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Bismillāh ar-Raḥmān ar-Raḥīm. Al-ḥamdu lillāhi Rabbil-‘Ālamīn, wa salātu wa salāmu ‘alā yashārak wa ilā anbiyā’ wal-mursalīn Muḥammadur Rasūlallāh ﷺ, wa ‘alā ālihi wa sahbihi wa sallamu tasliman kathīran kathīra.
Umarabadu brothers and sisters, we are looking at the advice of Fatima Rasam Rahmatul Ali which he gave with respect to the truths of life.
Sheikh Shakhique al-Balkh Rahmat al-‘Ālamīn: “I have seen these two things today, friends. The first one: as we know, he said that everything is love. Whatever I want to love in my home, that is a good deed. So he said, ‘I have loved good deeds for myself.’ For myself.”
In the second one, he says Allah said in the Qur’an that the one who fears standing before his Rabb and who stops himself from evil deeds, for this person Jannah will be their abode. You will stay there. And therefore, he said, “I have restrained myself from worldly desires and I have tried to become steadfast in devotion and worship of Allah.”
The third one, he said, “Allah said, whatever is with you will finish and what is with Allah will remain.” In this world, it is not needed; those who are there now will be gone when I meet Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā. He said, “For Him, they will also be best.” Then he said, “I have looked at prayer and worship so that every person who moves forward towards loss along with their beloved ones becomes proud about their wealth and their lineage and so on.” They think that they are better than others. What I have read in the Qur’an where Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā said: *Ya ayyuhal-nās, innakha-laqnakum min thukari wa un-sa, wa ja’alnakum shu’abaw wa qaba’ilah li ta’arafū*. Inna akramakum min Allāhi atqākum. Surah Al-Hujurat. Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā said, which means: “O humanity, O people! Indeed We created you from one male and one female and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may recognize one another.”
*Li-ta’rafū*. So that you may recognize one another, so that you may know one another. Surely Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā is very great with you. *Inna akramakum inna Allāh atqākum*.
*Inna Allāha ‘Ālimun Khabeerun*. Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā knows us all.
Hatim al-Hasan ﷺ said, “Therefore, I have learned to be pious; I have learned piety, so that I may become the best of people in the sight of Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā.”
Now, this ayah which he mentioned and which I referred before you, Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā says two things. Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā is defining in this ayah the principle of living in a pluralistic, multicultural, multiracial society. And the secret of living in that kind of a society is to remember two things. One: even though we all may look different from each other in terms of our color, in terms of skin color, in terms of face, facial features, or anything else, even though we may look different, we are from the same origin. We are from the same source, and that is our mother and father, Adam alayhis-salaam and Hawa alayhis-salaam. So this is the first thing to remember and remind ourselves that we are one. We are connected by our origin to each other. So the black person is connected to the white person and the white person is connected to the black person and so on and so on. So these differences that we have amongst ourselves, these differences are superficial; they are there to see and they are a sign of the creative power of Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā.
Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā could have done a cookie-cutter kind of creation where everyone looks the same, like creating a whole set of robots. They may do different things but they all look the same. I always wondered, on the one hand, human beings are so creative, but on the other hand, there’s such a lack of creativity. When they make robots, like you’re seeing nowadays, they have these robotic dogs. That thing looks like a dog. I mean, in the sense it goes on four feet and it’s, you know, that big. Why? What’s the problem with that thing going on a cushion of air and it looks like a ship, for example? Why not? Why was the robotic dog made to look like a dog? The creativity ends somewhere. I don’t know why. Anyhow, so the point is that Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā is telling us that He created us in multiple forms. If you look at the different races in the world, people from different countries, people from different regions, they look so different from each other. Completely different. But Allah is saying: despite the fact that you all look different from each other, you are the same; then you might say, well, why did He create us different? He created us different because to show His own creativity and His power of creation. And Allah said *li-ta’rafū*: “so that you may recognize each other.”
Now, recognition means what? Supposing you say in my organization, so-and-so was recognized. What does it mean? In the national awards, so-and-so was recognized and he was given this title and that title, Bharat Ratna or whatever. What does it mean? To recognize means to honor. Right? When somebody comes and says we are recognizing Mr. So-and-so for his service. What does it mean? Does it mean we curse the person? Does it mean that we say, oh, this is a useless person and you know we dislike? No. It’s the opposite. Recognizing somebody means to praise them, to appreciate their work, to show your affection for them, to show the fact that you are honoring them. To recognize means to honor.
Ta’ārfu. Somebody said, “I introduce you.” I mean, on the contrary, when we introduce people we sometimes go off into all kinds of flowery language. You know, we describe them in ways which are not even true but we make it look so good. You know, so-and-so, *ma-shallah*, *ma-shallah*. But we do; we say it for the whole point. The recognizing is to appreciate that person, to praise that person. So leaving the flattery aside, which in Islam is haram, but the point I am saying here is that *ta’ārf* means what? Even although we have said what *ta’ārf*.
So then where does racial discrimination come in? Where does discrimination on the basis of anything, caste discrimination, come from? It’s nothing to do with Islam. There is no discrimination in Islam. If in Islam, if you are discriminating against somebody on the basis of caste, on the basis of any other basis, this is haram, this is against the Quran.
Muslims, forget about anybody else. And Allah has said: in the sight of Allah, everyone is the same and the differences are created so that you may recognize one another. And then Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā says, who is the most honored in the sight of Allah? *Inna akramakum ‘inda Allāhi atqākum*. The most honored in the sight of Allah, in the law, with Allah is *atqākum*, the one who has the greatest taqwah, the one who is the most pious, the one who is most concerned about and who is most particular about obeying Allahﷻ, about fulfilling the rights of Allahﷻ, of living their life according to how Allahﷻ commanded us to live our lives. *Minna akramakum minna Allāh atqafī*.
And Allahﷻ is *Alimun Khabeer*; He knows and He has the knowledge and He has the khabar. Right? Things happen and Allah knows instantly what is happening. So there is a long-term aspect to knowledge and there is a short-term or ongoing aspect to knowledge. Both of these, Allah is Alim and Khabir. So I remind myself and you: this is what therefore Hatim al-Hasan ﷺ is saying, that because in the sight of Allah the most honoured person is the one who is the most pious, therefore I have tried to become more pious. I have tried to have more Taqwah with Allah. This is the key of it, that for us, for example, to get up in the morning early and go for Salatul Fajr and may Allah bless those of you who come from a distance, may Allah grant you the reward for that; for every step Allah grants a reward. This is difficult, no doubt. But if you do it, it is a great gain. Because you are doing it for His pleasure.
This is the famous definition of Taqwah. When asked about something by Sajan Umar ibn al-Khattab Radhi Allahu anhu, Allah Ta’ālā sent him to Jannat al-Firdaus. Stars and they asked somebody, he said, “What is taqwah? Please describe for me.” So he said, “If you are walking on a sharp path on both sides of which there are thorns, how will you walk?” The man said, “I will gather my garments together; I’ll pull all my garments together and walk carefully so that my garments don’t get snagged on the thorns.” He said this is Taqwah.
So what do you do? You maintain your honor, right? You don’t fall into that trap. You maintain your honor. You protect your honor by gathering it close to yourself and remembering only Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā. And you walk on this path very carefully. You don’t just wander around and try to stroll here and there. No, it’s a dangerous path. On both sides, there are thorns. So you walk very carefully. You walk very carefully on this path.
You have great difficulties. In this way we need guidance in this life. This life is a test. His enjoyment he is getting in this life because he will not get it in the next life. But for the moment it’s a prison. So if you are in a prison, what do you do? You are not concerned about enjoying myself, how can you enjoy yourself? You are in a prison, how can you enjoy yourself?
I will do this, I have to build this great business for which I will take a loan which is haram. *La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah*. You didn’t come here to build a great business; you came here to build a great business in the light of what Allah permitted. I always tell myself and people: complete the sentence. Don’t say half the sentence. You came to build a great business in the way that Allah permitted us, not any way you like.
You didn’t come here to do good business by lying and cheating and deceiving people and calling that a deal. “I made a deal.” What’s the deal? I deceived someone today. What is it? A big deal was done. The deal you did was you deceived the person in this life or you bought Jannah for yourself? Because there is no escape; we have to understand this thing very clearly. There is no escape from Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā. There is no escape from the punishment of Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā.
Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā is watching us and He knows what we are doing, our intentions and He knows our actions in real time. Not after once again, not after one day. Right here, nowadays in the world of security cameras, people have become very conscious. When you go, you look in the room, where is the camera? We need to become these things today; technology has become a witness for us or against us. Because maybe Allah will ask: “Were you afraid of the camera?” Were you afraid of Me?
We must fear that Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā sees something we do without realizing it. And Allah Subḥānahū wa Ta’ālā wants to increase our love for Him in our lives according to His glory. And we stay with Allah to make it easy for Him and to walk with Him when He loves us about them.