﴿
Faith should be followed by uprightness, calling to Allah and offering good deeds, lest Muslims will never reap the fruits of faith.
Glad tidings of Paradise:
The Almighty Allah says:
﴾ But receive the glad tidings of Paradise which you have been promised! "We have been your friends in the life of this world﴿
"If Allah supports you, who can defeat you? On the other hand, if Allah abandons you, who can support you? O Lord, what he who turns away from you has found? And what he who keeps close to you has lost?"
((O son of Adam! Ask for Me and you will find Me, and if you find Me you will have found everything, but if you lose Me you will have lost everything. And I (should) be dearer than everything to you.))
The following Qudsi Hadith was reported in the relic:
((I, Mankind and Jinn are in a great serious state (great news). I create (them), then they worship other than Me; I provide (them with My Bounties), and someone else is thanked; My Mercy descends to them while their evil deeds ascend to Me; I endear Myself to them with My gifts even though I have no need to any of them while they alienate themselves from Me with (their) sins even though they are desperate for My Help. Whoever returns to Me, I accept him no matter how far he is; and whoever turns away from Me, I approach him and call on him. My dear people are those who remember Me. The thankful ones to Me, I grant them more blessings; and the disobedient ones to Me, I do not dishearten them from My Mercy. If they return to Me, I bestow them with My Love. If they do not repent, I still treat them by putting them in hardship to purify them from (their) sins and faults. I reward every single good deed ten times over and more. I count every single bad deed as one and I forgive and I am more merciful with My slave than the mother with her child.))
It is out of question that Muslims are great in numbers; they are more than one billion and 700 millions, and if we assume that the majority of them offer their Salah, then the following Hadith is supposedly be applied to us:
((Twelve thousands from my nation should never be defeated because of fewness))
However, the billion (including us) out of the billion and 700 millions who are supposed to offer Salah do not own the upper hand, we cannot make our own decision, and westerners are plotting against using thousands means. This indicates that there is serious problem with us, but what is it? Allah says:
﴾ they (believers) worship Me﴿
Dear brother, you, as a human being, are a mobile creature, but how? The table is a motionless inanimate object, and even if it is left for a hundred years, it will never move, unlike man who needs food and drink to maintain his existence, who needs mating to maintain his race and who needs to be mentioned after death to satisfy his ego. Hence, these three needs motivate man in life, and they are highly maintained by him. Moreover, these needs are met according to Shari'ah rulings. Allah addressed His Messenger PBUH by saying:
﴾And raised high your fame?﴿
﴾Have We not opened your breast for you (O Muhammad PBUH)?﴿
﴾And raised high your fame?﴿
This Ayah appertains to the Prophet PBUH, but every believer has the same concerns and might get that characteristic according to the soundness and sincerity of his faith. Accordingly, the fame of the one who is upright who follows Allah's Orders and who reconciles with Him shall be raised high by Allah, and he shall be honored by Him. Believe it or not and I am not exaggerating, the results the believer gets because of his uprightness, are beyond imagination and are uncountable as mentioned in the following Hadith:
((Adhere to righteousness even though you will not be able to do all acts of virtue.))
Upon being upright, the believer will not be able to count Allah's Graces. Hence:
﴾"Fear not,﴿
Fear not the future…
﴾nor grieve!﴿
Nor grieve over the past…
﴾But receive the glad tidings of Paradise which you have been promised!﴿
The concept of Paradise:
Dear brother, in some As7adeth, the Prophet PBUH mentioned that Abu Bakr is in Paradise, and this saying has two meanings. The first one is that Abu Bakr was given the glad tidings by the Prophet PBUH that he would enter Paradise on the Day of Resurrection, and the second meaning is that he had already been in the Paradise of the worldly life which was referred to by Ibn Taymiyah as "the Paradise of closeness to Allah". Thus, Abu Bakr was in that kind of Paradise. Therefore:
﴾But for him who [the true believer of Islamic Monotheism who performs all the duties ordained by Allah and His Messenger Muhammad PBUH, and keeps away (abstain) from all kinds of sin and evil deeds prohibited in Islam and] fears the standing before his Lord, there will be two Gardens (i.e. in Paradise).﴿
Unless you, as a believer, say, "There is no one on earth happier than me, save the one who is more pious than me", then you have a huge flaw, but do you know why? Because as a true believer, in Whom do you think you should put your trust? You should put your trust in Your Lord, the Creator, the Manager of all affairs, the Almighty, the Wise, the Ever-Powerful, the Ever-Affluent and the Ever-Merciful. "If Allah supports you, who can defeat you? On the other hand, if Allah abandons you, who can support you?"
﴾"We have been your friends in the life of this world﴿
In any country, if an official powerful person, in whose hand are all matters (like the president), says to you, "I am with you", what will you do? You will walk like a king. Much in the same line, "if Allah supports you, who can defeat you? O Lord, what he who turns away from you has found? And what he who keeps close to you has lost?" The Prophet PBUH said regarding this fact:
((When a servant turns back to Allah, a caller calls those in the heavens and earth to congratulate him as he has reconciled with Allah))
This means that the highest rank man can reach is to reconcile with Allah. If someone asks me, "What is the greatest part of this religion?" I will answer him saying that the greatest thing about this religion is the Divine Treatment to you after you reconcile with Allah. This Divine Treatment bewilders the mind, because Allah will grant the one who reconciles with Him tranquility and security which bring man happiness even though he might lose everything, while losing that kind of happiness brings misery even if man owns everything.
﴾(So) which of the two parties has more right to be in security? If you but know." It is those who believe (in the Oneness of Allah and worship none but Him Alone) and confuse not their belief with Zulm (wrong i.e. by worshipping sh3er besides Allah), for them (only) there is security and they are the guided.﴿
T heir belief is sound.
﴾Now We have removed your covering, and sharp is your sight this Day!"﴿
You will have a right insight and vision. Let me tell you that the true believer is able to see what sh3er cannot see and is able to hear what sh3er unable to hear, he owns a prudent reasoning and a sensible mind in addition to his ability to control his desires rather than being controlled by them, he owns himself rather than being owned by his lusts, he is in control of his whims and never follows them, he becomes so exalted till all people look up to him and his soul becomes purified enough to attract all hearts to him. Needless to say, the true believer is a peerless character and a superior person who attains the characteristics which add up to science, morality and grace.
((Allah had never taken an ignorant person to be a Wali (a holy man or a pious worshipper), and if He had done so, He would have taught him (He would have inspired him to seek knowledge).))
This is the science oriented characteristic. Accordingly, who is the believer? He is the one who has got acquainted with Allah. When someone is specialized in physics (he has acquired PHD in physics), he adds the word Dr. before his name which means that he got the hang of that major, and the same goes for every other domain like psychology, sociology ….etc. As for the one who gets acquainted with Allah:
((O son of Adam! Ask for Me and you will find Me, and if you find Me you will have found everything, but if you lose Me you will have lost everything. And I (should) be dearer than everything to you.))
The one who gets acquainted with Allah is considered prudent, superior, reasonable and clever. Allah says:
﴾Wealth and children are the adornment of the life of this world﴿
Money without offspring does not satisfy man, and on the other hand, having children but no financial means is also hard on man. Therefore, having one of these two things is painful to man.
﴾Wealth and children are the adornment of the life of this world﴿
There is a very crucial indication in the Quran. Allah says:
﴾But the good righteous deeds (five compulsory prayers, deeds of Allah's obedience, good and nice talk, remembrance of Allah with glorification, praises and thanks, etc.), that last﴿
When Allah says:
﴾ that last ﴿
He describes what is mentioned earlier in the Ayah:
﴾Wealth and children﴿
This means that wealth and children do not last.
﴾Wealth and children are the adornment of the life of this world. But the good righteous deeds (five compulsory prayers, deeds of Allah's obedience, good and nice talk, remembrance of Allah with glorification, praises and thanks, etc.), that last﴿
According to scholars, Al-Baqiyat As-Salihat are: Subhanallahi Walhamdulillahi Wa La ilaha illallahu Wallahu akbar (Glory be to Allah Who is above all faults and All Praise be to Allah, and none is worthy of worship but Allah, and Allah is the Greatest). This means when you praise Allah, glorify Him and believe in Him as the Only Lord and the Greatest Deity, you actually has got acquainted with Him.
When a little boy says to his uncle in Eid, "I have a big sum of money", how much this child might own in your opinion? It will not be more than 100 Liras which he collected from the Eid allowances his relatives give him. However, when a senior Pentagon official says, "We spent to prepare for the war in Iraq a hefty sum of money", how much this sum might be in your opinion? Certainly it will not be less than 200 billion dollars. Therefore, the same word used by a child, but it refers to 100 Liras, whereas it refers to billions when a senior Pentagon official uses it. Much in the same line, when The King of all kings, the Owner of kings (i.e. Allah) refers to His Grace, you should know the greatness of His Grace is beyond description:
﴾And taught you that which you knew not. And Ever Great is the Grace of Allah unto you (O Muhammad PBUH).﴿
Nothing is compared to what Allah owns even if man owns 200 billions and a full (around the clock) 80-story hotel in the middle of Paris whose income is astronomical.
﴾And taught you that which you knew not. And Ever Great is the Grace of Allah unto you (O Muhammad PBUH).﴿
Therefore dear brother, the path to Paradise is very clear and the means to reach it is in your hands since Allah the Almighty has given you the free will.
﴾Then whosoever wills, let him believe, and whosoever wills, let him disbelieve.﴿
﴾Verily, We showed him the way, whether he be grateful or ungrateful.﴿
Man can wonder every day for 15 minutes asking who he is. In fact, man is the foremost creature in the Sight of Allah.
﴾Truly, We did offer Al-Amanah (the trust or moral responsibility or honesty and all the duties which Allah has ordained) to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they declined to bear it and were afraid of it (i.e. afraid of Allah's Torment). But man bore it.﴿
Because you accepted to bear the trust you became the foremost creature in the Sight of Allah. Pay heed, for the believing human being is able to exalt higher than angels. Our master Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "Angels have been created to have reasoning but no lusts, animals have been created to have instincts but no reasoning. Unlike them, man has been created to have both, so if his reasoning overcomes his lusts, he will exalt higher than angels, but if his lusts takeover his reasoning, he will fall to a lower level than animals." The proof of this fact is in the following Ayah:
﴾Verily, those who disbelieve (in the religion of Islam, the Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad PBUH) from among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) and Al-Mushrikun will abide in the Fire of Hell. They are the worst of creatures* Verily, those who believe [in the Oneness of Allah, and in His Messenger Muhammad PBUH) including all obligations ordered by Islam] and do righteous good deeds, they are the best of creatures.﴿
You own the chance to be the best creature ever during your short lifetime, and all that takes is to get acquainted with Allah, to be upright, to follow Allah's Path and to offer good deeds. When you do so, you will exalt to the highest ranks. I invoke Allah the Almighty to make us benefit from what we learn and to protect our faith, our families, our children, our health and our wealth.
