The Journey To Allah And The Abode Of The Hereafter || Shaykh Muhammad Tim Humble

Alhamdulillah. So, after praising Allah and sending salutations upon our Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and his family and his companions, I'd like to welcome everyone here today. May Allah reward you with good. You gave your time and you made your effort to come to a house from the houses of Allah to listen to something beneficial of Islamic knowledge. And this is from the best of the things you can spend your time in. And it's from the things that, if a person, after the obligatory deeds, had to choose a good deed to fill their time with, even if somebody knew, and you can't know, but if somebody knew that they were going to die on this very day, and the angel of death came to them and said to them, "By this evening, I'm coming for you," after their obligatory prayers and so on that they had to fulfill, there is nothing better that you could spend your time with than to learn beneficial knowledge and to implement it.

And I want to emphasize this particular point before we begin, even though we're going to emphasize it, inshallah, during the explanation as well, that my brothers, Allah will not judge you based on the information you know, but He will judge you based on what you put into practice. So, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to teach us what will benefit us, to benefit us with what He teaches us. We ask Allah to increase us in knowledge. Say, "My Lord, give me an increase in knowledge." And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us the ability to practice it.

And in this, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and I just want you to reflect because I want us to approach this sitting in the right way. I don't want us to come and give our time, and time is the most valuable thing you have. Oh son of Adam, you are just a few days. When one day goes, your life goes with it. A part of your life goes with it. So I don't want you to give your time and not benefit from it. So I want you to reflect upon the statement of Allah, the statement of Allah: "Are those who know equal to those who don't know?" The only people who will remember are those of understanding. Do you see how Allah described knowledge in the ayah? He didn't describe anything to do with how much information is in your head. He didn't say about the one who reads books all day, or the one who memorized, or the one who spends his time learning or listening. But at the end of the day, what you put into practice is what makes you a person of knowledge, not the knowledge that is in your head. That's why a lot of people are, and you can say about them, "Any, the person's got knowledge and he's got some information." You can't say that person is a scholar, and you can't say that person is a wise person, because in reality, the actions don't match the information.

So, we want today to be a gathering of beneficial Islamic knowledge, and we want today to be a gathering of something that we can put into practice. And that is why the topic that we have today is from the most beautiful of topics, the topic of traveling, the journey to Allah, the journey to Allah. And if you think about this topic, first of all, just before we start with the recitation of the poem, let's just think around the topic. Let's just kind of get an idea or orient ourselves, orientate ourselves as to what are we speaking about, really? So I want you to think about it like this: the prophets came to their people with three fundamental things. They came to their people with three fundamental things. They came to teach people about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and they came to show people the path to Allah in worshipping Him alone, and they came to tell you the rewards of the people who do so. These three things, all of them are in the title of the poem, this by the teacher of one of the great scholars of modern times, "Journeying to Allah." What is the path to Allah? What is the way that you're going on it to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? And that path, what is the purpose of it? To know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to worship Allah. So the path to Allah is to worship Him alone. "We only created the jinn and the men to worship Me alone." As Allah says in the Quran. That means that He is going to tell you about the path, and that path is the worship of Allah. And that path, it ends in knowing Allah and worshipping Allah based upon that knowledge. And it's the path to the Jannah, and the Jannah is the reward of the people who journey to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So, some of them, they call it Tasawwuf. That's a definition. Sometimes they describe it like that. This topic, the way that you journey to Allah, the way that you gain knowledge of Allah, the way that you worship Allah upon goodness, the way that you come close to Allah, and you journey in the right way towards the Jannah. And a number of scholars wrote on this topic. But in my view, and the view of our teachers when they explain this book and this poem, the greatest book that has been written on this topic is the book of "Madarij al-Salikin" in three volumes. This is the topic that we're speaking about. And if you want to break it down into subjects, you can see there's a big element of Tazkiyah in there. It's a big element of Tazkiyah, to purifying yourself, cleansing your soul, building up your good deeds, building your nearness to Allah. There's a big element of Tazkiyah in there. There's a big element of educating. In fact, this topic is often put under the title of nurturing, you teaching you, your teacher teaching you the right way to go about getting near to Allah and to go about this journey towards the Jannah. And it can also cover elements of belief, because knowing Allah is all about what you believe in Allah. It comes under Aqeedah. And elements of good manners and good behavior. Good manners, bear in mind the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, "I was only sent to complete righteous manners." Outside of the Deen, I was only sent to perfect the most noble of manners. That means your manners has to include your manners with Allah, not just your manners with creation. If you're thinking of manners as just how you treat your neighbor, that's a limited understanding. That's more narrow than what Islam gives you. In Islam, your manners, how are your manners with Allah? And from here is where the scholars said, "Whoever corrects what is between them and Allah, Allah will correct what's between them and what's between the people." So there's an element of Tazkiyah, there's an element of Aqeedah, there's an element of purifying the soul. And there is an element of it's also an element of understanding the fundamentals of worship, the concept of Tawheed. So this is a really profound topic.

And one of the great benefits that you have here, I'm going to give you two really great benefits of what we're going to study today. The first is that this poem is a small, easy-to-understand text. If we were to sit here with "Madarij al-Salikin" in three volumes, even to take pieces from it, it would be heavy on someone who's coming in their early days of learning about Islam. It would be a bit heavy on you. And there's some terminology in there that even sometimes the translators get it wrong. I remember looking at the translation and seeing times where even the person who's studying the book didn't necessarily fully understand the way it's being presented and the terminology and things like that. So it's nice that it's summarized and it's, inshallah, I say inshallah because I never ever promised to finish. I've stopped promising to finish things because whenever I sit and I say, "It's easy, inshallah, we're going to finish this. It's only a few lines. We'll finish it." We'll finish the poem today. And that's a benefit because finishing things gives you a sense of confidence, gives you a sense of achievement, by Allah's permission, helps you to go to the next step.

The next benefit that I really want you to understand is that this poem is written by an Imam of an Imam whose belief and practice is in alignment with the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Why is that important? Because this topic, the topic of Tasawwuf and the topic of spiritual journeys and things like that, is a topic where a lot of the writing is not necessarily in accordance with the Sunnah. And from this, from the benefit he mentions in his criticism of some of the people of rhetoric for what they do and how they bring principles and rules and things that Islam never came with, and you're bringing, you're telling people to follow things that you don't have evidence for. From the things that he criticized is people taking this subject and giving a fixed number of things a person has to learn, or a fixed set of stages a person has to go through in a certain order with a certain number. He said, "This person, they've brought upon themselves a burden that they don't have evidence for." Because what happens is they start saying to people, "There's a thousand, you know, stopping points on the journey to Allah. This is the first one, this is the second one, this is the third one." There's no evidence for it. So to have an Imam from the Ahl al-Sunnah talk about this topic and summarize it for you is very valuable because he's going to keep away from some of the unnecessary burdening that came from the Sufis and others when they put these pathways and systems in place for the journey to Allah that didn't actually come from the Quran and the Sunnah. And they actually burden the person with what they don't need. If a person says, "My view," and from the justice of Ibn al-Qayyim, a very fair person, he didn't blame people. He said, "You can say even what they said, you can say it from personal experience that in my view, I think that a person should go through these phases and these steps." Like you can't make, you can't say to someone, "This is your path, and you step one, step two, step three." This is your development of your heart and your connection to Allah. You can't make a person follow something that the Quran and Sunnah never came with. So it's very valuable that you have here a very small, very summarized poem written by a great scholar of Islam who is going to select for you what the Sunnah brings to us on this topic in a very, very summarized and easy-to-understand way, inshallah.

So, how are we going to proceed today? What I would like to do is we're going to ask our brother to read the poem for us in full. It's a nice, short poem. It's not very long. And that's going to give us a little bit of a chance to listen, a little bit of a chance to think. You can follow in English or in Arabic, whichever you prefer. We'll read it in Arabic only, but you can follow in your notebooks. You can follow the... I think in the notebooks they have it in the English translation. One time, then what we're going to do is go basically line by line with the Arabic and the English, and then we're going to do a gentle explanation. We're not going to try and dive so deep that we all get lost and confused, but we have some really practical points that we can take home. There are many explanations of this book or this poem. Two explanations that I personally think that you should refer to, that I tried to refer to as much as possible. The first is that the author himself, sometimes they pronounce it. You've seen it, right? In two ways. They pronounce it. Allah knows best. From what we understand from the author's family, is that they pronounce it with a 'dammah' on the 'seen', like they write it with a 'dhadh' as well. And some of his students like that, and some like that. Like what I understand, Allah knows best, is that it should be... that he himself wrote a commentary on the poem. It's very short, only, I think, 18 pages. He just wrote. He didn't write a detailed commentary. He just wrote some points. He said, "Just bear this in mind. Keep this Hadith in mind." He wrote some kind of like little notes on the topic. So that's very good because always the author, you know, like they say, "The people of Makkah know better what's in it." So the person who wrote the poem knows better about what he meant. So you can go back to that. And also, there is a three-hour, approximately three-hour explanation by our teacher, which is audio. I didn't find it written down, although I didn't check in a great deal of detail. But in audio, it's there. It's around about three hours long or so, and he goes through the poem and brings a lot of beneficial points. So for those who have access to Arabic, I would recommend you read the author's own commentary on the poem. And I also recommend you listen to our teacher, Abd al-Aziz al-Tarifi, in his explanation. And both of them are widely available online. It's not difficult to find. As for English, I have no idea if somebody explained it in English before. I'm not good when you ask me about things in English. I'm not good at knowing what is there and what isn't. But you guys can search for it yourselves, inshallah.

So, we'll begin with a recitation of the poem.

[Recitation of the poem]

So, with that, we listened to the poem one time. As we go through the poem, I'll point out where I have some differences in the... there are probably three, four places where there are some differences, an extra word here or a word taken out, and I'll point those out as we go through them.

So, as we've said, we've introduced the concept of the poem, this which deals with the journey to Allah. This idea, by the way, that when they talk about it, it's a terminology that's used in this science. And sometimes people's terminologies can be tricky. And I'll tell you an example of how terminologies can be tricky based on the fact that he's commenting on a book that's already been written. He uses this terminology, "al-Safar," this journey. And this journeying is the journeying through life towards the Jannah, in terms of your relationship with Allah, and you getting near to Allah, and those things. Why I mentioned this terminology is the word itself means journeying, right? Journey on the earth. It means to journey, particularly journeying at night, but journeying on the earth. And sometimes when people read it written in the books, it confuses them, even Arabic speakers. So in one place, I read in a translation, he said something like, something like, by memory, approximately, he said something like, "They keep going in this." After the translator wrote, "They go for a walk after Fajr." He understood, and he understood what that meant. The "sayr" here is not a physical one, right? It's not about putting one foot in front of the other, or it's not about the idea of journeying in your car. This is the spiritual journey to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So when you see this word, it's got nothing to do with a physical journey or a journey that you are taking in terms of this world. It's not like traveling from, you know, Reading to, I don't know, London or somewhere else. This is about your spiritual journey to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So this is a terminology that is used. So whenever they talk about this, that's what they mean. They mean this idea of the spiritual journey, not the physical one. So it's a difficult, like I said, even really good translators and people who explain, sometimes they miss that concept of the terminology. So keep that in mind.

And keep in mind that the title gives us these three key points: the prophets came with knowing Allah. What's the evidence that the prophets came with? The purpose of teaching you about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and who Allah is. "The last ayah: Allah created the seven heavens and from the earth's the like of them. His command goes between them, descends between them, so that you may know that Allah is able to do all things and that Allah has encompassed everything in His knowledge." So what does that tell you? That tells you that knowing Allah is one of the purposes for which Allah created the heavens and the earth. Don't neglect that. Don't think that knowing Allah is a bonus, as long as you do your Salah and you give your Zakat. Knowing Allah is one of the fundamental reasons for which you exist on this earth, and it's one of the reasons why Allah created the heavens and the earth and everything that is in it, for you to know Allah, His names, His attributes, and His actions. And that is why, if you think about it, what does it begin with? It begins with knowing Allah.

[Music]

All of this is on the topic of coming near to Allah by knowing Him. But is that knowing Him enough by itself? It's not enough, right? Knowing Him requires a journey which is both spiritual and physical, and that journey is worshipping Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. "You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help." That is the statement that is intended by the ayah. "You alone we worship, You alone we ask for help." That's your journey. If someone asks you, "What path are you upon? What journey are you upon? What are you doing in this life to get close to Allah?" That's the summary of it: "You alone we worship, You alone we ask for help." And the evidence for this: "We did not create the jinn and the men except to worship Me alone." So now we understood that those two points: knowing Allah and the journey of worshipping Him. "Worship your Lord until death, which is certain, comes to you." You understood that this is with its two types. You can make it three types, you can make it two types, no problem. Like here, for this discussion, for this discussion that we want, we want to talk about Tawheed in its two types: that is, Tawheed al-Rububiyyah and Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah. And on the other side, so the Oneness of Allah can be divided into two main things: the Oneness of Allah as it relates to knowing Him and affirming what you know about Him. Knowing Him and affirming what's your job here? What is required from you in this aspect is to know Allah, His names, and attributes, and actions, and to affirm them. Not just to know them, you need to actually believe them and implement them in terms of your what you know about them. So what is required is you know them and you affirm them. That is what is required from you.

The second aspect, which is the actual journey of worshipping Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that journey of worshipping Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, what is required from you? Your actions, your worship. That's what's required from you. So in the first type, you're required to know. And in the second, you're required to act. If you want to think of it a different way, in the first type, you are required to declare Allah to be One in His actions. Because knowing Allah is all about Allah, His names, and attributes, and actions. It's not about what you do, it's about what Allah does. So it's saying, "Nobody does what Allah does except Him." Does that make sense? Nobody creates except Allah. Nobody gives life except Allah. Nobody causes death except Allah. Nobody sends down the rain from the sky except Allah. No one controls the universe except Allah. No one gives you sustenance except Allah. All of it is to do with what Allah does, and that no one does it but Him. As for what is required from you is that your actions are only for Allah. Your worship. "Say, 'Indeed, my prayer, and my rites, and my living, and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds.'" So now your actions have to be for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And some of the scholars divided it into three, where they took the first category and they split it into Tawheed al-Rububiyyah and Tawheed al-Asma' wa al-Sifat. And there is no difference between the two. All of it is the same concept.

So this is about as for Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah. Here, there are different aspects. Part of it is the aspect of Iman, the aspect of believing in the Hereafter. And from this is the statement of Allah: "You believe in the Hereafter." That you believe that there will be a recompense for what you do, that you will be judged on this journey, this journeying through worshipping Allah, through knowing Him, and then building worship upon that knowledge. You will be judged based on that. And that is the third aspect that the prophets came with: to tell the people that you will be judged based on your knowledge of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and your worship of Him.

And so, if we bring all of that together, we can actually find it from the Quran. We could give, for example, the ayah in Surah Al-Mulk: "He who created death and life to test which of you is best in deeds." So Allah will test you with regard to your knowledge of Him and with regard to the worship that you build upon that knowledge. Now, someone may ask a question, and we'll conclude with this point. Someone may ask, "What's the connection between those two things: knowing Allah and worshipping Him?" How do we bring them together? It's very simple. Knowing Allah leads you to worship Him. If someone asks you a question, "Why do you worship Allah alone? Why not worship a statue, or the sun, or the moon, or the stars, or the prophets, or the angels?" Your answer has to be something to do with what you know about Allah. "Only Allah does this. Only Allah can help me. They can't benefit me. Only Allah can benefit me. Only Allah deserves to be worshipped because of..." and you're going to mention what you know of Allah. So now, what that's going to tell us is the knowledge of Allah is going to drive you towards worshipping Him alone. And this, you can see it in every ayah of the Quran. When Allah mentions knowledge of Him, you will find in that context, in those ayat, in that passage, the command to worship Him. Look at the first command to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala: "O mankind, worship your Lord who created you and those who came before you, so that you may become people of Taqwa." And then all of it is telling you about Allah's actions, so that you worship Him. You worship Him because you know that He is the Creator, and no one else creates you. You worship Him because He provided the earth and the heavens and the rain, and no one else provides it except Him. So it drives you to worship Him. The worship of Him encompasses knowing Him, because you cannot worship what you don't know. If someone said, "You worship Allah." "Okay, who is Allah?" "No." So if you don't know who is your Lord, you can't even pass the first question in the grave. What will the person say? Who is from those people who turned away from Islam? He will say, "I don't know." If you don't know who your Lord is, you cannot worship what you don't know. And that's why he has a famous statement: "Whoever knows Allah more, worships Allah more, is more keen to worship Him, fears Allah more, worships Allah more, and disobeys Allah less. Whoever knows Allah more, fears Allah more, and worships Allah more, is more keen to worship Allah, and is further away from disobeying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala." So don't discount the value of knowing Allah and then worshipping Him based upon that, and then realizing that your account, your reward, your recompense on the Day of Judgment, the day of Al-Jaza, the day of where everybody will get the good or the bad of what they've done, is based upon these things. And that is beautifully encapsulated for us in the title.

So we can, inshallah, go through maybe a couple of lines with the English as well. "Happy are those who avoid the destructive paths and aim for the stations of Allah's pleasure, for they are the ones who were sincere and traversing the path whilst implementing the legislature of faith." I just want to point out, I said we'll mention if there are any here. In my copy, I have the word "al-Falah." This issue of "al-Falah" might be beyond us today, of measuring the poem and whether the poem is got the right balance, poetic balance or not. I don't really want to talk. I want to sit all day talking about poetic balance. Poetic balance is a hard subject, and I'm not that great at it either. There is a concept in Arabic to do with "Wazn" which says that the poem has to be properly balanced and have the right kind of ending. And if it's not properly balanced on the right pattern, it's considered to be broken, and then you like it gets corrected. But the copy that I have, the one that I have, has the word "al-Falah" after it. But I also have another one that doesn't. Just it's worth noting in brackets that some of the some of the scripts they have.

So we begin with the statement of the poet here. He said, "These people, they got eternal happiness, happiness in this world and happiness in the Hereafter." And that is ultimately, if you ask yourself, what does the word "Falah" mean? What does the word "success" mean? The word "Falah" many times, the word is based around two key things, and the idea of happiness is based around two key things, no more than that. And that is achieving what you are hoping for, and being saved from what you are scared of. That is the core of it. As in the statement of Allah: "Whoever is saved from the Fire and entered into Paradise, that person has surely, that person has surely been successful." And this concept of "Falah" can be taken from the statement of Allah, from the statement of Allah, in which He said, "As for those who achieved their..." Just going to see if I can see the ayah. "As for those who achieved this happiness, they were the happy people." How do we know what they got? They're in Jannah. They're in Jannah. They're going to be in it forever, as long as the heavens and earth remain, except for that which your Lord wills. This is a never-ending gift from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. What's the opposite of those people? The people who didn't get it. Who are they? They are the people of "Shaqa," the people who are described as "Ashqiya," the people who are described as being the wretched in the statement of Allah. "As for those people who are wretched, they didn't get this. They will be in the Fire." And this Fire, it has its sounds, its cry, and its screams of its people, the burning flames within it, for the people who didn't achieve this happiness. So ultimately, he starts by telling you, this poem is telling you how, from the ways, from the means that you can be from the people of "Falah."

And by the way, I meant, I forgot to mention on the topic of the title, the ayah that gathers together the whole concept which the Sheikh spoke about. There's an ayah in Surah Al-Furqan, which brings all of this topic, and the title the Sheikh gave can be taken from it. "And whoever wants the Hereafter and strives for it, works for it, while being a believer, those people, their efforts are going to be appreciated." So what do we have in here? We have all three points: the one who wants to journey to the Hereafter, they want to get to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to the Jannah, to see the face of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in Paradise. That's what they want. But is it enough to want? It's not your wishes, it's not what you want, it's not what you want. You have to go and journey and work for it and go and journey and do efforts. "Strives" contains the idea of journeying, and it contains the idea of working hard. Believing in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and His names, His attributes, and His actions, and the actions which come out of what you know about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. All of that is part of your Iman. "Those people, their efforts are going to be appreciated." So that you can link that to the title as well.

So, going back to what the poet said, he said, "Notice, he said, they keep away from the destructive paths." What did we have in the translation for it? "The destructive paths." It's everything which is not praiseworthy, that which is lowly, that which is wretched, that which is of no value. So these destructive paths, here he points out another something very valuable. The journey to Allah has only one path. As for the journey following the desires and the Shaitan, that has many paths. What's the evidence for that? The statement of Allah: "This is My straight path, so follow it." This is the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam now is being told to tell, to recite the Quran. "Allah's straight path is one. Guide us to the straight path, and do not follow all of the other paths." Don't follow all of the other paths. Every other path is going to take you away from the one path that leads to Allah. What path is that? That path is the path described by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala: "Guide us to the straight path." So this path has a beautiful thing about it. The path itself is straight. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said about it, "Its night is like its day. No one deviates from it except that they will be destroyed." You're never going to miss it. It's not like one of these roads when you're... I walk to the Masjid today. I walk past the Masjid, even though I knew where the Masjid was. I walk past the Masjid, I reached the end of the road, and then we walk back, and we found the Masjid again. It's not like that. It's not a road where you can get lost. It's very, very clear. It's straight. It's easy to know. You don't have any doubt about it. Its night is like its day.

The other benefit of this straight path is that it is the path of the people of "Sirat al-Mustaqim." The people who say, "Our Lord is Allah," and then they stand upright. As upright Muslims. It's a path of upright Muslims. So who are these upright Muslims? This is the path of the people that Allah gave His blessings to. And Allah here, Allah tells us in the Quran who these people are. No one is allowed to change what Allah said about who these people are. They are the prophets, those people who are at the highest stage of truthfulness in their Iman, like the Siddiqeen, and the martyrs, the likes of the martyrs, and the righteous. And here we're going to bring in another point, which is, who can we definitively say is righteous? And who could I say, "I could swear by Allah, this person was righteous. This person is in Jannah." Only the one that Allah said it about them. Which group of people did Allah say this about? The Anbiya, the Siddiqeen, the Shuhada, and the Saliheen. Allah promised Paradise. Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. This now tells us that the path to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the path of the prophets. The only way you can purify yourself to be from the people of "Falah," the people of eternal happiness, is to follow the way of the prophets, and to follow the way of the Siddiqeen, and the Shuhada, and the Saliheen, that Allah testified to their truthfulness of their Iman, and Allah testified to the martyrdom of those who are martyred among them, and Allah testified to the righteousness of the righteous among them. Everybody else, Allah, we don't have a definite promise. We have hope for them, and we hope that Allah accepts from them. But a definite promise that Allah has accepted their deeds, that we have for the Sahabah. So the Sahabah, those are the people that we need to be following after the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam in this journey. Every other path that takes you away from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and his Sunnah, and the Sahabah, and what they implemented from it, this is from the wretched, deviant, evil paths that take you away from the path of Allah. And from the evidence of this is the statement of Allah: "And whoever opposes the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows a way other than the way of the believers, We will give him what he has chosen for himself and put him in Hell, and it is an evil destination." So opposing the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and opposing the Sahabah, this is from the paths of destruction which takes you away from Allah. It doesn't bring you close. You cannot get near to Allah except with what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam brought. Whoever does an action which is not in accordance with what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam brought, his command, his Sunnah, it will be rejected from them. How sincere, how sincere they are, but it will not be accepted from them until they do it the way the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam did it. And that's why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam one day, he took a stick in the sand, he drew a line, and from this line, he drew like two lines, and he drew on the right-hand side and the left-hand side in sand lines coming off. And he recited, "This is my straight path, so follow it, and do not follow the other paths." He said, "On the corner of every path is a Shaitan calling the people." You think Shaitan says, "Jahannam this way"? The Shaitan doesn't say that. The Shaitan says, "This way, for Iblis, this way to get to Jannah is a shortcut. This way will make you near to Allah. This way feels good. This way, you can repent later." Iblis doesn't write a sign and say, "This way." Nobody would follow it. He gives you two things to send you astray: he gives you desires, or this way looks really good, and I know it's wrong. I know it's not the right way. I know the straight path is there, and I know it's there, but it feels really good. Let's just see. Let me just go down that path for five, ten minutes, and then I'll come back again. Confusion. What confusion does he give you? He tells you, "This is the faster path to Allah." "No, no, no. This straight path, everybody goes down there. This takes a long time. Come this way, it's faster." So either he takes you with this or with that.

Bringing it back to the ayah: "Do not put me on the path of the Jews and the Christians." But why is the question? Why? What made them the people Allah is angry with and the people who went astray? The first group were misguided by their desires, Shahawat. They knew what they were doing is wrong. If you asked them and said, "Is this not against the Torah?" They would say, "Yes, it is. What I'm doing, I know it's against the Torah, but you know, you got to do what you got to do." So that's why Allah's anger came upon them. The other people, you said, "Is that not against the Injil?" They said, "What Injil? What's that?" Did Allah say something in the Injil? They don't know what's right, what's wrong. They don't have any idea. They worshipped Allah upon ignorance. So one got confused by their lack of knowledge, and the other one got confused by the lack of action. And that's why, and again, we might be on here all day, so we'll have to go a bit quickly. That is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent the Prophet with what is beneficial knowledge, righteous actions. Righteous actions without beneficial knowledge, it's not going to benefit you, just like it didn't benefit the monks. This monasticism they invented. They became monks. Allah never told them to do it. They just made it up. That's not going to benefit you. Making up your own Deen, that's not going to benefit you. And likewise, having knowledge and not practicing it is going to bring Allah's anger upon you, like it became upon the Jews.

So this tells us what he's telling us: keep away from. And I love the word here: "keep away from it." He didn't say it's not just about not going down that path, it's about not going near to what goes down that path. Like in the Hadith, in which the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, "The Halal is clear, the Haram is clear. Between them, there's some gray areas. Not many people know. Some people know, but not many people know what's the right way, what's the wrong way. So whoever keeps away from the gray areas has saved his religion with Allah and his honor with the people. And whoever falls into the gray areas has certainly fallen into the Haram." Keep away from anything that will lead you to something that will lead you to something that will lead you to one of these paths. That's why people say, "You know, Muslims are a bit strict. You know, your things like, you don't really do... We need to have the women separate and the men separate." All of this is about keeping away from anything that might lead us to something that might lead us to a path that would take us away from the path of Allah.

And then he tells us, and he means, "You want to aim for the stations, the position of Allah's pleasure." You want to aim for the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. What am I thinking of? I'm thinking of the statement of Allah. I'm thinking of the statement of Allah. In Surah Al-Ahzab, this is a very profound ayah. "Allah has promised the believing men and the believing women." That means belief as in the belief that comes from knowledge and Aqeedah, and the belief that is practiced, the actions that are done. "Gardens under which rivers flow. They will be there forever, and a beautiful dwelling in Jannah, in Allah's Paradise." And then what did Allah say? "And Allah's pleasure is greater than all of that." For Allah to be pleased with you, and to confirm for you that you will never be punished after that, it is greater. That is what it means to be truly successful. So it's not just we're not just aiming for the "Manazil." What did he say? "Manazil" here, it tells us that it's not just one place. Jannah is not of all one level. The goals and the stations that you can reach of worship of Allah in this life is not one level. People are not all the same. It's not like Muslim, not Muslim. Within the believers, there are between some of these levels are what is between the heavens and the earth in the difference between the people. Aim for the stations, the positions, which are the lofty status, and they come together with all of the aspects of Iman. Not just what you believe, what you believe and what you practice, what you do with your tongue, and what you do with your limbs, and what you do with your heart. All of it comes together. And what you can achieve, the levels that a person can achieve, the highness, the status in the sight of Allah that a person can achieve, that is what you're aiming for. Don't aim for to be the last person in the door. Don't say, "I just want to be the last people from the people of Jannah." The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, "If you ask Allah for Jannah, ask Him for Al-Firdaws, ask Him for the highest place of Jannah." Some of the narrators said, "I think the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that." And he said, "For sure, he said that it is the highest place in Paradise, and it's the best place in Paradise, and the rivers of Jannah flow from it." Some of the narrators say, and I believe he said, "And above it is the Throne of the Most Merciful." And for Allah to be pleased with you, and never to punish you after that moment ever again. This is greater and greater. This is success from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The first thing that he mentions about this journey to Allah here, "Al-Ikhlas." It doesn't mean they're walking, right? We said remember the "Safar" and "Sayr" and all of that. The words like walking and journeying and traveling, it means your journey to Allah is with "Ikhlas." Because "Ikhlas," our religion, the fundamental pillar of our religion is sincerity for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Actions are according to intentions, and everyone will have the reward of what they intended. Everything comes back to your intention, along with what we mentioned, following the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Because if you don't follow the Sunnah, it doesn't get accepted. And if your intention is not right, it doesn't get accepted. Intention is meant by two things. One of them is intended here, and one of them is not. By intention, when we say "Niyyah," we can mean the issue of "Ikhlas." Who are you doing this effort for? Your efforts, your hard work, who is it for? Is it for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, or is it for other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? This is what is intended here. And also, "Niyyah" can be used for distinguishing between the different types of Tawheed, or distinguishing between worship and customs and things like that. That's not intended here. What's intended by the "Niyyah" here is that every single action you do, every act of worship that you do, is for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alone. And that's why in his own explanation, he begins with a discussion of what is "Ikhlas." And from the things that are said about "Ikhlas" is that it has a number of different definitions. But from the definitions of "Ikhlas," all of them give you something. So you need to understand something. We're always telling people, definitions are not a precise science. Be careful about that. When people define things, if it's not defined in the Quran and Sunnah, if it's just scholars defining things, it's not necessarily very precise. Actually, sometimes people just give you examples of things, and it's... they try to help you to understand, but they're not necessarily drawing a border for you in everything. Later on, the scholars tried to do that, and they talked about it being, you know, you have to everything has to go inside, and all of that. But actually, definitions can be sometimes you have to bring a few together to understand something. So let me give you the definition of "Ikhlas" so we know what is meant by this "Safar" and this journeying. He said, "It is a comprehensive term for everything that Allah loves and is pleased with from statements and actions, whether internal or external." Everything Allah loves and is pleased with, whether something you say or something you do, whether something in your heart, like the beliefs of the heart, or something you do with your heart, or something you say with your tongue, or you do with your tongue, or something that you do with your limbs. Those are the five parts of Iman, right? What you say with your heart is your Aqeedah. What you do with your heart, like loving Allah and hoping in Allah. What you say with your tongue, in terms of the Shahada. And what you do with your tongue, like Dhikr and reciting the Quran. And what you do with your actions, whether internal or external. All of that is... it has to be only for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And in all of it, it's worth mentioning also the definition of "Ibadah" where he said, "It is also a very good definition. He said, 'It is a voluntary act of submission, and it's an act of submission and surrender that you do voluntarily, seeking a benefit from the unseen.'" So it is an act of voluntary submission by which you seek a benefit from the unseen. And all of those have points and you know, you can take from this one and add from this one, and this one doesn't include this, and this one... that's not the idea. The idea is we understood. We've got a good idea now what is meant. In all of this, it has to be sincerely for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alone.

And then he brought the second condition: that they have sincerity, and what do they have? They're following the Sharia, the system, the laws, the rules, the regulations set out by Allah and sent down and conveyed to us by the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So he joined between the two conditions for every action to be accepted: sincerity, following the Sunnah.

Of the Prophet (peace be upon him), and that's because every single ummah has its own. As Allah (Exalted is He) told us, "Every single nation, we made for them a set of rules and laws and regulations to follow. We made for them their laws and their, their method of following them and their way of following them." Every nation. So, our Shariah is different to the Shariah in the, the, the, in its detail. It's different to the Shariah or the Shariah that came before, right?

As for the deen itself, it's not, it's not different, right? The, the, and the, it's the same. From Ibrahim, they had the same beliefs and they had the same religion. But where they differed are in some of the rules and regulations and laws. Every ummah was given its own.

So, are we allowed to come near to Allah by being sincere to Him and following the religion of Muhammad? I mean, as in the laws of the individual laws of Muhammad? No. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "If Musa was alive, he would have no choice but to follow me." Because every Shariah that came abated the Shariah that was given before. So, in terms of the deen, the religion is Islam. Islam is the religion of the angels before Adam. As said in his, Islam is the religion of, not said it, it was Al, I think it is said that it was the religion of the angels before Adam. It was the religion of Adam, and it is the religion of Muhammad (peace be upon him), and it is the religion of the Muslims today. This is Islam. But the Shariah, the individual laws and the regulations, you have to follow the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). And it's, if you don't follow, it's not accepted.

So, he brought sincere intention and following the Sunnah. And if you bring these two things, this is what your mashi, your say, is built upon. And this is from the beautiful things that he brought you. Now, he brought you the correct view of, with regard to, to Allah. It does not benefit without two things: sincerity and following the Sunnah. If you do that, then your, your efforts and your say, and your journeying and your worship, it will be accepted by Allah (Exalted is He).

I might just go off on a tangent. So, when it comes to the, the, we have, okay, recite, and we'll at least hear the recitation a little bit, and I can start, start talking about it. "And they are the ones who built the Stations of their Journey between hope and fear of Allah." It's beautiful what he said. He's giving you, he's giving you principle calls before he's giving you details. Before he talks to you about, and, and before he talks to you about the perfection of worship, let's get the fundamentals. The fundamentals of, and the fundamentals that your, your say, your journeying is between two fundamental actions of the heart, and they are fear and hope.

The evidence for this, inshallah. This is one of the, there are many evidences. But from the evidences, by the way, that's from the evidences, is an ayah of hope in Allah. We hope in Allah. We want what is with Allah, Allah's mercy. And when you hear about Allah's mercy, wow, you feel that nobody will ever go to Jannah. When you hear the vastness, the Prophet (peace be upon him) saw a woman, she was among the prisoners, and, and when she found she was going to, any child, and she would look for her child. And when she took it, she would took that child and put it onto her chest. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Do you think this woman would throw her own child into the Hellfire?" They said, "No, by Allah." If she was able to prevent herself in any way from doing that, she would never put her own child into the fire. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Allah (Exalted is He) is more merciful than this woman to her child."

When you hear the mercy of Allah (Exalted is He), you feel that no one will go to the fire. But when you hear about the punishment of Allah, Allah is severe, swift in punishment. Allah takes retribution. His torment and punishment cannot be repelled from the criminal people. Wow, you feel like maybe nobody will go to Jannah. The Prophet (peace be upon him) mentioned that person could say a word, he doesn't even think about it, it takes him into 70 years deep. He said, "One word came out of his mouth, he didn't even think about it. He never even came into his mind that he did something wrong. 70 years he falls into Jannah." You get scared. Very scared.

From the evidences of this, and we won't take too long, so just have a couple of minutes. From the evidence of this is the statement of Allah in, after mentioning many of the, Allah (Exalted is He) mentioned, "Then, you mentioned Zakariya, when he said, 'They used to rush to do good deeds.'" So, what do we have there? The journey to Allah. They were journeying, they were rushing, they were always moving, doing good deeds. "They called upon Us in fear and hope, and they were in a state of submissiveness and humility before Allah (Exalted is He)." They called upon Us in hope and fear. And that's how the prophets were.

So, let nobody say that fear and hope is, you shouldn't have hope and fear. Like some of the Sufis, they said that they said, "We don't worship Allah out of hope and fear. We only worship Him out of love." We see this is deficient because the prophets used to worship Allah upon love and hope and fear. And all three came in the ayah of Allah. The love that you have for what Allah has given you, and the mercy of Allah that encourages you to hope, and the recompense which makes you fear. And here mentions something very important, and that is the name of Allah, the One who will take everyone to account. That name, the One who will take every single person and who will give the reward to those who did good, and who will give the punishment to those who did bad. That tells you something. That's a name that inspires fear.

So, it's like he's saying, think about the ayah, the fear you get, the hope that you get, the love that you have for Allah. Described it like this: "The head of a bird with two wings." The love of Allah is what motivates you. If you think about it, love is a great motivator. In fact, you could argue that love is the greatest motivator in driving you forward. You love Allah. You don't love anyone with the love that is for Allah. It's only for Allah. And from among the people are those who took rivals besides Allah. They love them like they love Allah. "But those who believe, love Allah more." That love is there. It has to be there. That love is what motivates you and keeps you going forwards. It's the head of the bird.

But you have to stay balanced when you're moving. You can't fall over on one side. You can't fall over on the other. If you have too much hope, what will happen? "Come lazy. Allah is forgiving. Yeah, Allah is generous. Never mind, we'll just do all the sins." Allah is generous. If you have too much fear, you'll despair. "Say, 'O My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Allah forgives all sins.'" So, you balance yourself. Not too much fear, not too much hope.

Last point on this. In, in your lifetime, which of them should be given precedence? Fear or hope? Which one of them do you weigh down more? The scholars here, they say, some of them said, they exactly. Even that can, there's a view that says that fear should be given more weight when you are healthy and you have your youth and your energy and so on. That you should give, you need to have more weight on fear because that is what pushes you and drives you forward. And that's what gets you to keep going and trying and striving and using your energy and your health and your youth and all of that. But if you become sick, or you find yourself slowing down, and you find yourself struggling, and you burning yourself out, here you should give an increase in hope. Because that is when you are, and you burn yourself out. And for example, a person before the moment of death, to be honest, fear at that moment doesn't benefit you. Right? There's nothing left for you to do except have the good deed of hoping in Allah. "As my slave thinks of me." As in, so it is a balance. It's not only fear because that leads to despair. But it's about balance. That is slightly inclined towards fear when you are healthy, when you are young, when you're energetic. And that when you feel yourself slipping, or you're sick, and you're struggling, that it's balanced towards, with us, towards the idea of hope. And particularly before the moment of death. That, inshallah, ta'ala, very, very summarized, brings us to the end of the third line. Um, my experience is usually we speed up, but let's, let's see. In, uh, we could actually mention, to be honest, we just read the last line just as a, just to read it, because we also mention, we should also mention the next line, which we've already explained as well. "And they are the ones whose hearts the deen, Allah filled with love of Him and love of." So, here, as we said, he brought the third aspect, which is between fear and hope. And your heart is full of love. And that's how the prophets used to be. That makes sense. Heart is full of love of Allah, balance between fear and hope, adjusting according to the circumstances you go through in your life. And that is an, it's a principle. And that's from the beauty of this poem, that it begins with the fundamentals, and then goes into the individual actions. And that is from the, the fact that the author is, is a nurturing scholar. He's teaching you the fundamentals first, and then taking you into the individual issues.

I want to read you something that said in his own explanation regarding the love of Allah before we move on to the fifth line. He said, "I think what he said, wow, this is very, very powerful." He said, "The meaning of love is for your heart to be attached to the one that you love." You all know the famous line of poetry. There was a poet called Majnun. It was called the person who became mad because of Layla. And he said his famous line of poetry. He said, "He said, 'I walked around the house, the house of Layla, kissing this wall and that one.'" He said, "It wasn't the love of the wall that has engulfed my heart, but the love of the one who lives inside the walls." The point is, the heart becomes completely devoted to the one that you love. This, we're talking about here, we're talking about, by the way, the love of, here we're talking about the love, because all our discussion is on, so that the complete, the heart is completely devoted to the one that it loves. And that love does not separate from that heart at all. It is permanent, a permanent feature of that heart. What does this mean? It means that you keep away from everything that the one that you love dislikes. That's why you see, if you see someone like Majnun, someone who lost his mind over a woman, what do you see? Subhan Allah. You see that this person, everything she likes, he starts to like. Everything that she tells him she doesn't like, he changes the way he dresses, he changes the way he eats, he changes his habit. This is in the love of the. What do you think about the that is everything that Allah (Exalted is He) loves, you love it by default. Everything that Allah (Exalted is He) hates, your life is about doing what will make Allah pleased with you because of how much you love Him (Exalted is He). And what does that mean? It means you rush to do what He loves with a heart that is, it's satisfied. It is, and it doesn't feel pressure. You don't feel compelled. You don't feel like it's a horrible thing that you have to pray, and you have to, your heart feels satisfied and happy and content because you're doing what the one who you love will be pleased with. And your chest is in a state, you, you welcome it. You, you love doing what Allah loves. He said, "He said, 'When he speaks, he speaks for the sake of Allah. And when he's quiet, he's quiet for the sake of Allah. When he moves, he moves for the sake of Allah. And when he's still, he's still for the sake of Allah.'" The love of Allah has taken over every action that he does. And what comes out from it? You crave, you long to meet with Allah (Exalted is He). You long, you don't feel rested in this dunya. And that's why you are from the people on a journey. You can't keep your feet still because you don't feel satisfied. This is not where you want to be. You are far from the one that you love. And when you're far from the one that you love, the only thing that is in your mind is to get closer and closer and nearer and nearer to the one that you love. So you don't feel settled in this dunya. You just crave the day that you can look upon the face of Allah (Exalted is He).

Then, what is the way? He said, "What is the way and the means to get that, that love of Allah (Exalted is He)?" Say, "If you really love Allah, then follow the Prophet (peace be upon him). Allah will love you and Allah will forgive your sins." If you want the love of Allah, the love of Allah (Exalted is He) comes from following the Sunnah of the Prophet. Again, here in this, in my, I have, I have two, and both of them came from the Sheikh, as far as I know. This one, it came from the Sheikh by way of one of his students, not Mya, but the person who wrote it, wrote it from the, a copy from the Sheikh by his, and the other one came from the printed writing of the Sheikh himself. But there's, both of them like in this one also has the word here. He talks about one of the, one of these stages and phases and positions and any actions that bring you near to Allah (Exalted is He) and, and bring you forward in your journey. And that is the desperate need of a person to remember Allah (Exalted is He). And in reality, if you, if you relate this to what we said about the love of Allah, then if you truly love Allah and you long to meet with Allah (Exalted is He), you would find that your tongue cannot last long without remembering the one that you love. And this remembrance of Allah (Exalted is He), not only does it fill your time with what is beneficial, not only is it an easy, you think of something of the that have in them. We don't say they have. We don't say I don't like that word that it's like a burden on you. But there are some elements of. That's interesting. And here, there's a himself brings it in his, his poem on that. The didn't come with the word. It didn't come with the word of removing anything which is difficult from your. But it came with, and taking away, and taking away. But I didn't, the word. I mean, like if you get up for, and you come, and it's cold, it's a little, it can be a little bit tough. But it's not a burden. It's not a hardship. It's not something which is, it's not something which is impossible for you to do, or which is extremely painful for you to do. Allah wants things to be easy for you. He doesn't want things to be difficult. The reason I discussed this whole, that whole, any side point is that Ibadah can have a certain amount of difficulty in them, and that doesn't go against the principle that that hardship brings about ease. That doesn't contradict. There can be a certain amount of challenges in an act of worship. But the of Allah is from the easiest of the acts of worship that a person can do. And that is why when a man said to the Prophet (peace be upon him), "Oh Messenger of Allah, the laws of Islam are many, so command me." This is from the beautiful questions that the used to ask. He, he's not saying I want to leave praying, I want to leave Zakat. He's saying there's a lot of things to think about, so focus me on something. Give me something that I can focus on, and I can, you can give me an instruction that I can be careful to do it among all of the other things that I'm trying to do. I'm trying to pray and give Zakat and Hajj and fasting. So tell me, what can I focus upon? The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Do not let your tongue stop being moist. Don't let your tongue dry out from the remembrance of Allah." Keep yourself constantly, just like if you don't drink water, your tongue will become, will become dry, right? Don't let your tongue dry out from the of Allah. Rather, more than you drink water, you should remember Allah. And your need for remembering Allah is great than your need for food and drink. So you remember Allah. As Allah (Exalted is He) said, "O you who believe, remember Allah with much remembrance." In fact, if we were to just stop and talk about the ayat of the Quran that talk about, we would finish the whole session. We would not be able to get beyond the session for without talking about the ayat alone that talk about the virtue of the greatest of is the book of Allah. The greatest of is the book of Allah. And the person who makes themselves busy with the Quran has achieved the greatest of the rewards of remembering Allah (Exalted is He). This remembrance of Allah (Exalted is He), it should be done much. It's not just that you remember Allah sometimes. You remember Allah when you need something. But the Muslim is constantly engaged in remembering Allah. And it's really beautiful that began these instructions with something that is easy for everyone to do. No one can say, "I'm too busy to remember Allah." You can be in the bakery, like that famous story of the man with Imam Ahmed. You can be in the bakery just baking your bread and making. You can be doing any of your work, any job, and just, you know, even if your job is on the phone, every time you put the phone down, and you say, "Alhamdulillah, Subhan Allah," and you're constantly remembering Allah (Exalted is He). It doesn't require a lot of effort. It's not very hard to do. It doesn't require necessarily that you have to be in a state of wudu, or that you have to be in the Masjid. Rather, it is something the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to remember Allah in every situation. And that's why he said, "In every, in every moment, in every, the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to remember Allah." So the Prophet (peace be upon him) never went through a situation where he stopped remembering Allah. Bearing in mind, there are situations where you cannot pray. For example, if you're in a state of janabah. There are situations where, according to some of the views, you can't recite the Quran. But there was never, ever a time in the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) that he stopped remembering Allah (Exalted is He). And you remember Allah in private and in public. Let's give an example. In private, we're talking about the, when you sit, you remember Allah, you recite the Quran, you say, "Subhan Allah," and "Alhamdulillah," and so on. From these, in private, are that which has a specific description in the, and that which has a general. Sometimes we call them, and that are unrestricted, and that are restricted. So the example of the that are unrestricted, like saying "Subhan Allah," "Alhamdulillah," generally speaking, you just, you go through your day saying it from time to time, without a specific time, without a specific number, without a specific description. As for the that are restricted, those have the opposite problem. You can't restrict them. So you can't say, say this 72 times. You have to have evidence for it. So you can't bring a restriction in a that is unrestricted. And you can't take a that has a restricted way and do it however you want. And that is in light of what he said prior to that about the people who are sticking to the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace be upon him). Whether you're in. So this is your own personal. The that are and personal. As for that which is done publicly, the gatherings of remembrance of knowledge, the praise of Allah. We begin, we begin with the, the Bismillah. We begin our gatherings. In our gatherings, we remember Allah. We don't let a gathering go by without the remembrance of Allah. When we finish a gathering together, we have, we have things that we begin our gatherings and finish our gatherings with. And when we talk about the future, we say, "Inshallah." Even in public, we have it. And again, we don't take something that the Shariah told us to do in private and make it something in public. So we don't sit all together and say, "Subhan Allah, Subhan Allah, Subhan Allah," all together, if the Shariah didn't come with that. And it doesn't matter what situation you are in. And this statement, it has a benefit. And from the benefits of it is that every single time of day and situation you're in, there are connected to it. And from the best of resources for this that I would strongly advise everybody to have a copy of is the book, "Muslim Fortress of the Muslim," by the author, uh, the author. He wrote, and it's, it's amazing what he wrote. To be honest, a small book, it's very, very small. You've seen "Fortress of the Muslim"? It's just a tiny little booklet. You can get it on your phone, get it as an app, get it as a PDF, you can get it as a booklet. I believe Allah is from the first, from the early books that should be given to your kids. And most of the time, we say to the kids, they're not allowed to read anything besides the Quran. You, we just, of the Quran with the young kids. But one thing I would give to the kids along with their reading of the Quran is a small book of that they learn how to say the and all the different situations you can be in and the different circumstances. And that there is a for every one of them. Give the English for it as well. "They seek closeness to the King through working obedience and abandoning disobedience." Here, he brought, he brought a lot of benefits in this very small line of poetry. It's a lot to talk about. How does the person traveling on this journey to Allah get near to Allah? How do they come close to Allah (Exalted is He)? How do they gain His love? We've spoken about gaining love through following the Prophet (peace be upon him). Here, there's another aspect. They come near to Allah (Exalted is He). Al-Malik, and Al-Malik, and Al-Malik are from the names of Allah (Exalted is He) that are authentically reported about Him in the Quran. They come near to Allah (Exalted is He), the One who has everything, everything is in His possession and control, and all rulings belong to Him (Exalted is He). Because this is the, and if you look at the meaning of Al-Malik, and Al-Malik, the meaning goes around those things, goes around the meaning of possession and ownership, the meaning of control and command, and the meaning of legislating, and the meaning of reward and punishment. Those are some of the main meanings that it goes around. Because if you look at a king, a sovereign in the world, Allah, you cannot compare Allah to anything. But if you look at just the meaning of the word, the king in this world, a king is the one who has ownership, who commands for things to be done, who sets out what is allowed to do and what is not allowed to do, and who rewards the people who do what he wanted, and punishes the people who don't. That's a general description of a sovereign. To Allah belongs the highest example. Allah (Exalted is He), everything in the heavens and the earth belongs to Him. Nothing can go outside of His, and what belongs to Him. No one has anything without Allah (Exalted is He). And everything anyone owns in this world is because Allah gave it to them. Allah's command cannot be rejected. His command, no one can go against it. When Allah (Exalted is He) says, "Be," it will be. And Allah (Exalted is He) is the one who legislated this Shariah and the laws and commanded what is allowed and what is not allowed. And that's a very appropriate name to what the nain mentions. He chose a name and the meaning of the one who sets down the rules of what is allowed and what's not allowed, and what is a worship and what is not, and what will bring you near to Him and what will not. And then the one who rewards those who obey Him, and the one who threatens punishment for those who disobey Him. This is Al-Malik (Exalted is He). How did they get near to Allah? They get near to Allah by what the Prophet (peace be upon him) mentioned in, in which Allah (Exalted is He) said, "Whoever shows enmity to a well of Mine, a beloved servant of Mine, I have declared war upon him." And now here comes the point that he made. Here comes the point that he made that a person cannot become near to Allah. "My servant cannot come near to Me with anything. He can't come near to Me with anything more beloved than what I made obligatory for him." So if you want to come near to Allah (Exalted is He), is the easiest, no doubt. It's the way you start off remembering Allah (Exalted is He). But now you need to look at what did Allah make obligatory for you? What is fard upon you? You can't gain the love of Allah by doing optional deeds without doing the. That's the first thing. "My servant will not stop coming near to Me with voluntary deeds until I love him." And that's why he said that you come near to Allah. These people on this journey, they come near to Allah by doing what Allah commanded them to do, and leaving what Allah commanded them to leave, and leaving what Allah declared to be sinful. So we understood that this is actually the definition of taqwa. The definition of he said, "You act in obedience to Allah upon a light of guidance from Allah, hoping for Allah's reward." All this came in the poem, right? The guidance of the Sunnah, hoping for Allah's reward, doing what Allah (Exalted is He) commanded you to do, leaving what Allah declared to be sinful, with a light of guidance from Allah, because you're scared of Allah's punishment. This is taqwa. And that taqwa, incidentally, connects us to what? To the topic of Ramadan. The purpose of Ramadan is to achieve taqwa. Taqwa is to obey Allah with guidance, I, the guidance of the Sunnah, hoping for Allah's reward, to leave disobeying Allah with guidance from Allah, the Quran and the Sunnah, fearing Allah's punishment. And all of that came in these few lines of poetry. This is what you get near to Allah with. And in this, you have to have, you have to have a sense of what is more important and what is less important. Now, that doesn't mean we're telling you don't do a good deed. I'm not saying to you, you know, for example, you love to, let's say, give sadaqah, but you know you're struggling maybe with your Zakat. I'm not saying to you, stop giving sadaqah. I'm not, I'm not saying that, you know, it's this is voluntary, that's obligatory. Just stop doing that until you do the other one. No. Perhaps that voluntary deed you do might be something by which Allah forgives you and gives you success to do what is good. But I'm saying that in Islam, you will not get near to Allah until the Zakat comes with the sadaqah. Does that make sense? If you're from the people who has to pay Zakat, you can't, being near to Allah, giving sadaqah and holding back Zakat. You can't be near to Allah, praying and missing. You can't get near to Allah (Exalted is He), and being kind to your brothers and being bad to your parents. Does that make sense? You can't get near to Allah. I'm not saying stop being kind to the brother, be, be horrible to the brothers and be horrible to your parents. No, it doesn't work like that. But you can't, you cannot keep getting a step forward on this journey. You're, you're walking on a road. You cannot step forward until you first bring what is obligatory, and then you also bring, and on top of that, you get nearer and nearer by what is recommended. And taqwa encompasses all of that.

There's another benefit in this line which I really appreciate, that he said, and that is like doing something is abstaining from something can also be, but it has conditions. Just like doing something can be doing, getting near to Allah by doing what Allah commanded. So also keeping away from what Allah prohibited with the intention of getting near to Allah. And I am leaving this. I'm leaving this which is to get near to Allah (Exalted is He). As we said, even the, even the obligatory deeds, they have in them things more important than other things. And likewise, the, the voluntary deeds have in them things which are more important than other things. So even in the things that you must do, there are things that are more important and things that are less important. And so what you have to do is look at yourself in light of the judgment of Islam about you, the judgment of Allah about you, the Shariah about you. And in other words, it's not what you think about yourself, but what does the Quran and Sunnah say about you in terms of your actions? And what are you missing? And here, where a person, Subhan Allah, could be doing so many good deeds, but they see when they look at themselves and they take themselves to account, they actually see that. And this encompasses taking yourself to account. The person looks at themselves and says, "You know what it is? Subhan Allah, I might be doing some good in some things, but wow, I am falling short in this aspect in a big way." And he, some people are giving da'wah lectures, you know, maybe of the Quran, whatever it is, he's doing good for the people, like he might be like a candle, he gives out light, but if you look at himself, he's just burning himself. So you have to look at yourself and ask yourself, where do I stand with regard to these, and with regard to these, and where can I improve, and where is critical for me to work on more than anything else? The major sins are not equal. So you've got major sins, you've got minor sins. Minor sins, when they are done with impunity, you don't care about them, become major sins. So if you do a minor sin over and over again, and you don't care about it, you don't think it's important, it becomes a major sin. Not the minor sin itself, but the fact that you don't care about it. The sins are not equal. The greatest of the sins that you make a partner with Allah, while you know that Allah created you. But even making a partner with Allah, there are severe examples that take you out of Islam, and there are serious examples that don't take you out of Islam, like showing off and things like that. But both of them, Allah does not forgive it. It means he doesn't forgive it if you die upon it without Toba. As for if you make Toba, whoever makes Toba, Allah will accept his Toba. So this tells us that it's not just about the sins, it's also about falling short in what you're supposed to be doing. Sometimes people say, "I didn't sin today." That person didn't really think about themselves. If you thought about all the things that you are supposed to be doing with what Allah has given you, Allah has given you, Allah has given you money to invest, what is that? What do you call it? That capital that Allah has given you to invest, your lifespan, your health, your youth, the risk that Allah has given you. Allah has given it for you to invest. Now you have to decide what do you want to invest in. Wasting that is itself a sin. So all of these things, you have to look at in judging and coming to and taking yourself to account with where you stand in terms of doing what Allah commanded and leaving what Allah prohibited. And here it brings you to, uh, any, a benefit which we can link to what came before. Inshallah, when Allah said, Allah (Exalted is He) said, "It is Allah who made you love Iman. You didn't love Iman by yourself. Allah helped you, caused you to love Iman, and He made it beautiful in your hearts, and He made you hate disbelief and defiance and disobedience." They are the rightly guided. The people who love Iman and hate every kind of disobedience. And this is a grace from Allah and a blessing. It's not something you deserve. So whatever you do with that grace, you cannot do enough to pay back what you owe. But Allah (Exalted is He) promises to help those people who try hard. If you work hard and strive hard, Allah will guide you to His ways.

"Performing obligations and the voluntary deeds is their way, while seeing shortcoming and deficiency. They trained their souls to show patience over all dislikable things, hoping to attain what that contains of benevolence." And here, you, what I like what I understand from this here is that this is their continuous habit is to do what Allah commanded them to do, and to do what Allah recommended them to do. So the person who wants to move forward in the journey to Allah, this person who wants to move forward with that journey is a person who who is focused upon doing the and the. What would happen if a person restricted themselves to only the? If they did a good job of that, then Allah (Exalted is He) would accept it from them. They would be from the people of Jannah because they did what Allah told them to do. But the have a great benefit. From the great benefits of the, the voluntary deeds is it provides a buffer for you between between yourself where you are and where you start to sin. So all of us fall. All of us know our, your Iman goes up when you obey Allah, and your Iman goes down when you disobey Allah. And all of us know we have times. Every one of us, wow, even the most righteous person on the face of this earth today has times where their Iman goes down and down and down. But the question is, if you have, what do you have? You have somewhere of a buffer. You know, when you start to slow down, okay, maybe you're not praying as much as you were, maybe you're not praying as long as you were, but you're still praying. You're still praying, and you're still praying your, your, your, your regular Sunnah, Sunnah prayers. Then you drop a bit more, maybe you miss some of your Sunnah prayers, but you're still praying Fard on time, and on time. So there is a, a buffer in which you have some room to fall without falling into what is sinful or what takes you out of Islam. The second benefit is the benefit of it making up for the flaws in your. We know this, the famous Hadith about the Salah. The first thing you'll be taken into account from your actions is the Salah. So Allah (Exalted is He), if your Salah is deficient, He will say to the angel, "Look and see if My servant has any voluntary prayers." What we're going to do? That will make up for the deficiency in the obligatory prayers. That doesn't mean you didn't pray Fard, it'll be made up. But let's say, for example, you had some times where your mind is not there, you're not concentrating, you maybe, you know, did something you shouldn't have, you made some slips, which your prayer is still accepted, but you need to make up for it. So your voluntary deeds make up for those. Your voluntary deeds are a means to get nearer to Allah. The Fard will get you close, but you can't get really close until you bring the voluntary deeds. And the voluntary deeds help you to do the Fard. You know, Subhan Allah, people when you're not, you know, before Islam, you sit there thinking, Subhan Allah, how can anybody pray five times a day? And the person who prays five times a day but doesn't pray their, for example, they say, "I don't know how anyone can pray all those Sunnah prayers without missing them." And the person who prays those Sunnah prayers but doesn't pray, let's say, "I don't know how anyone can get up in the morning before Fard and pray." And you see how it drives you to something more, and it makes what is behind you easier, makes makes it easier for you. And it's from the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him). There are many, many benefits. So don't look down upon these. The could be the reason for you to be forgiven. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Don't belittle any good deed, even if it is greeting your brother with a smiling face." Is greeting your brother with a smiling face or, right, it's recommended. It's a recommended act. It's not, you're not sinful if you don't smile at your brother. But that could be the reason. Commented on this Hadith, he said, "That could be the reason a person goes to Jannah." You could go to Jannah because you smiled at your brother. You could come, and the scales are even. And like, said, "I do not know how can I come and have done enough good deeds that my scales are even? Allah, I don't know how I can do even to make my scales even with all the sins that I have." But you don't know, your scales are even, and you're looking for something. You smiled at your brother, and Allah (Exalted is He) puts you into Jannah for it. Likewise, (peace be upon him), "Keep away from the sins people think are insignificant." You don't know the little sin that might tip the balance. Can the Makruh tip the balance and put you into Jannah? No, because the Makruh is something you cannot be punished for doing. That which is Makruh, in terms of, in today's terminology, as a benefit, when the early generation said, they mean generally speaking, it means, but the word generally means, uh, that which you are rewarded for leaving, but not punished for for doing. So it's your adab, it's your habits, it's your manners, it's, it's the way that you are upon it all the time. You're working hard for it. But what do you see yourself as when you're doing all those, and all of those, in terms of how do you see yourself? You see that, "I am, I'm falling short. I'm not doing enough. My deeds are not good enough." And that's part of your fear of Allah, and it's part of your humility, and it's part of recognizing what Allah deserves, and what you're bringing to the table. What are you bringing? You're bringing deficient goods. You're bringing a prayer that you are only paying attention for one-tenth of it, and the rest of the time you were thinking about what you're going to eat after the Salah. You're bringing a prayer where you concentrated the whole time, and wow, how long did you pray for? Four minutes, three minutes. Does Allah deserve that? Or does Allah deserve more than that? Wow, Allah deserves more than that. Allah deserves better than that. Allah doesn't need it. Allah (Exalted is He) doesn't need our, but Allah deserves better than what we bring. We bring deficient goods to the table. We bring that are full of deficiencies and flaws and not done properly and half-heartedly. And even if we do them properly, they're not what Allah deserves. Look at the angels. They do not disobey Allah in what He commands them to do, and they do what they are commanded. They do what they are commanded. Where are you from that? Where is your in comparison to that? Their whole 24 hours in without mistakes, like our is full of flaws, full of deficiency, full of times where we just didn't do, we didn't even do what Allah told us to do, let alone what Allah (Exalted is He) deserves from us. So we see that deficiency. We see all the things we're supposed to do that we didn't do, all the actions, all the thing, the blessings Allah gave us that we didn't show gratitude for. And that benefits you because that drives you to push yourself. The worst thing that can happen, or among the worst things that can happen to you, is for you to become impressed with your own worship. It's like being impressed with your own knowledge. As soon as someone becomes impressed with their own actions, guarantee that that person is going to fall and fall very far. When they've become impressed by their own actions, who became impressed by their own actions? The accursed. He became impressed with his worship of Allah. He looked down upon Adam, "Better than him? You're going to tell me to bow to this person when I'm better than him?" He became impressed with himself, and he became proud, and he became arrogant. And wow, it's a very, very big fool. And it's the Sunnah of Allah. When people become impressed by their own actions, Allah (Exalted is He) takes them down. And the person who humbles themselves and sees themselves to be falling short, what do they do? They have two great benefits, or more, at least two great benefits. Number one, they bring the of humility. The they actually worship Allah through humility. They see themselves as a slave and Allah as their Lord. That's the first thing. They don't get arrogant from the benefits of it. Is the person is always trying to to improve? They're not stopping there. They're keeping trying to be better and better and better. So this issue of, in human humility and seeing yourself as falling short, it fulfills your status as a servant, and that Allah (Exalted is He) is your Lord and Master. And it stops you being impressed with what you've done. It allows you to lower yourself before Allah, and Allah raises you because of it. And that's the rule, right? The more you lower yourself, the more Allah will raise you. And the more you raise yourself, the more Allah will lower you and put you down. So lower yourself. Be humble before the people. Be humble before Allah, first of all. Approach Allah with a humble heart. Realize that you're going to fall short. And then, the third benefit I was going to mention is that it makes you beg Allah for His help and guidance. You realize that, you know what? This, I cannot worship You unless You help me. I cannot even do 1% of the worship that You require from me, that You ask me to do. I cannot do 1% of that worship unless You help me. Not even half of that. Not even a tenth of that. I can't bring an atom's weight of good unless You help me. And so you become dependent upon Allah. You approach Allah as the one who is broken. You're broken. Like a conscript in the army. The first thing they do is they break you, right? They break your spirit. So you don't, you listen to everything that you get told to do. The first thing they do in the army is they break your rebellious spirit. They stop you being like having your own opinion about anything. They tell you when to get up, they tell you when to go to sleep, they tell you when to dress, when not to. They tell you when to run, when to stop, when to stand, when to sit. They break your independent spirit. That is beloved when you do it to Allah, before Allah (Exalted is He). You, when you approach Allah as a one who is broken, I have no decision, I have no ability, I have no choice, I have no opinion. All I have is servitude to You. And that, Subhan Allah, is comes from seeing your deeds to be deficient and lacking. They say that the scholars see their deeds, you, the scholars see their sins as a mountain about to crush them. And the ignorant person sees their sins as a fly. They swat them away. "I sin, but never mind, Allah." But the sees his sins like a mountain that's about to crush him. As long as it doesn't lead to despair, because we have. Now he comes on to talk about patience. And in, in its origin, he said, it is for a person to prevent themselves, to hold themselves back, even though they might find it hard, if they know that it brings.

The pleasure of the Most Merciful, and this is of three types. Patience in obeying Allah. So we said obedience, and keeping away from sin. Again, all the light, it all links up. So patience in obeying Allah, your obedience to Allah, it is done with patience. It takes patience to pray five times a day. It takes patience to get up for Fajr and come to the Masjid. Your Nafs is telling you what the soul is constantly inclined towards evil. Your Nafs is saying, "This bed is very nice and comfortable. It's warm. It's cold outside. Anyways, the Masjid is a bit far. It's too early. The time has changed." Your Nafs is telling you, and you actually push yourself to go and to pray in the Masjid because you know that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is pleased with the people who pray in the Masjid. From among the men, the one who prays in the Masjid, he's in the care of Allah, the protection of Allah, the guarantee of protection from Allah until the evening comes. SubhanAllah. But it takes patience to do that, right?

The second type is keeping away from disobedience to Allah. Because keeping away from the Haram requires your Nafs is telling you, "This is nice. Don't worry. You make Tawbah later. You'll enjoy. Just it's okay. One time. One time." Shaitan is whispering as well. Shaitan is a good salesman. He doesn't have power over you. Shaitan will say, "When everything is said and done, Allah promised you, and His promise was true. And I promised you, and I broke my promise. And I never had authority over you. I never had power over you. I couldn't drag you to do the Haram, but I called you, and you answered me." So Shaitan is not answering yours. And the Shaitan, when they call you.

As for the first one, patience in obedience to Allah, from this is the statement of Allah: "Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them, so worship Him and be patient in worshiping Him. Do you know of anyone similar to Him?" Subhanu Wa Ta'ala. There's nothing similar to Allah, Subhan. So what did you understand? Worship and be consistent and regular in worshiping Him.

As for patience in leaving sin, then you can find it in the statement of Allah: "Whoever fears the Maqam [of his Lord]..." The Hereafter, they have views about it. In Tafsir, they said it means standing in front of Allah. They're scared about it, so they stop their soul from what it wants to do. And from them, who those who said, "The Maqam here is the position, the status of Allah in His names and attributes and actions." They're scared of what is entailed by Allah's names and attributes and actions, and so they stop their soul from what it craves. Jannah is their destination.

The third type of it is being patient upon the painful things that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala decrees for a person. Now, here, I prefer this word to the word "evil" because the word "evil" is not good manners with Allah, Subhan. Allah doesn't create evil for evil's sake. It's not a matter of evil, but Allah decrees things for you that are painful. They are a test for you. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said, "Allah said, 'Every soul will taste death. And We will test you with something of evil and good as a trial, and to Us you will be returned.'" So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala decrees things that are painful for you as a test to hold yourself back from what would bring the anger of Allah, to only say what pleases Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

From this is the statement of Allah: "Whoever believes in Allah, He guides the heart of whom believes in Allah." Allah makes his heart settled. He doesn't say that which makes Allah angry. He doesn't say, "Why me?" He doesn't say, "How unfair is this world?" He doesn't say these words. He only says what pleases Allah. And that's why, as the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam said, something happens to him, what does he say? He doesn't say, "This person who, something bad happens to him, he doesn't say that if only this happened to me, I would have been different. It would have been different if only I didn't do this." What does he say? Both the Hadith came both ways because the word "low" (if only) opens the door of Shaitan. So he remains patient. He doesn't say, he doesn't say, "If only this happened." "If only I didn't do this." He remains patient, and Allah settles his heart because of his patience in doing what? In holding himself back from saying something that would anger Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, or saying something that would entail going against the decree of Allah and His wisdom.

So what is the requirement in the first type of patience? Continuity and regularity in doing good deeds. The most beloved deeds to Allah are the most regular, even if they are small. What's required in the second one? Disobeying your Nafs and Shaitan. It's a line of poetry, if I'm not mistaken. One of the Sahaba, it's from some of the Sahaba or from some of the Salaf, anyway, he said, "I saw that sins kill the heart, and disgrace follows the regular and like being addicted to them and having that regular practice of them. What comes from that is disgrace. And leaving sin is the life of the heart. And it's better for you to disobey your own soul. It's better for you that you disobey your own soul." That's what's required for you in the second type of patience is disobeying your own soul.

In the third, is only to say what pleases Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and to hold yourself back from saying anything that would be disrespectful to Allah or ungrateful to Allah in the face of the problems you're going through at the moment. And eventually, there are levels beyond that, like being pleased with what Allah decrees for you, no matter what it is, and so on.

Now, here, I have you have Jannah, right? I also have, I also have Jannah here. Uh, let me see where's my... I also have Jannah here. In some of the scripts, they have the word Jannah. I think here, in both of the reliable copies I have, I have Jannah. Like in one of them, I do have, but I think that the correct one here, I can say, is Jannah. We can read the translation: "The entered the station of Allah's pleasure, and by way of that, they became shielded and secured."

Now he talks about the highest, and what is higher than patience? Is there something higher? Because this is Manzil, right? You're going through levels and stages. Is there a place higher than patience? There is the station of pleasure, being pleased with what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala decrees for you. Why are they pleased? Because they know that their Lord is Ar-Rahman, Allah is the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy, the Most Generous, the Most Kind. And they know that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will only decree for you the best set of opportunities for your personal situation. I'm not saying everything Allah decrees for you is pleasurable for you, that's not the case. But everything Allah decrees for you is the best tailor-made opportunity for you to succeed. And that is Iman. You cannot say that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala decrees for you that which will make things problematic and difficult and close the doors for you. When Allah is decreeing things for you, He is opening a door for you in that particular situation that is tailor-made to be the best opportunity for you to get near to Him. But you have to take it.

Have you ever thought why it is that Allah decrees for some people wealth and some people poverty? Why is it that Allah decrees for some people health and some people sickness? Why is it that Allah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) decrees for some people life and some people death? Everything at a specific time. Some people lose their loved ones, some people don't. Some people have children, some people don't. Is this all random? Is it just random gifts given out to whoever He wants? He has the right to do that. Allah has the right to give out those gifts randomly. The right, I say, it belongs to Him. If someone gives you a gift, that belongs to them. You can't say, "Why did you not give him as well?" And it's a gift. But Allah, out of His wisdom and His mercy and generosity, He does not give His gifts at random. He gives His gifts to His servants based on His knowledge. And that's why Allah said, "Allah knows exactly which grace to give to which servant, exactly which blessing to give to which servant, and exactly which one is wise for them."

So if Allah decreed for you poverty, not only should you not be angry with Allah, rather you should actually see it as an opportunity that Allah has decreed this because He knows this is what is best for me right now. So what is required from me? I'm not saying to wallow in poverty. Not saying to sit around crying or just to sit around saying, "That's what Allah decreed." But to say that now Allah has, when you have poverty, Allah has given you certain things that you come near to Him with in a state of poverty that you don't come near to Him with in a state of wealth. Certain things you come near to Allah with in a state of sickness that you don't come near to Him with in a state of health. Each one has its own right. So when you're healthy, you come near to Allah through certain things, you worship and lengthen your worship, and you're not doing extra voluntary acts on top. But also when you're sick, you come near to Allah with other things: your patience, your continuation of remembering Allah and doing the best you can in the condition that you're in, your Dua to Allah, asking Him for a cure, your reliance on the Quran, asking and trying to get a cure from the Quran. Look how each one of them has its own.

So now you say, "If Allah has put me in this situation, what are the means in this situation that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala wants from me?" Because it's tailor-made for me. This is chosen for me because of a specific thing within me that Allah knows it's best for me like this. So I become pleased with what my Lord has chosen for me because it's like, instead of having your own choice, instead of you going and choosing from the menu, you let someone choose who knows you better. You know, SubhanAllah. It's like you go to a restaurant and you see the menu. You know what it is. You know what I like. You know the restaurant better. You know the food better. You know who I am. You know what I like. You choose for me, and you're happy for your friend to choose. To Allah belongs the highest example. Nothing is comparable to Allah. That what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala chose for you in this life is the most perfect, suited, best opportunity that is going to work for you. So take it, embrace it, be happy with it.

Isn't sickness a time where you can get near to Allah? There are some people, they got sick, they're in a situation where they cannot imagine, for example. Let me give you an example. Remember the people who get, sometimes they get a diagnosis that they've been afflicted with a terminal illness. The doctor says, "I'm sorry, but you have a sickness that we're not expecting you're going to recover from, and I don't think you have very, very long left in this life." That person might think, "I'm in a terrible situation." I say that person is in a situation that people should be jealous of. The opportunity they have, because how many people die a sudden death? They don't think about Allah. They don't prepare for their death. They don't even death doesn't even cross their mind, and Allah takes them like that, and they're disobeying Him. For someone to say, "Get your affairs in order. You know your time. You don't have a lot of time. So make yourself right. Make your Tawbah. Do what you can." That person is in a situation where they have a chance to now prepare for what some people get suddenly, they don't prepare for. But that is tailor-made for that person. It's not for everybody, right? For some people. And other people, they're just working hard and striving and doing everything they can, and Allah takes them in a good situation. Allah takes them in their Salah, in their prayer, in their, they're doing their good deeds, on their Hajj, and their Umrah. SubhanAllah. How Allah chooses for everybody what is good for them.

So embrace what Allah chose for you. Does that mean that you don't do any actions to change? Does that mean the sick person says, "Okay, stop the medicine, guys. This is what Allah has decreed for me"? No. That is a different matter. Allah requires you to do the actions that bring about the result that you want. You want to get better, so you take your medicine. You do your Ruqyah. You, you know, you seek the cure from the Quran. You make Dua. You drink Zamzam. You take prophetic medicine. You're doing what you can, but you're pleased with whatever Allah decrees for you. It's like Dua. You make Dua to Allah. Make Dua when you are certain Allah is going to answer you. But if Allah doesn't answer you, how do you feel? Depressed? Suicidal? No, you feel content that this Dua, maybe Allah saved it for me for later. Maybe this Dua, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, maybe this Dua, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala took an evil away from me because of it. Maybe this Dua, Allah has chosen to give it to me later on when it's going to be better for me. Alhamdulillah. You feel pleased with what Allah has chosen, and you keep making Dua. You don't stop.

When you're in a state of contentment with what Allah decrees, you're shielded from anything bad happening to you. How amazing is the affair of the believer? Because every single thing, every single thing that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala decrees for you, you understand that it has a purpose and a wisdom behind it. So you're shielded. However interesting I said about Jannah, and now to complicate things, when he explains this, he explains it as Jannah. He calls it Jannah to like also he himself said Jannah. So it came like that and like that. Jannah in the sense of the person is in the Jannah of this world. He said that the paradise of this world is to be pleased with what Allah has decreed. Has decreed for you. What is the reality of being pleased with Allah? It's not just being pleased with it. It's also being pleased with His being pleased with Allah's decree and being pleased with what Allah's laws. That's because they hated what Allah sent down. Allah destroyed their deeds. Allah destroyed their deeds. Allah destroyed their deeds because of the fact that they hated, they disliked what Allah sent down. So being pleased with Allah's Deen. Today I have completed your religion for you, and I have completed My favor upon you, and Allah is pleased for Islam to be our Deen. So we should be pleased with it. That's why He said.

He said that the reality of it is that you meet Allah's legislation in terms of His Deen and in terms of His, with an open heart, with happiness and contentment, not like someone who's been forced to do something or someone who finds it to be distasteful. And that's the reality of. They were grateful to the One who favored the creatures with His bounty. With the heart, statements, and performance of the pillars. I think "performance of the pillars" here is a mistranslation. I think here it means your limbs. They were grateful to the one. They were grateful. What does it say in the translation? "They were grateful to the One who favored the creatures with His bounty." Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is the One. With His blessings and His bounties, He favored us. We mentioned that it's a grace from Allah and a blessing.

Shukr. The reality of it, He tells you here, the reality of Shukr. And Shukr is a response to what? That's the difference between Hamd and Shukr, right? One of the differences between Hamd and Shukr is that Hamd is in every situation. Praise to Allah in every situation. As for Shukr, Shukr is in response to this. Shukr as well. Hamd is something which is professed on the tongue based on what you have in your heart. As for Shukr, it is something that encompasses the heart, and the tongue, and the limbs. What's the evidence? The statement of Allah: "Act, O family of Dawud, in gratitude." So Allah commanded them to be grateful through actions. So gratefulness starts with confession and admitting that the blessing came from Allah, and loving Allah for that blessing in the heart, and then professing gratitude for that blessing on the tongue, and then using what you've been given of blessings to come near to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Getting near to Allah with what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has given you. And this can be evidenced in the statement of Allah with regard to. And it is that they said to this Ayah: "Use what Allah has given you for the..." Everything Allah has given you. Allah has given you health. Allah has given you money. Allah has given you intelligence. Allah has given you in certain hardships. Allah is whatever Allah has given you. Use it to get the. Don't forget you're allowed to have a portion of this Dunya. Nobody said that you have to. It's Haram for you to have something from this Dunya and be good to others like Allah has been good to you. And don't corrupt on the earth. Allah does not love the people who corrupt on the earth. So show your gratitude to Allah in the actions that you do, with your heart confessing to the blessing, loving Allah because of it, speaking of it. Even though the context of the Ayah here is to spread the message of Islam, that's the most famous of the Ayah is to tell the people of the Ummah of Islam. I, in any case, to speak of the blessings Allah has given you, to praise Allah for them, and to use them to get near to Allah. Allah has given you wealth, use it. Use it for Allah. Use it to buy the.

Have you ever thought, my brothers, that Allah describes our relationship with Him so many times in the Quran as business? "Their business didn't make a profit, and they were not guided." "O you who believe, shall I tell you about a business? Shall I show you a business that will save you from a severe punishment, a painful punishment?" It's a business. What's it? A business. Allah has given you capital. Allah has given you a life. Allah's given you money. Allah's given you health. Allah's given you tools. You choose what you buy. This is your capital. Now you choose what you're going to go and buy. What are you going to go and buy with what Allah has given you? Allah gave you life. Allah gave you health. Allah gave you some money. Allah gave you some intelligence. Allah gave you some circumstances and abilities. Now, what are you going to go buy? You can go and use it for Dalal, misguidance. You can go and use it for destruction. You can go and use it to make Fasad on the earth. Or you can use it to buy the. In reality, you don't buy the directly. What you do is you work, and because of your efforts, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala gives you His mercy, and then through His mercy, you enter into Paradise. SubhanAllah. Look how Allah describes His business. You choose what you buy with it. So choose to buy that which will bring you near to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And this is part of. They maintained reliance in all their affairs along with striving to earn the pleasure of Allah.

Here he brings a great benefit, and that is the benefit of Tawakkul. And what is the reality of Tawakkul? He himself said, "The reality of Tawakkul brings together two matters." And it brings, it requires two matters. It requires reliance upon Allah and trust in Allah. Relying upon Allah. Have you ever heard people say, "You know, you should be self-reliant"? Or you should be, you know, you should be independent? Islam doesn't really have that in the Islamic sense. It might have it in the sense of people, but it doesn't have it in the Islamic sense. We say, "Don't leave me to myself for the blink of an eye." You don't want to be by yourself for even the blink of an eye. You're desperately reliant upon Allah for every single breath that you take and every beating of your heart. You are desperately in need of Allah in it. And it means also you trusting in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So you rely on Allah to bring what benefits you in your Deen and your Dunya. What do you do? He said, "You declare yourself to be completely free of any ability to change anything or do anything without the help of Allah, and you trust that Allah will bring for you what will benefit you and keep away from what will harm you."

But now you have to bring the other side, and that is you have to work hard in seeking what you want. Why do you have to work hard? Is Allah not? He is Allah. He can do everything. That's not hard for Allah. So why do we have to work hard? Because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, in His wisdom, has decreed that He asks us and requests from us, commands us, that we do the things that Allah has placed as causes to achieve our goals. So Allah has placed certain things as causes. For example, if Allah willed to give you a child from the sky to just come down from the sky. It's not difficult for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. But is that the Sunnah of Allah? Is the Sunnah of Allah that when you ask Allah, that children start coming down from the sky? It's not the Sunnah of Allah. Is that Allah gives you the success to get married and you start a family? This is the way of Allah. This is what Allah has decreed that the way that this world works. So you try your best with what Allah has given you. You're not doing something that Allah has not given you. You're doing what Allah has placed on this earth. You're sick. Allah has placed medicines and Ruqyah and, you know, Allah has placed things on this earth for you to try your efforts. But you realize that these efforts have nothing in them except what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala gives you. So you are required to do the causes that bring about the result that you want, the things that will bring about that result, to strive for them and work for them, while realizing that the one who will bring that result about is not that cause. And getting married in itself is not the cause of having children, rather Allah is the one who gives whom He wants daughters and gives whom He wants sons, and whom He wants, He gives them daughters and sons together. How many people get married, they can't have kids. So you do the causes, the cause, while realizing that the one who brings that cause about is Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala alone, and with no partner.

So the reality of Tawakkul is not that you lie down and say, "If Allah wanted to give me a child, it would have come down from the heavens." It's amazing. One of the, the females of the, one of the female scholars of the, she has a statement. WAllahi, amazed me. WAllahi, that when you make Dua to Allah to enrich you, to give you wealth, Allah does not cause gold and silver to rain down from the sky. But Allah will give you an opportunity to earn it through something in this world. Something will come to you from it. And therefore, when that thing comes to you, don't reject it. SubhanAllah. You're saying, "Ya Allah, enrich me, oh my Lord. Pay my debt, oh my Lord. Help me." And then someone comes and says, "You know what? There's a good job opportunity." Say, "No, no. I'm just, I'm making Dua. I'm waiting for the rain, the gold and silver coins to come." Nor you do what Allah has placed on this earth for you. It's not the Sunnah of Allah that gold and silver coins rain down from the sky. Even though it's not hard for Allah, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala easily, with no difficulty, can make the gold and silver coins rain down from the sky. But it is not the way, the wisdom that Allah has chosen. It's not what is meant by His name Al-Lateef, the One who is Subtle. The blessings come from unusual sources. You didn't imagine it would come from that. It came. And so like that, those blessings come. And like that, you strive for the means Allah has placed on this earth. And that is what the reality of Tawakkul is. And the reality of Tawakkul is it's not doing the Asbab and ignoring Allah. And it's not that you ask Allah and ignore what Allah has placed on this earth as a cause for what you're seeking to achieve. But you join between the two in a middle path.

"They worshiped the one true deity, Allah, believing in His presence." So they exaggerated themselves by attaining the station of Ihsan. Now he speaks about Ihsan and he speaks about Ihsan with its two pillars. Because we know from the definition of Ihsan, it has two pillars. The highest level of Ihsan is for you to worship Allah as though you can see Him. You worship Allah as though Allah is in front of you. And if you cannot do that, if you cannot reach a level where you worship Allah as though you are, as though you can see Him, then at least know that Allah can see you. Worship Allah knowing that Allah can see you. And these are the pillars of Ihsan. They worship here. There's a benefit. He gave you the definition of Ilah in the poem. He gave you the definition of Ilah. And this definition comes from the Quran. It's worth writing down. Surah Az-Zukhruf, Ayah number 45. It's well worth writing down. Surah Az-Zukhruf, Ayah 45. That is the definition of the word Ilah: "And ask those that We sent before from among the messengers: 'Did We appoint other than the Most Merciful deities to be worshiped?'" So Allah Himself Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in the Quran defines Ilah as the one that is worshiped. And it is not that's not the meaning of Ilah. And I'll give you a very simple way to understand that. Let's just say that, for example, a person from, let's say Hinduism, believes in many Ilahs, many gods. Do they necessarily believe that every one of those gods is a creator? No chance. 6 million? No way. They don't believe in these. When they say that, "I, you know," so they even worship their guest. When you come into the hotel, they say, "You are God." If you go to some of the hotels in India, they greet you and they say, "You are God." How? What did I create? And you believe I created the heavens and the earth? They say, "No, but you bring me benefits." They don't. SubhanAllah. They people do not believe. Even Christianity, if you ask them, "Do you believe Jesus created the heavens and the earth and everything that's in it?" They'll say, "No way." So Ilah is the one that worship is given to. That person. That's what the reality of the Ilah is. Gods that are worshiped. They worship the One who deserves worship, believing that He is present. What is Allah present with? He says in the Quran, anytime. And say, anybody. Look, anytime Allah speaks about being present, the presence of Allah, Allah being with you, all of it speaks about Allah's, Allah's knowledge, Allah's hearing, and Allah's sight. For example, the statement of Allah: "He it is who created the heavens and the earth in six days. Then He established Himself above the Throne. He knows what penetrates into the earth and what emerges from it and what descends from the heaven and what ascends through it. And He is with you wherever you are. And Allah is, of what you do, Seeing." It started with knowledge and it finished with sight. And in the middle, the presence of Allah. Every single Ayah that speaks about the presence of Allah is like that. Every Ayah that speaks about Allah being with you, all of them speak about it in light of Allah knowing and seeing and hearing what you do. So that is the Tafsir of the Quran. You're not allowed to make a different Tafsir of it. They believe that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala hears and sees everything they do and knows everything that they do. And so because of this knowledge, if you can't worship Allah as though you are before Him, at least now, if you cannot do that, then worship Allah knowing that Allah sees you and hears you and knows everything that you do. So these people reach the level of Ihsan. And I know we're getting short on time, but we have another session. We have to take a bit from the Q&A still. Looking at it, it's okay.

Ihsan is used in the religion in different ways. It's used meaning the highest level of voluntary worship. In this sense, Islam are the deeds that keep you as a Muslim. And Iman is doing what Allah told you and keeping away from what Allah prohibited you. And Ihsan is the voluntary deeds. That's one way of it. In one way, it's used as the highest level of Iman in the sense of knowing or being constantly aware that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is watching you. In one sense, it's used for exceeding expectations. For example, you're set with a certain expectation: worship Allah and don't make any partner with Him, and have Ihsan to your parents. Go beyond what they would expect from you and exceed their expectations. That's part of the meaning of it as well. So it comes with these different meanings. And that is the highest level in the Deen, the level of Ihsan. As the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam said, he said, "If a person can keep this in their mind in everything they do, especially their heart, will not turn to other than Allah." And that's why, SubhanAllah, it prevents your heart from anything that would take it away from Allah. Rather, the person completely turns to Allah, and their heart is, and their heart is completely dedicated to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And he said, "Like this is from the highest of stations a person can reach." But it requires you to go step by step. You cannot just jump into a level of worship like that without taking yourself in steps. He said, "A servant continues to keep on looking at himself and keep on working with his Nafs until his Nafs starts to obey him." And so he becomes in a state of wonder and a state of bliss, worshiping his Lord. And that is not something which is achieved in a moment, but it's something that is achieved step by step and stage by stage.

"They gave sincere advice to the creation about striving to please the Beloved through knowledge, guidance, and benevolence." There come the creation with their bodies, whilst their souls were yearning for the highest station. Now he speaks about Nasihah. And we know that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentioned. Everyone knows. We know the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam said, "This religion is." They said, "To whom, O Messenger of Allah?" Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam. "To Allah, to His Book, to His Messenger, to the leaders of the Muslims, and the general people." So what is Nasihah? To behave sincerely towards that person. To behave with the utmost sincerity. Some people say the religion is good advice, but it's not just advice. Advice is a part of it, but Nasihah doesn't just mean advice. It means to behave in a way, with utmost sincerity, wanting good for that which you are behaving sincerely towards, in a way that is appropriate to that particular, particular thing. So this person has, with everything that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala required them to have towards, they are sincere towards Allah, and we've spoken about that. They are sincere towards the Quran, and we've spoken about that in the topic of. They are sincere towards the Messenger, we've spoken to that in light of following the Sunnah. And they are sincere towards the leaders of the Muslims and the general people. As the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam said, that means they want good for them. And that's why from the signs of the people of the Sunnah is to make Dua for the people in authority, not against them. That doesn't mean that they are necessarily good people or necessarily doing good things, but you want good for them. You want them to be corrected so that the people within their, their authority can be corrected. And you see there's no benefit in cursing them because it's not going to rectify the people in the way that you want. It's going to bring good for them or good for the people with them. But the way you give advice to each person is not the same. Rather, each person has the way of sincerity that is appropriate to them. For the ruler, that can be obeying them in what is obedience to Allah and not disobedience to Allah and His Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam. It can be advising them in private. It can be not criticizing them on the Mimbar. Here, there's a point to be careful. It's not from the manhaj and the methodology of the Salaf to praise the ruler, especially not to praise the ruler unrestricted. It's not from the manhaj of Salaf. And whoever says from the manhaj of Salaf doesn't know what the manhaj of Salaf is. And I'm not shy to say it. Unrestricted praise of the ruler, none of the Salaf came with this. Rather, what they came with is holding their tongue back out of one, wanting good for them and good for the people under them. That's what they came with. As for praising what they do wrong, praising a Muslim in the first place is blameworthy. As for praising a Muslim for doing something wrong, this is worse and worse. As for claiming that the manhaj of the Salaf is to praise someone for doing something wrong, for this is a crime on top of a crime. Sometimes the scholars may praise in order to fight against the. That is, they might have praised and said, "No, he builds Masajid. He does." In order to push back against the who said he didn't do anything good and he's a Kafir and whatever. But they didn't bring this. Islam doesn't let you praise your brother in the Masjid. How is he going to let you praise someone who did a crime? How is he now going to let you praise a crime in front of everybody? It doesn't. That's not what Islam brought. But Islam brought taking your tongue and holding it back and not criticizing people in responsibility in order to bring good for them and good for the people who are under them. That's what Islam came with. What will bring Allah's pleasure? That's what Islam came with. How are you advising them? You're advising them with knowledge. You're not advising without knowledge. So the ruler, in private. With the people, the regular Muslim, if it's appropriate, generally speaking, you advise people in private. But it could also be in a gathering, a public gathering, sitting, telling people without, you know, specifically naming names, with because without this doesn't benefit. It has to be with knowledge. With knowledge is the type of Hidayah which is authentic for the people. And in other words, Hidayah is two types, right? The guidance of showing someone the right way, and the guidance of giving them success to achieve it. Showing people the right way, this is for Allah. And also Allah has given the ability in the creation for us to show people the right thing to do. And as for giving them the success to do it, it's for Allah alone. It's for Allah alone. So knowledge. You don't give advice upon ignorance. Showing people the right way. And benevolence towards them. Good treatment of them. Good treatment of them. And WAllahi, this good treatment of people, whether it is the ruler, whether it's the regular person, whether it's the person who's in charge of the Masjid or the person who's just a regular person who comes and prays in the back of the Masjid, but you treat them in a good way. You give each one the best advice you can give, the best guidance, the best knowledge. You really want good for them. "None of you believe until you love for your brother what you love for yourself." And that means you don't take them down in public if that's not the right thing to do. It means that you really genuinely want them to take your advice. So you do everything in your advice that would bring them to accept it.

We'll finish with this. I think we have a couple of minutes before the Adhan. And from the benefits of mixing with the people. The Prophet told us, "The one who mixes with the people and puts up with their harms is better than the one who doesn't mix with the people and doesn't put up with their harms." If you want to be close to Allah, from the great benefits is actually to mix with the people, even if there are harms in it. To be around people, to be near to people, easygoing, approachable. But when you do that, is your heart attached to them? You're going around with your, you know, people trying to help this guy and help this person, and you know, but where is your heart? Your heart is attached up there. Your heart is gone. You want what is with Allah, not what is with the people. You mix with the people to bring them knowledge and guidance and to be good to them. But you don't mix with them because you want what's in their hands. If you go to advise someone in authority or otherwise, you do so because of what you want from Allah, not because of what you want from the hands of those people. All they're thinking about is Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. All they want is the reward. They don't want what's in the hands of the people. But they do mix with the people in order to provide guidance and knowledge.

Last issue before the Adhan. Is it ever a good idea to have to distance yourself from the people? Yes, it can be. But generally speaking, this should be the exception rather than the rule. And it takes place when a person sees that they themselves benefit from being distant rather than from being close. Times of Fitnah, times of where a person sees that, "Look, me just being around the people, I'm not actually, this is not actually helping. It's not helping me or them. What I need is some time alone to just reset myself." Generally speaking, who benefits from the time alone? Generally speaking, the scholars and the people of knowledge benefit more than the regular people. The more and the less knowledge you have, and the less worship you have, the more likely it is you need to be around good people. And that's the default. Keep yourself patient around the people who worship Allah in the morning and the evening, and they want His face Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. We stop there for now. And what we're going to do in, I think we have, do we have three more? We have three more abat left. Four more. Four more. Four more abat we have left. In four more. And we also have to have a Q&A as well. So we do our very best to squeeze it all in for you.

In here, in both of the that I have, so here you have. So the first thing is that in both of the I have, I have it without. And instead of, I have without the word. I have the same. So in both of them, I have. But this is from. You get these different. It's in the different texts, in difference in the different text. Also in this one, from the of the, that one of the brought. We can read the English. In I think I stopped you for English. Forgive me. "Verily, it is for Allah, and with His aid, that I call the creation and gathering of people, all of them, to Allah." Or to fear of the decrease of faith. And here we have "for the sake of Allah." Here we have "for Allah and with His help." Any "for Allah and with His help." The Sheikh himself explains this. He said, so in the explanation, he brings the word Masjids, but in the bait, he doesn't bring it. So it doesn't like it comes like that. It comes and goes. Allah knows best. It seems like the Sheikh read it slightly differently at different times. Maybe some of them are errors, and maybe some of them are areas where the from a different class to class or or sitting to sitting, he changed the bait. The purpose here, he said, is all about looking after your Iman and achieving the status of Ihsan. And he said, this is because it is not correct for you to only review your deeds after having completed them. In other words, what's not good is you start an action, you finish it, and then you say, "SubhanAllah, that was a poor prayer." Rather, before you start the prayer, you take yourself to account. And during the prayer, you take yourself to account. And after the prayer, you take yourself to account. If you look at the of the statement of Allah, you will see that the early generations, what did they do? They used to judge themselves before doing something, and they used to judge themselves in the middle of doing something, and they used to judge themselves after doing something. So in each of these situations, and with the help of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, all your actions that you do, you do it. The is asking Allah's help to complete that action. And all of them happen. Everything that you do happens by Allah's help and Allah's aid. We mentioned it now. When you are now starting an action, you take yourself to account. Why am I doing this action? Yeah, why did you sit to speak to the people today? Why are you sitting here? Is it because you want to remove ignorance from yourself? Or is it because you see yourself to be better than the people? So you ask yourself. Then, while you're doing the action, what are you doing this action? Have you changed your intention when you came to sit for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala? Are you now sitting for the people? And after the action, was it for Allah? Was it done in the best way? You're scared of your Iman going down. Your Iman is very valuable. It's more valuable than the money you own. And so you guard it more than you would guard the car that you parked outside and you locked it and you made sure that it was locked and you looked after it. You didn't park it in a place where you thought it was going to get damaged. Look how you looked after your car. Look after your Iman more than that. To do that, you have to look after your deeds before, during, and after you do them. And the more deeds you do, the stricter you become with yourself, not the easygoing. Some people got the wrong way around. So what they did is they thought, "The more I do, the more I do, the less I need to be worried." As for them, they said, "The more I do, the more I need to be worried." And they became even stronger in guarding and looking after their Iman. And in fact, your Iman will go up and down according to how much you take care of it. How much do you care before you do something, and during you do something, during doing something, and after doing something? He said, "He said, the greatest from the greatest of the things you should be paying attention to in the actions you do is paying attention to whether you have achieved or are achieving in that action. Is your heart completely present?" There's a word people use it a lot these days. You hear people talking about, "Do you feel present? Are you, you know, presence? Do you feel present in this action you're doing?" They talk about it in the Dunya, and you should try to achieve presence in your action. You know, you want to be like you are really there doing it. For us, this is the. It doesn't matter if you can do it. You do it. If you don't, you don't. But in your Ibadah, you need to feel present. You need to feel that your heart is there with this, and that you've gathered all of your concentration and your efforts upon it. And likewise, to think about Allah's blessings upon you and to show gratitude to Allah. Because every single good deed that you do is itself a blessing from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And if Allah gave you the ability to do a good deed, this itself is a blessing that deserves gratitude. And if He allowed you to show gratitude, this itself is a blessing that deserves gratitude. And if He allowed you to show gratitude for the gratitude for the blessing that He gave you, this itself is a blessing that deserves gratitude. So.

You don't stop showing gratitude for the blessings of Allah. Asel, and striving to achieve your actions in the best way. Allah has ordained that you perform your deeds in the best possible way. They turned the hearts away from all preoccupations. They have emptied them from what is beside Iman. Their movements, concerns, and resolutions are for the sake of Allah, not for the creation.

And here goes on to talk about the reality of Zuhd. Some people think that Zuhd is about leaving the dunya. Some people think that the word Zuhd, abstaining, this kind of status, kind of just leaving, like leaving the world. Some people think that Zuhd is wearing woolen clothing and not getting married and isolating yourself from the people.

The first level of Zuhd is making yourself far away from that which is Haram, abstaining from it. "I've got nothing to do with it, and it has got nothing to do with me." And that's why from the scholars, when they explain the Hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him), "From the perfection of a person's faith is leaving what doesn't concern him." The first thing that doesn't concern a believer is doing what Allah made doesn't concern you. You leave it, and you abstain from it, and you keep yourself away from it, and you want nothing to do with it.

But really, the greatest example of Zuhd is, and this is from the best of that which is said about what is Zuhd, is to leave everything that doesn't benefit you in the dunya. Now, if you think about it, it's very different from leaving the Haram. The Haram is what Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) declared to be Haram, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) declared to be Haram. It is Haram, and that which the scholars of Islam have come together upon, and it being prohibited, and what the evidence and principles suggest. We know what the Haram is.

Leaving what does not benefit in the dunya is because now you are even leaving the Halal. You're leaving what is Halal. You're leaving anything that distracts you from the Deen. So sometimes a person is sat playing a game, and he said, "What I'm playing is not Haram. There's no involved. There's no Haram in it. There's nothing Haram happening. I'm not killing people or stealing or cheating. I don't miss my Salah." But maybe the first person says, "I'm I'm keeping away from the Haram. I left a game that is Haram. I left the game that has stealing things. I left the game that had music in it. I left the game that had nudity in it. I left the game that had the dice in it. So I left the Haram." We say, "You did. You did well. You did well." But better than that is what you're doing actually benefiting you in the Deen. If not, leave what doesn't benefit you in the Deen.

And this is, they take from their heart everything that busies them from Allah, whether it is Haram or whether it is Halal. If it takes them and makes them busy instead of turning to Allah, they leave it. Now, what's the difference? If it makes them busy from doing the Fard, then this is what is prohibited. If it makes them busy from extra that they could be doing, then this is leaving that which is permitted because it doesn't benefit you in the Deen.

There's more to say about it. If you want more details about it, I did a a long discussion of it in the Deen. There's on YouTube. That's The Institute that I teach at. You can go to their YouTube channel, and there's a a section on there's a class which is on the YouTube, not in the academy, and it's called something like "Purification of the Soul." So in it, we discussed the reality. There's a whole lecture on Zuhd and what does it mean.

But from the best of that which is said is, anything that is not actually moving you forward in this journey, drop it. You're now climbing a mountain. Sure, you can climb a mountain with a heavy backpack. That's true. But you're making work hard for yourself. Drop everything that is not benefiting you in that goal that you have. Any dead weight in that backpack that you're carrying, anything that is not strictly needed to get to the top of that mountain, drop it. That's what the reality of Zuhd is.

So the Zahid leaves that which is Haram, and the Zahid leaves that which is Halal if it's not going to benefit him in his journey to Allah. And that's why the people who thought that Zuhd was leaving marriage, they made a mistake in that. That's why the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "I marry women. So whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not one of me." Why? Because what did they do? This marriage was something that will benefit them in the Deen. It will keep them away from the Haram. It will make them nearer to Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala). It will give them a partner to help them get near to Allah. So when they left it thinking that was Zuhd, the Prophet (peace be upon him) rebuked them for it.

Because Zuhd can only be in these things. Either you're leaving the Haram, or you're leaving the Halal because it doesn't benefit you. As for the Halal which benefits you, or the recommended actions which benefit you in the Deen, those are not from the things that the Muslim should leave. They leave the things that disturb and busy themselves. Their hearts are emptied of everything besides the Most Merciful. They are single-minded.

If you want to be fast on this road, you want to successfully navigate this journey and this path to Allah, you have to be very single-minded. Doesn't mean we're not saying you have to leave everything in the dunya, your whole life. You can have something from it. But you have to be ruthless with yourself in what busies you from the Deen, from Allah. And the Deen, you have to be absolutely ruthless with yourself. If something is distracting you from the Deen, whether it is from the Halal or whether it is from the Haram, if it's from the Haram, that's you have to leave it. If it's from the Halal, if you can leave it in any way, leave it.

You will see from the Ummah in this issue the strangest things. You will see from them those people who the only food they used to eat was crumbled bread dipped in soup. Why? He said, "It's the quickest way I can put the food in my mouth so I can get on with my Deen. Everything else takes too long to chew. I don't take whole pieces of bread because it just takes too much of my time to chew it." You'll see, Subhan Allah, people reached a level of so much freeing themselves of anything which distracts them from the Deen.

Now, we're not saying necessarily that people need to go all of them down that route because not all of the early generations did it. It's not fair to say that the Sahaba all of them did that. Or like the examples are there to motivate you to think, "Look, if this person can leave whole pieces of bread because it delays him, there's a lot of things we should be leaving that is a lot bigger than issues of eating whole pieces of bread." There's a lot of things in our lives that are very big distractions.

And in reality, your heart only really has space for one unwavering commitment. It has space for desires and likes and whatever. But really, when it comes down to it, one thing has to supersede everything and rule over everything in your heart. You can't have two things. It's like two twins can't come out at the same time. You got to put one thing. It's got to go before the other. And so if it is the Deen that goes first, and the dunya comes second, that's how we want to be. Our Deen is first. Our dunya, whatever, whatever is there for me when I'm not too busy with the Deen, Alhamdulillah, we take it.

So we take, we have jobs, we have professions, we have things we have to do. From the ways that you can help to do this is to bear in mind the idea of expecting the reward from Allah. And this is in the second bait: "Their movements, their hum, what busies them and preoccupies them, and their determination and resolution is all for Allah, not for the creation." And the Shaitan. So these people, even the dunya that they do, the Halal that they do, they do it thinking about the Deen.

Let's give an example. Let's give an example. A person has to has to work. You have to get a job, right? Especially for the men, you get a job, you provide for your family. So he has a job by Allah's help and permission. He spends on his family. While he's doing that job, what's in his mind? "I'm doing this for Allah, so that I can fulfill my obligation to my family and please Allah by spending upon them and giving them food as Allah wills and Allah as Allah helps me to do." Then he gets reward for it.

The lady, for example, let's just say she's she's at home and she's taking care of the house and and everything and the kids. In her mind is she saying, "I'm losing out. I should be a career woman. I should be at the top of my profession." She said, "I'm doing this for Allah. I left being that career woman for Allah, so that Allah will reward me for fulfilling my rights to my family and so that Allah will be pleased for me for what what I did." And so Allah rewards her for cleaning the house, washing the dishes. She's washing the dishes, and Allah is rewarding her, giving her a reward for it. Because everything that the Muslim does is just one single-minded.

Does that mean that you don't have hum in the dunya? It doesn't. There's a Hadith. There's a Hadith which is has a weakness in it. Some of the scholars declared to be Hassan. It has a weakness in it, but it has that which testifies for it. And that is the statement which is attributed to the Prophet (peace be upon him): "Whoever makes their intention their worry, their preoccupation, one thing that they're preoccupied with, and that is being preoccupied with, in some of the narrations, the worry about the Resurrection, the Return to Allah, Allah will take care of your worries in this dunya."

You're allowed to have worries in this dunya. You worry about your family, you worry about your rent, you worry about bills, you worry about money, you worry about sickness, you worry about things. But those things are just tiny in comparison to your worry about the Hereafter. Allah will take care of all your worries in this world. And if you allow yourself for your worries to be divided among the matters of the dunya, Allah does not care in which valley you die in. Other words, which thing will destroy you? Is it going to be family destroys you? Is it going to be the wealth that destroys you? Is it going to be your health that destroys you? Is it going to be your children that destroys you? Doesn't matter to Allah.

You have to make your primary concern for Allah. Even your concern in this dunya, what is motivating you? Why are you scared about your rent and your bills? Because you have a family, you have to look after them. It's a right of them. This Allah can question you about whether you fulfilled that right or you didn't. Everything you worry about is in the context of the Deen. And as for the natural worries of the dunya, those natural worries, worries are very insignificant and small in comparison to what you worry about the Hereafter.

But if you allow yourself to be consumed by the worries of the dunya, one or the other is going to bring about your destruction, and it doesn't matter. This Hadith, as we said, it has a weakness in it, except that it has what testifies to it from a number of other Hadith. If you bring together a large number of other Hadith, you find the same meaning is found in a collection of many other Hadith. I brought just to summarize, but otherwise, the meanings are found in the Ayat of the Quran and which came with the same, the same concept as that: Make your concern the concern of the Hereafter, and don't make your primary concerns the concerns of the dunya.

And your determination and your resolution, why is it? Why are you so motivated and so passionate for what? So you can be rich? Me, how much of that would you carry when you get resurrected? Are you, you're not even going to be resurrected with shoes. You're not even going to be resurrected with clothes. What is all that money going to do for you? The richest man in the face of this world is going to be resurrected naked and barefooted and uncircumcised. So what good did it bring you? It brought your family good after you passed away, your inheritance. Say, "Get happy." It didn't bring you except what good you did with it for Allah.

So I'm not saying to want poverty. I'm not saying to want poverty. I'm saying want the Deen from what Allah has given you. And from the greatest of the things that you should have determination for and dedication for is seeking beneficial Sharia knowledge of the Sharia. And this should be one of your greatest goals and aims that keeps you awake at night. It keeps you busy in the day. And don't allow your actions, your movements, your preoccupations, the things that preoccupy your mind and your determination, don't allow them to become for people in creation.

Walla, this is a beautiful piece of advice. Don't allow yourself to become enslaved to people. And the Shaitan said something in his, it was this time profound. He said, "They ran away from the slavery they were created for, and they became slaves to themselves and the Shaitan." They ran away from being slaves to Allah. Allah gave them the highest position a person can achieve in this world, the status of being a servant and a slave to Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala). When they run away from servitude to Allah, they said, "We want freedom. We want liberty. We want justice. We want to be free to do whatever we want." So these people, what did they become? Did they become free? They became enslaved, worse than the slavery they ran away from. They became slaves to the nafs and to the nafs of the other people, and they became slaves to the Shaitan.

Let me give you an example. The Muslim woman is constantly being bombarded, being told that, "Sister, you need to be free. You need to be liberated from these chains. They put this blanket over you from your head to your foot, and they lock you up in this prison, and they chain you up. You need to be free." The day that she takes it off, she walks among the people. Walla, she's not free. She became a slave, not to Allah, but she became a slave to the desires of people. She wears what she wears because people, what will people think of her? What will people look at her? She wears what she wears because it's attractive to men. She became a slave to men instead of being a slave to Allah, and she became a slave to the Shaitan instead of becoming a slave to Allah.

You are a slave. You can't. Don't try to get away from me. Men, women, you are a slave. Either be a slave with honor to Allah, or be a slave with dishonor to the people. But you cannot get out from it. You will never be free. You are a slave, either to Allah or either to the people. So decide who do you want to be a slave to.

Young men, how many people are affected by peer pressure? Your friends are telling you to do things. Walla, be a slave to Allah. Don't be a slave to them. Be a shepherd, don't be a sheep. You should be the one that is walking in front of the people, an example for the people of taqwa. But instead, you're walking behind everyone who shouts out, makes a noise, you walk behind them. Every fashion the Kuffar develop, you go behind it. Every evil, foolish thing they do, you're the second, third one to do it. So you become like the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Everyone who cries out, you walk behind them." Instead of being the one that the people walk behind as an example for the righteous.

For you have a choice. Either you're a slave to Allah, either you're a slave to your nafs, or a slave to the Shaitan. So don't be a slave to the Shaitan. There's nothing good in it, not in the dunya, nor in the Hereafter. And don't be a slave to the people. Don't let people dictate to you what you do in the sense of dictating to you to turn away from your religion and pushing you and pressuring you to do it and telling you, "You can be free." I don't want to be free. You want to be free? Go do what you want. Do whatever you want if you want to be free. But I want to be a slave to Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) because this is the highest status a person can be.

The evidence for this, Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) said, "Exalted is the one who took His slave from the Masjid al-Haram to the Masjid al-Aqsa which We blessed around it." The most blessed journey the Prophet ever went upon was when Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) took him to the highest place. He took him beyond where Jibril is allowed. Jibril said, "This is my place. I'm not allowed beyond here. You go." I cannot go. And what did Allah call him in the highest place that anyone from creation has ever been? "My slave." So to be a slave of Allah is the highest status a person can be. To be a slave to the other people, this is a very low position. To be a slave to the Shaitan is as it's worse.

To be a slave to the Shaitan, how excellent a companion for the seeker of the paths which lead to goodness and benevolence here and in this last line, Insha'Allah, with which we're going to stop. The author speaks about the excellence of a companion or companions on this path, the path to Allah, and the paths which lead to goodness, and the paths which lead to the Hereafter. He said, he said, "These people," I, what has been mentioned in the Quran, what has been mentioned in the poem, "these are the people you should make your companions." And we've spoken about the statement of Allah: "How excellent is it to have the people on the same path as you, that you're walking in their footsteps." They are the prophets, they are those people at the highest standard of faith, of truthfulness in faith, the martyrs, and the righteous, the Sahaba, and those who follow them in good. And how excellent is it to walk in their footsteps, and how important is it that you choose companions who match this description.

Subhan Allah. If you think about the Ayat that came in the Quran, the Ayat that came in the Quran about friendship, the statement of Allah: "On the Day when the oppressed person will bite on their hands out of despair, they will actually bite on their own hands out of despair." When someone is in so much despair, they bite on their own hands. He will say, "How I wish I took a way with the way of the people who are journeying to Allah. How I wish I didn't take this person as my friend. This person took me away from the Deen after it came to me." And the Shaitan is always in a state where he abandons and betrays the human being.

So from this, we can see, and from what we mentioned earlier, keep yourself in a state of patience with those people, the good people. The Prophet (peace be upon him) is being told, "Keep yourself around people who remember Allah in the morning and the evening." If the Prophet (peace be upon him) needs good companionship, we are far more deserving of needing good companionship. Make sure the friends you choose are the friends who are walking on the path to Allah, journeying to Allah in the Deen, who are moving forwards in that endeavor and in that path, not the people who are holding you back, and not the people who are taking you onto the paths that take you away from the path of Allah. That is what Allah Made Easy for us to mention. In reality, as you can see, it's a very, very beneficial poem. We ask Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) to have mercy upon the author. We ask Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) to reward him with the best of rewards. We ask Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) to make him and us from the people of the highest place in Jannah, along with the prophets, those people truthful in faith, the martyrs, and the righteous. We ask Allah to teach us what benefits us, to benefit us with what He teaches us. We ask Allah to give us the ability to practice it and implement it.