How to keep yourself safe from challenges of society

--- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honor of the Prophets and Messengers. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and upon his family and companions, and he has accepted many, many. Let's read the next one. We have this challenge in this society, that challenge in this society, there is this temptation, this fitna, that fitna, and so on and so on and what shall I do? How can I keep myself safe from the different fitna, different tests, different temptations in this society? So I remind myself in you to keep yourself safe is very simple. It is not, not difficult. So first of all, stop, stop saying it is difficult. It is not difficult. Right? You hear this all the time, oh it is so tough, so difficult. No, it's not difficult. Who told you it is difficult? Very easy. It is very easy as long as I remember and remind myself that one day if I live in this place, Rockford, and I die here, then they will bring my body to this Masjid, and Sheikh Harah, abidullah, he will read my Janaza. Yes? If I am not here, if I am somewhere, some Masjid somewhere or some place, somebody will read my Salatul Janaza and I will be in my cover. And I will be alone before Allah. If I remember that, then there is no fitna which is so difficult that I cannot overcome, with fitna. I have to ask myself, see that's why Allah SWT mentioned something in Suratul Alaq at the end, one small ayah. Alam ya alam bi an la Allah ya ra. The Azbab and Nuzul of this ayah, this ayah came for Abu Jahl. Allah said does he not know that Allah is watching? Alam ya alam bi an la Allah ya ra. Does he not know that Allah is seeing? But we know the Kalamullah, Azbab and Nuzul, alhamdulillah, it comes for a reason there, but that applies to all of humanity till the end of time. So Alam ya alam bi an la Allah ya ra is not only for Abu Jahl, it's for me, it's for you, for everyone. I must remind myself, am I not aware that Allah is watching? So if I am doing something good, I am doing Tilawatul Quraar, am I aware Allah is watching? Yes, Allah is watching, alhamdulillah. But if I am committing some sin, may Allah protect us from committing sin, but if I am committing some sin, I am doing some gheeba, I am doing some namim, I am doing something, whatever it is. Alam ya alam bi an la Allah ya ra. Am I not aware that my Rabb is watching Jalla Jalaluh? Then how can I do gheeba about my brother? How can I play some politics and try to put this one down and that one up? How can I do that? When my Rabb is watching Jalla Jalaluh? This religion of ours, the Islam, this is not the name of a philosophy. This is not hadhi, laisa falsafa, laisa nazariya. It is the religion, the way, the way of Muhammad ﷺ. This is not a philosophy, it is not something that you know. And that is why this deen is about practice, amal. Like I gave you the example yesterday, I think, there is somebody who knows about Judo. He knows everything, how Judo started, who was the first, and so on and so on. And maybe he has a whole book of Judo which he memorized completely. Then he goes on the street, somebody holds him up, he gets into some fight and he is flat on the floor, gone. You say, Asif Khan, you know so much about Judo. That is the problem. He knows about Judo, he does not know Judo. He does not know how to fight, he knows about it. Same thing, if I know about Islam, but I never practice Islam, I never pray, but you ask me about Salah, I will give you a three-hour lecture on Salah. All the principles, all the rules, and the Sunnah, and the Fadha, and everything else, if you leave it, this happens, that Alhamdulillah, MashaAllah, you know all this about Salah. But the most important is, I am going this way. Where are you going? No, I have got some work, by shop. You know all this about Salah, but you don't pray. So what is going to happen? Is Allah going to say, when I stand before Maram Jallaloo and Allah says, see Salah, he says, no, it doesn't matter. For this guy, he wrote a book on Salah, so this is the beginning of the finish. No problem, you need not pray, no problem. Is it going to happen? Islam is not about something. Another one, example. What is this? In Arabic, how do you say it? Hathib. Hathib, right? This is a Haram. What? This is a Haram. What? What do you call this in English? Phone. Phone. And so on and so on, right? Different names. So if I say, I know the word Hathib. So very good, fantastic. Now please call Sheikh. There is a difference between knowing the name and knowing. We know the name Allah. We know the name Ar-Rahman. We know the name Ar-Rahim. But do you know Allah? Do you know Ar-Rahman? Do you know Ar-Rahim? What is the difference? The difference is, if I say child, therefore. And so, we have the word C-H-I-L-D. But if you say child, then you are saying child. C-H-I-L-D. But if you have a child, for example, if I say to Sheikh, Tiffah, Walad, in your mind, fi Zainuq, are you seeing Waw, Lam, Dal, or are you seeing the face of your child? He's not saying Waw, Lam, Dal. He's not saying C-H-I-L-D, no. He sees the face of his child. May Allah bless his child and make the Quran for him, inshallah. And everyone. And everyone, inshallah. Because there is a taluk. The moment you say, child is my child. You don't have to say, your child is my child. If I say father, I'm not saying F-A-D-A-G, no. If you tell me father, immediately, I remember my father, Rahm-ul-Dalani. I remember for the, my entire memory, maybe 40 years, Allah ha-alam, 2 o'clock in the night, I would hear the sound of the bucket in the bathroom. Those days, no hot and cold running water. This is the world before plastics. There were no plastics. The buckets were metal buckets. So you heard that the, the, the, the, the handle of the buckets, my father would put the bucket on the ground, or tang, and then the handle would drop, tang. And I'm sleeping, and I know he has woken up for the Hajj. He would make uduh, he would pray the Hajj, then he would sit and he would recite Quran. He would not wake us up. We are, children are sleeping, he won't say. He would recite Quran. Then time for Salat-ul-Fajr. Then he would come into the room, he would put on the light, he would pull out the blanket, and he would say, Salat-ul-Khair-un-Minan-nau. May Allah forgive me, we used to hate it. There is no, there is no exception. No, nothing to say, no, no, you know, I worked very hard, and my exam, no, you Salat-ul-Fajr, you have to pray. If you are alive, you will stand here before Allah. No exceptions, nothing. Even if you are sick, get up and pray to Allah. Ask Allah, so that He will follow. Shifa. Now, he died, I remember it. Every day I make dua for him in Sujood, and ask Allah, Ya Rabb, the effect knowing your Rabb. That is why the first question in the Qabr is a question of Ta'alluq. It is not a question of Ilm. They will not ask, Who is your Rabb? They will say, Man Rabbuka. Who is your Rabb? The Malaikah know who is Abu Al-Alamin, they don't have to ask you for it. They ask me, Man Rabbuka, who is your Rabb? Rabbi Allah. And this is not something that you can memorize now, when you go into the Qabr. No, no, this is, if my life is according to the will of Allah, if my life is according to Rabbi Allah, I will say Rabbi Allah. If my life is according to Rabbi something else, then I will not say Rabbi Allah. So I remind myself anew, and Sheikh said, I will give a short khatira, so it has to be short. So I remind myself anew, let us work on this Ta'alluq ma'a Allah. Our Rabb Jalla Jalaluhu, everything we have belongs to Him. We love Him, Ashadu hubba lillah, Walladhee na amanu, Ashadu hubba lillah. So let us make sure, Ta'alluq ma'a Allah. Reflect and focus on the blessings of Allah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah. Imagine we are sitting in this country here, in peace, in comfort, Alhamdulillah, safety, nobody bothering us. We have beautiful masajid, we have mashallah, beautiful shu'yukh, to teach us, we come and sit here, we learn from the best of the best, Alhamdulillah. We should thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Sure, there are difficulties in the world, there are different things happening in the world, we make dua for them, but Alhamdulillah, what Allah has given us, we should thank. Alhamdulillah, yaa Rabb, this is from you. Alhamdulillah. And then try to use this for the benefit, the benefit and help of where it is needed. Ta'alluq, four can focus on ta'alluq with Allah. And the way to make ta'alluq ma'a Allah is through obedience to Allah. The way of expressing the love for Allah is by ubudiyat. Right? People sometimes have this thing, they would sing beautiful nasheed. Right? And you will sing beautiful nasheed in praise of Rasulullah, Alhamdulillah, very nice. But you look in the life, you don't pray, you eat haram, you earn haram, you do halakhut, where is this nasheed? You sing a beautiful nasheed in the praise of Rasulullah, Alhamdulillah, ma'shallah, very nice. But in the life, there is not one sunnah, not one sunnah in the life. Then what is the point of this nasheed? Tell me. So, Alhamdulillah, nasheed is good, singing is no problem. But let us bring that ta'alluq with Allah and the ta'alluq with Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam into our lives. And like I said yesterday, the best example is salah. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said, akhim us-salah. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, sallu kamara ayatumuni usalli. So we pray, akhim us-salah, Alhamdulillah. Ya'alab, ana jahis, I'm ready. How to do that? The way of Muhammad Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. This principle, this format applies to everything in life. This is what we should remember. I pray like Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam prayed. I will do business like he did business.