Our relationship with Allah – 4

Auto-generated transcript: As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Our relationship is based on two things. One is love for Allahﷻ, and the second is fear of displeasing the one we love the most. Allahﷻ defined us and honored us Muslims by saying, وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَشَدُّهُمْ بَلِّ اللَّهِ The people who have Iman, they love Allahﷻ more than anyone or anything else. So when Allahﷻ has honored us, it is incumbent upon us to fulfill that honor by loving Allahﷻ. The way we show our love for Allahﷻ is by obeying Him completely and totally without qualification. Not by picking and choosing. Because selective obedience is disobedience. Selective obedience is kufr. Selective obedience is to choose which of Allahﷻ's commands we will obey and which we will disobey, which is the height of arrogance and kufr. So we do not obey selectively; we obey completely. Allahﷻ said, يَا يُهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أُدْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطْوَةِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌ مُبِينٌ Allah said, oh you who believe, enter into Islam completely. Not partially, not as much as you feel like. It's not discretionary. You enter into Islam fully. When you say, لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدُ رَسُولُ اللَّهُ You have submitted yourself completely and totally to Allahﷻ on the way of Muhammadﷺ. You have not even submitted in our own way, no. On the way of the Rasul عليه السلام. And the finest example of that which I always quote is Salah. We pray the way Rasulullahﷺ prayed. Not our own way. If somebody is praying in a different way, then their salah is invalid. If your way of praying is different from the way of Rasulullahﷺ, then your prayer is not a prayer. It is invalid. It is faasid. We have to pray as Rasulullahﷺ prayed. Because this is his hukum. He said, سَلُّوا كَمَا رَأَيْتُمُونِي أُسَلِّي He said, pray as you have seen me pray. He didn't say pray any way you like. Pray in any way which appeals to you. Pray the way I pray. So the same principle applies to everything else in life. We submit to Allahﷻ in the way of Muhammad Rasulullahﷺ. So everything. I do business the way Nabiﷺ did business. I speak to people the way Nabiﷺ spoke to people. I eat, I drink, I do everything the way Rasulullahﷺ did it. This is the way. This is the meaning of entering into Islam fully and completely. Not partially. We don't say I follow Islam as far as Salah is concerned, as far as the Masjid is concerned, but once I am outside that door, then it is my life. I will do whatever I want. No, this is not Islam. Islam is to apply it in our lives in every aspect. So this position of the Muslim is, as we say, بَيْنَ الْخَوْفِ وَتَرْبُونَةً between the fear of Allah's punishment and the hope for His forgiveness and reward. We ask Allah for His forgiveness and His reward. This بَيْنَ الْخَوْفِ وَتَرْبُونَةً is the position of the Muslim. And Allah Himself mentioned this. He said, تَتَجَافَ جُنُوبُهُمْ عَنِ الْمَضَاجِرِ يَذْعُونَ رَبَّهُمْ خَوْفًا وَتَمَعًا بَيْنَ الْخَوْفِ وَتَمَعًا وَمِمَّا رَضَقَنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ فَلَا تَعْلَمُ نَفْسٌ مَا أُخْفِيَ لَهُمْ مِنْ خُرَّةِ عَيُونٍ جَزَىٰ أَن بِمَا كَانُوا يَمَلُونَ Allahﷻ Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said in Surah Sajdah that these are the people, Allah is praising those people. May Allah make us among them. Allah says these are the people who get up from their beds, get up from their sides in the time of Qiyamul Lail, before Salatul Fajr, who get up in the night from their side and they stand before Allahﷻ Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala بَيْنَ الْخَوْفِ وَتَعْمَى So they're standing before Allahﷻ Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, they're reciting Quran, they're praying, they're making dua and they fear the punishment of Allah and they hope for His reward. And they spend from what we have given them. So the action of also spending from what Allah has given us, whether it is wealth, whether it is health, whether it is energy, whether it is influence, whether it is strength, spending from the paths, spending what Allah has given, in His path. So they're spending from what Allah has given them. And then Allah said, if they knew what I have kept hidden for them as a reward, it would be the coolness of their eyes. So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala kept that hidden. He said, I have made a special reward for them. May Allah Ta'ala make us among those who will receive this reward from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Now we obey Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for four things. There are four things to remember when we obey Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. One, we know that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala loves us. This is a fact. This is something which there is no doubt about. Because, and the biggest evidence of that, if somebody wants evidence, the biggest evidence of that is Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam himself. The bi'asat of the Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the revelation of the Quran Al-Kareem on him. This is the biggest proof and the biggest evidence that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala loves us. Because if Allah did not love us, there was no need to send the Nabi, there was no need to send the Kitab. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala could have left us to do whatever we want, you know, destroy ourselves in this dunya and akhira. What does it matter to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala? But Allah did not do that. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala sent the Nabi, He sent His Kitab, so that we know what is right and what is wrong. Al-Furqan, the Quran is called what? It's called Al-Furqan. Nazal Al-Furqan ala abdihi liyakuna lil'alameena nazira. Yeah. Tabaraka alladhi nazala al-Furqana ala abdihi liyakuna lil'alameena nazira. In Surah Al-Furqan, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said that all praise and glory and majesty to Him who sent the Furqan on His Nabi, who sent the criterion, who sent the thing which differentiates between right and wrong. What qualifies us as human beings? Because we know what is right, we know what is wrong. We know what is good, we know what is not good. If that discretion has gone, then that's called dementia. What is the difference? Somebody who has dementia and someone who does not have dementia. When you have dementia, you lose this. There is no differentiation anymore. They will eat anything, drink anything, talk anything, behave in any manner. Because there is no, I mean they just take off all their clothes and they sit naked. They don't know what is right and wrong. Brain is gone. This ability to distinguish, may Allah protect us from all these things, inshallah. But the ability to distinguish between right and wrong is gone. The same person, the same education, the same everything, nothing has changed. Only that one little thing has changed. That's it. May Allah protect us from this. And it happens so, I mean, just, you know, it's a difference in the concentration of potassium and sodium in the body, that's khalas. See how, you have to see it in the sense of how beautifully Allah has created the human being in such an amazing manner, so precise and so fantastic that, and it's so delicate. One little thing, so the ability to distinguish between right and wrong is what makes us human. Otherwise, we would be like animals. If you do, if you simply follow passion, which is the opposite, right? The one side is differentiation, the other one is passion. If you simply follow passion, this is what animals do. Eat anything, drink anything, copulate with anybody. Right? Whether it's the mother, whether it's the daughter, sister, makes no difference. Do what you want. What's the difference? So, the differentiation, and this is therefore the biggest evidence that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala loves us. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala gave us this Furqan. He sent His Habib, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, to teach us how to live. With honour, with discretion, with understanding. So, we obey Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala because we know that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala loves us. So, two, and for today I will end with this. Two, we know that Allah knows what is best for us, what is good, and what is harmful. And Allah knows this better than we know. You know, it feels strange to say these things because, I mean, why should that be a matter of doubt? Of course, Allah knows more than us. But we have to remind ourselves that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala knows what is good and what is not good for us better than we know. And the reason we need to remind ourselves is because when we see some of the prohibitions in Islam, because we have got used to living a life which is completely based on our own likes and dislikes, we feel resentful, we feel restricted, we feel that what a big trouble we are in, we cannot do this, we cannot do that. We think that we can't do this, we can't do that. All of these are needless restrictions. So remind yourself, they are not needless restrictions, they are extremely essential restrictions. And they are there because Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala knows what is right and He knows what is not right. Yeah? This is the most important thing. It's very, very important to understand this. If you don . . . Just think about this. We, strange thing in our lives is, we apply this criterion that we obey the one who has more knowledge than us, without question in our life. Right? You go to the doctor and the doctor says, eat this, don't eat this. Sleep at this time, wake up at this time. You know, you don't question all that, no? You don't say, why should I not eat this? No. This is what I am supposed to do. Eat this tablet, eat that tablet. To the extent that if, may Allah protect us from hospitals and doctors and surgery and stuff. If necessary, you go and submit. You submit yourself to a surgeon. You sign an indemnity form to say that if you die, it is your fault, not his fault. So that surgeon then puts you under anesthesia, he chops you up, he takes out pieces out of you. You have no problem with that because you trust the man. What's the basis? The basis, number one is, he knows better than me. Number two, he is my friend.