Servants of the Most Merciful
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Episode 4: Spending the Night in Prostration And Prayer
Dr. Omar Suleiman dives into the third quality of the servants of the Most Merciful.
Graphic Notes
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. I would like to ask the merry man of shaytan al-jinn, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa ala adwani ila amudhalameen. Wa ala aqibatu bil muttaqeen. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka al abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim tasliman katheera. So if you guys could see all that's going on right here. I'm sorry it's a lot of technology and we'll get to it inshallah ta'ala. The good news is that we're making progress alhamdulillah rabbil alameen with the types of equipment that we have here. So inshallah ta'ala it'll all come together. So I'm going to go ahead and continue on with the descriptions of Ibadur Rahman, with the descriptions of the servants of the most merciful. And there's really a beautiful transition point that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes here which is, you know, suddenly you go from your outward interaction to where not only are you out dealing with the people but you're dealing with really annoying and foolish people. You're dealing with people that are ignorant, people that are harmful, people that are inconsiderate, insensitive, and have the potential to exhaust you. So imagine, I know in our quarantine days it's hard for us to think of this sometimes, but again a lot of this is applicable online as well. But you're out and about and you're dealing with rudeness, you're dealing with all sorts of people. And then you come home and not only are you home but you are secluded from your family and you are in a corner in your home and you're calling upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the transition, just think of the imagery, subhanAllah, وَإِذَا خَاطَبَهُمُ الْجَاهِلُونَ قَالُوا سَلَامًا You're out and about and someone is throwing a remark at you, someone's being insensitive and rude towards you, someone's being very annoying and you're taking it with grace. How do you deal with that? You deal with that by garnering the spiritual strength and the reservoir to be able to deal with people like that
and to be able to deal with the environment as it's changing when you're in the corner of your home in your salah and particularly in your sujood. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, وَالَّذِينَ يَبِيطُونَ لِرَبِّهِمْ سُجَّدًا وَقِيَامًا And those who spend their nights prostrating themselves before their Lord and standing. And there are a few things that I want to say here inshaAllah ta'ala as a transition. Number one, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, الَّذِي يُخَارِطُ النَّاسَ وَيَصْبِرُ عَلَىٰ أَذَاهِمْ خَيْرٌ مِنَ الَّذِي لَا يُخَارِطُ النَّاسَ وَلَا يَصْبِرُ عَلَىٰ أَذَاهِمْ The one who mixes with the people and who tolerates the hardship that comes with dealing with people. The one who mixes with the people and tolerates the hardship that comes with dealing with the people is better than the one who secludes themselves from the people. What that is speaking to is that a lot of people choose a life of seclusion, a life of personal ibadah. And they say, I'm not going to deal with community work, I'm not going to deal with masjid stuff, I'm not going to deal with organizational work, I'm not going to volunteer and do anything. I'm just going to do this ibadah of prayer and meditation and contemplation and do these personal forms of ibadah that are so much more spiritually fulfilling than dealing with people. Because dealing with people is really annoying and sometimes dealing with Muslims is particularly hard. In the sense that you expect better from your own community. And subhanAllah we see a lot of people that get involved with the community and in the process of getting involved with the community start to see that some of the very fundamental human flaws are present even in Islamic work. And it's disappointing every time. And no matter how many times I tell you that you're going to be disappointed, it's not going to be able to prepare you for the extent of the disappointment that you will have when you start to see egos at play for what should be noble, selfless work,
when you start to see fitna and all sorts of things. And so it's comfortable to say, you know what, I'm just going to abandon the community. I'm going to abandon all sorts of community work. And I'm just going to do what I enjoy doing. I'm just going to do what I enjoy doing and that is prayer at home. And the Prophet ﷺ enjoyed his qiyam more than any one of us could enjoy our qiyam. The Prophet ﷺ enjoyed his prayer. He found pleasure in his prayer ﷺ. Ar-ihna biha ya bilal. Comfort us with it, O Bilal. Praying at night, asking Aisha radiAllahu anha for permission to spend the entire night in prayer. Aisha radiAllahu anha said that was the most amazing thing I saw from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. So he enjoyed his prayer more than any one of us could possibly enjoy our prayer. But still the Prophet ﷺ also saw as ibadah, as worship, tolerating the rude bedouin, tolerating the person that's knocking on his door in the middle of the night, tolerating the person that's interrupting him in his halqas, tolerating the person that says to the Prophet ﷺ, Ya Rasulullah, be just, tolerating all of that, you know, everything that comes with the package of doing community work. Okay? Because he saw it as a part of his ibadah. That's a part of the worship of Allah ﷻ. So Allah is giving us balance in these ayahs. And so those who interact with people in the capacity of serving the people, in the capacity of doing good, in the capacity of their day-to-day, in the capacity of their halal pursuits, wa-itha fatabahum wa-ljahiduna qaloo salama and when they're approached by the ignorant, when they find the foolish being, when they find the fools being foolish towards them, they simply say, Salam, I'm not interested, I'm not going to engage in this. When things start to get nasty, you know,
they just disengage, not from good work, they don't disengage from important community work, they disengage from worthless community ego and disputes. You know, I'm going to stick to what's being productive, and I'm going to avoid this part. Alright, I'm just going to try to do my best to be productive, to not contribute to fitna, to avoid fitna. If I'm in a place where I can stop fitna, then I'll do that, but I'm going to engage people in a healthy way, in a productive way. And I'm not going to shut off altogether. Now sometimes that means that some community work is not for you. Some community work is not for you. Find other community work. But the point is, is stay engaged with the people for the sake of Allah ﷻ as the Prophet ﷺ said, إِنَّ خَيْرَ الْنَٰسَ أَنفَعُهُمْ لِلنَّاسِ that the best of people, the best of people are those that are most beneficial to the people. So for the sake of getting that blessing, and being like that person that the Prophet ﷺ said, أَلَدِيُ خَالِطُ النَّاسِ وَيَصْغِلُ عَلَىٰ أَذَاهُمْ The one who mixes with the people and tolerates the hardship that comes with mixing with the people is twice as good as the one who does not mix with the people, nor tolerate the harm that comes with that. Now how are you going to deal with all of that? How are you going to deal with all of that noise? How are you going to remain dignified? How are you going to be able to tolerate it? How are you going to be able to channel your frustration? وَالَّذِينَ يَبِيطُونَ لِرَبِّهِمْ سُجَّدًا وَقِيَامًا Those are the people that withdraw to the corner of their homes at night. سُجَّدًا وَقِيَامًا In a place of prostration and in a place of standing. Those are the people that build up their spiritual immunity to be able to deal with the hardship that comes with dealing with people at night. When they're alone with their Lord and they remind themselves about what's important and they refresh, they re-energize and they come back the next day ready to give of صدقة with their wealth, with themselves
and ready to engage society in a productive way. The Rinnama' also say that what this speaks to is that these are people that don't spend their nights in gossip, they don't spend their nights doing wicked deeds, they don't spend their nights doing some of the actions of the Sufaha of the foolish people that they are ignoring and that they're dealing with in such a dignified fashion in the previous ayah. Meaning, sometimes we project false humility. And that's dangerous, okay, that's dangerous. Because it can be a form of رِياء, it can be a form of showing off. So let me put it to you this way, when we talked about how الَّذِينَ يَمْشُونَ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ هَوْنَا Those who walk lightly on the earth, some people walk in a humble way out of رِياء, out of showing off. The Qur'an, those that would recite Qur'an long into the night making it known that they were up all night reciting the Qur'an because of some slowness in their walk. Ibn al-Qayyim talks about تَقْسِيرَ الْثَوْبِ To shorten the thawb, not out of honoring the sunnah, but to actually boast and to show pride. So literally the opposite of what the Prophet ﷺ was talking about when he condemned those that would drag their garments out of arrogance and pride. So how does that happen when dealing with the Sufaha? If you respond to someone who's foolish and who's arrogant and ignorant in a way that humiliates that person in the sight of others, and that's your intention? To be able to come out of it and say, look at that person, I made him look like an idiot. I made him look like a fool. Look how I dealt with him. And everyone will say, mashallah, mashallah. And people will look at the other one and say, what a brain fool. What a fool this person is, what an ignorant person this is. That's also رِياء, that's also showing off.
So you're displaying humility, it has to be genuine, it has to be of you. And it has to be something that you're actually seeking, a منزل, a station with Allah that you're able to show him, that you're able to show forbearance, not just the means of humiliating someone and putting them down and making them look like the fool in the discussion. So this person is being loud and doesn't know how to control themselves. I, on the other hand, mashallah, I can control myself. I'm not going to respond. And people are going to say, mashallah, look at that person, mashallah. Never responds, always, no, it's got to be actually of you. Otherwise you'd be, as the Prophet ﷺ said, the one who portrays something false of themselves for the sake of the sight of the people. كَلَابِسِ فَوْبَيْزُورَ is like one who wears two garments of falsehood. That's not someone that is actually practicing a good quality to attain it, nor showing a good quality to seek the good of Allah, but someone who does it because it's a good opportunity for them in this dunya. So it defeats the purpose just like our ibadah does. So what does that mean? Work on your intention. Okay, work on your intention. So some of the scholars, they said the benefit of the transition to the next ayah is that these people don't go home now and engage in sinful behavior and engage in some of those things that the fools are known for just because they're no longer seen by the people. So there's a testimony to khilas here, a testimony to sincerity here in overcoming riyadh that the way that they keep themselves upheld and sustained is the love of Allah ﷻ, whether that's in dealing with other people or in dealing with themselves with spiritual refinement at night when no one is watching. So the true servants of Allah, ibadah ar-Rahman, they generate the strength
and the energy and the sincerity to sustain themselves for all of those societal interactions when they are at home at night when no one sees them. And Allah ﷻ acknowledges, look, it's not easy. It's not easy. تَتَجَافَى جُنُوبُهُمْ عَنِ الْمَضَاجِعِ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُمْ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا They fight their beds. These people fight their, their bodies are fighting with their beds. They're trying so hard to forsake their beds to call upon Allah ﷻ. It's not easy. But the dignity that you show during the day or the acts of obedience that you do during the day will help you, assist you in waking up and praying at night. And that's why Imam Hassan al-Basri, rahim Allah, I believe it was Hassan al-Basri, was one of the salaf, either Hassan or Sufyan, who was asked, why is it that we can't get up and pray at night? And he said, لا تَعْصِهِ بِالنَّهَارِ يُقِيلُكَ بِاللَّيْلِ Don't disobey him during the day and he will wake you up at night. Qiyam is a gift. So Allah ﷻ will give it to people that are beloved to him, people that are azeez, people that are noble in his sight, people that he seeks to honor. Allah ﷻ would give them that gift. So if you're acting foolish during the day, then qiyam is not something that's going to be gifted to you at night. Obey Allah ﷻ during the day in your interactions at work, in your interactions with the people, and that will be a means of waking you up at night as well. Now, there are several other ayat about sujood in particular. This is really what I want to focus on tonight. A new layer of sajda, a new layer of prostration, and the beauty of prostration here and the deep meanings that it has, particularly in the sequence of ayat that we find at the end here. Allah ﷻ tells us just a few ayat before this.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ السْجُدُ لَرُّحْمَانِ قَالُوا وَمَا الرَّحْمَانَ أَنَسْجُدُوا بِمَا تَأْمُرُنَا وَزَادَهُمْ نَفُورًا Allah ﷻ says that when it's told to them to prostrate themselves to al-Rahman, to the most merciful, they say, you know, who is al-Rahman? Should we prostrate to the one that you tell us to prostrate to? And all it does is it increases them in disobedience and increases them in wickedness. So let's get back to us, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, because we seek to be from ibadah al-Rahman. يَبِيتُنَا لِرَبِّهِمْ Before we get to sajda, those who spend their time in their homes with their Lord. Now I know, you know, it's quarantine time and all we keep talking about is when is the lockdown going to end? But the believer enjoys seclusion. The believer enjoys seclusion. And so here, يَبِيتُنَا لِرَبِّهِمْ They take shelter in their homes with their Lord. يَبِيتُنَا لِرَبِّهِمْ They enjoy their moments with their Lord. It's a private, it's an opportunity for private time between you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so the believer learns to turn isolation into seclusion. The believer learns to turn that which is boring into that which is enriching. The believer learns to turn that time away from the creation into time to build that relationship with the Creator. And Allah is accessible to us when we are in our homes and Allah is accessible to us when we are in the masajid. Allah is accessible to us when we are at work. Allah is accessible to us when we are driving. Allah is accessible to us at all times. And so the believer يَبِيتُنَا لِرَبِّهِمْ spending the night at home only between them and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the first thing Allah says سُجَّدًا وَقِيَامًا So there is an emphasis here on prostration. So let's talk about that inshallah ta'ala.
Some of the scholars they said that the reason why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala starts off with سُجَّدًا وَقِيَامًا prostration and prayer in particular is because these are verses that are extolling this group of people. They are glorifying this person in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so as this person is being honored in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and as this person is experiencing being amongst those that are glorified in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then that is a person who gains that glory in the sight of Allah by lowering themselves in humility to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Why? Because the Prophet ﷺ said the one who lowers themselves to Allah, Allah عز و جل raises them. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala elevates them. The Prophet ﷺ also said that أَقْرَبُ مَا يَكُونُ الْعَدْلِ رَبِّهِ that the closest a person is in sujood to their Lord. The closest that a person is to their Lord is in sujood. Shaykh Suleiman was talking about this actually in Quran 3430 tonight very beautifully before I came on with my Darth Vader voice at the end. So the closest a person is to their Lord is in sujood. You whisper into the earth and the Most High hears you and honors you and elevates you and you will not get closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala than those moments of sujood, in those moments of prostration. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions as he's talking about the difference between nations in Surat Maryam. Allah describes the people إِذَا تُطْلَعْ عَلَيْهِمْ أَيَاتُ الرُّحْمَانِ خَبْرُوا سُجَّدًا وَبُكِيَّ That if you recite upon them the verses of Ar-Rahman, the Most Merciful. So notice the connection, okay, constantly between Ar-Rahman and this act of sajda. When you recite upon them the verses of Ar-Rahman,
خَبْرُوا سُجَّدًا وَبُكِيَّ They fall in prostration and in tears. And subhanAllah, you know, this is a really powerful way that Allah Azawajal describes this ummah. Why? Because sujood is khudur, it's the physical act of humbling yourself to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Khushur, humility, is the internal act of humbling yourself to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the irma here, they say that khudur is the physical part, so that's the first part to gaining khushur, humility. And khushur is the tears and the refinement that you feel in your heart and on the inside. And that's when a person is really honored and gets so close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the next verse in surah Maryam Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, فَخَلَفًا بَعْدِهُمْ خَلْفٌ أَضَاعُوا الصَّلَاةِ وَاتَّبَعُوا الشَّهَوَاءِ Then came after them a people who lost the salah and who followed their desires. And so Umar radiAllahu ta'ala said that they lost khudur and they lost khushur. They lost the physical humility of sujood because they started to delay their prayers. And instead of internally desiring Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, they were led by their lusts and their worldly desires. And so they lost their khushur as well. So the closest that a person is to Allah is in sujood. The closest that you will get to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is in your sujood. So that's the first thing, it's closeness to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The greater meaning of that is that the more you lower your jasad, the more your ruh ascends. You are made of body and soul, the more you humble your body, the more your soul ascends. So the closest you get to the Lord of the heavens is when you put yourself, your face to the earth. Also one of the benefits of this dear brothers and sisters, remember we said الَّذِينَ يَمْشُونَ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ هَوْنَا Those who walk on this earth and they realize they are made of this earth.
And so your feet are inevitably clung to the earth. You are inevitably physically clung to the earth. But only a few people choose to put their foreheads and their faces on the earth in honoring Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So that's a gift that only some people are brought to. Allah azza wa jal also says وَمِنَ اللَّيْلِ فَسُجُودْ لَهُ وَسَبِّحْهُ لَيْلًا قَوِيلًا Allah says particularly that this is an act of the night. Prostration is an act of the night. Yes, we prostrate throughout the day. So Judah is part of our five stars. So do this part of our Sunnah. There is no prayer without the Sajdah. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says وَمِنَ اللَّيْلِ And in the depths of the night فَسُجُودْ لَهُ وَسَبِّحْهُ لَيْلًا قَوِيلًا فَسُجُودْ لَهُ وَسَبِّحْهُ لَيْلًا قَوِيلًا Prostrate yourself in the night and glorify him for a long time. So when you go into Sajdah in Qiyam by the way, and subhanAllah a reminder to myself and you as you're trying to finish a certain portion of the Quran in these nights. Don't forget to give yourself long periods of Sajdah where it's unscripted Dua. You can pray make Dua in any language in any way in your Sajdah in your Qiyam al-Layl. وَمِنَ اللَّيْلِ فَسُجُودْ لَهُ وَسَبِّحْهُ لَيْلًا قَوِيلًا There are other elements and secrets of Sajdah particularly as relate to the qualities of Ibadur-Rahman. And this is something subhanAllah to be honest with you I'd never properly reflected on or connected it to this set of verses until today. Where Allah subhanAllah talks about Sujood as having healing powers for the one that is bothered by people. Why? Allah Azawajal says وَلَقَدْ نَعْلَمُ أَنَّكَ يَضِيْخُ صَدْرُكَ بِمَا يَقُولُونَ فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَكُن مِّنَ السَّاجِدِينَ SubhanAllah Allah says to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, You're human and we know that it hurts you what they say about you. You're bothered Ya RasulAllah. You know look we should not pretend to be superhuman. When people insult us, when people aggravate us, when people say things about us,
it bothers us because that's how Allah subhanAllah engineered us. That's how we are. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam had a big heart and he loved the people. So it hurt him to be hurt and slandered and spoken ill about by the same people that he loved so much and that he wanted guidance for. So Allah said we know that it causes you constriction in your heart what they say. فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ So how do you respond? Glorify the praises of your Lord. وَكُن مِّنَ السَّاجِدِينَ And be amongst those that prostrate. So Sajdah has healing powers. When you think about those that are hurt or those that are hurting you and you think about the annoyances of dealing with the people, Sajdah has healing powers. To go into long periods of Sajdah has healing powers. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam also taught us to do Sujood out of Shukr, out of gratitude. So SubhanAllah, Sajdah is the act of prayer that we are driven to out of pain and we are driven to out of pleasure. That we are driven to in hardship and we are driven to in gratitude. It is out of Tawbah, out of repentance and out of thankfulness to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for unlocking our Ibadah to us. Sajdah is the culmination of all of that. And that's why Ibn Al-Khayyam rahimahullah said even in the prayer, it's called the Masjid, it's called the place of Sujood. It's like the entire Salah is a preparation for the Sajdah. The entire Raka'ah is building up to the Sajdah because the best of an action is the last of it. The best of the day is the last of it. The best of the prayer, the best of the Raka'ah is the last of it. So you're building up to the Sajdah. Think about that next time when you're trying to maintain your Khushur. It's not just keeping it up for a few ayahs and then getting lost. You're building up to that beautiful moment where you fall into Sujood with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And it is particularly, as we said, a means of healing the pain that you feel because of what people are saying or because of the hardships that come with dealing with the people.
It's curing, subhanAllah, to enjoy long periods of Sujood with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The Prophet ﷺ also mentioned that if you want to be closer to him ﷺ, subhanAllah, if you want to be closer to him ﷺ on the Day of Judgment, what did he say to Rabi'a Ibn Ka'b al-Aslami? He said, support me in your case, in me making a case for you to be closest to me on the Day of Judgment with ikathira, with the abundance of your Sajdah, with the abundance of your prostration. Help me make a case for you, O Rabi'a, by doing plenty of Sajdah, by doing plenty of prostration. On the Day of Judgment, the greatest honor of the Prophet ﷺ is al-Shafa' al-'Uthma, is the great intercession of the Messenger ﷺ when the Prophet ﷺ will make Sajdah to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He will prostrate to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and Allah will inspire him ﷺ with kalam, with certain words that he did not know before, nor could he have known had Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not given him those words ﷺ. And that's when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will tell him to raise his head and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give him the great honor of intercession, alayhi salatu wa salam. And then it's the worst humiliation, yawma yukshafu ansaq wa yud'auna ila al-sujood wa la yastathiyahum. May Allah protect us. Some people on the Day of Judgment, when they experience the Divine Presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and they're called to make sujood, they won't be able to. Their backs will be firm because they used to. Qad kanu yud'auna ila al-sujood wa hum salimun. They used to be called to prostration in this world and nothing was wrong with them, nothing was wrong with their bodies, but their backs become stern and they're unable to make sujood. And finally the Prophet ﷺ, he said that the people of faith, ahlul iman on the Day of Judgment, will be known by the marks of sujood on their head.
Now I know that some people try to drive their foreheads into the ground or maybe prostrate on really uncomfortable carpet. And subhanAllah there are some people that do have marks on their foreheads because of the amount of sujood that they do. So I'm not taking away from that. But that's not what this is talking about. Because there are some people that do plenty of sujood and they don't get those marks on their head. But the marks that the Prophet ﷺ is talking about are the marks that Allah ﷻ, the angels see, and those are the marks that will be prominent on the Day of Judgment. And the Prophet ﷺ said subhanAllah, even the people that go to the hellfire, and they spend some time in the hellfire, and this is, just think about this, and may Allah allow us to enter Jannah without any form of punishment. But he ﷺ said that people who made sajda and they go to the hellfire for some time, that the hellfire would not be able to consume the place of sujood on their heads. So even then, subhanAllah, the place of sujood is preserved if it's sincere for the sake of Allah ﷻ. And I want to end with a story here. And I love this story because it speaks to this. Ahnaf ibn Qais, rahimahullah ta'ala, he said, I entered into Masjid al-Aqsa. May Allah ﷻ liberate Masjid al-Aqsa and allow us to pray Turaqa ʿAzm Masjid al-Aqsa. So he said, I entered into Masjid al-Aqsa. And as I entered into Masjid al-Aqsa, he said, رأيت رجل يكثر السجود I saw this man who just kept on staying in a place of sajda. He was praying all night and he just kept on prostrating. And he'd go into his prostration for a very, very long time. So I just watched him and I marveled at him. Masjid al-Aqsa where the anbiya' have prayed, where the prophets have prayed,
where the sahaba have prayed, where so many noble people have prayed. And Ahnaf ibn Qais says, I'm just looking at this man and I'm saying, Allahu Akbar, who is this man spending this night in sujood, spending this night in prostration? So he said that I waited for a long time for him. And then I went up to him and I said to him, Do you know how many raka'as he prayed? Because he'd been praying all night. Like, did you keep count of how many sajdas, how many prostrations you made? And the man responded to me and he said, إن كنت لا أدري فالله أدري But if I don't know, then Allah knows. So I don't know how many raka'as I prayed. He was beyond the 8 verses 20. He was all night just praying and making sajda to Allah. So I asked him, why is it that you spend so much time in sajda and prostration? I saw you doing something that I had not seen from anyone before. And that is just increasing the sajda throughout the night. So he said حَدَّثَنِي حُبِّي رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَامًا ثُمَّ بَكَى He said, my beloved one, Rasulullah ﷺ said to me, and then he بكى, he just broke down crying. So Ahlath ibn Qais said, I waited for him and he collected himself and he said, حَدَّثَنِي حُبِّي My loved one said to me, and he started to cry again. Then he said a third time, حَدَّثَنِي حُبِّي My beloved one said to me, رسول الله ﷺ إِنَّكَ مَا سَجَدْتَ بِاللَّهِ سَجْدَ إِلَّا رَفَاعَكَ اللَّهُ بِهَا دَرَجًا وَحَطَّ عَنْكَ بِهَا خَطِيءًا He said that the Prophet ﷺ said that you do not make a single sajda,
a single prostration to Allah ﷻ except that Allah elevates you by a degree and Allah ﷻ removes one of your sins from you. Every single time you make sajda, every single time you prostrate, Allah ﷻ elevates you and Allah ﷻ removes one of your sins which is a hindrance to your elevation. So this person continued to make sujood throughout the night. So Ahlath ibn Qais, he said to him, you're a companion, you're a sahabi, you knew the Prophet ﷺ because he said حبّي, Ahlath is one of the great tafirin. He said you knew the Prophet ﷺ? He said yes, he said من أنتِ, who are you, يا شيخ? And he said to him, I'm Abu Dharr al-Ghifari رضي الله عنه. SubhanAllah, so this man was Abu Dharr رضي الله عنه, spending the night in sujood in Mazar al-Aqsa. And we know that by the way Abu Dharr, one of the things is he was bothered by the materialism that he saw coming into the ummah. And so he's spending his night in Mazar al-Aqsa, making sujood, elevating himself in the sight of Allah ﷻ. So والذين يبيتون لربهم سجداً وقياماً Those who spend their nights in prostration and in standing in prayer. Jibreel ﷺ told the Prophet ﷺ أن الشرف المؤمن قيامه بالليل The nobility of the believer is his standing up in prayer at night. The only way that you can manifest all of the qualities of Ibadur Rahman with the people is if you are in khalwa with Ar-Rahman, in seclusion with Ar-Rahman at night. And Imam Hassan al-Basri رحمه الله He was asked, and I'll end with this insha'Allah ta'ala, Why is it that the people of Qiyam al-Layl are أحسن الرجوع They're freshest, their faces are freshest. So they don't sleep at night, yet somehow هم أحسن الرجوع They have fresh faces.
Why is it that the people of Qiyam al-Layl are so fresh in their faces? And his response, he says, لأنهم خلوا بالرحمن Because they secluded themselves at night with Ar-Rahman, with the most merciful فألبسهم من نوري So Allah ﷻ dressed them with His light. الله أكبر الله أكبر Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest. أصبدح بحمد ربك وكن من الساجدين So glorify your Lord and be from as-Sajdeen, be from those who are in prostration. May Allah ﷻ allow us to spend long nights in Qiyam and in sujood, long nights in prostration with Allah ﷻ, long nights with Ar-Rahman, and find that connection to Allah ﷻ. May Allah ﷻ allow that humility to Him, to raise our degree and honor in His sight, and to allow us to only be concerned with His sight, whether others are around or not. May Allah ﷻ allow us to generate in our hearts the sincerity that would power us through this life. And may Allah ﷻ allow us to leave this world in a place of sajda, in a place of prostration. May Allah ﷻ give us death in sujood, give us death in prostration. SubhanAllah there are a very few, there's a select group of people that Allah ﷻ blesses with death in sujood, death in prostration. Ask Allah ﷻ to make us amongst them, ask Allah ﷻ to make you amongst them. Say to Allah ﷻ sincerely when you find yourself in these nights with Allah ﷻ, in a close moment with your Lord, say, Oh Allah, let me die in this state, let me die in a place of sajda. Because you will be raised the way that you die, and the greatest honor on the Day of Judgment is when our beloved ﷺ is in a place of sajda. The greatest humiliation on the Day of Judgment are those who cannot make sajda.
So ask Allah ﷻ, Oh Allah, grant me death, while I'm in a state of prostration to You. Let that be my ending, Ya Rabb al-A'lamin. And subhanAllah, I just came to my mind, a brother in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, several years ago, named Brother Shakir, who passed away in his sujood at night, and there are people that Allah has blessed with death in their sajda. The great scholar Shaykh Abdul Hamid Kishk, sajda on the Day of Jum'ah, sajda on Friday, subhanAllah. So ask Allah ﷻ to grant you that. Make time for your sajda tonight, inshaAllah ta'ala, and all of these last ten nights. That takes priority over all of the other ibadahs, is to spend some time in sajda, spend some time in prostration. Cry your heart out to Allah ﷻ. Complain to Allah ﷻ about how annoying the world is. Complain to Allah ﷻ about how tired you are. But the complaint, the shakwa to Allah is not complaining to Him about Him. It is complaining to Him, seeking His comfort and His consolation. So we ask Allah ﷻ to allow us to be amongst those that catch Laylatul Qadr, and that catch Laylatul Qadr with many sajdas, with many prostrations and prayers. And we ask Allah ﷻ to make sujood our great escape from this world, to make it our greatest comfort, to allow it to be our greatest honor. And we ask Allah ﷻ to allow what is generated in the sajda to carry us through the times that we are not in sajda in this world. And we ask Allah ﷻ to raise us like Rabi'a ibn Ka'b al-Aslami, to be from the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. Allahumma ameen. JazakumAllahu khayran once again, inshaAllah ta'ala. I will see you all tomorrow night, and please keep us in your du'as tonight, inshaAllah ta'ala. Myself and my family and the entire team at Yaqeen Institute, please keep us all in your du'as, inshaAllah ta'ala. And I pray that Allah ﷻ will accept from all of you your qiyam as well.
As-salāmu alaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh.
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