[Music]
alayum
we always begin by sending our greetings
upon the messenger Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wasallam by reaffirming our
conviction in faith in Allah subhanahu
wa taala and by acknowledging the
slavehood and the servantship of the
messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam the perfect example of worship
of Allah
the perfect example of attaining
nearness in both spiritual and physical
dimensions in his worship to Allah
subhanahu wa
taala we remember the prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam here today as
you sit in front of me and as I stand in
front of you I remind you of these great
words of the messenger sallallahu alai
wasam he says reminding us to remember
him
often see as Muslims we know that we
make VI of Allah and we're very habitual
you know someone says you're going to do
this you're going to inshallah you're
remembering
Allah but one of the things we're
equally taught is our love for the
messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam and there's this famous Dua
that the
angel
made where he
said
once made a Dua to Allah and he said May
the one who Muhammad you Muhammad
wasallam are mentioned in front of him
and does not say Allah muhamad may Allah
cut him off may Allah keep him distant
and the prophet said aan and I want to
begin this moment and this talk with you
today about sincerity to Allah by
remembering the one who showed us that
Perfection
Muhammad we've all had this moment in
our life I have and you have and it's an
undeniable
moment you stand to worship
Allah it's m prayer
and it's just you and
Allah you stand up and say
allahar the next
day your
friend is with
you and now you're going to lead
M and he stands beside you just one more
person and you say
allahar masallah sud has
arrived right this is how it is
for many you know we
laugh we laugh it's not really out
of uh the humor but it's out of
nervousness you know we're nervous oh
man how many times you know have I done
this and that's the reality of life and
that is the greatest fear the prophet
sallallah alaihi wasallam had for you
and I in the authentic Hadith narrated
by IM Muslim the prophet sallallah
alaihi wasallam
says the thing I fear the most for my um
for my people the one who are standing
with me today and the one who will come
after me the thing I fear the
most is
hidden the S they hadn't heard this
before they
said
what's this hidden sh what does this
mean the prophet sallallah alai wasallam
he
said it's a man is going to stand up to
pray and that man will beautify his
prayer because that person
Witnesses someone watching
him a couple of years ago I was
privileged to
meet the IM of the prophet's Masjid
sallallahu alaihi
wasallam
Salah and you know I was with him for
about a week or so a maybe 10 days and
every day he would lead us in the F
prayer and there was a question you know
I really wanted to ask him this question
and it was on my mind every time I'd see
him I want to ask him I want to ask him
I want to ask ask him and finally you
know I said I got I have to ask and I
said how do you do
it how do you
stand in the spot Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wasallam
stood how do you stand in the mimar
where the Prophet s wasallam stood and
spoke to people or where the Prophet
stood to lead the umah in prayer
thousands and millions of people behind
you how do you have thisas sincerity to
Allah and the she gave
me an answer in a sentence and I didn't
understand his answer
initially he said the for every
moment arrives from Allah in the measure
of your
sincerity Allah will help you to be
sincere does does that make sense it
didn't make sense to me at
first I didn't understand it Allah will
help you to be sincere and this is
something you and I forget all the
time you
must desire
Allah you must ask for Allah subhah wa
ta'ala you must want to be near Allah
you
want nearness to Allah subhah
you want to
have an honored position between you and
Allah you must work for it you must ask
for it you must seek it and you must
sacrifice hours and money and energy and
effort to receive
it a man comes to the prophet sallallah
Al wasam and he says to him
Allah I love you
and the prophet wasallam
said be careful consider what you're
saying these words are not easy words to
be said and the prophet said I love you
y
s and the prophet Salli wasallam said
then be ready for hardship and
difficulty in your life because the one
who loves me will have that hardship and
difficult
flow to
him the way water flows in a
flood you're going to be
tested you think you can say I'm a
Believer and Allah's not going to show
you and ask you to prove it show you
whether you believe and show others
whether you claim it or
not
Allah tested those who came before you
and made known the truth of their faith
as Allah will test
you even Muhammad s Al wasallam was
tested I want you even if you even if
you need to close your eyes don't fall
asleep
now I want you to pretend you are in the
Masjid of the Prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam today
and it's
1,4 and it's
1,430 years
ago and you're standing
there and Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam is present in the
congregation and I want you to think to
yourself at that
moment the aan is called and bal's voice
invites you to
pray and you stand before Allah
subhanahu wa
taala are you going to pray better than
what you prayed your ass prayer at my
dear brother and sister if you say
yes Muhammad s wasallam is there the
sahab are
there I have to change my
habit I have to change my
behavior you have fallen prey to one of
the traps of Shan
see the Shan my dear brothers and
sisters is a very smart and Elusive
enemy he doesn't attack you in points of
your
strength he comes to you even in fact in
Deeds of
righteousness in your moment of
Salah you're distracted not only leave
your prayer don't pray the Shan steals
from your Salah that person he's looking
at you you know some
brothers they're not married
yet and they see mashallah there's a
sister her father comes into the
jam
mashallah
allahar you know the father-in-law the
hopeful
father-in-law he's standing there all of
a sudden a Brother's going to come move
out of the way man this is my spot where
you going
says H don't you know who this is says
inshallah
allahar all of a sudden now you put on a
little bit of
perfume you know you made sure your that
is for Allah you have a share in
it it's stealing the Shan steals from us
what does it mean for Allah's sake
what's you know the same word that Allah
uses in the Quran for sincerity is the
same word for
advice if I want to give someone
advice I give him sincerity and sincere
advice sincerity my dear brothers and
sisters is that everything that is for
Allah subhanahu wa taala alone is
protected you actually become very
compulsive and very much in tune with
what Allah needs from you and what you
want to give Allah
alone and the cure to increasing your
sincerity in public life is worship of
Allah in private life some of the sahaba
they did amazing amazing feats of
worship and they would do it in secrecy
earning them a reward between them and
Allah that no one knew about days before
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
passed
away they asked him y Allah which of us
your wives will be the first to be with
you in Jenna meaning the first of us to
die and the prophet s wasallam said the
one who has the longest
hand and all of the wives of the Prophet
they ran to each other oh you know my
God my finger is longer than yours I'm
going there soon I'm going to be his
first wife sallallahu alaihi wasallam in
jenah and when the prophet passed away
it was
safah who was the first to join him and
they remembered you know Saia she was a
shorter woman in stature and her hand
was petite it was small and what did
that mean and it's only after a few days
of her
death did people understand what the
prophet meant by law strong hand she was
long in her
generosity the people of Medina who were
poor all of a sudden became known prior
to that no one knew who was poor in
Medina cuz s used to give in charity
secretly charity and secrecy go hand in
hand the night
prayer the work ship of Allah at night
you can say brother you're talking to us
about now we're talking
about you're going to tell me wake up a
little bit
before is there even
before
sufyan one of the great
imams he says he admits 20 years of my
life 20
years I fought myself
I waged battle against myself for 20
years that I stand to Allah in prayer
every
night and not once in those 20 years did
I enjoy
it not even once for 20 years but what
did he do 20 years he prayed and it's
only after 20 years that he began to
enjoy and taste the LA and The Joy of
worship which means he began to enjoy
the
sincerity in his relationship with Allah
subhanahu wa
taala I wish to give three pieces of
advice to my brothers and sisters here
today and being where we
are and privileged in the way you are
you are held at an a higher rate of
accountability to others I'm sorry my
dear brothers and sisters
do not think that you sitting with me
here today in this comfort and opulence
are going to be given the same ease and
mercy and compassion as one who is
starving and dying of thirst in the
deserts of Somalia it's
impossible do not think that you will be
given the same ease and comfort as one
whose home is being raided in
Philistine do not believe believe that
you will be given the same treatment and
equal
terms as one who had no place to
pray who had no opportunity to learn who
did not receive a
message so my first advice to those who
I love in the way of
Allah sincerity requires work you can't
just wish to be sincere and say yeah
Allah this Salah you know help me to
pray to you only you oh Allah oh Allah
protect me from thinking of anyone else
or not for anything I want I want this
to be only for you oh Allah it takes
effort and that effort is shown in your
private
life you know what I'm talking about
private life the young brothers and
sisters here today you know what I'm
talking
about a sister sitting alone in her room
she has her laptop or phone
Twitter Facebook chatting
MSN her father brother Aunt Uncle
whoever walks in the room click click
click click click the screens all
minimize who are you talking to No One
Khadijah
Khadijah oh what's Khadija doing up at
11:30 at night oh she's talking to me
babba
khad now is code name for Muhammad Ahmed
Hassan
right takes
effort it takes a desire for you to
purge your private
life how are you in
private what is your relationship
between you and Allah
second your
friends and I don't mean to offend
anyone my dear brothers and sisters here
today sometimes when we think about the
shaitan we're thinking about the wrong
thing in every instance in the Quran
when Allah subhanahu wa taala speaks
about
the he begins by talking about the Shan
from amongst and from those who are
human he speaks about the
human before the Gin the Unseen Shan why
because your greatest shitan could be
sitting right next to you driving you
somewhere it could be the person who
texts you on the phone I'll come around
and pick you up it could be the person
who tells you oh don't go to class now
we'll go later let's just go out
somewhere
the Shan is not just this unin visible
unattainable
intangible uh spirit the shitan could be
the person calling you on your mobile
saying hey what are you doing let's go
out right all of a sudden he hangs up
you get scared
ah it was
thean right no this is the
truth and the prophet wasallam
says a person is on the way of life the
system of living of his best friend you
want to be sincere to Allah subhah
wa'ta'ala and the person you roll with
the one who's taking you here and there
is away from
Allah how's it going to
work how are you going to develop any
relationship with Allah subhah wa ta'ala
third is
TBA see all these things you know our
prayer wanting to get married and
stepping on your father-in-law's toes to
show him you follow the Sunnah you know
come here ankle to ankle brother
right you know don't you know look
you're going to see me every day get
close right all these emotions and and
and at times Stolen Moments from our
life that the Shan trick in and that we
lose our way with Allah it
requires turn back to Allah what is TBA
it means you
turn to
Allah you are
never more than one step away from Allah
it's just one
step it could be a step back from
Haram it could be a step forward in
halal you are never never further than
one Choice One Step One Moment One
prayer back to Allah subhana wa ta'ala
as much as you fill this world with
sin Allah says if you come to me with
asking forgiveness I forgive you
allahar a
return to your lord and give yourself to
him subhanahu wa ta'ala
give yourself to
Allah you know my dear brother sometimes
you look at the worldly life that we
live today and it seems to be not enough
I met a man and I want to conclude with
this who was a quadriplegic you know he
can no longer move his arms or his
legs before his car accident he was a
normal healthy adult even more than that
he was a person of massive
wealth immense
wealth and I sat with
him and he said
yeah in my bank in my bank I have over
$200
million cash not property
cash and at
night I want to scratch my
back and I can't pay anyone to come in
and do
it
allahar I want you to think about that
because I have all this money I even
have nurses but I feel shy in the middle
of the
night I feel shy to wake her up from her
private room or him up from his private
room that the only reason I wake them up
they get up and they put their clothes
and they come into my room and they say
what's wrong and I say can you scratch
my
back so I say ah I really want my back
but I can't even with the money even
with the help even with people living in
my home I can't do
it my final advice is recognize
your appreciate what you
have appreciate what you
have from this day look at your husband
with different eyes not talking about
contact
lenses
brother comes home his wife's got blue
eyes where where's my wife what
happened see the world with different
eyes see your wife and your children and
your friends with with eyes that don't
just look physically but look from your
heart Allah subhanahu waala he tells us
in the
Quran that there are
people
there are some who live in this world
enjoying it eating in it as if they're
animals but they have no
enjoyment some people Allah describes
them in the
Quran eyes they cannot see
with ears they can't hear with
Hearts they cannot understand
with they are those
cattle they are the ones who are
heedless they don't know that what is
for Allah is for Allah
alone don't join with Allah anything not
even
yourself sometimes we join join ourself
with Allah and you look to yourself and
you said
masallah
allahar take a look at this
house
education
family
children what's missing health
alhamdulillah
alhamdulillah I I I worked
hard how hard did you work hard
I studied for three hours every night
hard
labor I was chained to my desk I did it
myself I built
myself and you forget Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
don't join anything not even yourself
with
Allah that's why you say m Allah this is
what Allah gave gave me willed for me
blessed me with
mashallah Allah gave this this is the
will of Allah for
me I have no power or ability or ability
to do anything except that which Allah
has blessed me
with my last word to my brothers and
sisters here today inshallah I will see
you
tomorrow but this is my last talk with
you
today I want to leave you
with one of my
most loved Hadith of the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi
wasall where he
says every one of
my shall enter
jenah that's you and you and up there
you
and
inshallah all of us inshallah ear
Jenna
except the one who says no could you
imagine they bring you the angels are
pulling you come to I don't want to go
man just leave me
alone what do you mean no why why do you
don't want to go who's going to refuse
Jenna who's going to not let himself go
to Jenna the prophet says
simply the one who obeys me in the way
they live their
life shall make it easy to
Jen and the one who disobeys me in the
way they live their
life has said
no think of those words of the messenger
Muhammad sallallah alaihi wasallam I ask
you to make Dua for me and my wife and
my children and I make Dua for you and
your wife and husband and your children
today sincerely from my heart I pray
that Allah blesses you with every good
in this dun and gives you even greater
in
the