16th
Jumada Althani 1429H
20th
June
2008AC
In the name of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful.
All thanks be to Allah. We give
gratitude to Him, we seek His help and guidance, and we ask for His
forgiveness.
Dear brothers and sisters, the real title of this talk is: "Let's have faith
for an hour". The Imam concentrated the talk on the following elements:
First: define your belief or faith.
Second: hardness or toughness of the hearts and the lack of fear from Allah.
Third: Where is it heading to?
Fourth: when shall you repent?
The first point: defining your faith:
Dear brother and sister, faith is words and deeds. Faith is the spoken words
by the tongue, and truthfully believed by the heart and acted upon by limbs
and organs.
The level of faith sometimes increases and sometimes decreases. It increases
with the deeds of obedience and it decreases with the acts of disobedience
and the slip ups.
Dear Muslims it is important to take care of the heart, and doing a faith
renewal for it and increasing its level from time to time. The companions
they used to do that. Ebn Rawaha (إبن
رواحة)
used to take Abi Dardaa's hand (أبي
الدرداء)
and says to him: Let us get faith for an hour. Hearts change and turn faster
than boiling water in a saucepan".
Renewal of faith is done by compensating the heart with the material needed
for strengthening belief in Allah. Some of the materials which does that is:
reciting of Koran, remembering Allah, the assembly or circles of learning
and remembrance, praying upon the messenger (PPBU), asking for forgiveness,
visiting graveyards, visiting the sick, the up keeping of prayers in
congregation, donating to the poor, needy and destitute, and donating in the
different paths of faith, building and maintaining of mosques, and the well
treatment of widowers, orphans and those who have not. For indeed, the heart
is the king of all organs in the body and the rest of organs are his
soldiers and subjects. The messenger (PPBU) said: {.. isn't there a small
part of the body if it becomes good the entire body becomes good, and if it
becomes corrupt the entire body goes bad. It is the heart.}
The second element is: Hardness or toughness of the hearts and the lack of
fear from Allah
Allah says: {is
it not about time for those who have faith that their hearts to revere and
devout to remembrance of Allah and the truth brought down, and not to be
like those who were brought the book in the past, and the time lengthened on
till their heart became hard and cruel. And many of them are dissolute}
Al-Hadeed 57:16.
Dear brothers, lack of fear of Allah is a consequence of the hardening,
darkness of the heart. We amongst us are those who hear to words of Allah
and their eyes never become wet with tears, and their hearts are never
moved, and their senses never soften, and their skin never tremble or
quiver. Allah says: {if
we bring down this Koran upon a mountain you would see it humbling and
cracking from fear of Allah. And those examples we give to people so they
may think and speculate}.
Yes, mountains and rocks crack on hearing the words of Allah. If Koran has
no affects on the hearts them that is a sign that such hearts are locked by
locks whose keys are lost, and has become hardened. The level of your
respect to Allah and your fear of Allah depend upon your love to Allah and
your knowledge of Allah, and the level of your faith in Allah, and your love
to Him. There is a simple rule which help us define the type of heart each
of us unknowingly have, a sensitive heart or a hardened heart. Allah says: {Of
His slaves, those who fear Him are the ones with knowledge (or the
scholars.) Allah is the Almighty and all forgiving}
Fa-tir 35:28. your fear of Allah and respect to Him depends on the level of
your knowledge of Him. This who knows Allah even if he commits a major sin
in a moment of human weakness will soon repent to Allah, and breaks in shame
and regret in front of Allah; and admitting his weakness, in ability and the
need for Allah.
Third: Where is it heading to?
Where is it ending to? The question each of us needs to ask him or her self
day and night.
You who disobeyed Allah with adultery, ask yourself: where is it going to?
You who disobeyed Allah with eating usury (or interest), ask yourself: where
is it going to?
You who disobeyed Allah with eating Haram, ask yourself: where is it going
to?
You who disobeyed Allah by transgressing against people, ask yourself: where
is it going to?
What will you answer your Lord when you shall stand in front of Him. Where
is great job you had, where is the honor you had, and the authority, where
is all your money and your power? Allah says: {This
who does a tiny small bit of good deed will see it, and who does a tiny
small bit of bad deed will see it}.
Ask your self today: are you of those who did the obedience and are awaiting
paradise? Or are you with those who wronged themselves with disobediences,
and still wish and hope for paradise. How disrespectful for those greedy
people who wish for paradise despite not doing the work needed or abiding by
Allah's rules. Dear Muslims, avoid and fear that fire, for it is mighty hot,
and it is a bottomless pit. In it food is fire, and the drink is fire, its
clothes are made of fire. Its food comes from a tree that grows at the root
of hell called Zaquoom (زقوم).
When the people of hellfire scream for help, they are helped with boiling
water that destroys their intestines. When they shout; they ask to be
destroyed to rid of the continuous torment.
Allah says: {The
people of the fire call upon the people of paradise to give them some water
or what Allah have bestowed upon them. They answer them: Allah has
prohibited that to the disbelievers who took religion fun, and play, and
that the worldly life deceived them. Today we forget them just as they
forgot today's meeting, and because of their denial to our signs}
Al-A3raf 7:55-51.
When they give up from calling everyone, they call upon Allah: {They
say: our Lord, we were overwhelmed with our badness and misery, we took the
wrong path, Our Lord get us out of this Hellfire, and if we return then we
would be transgressors. He says: Be shamed in it, and do not call upon me.}
Al-Mo-Minoon 23:106-108.
Prophet Musa Asked God: what is the lowest status in Heaven? Allah answered
him: A man comes in after all the people of paradise have entered into
paradise. He is told to go in. He says to God: where to, when all people are
gone in and took all there is in paradise? Then he is asked would you be
satisfied to have as much as the richest king in the worldly life had? The
man says: I would be satisfied. God says: then that is yours, and as much as
that more, and as much as that more, .. and on and on. After saying five
times as much, the man says: "God I am satisfied". Allah says: then ten
times as much as all that. Plus all your soul would like, and what would
satisfy your eyes. Musa says: Lord, if this is what the lowest level person
in paradise would get, how about the highest level person in paradise? They
would get what no eye has seen, and no ear has heard of, and never occurred
to the heart of a human being.
Dear Muslims, the greatest blessing and prize in paradise is actually seeing
the face of Allah. The messenger (PPBU) said {When the all the people of
paradise are settled, Allah says: you, people of paradise, They answer: We
answer your call, provider of all happiness and goodness. He asks: Are you
satisfied? They say: you gave us what you did not give any of your
creations. Why wouldn't we be happy? He says: Shall I give you better than
that? They say: what could ever be better than all this? He says: I give you
my satisfaction, so I never will be angry or annoyed with you (and in
another narration) then the barrier or cover is removed. And they are never
given anything more loved to them than seeing and looking at Allah. Allah
says in the Koran: {and
for those who did perfectly; we shall give them the perfection, and more}
and more here refers to seeing the face of Allah.
The last question is: when shall you repent?
When shall we return to Allah? Is it not time for our hearts to to fear
Allah, and submit to Him. For death comes so sudden. Do not keep saying "I
will, I will repent in the future". Let us promise Allah right now to stop
at His limits, and watch Him and keep Him in mind in what we announce and we
keep to ourselves. In our public and our private maters. Let us attend
courses and circles of knowledge. And the learning and studying of the
Koran. Let us make and assign time and money for that. Knowledge renews
faith (Iman) in the hearts. It helps you from disobeying Allah. Circles of
knowledge and learning is your path to paradise, and the path that leads you
away from Hell fire.
Let us return to Allah and repent to Him now; a true and sincere repentance.
Let us promise Allah from now on to return to Him, renew our repentance, and
let us be certain that He will be happy with our repentance, yet He does not
benefit from someone who repent to Him, nor is harmed by someone who disobey
Him. But it is Him who says in His book: {Say,
my slaves who have overwhelmed themselves with disobedience, do not give up
on the mercy of Allah, for Allah forgives all sins. He is the most forgiving
and most merciful}.
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