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Acts of Worship

Lost Without Allah | Khutbah

November 18, 2022Dr. Omar Suleiman

In this khutbah, Dr. Omar Suleiman talks about why without being anchored in divine revelation, a person falls from the sky lost, confused, and in chaos until they grab back onto the trustworthy handhold.

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Transcript

This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
And bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for him. And we bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam is his final messenger. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to send his peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him, and those that follow in their blessed path until the day of judgment. And we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. My dear brothers and sisters, there is something that comes up often when people talk about looking for hidayah. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when he talks about people looking for guidance, it's made very very clear throughout the Qur'an that you have to take the initiative to look for guidance. And that guidance will not come to you if you are unwilling and undeserving. And that's why we have talab al hidayah, we have the request for guidance constantly in our prayers. Every single time we read surah al-Fatiha, اهدنا الصراط المستقيم Asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to guide us to the straight path. And in the process of guiding us to it, make it more identifiable to us. And then allow us to be upon it, and then allow us to be firm upon it, and then allow us to follow sirat al-ladheena an'amta alayhim, the path of those who have earned Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's favour. Who are those people? They are the prophets, the righteous ones, the companions. So O Allah, allow us to follow in their footsteps, and to grant us sincerity on that path, and to not let us deviate from that path. And so this seeking of guidance is a noble pursuit that requires a certain type of willingness and dedication on our part. And subhanAllah you often find that when people say they are lost, I'm lost, I don't know how to find myself.
They're often not willing to put the striving in order to achieve that guidance. And I want to begin this actually with a paraphrase story. It's actually a famous story that I don't have time to go into detail with, but it's the story of Abdullah ibn Salam radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, who was the chief rabbi of al-Madinah before the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam came to al-Madinah. And who embraced Islam instantly upon seeing the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. The sincerity of his heart led to the sincerity of his intellectual pursuits, led to the sincerity of the longing of the heart for the Messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And so he had no objections when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam arrived in al-Madinah, and immediately dedicated himself to it. Abdullah ibn Salam radiyallahu ta'ala anhu had this dream about himself, where in short he found himself in a garden. And in that garden there was a pole, and at the top of the pole there was this handhold. And he was told to ascend and to grab on to that handhold, and he wasn't able to. And so when he asked the angel about his inability to reach it, the angel helped him to ascend and essentially took him up to that handhold where he grabbed on to it, and he does not let go. He wakes up while holding on to this handhold all the way at the top. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned to him that, ask for this garden, that is the garden of Islam and the garden of al-Jannah. And this handhold is al-urwat al-wutha' that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about. The steady handhold, that grip that you have that does not break. And subhanallah it's very telling that it's all the way at the top. Now I want you to stay with me for a bit insha'Allah ta'ala.
There is al-urwat al-wutha' the imagery of a man that is holding on to the top, all the way at the top of the garden, holding on to something that is otherwise inaccessible. So that's one image I want in your head. The other image is a very deep internal image. أَلَىٰ بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبِ Is it not in the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that hearts find satisfaction, tranquility, stillness, يَسْكُنِ, it is peaceful. And subhanallah that is a spiritual image that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us of something very deep and internal that only He can truly see, القلوب, the heart. And then you have a very vivid image of an external, of a person holding on to a grip, a handhold that is all the way at the top of a garden, otherwise inaccessible. Now if you look at the opposite of that, you find the descriptions of a heart that is distracted, a heart that is in turmoil, a heart that never finds peace within and never settles upon anything and is all over the place. And you also find another image that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us in Surat al-Hajj. حُنَثَاءَ لِلَّهِ غَيْرَ مُشْرِكِينَ بِهِ Allah azawajal mentions people that are monotheists and they don't associate partners with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. وَمَن يُشْرِك بِاللَّهِ فَكَأَنَّمَا خَرَّ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ And the one who associates partners with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, who tries to find something else to anchor themselves in. فَكَأَنَّمَا خَرَّ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ I want you to imagine a person falling from the sky. The opposite of Abdullah ibn Salam radiyallahu anhu holding on to that handhold all the way up there, a place that is otherwise inaccessible, with a firm grip until he meets Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and he is one of those who is guaranteed paradise. May Allah azawajal make us like that. Allahumma ameen. A man who is up there and whose heart is settled. And now you have a man who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, imagine a person dropped from the skies. And on top of that, فَتَخْطَفُهُ الطَّيْرُ أو تَهْوِي بِهِ الرِّيحِ فِي مَكَانٍ سَحِيقٍ And then the birds come and they pick him up. And subhanallah some of the ulema, they said that the birds shred him. So he ends up in the bellies of multiple birds. And then he is scattered in different places. فِي مَكَانٍ سَحِيقٍ In a place that is remote, lost, and even the person himself has no idea how he landed in this place. How did I get here? Subhanallah there are so many reflections upon this ayah, but I want you to contrast here. A person whose heart is all over the place and is in absolute turmoil, anchored in nothing, and the external is a person falling from the sky and getting picked up from bird to bird to bird to bird, drug to drug, pursuit to pursuit, dunya to dunya, worldly materialistic things that he thinks is going to take him to a place that he needs to go until he eventually crashes and he doesn't even know where he landed. That is the description of many people that are lost. How did I get here? You know you often don't consider your highest potential until you hit your lowest low. That's the beauty of many of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is never shamed for the place that he was in before. He is extolled because sometimes you have to hit that rock bottom and be that lost in order to recognize that you need to get to a better place, that higher potential. And Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu represents the top of the top, right? The cream of the crop in that regard.
But many people hit this rock bottom and hit this low where they have no peace on the inside nor is the outside any less turbulent. The inside is turbulent, the outside is turbulent. So you have one person, ala bi dhikrillahi tatma'innul quloob. Those who believe and their hearts are settled, bi dhikrillah, with the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Their hearts are settled and they're at peace and they're holding on to al-urwat al-wathqa. They're holding on to the steady handhold. And you have the other person falling from the sky, heart is distracted and lands in a completely remote place and has no idea where they are. There's something very profound about these images and these parables that Allah and his Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam give to us. Because essentially when a person is looking for stability and guidance, wa laqad khalaqna al-insana fee kabad, and we are created in toil. Most people are just going to toil in the hamster wheel until they meet their end. But when you're looking for something stable and serene, you need two proper ingredients. Number one, anchoring the heart in something that is real, in something that is meaningful, in something that is consistent, in something that is fulfilling, in something that does not change. And that can withstand any storm. You know, if you're in a storm, but you have a stronger center of gravity, you'll still feel the rain, but it won't take you and swoop you away. So it can withstand any storm because it's anchored in something so real, so consistent, and practiced with dhikr, practiced with the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to put it at ease.
That is its constant anchoring on a daily basis. If you have that, and then you create the right environment around yourself to stabilize and to maintain stability, then you have that peace that people are looking for. And this is true subhanAllah on an individual level, on a family level, on a community level. Let's break it down a bit. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said about the heart, that the heart is karrisha, it's like a feather. يُقَلِّبُهَا الْرِيَاحُ The winds blow it around from place to place. And so you don't want to put even a heart that is at peace, and a heart that is tranquil, in a desert with strong wind. You don't want to put wind around you, turbulence around you on purpose, create that turbulence, because eventually if the turbulence gets too strong, it's going to make the heart shift. Because that's the nature of the heart. يُقَلِّبُهَا الْرِيَاحُ It gets turned over by the wind. So you ask yourself, what am I anchoring my heart in, and then what am I exposing it to? What am I anchoring myself in, and what type of environment am I putting myself in? If I have my heart anchored in something meaningful, and I have my hand grabbing on to something consistent and trustworthy, الْعِرْوَةَ الْوَثْقَةَ Then I'll never be lost. You can literally cast this image across every single layer of self and society. We see what a turbulent society looks like, that has no consistent sense of value, that has no consistent morality, that prides itself on fluidity, and seeks happiness through different material things, and changing trends on a regular basis, and then sells you the next thing to fulfill you when you've been unfulfilled by that trend.
You see with the chaos that comes about in a society, the chaos that comes about in a family, when people get tired of each other, when people don't have anything that anchors the household, and keeps the household together, nothing is binding it together. You have a bunch of individuals living under one roof, but every individual is within its individualistic pursuit of happiness, and is being sold a new wind, a new handhold, a new drug to settle the heart, until eventually it ends up nowhere, and the household shatters. What do we anchor ourselves in? What's the consistency that we have? What do we expose our hearts to on a regular basis? SubhanAllah, even the most pious person is not told to go to filthy places. Why? Because eventually it will affect you. When the Prophet ﷺ was giving these narrations about the good friend and the bad friend, yes, it applies to the entirety of the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ, and there is benefit and value in that. But can you imagine who he was talking to when he was giving those ahadith? He's sitting with the greatest human beings that have ever walked collectively on the face of the earth. He's talking to them, and by extension us, and we might think to ourselves, like how is it that this even resonates with them? But they were hypervigilant on how to anchor the heart, and how to not expose their hearts to things that would cause them to be lost. At some point, dear brothers and sisters, you take a step back, and you ask yourself, how anchored am I in a daily regimen and routine that connects myself to my internal purpose, to my purpose that Allah ﷻ has put me for?
When someone says, my heart isn't at peace, my first question is, how much dhikr do you do? Is it really possible to be in a state of dhikr and to not have your heart at peace? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. When a person takes that time to remember Allah ﷻ on a regular basis, you know, now they package it, they secularize it, they tell you go into silence and they just remove the dhikr part, and that'll give you tranquility and remove the turbulence. Put dhikr into that meditation, into that mindfulness. Watch what happens to your heart. Because when you're saying these words, you're not just feeding your heart some sort of comfort, you're also renewing your clarified thoughts. La ilaha illallah is a concept and a deep clarifying thought and a methodology and a worldview and something that arranges our entire life in accordance with it. Subhanallah has meaning to it. It doesn't just feed the heart comfort. It has meaning to it. When you look around and you see the glory of Allah ﷻ and everything that He's created around you, alhamdulillah is your expression of gratitude and there is meaning to it. It doesn't just comfort the heart, it arranges your entire life in accordance with that gratitude. And what do they tell you about mindfulness and meditation? Renew your purpose and increase in gratitude. We do that with dhikr. That's literally embedded in our dhikr. Subhanallah, alhamdulillah, la ilaha illallah, Allahu Akbar. And Allah is greater than anything that's going to come in between. Allah is greater than the hem, than the distress that leads me to this place. Allah is greater than the product that is sold to me to take me away from this place. Allah is greater than my enemy. Allah is greater than myself. Allah is greater than it all.
Subhanallah, alhamdulillah, la ilaha illallah, Allahu Akbar. Anchor yourself in something. Anchor yourself spiritually in that on a regular basis, on a daily basis. And watch the turbulence go away. And then don't contradict what you're settling the heart with, with an environment that drives your thoughts, your eyes, your mind, your pursuits into absolute chaos. This is especially true for young people. When it comes to the friends and the people that you put around you. At some point, if you're going to try to pursue greatness and peace and happiness, then you have to shed people that are going to pull you away from that. At some point, and this is the greatest right when the Prophet ﷺ says, وَلِنَفْسِكَ عَلَيْكَ حَقَّةًۭ That your self has a right upon you. The greatest right that your self has upon you is that you connect it to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and don't corrupt it for the sake of anybody else. At some point, you've got to shed the environment. At some point, you've got to shed your friends. At some point, you have to shed the things that you're exposing yourself to on the internet. At some point, you've got to limit your technology. You don't need another one million studies to tell you about how there's a link between depression and social media use. It's obvious, it's clear. At some point, you've got to shed that and anchor yourself. And put yourself between these two images. Subhanallah, the difference between tawheed and la ilaha illallah and the clarity of la ilaha illallah. When Haraqal asked Abu Sufyan about the Prophet ﷺ and his companions and said, Does anyone leave this religion after they enter into it because they're displeased with it? And Abu Sufyan, who's a chief enemy of the Prophet ﷺ at that time, he has to admit that no. If anything, we persecute them. We make life very difficult for them as Muslims.
They're not leaving the religion out of displeasure with the religion. People do leave the religion, but they don't leave the religion because of the religion. People do leave the religion, but they don't leave the religion because of the religion. I want you to think about our history, subhanallah, and our present. How many people embrace la ilaha illallah and tawheed from other ways of life, from other systems? Can you look back and find a single prominent companion of the Prophet ﷺ or any of the salaf who represented anything other than that? Who left this religion after tasting the sweetness of it? No. Tawheed, monotheism, settles the heart because it anchors you in the one who created you. It doesn't get tighter than that as a grip, and it doesn't get more peaceful as that on the inside. But many other people will wait for the next bird to pick them up and the next bird to pick them up and the next bird to pick them up and the next bird to pick them up. And that's where you have to come back and you have to say, I'm going to put my heart in the best place to succeed, and I'm going to arrange my thoughts and my life in accordance with la ilaha illallah, and everything else that everyone else is pursuing will be gathered for me in a way that is healthy and in a way that's fulfilling and in a way that gives me contentment. So are you the person with the heart that is settled with dhikr? Or are you the person whose heart is distracted with turbulence? Are you the person who's grabbing on to al-irwat al-withqa, that trustworthy handhold and saying that, Ya Allah, whatever you tell me to do, I know I'm going to benefit at the end of the day and I will do and I'm going to hold on to this grip. Or are you the person getting caught from bird to bird until you end up in a very far away place? All of this, dear brothers and sisters, the most frequent dua of the Prophet ﷺ,
Ya muqallibal quloob thabbit qalbi ala deenak Ask Allah, if there was any man who wouldn't have to worry about his heart, it would be the heart that was washed in zamzam by Jibreel ﷺ when he was a child and had all impurity removed from it. It would be the Prophet ﷺ. The one upon whose heart revelation descends, revelation that would shatter mountains descends upon his heart ﷺ. But his most frequent dua, his most frequent supplication, Ya muqallibal quloob, O turner of hearts, thabbit qalbi ala deenak Make my heart firm on your way. Allahumma thabbit qalbi ala deenak O Allah, turner of hearts, make our hearts firm on your way. Protect us from the things that take us away from you. Protect us from the things that we anchor ourselves in that are not from you. Protect us from the environments, from the influences that are displeasing to you and that will lead our thoughts and our emotions into absolute chaos. Stabilize our lives as individuals with la ilaha illallah. Stabilize our families with la ilaha illallah. Stabilize our communities with the Qur'an and with the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ. Allahumma ameen. Jazakum Allah khayran wa sallallahu wa sallim wa baraka anabina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in.
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