Understanding My Journey: A Qur’anic View
4 / 6
How Do I Deal With Doubts (Part 3)
Not all doubts are bad, and some can even be rewardable. What motivates the doubts in our faith, and at what point are we blameworthy? Dr Omar Suleiman discusses the central focus of the series, and provides a roadmap to navigating doubts with Yaqeen.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. You know, I kind of forgot everything I'm supposed to talk about because of that interaction backstage. And I was sharing with the brothers that we say la ilaha illallah, Muhammadun rasulullah sometimes 60, 70, 80 years of our lives, and we don't cry one time when we say it. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives someone with the ability to say it for the very first time and they can barely get through it. And as Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu said when he saw some people come from Yemen and they heard the Qur'an for the very first time. Imagine Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu when he heard the Qur'an for the very first time. As-siddiq, like think about what his heart was like when he heard the Qur'an the very first time from the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. When the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam told him, these are the verses that were revealed to me. And Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu saw these people who were hearing the Qur'an for the very first time from Yemen and he said, haa katha kunna qabla anqasat qulubna. I remember when we were like that before our hearts became hard. So sister Patty, by the way, is she here? I don't mean can she just raise her hand somewhere if she's here in the audience somewhere? It's hard for me to see. But may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give you thabat, firmness on this path. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala continue to bestow guidance upon you. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put sincerity always in your heart. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow your destination and our destination all together to be paradise. Allahuma ameen. Alhamdulillah wa salatu was salamu ala rasool Allah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. So on that note as I try to recover my thoughts and remember what this topic was supposed to be about. I want to actually give you a scene to start with. And I use a lot of airport amtad and airplane parables because I travel a lot.
So I try to frame my entire life within a journey, an airport and an airplane and a hotel room. So I'm gonna put you all through a journey really quick. I want you to imagine that you're being woken up. Someone's nudging you and telling you wake up, wake up. And you wake up and you're a little disoriented. Some of you are doing that right now. But you wake up and you're a little disoriented. Where am I? Because you went into such a deep sleep that you forgot where you were for a moment. And you wake up and you look around and it's the airport. You're sitting in a chair in the airport and maybe because of the exhaustion of the journey, the gham, the fog of it all, you woke up and whoa, what time is it? What time was my flight? Where is the gate? And you realize that the gate actually might be closing because you've been asleep and you don't know how long you've been asleep for. And you need to hurry up and get to your flight because your senses have come back at least to a point that you recognize that you have a flight to catch. So as you're sort of starting to come back to your senses, there's a trustworthy person that works in the airport, has the uniform, clearly works at the airport and is a well-wisher and says, Sir, ma'am, can I help you get to your gate? Your flight is this flight. Go this way. Walk this way and then take a right. And you're going to find the gate right there. Hurry up. The gate is right there. And you're going to find the gate right there. Hurry up. The gate is closing. And you know when it says gate is closing? Sometimes it's really nerve-wracking because you don't know if it's going to close in 10 minutes or 30 minutes because you don't have a visual. But if you're a panicky type of person, you're probably imagining that they're calling final boarding call and they're shutting the gate.
So you start running to try to get there. And you're not even sure because you just woke up. Where's my boarding pass? Where's my passport? Let me just hurry up and get there. And you're going and going and going and going. And on the way, you know those people that stop you in the shopping mall, stop you in an airport, it depends what city you're in, and say, would you like to get your shoes shined? Would you like to try this chocolate? Would you like to try this Dead Sea salt? By the way, never try the Dead Sea salt because it's occupied territory. But would you like to try this product? Come do this, come do that. And you're like, I need to get to my flight. I need to hurry up and get to my flight. And while you're going there, gate is closing. And you're just trying to make sure that you're going in the right direction. And you're hoping you don't take the wrong turn, jump on the wrong train. You're not familiar with this airport. I just hope, Ya Allah, start making dua. Ya Allah, I hope I get there. I hope I get there in time. Start making the dua as you're running, panicking. Now, the gate is closing. The gate is closing. You've also heard, to add to this, or maybe you had a bad experience with some of your documents being off. If you're a da'i, you know what it's like to be turned away from a plane, get to the gate and say, sorry, sir, you can't board. So I'm like, okay, I need to get there really on time before I get the secondary questioning and things of that sort. I hope my paperwork is in order. And I hope I'm not going to be turned away because I've heard that they turn people away at this airport. It's a lot of panic, right? There's a lot of urgency. And that chocolate and that shoe shine and that Dead Sea salt doesn't sound very appealing right now. I just want to catch my flight. The plane is headed for Jannah. The destination is Jannah. First class are the prophets,
are the prophets, the prophets, the companions, the martyrs. It's a pretty big plane. Prophets, companions, martyrs, all of these great people that you heard about, they're in first class. But you might get upgraded based on your status. Keep going, heading towards that plane. You all have the image, you have the sense of urgency, you have the way that your heart is beating, hoping that you catch it. Now, what is the first ask that you make of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran? Every single dua that you make in the Quran is somehow linked to this dua. And every single action is somehow linked to this purpose. What is the very first dua you make in the Quran? Can anyone tell me? We have a problem, Sheikh Ali. What's going on with the UK? It's the first dua. The first dua in the book of Allah. Don't tell me, Some duas before that. Ya Allah, guide us to the straight path. Guide us to it, guide us upon it. Give us the way to it, give us the steadfastness upon it. Ya Allah, I'm praising you. I am invoking you. The entire purpose of approaching this book, the entire purpose of my existence, all of it will be determined success or failure based upon whether or not you guide me to the straight path, guide me upon the straight path, and get me to where I need to go,
which is Jannah, in your pleasure. And it is Sirat al-Mustaqim, it's a straight path. Sirat al-Ladhina an'amta alayhim, I want to be with those people that you're pleased with, the prophets, the companions. You can't understand this deen without the Prophet ﷺ and his family and companions. You can't understand this deen without their examples of how to connect to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and be on that straight path no matter what your impulses or inclinations or personality types are like. You can't understand this deen without the Prophet ﷺ and his family and companions. You can't understand this deen without their examples of how to connect to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and be on that straight path no matter what your impulses or inclinations or personality types are like. You can't understand it without them. Ya Allah, I want to be on that path with them. Not those who have the wrong documents or those that get turned away. Not those who have earned your anger or gone astray. Ya Allah, I want to get on that flight back to Jannah. All sorts of doors, all sorts of things that try to pull me away. The subject of this particular lecture in the Journey back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is probably the most important one and where I've been trying to summarize this idea of the journey back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And it's about doubt. What is this all have to do with doubt. Well if I didn't wake up and I just went back to sleep or I said, alright, I'll get right back to it back to sleep. I said, am I even in the right airport? Am I even flying anywhere? Where am I? Then I'm in the most trouble if I don't have the certainty that at least there's a plane there and there's a gate and I'm in the right airport and I have the documentation. That is the most devastating situation because that means I don't know how to get there. But doubt does not arise organically. Someone comes
up to me, someone comes up to Sheikh Ali, someone comes up to Mufti Mink, Sheikh Bilal, Sheikh Wahaj. They say, I have doubts about faith. Suddenly I have doubts in Allah. I don't know if the unseen is real. I don't know if Jannah is real. I don't know if the stuff my parents have given to me is real because you inherited it maybe, not like sister Patty who took Shahada and worked her way to this point. You just kind of had it given to you and you were told this is where it's supposed to be and this is what it's supposed to be. I don't know if I believe anymore. I don't know if I believe this. I don't know if I believe that. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is telling you first and foremost, ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to guide you. No one asks Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala sincerely for guidance except that He guides them. No one comes to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala sincerely and asks Allah for guidance except that He guides them. That's why when Hamza radiya Allah ta'ala came to the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam and he told the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam, you know when I kind of got into it with Abu Jahl and I embraced Islam, I said I am on the religion of my nephew. It was more in the, it felt like it was more just to win the argument, to get in his face, to defend your honor, my honor. But ask Allah. Ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to guide you. Now here's the thing. There is a beautiful tie between the very beginning of the Quran here and the very end of the Quran. What's going to take you away from the straight path? Who's vested in trying to take you away from the straight path? Shaytan. And so what is the very last thing? I seek refuge in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, the Lord of people. I seek refuge in Him from
the evil of man, the evil of jinn, the evilest of both of those two creations, the shaytan himself, who whispers into the hearts of people. And then he sinks away when he's failed and he plots another way to get to you, to divert you from your path. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says to us to say, from both the human beings and the jinn. Why? Because sometimes the voices of human shayateen are far more persuasive to you than the voices of the devils. Your friend at school, that person you're interacting with online, whoever it may be that starts putting those thoughts in your mind, that starts telling you certain things, sometimes they are stronger voices of diversion than even the shaytan himself. And here's the thing about the shaytan, and I said this a few nights ago, that the one who's led by desire no longer needs a devil to lead them astray. If Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has spoken to you through the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and given you the path to guidance, and then you took another path, you followed another path, and you're letting nafsin la tashba' a soul with just unlimited craving leads you astray, then at that point you're just going and going and going and going. People that are just led by their desires, they follow their desires, they worship their desires. Shaytan doesn't really need to monitor you too heavily anymore because you're gone already, you're not even walking in the right path. You've already taken that turn. But who does shaytan really want to lead astray? Who does he want to get to? Shaytan is not going to wait on the destructive path, shaytan is going to wait for you on the straight path. And that's why in Surah Al-A'raf Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us, shaytan says to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he blames Allah. Talk
about not being self-accountable. You want to know what makes him such a pathetic being, the most repulsive being in history? How dare you, after Allah gave you the appearance and the rank of an angel and put you in that place in paradise, how dare you then turn around and say, you led me astray because you led me astray. And I'm going to lead all of them astray. And on top of that, لَأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ صِرَاطًا كَالْمُسْتَقِيمِ You know where I'm going to sit for them, where I'm going to be waiting for them, where I'm going to lay all these traps? On Sirat Al-Mustaqim, on that straight path. I know that they're not going to be anywhere, that if they're there, they're already gone. I can maybe just nudge them every once in a while and kick them forward and they'll just destroy themselves further. But when they're trying to be on the straight path, Sirat Al-Mustaqim, that's where they're going to find me waiting for them. I'm the guy that shows up and says, shoeshine, chocolate, please don't punch someone in the face in the airport and say, you know, Sheikh Omar said you're the shaytan. Maybe the Dead Sea Salt, no, just don't do that, I don't want to get quoted here, I get enough flack. Don't even punch the Zionist selling you Dead Sea Salt in the airport, just tell them that this is occupied land. Shaytan's the one that comes and plants the traps and says, this way, this way, this way, let me sell you this, let me sell you this, let me sell you this. And the Prophet ﷺ, he told us that the path to Jannah is filled with what? Hardships. Shaytan will try to lead you away from the path of Jannah with your desires or your difficulties, with your desires or your difficulties. His main point is, how do I get you off of this? How do I pull you away from this? Now here's the thing, desires are natural, difficulties are inevitable.
Allah tells us to have perspective in difficulty and desire and to discipline ourselves in both of those situations. But shaytan is not interested in just trying to get you to taste a little bit more of that desire or suffer a little bit more in that difficulty. You see, shaytan wants to poison your shahwa with shaq, your desire with doubt and poison your difficulty with doubt. How? He goes for the kill. He knows that when he's got an opening he needs to take advantage of it, just like any good marketer. You're vulnerable right now? Let me tell you the most and if you fall for 30% of it, then I've still got you away. So what does he come to you with your difficulty? Ayyub alayhi salam. Why would a merciful Lord do this to you? Not just you should stop praying, you should stop doing all these good things. Why would a Rabb do this to you? Because he wants to disconnect you from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala completely, sever you from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The pain is bad enough, not just man this difficulty is terrible, don't even pray anymore, this hardship is terrible. No, why would Allah take your children? Why would Allah take your family? Why would Allah take your wealth? Why would Allah take your health? Then he goes to the people around who are also suffering from difficulty. If Allah knew of any good in Ayyub, he wouldn't have done this to him. What kind of Rabb, what kind of Lord does this to Ayyub alayhi salam? He goes for the kill, poisons the difficulty with doubt as well. Let me see if I can really make this doubt bad. Let me see if I can really take this difficulty and rank as high as I possibly can. The same thing with desire, the same thing with desire. Yeah, shaitan's a little happy if you taste a little bit of that desire and haram. But shaitan will also
come to you and say, why would Allah even make this haram? You're not really hurting anybody. What kind of religion tells you you can't do this? Look at all these other people. What if there is no Jannah, you've been restraining yourself for no reason from all these different types of things. Why are you even withholding yourself? And that's why when we think of Adam alayhi salam and Hawa, we always talk about the desire that caused them to be expelled, right? Their desire. Khuliq al-insanu ajula. Man was created in haste, but it's more than that. Shaitan goes for the kill. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, fawaswasa lahumash shaitan. Shaitan whispered to them. You know, it wasn't like Adam alayhi salam and shaitan are hanging out in paradise. No. Fawaswasa lahumash shaitan. Shaitan came in there, al-waswas, whispered. Bisawtin khafi. Some of the mufassirun say, a light voice, hey. And he doesn't just say, that tree has really, really good fruit. What was on the tree, by the way? What type of fruit? I don't want to put you all on the spot, but we never heard it was an apple, did we? But the UK, overall, they passed the aqeedah test. No one said apple except for a couple of others. But I'm not going to do like Mufti Mink did the cameraman. At least alhamdulillah, Mufti Mink made it up to him, mashallah. I'll make it up to you as well. We just know it was some sort of fruit, right? Some sort of fruit in paradise, right? Did shaitan just say, listen, that fruit tastes really, really, really good. It tastes better than all of the other trees. Let your desire live a little bit. No. What did he say to them? ma naha kuma rabbukuma Your Lord did not forbid you an hadhi his shajara illa except for what? an takuna malakayn
Except that it would make you angels. There's a doubt here. If you were to eat from this tree, you might become angels. aw takuna minal khalideen Or you'd have eternity. Or you'd have eternity. See, shaitan, at the end of the day, he eats from the tree. He's happy. But let me put some doubt into it as well. If I can get Adam alayhis salaam to have some su'adhan in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to have a bad assumption of Allah in the process as well, and tell him, you know, Allah only forbade you from this tree because if you eat from it, you become angels and you live forever. Then I can put some shak on the shahwah. I can put some doubt on the desire as well. Now, subhanAllah, the irony of this is that Adam alayhis salaam is better than an angel at the end of the day, if he keeps his connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that the human beings are served by the angels in paradise for a hundred years, two hundred years, no, for eternity. Should they maintain their connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But again, let me take the shahwah, let me put some of that poison in it. You know, the only reason Allah told you not to eat from this tree, because if you ate from it, you'd become angels, or you'd live forever, eternity. Shaitan tries to poison it with doubt. That is the job of shaitan, is to try to make the waswas, to try to make the whispers as detrimental as possible. Now, here's the thing, your doubts are never organic. People don't like to hear that when they say, I have doubts about my faith, doubts crept in. You know, and we make the mistake of trying to treat an emotional doubt with an intellectual answer sometimes. And they don't need an intellectual answer right now. And then some people feel insulted when you say, look, maybe there's some trauma that led you to this. Because somehow trauma means that when you say that to someone, you might be diminishing their intellect. But the reality is, is that we've all been traumatized in some ways.
We've all been hurt in some ways. We've all gone through some sort of emotional turmoil, to where the shaitan can exploit vulnerabilities that we may not even know exist within us. Because sometimes we don't even know ourselves. You know, as I was saying the other night, the shayateen that run social media, they, you know, have algorithms that know you better than you know yourself. You got to study yourself better than social media studies you. Study your own algorithm. Study your own vulnerabilities. Because they will be exploited in ways that you don't even know, and vulnerabilities you don't even know exist. So, how did I arrive at this doubt? Where did it come from? Where did it come from? What happened in the last few years? You mean to tell me that the last few years have not led people to crisis of faith? You mean to tell me that someone dying in your family, or a career, you know, hang up, or something happening with your university pursuit, or your inability to get married to the person you want to get married to, you mean to tell me that did nothing to maybe spur this for you? Of course, we're human beings. We're not just intellectual beings, and it would be wrong to think of ourselves as such. There is a source to that. And shaitan wants to lead you to a particular conclusion. And it would be misguided to simply try to solve this at the surface level and not get back to what caused this in the first place. You know, subhanAllah, when you read about God image, Dr. Uthman Omar J. Hafidahullah Ta'ali actually wrote a paper, Yaqeen, on God image. There is data, psychology to this, about how we interpret God in our lives, and how that's related to authority figures in our lives. And how that means certain names and attributes speak to us in a certain way, and certain doubts can interrupt us in a certain way. You try to go back to the source, right? But before we even get to the source, subhanAllah, the sahaba come to the Prophet ﷺ.
Say, Ya Rasulullah, we get these thoughts inside of us. And for us to be thrown off of a mountaintop, burned, hurt, like we would rather physically endure pain than to speak these thoughts. Sometimes thoughts come to us that are so blasphemous, that if we said them, we would rather be hurt than say them. We're guilty for even feeling this way. How did I even hear this? How did I even think this inside? And the Prophet ﷺ says, did you really find that inside of you? Did you really hear that inside of you? He said, yes, Ya Rasulullah. What the Prophet ﷺ says here, could either completely derail someone, and put them on a path to where the shaitan will have them forever, or it can empower them to where the shaitan becomes smaller than a mosquito. And of course, the Messenger ﷺ, the imam of huda, the imam of guidance, is going to give them what is best for them. He says, did you really find that inside of you? And they said, yes. The Prophet ﷺ said, ذاك صريح الإيمان. That is clear faith, clear iman. SubhanAllah, he flipped it to what they thought. They thought they were going to get a condemnation, right? The Prophet ﷺ said, how rewardable, what type of iman do you have then? Alhamdulillah. And the Prophet ﷺ praises Allah ﷻ, الَّذِي رَدَّ كَيْدَ الشَّيْطَانِ The one who reduced the plotting of shaitan to where all he has are waswasa. All he has are these whispers. That's all he's got on you. Now what is صريح الإيمان? What is clear faith? Is the Prophet ﷺ praising the words that they're hearing? No, the Prophet ﷺ is praising the fact that they don't like that they feel this way, and they want to squash it because they feel like it is interfering with their pursuit of Allah ﷻ.
They feel like it's getting in the way. I don't like that I have this thought sometimes. I don't like that this came up. ذاك صريح الإيمان Dear brothers and sisters, those of you, who when you hear a whisper, and you say عوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم and you still pray, and you still fast, and you still exert yourself, and you still say I'm a Muslim, never identify yourself by shak, never identify yourself by doubt. Shak and waswas are two different things. In English it will come as doubt. Never identify yourself by the doubt. Identify yourself as the one who is a Muslim, who submits themselves no matter what. Destination Jannah. And if the doubt creeps in, I'm going to reduce it to a whisper of Shaytan. Know that Allah ﷻ rewards you as a result of that. ذاك صريح الإيمان May Allah bless you. Take it as something, inshaAllah, that Allah will reward you for that Shaytan tried, and he failed. He tried, and he failed. And then how much more rewarded are you when you then take that, وليطمئن قلبي so that my heart is at ease, I shut as many doors as I can to where that whisper can't even come back. Shaytan, you failed here. You're going to have to try something else. That doubt did not work, because the doubt was meant to paralyze me, take me off the path. I'm actually going to instead use it to make me more knowledgeable in my deen, to build my foundations, and I'm going to increase my practice, because I didn't like the way that I felt just now. I didn't like that that doubt came in. ذاك صريح الإيمان That's faith. That's iman. You shouldn't be guilty. Allah ﷻ is not going to, you know, on the day of judgment say to you, that you had this waswasa, therefore it's in your book. No. ذاك صريح الإيمان
You didn't let shaytan win. Doubts, whispers are not exactly the same thing. Whispers are meant to cause doubts to settle, just like whispers are meant to cause difficulties to settle, just like whispers are meant to cause difficulties to make you stagnant, so you can't move anymore, so that you can't come close to Allah ﷻ. Shaytan uses different ingredients for you. But can you shut it off? Can you plug those holes and still maintain your pursuit of Allah ﷻ? Because you know, gates closing. I don't have time for your shoe shine. I don't have time for your chocolate. I don't have time for your Dead Sea salt. I'm going that way. I'm on the way over there. I don't care how appetizing this sounds. I don't care how good this sounds. You know, the Prophet ﷺ mentioned to us that on that straight path, you have all those doors and you have curtains on the side. And you got the Shaytan calling you, this way, this way, this way, this way, this way, this way. He doesn't care which door he gets you through. Come this way, come this way, come this way. Now I want to put it together, bid'n Allahi ta'ala. I know my time is running a bit short. The goal of this, bid'n Allahi ta'ala, dear brothers and sisters, I want you to connect the beginning of the Qur'an to the end of the Qur'an and see what that journey looks like. اهدنا الصراط المستقيم Guide us to the straight path. Shaytan says, لأقعدن لهم صراطك المستقيم I will sit right there and try to interrupt them on صراط المستقيم. At the end of the Qur'an, قل أعوذ برب الناس ملك الناس إله الناس SubhanAllah, all you're doing is you're seeking connection to Allah. Because the Prophet ﷺ said, لا تصب الشيطان Don't even curse the devil. Don't waste your time cursing the Shaytan. When you do that, he becomes bigger than your house. You give him too much importance. Stop inflating his importance. But instead say, بسم الله In the name of Allah. Because he disturbed you to take your attention away.
So if you focus all your attention on him, he's still achieving his purpose. Shaytan doesn't mind being a low life. You know when they say for a low life, all attention is good attention. That's the Shaytan. There's no such thing as bad press. That's Shaytan. I don't care. Focus on me. He wants to take you away from Allah. So he said, say بسم الله Make him smaller than a bug. Squash him. This is the journey of the Qur'an. Now, I want you subhanAllah to pay attention to two things now. There are two pathways that you can take with this. Number one, obviously you want to identify the sources of those whispers and plug them while you still maintain your connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And you curb your desires, discipline your desires. And you try to have perspective in your difficulties. Say إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا هِدَىٰ يِرَاجِعُونَ And keep your focus on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There are two ways that you can take with this. And sometimes the signs that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam gives us, and even the du'as he makes are amazing. SubhanAllah, one of my favorite du'as. And it's too long for you to memorize it here. So inshaAllah ta'ala you're going to go home and you're going to Google it. And you're going to memorize the whole du'a bi-idhnillahi ta'ala. It's the last du'a, Dr. Tahir Wyatt wrote the book Du'as for Hardship. If you look it up, it's the last du'a of that book. It's a hadith from Abdullah ibn Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhuma that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, when he would leave a majlis, a group of the companions, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would make this du'a for his companions. Imagine that. What's the du'a Rasulullah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is going to make for his sahaba when they're about to leave that majlis, when they're going to leave this gathering together. Allahumma aqsim lana min khashyatika ma ta'hulu bihi baynana wa bayna ma'asik.
Allahumma, Allahumma aqsim lana min khashyatika ma ta'hulu bihi baynana wa bayna ma'asik. O Allah, give us a portion of the awe of you that would serve as an effective barrier between us and your disobedience. When you talk about shahawat, when you talk about desires, what's the response? Allatheena yadunnoona anna hum mulaqoo rabbihim. Those who imagine, those who know that one day they're going to be standing in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That curbs the desire when it's about to get you, like, wait a minute, I'm going to stand in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Amma man khaafa maqama rabbihi wa nahal nafsa'anil hawa. They were about to follow that desire through and then they remembered standing in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and being asked about that desire doesn't make it so sweet anymore. Not interested. I don't want to have to explain this in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I'm going to cut this off. Because I already am aware of his sight upon me. The only thing that changes about the day of judgment is that the environment changes and he's asking me about it now too. I already know he's watching me right now. I'm already well conscious, well aware of his sight on me right now. So, no. Allah maqsim lana min khashyatika ma tahulubihi baynana wa bayna ma'asik. Oh Allah, Allah for us, enough of a portion of your fear, of your awe, of that awareness of you, that it will cut us off from disobeying you. It will stop us from the desires. Allah maqsim lana min khashyatika ma tahulubihi baynana wa bayna ma'asik. Wa min ta'atika ma tuballighu bihi jannatak. And the acts of worship that are necessary to get us to the destination of Jannah. So enough, all of you, that would stop us from disobeying you
when we're about to commit that sin. Wa min ta'atika and the good deeds, the obediences that are necessary, the steam, the energy, the desire, the motivation to keep going and to be guided to those deeds. Ma tuballighu bihi jannatak. That you allow us to reach with it your Jannah. Wa min al yaqini ma tuhawwinu bihi alayna masa'ibat dunya. This is such a powerful du'a. Wa min al yaqini ma tuhawwinu bihi alayna, or alayna bihi. Both of them are correct. From yaqin, from certainty that will lighten the pain of the difficulties of this world for us. Wa min al yaqini ma tuhawwinu bihi alayna masa'ibat dunya. From yaqin, enough certainty in you that those difficulties will not be as debilitating as they are for someone who doesn't believe in Allah in the hereafter. You know, subhanAllah, these last few years, dear brothers and sisters, some of you came much closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Alhamdulillah. Some of you might not have. This is your opportunity. The fact that you're still here is an opportunity to turn back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But I guarantee you, if you had yaqin, if you have certainty in Allah and the hereafter, subhanAllah, those difficulties are just put into perspective. They're not easy. They never become easy. But perspective. You know when you go to the graveyard and you're burying someone, and sometimes it's the parents, and there were a lot of those over the last few years, and you got two, three kids, sometimes you might see one kid is losing their mind, trying to throw themselves into the grave. And the other one is crying. Alhamdulillah. Inna lillahi wa nallihi raji'un. JazakAllah khair. Words of dhikr. The tears are coming down, because that's okay.
But they're only saying that which is pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's because they know the pain, the mercy that Allah put in their heart is causing them to cry. But the yaqin that Allah put in their heart is causing them to still have their faculties and their purpose while they're crying. Because while they're sad over their loss, they're focused on their gain. While they're sad over losing their loved one in this dunya, they know that there's a destination that can encompass us all, bi'idhnillahi ta'ala, should we stay focused on it. Wa minal yaqini ma tuhawwinu bihi alayna masa'ibat dunya. The rest of the dua is there. You have to look it up, inshaAllah ta'ala. Because if I start to go through it, I won't finish on time, inshaAllah ta'ala. But if you search the first three lines, you'll find it, bi'idhnillahi ta'ala. The last thing that I want to give you, dear brothers and sisters, is the scene. Again, an airplane example. I get on the flight, and I'm usually that guy that gets to the gate late, by the way. I don't wake up in airports. I usually get to the airport way too late for my flight, running, panting. I'm wearing my kufi usually, so when I sit on the plane, people are either terrified of me, or they're saying, oh, it's a good thing you made it, because I'm the last one on the plane. Sometimes I get upgraded too, because I fly a lot, alhamdulillah. So it's like, alright, here you are, right? But I'm going to give you the celebration, the scene of the celebration, and the scene of those who failed to stay on the straight path. May Allah make us amongst those who did not doubt, but who stayed the course. And allow us to crush those whispers. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, يوم ترى المؤمنين والمؤمنات يسعى نورهم بين أيديهم وبأيمانهم The day that you see the believers, may Allah make us amongst them, men and women, celebrating amongst themselves, the nur, the light is emanating from their bodies, ahead of them, all nur, running together, celebrating.
يسعى نورهم بين أيديهم وبأيمانهم بشراكم اليوم جنات تجري من تحتها الأنهار Congratulations. Your glad tidings is not just this light, it's where you're about to go. جنات تجري من تحتها الأنهار You're about to reach gardens of paradise, with rivers flowing beneath. خالدين فيها Forever. ذالك الفوز العظيم That's success. You got it. That's success. Forever. Gardens of paradise await. Just go a little bit forward. You're not in the airport anymore trying to get on the plane. The destination is there. Go forward, you're about to arrive. The jannat are ahead of you now. You've arrived at your destination, you've gotten off the plane, and you're walking towards where you need to go. The light is there, the guidance is there, the anticipation, the excitement. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says يوم يقول المنافقون والمنافقات للذين آمنوا And the hypocrites. They lived amongst the Muslims. They were there, and they were, you know, standing around people with light hoping that they'd be able to sneak in and get to the destination. But then, the believers with their light go ahead. And they realize that the light is getting more and more distant from them. يوم يقول المنافقون والمنافقات للذين آمنوا انظرونا نقتبس من نوركم Wait for us so we can benefit from your light.
Remember us? Remember me? I was your friend. We were together. Remember? قيل رجعوا وراءكم فالتمسوا نورا Say, go back to the dunya if you can and see if you can kindle your light. وضرب بينهم بسور له باب باطنه فيه الرحمة وظاهره من قبله العذاب And a barrier comes. Inside of it, mercy. Outside of it, punishment. People saying, wait up! Hold on! Hold on! The gate closed. And they start calling out, Muhammad! Aisha! Omar! Fatima! Hold on! Remember us? And they say, listen, we can't do anything for you anymore. You held back. You should have come forward. Why did you do this? باب باطنه فيه الرحمة وظاهره من قبله العذاب ينادونهم ألمناكم معكم They call out and they say, we were with you, remember? We were with you. And here is the answer of a negative journey of doubt. And I'm going to end with this, inshallah ta'ala. The negative journey of doubt. The Muslims and the believers on the inside that stayed the course and that listened and they still made it, they got on the flight, they made it before the gate closed, call back out to them. When they say, weren't we with you? قَالُوا بَلَا وَلَاكِنَّكُمْ فَتَنْتُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَتَرَبَّصْتُمْ وَارْتَبْتُمْ Yeah, you were with us, kind of. But you tested yourselves. فَتَنْتُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ You kept on putting yourselves to trial. The opposite of أَسْلَمْتُمْ The opposite of submitting yourselves. You kept putting yourself in fitna.
You kept throwing yourself in the same sin, in the same temptations, in the same pleasures over and over again. Like Allah told you that this was going to happen. You heard these ayat being recited and now you're a part of these ayat. Allah told you it was going to happen. فَتَنْتُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ What? Allah told you it was going to happen. فَتَنْتُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَتَرَبَّصْتُمْ And then you waited, waited it out. وَارْتَبْتُمْ And you had doubt. You waited it out and you had doubt. SubhanAllah, people who wait, they hesitate. They say, let me see how this is going to pan out. There are a lot of people in Mecca, dear brothers and sisters, who died and thought, we'll see if Muhammad ﷺ really is a prophet. Let's wait a few battles, let's see how this all pans out. And then we'll jump on the bandwagon only to die before they could do that. There are people like that, that didn't live to see the Fath. But that had the personality type that if the Fath would have happened, they probably would have accepted it at that point, but they waited back. Maybe, maybe not, maybe it's true, maybe it's not. وَارْتَبْتُمْ And you had doubt. SubhanAllah, you know when they say like, when someone says, you know, I'm not sure if this is all true. Maybe because inside you really don't want it to be all true. I'm not sure. And someone says, is it really true? Is it really true? Is this, this, this, that? Is this really there? Is this really there? And it's like, if I'm right and you're wrong, then I'm going to be okay. And if you're right and I'm wrong, then nothing is going to happen to me. But if you're wrong and I'm right, you're in trouble. What are you doing? And of course for us, we're not playing probability here. We have yaqeen in it, we have certainty in it. But it's like, subhanAllah, what are you doing? Someone says, I have a doubt about this. You know what I say? I say, brother, sister, you could have pulled out an article. You've had this doubt for five, six years. You didn't read about it. Now you're coming and you're saying, I have a doubt. Did you give the faith the time to plug the holes? Are you dedicating yourself to it, to where you can experience it properly?
I'm not sure. I'm not sure. No, no, no, no. Artaabatum. Wa gharratakumul amani. And then wishful thinking got you. He said, you know what? I'm going to be okay. Even if I go to hellfire, a few days. Yawman aw ba'da yawm. And what does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say? Wa gharratakum billahi algharoor. And the one who took you astray was the chief deluder. You shouldn't have listened to the shoe shiner, the chocolate seller, the person that tried to take you aside. You should have kept going. And he got you. He pulled you in. Now I have to end, so I'll just go to the end of this. One of the most powerful verses in the Qur'an. Isn't it time for those who believe to soften their hearts to the remembrance of Allah, but it doesn't stop there. To humble your hearts to the remembrance of Allah and the hudah, the truth that he gave you, the manual. Wa laa takoonoo kal lazeena ootoo al kitaaba min qabla. Fa taala alayhimul amadu fa qasat quloobuhum. Wa katheerum minhum fasiqoon. Don't be like those people of the book that came before you, where they got guidance, but then when guidance came to them, they didn't act on it. Fa taala alayhimul amadu. Then time passed. Qasat quloobuhum. Their hearts got hard. Didn't feel the same way again. The Qur'an that you were taught your whole life,
yeah, it's just ritual. Because you weren't acting upon it. So the experience of what you learned no longer is transformational. Fa qasat quloobuhum wa katheerum minhum fasiqoon. And then they ended up being disobedient, rebellious transgressors. Dear brothers and sisters, I don't want to end on a low note. I want to end on a high note. This verse was actually the reason for the tauba, for the repentance of many of the greatest scholars in the history of Islam. And it can be yours as well. Because it's not about what you hear, it's about what you do. It's not about the whispers on the inside, it's about the words that you say. It's not about the deeds that you're called to, it's about the deeds that you do and call to. It's not about some thoughts that paralyzed you, it's about the purpose that you dedicate your life to. And I want to say, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, you're all here. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not plan for you to be here, except that there's an opening of good for you. So everything that you hear today, say, amantu billah, I believe in Allah and I'm gonna do it insha'Allah ta'ala. Make the intention to do it. Because that sister Patty, I guarantee you, if 70,000 mouths of shaitan tell you don't donate, when someone tells you to donate for the sake of Allah, imagine how many thousands of shayateen tried to tell her today, don't come to this gathering. But she came. And she said, la ilaha illallah muhammadun rasulullah. May Allah give her and us thabat, firmness on this path.
Allahuma ameen. Jazakum Allah khaira wa salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh.
Welcome back!
Bookmark content
Download resources easily
Manage your donations
Track your spiritual growth
1 items
1 items
1 items
25 items
50 items
9 items
