Why is dua not accepted – 2

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa Salatu wa Salamu Ala Ashrafil Anbiya wal Mursaleen. Muhammad wa Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Ala Alihi wa Sahbihi Salam. Tasliman Kaseeran Kaseera. Homma Baadu. My brothers and sisters, we are looking at the list of reasons that Ibrahim Adhem, Rahmatullah Ali, gave to the people of Basra, the reasons why their duas were not being accepted. As I mentioned to you, the reason I am mentioning this to you and wish to remind myself and you that this does not only refer to the people of Basra, but it refers to us today. Why is our dua not being accepted? Maybe for one or more of these reasons. And the first of those reasons is, you have known Allah, but you have not fulfilled His rights. You have known Allah, but you have not fulfilled His rights. Now the rights of Allah SWT, what are they? In the right of Allah SWT, the first and foremost right of Allah SWT is the reason He created us. He said, I have not created the jinn and the insan, the human beings, for anything other than to worship Me. So the right of Allah SWT is that we worship only Him and obey only Him. We stand in Salah and we say, We don't say, We worship only you and we obey only you. Exclusivity in worship and obedience is the condition of acceptance of that worship. Not only worship and obedience, but both only for Allah. This means that when there is a temptation or a suggestion or even compulsion to include anyone or anything else in the worship and obedience of Allah SWT, this must be done. This is the definition of Shirk. Shirk is to include something or someone other than Allah in the worship of Allah or in asking help from Allah SWT. Now we must remember that obedience is worship. Obedience is worship. Itaat is Ibadah. We have the story of Uday bin Hatim RA, before he became Muslim, who came to Allah SWT and said, I came to visit Rasulullah SAW and was wearing a cross on a chain around his neck. Rasulullah SAW saw him and he recited this ayat of Surah Tawbah, where Allah said, Ittaqadhu ahbarahum waruhbanahum arbaban min doonillah walmasihabna maryam wama amiru illa liya'budu ilahan wahida la ilaha illahu subhanahu amma yudhahum wa ila ilayhi shrikoon. Allah SWT said, which means, they have taken, Allah said, they have taken their rabbis and their monks as arbab min doonillah, as objects of worship, as deities, instead of Allah SWT, as well as Masihah, son of Maryam, Jesus, the son of Mary, as lords, as arbab, as gods to be worshipped, besides Allah, even though they were commanded to worship none but one ilahum wahid, one Allah, one God. There is no God worthy of worship except Him. Glorified is He above what they associate with Him. Now, when Rasulullah SAW recited this ayah, Uday bin Hatim, before he became Muslim, he politely dissented and he said, Ya Rasulullah, we don't worship our priests. Rasulullah SAW asked him, is it not true that your priests have made some things which Allah SWT has prohibited halal for you? Meaning, is it not true that your priests have permitted something which Allah has prohibited? And that they have prohibited some things which Allah has permitted. Uday bin Hatim said, yes, that is true. And if you look in the Bible, you will see that both pork as well as alcohol are prohibited. But we see the Christians use both of them quite freely and so forth also with other people of the book. So he said, yes, that is true. Rasulullah SAW said, that is worship. So what is worship? To obey someone in opposition to Allah SWT. To obey Allah SWT. To obey Allah SWT. To obey Allah SWT. To obey Allah SWT. To obey Allah SWT. To obey Allah SWT. To obey Allah SWT. To obey Allah SWT. To follow a rule or a law in opposition to a rule or law of Allah SWT is worship of that thing or that rule maker instead of Allah. So let us see what we do with what Allah SWT permitted and prohibited starting with Salah. Let us see who we obey when it comes to how we earn our living, how our businesses, our conduct and behavior, our likes and dislikes, the food we eat and our cultures. Do we follow the sunnah of Rasulullah SAW or our own whims and fancies, customs and practices? To follow someone or something in opposition to the word of Allah SWT and the teachings of his messenger SAW is to worship them instead of worshipping Allah SWT. That is why Allah SWT called such blind followership of desire shirk. Allah said, Allah said, In Surah Al-Furqan, Allah SWT said, Have you seen, O Prophet Muhammad SAW, the one who has taken, those who have taken their own desires as their God? Have you seen the one who has taken his or her own desire as their God? Will you then be a keeper over them? Will you intercede for them? Will you, will you try to, protect them? Will you advocate for them? And this is a question which is really a prohibition which is framed as a question. Will you do that? Meaning, do not do that. That gives us a sense of the gravity of the offense of following our desires and reasoning and interpretations or whatever in opposition to the word of Allah SWT. Interestingly, please note that the reason why the leaders of other religions have permitted many things which are, clearly prohibited in their scriptures is to become popular and to attract people to their places of worship. The plea has always been the same. If we are too strict, we will drive away the youth. Just look around you and see what the result of this has been. Not only in the degeneration of the values, ethics and morals of society, but in the places of worship that they tried to populate. The houses of worship are empty or have only very old people in them. Today, we grade our mosques by the quality of their basketball courts. Not by how many of the musallis or huffals of the Quran or scholars. Not by the quality of the duroos and lessons and teachings and the number of people who attend them. But by the extracurricular games and play activities that happen in the mosques. The excuse is, if we don't do it, they will go to some haram place. My submission is that you can never give in a masjid what the world of entertainment can give in their places. Don't even try. Operate on the principle of focus on your core. This is a business principle we say, we apply in business consulting. Focus on your core. Give what you have been created for. Give what you have created your masjid for to the best of your ability for the pleasure of Allah alone. And He will fill your heart with the pleasure of Allah alone. He will fill your masjid for you. The job of the Anbiya the job of Anbiya was to convey the message. Not to convince people or compel them or to attract great numbers to gatherings. Just to convey clearly without embellishment, sugar coating or anything else. Say it like it is. Convey what Allah declared. The way that Allah told us to convey. Convey what Allah declared the way He commanded us. This is like when Ibrahim was ordered to call the adhan. He said, Ya Rabbi, my Rabb, there is no one here to hear my voice. There is nobody here to hear my voice. And Allah told him, You call the adhan and I will send them and they will come on lean camels through dry valleys. Ibrahim called the adhan over 5000 years ago. And to this day and until Allah wills, they come across the oceans in Boeing 777 and Airbus 380 planes declaring Allahumma labbayk la sharika laka labbayk inna alhamda wa al-ni'mata laka wal-mulk la sharika laka Trust in the power of Allah and do what He commanded with complete trust and He will make it happen. Don't adulterate what Allah commanded with your own thinking and try to justify it by saying times have changed. Our deen is timeless. It is from Allah who is the creator of time and is not subject to it. Our scholars on the other hand have been clear about the boundaries and have refused to compromise for the best of reasons that the boundaries have been set by Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and only He has the authority to alter them, nobody else. Allah declared al-yawma akmaltu lakum deenakum wa atmamtu wa alaykum ni'mati wa raditu lakum al-Islama deena Allah said today I have perfected your faith for you, completed my favor upon you and chosen Islam as your way. So, believe it or not, our deen is perfect and needs no changes. Not because of the time or the place or the geography or the culture or anything at all. Islam is perfect and needs no changes. It is good for all time because it has been completed and chosen for us by Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Himself. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala sent us a teacher Sayyidina Rasulullah to teach and demonstrate how to live according to Islam. Our job is to follow the way of Rasulullah That is why we make the dua which Allah taught us and we say in the ayat of the Quran وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَقُولُوا رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الْآقِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا أَغَابَ النَّارِ And there are among those there are among them those who say Our Lord give us in this world that which is good and in the hereafter that which is good and protect us from the punishment of the fire. Ameen Ya Rabbul Alameen So I remind myself and you let us not destroy our Akhirah because of whatever whims and fancies we have let us not fall into the trap of asking anyone other than Allah for help let us not go and worship at graves let us not go and make Tawaf of graves let us not go and make Dua from people who are dead who Allah two clear Ayat in the Quran Allah said that dead cannot hear you the dead cannot hear you just like the person who is born deaf cannot hear you So if somebody tells you that you can go and stand at the grave and ask that incumbent to make Dua for you then this is something which is neither logical nor sensible nor is it permitted in Islam and similarly the best example to see is if the Sahaba Ridwanul Rahi Alayhi Majmain did this with the Rasool whose grave they knew whose grave they even visited and they said Salam to him