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Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil’alameen. Wassalatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasoolullah ﷺ sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kathiran kathira. Fama baadu wa amratan fisrat. Alhamdulillah. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala sent His book and sent His Nabi ﷺ to guide us to the right path and to Jannah inshaAllah, the path to Jannah. The important thing to understand is that, see what Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala taught us to ask. In Surah Al-Fatiha, which we recite in every rakat of every salah, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala taught us to ask for Ihdinas Sirat al-Mustaqim. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala did not ask us, did not tell us to ask for Jannah. Allah told us to ask for the path to Jannah. Ihdina ila Sirat al-Mustaqim. What is at the end of Sirat al-Mustaqim? Jannah. So Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala did not say, “Ask for Jannah.” He said, “Ihdina ila Sirat al-Mustaqim.” Guide us to the path. Because this life is a journey. And therefore, when you say, for example, if I say I want to go to Tadabah. So what will you say? If I say, I want to go there, how should I go? What is the logical answer? You will show me the road. Go this way. You simply say, “Go to,” but how will I go? I don’t know the way. I want to go. Therefore, this life is a journey. And that’s why Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala taught us to ask for the road. In this journey of life, which is the right road? The right road is called Sirat al-Mustaqim. The path of steadfastness. The straight path. The path of guidance. Ihdina ila Sirat al-Mustaqim.
And that is why Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala in Surat al-Nur described what is this Sirat al-Mustaqim. Allah said: وَمَن يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَخْشَ اللَّهَ وَيَتَّقِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَائِظُونَ (wa man yu’ti Allaha wa rasoolahu wa yakhsuha wa yattaqihi fa ulaika humul faziqun). Allah said, you see the things that Allah said. First and foremost, obedience. وَمَن يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ The one who obeys Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and His Rasul. So the first and foremost thing in life is to obey Allah and His Rasul. People get involved in all kinds of extraneous things. Sometimes in useless things. Some philosophies and this and that and so on and so on. That doesn’t get you anywhere. The first and foremost is, “Obey Allah and His Rasul.” And then, “Yakhshu Allaha.” The one who has the khashiyat of Allah. Khashiyat is that condition which is in the heart, which is the awe and glory and majesty. It is akin to fear, but it is not fear. Fear is a negative emotion which removes your energy, which freezes you, which makes you run away or want to run away from the thing that you fear. Khashiyat is like fear because it produces the same kind of adrenaline in the heart, but it comes out of awe and respect for the glory and majesty of Allahﷻ.
Allah said: لَوْنَدَلْنَا هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَىٰ جَبَلٍ لَرَأَيْتَهُ خَاشِعًا مُتَصَدِّيًا مِّنْ خَشَةِ اللَّهِ (lawandalna hadha al-Qurana ala jabalin lar’aytahu khashi’an mutasaddian min khashati Allah). Allah said, If this Qur’an al-Kareem was to be sent down onto a mountain, the mountain would humble itself, would disintegrate, would break apart with the khashiyat, with the glory and majesty of Allah. So the first thing is to obey Allahﷻ and His Rasul SAW. The number one form of obedience is salah. Everything begins with salah. The moment we say, “Ashadu an la ilaha illa Allah,” I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah, then what should we do? Worship Allah. So, it is salah. The number one important thing in life is salah. Allahﷻ created us for His worship. This is what we are created for. This is the purpose of our existence. So, we pray. What’s the importance? And then the same obedience in the rest of our lives, in our ma’malat, in our akhlaq, in our dealing with people, and the rest of the arqan of Islam, sawm and fasting and hajj and zakat and so on. Right? Obedience to Allah and His Rasool, peace and blessings be upon him.
This means that a person, when he or she comes across any decision point in their life, no matter how small or significant or big it might be, the first question they ask is, “Is there an order of Allah or His Rasool in this matter?” Is there a hukm of Allah? Is there a guidance? Is there a hukm? Is there a sunnah of Rasool Allah concerning this matter? So, if somebody says, “What will you do?” You say, “I will check.” If there is a hukm of Allah, if there is a sunnah of Rasool Allah, I follow that. So, I will not decide something on my own without first checking: is there a law that is applicable? Right? Is there something to be done? If you go to buy a piece of land, so you say, “Go buy the land,” then what do you do? You don’t simply give the money to somebody and walk away and say, “This is my land.” You will lose the land, you will lose the money also. You will say, “Bring the papers, here is the money, where is the receipt, we go to the registrar’s office, we get it registered, we change the ownership.” If you don’t do that, then the money will be sold. So, there is a procedure, there is a methodology to be followed in every transaction.
So, similarly, any, the meaning of obedience is that, in any matter of this life, we first check, “What is the hukm of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala in this?” I want to get married, what is the hukm of Allah in this? I have to raise children, what is the hukm of Allah in this? I want to start a business, what is the hukm of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala in this? We don’t just go and do something, no. We first ask: “I want to eat some food, what is the hukm of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala concerning this?” “I want to go somewhere, I want to meet somebody, I want to make a friendship, I want to break a friendship, I want to have a relationship, I want to change, whatever the situation, what is the command of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala in this?” What is the sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in this? And I follow that. This is the meaning of obedience. وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ This is the meaning, which is, look to do the itaat of Allah and His Rasul. Look to obey Allah and His Rasul, meaning, look to see what we are supposed to do, what they have ordered us to do. This will produce the state of khashiyat.
So Allah said, “Yakhshu Allaha.” The one who has the khashiyat of Allah. The khashiyat of Allah comes from constantly making zikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. Like yesterday in the hadith which I mentioned, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, this boy came, he came to him, alayhi salatu wasalam, and he said, “Ya Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, give me something which only you can give me.” So Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said to him: قُلْ بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ (qul bithikri Allah). Take your hand. And he said: سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَلَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ وَلَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ الْعَلِيِّ الْعَظِيمِ (subhana Allah wal hamdu lillah wa la ilaha illa Allah wallahu akbaru wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahil aliyyil azim). Yeah, alhamdulillah we know all of this. He said, say this. So inshaAllah, even if you say it once, if you say it with the awe and majesty, with the jalala and the azama of that, inshaAllah this is sufficient. If you say it more, alhamdulillah.
سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَلَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ وَلَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ
So this dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, this focusing on the glory and majesty of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala by reciting the Qur’an al-Karim. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala mentioned: إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ اللَّهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُهُ زَادَتْهُمْ إِمَانًا (innama almumineena allatheena idha dhikra Allaha wajilat quloobuhum wa idha tiliya ‘alayhim ayatuhu zadatahum imanan). The believers are those who, when the dhikr of Allah, when the mention…
The mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala comes before them, their hearts shiver with the glory and majesty of Allah. وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ Something happens to their heart; the heart moves.
وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُهُ زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا When the verses of Allah are recited to them, or when they recite the verses of Allah, their faith increases. So the solution for when you are feeling low, when you are feeling depressed—all of these are signs of low iman. Why should you feel depressed? Why should you feel afraid? Why are you full of anxiety? Why are you worried?
دُنْيَا مَنْ أَيْسَهَا هُرَا دُنْيَا مَنْ أَيْسَاهَا هُرَا What is this dunya compared to the presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala? We are Muslims; what is the use of it?
If you also think in the same way, in the same nonsensical way—this one does that, that one does that—let them do. How does it matter to us?
It matters to us because our connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is weak. Because the connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is broken. So repair that connection. The repairing of that connection is called tilawat al-Quran.
So when we read the Quran al-Karim, iman increases.
So the way to develop khashyah of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala in the heart is to read more and more Quran al-Karim. Read it with understanding. Read the meaning. Try to understand. Try to learn the Arabic language. That is the ideal way.
So read the Quran al-Karim. Make zikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. وَيَخْشَ اللَّهَ وَيَتَّقِهِ And this results in taqwa. And the one who has taqwa.
أُولَٰئِكَ يُطِيعُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَخْشَوْنَهُ وَيَتَّقُونَهُ Three things: Obedience to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala; khashyah of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala within our hearts; and taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. Taqwa is that condition where a person fears to displease Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. It’s the fear of displeasing Allah. It’s not fear of Allah. Fear of displeasing Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
It’s taqwa. Because when I say “fear of displeasing Allah,” this automatically translates into action.
Fear of displeasing Allah.
Translates into action. Supposing I say, “Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is above any example we can give.” The example is given only to illustrate. Supposing I say, “I’m afraid of a lion.” Okay.
I’m sitting here, there’s no lion. Which lion? But are you afraid of a lion? Yeah, of course. I’m afraid of a lion. There’s no action involved. I’m merely making a statement. I’m afraid.
But supposing I’m in the forest and there are lions around. And I say, “I’m afraid.” I’m afraid of getting eaten by a lion. So I want to make sure that I escape this lion. There’s a whole bunch of action. If I want to escape from the lion, that is because of fear. But there is action involved. So if you say, “I fear Allah.” No, you don’t fear Allah. You fear displeasing Allah. I want to make sure I never displease Allah. This is an action statement. I want to make sure I never displease Allah. Means what? Means I will never do anything which displeases Allah. Which means, any time any decision point is there, any time I have to take some action, I will check this action of mine: Does it please Allah or does it displease Allah?
That is the state of Taqwa. A Muttaqi is the one. They asked Sayyidina Umar ibn al-Khattab, “What is Taqwa?” He said, “Have you ever gone down a narrow path on either side of which there are thorny bushes?” They said, “Yes.” He said, “How do you go down that path?” He said, “We gather up our garments close to our body and we walk very carefully to make sure that the garment does not snag on any of the thorns.” He said, “That is Taqwa.”
That is Taqwa.
The world is full of thorns. The world is full of things which displease Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. How do I save myself from that? By walking in this world. The way I would walk on a narrow path on either side of which are thorny bushes. Very carefully, keeping my clothes together, making sure that the clothes don’t get torn, they don’t get snagged on the thorns.
So, وَمَن يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَخْشَاهُ وَيَتَّقِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَائِزُونَ The one who obeys Allahﷻ and His Messenger, and has khashyah of Allah, and fears Him—Allah said, “These are the people who are permanently successful.”
In the Quran, Allahﷻ used two different words for success. Both mean success. One is falah (muflihun). And the other one is fawz (fawzun azim faizun). Now, falah is success. But it is success after which there will be more tests.
So, for example, you finish your high school graduation. You can’t say, “Well, I am done.” It is not done. High school graduation is only opening a door for your next test, which is your undergraduate degree in university. And then after that, you graduate from university. Then you go PG.
Alright? And so on. So, there is a series of tests. So, this is success. Successful, alhamdulillah, good for you. But it is not the last test. This is: there is a test after this. So, falah is success in a test. But after that, there is another test. And after that, maybe another one. But fawz is final success.
After which there is no test. Alhamdulillah, we are done.
So, fawz is jannah.
Ulaikahumul Faizun. These are the people who will be permanently successful. No more tests. So, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to make us among His obedient slaves. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to fill our hearts with His khashiyah. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to make us among the mutaqin and among the faizin. Wasallallahu ala nabil kareem wa la alihi wa sahbihi ajmain bi rahmatika ya rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.