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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wasalatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasoolullah ﷺ sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kaseeran kaseera. Amma baduhu, my brothers and sisters, there was a friend of mine who was an instructor pilot in the Air Force. So he used to teach fighter pilots. And he said to me once that, I asked him, what happens, what do you do when you get into a problem and now it looks like you are definitely going to crash? So do you just bail out or what do you do? So he said, no, we don’t just bail out because bailing out is the absolute last option. Because when you bail out, you are also letting a multi-million dollar vehicle, the plane crash. Once the pilot bails out, the plane is gone, finished. So that’s the last option. We don’t do that unless there is nothing else. So he said, what do you do? He said, we call it, go back to the basics. Go back to the manual. So I said, go back to the manual. I mean, you are telling me that you are in the cockpit, you are in a tailspin and you are pulling out a manual and reading it. What’s the meaning? Go back to the manual. He said, no, go back to the manual is a way of saying it. Obviously, you don’t pull out a book to read. Go back to the manual means start from the basics. The basics, the first basic you do on a plane is you do an instrument check. As soon as you get onto the plane, before you start flying, before you take off, the pilot gets in and he does an instrument check. He starts from one end to the other. He checks all the instruments. What are the instruments saying? You know, how’s the fuel? How’s the air lawns? How’s the tail? How’s the rudder? How’s the whole thing? He says, go back to that. He says, many times there is one small malfunctioning thing which is causing all the trouble. And fixing it takes one second. You just throw a switch, you do something, and you are back to normal. So, go back to the basics. And I think this is the reminder for myself and you that it’s very important to, in Islam, in the Deen, every once in a while, to go back to the basics. Because we get very involved in this dunya. We get even very involved in Deen, in the sense of, we get involved in, you know, higher aspects. This masala, that masala, various kinds of things that people talk about. One of the favorite topics of many discussions and bayans and so on is the hasar, the signs of the last day, signs of the day of judgment. All that is fine, but that’s not the basics. Signs of the day of, whether the sun will rise from the west or not, or, you know, nobody denies that. I mean, at least no Muslim will deny that. This is from the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. But, our likelihood of seeing that is most likely very little. But, the importance, for example, of salah, the quality of salah. This is a detail. Daily thing. The importance of earning halal and eating halal. This is a daily thing. The importance of following the sunnah of Rasulullah s.a.w. Exhibiting the sunnah in every aspect of our lives. This is a daily thing. To leave the haram that we do in our lives routinely. It has become an absolute normal routine. You know, the gambling and going to places and being with people we have no business to be with. For many people, drinking alcohol. I say, in the evening, the bottle opens. So, the point is that these are, every day, the sun doesn’t have to rise from some other place. What you are doing every day is literally, as far as the deen of Allah is concerned, it’s like a complete, you know, anomaly. So, go back to the basics. Now, what are the basics? The first and most critical and important basic is that we are the slaves of Allah ﷻ. Whether we like it or we don’t like it, insha’Allah, we like it, we love it, we honor it, we see that as a great honor. But even for somebody who does not like it, even for somebody who denies it, even for somebody who refuses to accept it, that is the truth. You can refuse to accept, that’s your choice. But that does not change the truth. But for the one who accepts it, for the one who loves Allah ﷻ and may Allah ﷻ make us among those who love Him, our relationship with Allah ﷻ is based on two things. One is the love for Allah ﷻ, hubbullah, and the second one is the fear of displeasing Allah ﷻ. So, one is the love for Allah ﷻ, hubbullah, and the second one is the fear of displeasing the one we love the most. Which is Allah ﷻ, khashyatullah. So, this khashyat of Allah, the fear of the displeasure of Allah and the love for Allah ﷻ, this is the thing which produces what we call at-taqwa. The position of the Muslim is between bayna al-khawfi wa tama’ah, between fear and hope, right? We fear to disobey Allah, we fear to displease Allah because we love Him more than we love anybody else. Now, the important thing to understand is it’s not simply enough to claim to love Allah ﷻ. But the lover of Allah ﷻ, he loves Allah ﷻ a lot. But when it comes to Salah, our Salah is for the heart. We have a connection with Allah. There is a connection with Allah. No one had a connection with Allah ﷻ. He always prays Salah. What about you? This is the issue. The whole issue is when you say I love Allah ﷻ and when the time for Salah comes, you say no, my Salah is from the heart. I am connected to Allah. How are you connected to Allah? The one who was the most connected to Allah, the one who, if anyone claims to have a connection, better and closer than Rasul s.a.w. than he has left Islam, as simple as that. So, it is not, you cannot do that. So, that is the limit. So, when you are talking about the one who was the most connected to Allah ﷻ, he never left Salah. He never left Salah until his last day, until the last Salah of the last day. Prophet s.a.w. played that Salah tul Fajr. On that Monday when he passed away, maybe around 10.30, 11 o’clock, he prayed Salah. He prayed Salah tul Fajr by Jama’ah. He could not walk, so they had to carry him into the Masjid. He came with his arms on the shoulders of two people and they, literally they said his feet were dragging on the floor. He couldn’t stand. But he came to the Masjid and prayed. And then if somebody is saying, no, no, I am connected to Allah. What connection is this? You are connected to Shaitan, you are not connected to Allah. You are connected to Shaitan. So, Alhamdulillah. We thank Allah ﷻ for giving us this tawfiq to pray Salah tul Fajr by Jama’ah in the Masjid. Alhamdulillah. We ask Allah to continue this throughout our lives, insha’Allah. So, we obey Allah ﷻ and we try to please Allah ﷻ. This is our deen. Now, we obey Allah ﷻ because of four things. One, we know that Allah ﷻ loves us. And Allah ﷻ mentioned this, He created us, He sustains us, He gave us hidayah, and insha’Allah to Him is our return. So, we know that Allah ﷻ loves us. Two, we know that Allah ﷻ knows best what is good for us and what is harmful for us. We don’t know that, Allah knows that. Allah ﷻ said, وَعَسَىٰ أَن تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ وَعَسَىٰ أَن تُحِبُّوا شَيْئًا فَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَن تُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ Allah said, it is possible that you like something but there is sharr, there is harm in it for you and it is possible that you love something but there is something that you, it is possible that you dislike something but there is benefit for you and Allah knows and you don’t know. So, Allah is saying very clearly, I know and you don’t know. So, if Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala chose something for us, if Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala commanded us to do something, then
The sensible person is the one who does that because he knows that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala knows best. That is the second point. The third reason we love Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is because He ordered us to do what is good for us, because He is interested in us and this is for our benefit, not His benefit. So, whatever Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala commanded us to do is to help us and to benefit us, even if sometimes that thing seems to be painful. For example, if somebody tells you to exercise every day, it might be painful; you might not like it, or the discipline of it, and so on. But you know it is good for you, even though it may be painful.
The fourth reason we obey Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is because we know that when we meet Him on the Day of Judgment, we will be questioned about whether we obeyed Allah or we chose to disobey Him and we obeyed our nafs. Diyas Hassan Basir was asked: “What is the secret of your happiness? Because you always seem to be happy, you have peace—not in turmoil. What is that? Why, how is that possible?” And Hassan Basir said, “This is because of four things.”
He said, one, I know that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala has written my rizq for me, that Allah has written my provision for me. Nobody can take what Allah has written. Nobody can eat what Allah has written for me. So, I am content about that; I am not worried about it. Now, this does not mean you don’t work; you work, you do what you need to do, but you don’t exhaust yourself in that. You don’t take it from dishonorable means. You don’t take it from haram sources. Allah has written, “I will get,” so you are content with that. You are not in turmoil, you are not in stress, you are not worried. Right? Allah is my rizq and Allah has written it. So, he said, “I know Allah has written my rizq for me, but I am not worried about that.”
He said, the second thing is that I know that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala created me for a purpose. And Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said about His purpose: وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيْعْبُدُونِ (wa ma khalaqtul jinn wal insa illa li’budun). Allah said, “I have not created the jinn and the humans for anything other than My worship.” So, I know this—Allah has created me for a purpose—and I try to fulfill that purpose. This is why Allah created me, so I try to fulfill this.
He said, the third thing is, I know that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is watching me 24/7. Allah, I am in the observation of Allah. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is seeing me; He knows, He is hearing me. وَالسَّمِعُ وَبَصِيرُ وَعَلِمُ بِذَاتِ السُّدُورِ (was-samee’u wabseeru wa’alimu bithati s-sudoor). He knows what’s in my heart. So, I try to ensure that I don’t do anything which is displeasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. I am ashamed to do anything which is displeasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala because I know Allah is watching. How can I do something in front of Him? How can I do this? If you think about this, any decent human being will not just hesitate; he will not even dream of doing something which is shameful before his parents, for example, or before the Imam of the Masjid, or before his teachers, or before his elders, or before his friends who are honorable. There are some friends with whom you make jokes and so on, which you don’t make in front of other friends. You ask them, “Why don’t I do this?” No, how can I do this in front of them? You can say this in front of them. So, that is the differentiation. We don’t even do that in front of people we respect. So, how can we do this before Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala? So, he said, “I know Allah is watching me.” Therefore, I am ashamed to do anything which displeases Him.
And he said, the fourth thing is, I know that one day I will meet Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. And I will be questioned about this dunya. So, I try to prepare for this day. I know this day can come anytime. So, I try to prepare for this day. These are four things: One, my rizq is written, I am not worried about that. Number two, I fulfill the purpose of my creation. Number three, I am ashamed to do anything wrong because I know Allah is watching. Number four, I am going to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. Therefore, I prepare for that.
And the same logic, the same rules apply to us. And the result will be the same, which is complete peace of mind. As-Sambahasir Rahmatullah Ali was not bothered about anything; alhamdulillah. He lived a beautiful life until today. And until Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala wishes, we take his name with respect and we say Rahmatullah Ali. We ask this for ourselves, inshallah.
And that is the reason why we have to work. Because in Islam, Islam teaches us that nothing comes for free. Everything has to be worked for. And if you work for it, you get it. Both are true. It doesn’t come for free. And if you work, you don’t lose it; you will get it. So, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to help us to do that which pleases Him. And to be pleased with it and to make it easy for us. And to keep us with istiqamat and steadfastness on that until we meet Him. And to give us khatima bil khair. Wa sallallahu ala nabiyil kareem. Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma’in. Bi rahmatuk ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Al Fatiha.