Why are duas not accepted?

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Ya Ikhwan al Kiram, my dear respected brothers, sisters, elders. We are on the fourth of the pieces of advice that were given by Ibrahim A.S. to the people of Basra when they asked him why their duas are not accepted. We live in a time today when we desperately want our duas to be accepted. Because most of us are completely immersed and we are caught up in things that seem to be completely out of our control. And the only thing we have is the recourse to asking Allah for His help. And if that help doesn't come, then that is a very serious matter. And this was the state of the people of Basra and they asked him this question. They said, why is it that our duas are not accepted? And he gave them ten reasons. That's a checklist for all of us to think about. The first three reasons I mentioned in my last two khutbas. The first one was, he said, you have known Allah . But you do not fulfill His rights. You have known Allah , but you do not fulfill His rights. And the second one he said is that you read the Kalam of Allah. You read the Book of Allah, but you do not live by it. You read the Kitab of Allah, but you do not live by it. And the third thing he said is that you claim to love the Messenger Muhammad . The Messenger Muhammad , but you do not follow him. You do not make his itiba. The fourth one he said, he said, you claim to be enemies of shaitan, but you align with him. You follow shaitan. Now, Allah had told us the history of shaitan. Why shaitan became shaitan. Allah said, And We created you, then We made you in the form of images. Then We said to the angels, prostrate yourselves to Adam and prostrate yourselves to him, but to Iblis. He was not of those who prostrated himself. He said, What prevents you from prostrating when I have commanded you? He said, I am better than him. He said, You have created me from fire and He has created you from clay. Allah said, Allah is saying to Adam and saying to us, surely, We created you and shaped you, then commanded the angels and said to the angels prostrate before others. Make sajdah of the azeem, the sajdah of respect, make it to Adam . So they all did, but not Iblis, who refused to prostrate with the others. Allah said, what prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you? And of course Allah knows. But Allah , whenever He asked these questions, this is to establish evidence for the slave or against him, by his own utterances, by his own replies. So Allah is asking him, why did you refuse? What prevented you from prostrating, from obeying my command? And he said, I am better than he is. I am better than he is. Ana khayrun minhu. You created me from fire and you created him from clay. Khalaqtani min naar wa khalaqtahu min naar. You created me from clay. You created me from clay. The biggest lesson that we learn from the story of shaitan's fall into disgrace and worse is the problem of arrogance. The problem of exclusivity of saying, no, everybody else is doing something, but I am different. Everyone else says something, but I have a different opinion. In my opinion. The Qur'an says this, the sunnah says this, the hadeeth says this, the ayama says this, but in my opinion. And I've said this a million times, but in my opinion, is the name on the door of Jahanna. Because if you have an opinion, in the presence of the Kitab of Allah, in the presence of the hukm of Rasulallah , Allah spoke this word, Hasan. He went pretty far, came about, he came about, where not in Shaitan, we find life. But come upon me nowadays, the same person, who was called Hanab and Al-Habib etc. He came down, came after Allah . He's gone. Even when we rebelled. He came down now, everything is right after Allah does not do Allah . Even when you searched the medicines there, you see that she came up to comparison, and your opinion is different from those things, then you are doing what Shaitan did. You are doing exactly what Shaitan did. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Make sajda, the malaika made sajda. What Shaitan said, no, no, hold on a second. This doesn't look right. In my opinion, I should not be making sajda. That's what he's saying. He did not refuse to make sajda to Allah, which we do. May Allah have mercy on us. Allah said, pray Salah at its time. No, we have time, we have this, we have that, we have something else, something else. Think about this. Shaitan did not refuse to make sajda to Allah. He refused to make sajda to Ghairullah. And he had a logic. There was a reason. He was doing that. He was not doing that because he said, No, I didn't understand. No. I understood. I thought about it. And I came to a different conclusion. And my conclusion, I believe, is better than yours. You are telling me to make sujood to something which is not worthy of worship. Sounds logical, right? That's the problem with such logic. The logic that takes you away from the command of Allah. Because the logic, that is applicable there is, Samaana wa Atama. The logic applicable there is, Allah commands and I do. Period. But he used a different logic. And this disease of arrogance, I call this the disease of the people who have authority. Usually the ulama and the umara. The scholars, and the rulers. And by ruler, you don't need to be the ruler of a country. Anyone with authority over anyone. A person with authority over one person is a ruler in that sense. Because he is able to rule over somebody else. This is the problem. I am better than him. Whatever be the reason. Because of race, because of skill, because of skin color, because of nationality, because I know more than him, because I recite Quran better than him, because I this, because I that, makes no difference. I am better than him, are the words of shaitan. Tragically, arrogance is the first and most effective way, in which shaitan deceives us into following him, and makes the path to jihad, makes the path to Jahannam look beautiful. One of the first things that happens when somebody becomes religious, is a feeling of superiority, over friends that they used to be with. The minute that happens, ask yourself, what shaitan's response was, when Allah commanded him, and asked him, why he had not obeyed his command. He said, I am better than him. To feel superior to another person, no matter what the reason, is the fastest way, to earn the wrath of Allah. As shaitan did. The best protection against arrogance, is to focus on yourself. Look at and remind yourself, about your own faults and shortcomings. Over and over and over. And keep making istighfar and tawbah. Give charity as expiation for sins. And fear the day, when we will meet Allah. As we learn from the teachings of Ibn al-Khayyam al-Jawziya, he said, if Allah wants to do somebody a favor, He reminds him about his sins. Over and over. I did this, I did this, I did this. Don't tell people about, that's the other musivat. People come and make a big speech, you know, I used to do this, I was in drugs, I was this, I was this, I was this. And you say, oh no, I am inspiring people. This is not Islam. This is not Islam. What Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala covered, keep it covered. This is another form of arrogance. I was so bad, now look at me, how good I am. Who are you trying to impress? Don't say, I am so bad. Don't mention you six Allah covered them, keep them covered. But remember them and keep making istighfar. Ibn al-Qayyim Ibn Abdul-Babildu also said, that three things are the root of all sins. Arrogance, greed and jealousy. Three things are the root the root of all things and he said these three things lead to su al khatima they lead to a bad ending arrogance greed and jealousy he said arrogance landed iblis in jahan greed wanting more than what you have god adam ali salam and hawaii salam our mother and father exited from jannah they had everything in jannah but they wanted the one thing which allah said don't go near that tree no that's greed and jealousy got one of their sons to kill his brother and think about how little we have changed nothing is ever enough nothing is ever enough. We always want more and we are willing to compromise our ethics and our religion and everything else for that. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala prohibited. So people created their own system which prohibits what Allah permitted and permit what Allah prohibited in our pathetic attempt to fit in. Submitting to other cultures instead of presenting our culture to others. We somehow think that if you live by your culture, if you walk and talk, if you look like a Muslim, you walk and talk like a Muslim, you feel intimidated. You feel that, oh, no, no, no, people will not approve. I can tell you six years of doing that. Publicity. Publicity. Publicity. And you have seen me. Without exception, alhamdulillah, the only thing I got from this country and these people is appreciation. You need confidence. You need confidence. Do it with confidence. That's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Allah said, Oh, you believe? Enter Islam completely and totally and do not follow in the footsteps of shaitan. Surely he is your sworn enemy. I remember myself and you that selective obedience is disobedience. Selective obedience is disobedience. Playремi off arrogance because when Allah subhanahu ta'ala has commanded three things, you say, I will obey one and I will not obey the other one. You may have commanded it, I don't care. This is what I believe I should do. This is arrogance. This is what shaitan did. This is what shaitan did, shaitan said, I am not refusing to make sajdah to you. I am refusing to make such that too. Adam departure system. The problem of that was your My brothers and sisters, it's very, very important, let us not follow in the footsteps of shaitan. Let us remember that shaitan is the ultimate deceiver and he will abandon us when we stand before Allah. Don't follow shaitan. He's the worst of friends to have. I say this,