Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:43 — 15.8MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | Youtube Music | RSS
Auto-generated transcript:
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على شرف الأنبياء والمرسلين محمد رسول الله ﷺ صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم تسليماً كثيراً كثيراً. My brothers and sisters, Alhamdulillah Allah ﷻ used two words in the Qur’an al-Karim to describe faith. One is the word Iman.
Allah ﷻ said ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابُ الْأَرَيْبَ فِيهِ هُدَى لِلْمُتَّقِينَ الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ. Allah said this is a book in which there is no doubt and it is a means of guidance for people of Taqwa, and then He said these are the people Allah is not describing: who are the Muttaqeen. ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابُ الْأَرَيْبَ فِيهِ هُدَى لِلْمُتَّقِينَ. And then Allah said الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ—these are the people who have Iman in the unperceivable, in Al-Ghaib.
Then later on, Allah ﷻ said وَبِلْكَ الْمُتَّقِينَ وَبِالْآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُقِنُونَ. Allah said “And with the Hereafter they have Yaqeen.” Now, Al-Ghaib is the Akhirah; the Akhirah is from Al-Ghaib. So Allah ﷻ already said those who believe in the unseen (Iman). Then why is He saying جَلَّ جَلَلْهُ وَبِالْآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ? It means that these two words are not the same. They both mean faith, but Allah ﷻ is describing different degrees of faith, different levels of faith.
Iman is to know something and know that it is true, accept it is true—right? To know something and know that it is true. This is Iman.
For example, if I tell you that does Hyderabad have an airport, you say yes. Are you sure? Yes. Where is it? In Shamsabad.
So this is Iman: you have the knowledge that there is an airport in Hyderabad and you believe this is true. You know where it is. So then I ask you another question: so what will you do? What should I do?
You ask me: is there an airport? Yes, there is an airport. Where is it? It is such and such a place. What will you do? What is there to do?
Then… few days later… the mother says “Insha’Allah we will go to Australia.” So one day before, when he is here, then I ask him: Sir, where is Hyderabad? Is there an airport? How is it? What is it? Where is the airport? It is there. So what are you doing? He will tell me a long list of things: I checked my visa, visa is right; I packed my bags; tomorrow I will leave my home at this time and my flight is at this time and the boarding time is at this time; and I have to go two hours earlier, three hours earlier. He has a whole list of things.
So what has changed? The airport is still there; it is still in the same place; it hasn’t gone anywhere. But something changed.
Something changed! Nothing changed in the airport; something changed in the individual, in the person.
And what changed? What changed was now he knows that I have to go to this airport. That’s all. What changed is that he is now sure that he has to go to the airport because that’s where he takes his flight from.
I will give you another example. That’s why Sayyidina Umar ibn al-Khattab ﷺ is reported to have said: “Do not be impressed by a man who recites the Quran.”
He said do not be impressed by a man who recites the Quran because that is only words. See whether he lives by it; see whether he practices it.
Reciting is reciting—Alhamdulillah, you can do it well, you can do it badly, but you do it.
See whether he lives by it. Because what is the difference between the Quran Al-Kareem and any other book? Of course, the Quran is the Kitab of Allah, and no other book is the Kitab of Allah other than that. What is the difference?
The difference is… how to put it another way… what is the difference between the Quran Al-Kareem and any other book? The difference is that between a Muslim reciting the Quran and a non-Muslim reciting the Quran.
Can you believe that a non-Muslim would recite the Quran? You might say, “Well, why?” I’ll tell you why. When I was in Middlebury in Maine for the Arabic course, we had something called the “Quran Club.” To part of the learning process, so in that there were about 20 people, and they recited Quran, they learned to recite the Quran, and then they also memorized Surah Al-Fatiha. They memorized the four Khuls: no, three Khuls—Surah Al-Ikhlas and the Mu’min Al-Tahir. Out of all those people in that room in that class, there were two Muslims: me and another person.
The other 80 people were non-Muslims. They all recited Quran and they all memorized the Surahs, memorized in a period of eight weeks. Two of them, Amman and Abu Bar, would actually come to me and they said, “We are memorizing Surah Al-Fatiha; please correct our recitation.” Till today, no Muslim has asked, “Please correct our recitation.” And they said, “So…” I said, “May Allah forgive me, just to get out of it. I, the only free time I have is when I go for a walk.”
So I used to walk five miles in a beautiful place to walk. They said, “No problem, we will walk with you.”
So it was a funny sight. May Allah ﷻ be pleased with that. I used to be in the middle; this man on one side, this woman on another side, walking on the road reciting Surah Al-Fatiha.
Right? And I used to walk. Both of them were Christian, both were non-Muslim. They did not accept Islam—at least not with me—but they memorized Surah Al-Fatiha, they recited Surah Al-Fatiha.
So what’s the difference between a Muslim reciting Surah Al-Fatiha and a non-Muslim reciting Surah Al-Fatiha? They both recited. I’m putting the Qawl—the quote—of Sayyidina Muhammad bin al-Khattab in context: “Do not be impressed by the person who recites the Quran because it is only words.” He’s not being disrespectful of the Quran. He’s saying for that person it is only words. He’s not saying the Quran is only words; he’s saying for that person it is only words because he’s reciting.
Look to see if he lives by the Quran.
Meaning does he really believe?
Does he only know there is an airport or is he going there?
I’ll give you another example. Say you are walking, going for a walk early morning… by the beach.
There is a nice one on one side; there is a beach; there is a sea on the other side. There are villas, beautiful big villas, and every villa has a big gate. And on the gate is written “Beware of dog.”
“Beware of dog.” So if I ask you what does that mean? “Beware of dog” means that there is a dog there; we should be afraid of it. It’s something to be careful about. Beware of being… be careful.
Do you believe that? Yes, I believe. You are walking along…
And then you come to a gate. You realize this gate is not closed; the gate is half open. And as you come to that open section of the gate, you see there is a massive Rottweiler sitting there.
And as soon as the Rottweiler sits there and the Rottweiler sees you, it stands up in Taazeem because you are a Sheikh—Masha’Allah! So he stands up out of respect. And then he comes to you to make Musafah—you know, to shake your hand after all you are a Sheikh—to do Salaam for you. He is coming towards you.
Same dog. It is—it is not a lion, it is not a tiger, it is a dog.
Has anything changed in your life? This “beware of dog” statement did it change in any way?
Did it change or no? Completely changed, right? Now you realize what is a dog now; now you realize the meaning of “beware of dog.” Until then you knew the meaning.
The dog didn’t change; you changed. Suddenly it became clear to you what exactly does “beware of dog” mean?
So at least you start deciding the Kalima. You say, well if I have to go, at least I will say the Kalima and go to Allah ﷻ.
You will take some action. You will scream, you will run, you will pull out a gun, you will do something, right?
So what is the differentiating factor?
The same thing which Sayyidina Muhammad said: see if he lives by the Quran.
The sign of Yaqeen is that the sign of Yaqeen is action. The sign of Yaqeen…
And the money is for the Yaqeen, not for the Iman. Iman is the door is open—Alhamdulillah. If we say La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasool Allah, Insha’Allah, we have Iman.
But even to accept Islam, is it only enough to say La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasool Allah? Yes or no? No. What must happen?
What must happen before and what must happen after? Three things. What must happen before is in your heart: you have to believe this; you have to believe it in your heart (Tazdeek bil Qalb). Then Iqraar bil Lisaan: confirm it and believe it in the heart, then say it with your tongue.
Wal A’mal bil Arkaan: and then live on it and work on it with your hands and legs, walk on that path. Three things are required to enter Islam. It’s not simply anybody can say this; anyone can say “La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasool Allah.”
Anyone can say anything. It’s a matter of saying it.
For example, if a non-Muslim is teaching Islam—which happens, may Allah have mercy on us because we don’t want to learn English, we don’t want to learn… you know, bring ourselves up to the point where we can actually teach Islam in languages which non-Muslims understand—so there are professorships, there are chairs for Islamic studies in American and European universities which have non-Muslim Jewish and Christian and Atheist professors who are teaching Islam. May Allah have mercy. Allah will question the Ulama of this Ummah: why they will not learn different languages and why they will not do the job that Allah sent them to do. May Allah have mercy on us.
Most famous of them, one of the most famous was a lady by the name of Anne Marie Shamel, who was the Dean of Islamic Studies in Harvard for decades. I got nothing against her; she was a very nice lady and she has written some very good books including a book on Seerah. But why? Why does a Muslim not teach Islam? Really! I mean, it is strange, very strange. So that is a different point, but the point I am making is that just because… so now if this, if this lady Anne Marie Shamel when she is teaching Islam…
She knew Arabic fluently; she probably knew more Ahadith in Arabic than I know. May Allah have mercy on me. My excuse is that I am not head of department of Islamic Studies, but the point I am making is that while she is teaching, how many times do you think she would have said “La ilaha illallah Muhammad Rasool Allah”? Knows dozens of times, right?
But as far as I know, she lived; she was a Christian; she died as a Christian. She didn’t come into Islam.
So just saying “La ilaha illallah Muhammad Rasool” is not sufficient. You have to believe in your heart that this is this is the truth.
The truth, the only truth.
And then you say it. It is not necessary to say it aloud before a lot of people; you just say it and then to live by it (Amal bil Arkaan). And the first Amal bil Arkaan of La ilaha illallah Muhammad Rasool Allah which is the Tazam of the Kalima which is the Suboot of the Kalima is Salah because the Kalima is saying there is no one worthy of worship except Allah. So when the time for worship comes we worship Allah. We say Muhammad Rasool Allah: that I believe that Muhammad is the Rasool of Allah, is the messenger of Allah, and I am his follower—that is implied in that.
So the way you do Salah is you demonstrate the followership of Muhammad because he said, “He said pray as you have seen me pray.” So we are following the Rasool in the method of prayer. We pray because of the order and the command of Allah in the method in the way that His Rasool, His Messenger prayed.
So La ilaha illallah is the command and Muhammad Rasool Allah is the method, and this is the Salah is the expression of that. This is the difference between Iman and Yaqeen.
And as I said, the money is for the Yaqeen—meaning that is where the test is. The test is: do we live by this or do we only talk in words? We should do good Muslims should do like this and like that; nothing just say this is not Islam. And may Allah have mercy on us. Not only is there no value for that thing; may Allah have mercy and may Allah protect us. This will become a Hujjat against the person.
You cannot say, “I did not know.” You knew; you used to talk about that then how come you didn’t do it?
We ask Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala to convert our Iman into Yaqeen. We ask Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala to make us people of Amal, people who actually act on what we say—we believe—and we ask Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala then to fill our lives with the Nur and with the benefit of this Amal. Insha’Allah wa Sallallahu Ala Nabeel Ala Alihi Wa Sahbihi Ajma’in wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.