Worship him so that he is pleased with you, not because of anything. And he says, فَإِذَا رَضِي أَدْهَشَكُمْ بِالْعَطَىٰ And if he is happy with you, you will see wonders more than what you asked. He will change your heart. So it starts by that. Don't focus on your share. Focus on doing the right thing. وَمَا لِأَحَدٍ عِنْدَهُ مِنْ نَعْمَةٍ تُجْزَىٰ إِلَّا بَتِغَاءَ وَجْهِ رَبِّهِ الْأَعْلَىٰ وَلَسَوْفَ Your Lord. The Qur'an speaks about this man that he gives left and right, and it's hard, and it's difficult, and he's doing all this not because of anything. I just want you to be happy, O Lord. And Allah says, وَلَسَوْفَ يَرْضَ For this servant, I'll make him happy. SubhanAllah. And that's Abu Bakr As-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. As-Siddiq, who struggled alongside the Prophet ﷺ in every way. What did he find happiness in? When Aisha radiAllahu anha saw Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu get so excited to be the companion of the Prophet ﷺ in the Hijrah. Take a journey of death. Wait. As-Suhba, Ya Rasulallah. I get to be with you, Ya Rasulallah. Who would be happy? It's like, you know, you tell someone you're going to fly economy. You're going to take the bus from Madinah to Madinah. They complain about that. You know, you're going to have... No, no. Like, I'm going to be with the most wanted man, but it pleases Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. As-Suhba, Ya Rasulallah. So that is indeed the pleasure of Iman. And if you have not tasted it, then looking at the plate is not going to do anything. So immerse yourself, I think, so beautifully what you said. It's like a fundamental shift of how you approach religion. Stop trying to turn religion into a tool of this world. Religion is meant to guide you back to your Jannah. Take it back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And as a result, Allah azawajal will put the pleasure of certainty in your heart. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you, Sheikh. Sheikh Abdullah. Like I said, we could have you for hours, Sheikh. No, exactly. We'll just take a... It's coming from all the viewers as well. You need to see more of you, inshallah.
There is a du'a that I want to share with everybody and with you. And it's the du'a of Baraid al-Aslami. When the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told him, shouldn't I teach you a du'a? That when Allah wants good to someone, He'll make him say this du'a. And it relates to this. Dear Lord, I am weak. So strengthen in your obedience my weakness. And take me by the forelock to everything good. And make my utmost satisfaction be in surrendering Islam. Inshallah with that. That's the best way for us to end. Inshallah we'll put the du'a in the comments. We'll see you all tomorrow, inshallah. Guess what happened? I ride with him. And of course, it goes up and down and rolls and twists and everything. But I'm looking at him, and he's smiling. Because he's smiling, when I went down, I got a yearly pass to Knott's Berry Farm. Because I saw what pleases me. I wasn't happy, I wouldn't do that alone. Because I saw his pleasure. What pleases him pleased me. My pleasure in his pleasure. That's true love. When we love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. When we love Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. I will never be satisfied with anything more than the nearness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. May Allah make our contentment with him as our Lord,
with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as our Prophet, and with Islam as our Deen. Please you and all of us with the sight of our beloved Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. While he's pleased with us and with the meeting with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Fear and hope, fear and hope, fear and hope, right? Fear and hope. So subhanAllah, you go from, you know, angels beating you to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saying, you know, why are you pleased with this? And there's something that just came to my mind. Which I see as a combination. When the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, everyone enters paradise from my Ummah except for those who refuse. Who would refuse paradise? Why are you refusing this gift from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? He wants to accept your repentance. He wants to make things easy for you. He wants to lighten your burden. And unfortunately, we foolishly think that if we turn away from Allah, we'll be happy and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling you, this temporary happiness is not good for you. Allah knows what's good for you. It's not good for you. Why are you resigning yourself to this? It's as if to say subhanAllah, there's so much more that Allah wants to give you than this little thing that you're tasting here. And you're turning your eternity into torment. Whereas your eternity could be an even greater experience. Because the believer finds rida in this life. The believer finds a happiness in this life that no one else can find. Right? No one else finds what the believer finds. If they knew what was in our hearts, they would strike us with their swords to get it out of our hearts. May Allah azawajal make that the true reality of our hearts. But Allah wants to give you so much more. And there's a beauty here, a mercy here. And the
first one that really said this in a way, subhanAllah, that I truly benefited, Sheikh Muhammad Shanawi, hafidh Allah ta'ala. When he talked about the mercy of Allah, one of his beautiful papers actually at Yaqeen. And by the way, his papers are always our favourites at Yaqeen, alhamdulillah. God's mercy, reconciling Allah's mercy with the punishment in the hereafter. And he talks about in that paper, you know, this idea. And I know that he draws from the research of Dr. Samir Amiri, hafidh Allah ta'ala, wonderful scholar as well. This idea that how is it that Allah subhanAllah is merciful to us with this punishment? By Allah telling you about the punishment to come and warning you from it so that you will be so afraid from it that you will not do the actions that will warrant it. That is from the rahmah of Allah. That's Allah's mercy. This is not good for you here, nor is it good for you there. From his mercy, he gives you these warnings. Who could mandate upon Allah to give a warning? You know, like an oppressive authority, you know, doesn't give you a warning. It just carries out, right? It's part of the cruelty of it. Allah subhanAllah ta'ala, to him belongs the highest example in his mercy. He doesn't, he's giving us the warning here. Not so that it can be like, just wait, but so that we can stay away from it. Because we are the people of Quran, as the Ummah of Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam, read the Quran and take lesson, take the ibrah, stay back. You don't want to come near this, nor should you take contentment in these gardens. Look forward to what Allah really wants to give you. Yeah, subhanAllah. It's beautiful how you mentioned the rida, because it just reminds me of a hadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and with the rida, you reach the ghina, right? With the pleasure of being pleased with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and understanding what that means, you find this contentment with him. You know, because I remember, you know, there was a youth who came up to me and said, you know,
everybody in Ramadan, they're feeling, I'm not feeling it, so what would you, actually, I'll pose this question to you, Sheikh, being that you're involved in counseling as well. When the youth comes up to you and says, you know, I'm not, I don't feel it, I don't feel pleased with the prayer, and this youth, I'm going to be honest, when I'm involved in a certain type of, in a certain drug, right, that is what is euphoric for me. I feel good. I feel happy. I know I'm escaping a problem, but I feel happy. How do we get our youth, or even any human being, to be honest, to transfer from, okay, they're happy with something other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala feeling, even family sometimes, subhanAllah, to transfer over to happiness with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Very powerful question, subhanAllah, and it relates actually to this verse, because if you notice what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said is, there is no problem in having a good house, or like being happy with something, right, or like having satisfaction, but as compared to the Akhirah. So I'll give a very simple example. I often tell people, rate what you love from zero to ten, right? So your house, six. Your wife better be a ten, right? For me it is, alhamdulillah. Your kids, right? So, and then you say Allah, but the problem is Allah is like, I don't feel it, it's two, and I love other things more. So if we start telling people, shun the life of this world, don't love them, don't get attached. I have to love. The proper way is, can we make your love to Allah ten thousand? Keep your love to your wife as a ten, keep your life, you know? So the key, if you love Allah, if you know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, if you see what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does, because, a true sign of a lover, a one that loves, and Wallahi, Wallahi it's two. Even young men, when they want to get married to a girl, the question in their head is what?
Does she love me? Does she love me? And then the second question, what must I do for her to love me? And this is exactly the question of rida, right? The contentment. To get the contentment, to change, I start by asking the opposite. It's not about my share from Allah, it's not about my pleasure. Can I ask the question, what must I do for Allah to be happy with me? What pleases Allah? What if I made a list of everything that pleases Allah, and I did all of them? You know what happens? The answer to your question, if Allah is pleased with you, he will make you pleased with him and all his decrees. So when we ask, I want to be like the people of Gaza, look at how patient, look at how you have such contentment, right? How do I get that? And they say, the question, you want to get, no, no, ask the question in the opposite way. Work on pleasing Allah, and Allah promises if you do that, he will please you, right? And even Sheikh al-Sha'rawi in Egypt, he said something, he said, you worship him so that he gives. He said, worship him so that he is pleased with you, not because of anything. And he says, and if he is happy with you, you will see wonders more than what you asked. He will change your heart. So it starts by that. Don't focus on your share, focus on doing the right thing. The Qur'an speaks about this man that he gives left and right, and it's hard, and it's difficult, and he's doing all this, not because of anything. I just want you to be happy. And Allah says, for this servant, I'll make him happy.
And that's Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, who struggled alongside the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, in every way. What did he find happiness in? When Aisha, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, saw Abu Bakr, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, who gets so excited to be the companion of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, in the hijrah, take a journey of death. Wait, as-suhba, ya Rasulullah. I get to be with you, ya Rasulullah. Who would be happy? It's like, you know, you tell someone you're going to fly economy, you're going to take the bus from Madinah to Madinah. They complain about that, you know, you're going to have, no, no. Like, I'm going to be with the most wanted man, but it pleases Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. As-suhba, ya Rasulullah. So that is indeed the pleasure of Iman. And if you have not tasted it, then looking at the plate is not going to do anything. So immerse yourself, I think so beautifully, what you said. It's like a fundamental shift of how you approach religion. Stop trying to turn religion into a tool of this world. Religion is meant to guide you back to your Jannah. Take it back to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. And as a result, Allah Azawajal will put the pleasure of certainty in your heart. May Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you, Sheikh Hassan and Sheikh Abdullah. Like I said, we could have you for hours, Sheikh. We'll just take an ahd from you, from all the viewers, inshallah, as well. You need to, inshallah, we need to see more of you, inshallah. There is a dua that I want to share with everybody and with you. And it's the dua of Baraid al-Aslami, when the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, told him, shouldn't I teach you a dua, that if when Allah wants good to someone, he'll make him say this dua. And it relates to this. Allahumma inni da'if, fa qawwi fi ridaka ba'afi, wa khud ilal khayri binasiyati, waj'al al-Islama muntaha rida'i. Dear Lord, I am weak. So strengthen in your obedience my weakness. And take me by the forelock to everything good. And make my utmost satisfaction be in surrendering Islam.
Insha'Allah with that, that's the best way for us to end. Insha'Allah we'll put the dua in the comments. BarakAllahu fi sh-shaykh. Hassan, we'll see you all tomorrow, insha'Allah. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.