# Loving the People Who Remember Allah | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep. 7

**Author:** Dr. Omar Suleiman
**Series:** Midnight Majlis
**Published:** 2026-03-16
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/zpG58Mw_yjA
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep7-loving-the-people-who-remember-allah
**Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia

## Description
“How can you neglect to remember the One Who never neglects to remember you?” Never discourage the dhikr of Allah for yourself or others, for that is a way of showing enmity to Allah and depriving yourself of the great reward of even just being present in the gatherings of remembrance. Dr. Omar...

## Chapters
- 0:00 Introduction
- 4:10 How to cure your heart of hardness
- 11:31 Heedlessness vs. forgetfulness
- 13:17 Remembering Allah vs. remembering people
- 18:22 Disliking dhikr is showing enmity to Allah
- 21:35 Loving the people of remembrance
- 25:37 Allah never neglects to remember you
- 31:00 When Allah and the angels sends salawat upon you
- 34:12 Gatherings of remembrance are gardens of Jannah
- 40:05 When the angels join your gathering
- 44:30 When you accidentally end up in the masjid
- 52:49 When Allah tells the angels He’s proud of you
- 55:27 Praying and fasting with your heart
- 1:03:41 Q&A

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Maybe tomorrow in honoring the group, everybody should wear a Nigerian cap or West African cap insha'Allah. Do you own one? I own one. How come you never wore it? How come I see you for the first time doing it? I wore this on Eid two years ago.

**[0:15]** I'm just saying some brothers have noticed that you haven't worn a Nigerian hat before. Some brothers. Yeah, like you? Some brothers. No, actually I did. I did multiple times, but not as often. Maybe because actually it doesn't fit the shape of my head.

**[0:33]** That's a different thing. Yours is different, man. I don't know how to take that. Compliment, compliment. But the Afghan hat fits your head, right? Alhamdulillah. Fits your head, masha'Allah. Fits your beard too, sheikh. I was wearing one at Asr time as well, too. Masha'Allah, alhamdulillah.

**[0:48]** Sheikh, today you have to walk into suhoor and you have to say, I want chop. I want chop. That's slang in Nigeria. I want to eat. I want chop. Can you say it, sheikh? I want chop. I want chop.

**[1:03]** There you go. Now if you want to speak Hausa, you say, yaya kuke. No, that's too much for me. But tomorrow you'll wear the hat, right? I'll stay with the Bosnian, insha'Allah. Tawafi, huh? No. Ready? Bismillah.

**[1:18]** Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Wa alaikumussalam warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Alhamdulillah, Rabbul Alameen, salallahu wasalam, wabarakatuh. Welcome you back on this beautiful 27th night of the month of Ramadan. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make it a blessed night, Rabbul Alameen. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to send His barakah and blessing upon us, Rabbul Alameen.

**[1:37]** We ask Allah to bring the presence of the angels as they surround us with their wings, Rabbul Alameen. And to fill our hearts and our lives with peace and tranquility, Rabbul Alameen. We continue the discussion with Sheikh Omar Suleiman from the Baila Islamic Center. The book, Imam Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya, Al-Wabil Al-Sayyib.

**[1:54]** Which means the downpour of blessings from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. For the one who raises the beautiful words. And the beautiful words mean here, the dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We've been discussing all these past few nights, the benefits of dhikr. And I hope that all these beautiful points that Ibn Qayyim has been mentioning,

**[2:16]** really strengthen your understanding of the value of dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So it's not just a lip service, jama'ah. It is a lifestyle. Being a dhakir, someone who is continuously remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it is indeed a lifestyle. It's more than just making words of dhikr.

**[2:33]** And the last thing Sheikh Omar discussed last time, if you remember, we talked about how people are two categories. Those righteous people are two categories. We talk about now the righteous ones. It goes, Some are pursuing the reward, and some pursuing the ranks and the status.

**[2:51]** Those who are pursuing the reward, they're focusing on the deeds that will increase their count of merits. Like for example, 27 times more than individual salah.

**[3:06]** Walking to the masjid, the steps that will bring you hasanat and take sayyiat away. And when it comes to fasting, the reward for fasting. So we focus on the reward. But the other group, the other category of righteous people, they look for the ranks and the status. And that's when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Qur'an,

**[3:22]** He mentioned, That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala raises amongst you, those who have faith and those who have the knowledge, He will raise them into ranks. This is what we're looking for. So we're looking for the ranks, and you need to focus your heart to be the true devotee,

**[3:41]** the one that does the dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So while people are pursuing the hasanat in numbers, you're actually going after the ranks in bulk, basically. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala raise our ranks in the dunya and in the akhirah.

**[3:56]** So this was our discussion last time. Tonight, insha'Allah, we're going to begin from point number 46. For those who are following, the Arabic text is on page 171, and the English version is actually on page 197.

**[4:12]** Number 46. He says, of the benefits of the dhikr,

**[4:30]** there is in the heart, there is a hardness, like it gets hard sometimes, that cannot be removed except with the remembrance of Allah. So let the servant treat his hardness of the heart with the remembrance of Allah.

**[4:53]** So al-Hasan al-Basri was asked by a man, he says, O Abu Sa'id, I complain to you about the hardness of my heart. What should I do? He said to him, remove it with remembrance. Remove it with the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

**[5:09]** This is because the heart, as the heart increases in heedlessness, and the hardness also intensifies. So when a person remembers Allah, the hardness dissolves as copper melts in fire.

**[5:26]** Nothing dissolves the hardness of the heart better than the remembrance of Allah azza wa jal. Sheikh, when we talk about qaswat al-qalb, the hardness of the heart, there is also a narration of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Abu Hurayrah radhi Allahu ta'ala anhu says,

**[5:42]** A man complained to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam about the hardness of his heart, and he taught him to caress the head of an orphan. There is something about qaswat al-qalb that this is not just some expression, that there are actual practical ways to know the hardness of the heart.

**[5:57]** The ulama primarily mention three. The first one is that it doesn't receive guidance. It's not receptive to guidance anymore. So it hears guidance. Guidance does not penetrate it. The second one is that warnings don't scare it. Like, you know, it hears the warnings, the threats,

**[6:16]** and warnings not necessarily to them, but warnings about the, you know, collapse of the earth, and the imminent nature of the Day of Judgment, everything coming, al-wa'id. That doesn't wake it up. And the third one is that blessings don't awaken it.

**[6:31]** Shukr, gratitude. So you'll notice that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's advice falls within this, and also this advice here. The remembrance of Allah softens the heart because it makes it receptive to guidance. It also makes it primed to hear those warnings. Again, not warnings about that person's sinfulness per se,

**[6:48]** but just in general, the severity of the affair. And the third one is awakening gratitude, right? Like, the blessings of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala immediately soften the heart, and they enter the heart. And so that person, by interacting with things that remind them of Allah's blessings upon them, or with text and words that remind them

**[7:05]** of Allah's message to them. Those are the two pathways that really keep the heart softened between the two narrations. The ayah that comes to my mind in regard to this matter, qala Allahu tabaraka wa ta'ala alam ya'ni lilladhina amanu an takhsha'a qulubuhum li dhikri Allah wa ma nazala min al-haqq

**[7:20]** wa la yakunu kalladhina ootu al-kitaba min qablu fa tala alayhimul amad fa qasat qulubuhum wa kathir minhum fasiqoon This ayah summarizes this concept completely. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, alam ya'ni lilladhina amanu Isn't it about time for those who have faith, for those who believed?

**[7:35]** So Ibn Abbas radhi Allahu anhu wa arada in commenting on the ayah, he goes, look, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is, I don't want to say scolding, but he is calling the believers because they're being slow in their response. The believers. He's not addressing the non-believers.

**[7:50]** No, he's addressing the believers themselves. They're not being, they're not being, they're not racing to come closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They're not racing enough. They're not coming fast enough. So Allah azza wa jal, he qala, inna Allaha yastabti'u ibadah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying,

**[8:05]** his servants are being very slow in their response. Very slow in their response. alam ya'ni lilladhina amanu an takhsha'a qulubuhum li dhikrillah Isn't it about time for the believers, for their hearts to humble themselves for Allah azza wa jal? He said their hearts.

**[8:20]** takhsha'a qulubuhum Not nufusuhum, not their minds. No, their hearts. Need to humble themselves for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. For what? Li dhikrillah. For the remembrance of Allah azza wa jal. Which what Ibn al-Qayyim, he's been talking about all these, you know, past nights,

**[8:35]** that when it comes to the real dhikr, is the dhikr of the heart. Not the dhikr of the lips. The dhikr, the constant dhikr of the heart. Which is why in this point he says, if there is no dhikr, the heart goes into ghaflah. Ghaflah, heedlessness, which is one of the gates that we talked about,

**[8:51]** where the shaytan can come through. So if the heart is not getting enough life from dhikr, it's going to get hard. It's going to get hard because there is ghaflah, there is heedlessness. And that's when the shaytan becomes, you know, easy, can find a way into the heart of the individual. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala continues the ayah saying,

**[9:07]** li dhikrillah. Shouldn't their hearts humble themselves for the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, wa ma nazala min al-haqq, and what was revealed from the truth, which means the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, which is the best of dhikr. The Qur'an is the best dhikr. Qala, wa la yakunu,

**[9:22]** kalladhina ootu al-kitaba min qablu. Don't be like those who received their books from before. Fa tala alayhimul amad. And then they took their time, just kind of like they thought there's enough time for them. And then what happened? Fa qasat qulubuhum. As a result of that,

**[9:37]** they became heedless, and their hearts became so hard. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned them, those are the ones who are disobedient, rebellious. So brothers and sisters, what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says over here, if you're not fast enough, returning back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,

**[9:53]** by attaching your heart to the dhikr of Allah azza wa jal, you're eventually going to become rebellious. Sheikh, it's actually, fa tala alayhimul amad even, is subhanAllah, like the time passed. Many of the ulama really elaborated on that in a very powerful way.

**[10:09]** That there's a time when you come into knowledge of something. You know a command. You know something that you should be doing, or something that you shouldn't be doing. The longer time passes without you acting upon it, the more the heart hardens in that spot. And then it becomes an attitude towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

**[10:25]** Then it becomes an attitude towards religion as a whole. And that's why you get terms like non-practicing Muslim. Who in the world coined the term non-practicing Muslim? How do you be a non-practicing Muslim? The word Muslim entails submission. How do you non-practice submission? Right?

**[10:40]** It doesn't work. And so... Like submit or doesn't submit, right? Yeah, submit and not submit at the same time. This is what Allah talks about Bani Isra'il and condemns the people of Musa alayhi as-salam in particular. He talks through... Like they got used to trying to find loopholes. They got used to abandoning acting upon the command.

**[10:56]** To where their hearts just became so hard that it was harder than rocks. Right? Their hearts became harder than rocks. There was no penetration of the water anymore to their hearts. The water just bounces off the rock and goes right off now. And also one of the signs that the ulama mentioned

**[11:11]** is that a person finds it easy then to mock Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Right? So there's a mockery. And like you think about like the society that we live in right now and like mocking God. Yeah. Right? Like in this day and age. The mockery...

**[11:26]** Making a mockery of God and how easy that is. Like it just... It just flows. Because their hearts are hard completely. Right. SubhanAllah to your point sheikh about you know that when the time passes and people they have the knowledge. And that's how Ibn Qayyim r.a defines ghaflah. There's a big difference between heedlessness and forgetfulness.

**[11:41]** So forgetfulness happens you know naturally. It's a normal thing. We are aware of something but at some point we're completely unaware of it. For whatever reason, whatever circumstances. And that's called nisyan. You forget. But if you remember, if someone reminds you you go back again to it.

**[11:56]** Because you're not supposed to forget it. Ghafla on the other hand and heedlessness he says rahimahullah ta'ala is that deliberate forgetfulness. Right. Like you know but you choose not to remember it. Meaning you know but you choose not to pay attention to it.

**[12:11]** So you go against what you know and what you're conscious of. Right. That is ghafla. Like you know the need to pray. You know time for salah entered. But you're still playing. You're still doing whatever matters of dunya. Or resting or scrolling on your phone.

**[12:26]** Whatever that is. You do all these things. Even though you know the salah came in. That is ghafla now. That's not nisyan anymore. But salah nisyan is if you didn't hear the adhan. And you didn't pay attention until later. Oh my God. Dhuhr is already in. Now that is nisyan. That's not ghafla.

**[12:41]** So the ghafla that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is warning us against over here is that we know that we need to return back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We know that our dhikr needs to be in the heart, not just on the lips. We know all these things. But we're not making enough effort. We're not making enough effort to enforce that on ourselves,

**[12:58]** in our heart, to stay awake. And as a result of that, your heart becomes so hard. And the only way you melt that copper, as he said over in this example here, is with dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But what kind of dhikr, jama'ah? The dhikr of the heart.

**[13:13]** Remember this more than anything else. That's point number 46. Number 47, he says, He says, remember that when it comes to dhikr, remembrance is the cure of the heart and its medicine.

**[13:30]** Just like knowing that heedlessness is the sickness of the heart. So what is he trying to say over here? These hearts are sick.

**[13:45]** And the only medication, the only remedy for that sickness is found in the dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. One of the salaf says,

**[14:00]** remembrance of Allah is the cure and remembering the people is the sickness. In this statement, by the way, there's also an athar to Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu of the same effect. Talking about Allah is medicine. Talking about people is disease. Think about how you feel after you talk about somebody.

**[14:19]** How your heart feels. You feel nasty. Like the heart gets nasty. When you're in a gathering where someone was mentioned in a negative way. Talking about people constantly. I remember Shaykh Ibn al-Jawzi rahim Allah mentions in,

**[14:35]** subhanAllah, I forgot which book it is. It's a very famous book. He talks about a narration of Luqman al-Hakim. It's an athar. That Dawood alayhi as-salam met Luqman al-Hakim alayhi as-salam. I'll just take the wisdom from it. It's not thabit. We don't have the exact chain for it. But he says that Dawood alayhi as-salam saw Luqman al-Hakim

**[14:51]** in a gathering and they were contemporaries or something like that. And Luqman was silent the entire time. And he was shocked by Luqman al-Hakim's silence. So he went to Luqman afterwards and he told him, I noticed that you didn't speak much in the gathering. He said is there any point of speaking unless it's about Allah

**[15:09]** and is there any point in silence unless you're thinking about Allah. So both your speaking and your silence should be intentional. And of course Luqman al-Hakim was the scholar, the sage of the tongue. His master told him once to bring me the best part of the sheep.

**[15:25]** So he brought him the tongue. Then the next day he said bring me the worst part of the sheep. He brought him the tongue again. And he said what is that all about? He said if this tongue is used in remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it's the best part of the body. Whereas if it's used in the slandering of people

**[15:42]** and in ways that are displeasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it's the worst part of the body. So the tongue is the best or the worst part of you. But think of how your heart feels when you leave a gathering like this and how your heart feels when you leave a gathering. Everybody was laughing, but you were talking about people the whole time. And how dirty you feel on the inside

**[15:58]** and what that cleanse actually has to look like. So talking about Allah is medicine. Talking about people is a disease. Remember that for your... We live in the culture of the celebrity culture. Like people they always go online to follow these influencers

**[16:13]** and famous people. And some of these people are famous for absolutely nothing important really. Nothing, nothing important. They're just famous for whatever thing they do or even some remarks or some even facial expressions and so on. And people, they talk about these people day and night.

**[16:30]** But at the end of the day, just like I said, their heart is empty. It doesn't fulfill anything. But remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala even in silence is very fulfilling for the light to work out. We mention the name of Allah azza wa jal and even saying la ilaha illallah can be pronounced without even moving your lips.

**[16:45]** Do you know that? When you say, when you close your lips and try to say Allah or say la ilaha illallah, you will be able to pronounce la ilaha illallah without moving your lips. So even when you're sitting down in a big gathering, you can still make dhikr and no one will be noticing that.

**[17:01]** This is how sincere dhikr can be and that's how it brings you close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Sheikh, one thing here though, like if everyone does an assessment on themselves, when someone else's name is brought up in a gathering, just ask yourself, how often do you say something nice about people versus something negative about them?

**[17:17]** Because you'll notice that speaking in defense, it's like actually, subhanAllah, the rewards, so for example, من رد عن عرض أخيه whoever speaks in defense of his brother, رد الله عن وجهه النار the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Allah distances his face from the fire. That sounds like a reward for dhikr.

**[17:33]** It sounds like some of the rewards for remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So to speak well of someone in a gathering, like get your tongue used to saying nice things about people. Mention their positive qualities and if you have nothing good to say about them, move on. مَن كَانَ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَاليَوْمِ الْآخِرِ فَلْيَقُلْ خَيْرًا أَوْ لِيَصْمُتْ

**[17:48]** I have nothing good to say, so just don't say anything. But a tongue that gets used to saying good things about people is a beautiful tongue. A tongue that remembers Allah and a tongue that Allah is pleased with and a tongue, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, that just keeps accumulating reward after reward after reward and your heart will feel good as well.

**[18:04]** So try always, when someone's name is brought up in a gathering, before it can even go to backbiting, say something positive about that person. Say, what an amazing brother. What an amazing sister. Right away. Right? You change the tune of that gathering. You change the way that people are spoken about in your presence, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala.

**[18:20]** Na'am. Point number 48, rahimahullah ta'ala, he says, قال إن الذكر أصل موالاة الله عز وجل ورأسها والغفلة أصل معاداته وأسها فإن العبد لا يزال يذكر ربه عز وجل حتى يحبه

**[18:36]** فيواليه ولا يزال يغفل عنه حتى يبغضه فيعاديه This is to the point that you mentioned earlier, Sheikh. In translation, he said, rahimahullah ta'ala, remembrance is the basis and the means of loyalty to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and its main part. However, heedlessness is the basis and the means of his enmity.

**[18:55]** The servant will continue to remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala until he loves him and gives him his loyalty or he will continue to neglect him until he hates him and becomes his enemy. He continues by saying down there, قال ما عادى عبد ربه بشيء أشد عليه

**[19:13]** من أن يكره ذكره أو من يذكره He says, A servant can never show more enmity to his Lord than disliking his remembrance or disliking the one who remembers him subhanahu wa ta'ala.

**[19:31]** So what he says over here, rahimahullah ta'ala, is what you just mentioned earlier, Sheikh. Because of the hardness of the heart and the heedlessness, the heart is empty. It doesn't have the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So anyone tries to remind you of Allah, you cringe. You know, I see that a lot. We see that a lot when people, they're living their dunya. They want to just be heedless.

**[19:50]** They want to enjoy their moment of some worldly pleasure. But then, when one of those righteous people, or they keep calling the righteous one, right? When they come into the gathering, they all start cringing. Why? Because, oh, here we go again. We're gonna talk about God now. We've seen that. You probably, you know

**[20:09]** some people like that. Every time you come in and everybody's just turning because the session is gonna now turn into, masha'Allah, halaqa. And it becomes, masha'Allah, a reminder, and so on. And they hate that. That's because their hearts, unfortunately, are empty and full with ghafla, rather than full with

**[20:26]** the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Sheikh, two things here that come to mind. Number one, you know, when someone thinks about becoming an enemy to Allah, may Allah protect us, you think of some major act of rebellion. But it's not a major act of rebellion. It's consistent neglect. Consistent neglect puts you in

**[20:43]** that category, right? Your Creator puts you here. He calls upon you. He sends blessings upon you. Consistent neglect puts you in that category. And so, it's not like I have to take on this major action of rebellion. Just like to become a wali of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, right? To become a friend of Allah is

**[21:01]** consistent remembrance, right? There's the famous long hadith, where Allah talks about how much he loves his wali, how much he loves his close friend. And what is it? He comes close to me through performing his obligations, and then, starts doing voluntary good deeds, too, until I love

**[21:18]** him. Until I love that person. Then, when I love that person, I become the sight with which he sees, the hearing with which he hears, the hand with which he strikes, and the foot with which he steps. Now, so that's the first thing. Consistent neglect, consistent remembrance is what puts you in the category of friend or

**[21:33]** enemy. The second thing is, loving the people of dhikr. Loving the people of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I love the righteous people, even though I'm not amongst them. So that maybe they'll intercede for me on the Day of Judgment, right?

**[21:52]** Imam ash-Shafi'i said, and I dislike the one who disobeys Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, even if we trade in similar inventory. I don't like being around those people. The narration of Abu ad-Darda, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu,

**[22:08]** Be a scholar, or be a student, or be a follower, or be a lover, but don't be the fifth, right? Love the righteous people. When the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, talked about one of the signs of iman, that you love someone only for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So, loving the righteous is a sign of the love of

**[22:25]** Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Hating them is a sign of wickedness and enmity of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And, you know, to Sheikh Yasser's point as well, like when someone is in the gathering, there's a two-way street here, right? So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when he sat with the companions, he talked about worldly things too, but in a decent and dignified and noble way. But at the same time, like

**[22:43]** if your gatherings, any like any serious discussion and any mention of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is like looked down upon, that's just not a good gathering to be in. That's not a good place to be in, where like it's not welcome to even have a discussion about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, talk about meaningful things in life. That's not a good gathering to be in.

**[22:59]** That reminds me of the ayah as well, qal Allahu tabaraka wa ta'ala wa idha dhukr Allahu wahdahu wa shma'azzat qulubu alladheena la yu'minuna bil akhirah, wa idha dhukr alladheena min doonihi idha hum yastabshiroon. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us about those, whenever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does mention before them, when Allah's name is mentioned before

**[23:15]** these people alone, Allah alone subhanahu wa ta'ala, ishma'azzat, they feel disgusted by this mention. Just like kind of like, again, it's cringy, you know, we don't want to have this kind of conversation. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, but when others are spoken about, when others are being mentioned, idha hum yastabshiroon,

**[23:32]** they all become, masha'Allah, they rejoice. They know they're very happy and excited. Now, this is even though it's spoken about as shirk, like when they speak about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala versus idols and so on, but even when the context of speaking about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for the purpose of dhikr versus speaking about

**[23:51]** other names and celebrities and so on, when you have the exact same excitement when you hear about all these human idols versus Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that ayah applies over here. When you start feeling disgusted just by the mention of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when you try to remind somebody about Allah azza wa jal,

**[24:08]** and they're just like, ah, I don't want to have this conversation right now. So may Allah protect us from this. And frankly, that kind of attitude can be an attitude that by some Muslims, like those who believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but again, because their heart is empty and has ghafla and heedlessness,

**[24:25]** it's because of that, it is shutting down from recognizing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or feeling excited about the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. One more point here, loving the people of Allah starts with the prophets of Allah, right? You love the prophets of Allah,

**[24:40]** you love Isa alayhi as-salam, you love Musa alayhi as-salam, you love Dawood alayhi as-salam, you love the prophets of Allah, you love Ibrahim alayhi as-salam, and then you love the family of the prophets of Allah, Ahl al-Bayt an-Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And you love the companions of the prophets of Allah, and you love the Ansar, right?

**[24:56]** The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, loving the people of Medina, loving the Ansar who hosted the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, it's from iman, it's from faith. So, I mean, like, I'm just being very clear here, like, when you think about the Sahaba, when you think about these stars, how much love do you have in your heart?

**[25:15]** And if you pay attention, when you love them, your relationship with Allah is better. The more you love them, the more you're going to find yourself loving the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and loving Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So, learn about them and love them as well. It's not just the living people of Allah, it's actually more so the people that have

**[25:30]** passed away, the people of Allah azza wa jal that have passed away. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gather us with the Sahaba, in Jannah, Rabb al-Alameen. Point number 49, he says, annahu ma istujlibat ni'ma Allahi azza wa jal, wa istudfi'at niqamuhu bimithl dhikr Allahi ta'ala.

**[25:46]** Fadhdhikru jalibun lil ni'am, dafi'un lil niqam. He says over here on point number 49, nothing brings about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's blessings and repels his wrath more than remembrance of Allah azza wa jal. Remembrance leads to blessings and is a shield against anger.

**[26:03]** Allah says, innAllaha yudafi'u an alladheena amanu. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, indeed, Allah defends those that believe. So here, rahimahullah ta'ala, he's mentioned that, look, one of the blessings of dhikr of Allah azza wa jal, it brings the blessings from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,

**[26:19]** and repels all the niqam, the wrath of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the trials, the calamities, and so on. So, obviously, if you would like to have, if you'd like your blessings to be increased, you need to increase your dhikr. And if you want to protect yourself, definitely, you have to protect yourself,

**[26:36]** of course, with the dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Qal, he said after that, faman kana akmalu imanan wa aktharu dhikran, kana daf'u Allahi ta'ala anhu wa difa'uhu a'adham, wa man naqasa dhikran bi dhikrin wa nisyanan bi nisyanan.

**[26:52]** He says, so as a result, the strength, the substance, of course, of the heart is iman. Iman is the substance of the heart. Your faith is a substance that the heart really needs. And the strength of that iman comes from remembering Allah azza wa jal.

**[27:07]** So, if you have a strong iman, that's an indication you have a strong dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And if you do more dhikr of Allah azza wa jal in your heart, your iman becomes stronger until it becomes even complete. Therefore, he says, if the dhikr becomes less,

**[27:23]** the iman becomes less, and the strength of the heart becomes less as well, too. And the more you add to it, you add strength to your heart and to your iman, inshallah, wa tabaraka wa ta'ala. So, the word that he mentioned beautifully, fadhikru jallibun lil-ni'am dafi'un lil-niqam. Dhikr, remembrance, brings a lot of blessings and shields against the wrath

**[27:42]** and the calamities. And he says, wa idh ta'adhdhana rabbukum la in shakartum la azeedannakum. Remember when your Lord announced that if you are grateful, I will increase you. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not say that I will increase you in a specific blessing. He said, I will increase you.

**[27:58]** I'll increase you in everything. And the first thing that the scholars mention that He'll increase you in is iman. He'll increase you in faith because you'll have a different lens. Remember, yesterday, we talked about the lens. If you see everything through the lens of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then everything is gathered for you. And so, Allah increases you in iman. He increases you in the barakah of those specific blessings,

**[28:16]** the blessing of those blessings. And He increases you in the blessings as well. And he has one of the beautiful statements of the Salaf here as well, like, what is worse than neglecting to remember the one who is never neglectful of remembering you? Like, the opposite of, remember me and I will remember you.

**[28:33]** So, how can you neglect to remember the one who never neglects remembering you? You know, Sheikh, in a human relationship, obviously, if the relationship is not reciprocal, it's hard for the person to continue with that energy for a long time. If you're always the one who's giving and always remember your spouse or loved one,

**[28:50]** your parent or your child even, and you do all the khairat to them, but you get nothing in return. Why is that? Because a lot of that, a lot of time, those who don't reciprocate that kindness and goodness because of what? They feel entitled to it. And us human beings, sometimes, we feel entitled to Allah

**[29:05]** subhanahu wa ta'ala's blessings. And if Allah will choose to test us, we get frustrated with that. Like, why me? Why not him? Why not her? And so on and so on. So, remember, you know, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He never ignores remembering you with His blessings.

**[29:21]** He always gives, subhanahu wa ta'ala. Even when you disobey Him, He's still taking care of you, subhanahu wa ta'ala. So, to the point that the Salaf, rahimahullah, they say, ما أقبح الغفلة عن ذكر من لا يغفل عن ذكرك.

**[29:37]** He says, subhanahu wa ta'ala, he says that, like, what is worse than neglecting to remember the one who is never neglectful of remembering you? Very powerful statement, subhanahu wa ta'ala. Rahimahullah wa ta'ala, he moved to point number 50. He says, anna al-dhikra yujibu salatu Allahi azza wa jal wa mala'ikatihi 'ala al-dhakir.

**[29:56]** He says, the benefit of remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is remembrance necessitates Allah sending blessings on the one who practices it and do so His angels. Like, what does that mean? If you remember Allah azza wa jal, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put upon

**[30:11]** Himself that He will remember you. And also, He will make the angels remembering you. How so? In the form of salawat. What's the meaning of salawat? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ ذِكْرًا كَثِيرًا وَسَبِّحُوهُ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلًا هُوَ الَّذِي يُصَلِّي عَلَيْكُمْ وَمَلَائِكَتُهُ لِيُخْرِجَكُمْ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ

**[30:31]** وَكَانَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَحِيمًا In translation, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says over here, O you who believe, remember Allah much, ذِكْرًا كَثِيرًا and glorify Him in the morning and in the evening. It is He who sends down blessings upon you,

**[30:47]** as do His angels, that He may bring you out from the depths of darkness into the light. He is most merciful to the believers, subhanahu wa ta'ala. Sheikh, I want to comment on the term that is mentioned in the Qur'an versus the translation. So the Arabic term in the Qur'an, Allah says,

**[31:02]** هُوَ الَّذِي يُصَلِّي عَلَيْكُمْ It is He, subhanahu wa ta'ala, who blesses you with salawat. Okay, and the angels as well too. So what does that mean? So the 'ulama, they say, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is sending salawat upon you, blessing you with salawat from Him subhanahu wa ta'ala,

**[31:20]** that means He is praising you. He is praising you, particularly in front of the angels. And you can imagine, you know, your Lord subhanahu wa ta'ala is acknowledging you and giving you a special mention in a gathering that is way better than our gatherings in the dunya.

**[31:37]** That's a great honor. And from the angels though, salawat from the angels means that they're making du'a for you. The angels making du'a for you. In the hadith, the Prophet said, mentioned when you finish your first salah and you sit down, making dhikr after salah, instead of scrolling on your phone,

**[31:55]** making dhikr, Allah will assign angels to come all around you and they will seek istighfar, they will say, Allahumma ighfir lahu, Allahumma irhamhu, Allah forgive her, Allah forgive him, Allah have mercy on him, until you get up from your spot or you lose your wudu. So Allah brings the angels to mention salawat upon you,

**[32:12]** meaning they make du'a for you while you're making dhikr. And anything, anyone that Allah loves, the angels love. Anyone that Allah hates, the angels hate. Anyone that Allah remembers, the angels remember. But that specific point, I don't want you to lose it. Any dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brings the angels to you

**[32:28]** to make du'a for you. Even when you go to sleep at night, Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, man bata 'ala tahira, whoever goes to sleep in purity, in a state of wudu, Allah assigns an angel to sit right at the head of that person to seek forgiveness. O Allah, forgive him because he went to sleep

**[32:43]** in a state of purity. So the angel will keep making du'a for you throughout the night. So the mention of the angels, and there's something very profound about this, like Allah is the one who is called upon, so Allah has no one to call upon Himself. So Allah making du'a for you doesn't make sense, right?

**[33:00]** But the angels call upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for you. So Allah's salah upon you is mention. The angels' salah upon you is supplication, is du'a back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for you. He says, rahimahullah, on this point, he says,

**[33:16]** fahadhihi al-salatu minhu tabaraka wa ta'ala, wa min mala'ikatihi innama hiya li dhakirillahi kathiran wahadhihi al-salatu minhu wa min mala'ikatihi yasbabu al-ikhraji lahum min al-dhulumati ila al-nur. See, so this mercy, this blessing is from him, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and his angels, are a means for them to emerge out of the darkness

**[33:33]** into the light. If they receive this mercy from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and his angels, they emerge from the darkness into the light, then what goodness has not reached them through it. And what evil has not been repelled from them. Like, look, if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gets you

**[33:48]** out of darkness into the light because of that dhikr, and so whatever misses you, it doesn't really matter. Shouldn't bother you because you have Allah's light, subhanahu wa ta'ala. And whatever gets, it's not gonna get you overexcited because you have what is better than that, and that's Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's dhikr in your heart as well, too.

**[34:04]** So see, basically, if you'd like your heart to be shining with light, then remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We can go to 51, sheikh. Now, 51, he says, rahimahullah, anna man sha'a an yaskuna riyad al-jannah fi al-dunya falyastawtin majalisa al-dhikr fa'innaha riyad al-jannah.

**[34:19]** Does anyone want to be in Jannah in this world, jama'ah? Anyone wants to be in Jannah in this world? I hope so. I hope so, right? We would like to be in Jannah in this world. Why do you think people, when they go to 'Umrah, when they go to 'Umrah, what do they do usually?

**[34:35]** They go and they book what? The Rawdah, the Rawdah appointment. Have you been to the Rawdah lately, jama'ah? How long does it take even to book that time and how long does it take you to get in there? You will probably sometimes be standing for hours, for hours, until you get your turn to get into

**[34:53]** Masjid an-Nabi, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, just to spend five minutes in a spot in Masjid an-Nabi, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that he said, this is like it's Rawdah min riyad al-jannah. This is a space from Jannah. Like when you sit there, as if you have been granted a space in Jannah.

**[35:09]** Can you imagine how great that is, jama'ah? Can you imagine how beautiful this is? The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, mentioned to us, alhamdulillah, that you can get that opportunity every day. But what is it exactly? So in translation, he says, rahimahullah ta'ala, whoever wishes to live in the gardens of Paradise,

**[35:26]** in this world, then let him frequent the gatherings of remembrance, for they are the gardens of Paradise. Where is he getting this from? Hadith al-Nabi, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Hadith Jabir ibn 'Abdullah, radiyallahu anhu wa radha, qal kharaja 'alayna rasulullah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, faqala, ya ayyuhan nas, irta'u,

**[35:43]** irta'u fi riyad al-jannah. Jabir ibn 'Abdullah, he says, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, one time, he came out to us and he said, O people, take as much benefit as you can from the garden of Paradise. So the sahaba, they were surprised. Qala, ya rasulallah, wa ma riyad al-jannah.

**[35:58]** They asked, O Messenger of Allah, what are the gardens of Paradise? Qala majalisu al-dhikr, the gatherings of remembrance. Thumma qal, ughdhu waruhu wadhkuru. He said, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, remember Allah, as much as you can, as when you come and you go, and whoever wishes to know his place with Allah,

**[36:15]** then let him know, let him look at Allah's place with himself. Very powerful statement over here. Fa man kana yuhibbu an ya'lama manzilatahum 'inda Allahi ta'ala, falyandhur kayfa manzilatu Allahi ta'ala 'indahu. You wanna know exactly, really, truly, what's your status with Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,

**[36:31]** then you need to know what is Allah's status in your life to begin with. A very powerful statement. Sheikh, there's a, Abu Hurayrah radiyallahu anhu wanted to test the companions one time, or test the tabi'in in the second generation. So I just want you to imagine this sentiment.

**[36:46]** Abu Hurayrah goes to the streets of Madinah, and he says, hurry up to the masjid, the inheritance of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, is being distributed. Like, you know when you hear free stuff, right? Like, Sheikh Yasser loves Yemeni cafes,

**[37:03]** that's why he always hates on them. What? So he loves them so much, he just can't stop talking about them, right? Yeah, right. So it's free Yemeni coffee outside. Are they paying you for this at this time right now? Free shahi outside, right? Anytime there's free stuff, we love it. Like, we cling to free stuff, right?

**[37:20]** Come to this store at this time, you're gonna get a free, like, you're not even thinking about the idea of like, okay, it's only $3 when it's not free, but you know what? Like, this idea of getting a free donut, awesome. Everybody, go crowd the store, get your free donut. Stand for hours. What's that? And they stand there for hours.

**[37:36]** Yeah, standing there for hours, but free this, free that, right? So Abu Hurayrah radiyallahu anhu said, the inheritance of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is being distributed. People just like immediately left what they were doing in the marketplace and they ran to the masjid of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and then they came back to Abu Hurayrah and they were upset.

**[37:51]** They're like, are you messing with us? Like, we got to the masjid, there was no distribution here. Nothing was being passed out. They thought like he was basically trying to like, gain some sort of market advantage. So send everybody to the masjid, then sell his own product, then make money off of everybody, right?

**[38:06]** So he said, what did you find when you went to the masjid? They said, we found a circle of hadith, a circle of fiqh, a circle of, you know, this and this and that. He said, that's the inheritance of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that the prophets, we the prophets, do not leave behind inheritance.

**[38:22]** Our inheritance is knowledge. That idea like the gardens of Jannah are there. And as Sheikh Yasir's point like about the Rawdah, like people go to Medina and you almost don't want to burst their bubble, that some of the ulama mentioned, I'm sorry, like this is a reality check here. Some of the ulama mentioned that the Prophet sallallahu

**[38:39]** alayhi wa sallam, the reason why he said between my house and my minbar is a rawdah from riyadh al-jannah, is because that's where the circles of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam used to be. So it's the circles. There's no doubt that there's something special about the rawdah and how it feels. But this right here is a rawdah from riyadh al-jannah.

**[38:54]** This right here is a rawdah from riyadh al-jannah, by the will of Allah. It's a garden from the gardens of paradise. And then that's when you start asking yourself, like how many times have I been missing out? Like you want to get courtside seats, front row to this, whatever it is. You go to a garden of paradise

**[39:10]** where Allah is being remembered. Farta'u fiha, and take your time. Get there early, sit, dwell in the presence of the angels while the angels make du'a for you. That's why I tell people like, I want to go study one day. I want to go do this and I want to go do that. Do you attend your local halaqah or not?

**[39:27]** Do you attend your local halaqah or not? That's what it comes down to. Like, don't tell me one day I'm going to go memorize the Qur'an and become a shaykh. Do you attend your local halaqah or not? Oh, but you know, just attend your local masjid halaqah and be consistent with it, and roam in the gardens of paradise as much as you can, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us among them, ya Rabb al-'alamin.

**[39:44]** Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah wa ta'ala, he mentioned point number 52. He said that the gatherings of dhikr are the gatherings of the angels. So he talks about the halaqat of dhikr are gardens from paradise, right? He says, now, keep in mind, these gatherings are where angels come together. They themselves, they come together at this place.

**[40:02]** So the gatherings of remembrance are also the gatherings of the angels. He says the angels only gather in this world in those gatherings where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is being remembered. That's it.

**[40:23]** Nothing else brings them together in this dunya except the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You want the presence of the angels to be in your house? Make dhikr in your house with your family. You want a dhikr, bring friends and start remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala together. So all of these bring the angels into your presence, into your household, into your family's life, inshallah, wa tabaraka wa ta'ala.

**[40:41]** And he mentioned, rahimahullah, a long hadith, hadith Abu Hurayrah radiyallahu anhu wa ardah. The beginning of it is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, He says, indeed Allah has some angels roaming the paths and roads of the earth seeking out the people of remembrance.

**[41:00]** Well, he didn't translate actually the beginning of the hadith. The beginning of the hadith says, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sends to earth angels that are different than the ones who write down your deeds. Like those are extra angels, basically.

**[41:19]** Not the ones assigned to write your deeds. Those extra angels. What is their job? So their job, what they do, they go into the paths of this earth, they look for the gatherings of remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. When they find people remembering Allah, the Most High subhanahu wa ta'ala, they call upon each other.

**[41:34]** Be quick, come, come. We found it. We found the gathering you're looking for. So they found the gathering and they sit down together.

**[41:50]** As Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam mentions, And they will come and they surround this gathering with their wings. And I hope Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has sent these angels to gather around us. And they will cover you with their wings and they will be on top of each other all the way until the heavens.

**[42:07]** All the way up to the heavens, subhanAllah, until they're up there. And that's when Allah asks them, what's happening there? And Allah knows the answer, obviously. But He wants to mention our presence to the angels. What are they doing?

**[42:25]** Ya Rabbi, they're glorifying You, they mention You. And they ask, what are you looking for? What are they asking about? They're asking for Jannah. Have they seen it? No. What if they've seen it? What else are they asking for? Protection from Jahannam. Have they seen it? No. What would they do if they saw it? They would be far away from it, subhanAllah.

**[42:40]** But all of this, a conversation between the Lord subhanahu wa ta'ala and the angels because of you gathering in a gathering like this. By the way, you know there's a, everyone always likes to talk about jinn. If we start talking about jinn right now, everybody will wake up. Let's talk about jinn.

**[42:56]** Two subjects, jinn and marriage, right? No. Two subjects that, mashallah, the community never gets sick of. You know? If you talk about marrying jinn, that's like gold. The ultimate clickbait is marrying the jinn. Have you done nikah like this before?

**[43:11]** No, I have not. Not in this hat or any other hat. Like, I've never done it before. You know, there's this almost like obsession that we have with jinn. And one of the things that the manifestations of the hadith that some of the ulama mention that Allah azza wa jal prescribed, rahmati ghalabat ghadabi or sabaqat ghadabi, my mercy overcomes my anger,

**[43:29]** is that Allah created way more angels than He did devils. Way more angels than He did devils. Just the idea that from here to Allah azza wa jal, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is saying the heavens are creaking. Like they're about to explode.

**[43:46]** Because there's not a handspan except that there's an angel that's remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala standing, bowing, or prostrating. Imagine, Allah created angels that just do sujud, their entire existence. Remember Allah in sujud. They just prostrate their entire existence. So Allah poured into this world angels who don't protect you, who don't write for you.

**[44:02]** They just look for these gatherings. That's it. And it's their oxygen. And then the fact that these wings go all the way through the heavens, it's unbelievable subhanAllah. But that's how much light Allah azza wa jal ingested into the air, put into the air for us to try to have that oxygen and that sakinah, that tranquility descend upon us.

**[44:18]** And also Shaykh, of course, at the end of the hadith, it's really important that a person, you know, the angels are like, yeah, but that guy, you know who you are, came because their dad brought them here. Came because their friend said, let's go to Valley Ranch Islamic Center at 1 a.m.

**[44:39]** And like, I really want to go to sleep. No, just come on with me. You know, came because of peer pressure. That person came because they wanted to see what Shaykh Yasir was going to wear today. That person came because that person came for this, came for that. Like, they really weren't looking for this. They just kind of got dragged along, all right?

**[44:57]** They were, they thought they were going out somewhere else tonight and they got pulled in or whatever it may be. Peer pressure. And the angels are like, yeah, Allah, that person wasn't really there for that. And Allah says, but that group of people, their jalis, the one who sits amongst them, la yashqa, will not be deprived. I'll even give my mercy to that person.

**[45:15]** Just because they were there. Which shows you, like, if you came here and like, you're like, I didn't really benefit that much or I don't know if my intention was that. Work on purifying your intention because you're seeking rank, not just reward. But Allah in His mercy surrounds the whole gathering and says, my mercy is written for all of them. May Allah make us amongst them.

**[45:33]** And that's one of the benefits of always being around righteous people, by the way. That by being around righteous people, good friends, then you'll be resurrected with them, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala. You know, Shaykh, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, towards the end of the hadith, when he says, Allah azza wa jal, when He had this conversation with the angels, and then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will tell the angels, fa ushhidukum anni qad ghafartu lahum.

**[45:50]** I make you witnesses that I have forgiven them all. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant forgiveness to all of us. Look, we talk about a gathering like this, ajma'in. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is talking to the angels about a gathering like this. And He speaks about each and every one of you in this gathering.

**[46:07]** In a manner such as His majesty subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then He says, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to the angels, I have forgiven them all. And that's when the angels, they say, my Lord, but we know one person there is not for that. He came for something different. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he's forgiven as well.

**[46:23]** And Ibn al-Qayyim, rahimahullah, he comments on that, Shaykh, he says, rahimahullah ta'ala, He says, rahimahullah ta'ala, over here, so this is from the blessings upon themselves, meaning the believers, upon themselves and upon those who sit with them.

**[46:50]** They will have a portion from the statement of Allah, He has made me blessed wherever I may be. Likewise, the believer is blessed wherever he may be. The evildoer is unfortunate wherever he may be. So remember, being in a gathering like this, you are giving yourself the opportunity to be forgiven,

**[47:08]** even if you believe I don't deserve it. Even if you believe I'm not worthy of it, don't let the shaytan deceive you with that. Gathering like this, you might say, well, I shouldn't be here. You know, all these people, mashallah, good people.

**[47:27]** I'm going to ruin it. I'm going to be just like the bad apple. I'm this beautiful gathering, this beautiful bunch. Don't let the shaytan deceive you with that statement. Just go look for them, even if you feel that you are the bad one, right? I want to be in good gathering. Hopefully, I can get the barakah of these people, inshallah, wa ta'ala.

**[47:43]** Can I comment on this ayah really quick? Like, who's the one saying, wa ja'alani mubarakan ayna ma kunt? Who said that? He made me blessed wherever I may be. 'Isa, peace be upon him, right? 'Isa said that. If you think about the personality of Jesus, peace be upon him, of 'Isa, right? What a blessing.

**[48:04]** Like, when you think of 'Isa, you think of miracles. You think of mercy. You think of a beautiful personality. Like, how much the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, praised him and said, ana awla al-nas fi al-dunya bi 'Isa. I'm the closest person in the world to 'Isa ibn Maryam. And Allah praises his miracles and things of that sort. But when 'Isa, peace be upon him, came into the gathering, the wicked doers,

**[48:19]** they hated him. They hated him. Why? Because he always called out their corruption. He always called out their corruption, right? So, 'Isa, peace be upon him, was very disagreeable to the corrupt of Bani Isra'il and to the Romans because, like, he always called them out on their corruption.

**[48:35]** So, they treated him like a curse. But he's mubarakan ayna ma kunt. He was blessed wherever he may be. Can you imagine 'Isa, peace be upon him, was being pushed? Like, how do we get rid of this guy? Muhammad, peace be upon him, who's more blessed than that? But they hated him, right?

**[48:50]** Like, we would love to be with him. We cry over our missing him, peace be upon him, having not had that opportunity. And in Mecca, what were they doing? Shooing him away from the gatherings, persecuting him, trying to get rid of him, trying to make sure his name will never be mentioned, peace be upon him. Why?

**[49:06]** Because he holds up a mirror to their corruption. He holds up a mirror to their corruption. So, why would someone hate the one who reminds them of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala? Because they remind them of their own sinfulness. They remind them of their corruption. I don't like people that make me uncomfortable. I seek people that make me comfortable, that validate me in my evil. That's the story of humankind, right?

**[49:24]** The story of mankind is seeking the validators and those that comfort. They don't like people that hold up a mirror. And the prophets brought mirrors when they reminded people of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. So, we take on the inheritance of the prophets when we hold on to this knowledge, and we take on the mission of the prophets when we seek to be mubarak wherever we may be.

**[49:39]** Subhanahu wa ta'ala, to the end of that paragraph that he mentioned, rahimahullah wa ta'ala. So, therefore, the gathering of good people, mashallah, and it brings goodness in you as well, too. Just like the gathering of those who are heedless, will also bring the worst out of you.

**[49:56]** So, that reminds me one time a story actually I had with a young imam I've known in Bosnia at the time when we were talking together. And he says one time he was sitting with his, and mashallah, he's a young imam, but you can say he wants to live the life of the people as well, too. And he's not much into the ibadah and ta'ah, just as a profession.

**[50:12]** So, one time we were talking, he says he was sitting with some people from the community. And then he said to one of them, hey, I haven't seen you in the masjid lately. Why don't you come to the masjid? He said this to him. And then he tells me, he said, when he said that, he said, oh, my God, he regretted it.

**[50:29]** He said, I regret it. He said, oh, man, why did I have to say that to him? I said, what's the problem with what you said? He goes, they're going to hate me right now. They're not going to like me anymore. And wallahi, I reflect on that so much. I said, but your job is to make sure that these people see the light, that they see the dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and so on.

**[50:49]** But that reminds me of this point over here, that when you gather with people of goodness, the best of you comes out. And when you gather with those people who are heedless, unfortunately, you start also leaning towards heedlessness. And you mentioning words of dhikr to them becomes odd and very strange, subhanAllah.

**[51:05]** And what Ibn al-Qayyim says about, like, you are attracted to what your inner state is. So, when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam saw, like, a rotting, you know, the rotting flesh of a goat, right?

**[51:21]** What's the word I'm looking for? It starts with a C. Carcass? Carcass, yeah. Yeah, he saw the rotting carcass of a goat, and he said, you know, and the flies and all, just think of the bugs that are flying to it, right? Like, that's the example of people that backbite.

**[51:36]** That's the example of those that do riba. That's the example. You're attracted to that stuff because that's who you are on the inside. You get attracted to garbage, types of flies that fly to garbage, right? So, when you find yourself starting to get pulled to the masjid, starting to get pulled to good friends, starting to get pulled to good gatherings, starting to get pulled to listening

**[51:51]** to beneficial things, that's a sign that your inner state is craving that now. That's good. So, he's saying, like, you're attracted to what your inner state actually is. So, change your inner state. And it's a duality, right? So, you change your external until your internal reflects that reality,

**[52:06]** and you elevate your internal until you seek of your external what reflects your aspirational reality. I remember the words of Ibn Taymiyyah, rahimahullah ta'ala, ba'd al-nas ka-al-dhubab la yaqa' illa 'ala al-jurh. Some people are just like flies.

**[52:23]** They only fall on the wound, which means they look at the pus, they look at the filth, and they fall down there, subhanAllah. That's the inner state of themselves also, attracted to these things. And may Allah protect you all, jama'ah. If you see yourself attracted to this kind of gathering, to this kind of, you know, people, this kind of attitude, it should be something to alert you

**[52:38]** about who you are, and what is the state of your heart, the state of your mind as well, too. So, may Allah protect you from this, ya Rabb al-'alamin. Point number 53, he says, rahimahullah, anna Allaha 'azza wa jal yubahi bi-al-dhakiri mala'ikatahu kama rawa Muslim fi sahihihi. So, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He will boast about His creation,

**[52:55]** about people in front of the angels. Like, Allah is proud of you in a way that says, imagine, subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is pleased to mention you in the gathering better than this gathering. And he mentioned, he said, fa-hadhihi al-mubaha'ah

**[53:12]** This, basically, the kind of al-mubaha'ah, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is boasting about you to the angels, He says, qala min al-rabb tabaraka wa ta'ala dalilun 'ala sharaf al-dhikr 'indahu wa mahabbatihi lahu. This is, so this boasting from the Lord is proof of the great honor and sharaf

**[53:27]** and esteem which is connected to the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and how it is valued, its value above all the other a'mal and good deeds. So that's a very important point over here to mention, inshallah, 'azza wa jal. Shaykh, in this mention, if you go back to the original point where he said that Allah

**[53:46]** loved the children of Adam too much to give them up to shaytan, like Iblis said, I got them from here and Allah loved them too much that He protected them. Remember when Allah azza wa jal created Adam alayhi al-salam, the angels said,

**[54:01]** Remember when Allah azza wa jal created Adam and Islam, the angels said, أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ Wait a minute, but these are people that are going to spread corruption and spill blood. قَالَ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ Allah said, I know that which you don't know. And Ibn Abbas radiAllahu anhu said that what that means is that from the

**[54:18]** descendants or from the descendants of Adam alayhi salam, yes, there are a lot of corrupt people, there are a lot of evil people, but there are people that Allah loves so much and they surpass the angels in rank. There's Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the prophets of Allah, the righteous ones that come out of the lineage of Adam alayhi salam.

**[54:36]** And Allah is proud of them. Allah loves them. And that idea of Allah saying not only are you forgiven and, you know, I'm not going to punish you, but I'm proud of you. يُبَاهِي بِهِمُ الْمَلَائِكَةَ That's an incredible feeling. I'm proud of this creature.

**[54:53]** And Allah is saying that to a creature that doesn't sin. Allah is saying that to angels that are sinless about humans that are inherently sinful. I'm proud of them. Look at these people. I'm proud of them because they're choosing Allah over other than Allah. The angels don't choose, humans choose.

**[55:11]** And so the beauty and the brilliance of the human being is when the human being chooses to remember Allah azza wa jal over all else. And the angel admires that and loves that because the angel never had that choice the way that the human being had that choice. So Sheikh, I want to move quickly to point 55 and 56.

**[55:28]** It's very important to mention before we go to the question, inshallah ta'ala. Point number 55, he says, أَنَّ جَمِيعَ الْأَعْمَالِ إِنَّمَا شُرِعَتْ إِقَامَةً لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى وَالْمَقْصُودُ بِهَا تَحْصِيلُ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى He says, know that all the deeds that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

**[55:46]** has prescribed to worship upon you, all the acts and deeds have been legislated for the purpose of establishing the remembrance of Allah azza wa jal and to achieve this remembrance is the aim. Which means when you fast, when you give charity, when you pray, when you do dhikr, when you do any kind of ibadah,

**[56:06]** if you are not focusing by heart on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you're not benefiting from that ibadah very well. That's why people keep saying, I've been praying all this time, I don't feel it. Yeah, because you're just praying with your limbs, not with your heart.

**[56:22]** Same thing, you fast and by the end of the day you feel exhausted. The only thing you got out of it is just being hungry and thirsty. But it did not increase you in any kind of, you know, spirituality because the heart doesn't have that dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So he says, everything, every good deed, the purpose of it,

**[56:39]** to remind you of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If it's not reminding you of Allah azza wa jal, then you're missing the point. And he brings the ayah as evidence for this, he said, وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ لِذِكْرِي and establish the regular salah li dhikri. The translation said, to remember me.

**[56:55]** The ulama of tafsir, they say actually, it has multiple meanings. One of them is to remember me, so you pray to remember me. Other tafsir, they say, it's actually the opposite. أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ لِذِكْرِي basically, you pray, your regular salah,

**[57:11]** so I would remember you. So I can remember. When you start making ibadah and dhikr of me, I will remember you. As Allah said, if you remember me, I remember you. So when you pray and remember me, I will in return remember you as well. But either way, Ibn Taymiyyah says actually, the meaning of the ayah is both.

**[57:31]** Right. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala remembered you first, so he made it easy for you to go and pray. So he could remember you. Subhanallah. It's a barakah from Allah that he guides your heart to remember him. So that's point 55.

**[57:46]** Can I share one thing from 55 really quick? No. Because Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah also says about the prayer. وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ The remembrance of Allah is greater. So Allah says about prayer, إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ تَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ Prayer causes you to abstain from evil and obscenities.

**[58:06]** But then, what he says is that, ذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ The remembrance of Allah is greater. He says prayer has two purposes. One of them is to prevent you from shameful deeds and wrongdoings. But the other one is the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that's greater.

**[58:21]** That's the greater goal. Because it's greater than restraint. We were talking about this idea that when you use your tongue for good, you kind of block out the space to use it for evil. But the greater goal is that your heart will remember Allah with your tongue. Likewise, when it comes to prayer, prayer naturally causes you to leave off certain evil deeds.

**[58:39]** But the greater goal is that you remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and you raise in rank as well with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Finally, Sheikh, point number 56, which is extremely, extremely important and valuable. If I may ask right now, who is the best of those who fast, Jama'ah? What do you guys think? The best of those who fast, who are they?

**[58:59]** Huh? Who doesn't speak ill, right? Who is the best of those who pray? Who is the best among those who give charity? Who is the best among those who do such ibadah? All of you over here, mashallah, may Allah bless you, Rabbul Alamin. Who is the best among you all over here right now?

**[59:16]** Now Allah knows, we don't. Allah knows, right? But who is the person in a gathering like this, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will count them to be among the best. So point number 56, he says, rahimahullah, أَنَّ أَفْضَلَ أَهْلِ كُلِّ عَمَلٍ أَكْثَرُهُمْ فِيهِ ذِكْرًا لِلَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ

**[59:32]** He said, the most excellent of those who perform any good deed are people who do it with a great amount of remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You'll find a thousand people in the masjid, they're all praying tahajjud.

**[59:47]** They're all praying taraweeh. But they're not the same. They're not the same at all. You'll find one person's heart is indeed in the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and that person will be the best among them all. Those who fast.

**[1:00:02]** Everybody fasts in Ramadan, mashallah, but not everybody is at that rank of being the best. So we talk about ranks right now, we're not talking about reward. So that person will be the best because they have the dhikr of Allah while fasting. And that's so every time when they think about their fasting,

**[1:00:18]** they all think about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They don't want to say anything bad, they don't want to do anything wrong, they don't want to cheat. They always think of doing it with ihsan, with excellence. They don't want to tarnish their fasting. That level of dhikr makes the person among the best in terms of ranks with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So that's the point he's making over here.

**[1:00:34]** I want to make it very clear that in order for you to increase your ranking, not reward, reward everybody's getting maybe equally for praying, for fasting, but among those who pray and fast, there are people who are also advancing in ranks,

**[1:00:50]** not just in reward. May Allah make us among the honorable. And he has a narration here, it's mursal, that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was asked who the best people who visit the masjid are, ahl al-masjid, and he said, alladhina yathkuruna Allah, those who remember Allah the most. And he was asked about ahl al-janazah, or those who attend the janazas,

**[1:01:09]** and he said those who remember Allah the most. And he was asked about al-mujahideen, he said those who remember Allah the most. And he was asked about the hujjaj, those who remember Allah the most, until he was asked, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, about the ibad as a whole, the worshipers as a whole. And he said those who remember Allah the most.

**[1:01:24]** The point is to give you just something here as well. In terms of your siyam, Imam al-Ghazali, rahimahullah, mentioned three levels of fasting, for example. So the first one is the fasting of the body, that you abstain from food and drink and intimacy. The second level is that you abstain from sinfulness,

**[1:01:42]** the eyes abstain from looking at what is displeasing to Allah, the ears abstain from listening to what's displeasing to Allah, the tongue abstains from speaking what is displeasing to Allah, and that's the fast of taqwa. That's the fast of restraint, and it's a good one. The third level is those who fast from worldly thoughts.

**[1:02:00]** They're thinking more about the hereafter now. So even their hearts and their minds are fasting, because they're really leaning into thoughts of the akhira, and Allah azza wa jal, what it all actually means. So the greatest salah is the one where Allah is thought about most. The greatest hajj is not the one who,

**[1:02:16]** like, everyone's doing seven rounds of tawaf. You don't get credit for doing an eighth one. Everyone's doing seven sa'i, you don't get credit for doing an eighth one. The greatest hajj is the one who remembered Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the most. The greatest umrah is the one who remembered Allah the most. So injecting the remembrance of Allah

**[1:02:32]** into every one of your ibadat, how often are you thinking of Allah and magnifying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is the most important. It reminds me, Sheikh, of a story with Umar ibn Abdulaziz, rahimahullah ta'ala, where Salih ibn al-Kaysan, he was asked by his father about Umar.

**[1:02:49]** So Abdulaziz ibn Marwan went to be the governor of Hilwan in Egypt, and he left Umar ibn Abdulaziz in Medina to study with the ulama, and he used to check up on him. And he asked Salih ibn al-Kaysan in hajj, he said, you know, how is my son?

**[1:03:07]** He said, I've never met a man who has a greater reverence for Allah in his heart than this young man. Allah is great in his heart. Like he has so much reverence for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in his heart.

**[1:03:23]** And that's the thing here. You inject that reverence into everything that you do, and there's a duality to it. The more you work on the external, the more the internal condition changes. The more the internal condition changes, the more that internal condition seeks a better external condition and character.

**[1:03:39]** Jazakallah khair. Jazakallah khair, shabarakallah fikum. We're gonna take a few questions, inshallah wa ta'ala here. Question number one. So my concern, I know seeking Islamic knowledge is important, but I spent many years of my life pursuing worldly education, like college and all the stuff and so on. So not much really on Islamic knowledge.

**[1:03:55]** Would that be considered ghaflah? Fadla Sheikh, I think you want to answer. I mean, subhanallah, look, at the end of the day, al-ghaflah is the absence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the heart in the pursuit of whatever good that we do. So you can transfer your pursuit of secular knowledge

**[1:04:14]** into good deeds with the good intention. And honestly, frankly, when we talk about secular knowledge, Islamically speaking, we don't believe in that anyway at the beginning. There's no such thing as secular knowledge in that sense, because knowledge is knowledge, right? So even when we study math or science

**[1:04:29]** or whatever that you study, with the good intention, it's an act of ibadah as well too. There's nothing wrong with pursuing that, inshallah, to a proper level, in the name of Allah. However, I don't want you to deceive yourself. Like, don't go too far in that field to the extent that in the process, you lost the purpose why you were doing that for.

**[1:04:46]** You thought you were doing it for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to make things better, to improve the ummah and this and that, and then eventually you realize after some time, you lost the track of your intention, and now you're going for the field just like everybody else. So that's where the tricky part of it is here. But overall, if you realign your intention

**[1:05:04]** to make, inshallah, a good deed out of it, I hope, inshallah, every hour and every breath that you spend on it is accounted as part of your dhikr, inshallah. It may be that Allah was preparing you for something. Like, you spent 30, 40, 50 years learning something, learning some sort of trade, becoming something in a particular field,

**[1:05:21]** and then your tawbah happened. And that could be part of it, right? Now, how do I take that previous life and all that accumulated experience or knowledge or wealth or talent or networking and use it for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? But there's a unique way to please Allah

**[1:05:36]** no matter where you've been and what you've done. So a question here, I'm sure many people probably feel the same way. If you don't feel the nearness with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the closeness of Allah azza wa jal, while, oh no, if you don't feel that nearness

**[1:05:53]** of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, will the extra fasting, salah, zakah, open our heart and make it easier for dhikr to enter our heart? Or is that something different? And is it by increasing the ibadah that suddenly you become, mashallah, dhakir Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Or is that something different,

**[1:06:09]** like a mind shift that needs to change? What exactly, how can we do this? There's an increase in quality and there's an increase in quantity, and they both go hand in hand. You know, Imam Ahmad rahimahullah ta'ala said, I saw my Lord in a dream and I asked him about reading the Qur'an

**[1:06:25]** with or without understanding, would Allah azza wa jal love a person who reads it even without understanding? He said, even without understanding. So, even when you read Qur'an, for example, and you're just reading it, and you don't know the meaning of the words, you're still getting the reward of reading it. But, on the other hand, you should study

**[1:06:41]** the meaning of it, insha'Allah ta'ala, and you'll get the reward for studying the meaning of the Qur'an as well. Likewise, when it comes to dhikr, when it comes to fasting, when it comes to prayer, when you study the meaning and you try to get the deep, qualitative understanding of what you do, that is an ibadah in and of itself.

**[1:06:57]** That's an act of worship in and of itself. But quantity, especially when it comes to dhikr, wadhkurullaha kathira, wadhkurullaha kathira la'allakum tuflihun, remember Allah frequently and often. So, usually, you know, this is a false dichotomy when we pitch quality versus quantity,

**[1:07:16]** when we pit them against each other. Usually it's a false dichotomy. If you're in a journey to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you're going to do a little bit of both, insha'Allah ta'ala. You're going to build meaning, intentional meaning, and you'll also build intentional quantity, insha'Allah ta'ala, with every one of these good deeds.

**[1:07:32]** Yeah. What can we do to help guide those in our family whose hearts have become hardened and who are among those who cringe at the mention of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Look, you know, we're talking about 'Ammar ibn Yasir, radiAllahu ta'ala anhuma, following his example.

**[1:07:51]** When the sahaba made hijrah from Mecca, they said 'Ammar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was the only one who migrated from Mecca whose both parents were Muslim, and his parents were the first shuhada of Islam, the first martyrs of Islam. The companions dealt with this,

**[1:08:07]** and having a family member, someone close to you, who cringes at the mention of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, I mean, they dealt with this in the most extreme of ways, and that's a test in and of itself. And Allah teaches you, especially when it comes to your parents, that you should still treat them with excellence,

**[1:08:24]** honor them, show them their rights, but at the same time, you have to, you know, you have to really, really take that pain that you feel and channel it into meaningful prayer, making du'a for them to be guided, and continuing to rise with your example.

**[1:08:41]** And the more goodness you show towards them consistently, the more at some point there's a likelihood that insha'Allah they'll be embarrassed, even if they still have those feelings towards Islam, have those feelings towards Allah, have those feelings towards the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, they'll be embarrassed to do that, because they don't want to hurt you

**[1:08:56]** because you keep showing them so much goodness. But it takes time, right? Continue to carry yourself with dignity and with honor, and make du'a for them. You know, the greatest example of that is Abu Hurayrah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. I mean, can you imagine Abu Hurayrah narrated

**[1:09:12]** over 3,000 hadith of the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, how much he loves the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? He loves the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He comes to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam so depressed. Why? Because my mom talks bad about you. My mom talks bad about you.

**[1:09:27]** What did the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam say? Go home and take care of her, right? Go kill her, right? Go curse her out? No. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, on the spot, made du'a for her. He prayed for her with Abu Hurayrah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, for her to be guided, right?

**[1:09:44]** Abu Hurayrah treats his mom so well, and he's making du'a. Abu Hurayrah comes home, and he can hear the water running. So as he's about to come in, she says, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. She was making ghusl. She came out, and she said, I'm ready to take shahadah. Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah,

**[1:09:59]** wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasulullah. And Abu Hurayrah brought his mom back to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to embrace Islam. Now, it's not always that easy, and you don't have the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to go to to make du'a for your relatives. But you make du'a for your loved ones. You make du'a for your relatives,

**[1:10:16]** and keep shining with your dignity and your character, and insha'Allah, eventually, they'll come around. Bi'idhnillah. I want to also add one more thing quickly here, is that our duty towards our family and loved ones is not really to convince them. That's not our duty. Our duty is to do our part, and our part is just to remind them.

**[1:10:34]** And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wadhakkir fa'inna adhdhikra tanfa'ul mu'mineen. You remind. For the reminder will benefit the believers. And we hope, we hope that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala decreed for them at some point that guidance will come, will come through. And how many people we know that subhanAllah, they went rebellious, on a path of rebellion

**[1:10:51]** for a very long time, and then, sometime later on in the future, they reflected back and they found words of wisdom they learned from their loved ones that brought them back again to their faith and their Islam. Like, I remember actually hearing it from a sister one time who said that she went far away

**[1:11:07]** from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But then at some point in life, she said, the only reason why I came back again, she said, because the way I was raised brought me back in. Like, I remember those things that my parents, they taught me when I was young.

**[1:11:22]** And those things from the early years of my life brought me back again to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So, your job is just to do the reminder and let Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guide the heart. May Allah guide the heart, ya Rabb al-'alamin. A very interesting question coming from a six-year-old

**[1:11:39]** from the Mommy and Me Room, masha'Allah, that was watching with us here and listening with us. She says, or he says, or a child, why should we do dhikr all the time? Why?

**[1:11:54]** Tough one, huh? Yeah, so they ask the toughest questions. Like, how do you even begin? The most basic, the most simple. Yeah, the most basic questions. Because it pleases Allah, it makes Allah love you more. And when Allah loves you more than all good things happen in your life. So, it makes Allah love you more. And also, I'm sure your parents

**[1:12:10]** will be very happy with you, too. No. And if your parents are happy with you, you'll probably get a better Eid gift, too, insha'Allah.  Another question coming from a 14-year-old son. He says, she says, he really admires the clothes you wear.

**[1:12:27]** Me or you? It's mashayikh, it's both of us. Mashayikh, oh, okay, alhamdulillah. May I ask if you purchase them locally or from overseas?  I got this from Abuja. Wallahu a'lam. You have to go to Nigeria if you want it. Masha'Allah, masha'Allah.

**[1:12:42]** Shaykh Yasir, masha'Allah, always just, people just give him stuff.  No, but sometimes I go buy them from conferences as well, too. When you go to the conferences, masha'Allah, they have a lot of actual stuff there, alhamdulillah. And very nice, for the light of Allah, so you can look them up there, insha'Allah,

**[1:12:59]** next conference. So, when I do dhikr during the day, while caring for my child, my heart doesn't feel the same peace I feel when I remember Allah alone at night. Is this normal?

**[1:13:15]** There's some, you know, Allah 'azza wa jal mentions, inna nashi'ata al-layli, hiya ashaddu wat'an wa aqwamu qeela. When Allah tells the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, to stand up and pray at night, he says the night is more befitting. You're less distracted, less duties, it's quieter. So, the dhikr at night is definitely more peaceful,

**[1:13:34]** more comforting, more tranquil, than the dhikr of the day, because you're less distracted. SubhanAllah, learning to wake up at night, is just such a blessing from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, in general, by the way, like, just the quiet of it all.

**[1:13:49]** You know, the world is still asleep, you have a chance to pray, you have a chance to do so many things that are of productivity, but remembering Allah 'azza wa jal in that quiet is absolutely beautiful. And I hope, insha'Allah ta'ala, you know, if there's one habit, people ask, like, what do I take from Ramadan?

**[1:14:05]** If there's one habit, it's waking up at night, insha'Allah ta'ala, waking up at night, even for a short while, and praying. Look, you were getting up for suhoor, you managed to get up and eat, get up and feed your soul, 15, 20 minutes before Fajr, insha'Allah ta'ala. Like, there's something very special about that, bi'idhnillah, nighttime.

**[1:14:21]** I wanna add to this answer, saying that, subhanAllah, as human beings, we tend to take these duties as tasks. And therefore, it becomes very, completely void from ibadah and worship. But no, I would recommend,

**[1:14:36]** and I would remind my dear sister, you know, when you take care of your child, this is your new ibadah as a mother. Before you got married, before you had a child, your ibadah is different, a different level. But now that you're married, and you have a child, your ibadah is a different level as well, too.

**[1:14:53]** Now, your duty for being a mom is more important than, you know, coming to the masjid by yourself to pray. Like, your reward for taking care of your new role in life as a mother is much more rewarding right now. And that's why, subhanAllah, it's easier, Allah, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,

**[1:15:08]** when he mentioned that it's more rewarding for the lady to pray at home, that's because it's not gonna be easy for you to continue to do that when you have kids, or when you get married. So therefore, alhamdulillah, your reward is secured. So the point, what I'm saying here is that, even when you take care of your child,

**[1:15:24]** I hope you keep in your mind that what you're doing is an act of ibadah. And if you think of it as an act of worship, an act of ibadah, I hope, inshallah wa ta'ala, it counts as part of dhikr as well. That's part of your dhikr. So hopefully, insha'Allah, you can feel, bi'idhnillahi 'azza wa jal, next time you play with your child,

**[1:15:40]** feed your child, or change your child, you realize you're not just doing a chore or a task that you feel completely not happy or excited about, or feel resentful towards, subhanAllah. No, now you feel excited because, masha'Allah, that's my ibadah, alhamdulillah,

**[1:15:56]** may Allah reward you for this, ya Rabb al-'alamin. Ameen. So people, they say that, subhanAllah, every Ramadan, we have different feelings, and if someone feels a bit emptiness in this month of Ramadan, how can they catch up before it's too late?

**[1:16:13]** Keep at it until the very last minute of Ramadan. Al-a'malu bil-khawateem, huh? Yeah, inna al-a'mala bil-khawateem. The Prophet, sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, said, actions are by their endings. You know, subhanAllah, some people will not get that click until the last hour of Ramadan.

**[1:16:29]** And by the way, I wanna recommend to you all from now, the last hour of Ramadan, the last few hours of Ramadan, just go to the masjid, sit, remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, bid farewell to Ramadan properly. Spend the last few hours of Ramadan

**[1:16:45]** remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, reading Qur'an, making your final du'as, insha'Allah ta'ala, with that last hour. So seek it until the very last moment, insha'Allah ta'ala, and at the end of the day, acceptance is not because of a feeling. Acceptance is because you honored the rite of Ramadan upon you.

**[1:17:01]** So insha'Allah ta'ala, the feeling will come. There could be other reasons why the feeling is not there. So long as you honor the rite of Ramadan, bi'idhnillahi ta'ala, the acceptance is there. Shaykh, is there any book of dhikr that you could recommend with translation?

**[1:17:16]** I know, I mean, if you're talking about like, daily adhkar, du'a, we have a few of them at Yaqeen Institute's website, if you go to the e-books, we have like du'as for hardship. I did du'as that I need. I also did a series on deeper dhikr.

**[1:17:33]** Obviously, the most famous classical one is the book of Imam al-Nawawi rahimahullah ta'ala, al-Adhkar. Right, this is a very beautiful compilation of the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala by Imam al-Nawawi rahimahullah. But I think the daily and, you know, morning and evening remembrances,

**[1:17:49]** Fortress of the Muslim. Fortress of the Muslim. I know there are many apps already available as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It has a book as well, alhamdulillah. Hisn al-Muslim, subhanAllah, there's so much tawfiq, like so much goodness that came from that short compilation. Fortress of the Muslim. So app, book, find it as a website.

**[1:18:06]** It's so comprehensive, but it's not overwhelming. So it's a beautiful contemporary work. Sheikh, JazakumAllahu khayran. JazakumAllahu khayran. It's been this beautiful night. In the name of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. We ask Allah to grant us the reward for it. Ameen. We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,

**[1:18:22]** to grant us the reward for the month of Ramadan. We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to help us seal the deeds of Ramadan with the best of amal, ya Rabb al-'alamin. And we ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to make the best of our Ramadan yet to come in the last few nights, ya Rabb al-'alamin. We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to accept our fasting, accept our salah,

**[1:18:39]** our adhkar, our du'a, our good deeds, ya Rabb al-'alamin. And the way we all gather in this place, we ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, that we gather together in Jannat al-Firdaws al-A'la with the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, wa al-salihin. Walhamdulillahi rabbil 'alamin. Wa sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Wassalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

## Other Episodes in "Midnight Majlis"
- [The Beauty of the Light of Allah | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep. 5](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep5-the-beauty-of-the-light-of-allah.md)
- [Leave Your Nafs Behind and Come to Allah | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep. 6](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep6-leave-your-nafs-behind-and-come-to-allah.md)
- [Freeing Yourself From Other Than Allah | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep. 4](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep4-freeing-yourself-from-other-than-allah.md)
- [Allah Will Love You For Your Dhikr | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep. 3](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep3-allah-will-love-you-for-your-dhikr.md)
- [Your Dhikr Makes You Beautiful | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep. 2](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep2-your-dhikr-makes-you-beautiful.md)
- [When Your Heart Makes Dhikr | Midnight Majlis S2 Ep1](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/midnight-majlis-s2-ep1-when-your-heart-makes-dhikr.md)
- [Getting Past A Grudge | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/getting-past-a-grudge-midnight-majlis.md)
- [Between Self-Admiration and Self-Hatred | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/between-self-admiration-and-self-hatred-midnight-majlis.md)
- [How to Become A Great Person | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/how-to-become-a-great-person-midnight-majlis.md)
- [How to Spot Fake Friends | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/how-to-spot-fake-friends-midnight-majlis.md)
- [Be Your Own Toughest Critic | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/be-your-own-toughest-critic-midnight-majlis.md)
- [When People Cause You Pain | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/when-people-cause-you-pain-midnight-majlis.md)
- [You Choose To Be Learned or Lost | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/you-choose-to-be-learned-or-lost-midnight-majlis.md)
- [Defeat Your Ego Before It Defeats You | Midnight Majlis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/defeat-your-ego-before-it-defeats-you-midnight-majlis.md)
- [How to Break Free from Anxiety | Midnight Majlis | Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Yaser Birjas](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/midnight-majlis/how-to-break-free-from-anxiety-midnight-majlis.md)