Khutbahs
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Three Moments That Lead to Paradise | Khutbah
Usayd Ibn Hudayr (ra) powerfully narrates the three states a person's heart should strive to be in to embark the realms of Paradise.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Dear brothers and sisters, it is important for us as we are witnessing mortality the way that we are witnessing it today and witnessing the amount of janazahs that we are witnessing today for us to remember something very important. That while we ask Allah for husn al-khitam, for a good ending, that it would be unreasonable to ask Allah for a good death if you're not living a good life. Essentially what you want to do with yourself is put yourself in a position where the majority of your time is spent in a way that you would want the angel of death to meet you and all of your time is spent in a way that you are taking into consideration that the angel of death may meet you at any time. And what that means is Ibn al-Qayyim subhanahu wa ta'ala divides them into two, is that the majority of your time as much as possible is spent in actions that are pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And none of your time is spent in actions that are displeasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Hence make as much of your time as possible a way that you would be happy if the angel of death showed up to you right now and you would say alhamdulillah I'm ready. I was in a state of listening to something good, reciting something good, doing something good. I was doing something that's pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and that I want to meet my Lord with. And the believer is never heedless to a point that they engage themselves in that which they would be afraid to meet the angel of death with and hence meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with. And so you see these beautiful narrations of husn al-khitam of a good ending from the companions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and throughout our history stories of scholars that died saying la ilaha illallah. Why? Because they lived saying la ilaha illallah.
Stories of people that died in their sujood, in their prostration. Why? Because they exerted themselves towards prostration all the time. That's not a person who is doing sajda like the pecking of a rooster. That is a person who used to take their sujood seriously, who used to go to their sajda with a special longing for Allah and Allah gifted them with that ending. Rithman ibn Affan radiallahu ta'ala anhu who died reciting the Quran, reciting fasyakfika humullah wa huwa sami'ul al-alim, the verse in surah al-baqarah, was someone that was distinguished by reciting the Quran in its entirety on a regular basis, on a daily basis and so Allah allowed him to be met with death at that moment. And there is a beautiful narration I came across that I wanted to share today in that regard about the state of our hearts when death meets us. And it's a narration that's narrated in al-Hakim by Fatima bint Hussain ibn Ali. So this is the great granddaughter of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, Fatima the daughter of Ali, who is the son of Ali and Fatima, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with them all, who narrates on behalf of our mother Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha, qalat kana usayyid ibn Hudayr min afadlil nas. That usayyid ibn Hudayr, the great companion of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, one of the earliest ansar of Medina who came to Mecca to embrace Islam early on in bay'at al-aqaba, that he was from the best of all people. And he used to say, fa kani yaqool, law anni akoonu kama akoonu mahalla haalim min ahwari thalath. If I was to be in any one of these three states, if I was to be in any one of these three states, la kuntu min ahlil jannah, wama shakaktu fi thalik.
I know that I would be from the people of paradise, no doubt about it. If I was to die in one of these three states, I would know that I am from the people of jannah and I would have no doubt about it. He said, heena akraul quran wa heena asma'u. The moments that I'm reading the Quran or listening to the Quran. This is not reading the Quran and listening to the Quran while scrolling through your apps or having a bunch of background noise going on or just having it somewhere in the background. No. Qara'at al-quran, bi-tadabbur wa-tafakkur, to sit down and to recite the Quran with contemplation and introspection. Dear brothers and sisters, Ramadan is only three months away. Allahumma ballighna Ramadan, Allahumma ameen. And with the time that we have, we should push ourselves to do more than one khatm of Quran Ramadan, a full recitation of Quran Ramadan. Why not divide it from now and say I'm going to do ten juz for the next three months so that I have a khatm to welcome Ramadan as well. Take time to read the Quran, a daily portion of your time. Heena akraul quran wa asma'u. And tell me what the state of your heart is when you're reading the Quran and there are no distractions. Tell me how your heart is like when you're listening to a beautiful recitation of the Quran and there are so many beautiful qara'at now that you can press play and be moved, your heart immediately moved and stunned by the recitation of the Quran. How much of that is your life? So that's his first state. He said the second one, wa idha sam'i'tu khutbata rasoolillahi sallallahu alayhi wasallam. When I listen to the khutbah, the sermons of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Now obviously, we don't have the blessing of living amongst the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. I want you to think about the most righteous person you have ever been around. And of course, only Allah knows the
hearts. But you were around someone who you knew had a particular state with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. A righteous scholar or a righteous worshiper, someone that's distinguished with their ilm or their ibadah, their knowledge or their worship, and you spent some time with them. What was the state of your heart like? How was your iman in those moments? How was your faith in those moments when you had righteous companionship? As Imam al-Shafi'i rahimahullah used to say, uhibbu salihin wa lastu minhum la'aliya an'ala bihim shafa'ah. Said I love the righteous though I don't consider myself amongst them because maybe I'll gain their intercession. They'll rub off on me. My iman raises in the presence of certain people and I might gain their intercession. Imagine what it was like to be around the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. The state of a person's iman, sitting with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, listening to the khutbas of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. So part of this is his presence alayhi salatu wasalam. That is unmatched in any way whatsoever. The sahaba would fear hypocrisy because when they were with him, where were they? Hamdala radiyaAllahu anhu. And then Abu Bakr is saying nafiqa Abi Bakr. Then Abu Bakr became a hypocrite. Why? Because when we're with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam our iman is here and we can't sustain that when we're away from him alayhi salatu wassalam. But that's not normal to sustain that anyway because if you were like that you'd basically be an angel. You can't. But that's the presence of a righteous person amongst you and whom were righteous and whose intercession is more sought than the messenger of Allah salallahu alayhi wasalam. But then listening to his words alayhi salatu wassalam. The effect when you sit down and you listen to the riyad al salihin which we recite on a normal basis, on a nightly basis Shaykh
Yasir bin Jass goes over riyad al salihin. Listening to the ahadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. As Imam Ibn Abi Jamrah has in his muqtaswa of al-Bukhari, in his summary of the sahih of Imam al-Bukhari, a history of scholars that would read sahih al-Bukhari from cover to cover in hard times as a means of lifting a hardship. May Allah bless Shaykh Amin and the brothers at Dar al-Qasim, the scholars in Chicago when the pandemic started they recited al-Bukhari from start to finish because it's the words of the messenger of Allah salallahu alayhi wasalam, the ahadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. And reading them brings about a peace of heart and a stillness around you. So connecting to the words of the messenger salallahu alayhi wasalam is a precious sunnah. And the books like riyad al salihin were written so that people could take the virtues of it. You don't have to wait for Shaykh Yasir to open it and read it for you. Read it yourself. Have a portion of riyad al salihin which focuses on al-fadail, which focuses on the virtues and things that the average Muslim can benefit from. Read the words of the messenger salallahu alayhi wasalam and read his seerah and connect to him salallahu alayhi wasalam. So the first one is listening to the words of Allah and reciting the words of Allah. The second one is listening to the words of Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasalam and reciting the words of Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasalam. Listen to the third one. He says the third one, wa idha shahidtu al-janaza, when I am witnessing a janaza. I had someone tell me last week I prayed more janaza in one month than I prayed in my entire life. I think at VRIC we prayed more janaza in one month than we prayed for the existence of our entire community it seems. All of the janazas we're witnessing. What is that doing to you? Where is your heart during those janazas
as you're witnessing and praying those janazas? He says, and he continues by the way, he says fama shahidtu janaza qat, tahaddaftu nafsi siwa ma huwa maf'ulun biha wa ma hiya sa'iratun ilayhi. Every time I watch a janaza in front of me, I talk to myself. This is now self-talk. I talk to myself and I tell myself what the deceased is going through, experiencing at the moment, being carried from the hearse, the car, to in front of me. Hearing the imam above him saying allahu akbar four times, knowing that he's about to go to his grave and we'll hear the footsteps of the people walking away. I tell myself, I tell myself from the perspective of the person that is dead, what is happening to me right now? And I start imagining I am the one being pulled and what I'm about to experience and what are my thoughts right now? What is it that I'm about to encounter? Those moments of witnessing the janaza and telling yourself that is me and being able to put yourself in the position of the janaza rather than be robotic about it. Rather than, okay, another janaza, rather than simply missing the person. If you knew the person who is in the janaza, ya Allah, that is me. That is me. And you start talking to yourself. I'm about to be put back in the car. I'm about to go to the grave. My loved ones are about to bury me under the dirt and I'm about to be visited by the two angels from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You're telling yourself this is next, this is next, this is next. Dear brothers and sisters, that self-talk does something to your heart. It puts your heart in the right place. And the more you're
thinking about your own janaza, the better your janaza is going to be inshaAllah ta'ala. The more you're telling yourself about the experience as you're watching someone else go through it and preparing yourself for it, for this day prepare yourselves. The more ready you will be when you are actually the one being carried out of the car and actually the one, you've already rehearsed it. You know when they show great athletes, by the way a great NFL quarterback or a great basketball player, they show them on the court, on the field, on the practice field and they are rehearsing the game over and over and over and over again. How many times have you rehearsed your janaza as you watch the taking place in front of you? And may Allah subhana wa ta'ala give us the best of endings. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala allow us to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to Him and make the best of our deeds the last of them and make the best of our days the day that we meet Allah subhana wa ta'ala. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala not make us amongst those who are unprepared. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala make us amongst those who are always pleased and pleasing. Allahuma Ameen. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala make us amongst those who are always pleased and pleasing.
May Allah subhana wa ta'ala make us amongst those who are always pleased and pleasing. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala make us amongst those who are always pleased and pleasing.
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