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Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen. As-salatu was-salamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal-mursaleen, Muhammadur Rasulullah ﷺ, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi salam. Tasliman kathiran kathiran.
My brothers and sisters, we spoke about yesterday that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala commanded us to remember Him. He said, “Remember, for indeed the remembrance benefits the believers.” Verily, *dhikr* is beneficial for the believers. Remembrance brings benefit to those who believe.
As I mentioned to you yesterday, when you say “remembrance,” what are you remembering? Of course, all forms of *ibadah* (worship) are a form of remembrance. Reciting the Quran, performing Salah, repeating the names and attributes of Allah—such as *subhanallah*, *alhamdulillah*, and *Allahu Akbar*—all constitute *dhikr*. However, the real meaning of *dhikr* is to remember and remind ourselves. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, in another place in the Quran, asked: “Where are you going?” (*Fa-ayna tadhhabun*). Allah knows where we are going. The question is not merely a letter; it is a critical inquiry directed at us: Think about this. Where are you going? Where is your life taking you? What kind of decisions are you making? What actions are you doing?
Allah is saying, stop. Do not just keep moving forward blindly. Check your direction. As I said yesterday, if you set a destination on your GPS and then deviate from that path, the GPS will call you back to the straight route. Take a U-turn and go again because you have a specific destination. That is the purpose of *Zikr*; it acts as the GPS to bring us back on track.
Now, therefore, what exactly do we need to remember? As I stated yesterday, one thing we must remember—and should constantly recall—is the purpose of our creation. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, “I have not created the Jinn or the humans except for My worship.” By “worship,” we mean formal acts of *ibadah*, such as Salah, fasting, Zakat, and Hajj. We also mean knowing Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, having His glory and majesty in our hearts so that our lives are illuminated by that awareness.
The third aspect is that *ibadah* means obedience. Therefore, we must live our entire lives in obedience to the commands (*ahkam*) of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, according to the blessed Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ. This is the true meaning of *ibadah*. It is not restricted only to formal actions; it encompasses our entire life. This is a special blessing Allah has given us as Muslims: every action can become an act of *ibadah* if performed with the intention (*niyyah*) of pleasing Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. According to the Sunnah, if done with the intention of following Rasulullah ﷺ, even physical intimacy with one’s spouse becomes an act of worship. The Sahaba asked Rasulullah ﷺ about this. They said, “O Messenger of Allah, we engage in physical relationships merely to satisfy our own needs. Will Allah reward us for this?” Rasulullah ﷺ replied, “If you had engaged in such a relationship with someone who was forbidden (*haram*) for you—someone you are not married to—would Allah punish you?” They answered, “Yes.” He then asked, “Then is it not fair that Allah should reward you when you do what is permitted by Him?”
Thus, we know that every action, provided we have the *niyyah* to please Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, whether it is eating, drinking, or maintaining relationships with our parents and blood relatives (*silat al-rahm*), or interacting with neighbors, all become acts of *ibadah*. If we behave according to the laws and rules of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and follow the blessed Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ, these actions transform into worship, and we will be rewarded InshaAllah. We ask Allah for this reward.
The second thing to remember regarding *Zikr* is our collective purpose. What I mentioned until now—that we were created solely for the worship of Allah—is the individual purpose of creation for every human being. Every soul is created for one purpose: to worship Him. However, there is also a collective purpose for which Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala created us, the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ. Regarding this, Allah said in Surah Al-Baqarah, “You are the best nation brought forth for mankind, commanding good and forbidding evil.” You are selected for the benefit of all humanity. Your role is to command right conduct (*amr bil-ma’ruf*) and forbid wrong (*nahi anil-munkar*). Support one another in righteousness (*birr*) and piety (*taqwa*), but do not support each other in sin and aggression.
So, amr bil-ma’ruf and nahi anil-munkar—stopping all evil, stopping antisocial behavior, and halting anything harmful to society—are part of our duty. Faith in Allah is also included. This is our collective purpose. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gave us a global mandate for the entire Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ: to guide and help the rest of humankind live beautiful, positive lives that are not toxic and not based on disobedience. This is our purpose; it is the global mandate Allah bestowed upon us. We must show people how to live. When you live by the orders of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and according to the Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ, your life automatically becomes positive, beneficial, and beautiful for everyone. There is nothing negative about it.
Right? Today we are living in a world which is unfortunately the opposite—full of toxicity of all kinds. And that is because Allah gave us this global mandate yet we have failed to fulfill it. Allah said, “You have been created for the benefit of all humanity.” Right? So, have you been created for the benefit of the RSS? Yes or no? Why no? Are they human or not? They are human, right? So why deny them the benefit? Have you been created for the benefit of Zionists? Yes or no? Yes. Have you been created for Hindus, Sikhs, Christians? Yes.
Now, you might say, “How do I benefit somebody who is committing a genocide?” You benefit them by stopping that genocide. Because what they are doing is harmful to themselves. Think about this: Somebody killing an innocent person causes that innocent person to die. If that person dies on *Iman* (faith), he has died as a martyr (*shaheed fi sabilillah*). Maybe if he had died of natural causes, he would not have been a martyr, and perhaps Allah would have punished him due to his lifestyle. But if he dies as a martyr with faith, he goes to Jannah. What about the person who killed him? Where will he go? By stopping murder and preventing the killing of innocent people, you are actually doing a favor to the killer. You are saving them from eternal punishment. This is not my figment of imagination; there is a Hadith on this. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, “Help your brother whether he is the oppressor or the oppressed.” The Sahaba asked, “O Messenger of Allah, we understand helping our brother who is being oppressed, but how do we help the oppressor?” He replied, “By stopping his oppression.” If you do not stop his oppression, then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala will punish him, which is much worse for him.
So, Allah gave us a global mandate: set this world right. Correct this world. It is going in a toxic direction. We face global warming, species extinction, pandemics, and epidemics caused by our lifestyles. We have poverty at unprecedented levels even though we possess wealth at unprecedented levels. Today, probably, the human race has never been wealthier, yet we also have poverty at the same level. It is completely insane. If people have so much money, why is there poverty? Why is there starvation? Because there is a complete absence of compassion and kindness. We do not care what happens to others. It is not a question of supply and demand; it is a question of distribution. Distribution fails because there is no compassion. There is a huge demand and sufficient supply, but we refuse to give it. We will not feed starving people in Africa, India, and other places. Instead, we throw surplus grain into the sea because we do not want commodity prices to drop. So, food produced is destroyed. You pay farmers in Europe not to till their fields. They are paid just to leave the land fallow because if they produce food, prices would drop. When someone says, “But there are people starving who need the food,” the response is often, “Not our problem.”
I have a friend in America whose son has a particular medical problem. The doctors know the cure, but nobody produces the medicine. Nobody. He asked the doctor, “Why don’t they produce it?” The answer was that only 0.0 something percent of people have this disease, so it is not profitable or worth their while to produce it. Consequently, these people die. It doesn’t matter; it’s okay. Let them die. There are not enough of them.
Allah sent us Muslims to change this mindset. And you see that human life has value—even if it is just one person. We do not say, “Oh, it’s only one person, let him die.” No. We do not say this. So Allah gave us a global mandate: go out into the world and change all this stuff. But what have we done? InshaAllah, we will talk about that tomorrow. But I am saying, think about this. That Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gave us an individual purpose and a collective purpose. And when Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gives us a purpose, may Allah have mercy on us, we will be questioned about it. We will have to answer to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala both for our individual purpose as well as for our collective purpose.
So let us think about that and ask ourselves: What am I doing to fulfill the purpose for which Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala created me? We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to give us this awareness and guidance, and we ask Him to help us fulfill the purpose for which He created us. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to keep us in a state of obedience to Him Jalla Jalaluhu and to take us in a state of obedience when the time comes. Wa sallallahu ala nabiyyul kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma’in bi rahmatika wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.