Podcast: Play in new window | Download (16.3MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | Youtube Music | RSS
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wasalatu wasalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sallam. Tasleeman kateeran kateera. Amma ba’d.
My brothers and sisters, when we say, La ilaha illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullah, we translate that as: there is no one worthy of worship except Allah. Ibadat ke layak Allah ke siwa koi nahi hai. La ilaha illallah. This is how we translate it.
What we should also remember is that there is an attached meaning to this. When we say there is no one worthy of worship, we are also saying there is no one who fulfills any need except Allah. Nahi hai koi ma’bood siwa Allah ke. Nahi hai koi haajat rawa siwa Allah ke.
There is no one worthy of worship except Allah. There is no one who fulfills any need except Allah. These two have to be held together, because the one worthy of worship is the one who fulfills needs. This is a confession of worship. Saying there is no one worthy of worship except Allah is to accept the ubudiyyah of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala: we do not worship anyone other than Him.
But Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is also Rabb, Rabbul Alameen. His rububiyyah has to be acknowledged at the same time as His ubudiyyah. When we make sajda to Allah, we make sajda to Him because He is our creator, and because He is also our provider, our nourisher, our protector, the one who fulfills all our needs. We do not worship one and let someone else fulfill our needs. We worship the One who fulfills all our needs.
The aqeedah of Tawheed
The aqeedah of Tawheed is to accept Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala as al-Ma’bood, the one who is worshipped; to accept Him as the Rabb who fulfills all our needs; and to accept that no one shares with Him in His asma wa sifat, the attributes and qualities that belong to Him alone.
Tawheed fi uluhiyyah, Tawheed fi rububiyyah, Tawheed fi asma wa sifat. These are not three separate Tawheeds. Tawheed consists of these three things. Inshallah we will talk about that in detail. Today, what I want to remind myself, and you, is to keep this in mind: there is no one who fulfills needs except Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, who alone is worthy of worship. This is the meaning of Tawheed, and this is its basis.
Trust in Allah alone
Our trust, our faith, and our complete reliance on Allah alone, which is tawakkul, is based on this Tawheed. Why do we rely on Allah alone? Because only Allah can do anything.
When we say La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah, unfortunately we have turned it into almost an exclamation, something we say when something goes wrong. But what is the meaning of La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah? It means there is no one who has any power, any authority, any will, or any ability, except through Allah. It is an acknowledgement of the glory, the majesty, the power, and the command of Allah alone.
So Tawheed consists of this. When we have the complete yaqeen that no one fulfills needs except Allah, then we rely on Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. Then tawakkul becomes automatic and absolutely logical. There is no question of trusting anyone else when only Allah can do something. Why would you trust anybody else? Whoever it is, the other person cannot do anything unless it is Allah. There is no complication in this. This is the beauty of Islam.
Our elders and scholars have put it in Urdu, and it sounds very nice: Iman ke ma’na Allah se hona aur Allah ke ghair se nahi hona. Iman means to belong to Allah, and not to belong to anything other than Allah. Both of these two things are necessary. Our work comes to fruition because of what we do, and not because of what we have.
No one benefits or harms except Allah
The corollary of this is that only Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala can do, and ghairullah, anything other than Allah, no matter who or what it is, cannot do anything. La yanfa’u wa la yadhurru illa Allah. No one can benefit and no one can harm except Allah. No doctor can cure any disease by himself. No wealthy person can help any poor person by himself. Figure out any need you like.
If doctors could cure disease, no doctor would ever die. They would cure themselves first. If wealth could buy health, every wealthy person in the world would look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I am saying this within limits, obviously. But the point is that if wealth could solve problems, the wealthy would have lives free from problems. That is not the case. The problems of the wealthy are even greater than ours. We cannot even imagine how many problems they have.
The king and the shirt of a man with no worries
There is a story of a king whose crown prince was in chronic depression. He was very sad, would not leave the house, and so on. The king was desperate. He told the people, I will give my kingdom, and a million dollars, to anyone who can cure this man. A hakeem came and said the cure is to give him the shirt of someone who is happy and has no worries: put on him the shirt of someone who has no fikr, no worries.
The courtiers said, this is the simplest thing. Then give him your shirt. You are the king, what worries do you have? The king said, you are crazy. There is nobody with more worries than me. I carry the burden of the entire kingdom. My shirt will not work. So they went from the king to the prime minister, to the ministers, all over the country, searching. They asked everyone, do you have any worries? Everyone said, yes, I have some worries.
Finally, someone told them: there is one man who seems to have no worries, because we hear him singing all day. He is praising Allah, reciting Quran, singing good songs. He is the gardener here. So they went to him. They found him working in the garden, wearing a simple lungi, watering the plants, singing a beautiful song, looking very happy. They asked, are you happy? Do you have any worries? He said, no worries. They said, we have a problem: there is a prince in this state, and the hakeem said he needs the shirt of someone with no worries. Please give us your shirt. The gardener said, Allah did not even give me the worry of a shirt. I have no shirt. Allah did not give him any worry, and he had nothing else to be worried about.
Our connection with Allah
The point I am making is that the solution to our problems lies in our connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. It does not lie in the wealth we have, the health we have, or the power and authority we have. Health and wealth and power and authority will work if Allah is pleased.
A simple way to understand this: you have built a beautiful smart house, with all kinds of gadgets and appliances, climate control, and everything else. After you finish building and installing everything, what do you need to do? You connect the electricity to the power source. Until you connect it, none of it works. Once you connect it, everything works. The power source for all of these things is Allah. Health will work if Allah wills. Wealth will work if Allah wills. Allah will put barakah in it. Children will be a source of khair and barakah, if Allah wills.
So we have to connect to our source. Allah mentions this in Surah al-Kahf, which we should read every Friday, in the story of Musa and Khidr alayhimas salam. Two orphans had a treasure buried under a wall that was about to fall. Allah sent Musa and Khidr to repair the wall. Why? Khidr told Musa that their father was a good man. That is all. The father of these two children was a righteous man who pleased Allah, so Allah took care of his children. The father was long dead and gone, and we do not even know who he was. Allah protected the legacy of those children long after their father was gone, and the treasure will be revealed to them at the right time.
So the treasure did not help the children directly. It was the connection their father had with Allah that protected them long after he was gone. So let us remember this: keep the connection with Allah strong.
How to keep the connection strong
The way to keep that connection strong is to fulfil the farayid of Allah, what He made obligatory, and make sure we do it. Respect halal and haram: what Allah prohibited is harmful to us, so do not do it; what Allah permitted, you may do. These are very important. The aqeedah of Tawheed, with no shirk. Fulfilling the farayid. Respecting halal and haram. Inshallah, if we do these three things, we will be safe.
Hukuq al-Ibad
Halal and haram also includes hukuq al-ibad, the rights of people. It is not only what you eat, though that is part of it. How do you treat people? How do you treat inheritance? For example, one of the biggest problems with inheritance is that men eat up the inheritance of their sisters. You are eating fire, believe me, nothing less than that. Innama ya’kuluna fi butunihim naaran: they only eat fire into their bellies.
A woman may have no voice today, and may have no power, and may be unable to do anything. But she will raise her hands to her Rabb, and the one who has no one in this world has Allah. Her Rabb will listen to her. So fear that. Fear it, because there is something to be feared.
Give people their rights. This is haqq, and it is part of halal and haram. It is haram to eat the rights of others, whether they are orphans, widows, sisters, or anyone else. The orphans are mentioned most often because they are the weakest. But that does not mean that if someone is not an orphan, you may take his rights. No.
What you owe someone, give it to him, because otherwise he will take it from you before Allah. Make no mistake: before Allah, when we stand, there is no friendship. The child will not spare the parent, the mother will not recognize her own child, the father will not recognize his child, and the child will not recognize his father. There is no friendship then. Everyone will demand their haqq, and Allah will deliver that right.
Let us not wait for that day. We ask Allah to help us live a life in accordance with His will, so that we become entitled to His mercy. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon the Prophet, his family, and all his companions.