Guidebook to God
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Ep. 4: We Hear And We Obey | Guidebook to God
There are certain ideals a believer should hold, one of them is following the companions’ instinct of “we hear and we obey” upon hearing the commandments of Allah. What does that look like?
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Sama'na wa ata'na. We hear the command of Allah and we obey. That is the constitution of a believer. Never be at odds with any statement of Allah. Never be at odds with any authentic revelation given to the Prophet ﷺ. Never be at odds with a hukm, a ruling and a judgment delivered to us through the purpose and the teaching of our Prophet ﷺ. Never be at odds with something that has been given to us by the one who knows us better than we know ourselves. Ala ya'lamu man khalaq wa huwa al-lateefu al-khabir. Can anyone know his creation more than the one who created them? Can anyone be more acquainted of the needs of the creation that he has created than Allah? And he is the most intimate in his knowledge of them, the most subtle in his injunctions upon them. The Prophet ﷺ, Allah says to us through him in the Qur'an, wa ma kana li mu'minin wa la mu'minatin idha qad Allahu wa rasuluhu amran an yakuna lahumu alkhiyaratu fee amrihim. It is not befitting any believing man, any believing woman that when Allah, when his messenger has delivered a verdict, has been given an injunction, has been given a law, has been given a ruling, has been given a recommendation that in their heart there should be any variance, any turning away, any rejection, any disregard to that which Allah, that which his messenger ﷺ has given forward, an yakuna lahumu alkhiyaratu fee amrihim. That you have another khayr opportunity, that you say something is better than what Allah has sent, what the Prophet taught, what the Prophet did, what the Prophet recommended, that you would choose something the Prophet prohibited and you would say that this is better than what he legislated. And this becomes a crucial issue in the life
of every single believing male, female, young and old believer in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The very premise of Islam is built on acceptance. When you look and find the very last verses of Surat al-Baqarah, that is where you hear this statement, wa qalu sami'na wa ata'na ghufranaka rabbana. The sahaba were encouraged to say, we hear the commands of Allah, we obey them, oh Allah forgive us for what we have not done in the best of capacity. And that becomes the ideal of a believer. Now I want you to know that you will never be able to achieve everything Allah and his messenger ﷺ said in complete measure. Don't beat yourself too much, don't hold yourself down, don't be too depressed, don't lose your faith on account of you making a mistake or a sin. Don't ever assume that you will be unblemished and perfect and angelic in your action and your behavior. Know that you and I will always have a place between us and Allah that could be improved, wa qalu sami'na wa ata'na. But your initial instinct is always to obey, always to listen, always to learn, sami'na ay alimna. We hear means that we learned, we were taught, we studied, we developed yaqeen, wa ata'na, we fulfilled it, we put it into practice. The Prophet ﷺ he would make this dua, he would say, Allahumma rzuqna ilman naafiAAa, oh Allah bless us with a knowledge that is beneficial meaning ay na'malabih, knowledge that we can put into practice, knowledge where we heard something and we instituted it, taught it and conveyed it unto others. Sami'na wa ata'na, that is the constitution of the believer and that is one of the most missing ingredients that we find in our Muslim ummah today. It's one of the reasons of humiliation for the ummah of the Prophet ﷺ. Umar radiyallahu anhu, he's famously quoted in saying, a'azana
allahu bil quran, Allah gave us elevation and honored us when we practiced and received and practiced the Quran. Famahmabtagayna al'izza fee ghayrihi athallana Allah. And whenever we turned away from the Quran and wanted to find our success and elevation and other than it we were humbled and humiliated and brought down. And I want you to know that you will never be elevated in this life or in the next life in your choosing willfully to disregard the word of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There might be timely gains, there might be moments of success, there might be opportunities that you gain, there might be a business deal that go through that was built on haram, there might be the purchase or the selling or the relationship that you enter into that is sinful and that you know in your heart is illegitimate and is beyond the pale of Islam, beyond the pale and the teachings of the Prophet ﷺ. You might enjoy it for a time, you might benefit from it for an opportunity, you might find some personal benefit and gain in it and find some level of comfort. But in the long term, in this life and in the next, know that the Prophet ﷺ, Allah warned his ummah through the Quran in Surah Taha. فَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَن ذِكْرِ The one who turns away, the one who disregards, the one who makes a deaf ear and blind eyes to my revelation. فَإِنَّ لَهُمْ عِنشَةً دَنْقَةً The totality of their life experience will be dank. Dank means something that is without the happiness that it could have had, had they been submitting to Allah. That although you will attain happiness, there is a wretchedness in it. There is a detriment and a pollution through it. That although you may have that
illegitimate relationship and that moment and spark and lustful leaning, eventually it brings ruin. Eventually it brings destruction. Eventually it brings sadness and sorrow. Eventually there's a moment of regret. وَأَنذِرْهُمْ يَوْمَ الْحَسْرَةَ Warn them, Ya Muhammad, of the day of regret. Not just the day of judgment, but the day of regret. The day where when you chose to disobey Allah, eventually comes home to that point where it has its effect in your life and my life that brings us to a point of sour and ruin. سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا We hear and we obey. I want you to consider how the earlier generations, the sahabah and the tabi'een were quick in that. See, you know, sometimes we find it astounding, but I want you to hear how one verse revealed, brought about a revolution within the Madinah of the Prophet ﷺ. For many years they used to be allowed to drink alcohol, allowed to drink wine and spirits. They were allowed to consume it because it was safer than the polluted water of the wells at the time. But eventually near the end of the life of the Prophet ﷺ, Allah revealed إِنَّهُ رِجْزْ فَاجْتَنِبُوا It is an abomination, turn away from it. From now on, no one is to bring it to their mouth. Before they could drink it, but not come to prayer while drunk. They could drink it, but only in their homes. And then finally it says, do not come near it, do not approach it, do not drink it, do not manufacture. And the Prophet ﷺ forbade its manufacture, even to have a vineyard for the purpose of making wine. The moment the sahaba heard this injunction and it was recited to them, it is said that the streets of Madinah flowed with the wine that was dumped out of the homes. سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا That is the habit of the believer. One of the ways that you know that your heart is attached with Allah and that you know you have earned a standing with Allah,
that you have رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنك That Allah is pleased with you and content with you وَرَضُوا عَنك And that you are pleased with Allah. One of the surest ways of making known is how quick you are willing to bend towards the rule of Allah rather than away from it. How long does it take you to return back to Allah? How long does it take you to make that choice to abstain and abandon and turn back from that which you know and have heard is sinful, disliked and to be disregarded. سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا is the character, the constitution, the habit of those who seek to surrender and submit أَسْلَمْنَا لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ May Allah make you and I from those who have the capacity to always return to Allah, to make that which Allah has legislated better than what we seek in our own lustful desires and leanings. That we are content with that which is halal even though seemingly less than that which is haram and greater in its pursuit. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala اللهم اكفنا بحلالك عن حرامك The dua of the Prophet ﷺ, Oh Allah suffice us with that which is halal so that we turn away from that which is haram. وَصَلِّ اللَّهُمَّ وَسَلِّمْ وَزِدْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَىٰ حَبِيبِنَا وَنَبِيِّنَ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ Your brother Yahya Ibrahim. والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
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