Deeds to Habit
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Calling Upon Allah
Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy reflects on the lost art of calling upon Allah and how we can adapt this habit today.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salaamu alaikum. Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. You know, the late Supreme Court Justice of Damascus, Ali Tantawi, he mentions that one time he was spending a night with some of his friends and perhaps his relatives. And it was great atmosphere but for some reason he felt his chest was so tight and he couldn't breathe. And so he excused himself and apologised to them and said I just need some air. And He stepped outside, by the train tracks he stumbled across a woman that was carrying her children in arms and just crying and crying and making dua to Allah, supplicating and crying and he said, lady are you alright? And initially she was caught off guard, but when she saw my old age, she said she realized I didn't have any bad intentions and she told me, my husband, he threw me and my kids on the street and I just need to hike a ride on this train and get to another city where my brother lives, I have nobody here. And the Shaykh was appalled, he's like, what? He can't do that. You've got to take him to court, present him to the judge, this is unacceptable. She said I don't want to just wait all this time and the proceedings and the appeals and who am I to be seen by the judges with any sort of expediency and he said listen to me and he pulls out his card and gives it to her. He says you show up tomorrow morning and show them this card at the courthouse. Wallahi, Allah has dragged me to you by my neck. And this just shows us a habit, a beautiful habit this woman had that many of us have misplaced. The habit of calling upon Allah as your Rabb, saying Ya Rabb, even while standing, even while sitting, even while on your side. This is a lost habit to express to Allah that I need you and I have no one. Dua, supplicating to Allah has its etiquettes and has its ideal fashion in certain contexts where you raise your hands, face the Qibla in Wudu, but that does not mean you don't converse with Allah throughout.
You know when you read Surat Al-Qasas for example, Musa Alayhi Salaam is constantly saying Ya Rabb, Ya Rabb, Ya Rabb, Ya Rabb. Even when he's on the run, being chased out of Egypt, he says Rabbi najini minal qawmi al-dhalimeen. As you're running, he's saying, Oh my Lord, save me from the oppressive people. Then the very next verse says as soon as he kind of broke away from them, they're no longer in hot pursuit, he says, Asa'i yahdeeni Rabbi. Perhaps my Lord will direct me to which direction is best. And then he gets to the well and helps the two young ladies that didn't want to crowd the men. Then he steps off to the shade and immediately again he says, Rabbi inni lima anzalta ilayya min khayrin faqeer. Oh my Lord, I am in dire, desperate need of whatever good you can send down to me, whatever good you decide to send my way. To express that you have a Rabb, a Lord, a Master, a Nourisher, a Caretaker, and to admit to him that I recognize that if you don't facilitate it, it's not going to happen. You know when we are at a roadblock, we look for people to help us facilitate, right? Do you have so and so's number? Do you have so and so's number? Or you reach for your money to try to incentivize whatever you do. But why is the last thing we do, not the first thing we do, say, Ya Rabb, facilitate for me the money, the means, the networking, the personalities that could help me get my affairs done. This is what the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would do. He would plan to push back against the plots and schemes that were hurled his way. But when bad news would come to him, the Sahaba say, the first thing he would do is say, Allah Rabbi la sharika la. Allah is my Rabb. There's no one like him. Meaning if I have him, I have all that I need. Now let's proceed. Aisha RadhaAllahu Anha said this as well. That the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam told us, liyas'ala ahadukum rabbahu kulla shay'in hatta shis'a na'alihi idhan qata. One of you should be asking their Rabb for everything, even the strap of their sandal when it rips. That sounds odd, right?
It's because we've dropped that sacred habit that the early Muslims learned so well from their Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the prophets before him practiced so well as we mentioned with Musa Alaihi Salam. The early Muslims would ask Allah for everything. Your shoe strap. Can you imagine saying it? They would have the habit of saying it. Oh Allah, I need a new shoelace. They would ask Allah even for the salt to put on their food. Because they knew that if Allah did not make it possible, even the salt on my food would be impossible. My money would run out or the store would run out. Or interestingly, they say one of the signs of the onset of the coronavirus was that you lose your taste buds. You'll have it and then you won't enjoy it. And so get in the habit of communicating whether you're in one position or another, standing, walking, just say Ya Rabb, Ya Rabb, Ya Rabb, Ya Rabb. And may Allah make us and you people whose voice is recognized in the heavens and is familiar to the angels that reside in the heavens because we're constantly speaking to the one communicating with He, the Creator who is above the heavens. Allahumma ameen.
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