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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen. Wassalatu wassalamu ala ash-sharafi al-anbiya wal-mursaleen, Muhammadur Rasoolullah ﷺ, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kathiran kathira.
My brothers and sisters, we were talking about the fact that Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, rahmatullahi wa ta’ala, said that every human being is a slave. He is either a slave of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, Jalla Jalaluhu, or he is a slave of his own desires, of his own nafs. And we know about the nafs. Yusufalayhis-salam, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala mentioned this in Surah Yusuf. Yusufalayhis-salam said about himself: “Inna an-nafsa la-ammaratun bil-su’i illa ma rihima rabbuh” (إِنَّ النَّفْسَ لَأَمَّارَةٌ بِالسُّوءِ إِلَّا مَا رَهِمَهَا رَبٌّ). He said, verily my nafs will take me only towards sin, except for the one who, on whom Allah has mercy. Now this is the Nabi of Allah; he is protected. What about us? So therefore, if we are slaves of our nafs, if we are the slaves of our desires, then there is only one ending to that. It’s very important because Rasulullah ﷺ said that the person’s ending determines their outcome. “Innama al-‘amal bi-l-khatimah” (إِنَّمَا الْعَمَلُ بِالْخَاتِمَةِ), that the amal is based on how it ends. So the life of a person is based on how it ends.
And that’s the reason why, “Khatimatin bil-khairi,” is the best dua, that may Allah give somebody an ending which is full of khair from Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. I read something yesterday that there was somebody in Riyadh who had a dream. In this dream, a particular person was mentioned. This man was commanded to go and find this person, given the address, and take him for Umrah. Find this person and take him for Umrah. And when this person woke up, he remembered the dream perfectly. Normally it doesn’t happen; you forget. But he thought, okay, some dream. The next day he had the same dream, exact same dream: Take so-and-so, and that is the address, and take him for Umrah. So again he ignored it. The third day he had the same dream. So that day he went to see the Imam of the Masjid, who was a chef, and he told him, “This dream I’m getting last three days… go and take so-and-so, the name, address of this person, take him for Umrah.” So the Sheikh said, do you know this person? I have no idea. I have no idea who this person is, and so on. Of course, I’ve been given this direction to find him, but other than that, I have no idea who this person is, nothing.
So the Sheikh said, “You see today, if you get the dream again, then fulfill it, go do it.” So that fourth day again, he had the same dream. Take so-and-so for Umrah. So the next day, this man went to search for the person. And when he went, he found this person, and he was very surprised because he saw this person; he’s a very rough kind of guy. Completely, by looking at his face, you can see that this person has zero religion maybe, but he’s getting this dream. So he asked him, are you so-and-so? Yes, I am so. Is this the address? Yes, it is. So he said, “I had this dream, I came to see you because I had this dream that I must take you for Umrah.” That man laughed. That man said, “What Umrah?” He said, “I don’t even pray. I don’t fast, I don’t do anything, I am not interested in going for Umrah or nothing. I can go if I want. I am not coming.” This man said, “No, I have to take you. I mean, I have been commanded to take you, so.” And he begged and pleaded, he said, “Look, I will pay for everything. I am not asking, I just come, physically come with me, that’s it.” He said, “I will take you, I will pay for everything.”
Then finally, when he pestered him too much, that man said, okay, I will come on one condition. He said, what’s the condition? He said, “You must bring me back here. Don’t just take me and abandon me in Mecca or something.” He said, no. He said, no, I will bring you back. By word of Allah, I will bring you back here. He said, okay. So they went for Umrah and did the whole Umrah, made Ghusl and wudu and everything else, and then he completed the Umrah and everything else happened. Normally, nothing, no, nothing special. He went and finished his Umrah, Khalas. He said, now what? He said, now we go back. I am supposed to bring you for Umrah. Umrah is over. We go back. As they were about to leave the Haram, this man said, “I just want to make Tawaf and pray two rak’at and I will come with you.” Because we are leaving, so I make Tawaf. He said, okay. So he made Tawaf and he prayed two rak’at, and in the second rak’at, in the second Sajdah, he went into Sujood and he made a long Sajdah and he won’t get up from Sajdah.
So this man said, now he is waiting. What happened to me? This fellow is, how much Sujood does he want to do? I mean, he is there for a long time, he is not getting up. He touched him, he fell down. Khalas. In front of the Kaaba. After making Umrah, Tawaf, two rak’at, Salah, Khalas. So they made it to Ghusl and Kafan. They prayed Janazah also. But the man said, “I promise to take him to Riyadh.” So we cannot bury him here. So they took him to Riyadh. And they did the burial, everything else. When everything finished, this man still had this doubt. What is this story? Who is this man? And how, now he has this absolutely beautiful death in front of the Kaaba, after making Umrah, Sujood. Eh? So he asked to meet his wife. He met his wife. And he says, what is the story of your husband? She said, I don’t know. He said, all I know was when he was here, his whole life, I have never seen him pray. He did not used to fast. He used to drink a lot. Huh? So he used to drink alcohol also, he used to drink a lot.
So this man said, no, all this is okay, but something the man must be doing. No, I mean, this won’t happen like this. The lady said, well, there is only one thing maybe. She said, there is a very poor woman. She has got three or four children. She is a widow. And she lives down the road from here. My husband, every time he went to the grocery store, he would buy provisions also for that woman and her children. And he would bring them, leave them outside the door, knock on the door and leave. He would not even meet her or anything. He would just bring that whole basket of whatever he bought, vegetables and grain or something. He would leave it outside the door, knock on the door, so that she knows, and he would come. He said, “This is the only thing I know.”
So Allah Ta’ala is the one to forgive. And Allah liked this man’s concern for his neighbor so much that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gave him an ending which most likely he would not have got. If that man was left to himself, then he probably would not have got such an ending. But Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, when Allah wants to, when Allah likes something we do, then Allah will help us. And the key thing is to do something where we have this chance. That Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala will give us a beautiful ending. So the first thing and foremost thing that we should be careful about is the account for Salah. Because Salah is the first thing that we will be held accountable for when we go before Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. And Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, the one for whom that is easy, that person, the rest of their Hisab will be easy. In another hadith, the Prophet said that if there is a shortfall in the Fardh Salawat, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala will say to the malaika, look for Nawafil. The Sunnah, the Nawafil, all the non-Fardh Salah he prayed. Add that in and make up for the Fardh Salah. That’s the reason why it is so important t
Pray the Sunnah Mu’akkadah with every Salah. Don’t just pray two rak’ahs and go, you know. The Sunnah Mu’akkadah is almost as important as Fardh. ﷺ So it must be prayed. Whether you pray it in the masjid or at home, that is fine, but it must be prayed. You should not leave it. And then, as much as possible, perform more Nawafil: Tahajjud, Salatul Dhuha, Israaq, all of this. Just enter the masjid, pray two rak’ahs (Tahayyatul Masjid), and add some extra Nawafil; just pray two rak’ahs. Alhamdulillah.
So all of this counts for us to make up.
So we ask Allahﷻ to help us,
to help us do that which pleases Him and to save us from that which does not please Allahﷻ.
The thing today, if you think about it, if we are asked, “How are you?” Then the answer we give normally is, “I am well,” meaning physically I am fine. You don’t say that, but that’s what you mean. But real wellness
is if we are spiritually fine or not. Because physical illness
will end with death, maximum. InshaAllah, it ends even before that; Allahﷻ gives cures. But even if it does not get cured, when you have that pain and suffering, whatever it is, it’s finished. But spiritual illness, may Allah save us from that, continues after death. The pain of that will continue after death. That’s the reason why it’s so important to be concerned about our soul.
The Sahaba used to ask each other this question: “How did you wake up in the morning?”
How did you wake up? What was the state of your Iman? When you woke up in the morning, how was your Iman? Were you good? Much Allah, strong? Or shukuk, shubuhaat? You had doubts. God knows what? No. So, very important for us to focus on our spiritual well-being, which begins with Salah. And then, which extends to taking care of people who are not as fortunate as us. Alhamdulillah, Allah has given us enough and more and more. There are others who don’t have that. So, help them. Do whatever you can. You can do. Do quietly. Don’t do it and take a photo and put it on Facebook. No. That is a lanat on this. Because then, that means even the good you did is gone. Khalas. Do quietly. Do in a way where only Allah knows. And that is enough. Because we ask reward from Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la. Allah knows. Duniya ka dikhane kha hai?
Duniya ko dikhane to, kairu su kaam bhi akarat huyat.
So, very important for us to do that. We ask Allah Ta’ala to help us, be with us, protect us from ourselves and our own nafs, and help us stay free from the enslavement to our own nafs. Wa sallallahu ala nabiyyil kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma’in wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. ﷺ