Podcast: Play in new window | Download (19.2MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | Youtube Music | RSS
Auto-generated transcript:
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, alhamdulillahi rabbil ‘alameen, wa salatu wa salamu ala ashrafi al-anbiya’ wa al-mursaleen, Muhammadun Rasulullah ﷺ, tasliman kathiran kathira, wa ma ba’da. My brothers and sisters, we were talking about the importance of Salah. I remind myself and you that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, there is only one thing which Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala mentioned, which He related directly to Himself. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, “Aqimis Salata li Zikri” (establish Salah for my remembrance). If you take anything else, take for example Fasting; Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, “Kutiba ‘alaykum Siyamu kama kutiba ‘ala alladheena min qablikum,” so that you may become Muttaqeen. That’s for you, so that you become Muttaqeen. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala prescribed Hajj; Allah said, “Man istata’a yahaji ila Baytillah.” If you have the ability to perform Hajj, go make Hajj to Baytullah. Right? With Zakat? Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, “Nabi salallahu alayhi wa sallam qud min amwalihim sadaqa.” Take from their wealth, Sadaqa, which is Zakat in this case. For what? “Li tutahiru biha,” to purify their wealth. And make Dua for them, and your Dua is a means of Sukoon for them, benefit for them, right?
So if you take the pillars of Islam: Shahada is for us to enter Jannah; Fasting is for us to become Muttaqeen; Zakat is to purify our wealth; Hajj is to make Hajj to the house of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, and to show our subservience and obedience as the Ibadah of Allah. But Salah, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, “Salah is for Me” (Aqimis Salata li Zikri). That is why if someone said to me, “This is very nice,” I said, “I don’t know, this is a very nice video on LinkedIn where this person is reminding me, may Allah bless him.” If you are born as a Muslim, meaning you are born in a Muslim household as a child, do you have to formally enter Islam? Do you have to go somewhere, or by yourself and say, “Ashadu an la ilaha illallah, wa ashaduo anna Muhammadan Rasulullah”? If you do it, it’s good, but do you have to do that? No. You are a Muslim; you are born in a Muslim house, Alhamdulillah, you are Muslim.
Fasting: if you are travelling, there is no fasting. For Ramadan, if you are travelling, you can make up the fast when you come back to wherever you are. Right? If you are sick, you are allowed to miss the fast and make it up later on. For women who are in their periods, there is no fasting for them. Right? They can make it up later on. Zakat is liable on you only if you have the wealth. If you have the Nisab of Zakat, you pay Zakat. If you are poor, there is no Zakat on you. If you are poor for 100 years, and on the 101st year, if you have the money for Zakat, you must give Zakat for how many years? That one year. 100 years, you received Zakat. No problem. Alhamdulillah. Right? So, if you are poor, there is no Zakat. So, out of the pillars of Islam, Shahada, there is some reason why there is no Shahada for some people; they are Muslim, Alhamdulillah. Zakat, there is no Zakat if the man is poor. Fasting, if he is sick and so on and so on, different excuses, there is no fasting for them; they can make it up later on. Hajj, same principle as Zakat: you don’t have the money, you don’t need to go. If you are a woman, you don’t have a Mahram, you don’t need to go. But Salah, what about Salah? If you cannot pray standing, pray sitting. If you cannot pray sitting, pray lying down. If you cannot pray, even lying down, if you are paralyzed, may Allah protect us all from this thing, blink your eyes. If you can’t even blink your eyes, Salah has to be in your heart. If there is no water, make Tayammum. Right? If you are travelling, there is prayer. Pray Qasr. If you are fighting in the war—I am talking about actual soldiers on the battle front—does he have Salah or no Salah? He has Salah. Salatul Khawf. Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la made special Salah for him. That is the reason why the Sahaba reasoned like this: see, this is what I always remind myself. If we want to understand the Deen, we have to understand it from the perspective of the Sahaba. Because these were the people who received the Deen. We have to understand it from the perspective of the Sahaba. We have to understand the Deen directly from Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
When Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam came and announced and said, “Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la has made Salah for you five times a day,” what did they say? They said, “Alhamdulillah.” Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la has fulfilled all our needs. Right? They didn’t say, “Oh, five times. Why five times? Why not two times? Why not one time?” No. They said, “Alhamdulillah, Allah has fulfilled all our needs. We have no more needs.” How do you say there are no needs? Whatever need is there, the need is there. If you are sick, you are sick. If you need money, you need money. Whatever you need, right? You need a job. How do they say there is no need? They say there is no need because from their perspective, Allah has given us now the permission directly to connect with Him. Jalla Jalaluhu. So where is the need? I am talking directly to the One whose treasures have no bounds. Who has control, who has authority, who has ability, who has power, who has no bounds. And He is telling me, “Ask Me; I will give you.” So where is the need? That is why also think about this. There is a very long Hadith in which Rasul A.S. described the conditions of the last days. Right? The end of times. Now many people, on a side note, get involved in this thing of saying, “Is it now the end of times because things are so bad and blah, what not, what not.” These kinds of discussions are completely useless and you should never enter into them because nobody can say which is the end of times.
I always remind people: sitting wherever you are sitting, you might think, “Oh, things are so bad.” What do you think was happening in Baghdad in the 13th century when Hulegu’s four Mongols had completely surrounded Baghdad and they knew—the people in Baghdad—they knew that this is death. Certainly it is death. There is no escape from this. Did that look like the end of times for them? There must be somebody sitting there who is saying, “Oh, this is the end of times. This is Qiyamah.” Was it the end of times? Were there more Muslims before Baghdad (13th century) or more Muslims today? So all of these kinds of discussions are useless. So don’t sit and do those. But the point I’m making is, when Rasulullah talked about the end of times and he said that one day or one hour will be like one month and so on and so on. The extension of time, which means that one day will be like one year, for example. Guess what the Sahaba asked him? If somebody says to me today that one day will become like one year, what is the first thought that will be in my mind? One day is like one year. So what about food? What about shelter? What about this? What about that? What did the Sahaba say? They said, “Ya Rasulullah, how will we pray?”
They also had needs. These are human beings. They had families. They had children and they had wives and this and that. They didn’t ask any of that. They said, “How will we pray? We are supposed to pray five times a day per day. This one day is now the duration of one year. So how should we pray? When do we pray Fajr? When do we pray Zohar and so on?” So foremost in the mind is Salah. How will we pray? And that’s why Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, “Ya Ayyuha allatheena amanu istainu bisabri wa salah.” Allah did not say “bisabri wa sawm,” but “bisabri wa hajj,” “bisabri wa zakat.” No, “bisabri wa salah.” O you who believe, take the help of Istiaanat of Sabr and Salah. Not any of the other Arkan. Sabri wa Salah. Because Salah is when you come to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. And they said yesterday, it is the greatest honor. We need to understand Salah in its true sense. Salah is not a burden. Salah is not a musibah. Salah is not some job to finish. Salah is the greatest honor. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala allowed us into His presence, permitted us into His presence. And Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala made the entire earth a place of Salah for the Muslims. Anywhere. As long as the place is clean, you can pray. Right? I am not telling you to go block roads and pray. Please understand that. But I am saying if you are travelling somewhere and so on, there is no Masjid nearby, no problem. By the side of the road, in a field, wherever. You are in your car, pray in the car. You are in a plane, you are flying somewhere, pray in your seat of the plane. You are in a plane. Or if there is a place to pray in the plane, you go pray there. Wherever. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala did not stop us from connecting with Him, no matter what. So we have to understand this. Salah is an honor. Salah is a tool. Salah is a weapon. Salah is the condition that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gave us to connect with Him directly.
This is what the Sahaba used to do. Any need, pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. Even for us. Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said to the Sahaba; he said, “Rasulullah, somebody came and asked him: ‘We have this dilemma, what shall I do?’ He said, ‘Pray two rakat of Salah and make the Dua,’ which we know as the Dua of Istighfar. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala will clear your mind. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala will show you the direction.” Two rakat of Salah, then make the Dua. One of the Sahaba, he came home, his wife said, “There is nothing in the house. There is no food.” So what does he do? He goes to the Masjid. Prays two rakat. Comes back. He is saying there is no food. Go to the market, go somewhere, go do some job. Go to the shop, buy some food. No, go to the Masjid. They understood the meaning of Salah. Prays two rakat, come back home. He asks his wife, “Has anything happened?” She says, “No, nothing happened. There is no food.” Goes back to the Masjid. Makes fresh food.
Prays two rakat, now with even more concentration, more Khushu’. Then he comes back. His wife says, “Something strange is happening.” He says, “What?” She says, “The Pesal Mota, you know, the Chakki; it’s moving by itself. And flour is coming out.” So he says, “What did you do?” She said, “I, whatever was in the house, every utensil in the house, I filled it. It’s still coming.” So, what does he do? You know, he is a man. So, what do men do? They fiddle with things where they should not fiddle. So, he went and opened it to see how it is moving. So, it stopped. Now, imagine, just think if this happens to you, what will happen? Right? Literally, it blows your mind. Wallah, SubhanAllah, what’s that? Miracle, Mojizah Mayri Samne Var. He ran to the Prophet. He said, “Ya Rasulullah, this is what happened. There was no food. In the house, I went to the Masjid, I prayed, I came back and Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, this thing was moving and flour coming out.” Rasulullah S.A.W. said, “What did you do?” He said, “I tried to see, how is it happening?” Scientific research is not always a good thing. Leave it alone. If something is good happening, leave it alone. Don’t go and put your nose into it.
He said, Nabi S.A.W. said, “If you had not touched it, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala would have made flour come out of that thing till the day of Judgment.” If you had not touched it, flour would have come. And if there is a doubt in your mind, how could flour come out of that thing till the day of Judgment, tell me how is water coming out of Zamzam till today? Right? If Allah wants it to happen, nobody dug the well, nothing. I was reading somewhere one o
of the accounts of this in the Bible and you know, what they have done with the Bible. They say Hajar عليه السلام, they don’t know what they are saying. They say, Hajar found a well under a bush. How do you find a well under a bush? In absolutely barren valley, there is nothing there. There is no sign of water. If she hadn’t found a well under a bush, her child would have died. This is the tragedy of the cultures that have come out and distanced themselves from Islam, that they have taken God out of the world. They have taken God out of the equation. They have taken Allah ﷻ out of the equation.
She found a well under the bush. Allah ﷻ sent Jibreel عليه السلام and he was given the power and Allah ﷻ caused Zamzam to, water to come out of the ground. And that is going on till today. Millions and millions of people, there is no other place, there is no other well, there is no other water source probably which has a big bunch of pressure on it. Which other water source in the world has these millions of people drinking their water day and night? The Saudis have now restricted it. You can only take, you know, this one bottle, half a bottle or whatnot, or five, four liters, five liters. I mean, I know people, when I was living in Saudi Arabia in 2003, my neighbor used to fill his bucket, his, you know, he had a pickup truck. He used to fill his bucket, fill that, he used to drive from Jeddah, he used to drive to Makkah, he would fill that with cans of Zamzam, completely, with the whole tray of the truck filled with that. And he would bring and he would give me also. And he would do that literally every week. I asked him, what do you do? He said, yeah, I even bathe with it. He said, I even go to the mud, I go to the mud with it. Allah ﷻ can do whatever he wants. And Salah is what? Puts us in touch with Allah ﷻ. So I remind myself and you, let us pray with this awareness that I’m standing before Allah, جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ. I’m standing before the Arsh of Allah ﷻ. I’m making Sajdah before the Arsh of Allah ﷻ. And Nabi سَلَّ لَ لَ هِ وَ سَلَّمَ said this, I’m not saying it. Rasulullah سَلَّ لَ لَ هِ وَ سَلَّمَ said, that’s why he said, the Salah is the Miraj of the Momin. It’s the Miraj of the Momin. Nabi سَلَّ لَ لَ هِ وَ سَلَّمَ used this word Miraj.
Special, specific miracle, specific mawjiza, specific karama, specific honour is given to him, سَلَّ لَ لَ هِ وَ سَلَّمَ. He gave that word for us. He said, the Salah is the Miraj of the Momin. So the Miraj, what happened? Nabi سَلَّ لَ لَ هِ وَ سَلَّمَ meant, before the throne of Allah, in the Salah, every moment does that. But we need to do that with awareness.
So we ask Allah ﷻ to put the Shawk of Salah in our hearts. And we need to put the Shawk of Salah in our hearts. Come for Salah like you go for the most favourite thing that you have. And that is, I’m only saying it because I don’t have any other word, but there’s no comparison. There’s no comparison of Salah with any other favourite thing. Go to the Salah with this awareness that I’m going to my Rabb جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ who can do anything. So all my, any stress I have, any needs I have, any sadness I have, you know. Any fears I have, take it and dump it there. Take it and put it in the, you know, in the Masjid. Put it at the throne of Allah ﷻ. Say, Allah, take care of this, this is yours. Allah ﷻ said, you are, you belong to him. I belong to him. Lillahi maa fi samawati wa maa fi al-ard. The ayat of Surah Al-Baqarah. I get it. Lillahi means for Allah. Belongs to Allah. What? Maa fi samawati wa maa fi al-ard. Whatever, whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Are you on the earth or not? Where are you? Are you on the earth? So you belong to whom? Who said lillahi maa fi samawati wa maa fi al-ard? Is it, is it, this is the, is this the word of Rasulullah سَلَّ لَ لَ هِ وَ سَلَّمَ or is it the word of some saint or some guru or something? Who said this? Allah ﷻ. Allah says everything is mine. So Allah ﷻ is saying you belong to him. Allah is telling me you, I belong to him. So you should be worried. Then you should be worried. Tawba karna. You make stigmas. I beg you to forgive me for worrying. How do I worry? You told me I belong to you. You didn’t make this statement. I’m not saying this out of my great love for Allah. No, Allah is saying this. Lillahi maa fi samawati wa maa fi al-ard. Everything in the heavens and the earth belongs to me, belongs to Allah. And just that’s the reason why when you read the Quran, read it with understanding and reflect on this thing. This, just one, this, just this little, it’s not even the full ayat, the piece of the ayat. If you, if you get this, the hazaar of this, if you get the awareness of this, you’ll, you’ll dance in the streets. I belong to Allah. How can I have a need that is not fulfilled? When Allah ﷻ is the one who fulfills every need of everything. Who has Samad? So we ask Allah ﷻ to give us this awareness. So we may, we do Salah, we pray with this awareness of where we are standing, who we are standing in front of. And we ask Allah ﷻ to fulfill all our needs and all our desires. And the biggest need and the biggest desire is to see him in Jannatul Firdous. Insha’Allah.