ald to proceed my dearest brothers and
sisters in Islam I greet you with the
warmest Islamic greetings of
peace
brothers and sisters because this is a
very important topic I ask you for us to
create an intimate
environment please come a bit closer
inshallah because this topic is dear to
my heart and inshallah it become dear to
your hearts
too before I get into the topic I want
to give you some preliminary notes and
these notes are I'm not qualified to
speak about the
subject also Alo these notes have been
taken Prim primarily from an amazing
course
that delivered a few months ago a few
months ago called Soul's musk and it's
about sincerity so I thought from
brother to brother that I'll give myself
some and yourself also as we know the
dean
is according to the Hadith of the
Prophet sallallah alai wasallam that the
dean is sincerity and we give each other
sincere advice inshallah because we know
that we have to give this advice because
it defines who we are because as Muslims
we want to be not only a Muslim but a m
we want to come closer to Allah
subhanahu wa taala and one way of doing
that is by loving for others what we
love for ourselves as the prophet Sall
wasallam
said you won't truly believe unless you
love for others what you love for
yourself so if I love this advice and I
think it's good for me then I should
love it for my fellow brothers as well
inshallah and primarily the
understanding of this Hadith is things
concerning religious
matters
so I want to paint a mental picture
before we get into the discussion and
the mental picture is as
follows imagine every single one of you
from today you leave this
conference and you start praying not
only five times a day but all of your
Sunnah prayers you start
fasting nearly every day you fast one
day you don't fast another day you pray
tud every night you do
your you feed the poor you spread the
Salam you give your brothers gifts you
smile you remove obstacles from the road
you engage in charity
s you pay your Z you fast the month of
Ramadan you do everything
possible you strive in the cause of
Allah subhanahu wa
taala you get involved in the da you
become a you call people to
Allah call to the way of your lord Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala
you facilitate the mercy and the
guidance of thousands you have 2,000
shahad you get married again you have
two wives you have four wives
alhamdulillah you have 20 children every
single one of those children are women
they're girls and you bring them up you
educate them and they're righteous we
know the Hadith if you have three two
even one daughter you educate
her and she's
righteous then you go to
paradise you adopt orphans you feed them
Subhan Allah you are a Wonder Muslim you
take over the world you become
khif and then you go on the day of
judgment and Allah throws you to
hell you're in Janam burning
forever even though you did all of these
good deeds and what is hell what is
Janam
eternity what is eternity and think
about eternity imagine the ocean and
you're standing on a very small
island and the ocean is so vast that you
can't see any land in any direction in
any part of the Horizon and you have a
teaspoon and you take the teaspoon you
dip into the ocean and you empty it onto
your
Island but every time you could do that
it would takes you a thousand years so
1,000 years you dip into the ocean with
your teaspoon you empty it then let's
wait another Thousand Years dip your
teaspoon into the ocean
then empty out then wait another
thousand
years this is
eternity this essentially is
eternity so although you did all of
these Good Deeds you're going to hell
why who knows
why yes brother
because brother it's because we did not
do these Deeds solely for the sake of
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
and this shows the Prim the primary
importance the immense significance of
dealing with our hearts and it is
something that many of the said this is
something we should learn before we
learn some say this even some say before
you learn the other branches of a
because it's the basis of AA if you
don't have
sincerity in what you are saying in your
belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in
the truth truth of his Islam then you
don't have Islam this one of the
conditions of the Shah which
is so I really want
to just go through some notes so we
really learn from each other I don't
want this to be another lecture sermon I
think we should really gain some very
useful lessons today and W at the end of
the today I want everybody to go home
with practical strategies and steps on
how to improve theas
okay let let me promise that to you
inshallah that we'll at least discuss
some practical steps and strategies to
improve our such an important
topic so before we do this let's discuss
where isas where does it lie is it in
the brain is it in the liver is it in
your toll essentially is in the in the
heart and according
to the the heart obviously comes from a
term which means to waver it's always
wavering the heart essentially is the
spiritual being and it is centered in
the physical heart as per the Hadith the
famous Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam when he
pointed to his heart when he was talking
about the location of ta God
Consciousness the mindfulness awareness
the fear of Allah subhanahu wa
taala and essentially if we think about
this a key
feature of a righteous heart is that in
a constant state of Yearning with
regards to yearning Allah subhanahu wa
taala the yearning of the love and mercy
of Allah subhanahu wa taala and we know
Al gazali the 11th Century theologian
and Scholar he mentioned in his books
about the heart and he said essentially
the heart is the king and the limbs are
the soldiers so if you think about the
analogy here that the heart is the
Locust it's the central point with
regards to the actions it's the basis of
the actions because we know that we the
the actions themselves are indication of
our own intentions of what's going in
our heart so sometimes you see if
someone's always doing bad is there's
something wrong with their heart it's an
symptom of underlying
cause and this reflects the Hadith of
the Prophet sallallah wasam which you
you could find in bhari and Muslim when
the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam
said in the body there is a musle of of
Flesh if it is sound the whole body is
sound if it's corrupt the whole body is
corrupt and from this perspective some
of the they said there are three types
of Hearts there is the sound heart as
mentioned in the Quran the sick heart
also mentioned in the Quran and a dead
heart now let's summarize what these are
a sound heart essentially according to
the is it's free from desires and
defects from the blemishes of sin and
the blemishes of our own NS and desires
a sick
heart is a heart that knows its Lord
knows its R Allah subhanahu wa taala to
a certain degree but It suffers from
lapses I think maybe the majority of us
are in the second category may Allah
subhana wa tala make us have a sound
heart Allah says in the Quran that no
one's going to be safe on the day unless
we have a sound
heart and also there is the dead heart
which essentially this heart doesn't
know its Lord at
all and from this we must understand
what are the actions of the heart now
according to the the actions of the
heart are not just mere Whispering it's
not just basically fleeting thoughts
okay because we know various narrations
when the sahabah may be pleased with
them went to the prophet sallallah alai
wasallam and said you know I have some
fleeting thoughts in my mind or in my
heart that if I were to utter them I I'd
rather be thrown off a cliff and the
prop Prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam
said this is a sign of
Iman just ignore them they're like
passing clouds don't attach yourself to
them the whisperings of Shan okay this
is not an action of the heart per se and
this is a useful advice especially
amongst the youth who suffer from from
Whispering wasas especially when it
comes to wo I was in the car earlier
we're driving up here and one brother
called us and he was saying I don't know
if I did three raats two raats I don't
know if I don't know if I lied or if I
have in this I don't know if I prayed he
had all these issues and we have to
discuss him this isan ignore it Shan
wants you to move away from Allah subhah
wa tala Allah always wants you back you
know don't have this kind of Despair so
the fleeting thought is not an action of
the
heart the action of the heart
essentially is the driving
force
that essentially has the resolve of
action which we're going to discuss a
little bit later so it's it's it's the
it's the it's the Key Driving Force in
your heart that has a resolve
a strong resolve to do some action with
some said we are accountable for this
cuz generally we say you're not
accountable what's in your heart you're
accountable for your Deeds but some
which we going to discuss this type of
action of the heart which is a very
strong desire with the impulse of action
with a determination in intention to do
some action this is the action of the
heart and the reason I'm mentioning it
now because we going link to something
we're going to discuss later so
sincerity lies in the heart
and this is why the said specifically
may Allah preserve him he said never
have wasas never have Whispering for
your
I pray pray to Allah do you did wo you
did woo you have a doubt that you think
you didn't do wo ignore it's just a
doubt doubt doesn't override certainty
it's a general principle in our
Dean have y have a connection with Allah
have tranquility and s in your okay
however if there is anything you must be
concerned about be doubtful of even have
whispering and what's what about it is
your
intention it is your intention because
it's the basis for everything in the
dean and it's actually the basis of
itself so we know the Arabic
word linguistically means doing
something for a particular purpose and
it also means to purify something and
not to mix anything with it so this is
why there's a difference between
sincerity as an English term and
becauseas is is making something
exclusive purifying your intention for
something
specific hence from this perspective is
to do something purely for the sake of
Allah to gain his reward and prevent
oneself from entering Janam so think
about thisas in the dean of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala
is to purely do something for the sake
of Allah to gain his reward and to
prevent oneself from entering Janam this
isas okay nowas is explained some by
some of the is as follows and these are
some statements of some
of number one to single out Allah with
intention in matters of obedience number
two purifying actions of impurities
these impurities mean doing some part of
the action for somebody else of
something other than Allah subhanahu wa
taala number three that your public and
private actions are similar Subhan Allah
it's a very strong IND indication ofas
why you doing more actions in public and
not and less actions in private if
you're solely seeking the face of Allah
subhanahu wa'ta'ala you're doing it
solely for the sake of Allah then they
should be equal at least if not more in
private number four that you do not seek
other than Allah as a witness for your
actions or as a compensator for them so
your reward is only with Allah which
reminds me of the story between Abu Bakr
and
om
when he basically wanted to compete with
Abu Bakr we know competition in the dean
is a good thing in the D it's a bad
thing let him have the D but in the dean
it's a good thing and this not negative
competition meaning I don't want you to
be good rather to facilitate the
increase of Good Deeds for the sake of
Allah and om always always had a
competition with Abu
Bakr cuz Abu Bakr as we know no one
could beat him in Good Deeds no one
could beat
Abu in good deeds and Omar said today is
my day today is my day and I believe it
was in the Battle of tabuk Omar gave
half his wealth and the prophet
sallallah alaihi wasallam
said Omar what have you left for your
family and om replies I have left half
my wealth Subhan Allah imagine giving
half of your wealth then Abu Bakr gives
money gives his wealth and the prophet
sallallah alaihi wasallam says to Abu
Bak what have you left for your family
and Abu Bakr replies I have left them
with Allah and his
messenger another
narration he wanted to beat again Abu
Bakr and Good Deeds so what he would do
he would go to a Jewish lady's house to
try and clean it
but then he would always find the Jewish
lady's house clean and he was like
what's going on who's cleaning the house
he wanted do a hidden deed that no one
knew so he hid one day and guess who's
cleaning the house earlier Abu
Bakr and Abu Bakr was khif at the Time
subh Imagine David Cameron or Obama
cleaning someone's house Subhan they
probably don't even clean their own
toilet these people multi-millionaires
so look at the lesson from when I heard
this I feel like crying first I laughed
I laughed because sometimes it's so
astonishing you either crumble or you
laugh you know it's like the human
reaction I was laughing out of almost
Joy can there be human beings like this
in a position of power of leadership
leading all of the
Muslims trying to expand the frontiers
of Islam so we could establish peace
mercy and Justice to The Wider Society
yet he had time to go to a Jewish
woman's house and clean her
house W isn't this amazing you know the
thing about the sahabah the more you
read about them and the more you listen
about them the more you love them isn't
that right the more stories you find
about you just love them but when it
comes to
like the celebrities the sahab ofan if
you like the companions of Shan the more
you read about them the more you hate
them right even if it's your favorite
football player remember John Terry I
had respect for him I thought he was a
warrior on the on the defense you find
out more about him what he's done
apparently what he done then you just
don't like these guys isn't it yeah but
so this
is so this is a very good um kind of
story with regards to the lives of the
sahab with regards to so let's continue
what the say number five to elim
eliminate creation when dealing with
your lord so when you're seeking subhah
wa taala not to have any intermediaries
even within your heart that there is an
intermediary or you're doing it for
someone else and for Allah okay it's
very very
important the also say that the
non-activity and activity of the slave
of the servant is for Allah exclusively
so let's summarize class so we we really
understand
thisas is the one who makes theas of his
or her religion for Allah only he seeks
the reward of Allah he wants to prevent
himself or herself from entering Janam
and seeks to please
Allah that the servant makes the action
purely for Allah and does not include
anyone else along with Allah in his or
her
religion and we see various quranic
verses related to this for example Sur
bakar verse
1-9 Allah subhanahu wa tala says say oh
Muhammad sallallah alai wasallam do you
argue with us about Allah while he is
our Lord and your lord for us our deeds
and for you are your deeds and we are
sincere in deed and intention to him
referring to Allah subhah waala in
chapter 4: 146 Allah subhanahu wa taala
says except for those who repent correct
themselves hold fast to Allah and are
sincere in their religion for Allah for
those who be the Believers and Allah is
going to give the Believers a great
reward so we see that here is to do
something solely for the sake of Allah
to gain his reward and to remove
yourself from the punishment and we see
there is a quranic obligation for this
as we see in chapter 76 Allah says in
the Quran and they give food in spite of
the love for it to to the needy the
orphan and the captive saying we feed
you only for the countenance of of Allah
we wish not you reward or gratitude so
this is also a sign and a signification
of someone who's doing something Sly for
the sake of Allah they don't care if
they're praised and they don't care if
they're dispraised it's
irrelevant they are very distinct from
that perspective this is why the Islamic
shakia the Islamic character when they
develop when the the the Muslim or the
Muslim develops his or her they become a
very distinct character they could have
friendships that are not based upon
benefit it's not a benefit oriented
friendship like you have in the
capitalist liberal West cuz based on
individualism what's in it for me I'm
all right jack you know I'm his friend
because he's cool I'm his friend because
he has money I'm his friend because he
has status that very shallow friendship
benefit but we befriend someone for the
sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala I'm
your brother for the sake of Allah I
love you for the sake of Allah so if you
spit on me hate me I still give you your
rights I'm still kind to you I'm still
compassionate to you I'm so merciful to
you regardless of reciprocation
regardless and that's the distinct
character of a Muslim but nowadays
unfortunately what do we do someone
doesn't speak to us we don't speak to
them back we won't speak to our brothers
for 9 months even we know if you don't
speak to them more than 3 days I believe
according to the Hadith please correct
me it's like
Slaughter Subhan Allah so if you read
and this this social issue in our
community is not a sign of no knowledge
it's a sign of the state of our hearts
it's a sign of are you loving this
brother for the sake of Allah if that's
the case then your is going to be
different you're going to be talking to
him as if you're talking to your own
mother not as if you're feeling better
about
yourself you didn't pray and you missed
your prayers alhamdulillah I pray what's
wrong with you do you see the kind of
here it's like in Psychology it's called
cognit it's called um it's a zimo theory
it's called zimo Theory of social
comparison Theory sorry festing is
social comparison Theory it's a theory
where you compare yourself with others
just to make yourself feel better
because you have low self-esteem and you
have issues within yourself and that's
what we do as human beings isn't it
sometimes we feel so happy that someone
has done a sin because it reminds us
that we're not sinning Subhan Allah that
itself is a
sin so if we follow the Hadith of the
Prophet Sall wasallam that
said the believer is a mirror of another
believer so if if your fellow believer
has a
blemish and he's your mirror image what
are you going to do you're not going to
wipe the mirror are you you're going to
check yourself because if he's sinning
you're sinning so if you have that
approach when you give him it would be
like giving n to your own mother so this
is why we must have thatas and sincerity
in our hearts and this quranic verse is
a strong indication of
this a very famous Hadith which I
believe is a
hadithi is quite long but it's Worth to
read out because it's such every time I
read it w your hairs should go on end
it's a very powerful Hadith
concerning and who are we seeking with
regards to our
Deeds the Hadith is as follows and I
believe it's in Muslim I
believe the first of people against whom
judgment will be pronounced of the day
of Resurrection will be a man who died
as a mar okay which we know is the
greatest deed
he would be brought and Allah will make
known to him his favors and he will
recognize them the almighty Allah will
say and what did you do about them he
will say I fought for you until I died a
mar and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would
say you have lied you did but fight that
it might be said of you he is courageous
and so it was said then he would be
ordered to be dragged Along on his face
and until his cast into the Hellfire
another will be a man who has studied
religious knowledge and has taught it
and used to recite the Quran he will be
brought and Allah will make known to him
his favors and he will recognize them
the almighty Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will say and what did you do about them
he would say I studied religious
knowledge and I taught it and I recited
the Quran for your sake
only Allah will say you have lied and
you did but study religious knowledge
that it might be said of you he is
learned and you recited the Quran that
it might be said of you he is a reciter
and so it was said then he would be
ordered to be dragged Along on his face
until he was cast into Janam into
Hellfire another will be a man whom
Allah had made rich and to whom he had
given all kinds of wealth he'll be
brought to Allah and he will make known
to him his favors and he will recognize
them the almighty Allah will say and
what what did you do about them he will
say I left no path untrodden in which
you like Mone to be spent without
spending in it for your sake oh Allah he
would say you have lied you did but do
so that it might be said of you he is
open-handed and so it was said then he
will be ordered to be dragged along his
face into his cast into
Janam Subhan Allah this Hadith is enough
this Hadith is enough for us to
understand that the actions themselves
are going to be judged by intention and
where our heart lies who was it for was
it for the public was it for fame and
this is even worse for people like us
who speak now and then it's much
worse and we have to bear this in mind
because if our Deeds are not for the
sake of Allah then these Deeds are
nothing zero no matter what deed you you
have done no matter how high it is on
the scales in doesn't mean anything if
there is noas Behind These Deeds it
gives you nothing on the day of judgment
humiliation and this is something we all
have to realize and always have a
conscious effort to really focus CU
remember lies in the heart the heart is
something that waivers and many of the
especially I
believe he said the the thing I'm always
scared about is my intention because
it's always changing it's always
changing
so we have to really really be focused
and take a snapshot of ourselves
continuously every day every hour and
ask ourself the question which is the
power of questions and the power of
questions is a strategy that Allah has
given us because from questions Allah
gives us
answers and in themselves do do they not
see that's like a rhetorical question
almost or making you really think into
the inner dimension of the self look
within yourself the physiological
psychological realities there is
something here that's
indicating the Oneness of Allah subhah
wa taala with regards to his
worship with regards to his lordship
there there's elements that you can
understand from within yourself your own
creation your own NS even your
physiology and your psychology that
indicate the Divine reality that
indicate Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala so
Allah makes us
[Applause]
question have you not seen the count
when how it was created question the
power of questions makes us directs us
towards a certain conclusion and this is
the quranic strategy of making us think
and reflect
doing do they not reflect within
themselves Allah says for those who
reflect so the power of questions are
very important it makes us reflect and
it makes us think deeply about our
reality and this is why we have to keep
this strategy every day in our lives to
be people of reflection so we reflect
within our hearts so we know where does
my intention
lie sincerity is very important because
we know it's the condition it's one of
the it's one of the two conditions for
Action to be accepted because we know
any action in the dean for to be
accepted is based on what you're doing
it for the sake of Allah for the for the
reward or to remove yourself from for
from the punishment or for all three and
it has to be in line with
the with the Shar this is
why
Al said about chapter
67:2 when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
to test you which of you is best in
action he said this means verily an
action that is done
sincerely and is not prop prop and is
not proper is not accepted so think
about this even if you have but it's not
a proper action it's not accepted and
when it is proper but there is nolas it
is also not accepted sincere action is
one that is done for the sake of Allah
and is proper and is in line with the
Sharia and it's in in accordance with
the Sunnah so we see from this
perspective that we know that actions
are accepted if you have and they're in
line with Islam so let's look at some of
the fruit fruits of
sincerity first and foremost the fruits
of sincerity are so great that the
rewards of sincerity outstrip the action
itself the rewards of sincerity outstrip
the action itself for example you could
have done an action for instance to feed
a thousand orphans but you just managed
to feed 10 but you had so muchas in
doing it for the sake of Allah and your
intention was pure to feed a thousand
but you couldn't Allah reward you for
your
intention the other fruits of sincerity
is that your actions are accepted as we
just
discussed a significant aspect
of is that habitual actions are rewarded
now this is to the sisters as an example
listen to this carefully say you've been
making your husband the same Curry every
Saturday for 30 years and W you hate the
smell of the curry it takes time you
have to have you're sweating and you're
upset W for 30 years you could have
reward of Allah if you said I don't like
it but I'm doing it for your sake Ya
Allah habitual actions if you turn them
as actions for the sake of Allah they
become immensely rewardable imagine all
the things that you do that become
mechanical in your life even if it's
eating
food you eat food because we're animals
from that perspective and we need to
feed ourselves to have energy to live
kry some Pak Roti whatever stuff you
have if you're Somali you have banana
with your rice whatever the case may be
yeah if it's me like Greeks we have
musaka yeah so from this
perspective eating your own eating your
breakfast could be a reward could be I
why before you put a morsel of food in
your in your mouth if you say Ya Allah
I'm eating this so I strengthen my body
so I could become a strong servant and a
worshipper cuz the prophet sallallah was
did say that the strong believer is
better than the weak one which means
physical and other aspects of Iman as
well W if you did that every single
piece of food and W many of us eat I
could even tell by looking at
you yes or no we eat we eat and
alhamdulillah the bar and blessing from
Allah but imagine we focus W he do this
as homework please I beg you for the
sake of Allah do it one so I could get
the reward and secondly so you could
really start being a person ofas
continuously even your habitual actions
you're going to eat tonight yes or no
yes or no no one fasts in the evening
yeah yeah
alhamdulillah before you eat have in
mind Allah say Ya Allah I know I'm
eating and I want to eat because it's an
instinct but Ya Allah I'm I'm I'm taking
a snapshot of myself focusing and saying
Ya Allah I'm doing it to glorify you you
I'm doing it Ya Allah to glorify you
because I know you have given me this
food all praise due to you you have
given me the r for me to to enable to
eat this food and I'm going to use this
to strengthen myself for and to be a
strong Muslim for your
sake do this put your hand up if you're
going to do this today please M it's
amazing and you do this every day say
you got 30 years left 20 years left 10
years left Allah knows but you do it for
the that you have left you eat it will
become an
I imagine that
bro Li
imagine imagine can you just imagine
eating drinking
water that's the power
ofas we know it's a protection from
Shan we know it
prevents it grants us wisdom it removes
regret and anxiety it gives Eternal
Paradise forgiveness from Allah subhana
wa ta'ala and reward even if
mistaken even if mistaken and we see
this in aspects of if you thought was it
was the right way and it was an matter
but you're wrong you still get the
reward as we know per theth of the
Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam so these are the fruits ofas
let's look at the dangers well first and
foremost is very simple you're B from
entering J you are B from entering
Eternal Bliss with Allah subhana wa
ta'ala
Hellfire is the recompense and we
discuss what eternity really means in a
practical sense get a teaspoon dip it
into the ocean throw it away and wait
another Thousand Years dip your teaspoon
into the
ocean throw what you have away and
continue doing that Subhan Allah is the
ocean ever going to
diminish we know actions are rejected
totally and we lose the reward of
actions an eternal residence in the
Hellfire will be our
abod so we've understood whatas is we've
seen the fruits
ofas we've seen the dangers ofas now
let's
discuss two elements that are related
toas which something that we need to
really focus on and we know this very
well but it's a reminder for all of us
and this
is doing actions so that people can see
them in order to win their praise this
is the scolar definition of R doing
actions so that people can see them in
order to win their praise and admiration
or to gain position and Status amongst
them and or or to obtain any worldly
benefit this is hugely important to
understand because nullifies sincerity
it
nullifies
and hence Allah says in the Quran in
chapter 107 so woe to those who pray but
are heedless of the prayer those who
make it to show off the deeds and
withhold simple
assistance also Allah says in the Quran
Surah Bak verse 264 all you have
believed do not invalidate your
Charities with reminders of injury as as
does one who spends his wealth to be
seen by the people and does not believe
on Allah and the last day and listen to
this example by Allah his example is
like of a large smooth Stone upon which
is dust and is hit by a downpour
downpour of water that leaves it bare
they're unable to keep anything of what
they have earned so R from this
perspective demolishes our Deeds just
like the stone that has dust on it and
there is a showering of of rain and
there's no dust left it's gone you can't
obtain anything of what you've earned
this is the danger of including
something something else or someone else
such as Fame status
in your intention and some of the they
say take me as a speaker I'm giving you
a talk and inshallah it was for the sake
of Allah okay may Allah make us
sincere and I saw the reaction of a
brother the reaction of a brother he's
like Subhan Allah from his reaction I
changed my
style I increased my voice and I do it
because I know I'm getting some
recognition that is as well
and the say I get rewarded up to that
point but anything you have added into
my action I don't get no reward but if
towards the end of the talk I do it just
for the sake of your pleasure and your
reaction then that could even be
shik Subhan
Allah do you see how nuanced it
is this is why never have was with your
but have was for your intentions think
about them be conscious of them Contin
L and this makes a person very conscious
he he becomes a mindful person
everything he or she does is is in a
state of mindfulness W that's a very
distinct position to be in even when
you're washing
dishes you're bored you're tired your
hands may be cracking like my mom's
hands they crack because she's allergic
to to London water this because there's
a lot of chemicals and water they crack
but she washes it if she was Muslim may
Allah guide her and she said I'm doing
it for your sake Allah that habitual
action could be immense reward for her
even Brothers massage your wife's feet
when was the last time you massage your
wife's feet put your hand
up has anyone massaged the wife's feet
before has
anyone if you put your hand up then
you're you're encouraging people to do
good deeds have thatas Mah may Allah
bless you may Allah bless
you I think was amazing but I know how
many of us we don't T typical Kashmir HH
feet women don't have feet
yeah
well massage your wife's feet do it for
the sake of Allah tonight put your hand
up another action homework who's going
to massage the wife's feet put your hand
up you don't have a wife your she I have
you have a wife but I never done it well
do it today I can't why not I don't know
what you can you can might be but I
never try you know try just
say wife I love you for the sake of
Allah I've never done this before I
heard a talk
today some little boy was giving me a
talk and he said some few good things
maybe and he told me to massage your
feet for the sake of Allah so I get
reward and because it would encourage me
to love you more she be like what she
probably do things to you that you never
imagine yeah she here have your best cry
today yeah do you see my point do it
does it work do you get the respect of
your wife of course you she loves you
more yes or no well were humbling
experience massaging the fear of your
wife what about your mother even more
important Paradise is under the feet of
your mother do it
see in order for us to transform and
change you don't Aspire don't say I'm
going to change I intend to change
change never works that way change is
when you be you be you do and you become
this is the psychology
of cry in the last of the night if you
can't cry pretend and when you keep on
doing it it will become part of you then
you'll have sincerity in it you be you
do and you
become don't don't think do it like says
even if you think you don't have pretend
to have do the deed
anyway and then you press the button now
have Ya Allah I'm doing it for your sake
and that's it you done it for his sake
no words are notas it's where your heart
lies and she makes a beautiful Point
don't stop the the Deeds don't let Shan
win and saying a I'm not sincer I'm not
going to do the deed do it and keep on
having a lot in mind do it and continue
and be continuous so you be you do you
become so even if there's no in it
you're hesitant you know we got that
Pride just do it do it do it and then
once you keep on doing it you do then
you become it become part of
you
honestly
so this also refers to Hadith of the
Prophet sallallah alai wasallam related
by I
Ma and the Hadith is
Hass the prophet sallallah wasallam he
talked about and he said shall I not
inform you of what I fear for you more
than the it is hidden it is when a man
stands up for prayer then beautifies his
prayer for another to look at
it so we should be careful of this and
always have Allah in mind when we're
doing any action and not to have and and
not to have any aspects of Our intention
being spoiled by doing things for fame
or other
people connected to
is this is the same as but instead of
the occurring via the senses of the
sight it is through the hearing so it's
very similar some of the said it's the
same as but in a different form and this
form in in terms of hearing it's where
you want people to know about your good
deeds there's a famous story from the
salaf I believe someone had a very
amazing recitation and the brothers were
saying oh mashallah he's his recitation
is amazing and then the person who's
reciting turns around and says and I was
fasting today as
well now this is is basically when you
you you may even have done the deed for
the sake of Allah but after you want
people to know about
it and this is why inkari there's a
Hadith where the Prophet sallallahu alai
wasallam says he who commits Allah will
do that with him and he who commits
Allah will do that with
him essentially Allah will forget him
because you included someone else in the
deed that you're supposed to do for the
sake of Allah be very
careful now let's hear some stories from
the early Generations
concerning
so was asked
was asked what is the thing most
difficult for the na actually was not I
apologize he replied to have especially
when the soul is not disposed towards it
so the the Sal the best People of Our
Generation said thatas was the hardest
thing so imagine how we should be
feeling about our own intention and
our
Al he said abandoning action for the
sake of people is to seek the admiration
to do an action for the sake of people
is to commit indeed is when Allah saves
you from both of these
states so listen listen to some Tales of
sincerity which really uh really makes
us think
about D hidden he fasted for 40
years and even his family did not
know he would take his lunch from them
but he would give it away as
Charity and then he would return at
night and eat with his family Subhan
Allah he would fast for 40 years and his
even his family did not know W many of
us our wives know when we're fasting our
wives when we're reading know when we're
reading Quran our wives know when we're
doing T our wives knows these things but
look at this I that no one knew not even
his even his
family now listen to
this who wrote books from and but
significantly he was known for for
political aspects in the dean he
wrote the of the sulan of
the and he wrote many of these Works he
very famous for these works but W he was
not known for any of them during his
lifetime he was not known for any of
them during his lifetime think about
this because when he died he told his
close companion that he hid some books
that he wrote and to publish them after
his death because he was fearful of his
sincerity W when I heard this I was
almost in
tears just just just reflect on this
story also it was reported that AB
prayed at night if someone entered his
house he would lie down in his bed as if
he was
sleeping so
think about these stories and reflect on
our so let's quickly in the last 5
minutes discuss the indicators of
sincerity the indicators of insincerity
and how we can develop elas the
strategies we can use so the IND
indicators of insincerity as follows
they dislike being
famous when
abak he gave a speech to the to the
ansar at the death of the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam which I
believe was on a Monday he gave them a
speech and said I want to be the
leader he loved the speech because he
was preparing his own speech but he said
om based on the pro impromptu speech
without preparation was better than mine
but I disagreed with the last statement
which was that I should be the leader he
said W I would rather my head to be cut
off than me to lead Abu
Bakr and all of the salf and the P
pisters they moved away from leadership
and being famous so they dislike being
famous they dislike praise they had the
intense desire to work for the sake of
the dean they wanted to be proactive and
seek reward they have patience and
forbearance they strive to do deeds in
secret they strive to perfect the deeds
in secret and their hidden actions are
greater than the public ones this are
these are indicators of sincerity the
indicators of insincerity is wanting to
be known and wanting to be famous liking
praise striving to show off one Deeds
concentration on perfecting deeds in
public only and have hardly having any
hidden Deeds so to the most important
Point Let's now really take home this
message on how to develop our
sincerity if you haven't focused for the
past few minutes Focus
now which
I the more I read about I the more I
respect him as a polymath w this
human being was phenomenal especially in
the works of Islamic thought there is a
book that was recommended by a senior
student of knowledge who sits at the
feet of senior in Mecca who are experts
on IB and it's a book in English is
published by BR and is written by John
Hoover and John Hoover has so much
respect for him he calls him the she and
this book is called I's theodicy of
Perpetual optimism forget the ground
words it's a very simple book and it's
amazing on view on creation on the
purpose of life problem of evil and
amazing stuff so this she is amazing and
he and listen to this advice he said do
one deed every day that no one will know
about ever and this doesn't include the
prayers because they know you pray
you're a Muslim do a deed every day that
no one knows about apart from you and
Allah subhana wa tala even you will
forget again put your hand up would you
do a deed every day try have they intend
you do a deed every day that you do for
the sake of Allah that no one knows
about
alhamdulillah second it's very important
seek the help from Allah make Dua say
Allah make me
sincere make this Dua without the help
of Allah we are
nothing be absorbed in thinking about
the because no without your is
doomed avoid seeking to be known avoid
seeking to be
known think about death M every soul is
going to taste death think about death
continuously because W when you think
about death you become sincere very
easily and an indication of this is if
you've ever done martial arts before
boxing and you've had a sparring match
you've been beaten up badly you're so
humble you you're slightly closer to
death than others you're so sincere it's
happened to me it's happened to me when
i' be really beaten and tired in a
boxing match or something when I used to
do boxing I'm like yeah man I was so
wrong please forgive me
do you see my point but if I wasn't in
that state I'd have a bit more of an ego
you're beaten isn't it sometimes a good
beating is good man some of us need it
yeah not that I recommend us to beat
each other up but you know amongst
Brothers a light little slap here and
there may do us some good you know to
wake us up W sometimes we need
this we we must increase the praise of
Allah and decrease the praise of
creation to understand that behind
everything is Allah subhanahu wa tala
all thanks and all praise are due and
belong to Allah if we really acknowledge
this from a psychological perspective
then it would increase our because we
know everything is from Allah
anyway we must be worried about the
acceptance of our Deeds always be
worried about them and that's a good
indication ofas and it helps increase
our evaluate yourself
regularly always take a snapshot of
yourself and say who's this for Ya Allah
who's this for I want it to be for your
sake have that driving force in your
heart to do it for the sake of
Allah and remember that you will be
known on the day of Resurrection for
what you
did you'll be known you don't have to be
known in the D you'll be known in
the and make your aim Allah everyone has
an aim and make your aim Allah subhanahu
wa tala the lord of the
worlds as the Hadith says Whoever has
the her as his main concern Allah will
bring together all of his his Affairs he
will fill his heart with richness and
contentment and this world will come to
him in spite of it Whoever has this
world as his main concern Allah will
place all his matters in disarray Place
poverty before his eyes and he have
nothing of this world except what was
already predestined for him so to
end let's respond to Allah's call of
coming closer to him the call of
everything that is good and everything
that is good is done withas cuz if we do
that then Allah will give us life as
Allah says in the
Quran all you who believe respond to the
call of Allah and his Messenger to that
which gives you life Imam bukari says
the response here is to respond all that
is good and according to all that is
good is Islam itself and any Deeds
within Islam we must have so inshallah
this was a very nice reminder for the
brothers and the sisters please you
promised to do three homeworks massage
the feet of your mother or your wife if
your women massage the feet of your
husband or your mother or even your your
father make all your habitual deeds into
Deeds of I even your food tonight you're
doing it for the sake of Allah to
strengthen yourself so you could have
more I for Allah subhah wa tala follow
the strategies do a deed every day that
no one knows excluding the prayers for
the sake of Allah that no one knows and
you even forget and just do it solely
for his sake and follow the strategies
of developing your by always being aware
of your understanding without you have
nothing and all the strategy we just
discuss and develop some more of your
own be of I pray that Allah subhana
guide you and loves you and forgives you
and forgives all of us make Dua for the
oppressed of our um make Dua for me make
Dua for my parents that they guided to
Islam and may Allah subh love all of you
and the uncle asked the question
why why in US following the actions
of do we find them a
Tabo for example even maybe the clothes
or the beard or wearing misw or the sun
prayers or your feeding the poor or
dealing with people nicely or even the
things that even Society see as
something that's
wrong like massage the feet of your
wives or polygamy for instance yeah I
know it's a popular subject wants you
guys yeah alhamdulillah or whatever
these are stigmatized Tabo subjects I
don't know the answer I'm not a or yeah
I'm just a little boy mine but I give
you my 10 p and my 10 p on this is
this is that we have suffered from an
infity complex because we lack a little
bit of and y y in the belief in Allah
subhana waala what he has given us is
good for us W if you take the sahaba the
small village The Villages of Mecca and
Medina they had nothing and they took
over the world onethird of the world how
in Earth did they do this they had no
weapons they had no technology they had
no Academia it was just them anded
because they knew whated meant it wasn't
the three
categories Etc yes we know that from
academic perspective but it was here in
the heart cuz when Allah says and his
messenger
say what does that
mean it's it's not a statement we say as
out of frustration when we SPO tea on
the floor may never say that what have
you
done you never listen yeah we use that
almost as a expletive to replace the
swear words but what does it mean it
means there is no true power except the
power of Allah this means that anything
in creation intrinsically has no true
power therefore you can't blame them for
anything and they don't have any power
and they can't be your obstacle because
because Allah only uses him as a tool to
bring about his will and his power this
is so fundamental in the science of in
the affirming the Oneness of
Allah this is why the sahab they could
take over the world not be not fear
anybody cuz they knew whatever happens
because of Allah's own power not because
of him he has no TR I'm not going to
fear him he's nothing I'm nothing do you
see and this is this is so important for
us to understand it would really Empower
us to have a new realm of possibility to
achieve what we can
achieve this is why abak what did he do
before leading the Army he would make
Dua to Allah so much as if he needed no
one else but Allah he was finished and
when he was fighting on the battlefield
what did he do what did he
do it's as if he needed no one else by
himself this is the Muslim w we fear the
things that should not be
feared and we become victims
W Uncle we become victims the language
of victimhood is a disempowering
language you tell me when the prophet
sallallah alaih wasallam blamed anyone
else for his situation tell me when did
he blame others design as Fox News BBC
when did he blame these
people wake up we have even political
organizations amongst the um we always
want to be the victims oh we're
oppressed oh we're this oh we're that we
we become women with beard beards W
we're women with beards yes we are
oppressed we agree but we don't have the
mentality of the oppressed because we
have Allah Allah is our helper Allah is
our friend we have Allah they don't have
Allah we have they don't
have every situation is an opportunity
for reward and
success and we should never have the
victim of once you have the victim of
mentality what do you do you give power
to the oppressor he is the only one that
is able to change your situation that is
the science of victimhood oh I can't I
can't change look at me I'm I'm a victim
theah were never like this even when
they were losing in battle sometimes
because they understood
reality they understood reality so I
think it's is understanding what he
really means in the heart and by the way
atheists are muss according to Dr jaff
Idris and he makes an amazing point
because they attribute power to Creation
interesting point huh the all powerful
the attribute the attribute to
Creation because the naturalists which
in the classical Sciences they were
called
the which now is known as
Communists the they were naturalist
thinking that the whole world is a
self-contained system and they only has
power so when you fear you're like an
atheist it's like you don't believe in
Allah because you think that this
creation has intrinsic power this is the
of a naturalist of the this is Thea of
the atheist but we believe in
Allah so when we reaffirm this y it will
change your life in and you see this in
the lives of the sahab 90 years after
the death of where were we who knows
where Multan is Pakistan we're in Multan
we're in
Spain subh 90 years after the death of
prophet and it was only then that we
decided to fix the Masid by the way he
still dripping of water so that tells
you how important buildings are in Islam
not very
important
okay question can I take this question
is that is that okay Uncle sorry so I
went off a little bit of a rant I do
apologize I get like that sometimes it's
the Greek in me yeah no excuse though um
question if we are reading the Quran or
some other Islamic book and feel like
sharing the verses or lessons from other
book on Facebook sometimes I I think I
may be sharing it like telling the world
this is what I'm reading but I think I'm
sharing because I want to share the
knowledge how to keep the intention
correct when sharing knowledge in
publicas and Facebook likes on Islamic
statuses we don't want to be famous
that's a very good point actually after
the course I did with I nearly stopped
my Twitter account my Facebook account I
needly stop giving talks I needly stop
writing I need to stop doing everything
I I need to stop doing the da you know
you know that and but that was Shan
obviously yeah making you stop doing
good deeds yeah but it was such a
powerful course I walked out of the
course thinking none of my Deeds have
been
accepted
honestly I think sister the best thing
to do here is every time you do this
action have Allah in your mind don't
make it mechanical every time you do it
you you say Allah I'm doing this to
glorify
you don't allow Shan to whisper thinking
oh look you're getting famous people are
liking your status updates whatever the
case may be if you fear so much then you
could I think disable your status likes
and just put that the status up there in
the first place and if there is a time
when you think that you're doing it for
or something then don't do it for the
hour wait till the next day and make to
Allah and say Ya Allah help me spread
your knowledge and this is a good tool
and Facebook can be a good tool to
spread knowledge it's a public tool and
make Dua to Allah subhah wa ta'ala for
this and follow the strategies we
mentioned think about your is this deed
going to make any impact to my no it's
not if I do it for other people is it it
could lead to sh Subhan Allah if all you
need to do is remind yourself Allah says
and remind the Believers for reminding
is good for them keep on reminding
yourself W if you have that in your mind
even write the strategies down every
time you have this Whispering of this
kind of wrong inclination pick up that
paper and say oh Subhan Allah I remember
the strategies yes Subhan Allah there
Hellfire for me yes this I want to move
away from this y I'm doing it for you
for your
sake okay so that's probably the only
thing I could give you
inshallah