of the Miracles of creation when Allah
subhah wa ta'ala fashioned Our Father
Adam from tab from dust from sand
from he then created a r and he blew
this R into Adam and Allah
says that Allah blew his R the meaning
of his R he created a r and he ascribed
it to himself like his house he says my
house and my servant it's not the rof of
Allah meaning Allah's R but Allah
created a ro he blew it into
adam. this R made Adam a living
breathing human but it didn't just make
him living and breathing it gave gave
him more than just physical life the r
gave him spiritual life as well the r
gave him a yearning for more the r gave
him a purpose for living the r gave him
something we called a
conscience the r that was breathed into
Adam is not just a physical R it is also
a r of spirituality now what does this
got to do with our talk of valley of
Despair and despair and sins and all of
this
it is directly relevant to our talk for
a simple
reason when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
created us he created us in the best of
all
forms and a part of that Perfection is
as follows listen to this it's very
simple when you do what Allah wants you
to do your physical and spiritual lies
will
flourish and when you turn away from
what what Allah wants you to do your
physical and your spiritual lives will
not flourish rather they will wither
away and they will
exterminate and this is exactly what the
Quran tells us that the one who obeys
the Commandments of Allah that is the
person who has genuine life life of the
heart and life of the Soul life of the
body and life of the r and the one who
turns away from the remembrance of Allah
the one who turns away from the worship
of Allah subhah wa ta'ala what happens
that person's r that person's in Arabic
the heart it Withers away and it
exterminates and Allah subhah wa ta'ala
mentions this explicitly as the
hardening of the heart when the heart
and soul is good the body will be good
and when the heart and soul Withers away
the body Withers away Allah subhah wa
ta'ala tells us in the Quran Allah
subhana wa tala tells us in the
Quran oh you who
believe hearken and Obey to the call of
Allah and his
messenger when they call you to that
which will give you
your when you listen to Allah and his
messenger your heart becomes alive and
when you turn away from Allah and his
messenger what happens your heart starts
to wither away not your physical heart
your spiritual heart not your physical
pulsating heart that the doctor can
check your of the r your that Allah
subhah wa ta'ala has given you our
Prophet sallallah alaihi
said verily there is a flesh inside of
the body when that flesh is good the
body is good and when that flesh is EV
evil the body is evil and that flesh he
said is the heart and the flesh that is
good is the heart and the flesh that is
evil is the heart and our Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that
verily Allah does not look at your outer
bodies nor does he look at your facial
features pause here before I move on and
finish the
Hadith our Prophet is saying Allah
doesn't care how you look Allah doesn't
care about your facial features Allah
doesn't care about your outer
dress how much do we care about our
outer dress how much do we spend pruning
ourselves how much money do we spend on
our clothes how much time do we spend in
front of the mirror how much time do we
spend shampooing and conditioning and
whatnot and yet our Prophet is saying
Allah doesn't care about how you look
Allah doesn't care about what your
facial featur are what does Allah care
about what Allah cares about is your and
what Allah cares about is your good
deeds that you're doing Allah does not
care about how you look about your
facial features about the color of your
skin what Allah cares about is your
heart and the actions that you
do and therefore brothers and sisters
what happens when we don't care about
what Allah subhana wa ta'ala cares about
the heart begins to wither away and the
withering away of the heart you know
what the Arabic is called it is
called it is called the hardening of the
heart it is called the hardening of the
heart and when the heart
hardens when the heart becomes putrid
when the heart
solidifies this leads to repercussions
this lead leads to problems in this
world and the next and our Lord mentions
the hardening of the heart in many
verses in the Quran Allah says in the
Quran after this meaning something that
the B is had done your hearts became
hard until they were harder than a rock
until they were harder than a rock and
Allah subhana wa tal mentions another
nation in the Quran that was punished
and Allah says as a part of their
punishment what did we
do as a part of their punishment Allah
said we made their hearts hard think
about that to punish them what did Allah
do he made their hearts hard now the
hardening of the heart is a disease
frankly it is the worst disease what are
the symptoms of that disease how do we
know we have that disease I'll give you
some of the symptoms and if you find
yourself having one or more of these
symptoms then realize that you probably
have this disease of the hardening of
the heart and the advice is directed to
myself first and foremost before all of
you the first symptom of a hard heart is
to simply not care about what Allah and
his messenger have told you to do you
just don't care it's Haram so what Allah
told me not to do yeah whatever to
Simply give up caring about what Allah
wa tala and his messenger have told you
to do that is of the worst symptoms of a
hard Heart Another symptom of a hard
heart is to not enjoy the blessings and
not enjoy the pleasure of worshiping
Allah subhah wa taala if you're praying
and you're more worried about the latest
Twitter updates that you're missing in
those 5 minutes and your brain is
preoccupied with your exam tomorrow
and you're just rushing through the
actions monotonous boring dry if your
Salah is simply how you spend 3 minutes
then wall this is of the worst symptoms
of a hard heart if you don't enjoy
standing in front of Allah if you don't
enjoy doing woo if you're not excited
for the blessings of woo that your
Prophet will recognize you because of
your woo on the day of judgment you will
be able to drink from because of your w
if you're not thinking along those lines
and woo becomes just splish splash
splash and that's it then you're not
enjoying the and this means your heart
is hard if you open up the Quran you
listen to the Quran and it's not moving
your heart you're not pulsating Allah
says literally this is a verse in the
Quran that the Believers are those who
when the verses of the Quran are recited
they're IM goes
up if you're not enjoying worship then
this is of the worst symptoms of a hard
heart of the symptoms of a hard
heart is to commit
sins without any guilt now committing
sins is a problem but frankly all of us
commit sins but a a heart that is
alive when it commits a sin and it does
commit sins even good Hearts commit sins
it will
feel repentance regret remorse
anxiety when a heart commits a sin and
it feels no pain this is of the worst
symptoms of a hard heart of the symptoms
of a hard heart and this is especially
relevant in our times of the symptoms of
a hard heart is to be selfish about
yourself and not care about the rest of
the
umah if you are disconnected from the
reality of the umah if if you go to
sleep at night and you couldn't care
less about the massacre that just
happened in Syria about the rohinga
Muslims of Burma who are being torched
to that Villages after Villages if
you're not thanking Allah subhah wa
ta'ala for the blessings you have living
in these lands and you're disconnected
from the reality of the umah and all
you're worried about is your connection
to your iPhone is not good in your
particular classroom you don't have the
latest upgrade computer if your problems
are clearly what is now called first
world problems and you have no reality
of the status of the umah then will this
is a symptom of a hard heart whereas the
soft heart it is connected to the umah
as our Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam said this umah is like a body
when one limb is hurting if your finger
got slashed if your little pinky got
slashed wah you couldn't sleep at night
you would be in pain and suffering and
that's exactly what our Prophet wasam
said when one organ is in distress the
whole body is in pain and making Dua to
cure this organ so if you find yourself
not even caring not even keeping up with
the news it's not even a concern to you
what the umah is going through then W my
dear brothers and sisters let me put it
straight to you your heart has become
hard these are all symptoms and there
are more than these symptoms and the
fact of the matter is that the hardness
of the heart our Scholars have called it
the mother of all disease it's like the
HIV in our times if you have HIV it's
like all other sins or all other evils
all other sicknesses can come to you you
don't have a defense mechanism and this
is exactly what the hardness of the
heart is you don't have a defense
mechanism now what are the factors that
make the heart hard what are some of the
things that cause this disease again
there are many and time is limited and
we need to get to the the the main point
or the main thrust of this lecture but
this is an important topic what are some
of the symptoms or the causes excuse me
of this uh hardness of the heart number
one number one turning away from the
remembrance and the worship of Allah
subhanahu wa taala Allah says in the
Quran whoever turns away from my Vick
from my remembrance that person shall
live a miserable and wretched life
whoever turns away from my worship that
person will live a miserable life number
two not living in accordance with the
laws of Islam ignoring the Shar not
caring about your lifestyle and what is
in Conformity and what is not in
Conformity Allah says in the Quran
because they broke our laws and our
covenant Allah is talking about another
Nation they didn't listen to Allah so
what
happened we cursed
them and we made their hearts hard and
of the greatest abandonments of our Shar
of the greatest ways you can show that
you don't care about the Shar is to
abandon the five daily
prayers any Muslim who does not pray his
Salah is not a Muslim this is the bare
minimal sign of Islam and whoever has
left the Salah as said this is not me
speaking said whoever leaves the Salah
he has no share of Islam in his heart he
doesn't even have a percentage he
doesn't even have
1% he has no share of Islam the one who
leaves his Salah of the causes of the
hard
heart is to make your sins habitual and
a part of your routine you see all of us
commit sins I commit sins you commit
sins but when a sin becomes a daily
habit when a sin becomes a part of your
daily routine then obviously you will
have no regret for that sin you will
have no remorse for that sin it will
become a part and parcel of who you are
and our Lord mentions and the prophet
explained in the Quran uh the verse of
the
Quran that there is a darkness in their
hearts because of what they do and our
Prophet said this darkness is the effect
of the sin when a person commits a sin
it leaves a blot on his heart and as he
continues to commit sins his heart
becomes darker and darker and
darker of the causes of a hardness of
the heart and listen to this especially
our youth of our times of the causes of
the hardness of the heart is to follow
every single bodily desire to do
whatever your body wants and to ignore
the calling of the spirit and the r and
the Soul you see our body has rights
over us but so does our spirit so does
our R and whenever we become a slave to
the body it will be at the expense of
the r when we're slaves to the J to the
Jad the r is going to suffer and
therefore when we start following every
single desire we have whatever we want
that is what becomes Halal whatever we
don't want that's what is
Haram then this will cause an effect on
the heart and the heart will become hard
and the final point that we'll mention
before we move on to the main talk
really with which is the gist of the
despair issue the final point that we'll
mention about the causing of the
hardness of the heart
is wasting too much time
wasting too much time excessive
entertainment in our times Facebook
Twitter the internet watching movies
just doing wasting hours and hours
without any purpose our Prophet
sallallah alaihi wasallam
said I caution you about laughing too
much now listen to this laughing is
halal who said laughing Isam of course
it's Halal laughing is halal and our
Prophet would smile all the time and
laugh as well and there are many
instances in the where and others say he
laughed until I could see his molar
teeth he laughed until I could see all
of his teeth laughing is Sunnah smiling
is Sunnah but an excessive amount of
laughing not smiling you can never smile
too much make sure you understand smile
it's Sunnah all of you are looking at me
it's smile everybody smile smile at
Sunnah okay you can never smile too much
but laughing is a different matter you
can laugh too much why because when you
laugh too much you forget about the
seriousness of life as well laughter is
like salt you add it to the food just
the right amount if you were to pour the
salt canister on the food what's going
to happen you've destroyed the food the
food loses its purpose laughter is like
this salt you add it sprinkle it here
and there as our Prophet wasam did but
when you are too much involved in
laughing and by the way this is an
extension laughing in our times is
wasting time just watching TV for no
without any purpose in mind spending
hours on the internet this is literally
killing time and when you kill time your
heart is affected and when your heart is
affected it hardens and it dies and
that's exactly what our Prophet wasam
said I warn you about wasting too much
time be excuse me I warned you about
laughing too much that's what he
said
why because laughing too much causes the
hearts to die it's exactly a causal
linkage laughing too much causes the
hearts to die so therefore make sure we
tone down those lol's make sure we tone
down all and who who actually laughs out
loud when we write LOL it's become
totally meaningless but the purpose is
when you're wasting time without any
goal when you're just sitting there and
hours go by your heart is going to
suffer now out of all of these there are
two main factors I mentioned them want
to reiterate there are two main factors
that causes the heart to become hard
number one is to leave the Shar leave
the the laws of Islam and number two is
to engage in committing sins and I want
to conclude this talk by mentioning some
of the problems of committing sins some
of the issues that happen when we engage
in sins and that is the the focal point
of this talk they wanted me to talk
about the effects of sins and the
despair that that brings about and
apparently this is all dreary stuff
because the next session is the positive
stuff correct that's what I understood
right the next session will be the
uplifting stuff so they gave me the the
negatives which is a part of our
religion by the way our religion is what
warn them of the evil consequences and
give them Glad Tidings of the good
consequences and the of the names of our
Prophet are bash and and Bash means what
what does bash
mean the one who gives good news and
what is
n the one who warns about an impending
doom so this half half split is actually
very Islamic where one section goes and
tells you the negative that's what they
gave me to warn you about the negatives
but as long as you follow with the
Positive so whoever is attending now has
got to attend the positives as well
after after an hour in right that the
next half also has to be attended now
sins and the despair that c that is
brought about by
sins what are some of the effects of
committing
sins Allah subhah wa taala mentions in
the
Quran how many are the generations we
have destroyed
after and Allah is enough to count and
be aware of all all of the sins of his
servant notice how he links between the
destruction of the Nations and between
committing sins how many are the Nations
we have destroyed and Allah is enough to
count all of their sins destruction in
this world and in the next is linked
causally to sins and think about it for
what reason was our father Adam expel
from Jenna and for what reason are we
his children toiling on this Earth EX
except because of one sin that he
committed why was El who was at one
point in time the noble leader of the
jins and at one time a chosen creature
why is he now despised and accursed
except because of one sin that he did in
the eyes of Allah subhah wa taala and
for what reason did Allah subhah wa
taala flood the Earth to wipe away the
entire civilization except for one group
on an ark except for one group on an ark
because they committed the sin of shik
and look around you how many are the
mighty and Powerful civilizations many
of them their remnants are visited to
this day where are they now Allah subhah
wa tala tells
us each group we took because of his
sins each group we dealt with because of
his sins some of them Allah
says some of them Allah says we sent a
thunderstorm others we sent a severe
wind others were swallowed up with this
Earth and yet others we drowned them
such Grand scale destructions of entire
nations Allah Asel has linked it
directly with the committing of sins and
even even that famous stone on Earth
which is the holiest stone for us and
that is the Our Lord tells us the
prophet tells us that the came down from
Jenna and it was as white as snow
it is a rock from Jenna this is what we
believe our Prophet said that stone was
given to
ibraim from Jenna and what did our
Prophet say it used to be as white as
snow but it became corrupted and it
became dark because of the sins of men
that white stone of Jenna could not
stand the sins of this Earth and that
too became corrupted because of the sins
of men this is exactly what our prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam said so what
are some of the consequences of
committing sins and again time is of the
essence I'll only list four or five insh
of the consequences of committing sins
number one it removes from our hearts
the majesty and Glory that is due to
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala for truly if
we had that majesty and respect we would
not disobey Allah subhanahu wa
taala he who Comm it sins diminishes the
Majesty that is due to Allah and says if
the only punishment for committing sins
was that it removes from the heart the
Majesty that is due to Allah that would
have been enough of a punishment if we
don't respect Allah would we disobey our
parents in front of their face and if
somebody did how would that son be
considered would we disobey the police
right in front of their eyes when we see
the police what happens we slow down
automatically driving a car we slow down
we don't want to pass the speed limit
right in our schools in our universities
our professors are our teachers are
right there would we do something to get
them angry we know the consequences and
it is human nature that in front of
authority you bow down in front of
authority you humble yourself well how
about the one who is the ultimate
Authority how about
Allah the more we recognize who is Allah
the less we will commit sins and that's
exactly what Allah says
they did not respect Allah the way that
they deserve to respect the way that
Allah is deserving of that respect and
this is of the greatest catastrophes of
committing a sin of the catastrophes of
the evils of committing a sin is that
sins diminish our IM in Allah subhana wa
tala Iman goes down when we commit sins
our faith in Allah our religiosity it
goes down of the problems of committing
sins is that sins pollute the heart and
make it hard and this is exactly what we
mentioned in the first part of our
lecture that through sins the heart
becomes hard Allah says in the
Quran when they went astray Allah LED
their hearts astray when they went
astray their hearts were punished
because of their sins and Allah says in
the
Quran their hearts have become
dark because of what they have done
their hearts have become polluted and
rusted because of what they have done of
the effects of committing
sins is that sins remove the blessings
that Allah subhah wa ta'ala has given to
us and shall give us our current
blessings and future blessings are
lifted because of sins Allah subhah wa
ta'ala says and we all know this verse
Allah does not change the situation of a
people until they change what is in them
themselves no blessing is taken away
from you except because of a sin that
you have done Allah says so in the
Quran any problem that comes to you it's
because of your own sins that you have
done every single grief every single
anxiety every single distress know my
dear brothers and sisters that next time
you feel physical or mental pain or
anguish it is because of what I have
done and you have done
of the effects of
sins is that sins collectively affect
the umah and weaken the umah because
what is the umah except me and you what
is the umah except all of us here what
is the umah except a building composed
of individuals and we are those
individuals is this not what our Prophet
Sall wasallam said that the umah is like
a brick wall and it strengthens one
another
and he put his fingers between his hands
to show that the um is like a wall and
we make each other stronger well guess
what if the bricks that were used for
that wall are not strong if me and you
are not strong what's going to happen
the wall will collapse the wall will not
stand on its own wake up and smell the
coffee look at the status of the um see
what's happening and then don't blame
the umah blame me and blame yourselves
because we are that umah when I am weak
and you are weak collectively the umah
will collapse and unfortunately that is
the reality that we are seeing and the
last point that we'll mention and the
last point that we'll mention and of
course there's much more to mention and
I have to leave on a negative note
because we're waiting for the positive
inshallah the next hour I'm supposed to
give you the solution but they didn't
tell me to give you the solution they
told me to mention the problems so I'm
going to mention the problems uh but the
last point that I'll mention and this is
really the theme of the the the the Talk
itself one of the worst consequences of
sins is the feeling of
Despair the feeling
of lack of purpose there's just no point
there's a disconnect that takes place
between us and Allah subhah wa tala when
we commit sins and when we have that
disconnection what happens we just feel
life is not worth living there's no
point so what you don't enjoy even the
sins stop being pleasurable stop giving
you that joy and let me be very Frank
here brothers and sisters let me be very
honest here every single one of us
sitting here myself included every one
of us in this audience we know this
reality without having need to be taught
it from the Quran and Sunnah we know it
from the lives that we live we know it
from our own sins how do we feel after
we commit a sin how do we feel after we
watch something we're not supposed to
watch we talk to someone we're not
supposed to talk to we do something
we're not supposed to do we smoke
something we're not supposed to smoke we
drink something we're not supposed to
drink we get involved in an issue that
we know our Lord has told us is harmful
for our Dean and our d for our religion
and our how do we feel after we commit
that deed yes we feel good for a little
bit of time that's why we do it yes we
get a little bit of high sometimes an
act
yes we do but what happens after that
what happens after that instantaneous
fleeting
Joy you feel so filthy that all the
water in the world can't purify you you
feel so guilty that you really just
don't feel like you have a purpose in
life you regret you say why did I do
that what was the point now what am I
going to do and that feeling of Despair
is perhaps the most palpable consequence
of committing a sin that feeling of
purposelessness of not having a goal
what am I just what you just and you
feel as if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
you have lost a connection because you
have lost a connection but you're the
one who unplugged it you're the one who
took it out you're the one who cut that
wire not Allah subhana wa ta'ala you're
the one who turned your back to the Shar
to the Quran to what our Prophet wasam
said and you willingly purposely
knowingly disobeyed well then now you're
going to suffer the consequences and of
those consequences is that feeling of
regret that feeling of Despair and that
feeling of Despair this is exactly what
Allah subhana wa taala mentions in the
Quran Allah says in the
Quran do not be like those who forgot
about Allah now pause here who forgets
about Allah as a Muslim the meaning of
for foret about Allah doesn't mean you
don't know who is Allah the meaning is
you forgot about the Commandments of
Allah the meaning is you forgot about
your purpose of life do not be like
those who forgot about Allah what
happens when you forget about
Allah Allah caused them to forget
themselves this is one of the most
profound verses in the Quran pay
attention to the profundity pay
attention to the causality when you
forget about Allah Allah causes you to
forget about yourself now what does that
mean how can you forget about yourself
after all was it not yourself and your
selfish desires that caused you to
forget about Allah in other words what
caused you to disobey Allah accept your
selfishness accept yourself and yet
Allah is saying when you forget about
Allah you forget yourself you see the
meaning here is far more profound the
meaning here when you disobey Allah
subhanahu wa
taala you have no purpose of living you
forget your real life you forget your
and your R you forget why you are on
this Earth you might as well forget
about
yourself whoever turns away from Allah
Allah punishes that person by causing a
Despair and a helplessness there's no
point in living
anymore and the opposite is also true
whoever discovers Allah discovers life
whoever discovers Allah whoever knows
Allah whoever worships Allah whoever
remembers Allah that is the one who
brings about the life of the heart and I
conclude with a beautiful verse uh a
beautiful point of our religion that
Allah subhana wa tala says in the Quran
that whoever turns away from my
remembrance that is the one who shall
have a miserable a wretched
life means D literally means a
constricted dunk means you are shoved
between two things and that's how you
feel when you're under pressure when
you're anxious your heart feels tense
you you could physically feel a pain in
your chest and Allah says when you turn
away from
Allah you get this feeling of Despair
and anxiety and helplessness and of
course the solution and I can't go into
the depth in the solution the solution
of course is the doors of Allah are
always open the solution of course is
all you have to do is turn around that's
all you have to do no matter how far
you've gotten in sin no matter how far
you've fallen in the despair when you
turn back to Allah subhanahu wa tala
Allah will accept you Allah will pull
you out from wherever you are and that
is why Allah says in the
Quran no one can give up despair of
Allah's Mercy except the CF who doesn't
know who is
Allah no one can ever give up hope of
Allah's Mercy except the one who doesn't
know who is Allah except for the cfir
brothers and sisters in Islam Shah none
of us is a cfir all of us are Muslims
Muslims are always hopeful of Allah's
Mercy Muslims are always optimistic that
Allah subhah wa tala will give us what
we want in this world and the next
therefore don't despair of the mercy of
Allah the verse that was recited before
we began our lecture our brother recited
from the
Quran say oh my servants who have
committed sins who have wronged
themselves do not give up hope of
Allah's
Mercy never despair of Allah's Mercy
verily Allah subhana
forgives all sins I conclude with a
beautiful Hadith of our Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam our Prophet
sallallah alai
said the biggest of all sins notice
these are not trivial sins the biggest
of all
sins number one to do sh with Allah
subhanahu wa taala number two to give up
hope of Allah's mercy and number three
to despair of Allah's blessings to give
up hope of Allah's mercy and to despair
of Allah's blessings this is the
greatest sin that is put alongside the
sin of shik the Muslim never despairs
but when you turn to Allah Allah subhah
wa ta'ala will turn to you may Allah
subhah wa ta'ala make us of those who
constantly turn to Allah who always have
a relationship with him who taste the
sweetness of worship who taste the
sweetness of may Allah subhah wa tala
make us of those who always have a
direct connection with with him may
Allah subhah wa tala make our hearts
soft for his cause and we seek Allah's
Refuge from having hard hearts