Our relationship with Allahﷻ

Auto-generated transcript: My brothers and sisters, our life in this world is a set of relationships. From the minute we are born to the minute we die, our life is a set of relationships. These relationships are the basis on which we exist. These are the basis on which we get our sustenance, progress, happiness, sadness, and so on. And it's based on these relationships that eventually we are born and when we die, we are buried. Everything someone relates to has a relationship. Hypothetically speaking, if a child is born and abandoned by the mother or father, then the chances of survival for that child are practically zero. So right from the word go, there are relationships. Each relationship has its requirements and benefits. You fulfill the requirement, you get the benefit; you don't fulfill the requirement, you will not get the benefit. Think about this in all aspects. Take your vehicles, your car, your motorcycle, or whatever. We have a relationship with them. Even though they are inanimate things, we have a relationship. The relationship is that I own it, so I take care of it, so it carries me to wherever I need to go. The requirement is you need to take care of it. The benefit is that thing will take care of you. It takes you to wherever. If you do not fulfill the requirement of taking care of the vehicle, then at some point the vehicle will not fulfill your requirement of taking you somewhere. It will break down or maybe you didn't fill gas, and it can't go anywhere even though it's there. Similarly, apply this to your relationships with parents, spouse, children, employees, neighbors, strangers, carpets, air conditioning units, chairs, clothes, everything. This carpet has a relationship with us, the air conditioning unit has a relationship with us, the chair you sit on has a relationship with you, clothes have a relationship with us, everything has a relationship, and every relationship has two aspects: one is what is required to maintain that relationship, and two, what is the benefit we get from the relationship. The first and foremost primordial relationship we have is with Allahﷻ. He is our creator, master, ruler; He created us, maintains us, feeds us, controls us, and we live by His order and one day we will return to Him. So what is that relationship? Think about that. Every relationship has a requirement to maintain it and there is a benefit. So think about the relationship with Allah in this way, in this aspect and say what is my relationship with Allah and what is the requirement of that relationship and what is the benefit of that relationship. Let us look at it from the perspective of the benefit angle first. What is the benefit of our connection with Allahﷻ? I think this is a very important thing to think about and consciously understand because most of us do not understand the benefit of our relationship with Allahﷻ. If someone asks you, "You are a Muslim, so what?" Is there some benefit? This is something that is not a matter of argument. Reflect on it and say the fact that I am a Muslim, what is the benefit of that? How does it distinguish me? Today we are living in a world where there is oppression on Muslims. There is pressure on us as Muslims. Alhamdulillah, Allahﷻ has kept us safe from that. But there is a general pressure. As a Muslim, if I board a flight or go into an airport, I have a different mental framework. Some people try to escape that by shaving their beards and pretending to be something other than Muslims. People know who you are no matter how much you shave your beard. We went to see a good friend of ours, Babi and me. He told us stories about people with beards being attacked in North India. So I said, I would rather die with my beard on than without my beard. What value does my identity add to me? My contention is it must add some value because otherwise why do we have this? Think about that. What makes you special as a Muslim? We know that Muslims were special. They went through centuries of being looked up to and emulated. In our country, all examples are clear before us. Find any old book which has pictures of the Maharajas. Look at every single one of them. Every single one of them has a beard and a turban. That was the aura and power of the Mughal Empire, which was the aura and power of the Muslim culture. Even though the empire itself was gone, the aura and power remained. The ones who are not Muslim used to dress like Muslims. Take the Coptic Christians in Egypt. See what they wear. There is a benefit in that relationship. There is a benefit in that identity. We need to ask ourselves today: what is the relationship with Allahﷻ? What is the value that adds to me? And therefore, what is the requirement of that relationship? How do I maintain that relationship and build that relationship? Without the identity, you are nobody. So, we ask Allahﷻ to help us realize who we are, our connection with Him, and keep us connected with Him. May Allah bless the noble Prophetﷺ and his family and the companions of the great and merciful Prophet.