Khutbahs
28 / 221
Before Our Hearts Were Hardened | Khutbah
You may see someone moved or touched by something that once would’ve affected you in a similar way, and wonder what happened to your heart. How do we get our hearts back to that state?
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Dear brothers and sisters, have you ever seen the moment where someone takes shahada, someone says la ilaha illallah, Muhammadun rasulullah, for the very first time, and the emotion that they display, you look at that and you say, I wish I had that. You know, subhanAllah, I remember there was once a young sister that was becoming Muslim that was saying la ilaha illallah, Muhammadun rasulullah, and she struggled to get through it and there was an elder Muslim sister that had been Muslim her entire life that started to cry very heavily as well and she said that I'm crying because I've been saying la ilaha illallah, Muhammadun rasulullah for over 60 years and I never cried. La ilaha illallah, Muhammadun rasulullah never brought me to tears. And this person is saying it for the very first time and it's bringing them to tears. And you wonder and you say subhanAllah, where is that excitement? Or perhaps you are a convert to Islam and you remember those moments and you go back and you think, well, I want to feel that way again. Or you had moments in Ramadan or moments in your life where you really feel like you peaked in terms of your faith. Every single one of us in here can at some point look back and feel like there was a time that they felt closest to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Either it was in the midst of a tragedy, and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help all of those that are in the midst of that tragedy right now, Allahumma ameen, or it was during a heightened faith awareness, iman awareness because of what you were reading or listening to or the season of khair that you were in, of good that you were in, perhaps umrah or hajj, perhaps Ramadan. But there is a time when you felt like your faith peaked, like I was really where I wanted to be. I felt my heart was soft. I felt
that it was easier for me to connect to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And sometimes you want it back. And to want it back is a good sign. To be okay with not feeling like you are at your full potential in terms of your heart's connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is a bad sign. To be like, well, that's all right. I've already relegated faith to a certain part of my life. And I don't care about that part. But to say, you know, I really wish I could feel that way again. And I really wish I could connect that way again. I was thinking about really this incredible narration about Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. And I want to preface the narration with reminding all of us about who Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu is. Abu Bakr is the man radiya Allahu ta'ala anhu who would read Quran and would not just be moved so much with his own heart that he had a difficult time reading the Quran without crying, but he would force everyone else to cry as well. Two incidents that are very famous, in fact, one of them is when Abu Bakr was on his way out to Abyssinia to make hijrah and a man stopped him, a non-Muslim chief, and said, a person like you can't be turned out. I will protect you. You should not be treated this way. You're a good man. You do so much good for us. You should not be dealt with this way. And the elders of Quraish said, fine, he can stay, but please let him stop reading the Quran publicly. It's a problem when he reads Quran publicly because he just moves people's hearts too much. So Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu said, fine, I'll only read it in my house. Then he turned half of his house in Mecca into an open courtyard and he would read Quran there. You can't stop him from praying in his own courtyard, right? And what would happen is the spouses of those same tribal chiefs and their children would go out and listen to Abu Bakr read the Quran radiyaAllahu anhu and listen to his crying and
they would start to cry too. SubhanAllah, that's how beautiful his recitation was and how connected he was to his recitation. A second time when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was passing away and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam ordered that Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu would lead the prayer. And some of the spouses of the wives of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, they said, well, let's instead have Umar radiyaAllahu anhu lead the prayer. Why? Because Abu Bakr has too soft of a heart and he breaks down in his recitation. He won't be able to reach the people in terms of his volume the way Umar would. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was upset with that, right? That he commanded Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu would lead the prayer because there was something more to it than that. So those are two incidents. To preface the incident I'll share with you. Imagine later on in his Khilafah, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu is watching the delegations come from around the world to embrace Islam. And this delegation comes from Yemen. And the first thing they would do is they'd read the Quran to the delegations that would come to visit. Fasami'ul Quran. So they heard the Quran, ja'alu yabkoon, and they all started to cry. And Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu stared at that for a moment. And he said, haa katha kunna thumma qasati al-quloob. I remember when we used to be like that. But then our hearts became hard. We got used to it. We got used to the Quran. We got used to all of these reminders and all of this beauty that comes with this faith. We got used to it. And subhanAllah I wanted to capture that for a moment. Now first and foremost, is there any doubt in anyone's mind that Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu still used to cry when he would read the Quran? Of course. Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu would still cry. Of course, Abu Bakr at his lowest point is better than all of our best points. There's no doubt about that.
And people of high standards hold themselves to higher standards than anyone else. So he's holding himself to a standard. But that sentiment of I really want to get to that place again and feel that connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And you think about relationships outside of the relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. How do people get back to where they want to be? They remember their original purpose and they root out the distractions. They go somewhere together. They spend some time together. They talk very openly. They allocate some time to try to peel back to the original place that brought their hearts together. This is with two people. Like let's get back. Remember when we first met? Remember when we first talked? Remember that time? Remember that time? Let's think together. Let's talk together. Let's go back to what created the initial connection and try to revive that connection. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam taught us that, right? To do tajdid of our iman. To constantly revive our faith by getting it back, trying to get it back, trying to get it back. And not just get back to its peak, but push it beyond that to its full potential as much as you can. Get beyond where you felt the last time. How do we do that? And you know what's so beautiful about our deen? It's not rocket science. It's reminding ourselves. This Jum'ah is a reminder. It's not some fancy medicine or some type of recitation or some type of formula that you have to figure out. It comes back to the nature of who you are as a person. And the closer you are to who you are as a person, the closer you'll be to your Rabb, the closer you'll be to your Lord. And so you find the ahadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in that regard. And Abi Huraira radiallahu ta'ala anhu, ana rajulun shaka ila rasoolillahi salallahu
alayhi wa sallam qaswata qalbihi faqala lahu in aratta talyina qalbik fa at'imil miskeen wa msa' ra'sa biyateen. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, man comes to him and says, my heart is hard. He said, look, if you want to soften your heart, feed the poor and pat the hair, caress the head of an orphan, feed the poor and caress the head of an orphan. Put yourself in proximity of those that are suffering. You know, we, what do we do when we feel overwhelmed by hardship that's out there? We shut it off because we have the ability to do so. I'm going to watch other things. I don't want to watch this stuff. I don't want to see this stuff. I don't want to know what's going on in the world. I want to enjoy my peace and this disrupts my peace of mind. It also disrupts the potential of your faith and the state of your heart. That doesn't mean overload in watching bad news. That means play a productive role in being part of the solution. If you can't find ways to volunteer, subhanAllah, everything that's happening right now, do you know how much hunger there is out there? Do you know what the state of our refugee brothers and sisters are out there right now? Do you know how many people are out there struggling? And do you know that all of these agencies are looking for volunteers? Wear your mask. If you have your vaccine, you don't, you can't, you know, inshaAllah, tahara, you're even in a better state. Go out there, volunteer to serve the people. Be in proximity of that. And it will put your heart in a softer place. It'll remind you of original purpose. It'll take you back to it. It's not sufficient to just think about it as some faraway thing. So that's one thing the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam taught us about action in putting ourselves close to it. Spending time close to it is important. But I want to get to another part of this, another element of this.
Before a heart becomes diseased or dead, it becomes distracted. Before a heart becomes diseased or dead, it becomes distracted. Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu was not talking about this is how we used to be. Then we started to gossip a lot. Then we started to backbite. Then we started to spend time in these groups and we started to sin more. He was talking about distraction. Right? Where Allah, and of course that's far away from the Sahaba of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, but a warning. Distracted hearts, distracted hearts, diseased hearts are when you're actively putting poison, spiritual poison into your hearts. Distracted hearts are those that don't spend enough time focusing on what truly gives life to the heart. But if you're not spending enough time, if you have a distracted heart, then you're bound for a diseased heart. And if you let the disease persist, then you risk death of the heart. And this is something that's really important because subhanAllah in these times, we go back to these ahadith of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. The Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam said, laa tukthirul kalama bi ghayri dhikri Allah, fa inna kathratal kalami bi ghayri dhikri Allah, qaswatun lil qalb, wa inna ab'ada nasi min Allah alqalbul qasi. Nasrallah al-afiyah. The Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam said, don't speak too much without remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because to speak too much without remembering him is to risk the harsh, the hardness of the heart. And the furthest of people away from Allah are those who have the hardest hearts. I want you to think about very objectively, it's been a year, a year, right, since things really shifted the way that they shifted for the most part, it's been, it's almost been an entire year. How much time objectively are you spending in your
groups now? How much time objectively are you spending on your social media? How much time are you spending talking to people through devices or whatever it may be? And do you see that there is a healthy proportion of how much you're talking about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or talking about beneficial things? And I'm not even talking about wasting away in gossip and I mean, subhanallah, to sin and to do harm in times where we should be reminded of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on an extra level, that's a bad place to be. May Allah protect us all. Talking about wasting a lot of time, wasting a lot of discussion, having long conversations that are of no benefit whatsoever, proportionally, proportionally, how do I shift that now? And subhanallah, we know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's best reminder, that the best dhikr, the best remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is what? Al-Quran. It is the Quran itself. Ramadan is right around the corner, it will hit us quicker than we know, subhanallah, it is right around the corner, Allahumma ballighna Ramadan, Allahumma ballighna Ramadan, Allahumma ballighna Ramadan. Of course, another janazah today, janazahs almost every week, who knows if we make it, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to make it. And you're talking about the Quran, how much time you're spending with the Quran, it's not rocket science, dear brothers and sisters, that if you want to know the state of the softness of your heart, spend time reading alone, reflecting on the Quran, qal ibn al-Qayyim rahimahu wa ta'ala, idha aradta an ta'lama maa indaka wa inda ghayrika min mahabbatillah, thanzur mahabbatil quran, mahabbatil quran min qalbik. If you want to know where you are in
regards to your connection with Allah and others are in regards to their love of Allah, mahabbatillah, the love of Allah, then look at the love that your heart has for the Quran. Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu held himself to a standard. So what he saw there, does anyone really think that those people that he saw love the Quran more than him? Or did he see a freshness? Did he see a connection? I said, I want to be that way. I want to have that. I want to always capture that fresh feeling of the Quran. That fresh feeling of the Quran. Are you reading Quran more than you were before? Are you spending more time with the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, reflecting on that dhikr? Because I guarantee you, and I guarantee myself, because Allah azawajal guaranteed all of us, that if we were to reduce the time that we spend in pointless conversation, may Allah protect us from hearts that are distracted, diseased or dead. Allahumma ameen. If we were to spend less time in that, and more time with that recitation, our hearts will be alive. Our hearts will be alive. And you know, they talk about social media addiction. Right? People wake up in the morning, may Allah protect us all. Wa ma ubarri unafsi. Right? I mean, like, we all have problems, or I don't want to project on you, I have a problem, right? Sometimes you start checking, and it's like, we're addicted to these devices. Let me check, see what's going on. What about a Quran addiction? What about a heart's addiction to the Quran? To where you wake up, and it's five, six o'clock, and I feel really uncomfortable because I haven't opened the Quran yet today. That app on my phone hasn't opened yet today. That book didn't open yet today. And you feel
uneasy, uneasy, because your heart's alive, fully alive, connected. Now, dear brothers and sisters, I'm not projecting here. We all need to get there. I need to get there. And it's something that takes constant work. But to feel disturbed and uneasy because I need to read the Quran, I need to remember Allah, I need to read what's beneficial, I need to reflect. In the same way that when you see pain, poverty, hardship, I'm uneasy, not actively doing something about this. I need to go and do it. I need to go feed the poor. I need to go out there and help the orphans. I need to do something productive about this. I can't just ignore it. These are the two streams to the heart that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is talking about. Like, no, I can't ignore this. I feel uncomfortable. So set higher standards. Set higher standards for yourself. Objectively, how much more Quran are you reading with tadabbur and tafakkur, with contemplation, now than you were before? Carve out a time of the day. Be super uncomfortable if the clock hits a certain hour of the day and you haven't started your recitation. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala revive our hearts constantly and may Allah let our hearts be in the best state when we die. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, Ya Muqallibal Qulub, Thabbit Qulubana Ala Deenik, O Allah, Turner of Hearts, make our hearts firm on your deen and let the best state of our heart be on the last day of our lives. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala connect our hearts to his words and to the deeds that are pleasing to him. Allahuma Ameen.
Allahuma Ameen. Allahuma Ameen.
Welcome back!
Bookmark content
Download resources easily
Manage your donations
Track your spiritual growth
1 items
1 items
1 items
25 items
50 items
9 items
