Dua is Ibaadah

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Inna salatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sallam. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. My brothers and sisters, the fundamental belief of Islam is the Tawheed of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala jalla zillaluh. That there is no one worthy of worship except Allah. That there is no one who can help or harm. There is no one who can fulfill any of our needs or desires. There is no one who has any power or authority of any kind in any sphere of life. There is no one who can cure disease. Or alleviate suffering. Whether it's economic or health-wise. Or of any other kind. There is no one who has the power to decree that the converse of this has the power to decree that somebody should become sick. Somebody should have some difficulty. There is no one who can do any of these things. Illa Allah. Illa Allah. Except Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is the fundamental belief. And therefore, the fundamental belief also extends to the fact that when we have any need, we ask only Allah. Do not ask anyone other than Allah. We ask only Allah. And we ask only Allah without associating any partners with Him. And without going through this one or that one. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Himself commanded us and said Uda'uni astajib lakum. Allah said, ask Me and I will accept your ask. I will accept your dua and I will give you. Uda'uni astajib lakum. And Allah said the one who burns that and scorns that and does not ask, considers himself to be self sufficient and not in need of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said that He will put him fi Jahannam wa al-Dakhirin. And He will put him in the hellfire. And He will put him in the hellfire. You ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always to keep us among those who always ask Him and who keep asking Him. And when you ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, there are three kinds of duas, if I can say that. One are the duas of the Quran. Rabbana a'tina fi al-dunya hasanatan wa fi al-akhirati hasanatan wa ila azama na'ar. Wa Rabb, give us goodness in this life and give us goodness in the life of the Hereafter. And save us from the hellfire. Rabbana la tuzikqaluwana ba'dayzi hadaytina wahablana milladinkar rahma. Innaka anta al-wahaba. O Allah, do not allow our hearts to change after You have guided them. And many others. The distinction of the duas of the Quran is that they all begin with Rabbana. So all the Rabbana duas are from the Quran al-Karim. And then there are the duas of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And obviously nobody can make better duas than Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam himself. No one can make better duas than Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was connected to Allah more than him, more than he was. And so his duas are the most beautiful duas in the world. And his duas are so comprehensive, they cover every aspect of life. It's a very good thing to memorize some of those duas and to ask. And his duas all begin with Allahumma. Allahumma. Allahumma a'ini al-adhi. Allahumma a'ala adhikrika wa shukrika wa husni ibadatika. The dua that he taught to be recited after every Salam. Allahumma a'ini, oh Allah, help me. Ala adhikrika, in your remembrance, adhikrika wa shukrika. And to help me to become grateful to you. Wa husni ibadatika and to beautify my ibadat. So Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's duas are the beginning usually with, almost always with Allahumma. We know the famous story concerning Ramadan where, and Lailatul Qadr specifically where Aisha Siddiqua radiallahu anha, may Allah bless her and raise her darajat and fill her qabar with noor. Our mother and one of our greatest teachers, Aisha Siddiqua radiallahu anha asked Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, she said, Ya Rasulullah, if I were to get Lailatul Qadr, what must I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Which is the best dua to make? And he taught her the famous dua which we all know, alhamdulillah. Where she, where he said to her, ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and said, Allahumma inna ka'afu. Tuhibbul aafu fa aafu anni. Allah, you are the forgiver. You love to forgive. So forgive me. On a side note, I must caution myself and you that the best form of any dua is the, any dua of the Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the best form of that dua is exactly the way that he taught us to make. So don't, don't add to it. Don't try to improve it. Because there is no way that you can improve a dua of the Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So don't try to improve it. For example, this dua, Allahumma inna ka'afu. Tuhibbul aafu fa aafu anni. This is what Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught Sayyidina Aisha sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Sayyidina Qadr al-A'am, alhamdulillah, and it came to us. Now, usually people add Kareem. Kareem. Allahumma inna ka'afu bun Kareem. Tuhibbul aafu. Now, there is nothing wrong or it's not a sin to do that. What I'm saying, it is completely unnecessary. Because you are trying to improve the dua of the Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Don't do that. So whatever dua he taught us, alhamdulillah, Allahumma inni asaluka la'af aaf wa la'afiyat fi d-deeni wa d-dunya wa la'akhirah. Allahumma inni asaluka la'afiya. Allah give us aafiyah in the deen, in the religion, and the dunya, this world, and the aakhirah. His uncle, al-Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib al-Anu, he asked him, he said, teach me a dua which is small, short, but which is all-encompassing. Which is the jami'ah dua. And he said, simply ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and say, Allahumma inni asaluka la'afiyah. Asaluka la'afiyah. Wallah, I ask you for aafiyah. Aafiyah is blessing, aafiyah is safety, aafiyah is goodness of every conceivable kind. In everything. So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allahumma inni asaluka la'afiyah. In everything in this deen, everything in the dunya, everything in the aakhirah. Because we don't know the consequences of what we ask. We ask for something, we don't understand that that thing is not, that everything is connected. You might ask for power, and you don't understand that power comes with accountability to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And you don't understand that power comes with accountability to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And when you have power, you have the ability to do good, but you also have the ability to do evil. And shaitan is with you, and shaitan will prompt you to do evil. You might ask for wealth, then you don't know what wealth comes with. And wealth a lot of time comes with anxiety, it comes with all kinds of associated evils. And we don't say, don't give us wealth, give us poverty. No. Because that comes with its own problems. That's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, وَعَسَٰٓا أَنْ تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ وَعَسَٰٓا أَنْ تُحِبُّوا شَيْئًا فَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَكُمْ فَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, it is possible that there is something which you dislike, there is benefit in it, and there is something you like, and there is harm in it. And Allah knows and you don't know. So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us aafiyah, with aafiyah. Of course there is no harm in asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for anything you like to ask, as long as you are not asking for something haram. You are not asking for cutting off of family relations, family relationships and so on. But ask with aafiyah. May Allah give us with aafiyah, because we don't know. We are asking something, may Allah give me success in my business. With aafiyah. With aafiyah. Because you might get so caught up. We have the hadith, famous story in the seerah, of the sahabi who came to Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and he used to live close to the masjid, he would pray all the five salat, and behind Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he would see him every day, many many times. And he had the benefit of his company and his masjid. So he was a shepherd. So he came to Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and he said, Ya Rasulullah, please make dua that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala should make me balti. Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, don't ask me to make such duas. Alhamdulillah Allah has given you whatever He has given you. Be content with that. He said, no, no, no, please ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make me balti. And he persisted. So Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam made dua and said, Allah give you balti. So now his flock started increasing. And he, after some time, he had so many animals, he couldn't stay near the masjid. He had to move away. So he moved away outside of Madinah. And he had this huge flock of animals. And he became completely involved with that. Obviously, he's got to take care of them. And then, you know, he has, now he has people to, other shepherds to help him and so on. So his attendance at the masjid was the first casualty that fell. And Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam didn't see him for a long time. He asked people, they said, Ya Rasulullah, he is busy with his, flocks are increasing, he's become a wealthy man. Then came the time for Zakat. And the collectors of Zakat from Masjid-e-Nabawi Sharif, they were sent out and they went. And when they went to this man and the Zakat collector gave him the calculation and said, this is what you have. And therefore, based on that, this is what you must give in Zakat. The man protested and he said, no, no, no, no, this is too much. I worked so hard. And that's how I have all this wealth. And now you want to take it away from me. And, you know, so he refused to give. And the Zakat collectors, they left him and said, okay. When they came, when they returned, they obviously reported this matter to Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. He didn't say anything. He kept quiet. Now, meanwhile,