Podcast: Play in new window | Download (15.9MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | Youtube Music | RSS
Auto-generated transcript:
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen. Wa salatu wa salamu ala ash-sharafi al-anbiya wal-mursaleen, Muhammadur Rasulullah ﷺ, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasleeman kathiran kathirah. Faham abadhu. My brothers and sisters, alhamdulillah. We are here for what we intend to be a series of lectures like this, one every month. So, Saeed Bhai will give you a number, a WhatsApp number, which you can send your suggestions on that number, insha’Allah.
Today, the topic is: Am I a Momin? And I thought I’d begin with this because everything beneficial and useful comes from self-assessment. If we want to do something, we have to do it. If we want to know what our needs are, we must begin with what we already have. Then you bridge the gap and say, “I already have this, but I need this much more.” That is why we said, let us begin with the question: Am I a Momin?
The reason we need to ask this question is because the promises of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, jalla jalaluhu, are all for the mu’mineen, not merely for the muslimeen. To be a Muslim is to enter the door—the door of Salam, the door of Islam, the door of peace, the door of safety. Just enter the door. So, alhamdulillah, we have all entered the door. We ask Allah to accept it from us. But the real payoff is when we become true believers, the mu’mineen.
That is the reason why Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, said:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أُدْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطْوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ
Allah said, “O you who believe, enter into Islam fully, totally, and completely. And do not follow in the footsteps of shaitan. Truly, he is for you a clear enemy, manifest enemy.”
This ayah is addressed to the people who believe (ya ayyuha allatheena amanu). In this ayah, Allah is addressing people who are already believers, not non-believers. He is saying, “Enter into Islam completely.” From this, we understand that simply saying *La ilaha illallah* and *Muhammadur Rasulullah* is not sufficient. It is obviously required because that’s the first step, but it is not enough. It is not enough because Islam is a way of life; it is a complete nizamul hayat. Islam is not just a theory, a philosophy, or a bunch of rules related to worship. It is a complete way of life.
For a human being, no matter what you do, where you live, your status, whether you are rich or poor, black or white, healthy or sick—no matter what you are or where you are—Islam applies to you. No matter what question you have in life, whether it has to do with business, raising children, marriage, education, travel, what you eat and drink, or what you earn and from where, every single aspect of a human life is covered by Islam. Any question you have, there is an answer in Islam for that question. It is incumbent upon us to find out those answers and to live our lives according to them. This is the requirement of a Muslim. That is why Allahﷻ promised all His promises specifically to the Mumineen—the people who have entered into Islam completely.
Allah said:
إِنَّ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ فِي جَنَّاتٍ وَعُيُونٍ
“Verily, the gardens and the streams and rivers of Jannah are for the Muttakeen.” People of Taqwa, which are the Mumineen. Allahﷻ mentioned the Muttakeen in many places in the Quran, and when we say “Mumineen,” we mean “Muttakeen.” The two words mean the same thing. A Mumineen is a person of Taqwa. So, for us, it is therefore important to check and see if we are believers.
Allahﷻ mentioned the believers and He said:
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ
“The believers (Momineen) have succeeded.” Allah did not say the Momineen *will* succeed; He said they *have* succeeded. If you are a Mumineen, then Alhamdulillah, we are already successful. This is the first ayah of Surah Al-Mumineen. Then Allahﷻ, in the next ten ayats, also described the qualities of the believers.
The ayah which I mentioned just now was about entering Islam fully:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُدْ خُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً وَلَا تَطَّبِعُوا خُطْوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ أَدُوَّمُ بِهِ
“My brothers and sisters, we spend a lot of time in our lives planning careers, planning our future, thinking about what is the future—what we should do, what we should not do—and so on. The question I ask myself and you is: How much of that time is spent thinking about our real future, which is the future of the Akhirah?”
If I ask you a question and say, “Tell me what is your ambition,” there are lots of young people here, and this applies to everyone, young and old. What will you say? What is your ambition? Most people say, “Jannah.” In this world, what is your ambition? Insha’Allah, Jannah for all of us. But in this world, what is your ambition? So the ambition is to be successful. What else? These are general statements. Nobody says “be successful.” Give me a proper answer. Be successful means what? Be successful by doing what? There has to be a specific answer, no? Yes. To please Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. That’s again a very general answer. Give me a specific answer. What is your ambition?
Some might say, “Successful game developer.” Okay, we will talk about whether that’s a good ambition or not; we will see, Insha’Allah. Others might say, “Be with the flow.” Is being with the flow an ambition? That’s what a dead fish does. I think that’s how today many of you know it—forget that. Let me ask you a direct question. I don’t need philosophy. What is your ambition? This: Easy? Happy? Or sad? Feeling of stars? Okay, Insha’Allah. Yes? Become better than yesterday. These are all political answers. There is no proper answer. If you are sitting in a counseling session at your university, would you give an answer like this? “I want to be better than yesterday,” “I want to…” No, it’s not wrong, but it’s a one-holy-motherhood statement. You know what I mean? What is your ambition? Tell me, brother. Quickly, we got to move forward.
One person said, “Good human being.” Again, right answer but too broad. Another said, “To meet Allah.” Is meeting Allah an ambition? That’s a worthless ambition because you will meet Allah anyway. What is the point of that as an ambition? Do you understand? What are you going to do? If you do something, it is haram. Simple as that. If you do something *to* meet Allah, it is also haram; it’s called suicide. Do you understand? Meet Allah is not an ambition; it is the default state in a good condition. Again, holy motherhood statement, but yes. To have my own house—to have my own house—is a proper, specific answer. Or Hazrat Azharuddin Sir: “To leave a legacy of honor.” Okay, I won’t say anything more about those.
Alhamdulillah, let me ask you a question. Allah said:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ مُحْسِنُونَ
In Surah An-Nahl, Allah said, “Verily, Allah is with the people of Taqwa and with the people of Ihsan.” So how many of us think and say, “My ambition is to become a mutaqi”? You will still have your house, you will still meet Allah in a state where Allah is pleased with you, Insha’Allah, and so on. Still, your tomorrow will be better than today, but specifically? The problem with these “holy motherhood” statements is that there is nothing concrete to aim for. If I ask you therefore, “What will you do?” you still won’t have an answer.
“I want to be a better person.” Okay, very good. But what will you do? We don’t know. We have to ask you series of questions. Specifics. “I want to become a mutaqi.” The moment you say, “I want to become a mutaqi,” you already have an answer. Who is a mutaqi? The one whose Aqidah is the Aqidah of Tawheed; who does not fall into traps of Bidaat; who follows the Sunnah of Rasool Allah; who is good in his Ibadat; who is good in his Mu’amalat; who is good in his Akhlaq. All of this is part of being a mutaqi.
So my reminder to myself and you is: Change your goal in life. Instead of saying, “I want to be a mutaqi,” make it specific. And a step beyond that, I want to be a person of Ihsan. Because Allah said, “Allah is with those who have Taqwa and with those who have Ihsan.” If Allah is with you, then automatically you will be successful. And you cannot be successful unless Allah is with you. These two things are given.
That is why we are looking at this and asking, “How do you become a mutaqi?” Allah started by telling us:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ تَوْبَةً نَصُوحًا
“O you who believe, return to Allah with sincere repentance.” So all goodness begins with Istighfar and Tawbah. Everything begins with Istighfar and Tawbah. You cannot change unless you believe that you need to change. And you will not believe that unless you examine yourself and so on. You say, “Okay, this was the standard, and the standard is the standard of Rasoolullah, and this is the level to which I have drifted away from the standard. So I need to change.”
So that is the first thing we should do. So I am asking you; I am also reminding myself: Let us make Istighfar and Tawbah. Do it here, and when you go home, do it again. Specifically look at where in my life am I disobeying Allah? In which way? One of the things to remember is that Allah sends difficulties to correct us and draw us towards Him. Because may Allah have mercy on us, it is the nature of the human being that if everything is going well, they don’t think of Allah. They think of it as if it is their right. Everything is happening well. You won’t say it in so many words, but you live your life as if, “I don’t need Allah.” When things start going wrong—you have problems of health, wealth, some loss, or problems in the family, children, or whatever—then you suddenly turn to Allah.
So my submission is: Why do you wait for that? Why do you wait? And why do you live a life where Allah has to slap you on the wrist? Remove your hand from the fire! Don’t put your hand in the fire! Remove your hand! So make Istighfar. Make a lot of Istighfar. Ask Allah to forgive us. And specifically, don’t just say, “Oh Allah, if I did something or didn’t do something, please forgive me.” No, be specific. This is what I am doing; this is what I should have been doing.
And make Istighfar. That is what we need to work for. This is what we need to make an effort and work for. Allah has given us the framework. Effort is in our hands. And Allah says, “For a person is nothing more than what they work for.” So ask Allah to bless all of you and to make this time that you are spending here in the masjid the matter of Ibadah for which we ask Allah for reward according to His Majesty and grace. We ask Allah to make us among those who He is pleased with and will never be displeased. We ask Allah to help us to read the Quran, to understand the Quran, and to live our lives according to the Quran—what Allah has told us and given us as the matrix. We ask Allah to help us measure ourselves on this matrix and then to work to come up to par with what Allah has said for us.