Taqwa is the condition of guidance

https://youtu.be/UIWjuWzz4gk?si=DqkxARjEhhaQKdBQ Imam Ahmad (ra) wept A man once came to Imam Ahlus-Sunnah, Ahmad bin Hanbal and asked him, “O Imam, what is your opinion on poetry?” He replied, “Which poetry is this?” to which the man responded by reciting the following couplets: إذا ما قال لي ربي اما استحييت تعصيني If my Lord asks me, “Have you shyness in disobeying me?وتخفي الذنب عن خلقي وبالعصيان تأتينيYou conceal your sins from my creation – and with sins you come to me.” Imām Ahmad took these lines and repeated them over and over again, and wept profusely to such an extent that one his students said that he almost perished due to him crying so much. If my Lord asks me… إذا ما قال لي ربي اما استحييت تعصيني If my Lord asks me, “Have you shyness in disobeying me? وتخفي الذنب عن خلقي وبالعصيان تأتيني You conceal your sins from my creation – and with sins you come to me.”فكيف أجيبُ يا ويحي ومن ذا سوف يحميني؟ So how will I answer? O woe to me – and who shall protect me?أسُلي النفس بالآمالِ من حينٍ الى حيني I keep averting my soul with thoughts of hope – from time to time. وأنسى ما وراءُ الموت ماذا بعد تكفيني And I forget what is to come after death – and what is to come after I am shrouded. كأني قد ضّمنتُ العيش ليس الموت يأتيني As if I am guaranteed life (eternally) – and that death will not come to me. وجائت سكرة الموتُ الشديدة من سيحميني And when the severe stupor of death overtakes me – who will protect me? نظرتُ الى الوُجوهِ أليـس منُهم من سيفدينـــي I looked at the faces; is there not from amongst them who will ransom me? سأسأل ما الذي قدمت في دنياي ينجيني I will be asked regarding what I have prepared in my life to save me (on the Day of Judgement). فكيف إجابتي من بعد ما فرطت في ديني Then how will I answer – after I have neglected my religion. ويا ويحي ألــــم أسمع كلام الله يدعوني Woe to me! Did I not hear the Speech of Allāh inviting me? ألــــم أسمع لما قد جاء في قاف ويسِ Did I not hear what came in (the chapters of) Qāf and Yā-Sīn? ألـــم أسمع بيوم الحشر يوم الجمع و الديني Did I not hear about the Day of Gathering, the Day of Assemble and the Day of Judgement? ألـــم أسمع مُنادي الموت يدعوني يناديني Did I not hear the crier of death inviting me, calling me? فيا ربــــاه عبدُ تــائبُ من ذا سيؤويني So O my Lord, a slave (turning to you) I have repented – so who then shall shelter me? سوى رب غفور واسعُ للحقِ يهديني Except a Lord extensive in forgiveness – to the truth He will guide me. أتيتُ إليكَ فارحمني وثقــّـل في موازيني I have come to you (in repentance) – so have mercy on me, and make heavy my scales (with good deeds). وخفَفَ في جزائي أنتَ أرجـى من يجازيني And lighten my account – You are the best of who will bring me to account. Source: P205 Manaqib Imām Ahmad by Ibn al-Jawzi Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wassalatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi salam. Tasliman kathiran kathira. Fama baadu. My brothers and sisters. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, right in the beginning of His kalam, in Surah Al-Baqarah, after the huyuf al-muqatta'at, alif, la, mim, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned the Qur'an. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ This is the book in which there is no doubt. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said a very interesting, a very important thing. He said, خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ This kitab is hidayah, is guidance. This book is a guidance for people of taqwa. خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ And you might say, if Allah had said, خُدَلِّ الْمُشْيْكِينَ خُدَلِّ الْكَافِرِينَ خُدَلِّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ These are the people who need that. They are not even, some are not in Islam, some are in Islam, they are making shaytan, shirkas, and so on, so on. These are the people who are misguided. They are the people who need hidayah. But Allah is not saying that. Allah is saying, خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ It is a book of guidance for people who have taqwa. You might say, well, I already have taqwa, what guidance do I need? But obviously, if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ It means that there is a need. So what is this need? And what is this guidance? And why is taqwa being made a shart, a condition of being guided? خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ So it is not guidance for those who have no taqwa. Now if you look at, in another place in the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, the Arabs, the Bedouins, they come to you, Ya Rasulullah s.a.w., and they claim to have Iman. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, say to them, لَمْ يَدْقُلِ الْإِيمَانَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ Iman has not entered their hearts. They have accepted Islam, they are Muslims. But Allah said, Iman has not entered their hearts. And He put a condition, He said, for Iman to enter their hearts, let them obey Allah and His Rasul s.a.w. and establish Salah and give Zakat. These are the signs that you have Iman. Obey Allah and obey His Rasul s.a.w. and establish Salah and give Zakat. Or a number of a number of a number and that is Allah. You fear to displease Allah. In what? In everything. You fear to displease Allah in the way you think. You fear to displease Allah in the way you speak. You fear to displease Allah in how you earn your living, in what you eat and don't eat, drink and don't drink. You fear to displease Allah in your actions, in your behaviour, in your ma'milat, in your maashara, in your makhlaq, in everything. And you will do only that which pleases Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That is the, it's like a gateway, right? For every action, everything. And only when it fulfills that condition, the door, gate will open. Does it please Allah? And, and if the answer is yes, then the door, gate will open. This is safety for the believer. To have this condition in the heart and mind to say that I will do only that which pleases Allah is safety for the believer. A man came to Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal rahmatullahi alaih and he recited one qasida. It's all written in there. The qasida is also there. إِذَا مَا قَالَ لِي رَبِّي أَمَا اسْتَحْيَيْتَ تَعْصِينِي وَتُخْفِلْ ذَنْبَ أَنْ خَلْقِي وَبِالْعِسِيَانِ تَأْتِينِي If my Rabb asks me, have you no shyness in disobeying me? You concede your sins from my creation, but with sins you come to me. And the first first share, the first couplet of their qasida was, where the man said, which means, you, Allah is making khitaab, Allah is speaking to the slave. And Allah said that you were ashamed to do certain things before the people. You tried to hide some of your behavior from the people. But you were not ashamed that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was seeing it. Right? And he said, Imam Ahmad wept and wept and wept to the point where his students and his people around them, they thought he will die. Not because Imam Ahmad was doing something haram. He's talking, this is the level of taqwa. Allah is saying that you were ashamed of your actions to the extent that you were hiding it from people. Right? Today pornography is a big, big, big fitna. And may Allah protect us. The Muslims are equally involved in it. But imagine you're sitting there watching this pornography. Or you have it on your phone and you're watching that. And you know, anyone gets your phone, there's nothing which goes away. Everything is there. There's only a way of getting it back. Right? And imagine you're watching that and your mother comes back. Comes and sees you watching it. Or your father. Or your... Whoever you have, you respect. Worst of all, your own children. If you have children, imagine you're sitting there watching pornography. And your son or your grandson or your daughter walks in and sees you. What will happen? What will happen? What should happen? Even if you have an iota of Izzah left in your heart, I mean, if you have gone completely shameless, it's a different thing. Then maybe you would call your son and tell him, come sit here, watch this, watch what's happening. How nice. Who knows? Maybe you'll do that. But if you have any, even an iota of Izzah left in your heart, what will you do? Yet, you're doing that knowing that Allah is watching. Inna lillahi wa inna ilajah. May Allah have mercy on us. And that is the couplet. That is what the man, he recited this couplet before Imam Ahmad, Muhammad al-Ali. Allah is saying to the slave, you did things which you were ashamed to do before the maqlook. And you had no shame that the Khaliq was watching. This is a sign of no taqwa. Because if you have taqwa, then it should have stopped you long before you came to that. So taqwa is gone. Or at least it is very, very sick. It's in the ICU on a ventilator. So go and rescue it. Taqwa is the condition. Taqwa is the condition of guidance. Let us remember that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not in need of guiding us. Hidayat dena Allah ka ihtiyaj nahi hai. Allah ko koi zarurat nahi aap ko hidayat de. Hidayat hamari zarurat hai. It's not Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has no need to give you or me hidayat. It is our need, our need, dire need to get hidayat. The need which is superior to any need. The need which is superior to any need. Every other need. There are only two things in the zaruriyat. There are only two things that a human being needs. Only two. The first one is hidayat in this life. Hidayat in this life. And the second one is maghfira when we die. Guidance in this life and forgiveness when we die. Everything else is optional. Health is optional. Wealth is optional. You name it. Your spouses, your children, your friends, everything is optional. You can do without every of, any one of them. May Allah give all of us good health and Izzah and wealth and everything else. But my point is that even if you did not have, even if you are sick,