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Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
Salatu wassalamu ala ashrafil amin.
Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahibusallam.
Tasliman kathiran kathira.
We see that snake coming towards here.
And right now he is very successfully pretending to be just a stick.
This is in KBR Park.
How interesting.
So he might like to hide, but we don’t let him hide.
So Allah Ta’ala said,
Sabaha lillahi.
Maafis samaawati wa maafil abda.
Allah said,
Every single thing which is in the heavens and on the earth
praises and sends up the praise of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala jala shan.
Now just think about that.
Reflect on this and say, what does it mean?
We leave what’s in the heavens,
what’s on the earth, what I’m seeing here.
Sabaha lillahi maafis samaawati wa maafil abda.
It means that every single,
this thing here, this year of grass fruit, right?
Every blade of grass,
every leaf on every tree, right?
See this leaf?
It is singing the praise of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
And also this one, and also this one, also this one.
Every bug, every bee, every spider.
Every frog, every toad, every turtle, every bird, every animal,
every butterfly, every locust, every grasshopper.
Every single thing sings the praises of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
Sings the praises of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
So when we pray,
we are joining our praise and we are joining our munajat
and we are joining our glorification
with the glorification of every single creative thing.
And we know that everything,
illallah, is created.
Allah is the creator and He is the creator of every single thing.
Everything we know and everything we don’t know.
They’ve all been created by Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
And they are all aware of their place in their society.
They’re all aware of their place on earth.
They’re all aware of the purpose for which they have been created.
And they all fulfill that purpose.
Of course, they have no choice in the matter.
Allah has not given ikhtiyar to them.
So they do what they have been created to do.
And as a result of that, they live their lives.
I don’t claim that the grasses are happy and the trees are happy.
It’s a question of happiness.
And then so on.
Human emotions, they don’t apply to non-human things like these.
Although they probably do apply to mammals.
And more than mammals, maybe to birds.
Meaning living, moving creatures probably.
Again, all of this is my guesswork.
But point being, that’s not material.
We come back to us.
We have this whole issue of,
therefore they do all this.
The creatures of Allah.
And they benefit from the mercy and blessing and the rizq that Allah gives them.
Whereas we, well, we know what we do.
Allah gave us ikhtiyar.
Allah gave us control.
Allah gave us the choice of whether we want to obey.
Or not.
Allah said,
Allah said,
Allah said, say that the truth is your Rabb.
Allah is the truth.
And it doesn’t matter whether you believe this or not.
It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not.
I’m not trying to convert you.
It doesn’t matter to us.
It matters to you.
And that truth is the truth.
That truth is the truth.
That truth does not change for anyone.
So Allah is saying,
If somebody wants to believe this, go ahead, believe it.
And if someone wants to deny it and say, no, sorry, there is no God.
And all of this just happened by accident.
Whatever theory you have.
Allah is saying that’s up to you.
You want to believe that, believe that.
It makes no difference even to us.
It makes no difference even to human beings.
What difference can it make to Allah?
So you might say, well, why then should I believe in the truth?
Why should I even search for the truth?
Why should I want to know what the truth is?
Because it makes no difference to anyone else.
It makes a world of a difference to us.
Because based on this truth, on the day of judgment,
when we will be called before Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala,
which is also the truth,
then we will be judged for what we believed and what we did.
Our beliefs and our actions.
Because we had akhtiyar, we had choice in both.
We could choose to believe or disbelieve.
And we would choose to act with integrity, with truthfulness,
with kindness, with compassion, or the opposite.
To act with cruelty, oppression, force.
All of this.
We had the choice and we chose.
For better or worse, we chose.
Now in order to ensure that we choose only for the better,
and not for the worse,
in order to ensure that we choose what is right,
what is beneficial,
in order to ensure that we choose that which is,
not harmful to us and to others.
To ensure all of this.
To ensure that we have a personal life,
which is a life of honor, and comfort, and dignity.
And we create a society which is dignified,
which is caring, compassionate,
which has justice for all, not only for Muslims.
This is the…
This is the…
This is the unique feature of Islam.
This is the unique feature of Islam.
If people, both Muslims and non-Muslims, forget.
If people, both Muslims and non-Muslims, forget.
Islam is for everybody, not only for Muslims.
And therefore what Islam promises, it promises everyone.
So the justice that Islam promises is not only for Muslims.
Rasulullah said,
The best person, the best Muslim,
is the one from whom,
from whose hand and whose tongue,
his neighbor is safe.
His neighbor is not safe.
His neighbor is not safe.
In this hadith, first she said,
He is not a Muslim, he is not a believer,
he is not a believer, three times.
And then he said this.
He asked him, Ya Rasulullah,
O Messenger of Allah,
Who is not a believer?
He said, the one from whose tongue,
and whose hand,
his neighbor is not safe.
Such a person is not even a believer.
And imagine, Rasulullah ,
is linking your and my behavior with our neighbors,
with our faith.
The sign of faith,
the evidence that we are Muslim,
is that our neighbors feel safe with us.
And here is a family of peafowl.
And there’s the mother and her three chicks.
Obviously they are feeling safe.
So they are sitting here,
in comfort.
A Muslim is not one,
from whom his neighbor has to fear.
This is the beauty of Islam.
The beauty of Islam is that,
Allah Ta’ala,
didn’t just give us choice,
He also gave us a manual,
to show us,
what are good choices to make.
You might say,
why do I need a manual?
My answer to that would be,
even with a manual,
see the kind of mess that we have created in the world.
Find me one country today,
I don’t care which country,
find me one country today in this world,
where people are saying that,
we are completely contented and happy and,
you know,
not one.
Or maybe let me modify that statement,
not any major country.
Maybe it’s Liechtenstein or,
something like that,
very small,
tiny countries,
which have their rulers,
in terms of area and what not.
That wouldn’t be,
even as big as,
the jagirs of,
some of the Naabs and Rajas of Hyderabad,
but they are countries.
Alhamdulillah they have,
leaders and rulers who are,
enlightened enough to,
be concerned about their people and,
they run a decent show.
But short of that,
take any of the big countries,
take the whole of Europe,
the whole of Africa,
all of Asia,
take America,
Canada,
Australia.
Is there one country in which,
the whole population,
I’m not saying take a head count of every single person,
I’m saying majority of people.
As they’re saying,
we are very happy,
very contented,
everything is absolutely fine,
nothing needs to be changed.
Nothing.
Everyone’s got problems.
And the reason they have problems is because,
they don’t follow,
the method.
They have a,
user’s manual,
they don’t use.
And so obviously,
the stuff malfunctions.
It malfunctions at a personal level,
which is why we have,
majority of health problems.
Which are really,
uh,
matters of lifestyle choice.
They’re not diseases.
You know,
obesity,
linked to that diabetes sometimes,
linked to that heart disease,
they’re not diseases.
They’re not diseases.
They’re not diseases.
Right?
All of this is,
because of,
smoking,
eating too much,
drinking alcohol.
Alcohol is a drug.
Alcohol is a chemical that has no place,
in the human body.
But if you drink it,
and we have legalized it,
and we call it,
we have made it a part of social graces,
so it’s,
to look down on people who,
are not,
and nowadays it has become less.
But there was a time when if you didn’t,
drink alcohol,
your corporate career was as good as dead.
People told me this when I,
first joined the tea garden,
and the tea garden was especially prone to this.
They told me,
your career will go nowhere.
I said I didn’t join here as a barman.
I joined here as a,
manager of a tea garden.
And I said I’m assuming,
that my employers,
are more interested in,
the results that I produce,
and the profit I make,
and the,
tranquility of the labor force,
rather than,
how much I drink,
or if I drink or don’t drink.
Now obviously I was correct.
My employers,
couldn’t care less.
They were perfectly happy with me not drinking.
Nobody ever forced me.
But this was the norm.
This was people.
Other people they said no,
doesn’t work.
I said,
we make these things for ourselves.
We buy the trouble.
Because if you’re going to spend a whole part of your life,
imagine somebody who drinks on a regular basis,
how much of alcohol goes into his system,
in his whole,
in his entire life.
It kills,
brain cells.
Destroys brain cells.
You know that.
You still drink it.
You smoke because smoking causes,
along other,
other diseases.
You know that.
You know that.
You know that.
You know that.
You know that.
You know that.
You know that.
Some other nice things,
lung cancer.
I tell people why do you need to pay for cancer?
Cancer is free.
Right?
You don’t need to pay for it.
You want it so badly,
maybe you’ll get it.
Because this is the kind of environment we live in.
We eat food
which is all kinds of toxic additives.
We breath air which is polluted and so on.
So,
may Allah protect all of you from cancer.
Allah was.
But people get it.
So why do you want to add to that? Why do you want to accelerate that by smoking?
Quite apart from the fact that smoking is haram in Islam. And this is the thing to understand. You don’t need to ask this question.
You don’t need a Mufti to give you a fatwa.
And don’t get caught up in
in Shari’i
technical terms.
You know, it is not haram. It is makroo. It is makroo tahareemi, not tanzihi.
People who say these things, most of them don’t even know what they’re talking about.
They’re just parroting it. They heard it from someone, they’re repeating it.
Doesn’t matter. In Islam, anything which is intrinsically harmful is haram.
It’s prohibited.
You are not allowed to use it
because it is harmful.
Right?
So, my beloved sisters,
let us
understand that
Allah created us for a purpose.
Let’s fulfill that purpose.
What’s that purpose?
Allah said, I have not created the humans and the jinn for anything other than to worship me.
Anything other than to recognize me.
Anything other than to praise me.
Anything other than to thank me.
And Allah has given us enough reason to do all of that.
So let’s do it.
Let us do it.
Instead of that, if we spend our time
disobeying Allah’s bhaqarah,
doing what He prohibited,
committing haram,
eating and drinking haram,
buying and selling haram,
then the results of that will happen.
Because this is a world of cause and effect.
You do something, something happens.
So let us not invite trouble.
Because if we do wrong,
then wrong will happen to us.
Let’s not invite trouble.
Let’s do right.
Let’s obey Allah.
Let’s do what is right.
Let’s do what is right.
The best we can do is to obey Allah.
And Allah will saves those who will obey Him.
These are the words of Allah .
The best we can do is to obey Allah.
Let’s make the world obey us.
Because Allah said,
سَخَّرَ لَّكُمْ
سَخَّرَ لَّكُمْ
مَا فِي السَّمَوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْعُرْضِ
Allah said that I have subdued and subjugated
everything in the heavens and the earth to you.
Who is that you?
That you is the one who obeys Allah.
It’s not subjugated to the one who
defies Allah, who denies Allah.
developments now,
current, modern,
all the scientific stuff
which is happening,
all the industries and so forth.
Ibn-e-Firnas may have
been the first person to fly
or invented flight,
but today it’s Boeing and Airbus
which run the show.
So,
no good talking about Ibn-e-Firnas.
Let’s talk about Boeing and Airbus
and I don’t know anybody
in Boeing and Airbus
who’s obeying Allah SWT
as a matter of corporate policy.
Right?
There are Muslims, of course,
and people who obey Allah,
but not as a matter of corporate policy.
So, you might say,
well, you know,
if you say that Allah has,
will not bless those who
disobey Him,
well, here is evidence that He does.
Well, no, it’s not.
It’s not because the blessing
of Allah SWT is not,
is not confined to or not defined
by what happens in this life.
If that were the case,
Allah would not have given
the wealth He gave to Raun
and Sharda,
and Hama,
and Qarun.
Allah would not have given them
that wealth
because the wealth
really meant anything.
Allah SWT gave what He,
what was valuable to Him,
to Musa A.S.
Not to Fir’aun.
Now, in the eyes of the world,
Musa A.S. was a poor man.
And Fir’aun was the ruler,
was the magnificent monarch
of one of the oldest
and most magnificent
and most powerful,
most wealthy dynasties in the world.
And he was the ruler
of the pharaohing dynasty of Egypt.
But you have to understand,
take things into context
and say,
Alhamdulillah,
what Allah gives,
Allah gives with hikmah.
We ask Allah to help us
to do what is pleasing to Him
and save us from that
which does not please Him.
And may Allah’s peace and blessings
be upon the most merciful,
the most merciful,
the most merciful,
and the most merciful.
And may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him.