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Cure for Laziness in Deeds
English Bayan, 45 mins
26th August, 2021

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​Cure for Laziness in Deeds
​ During the lives of people of faith, Allah ta’ala definitely gives them the Tawfeeq to perform good deeds, in every way and in every situation. This is because Allah ta’ala has promised this ability to people of faith, since after Iman, Allah gives them the order to perform Amal-us-Salihaat – to practice good deeds. So if this is Allah’s Hukm, then we should understand that if Allah is ordering something, then Allah subhana wa ta'ala will certainly have prepared the way for this to happen – otherwise why would He order something? So definitely Allah ta’ala has made this preparation for us to do these actions – He has arranged the means for us because human beings are weak. That is why, when Allah ta’ala exhorts us to do good deeds, He definitely prepares and arranges the ways that we can do good; somehow or other, without doubt, Allah ta’ala is always bringing a person towards A’maal. Allah ta’ala brings people to these good deeds in life, so that through those good deeds, he can be freed from Jahannam and can get a place in Jannah.
​I will give you an example: we are sat here – so what is this? This is a very good deed, such a great, pious deed that great good news follows along behind it, namely that as soon as a person who attends a gathering of Dhikr departs, then Allah ta’ala forgives that person – he attains salvation. Now tell me – me and you have come, but who has brought us here? Tell me. Was there any marketing or advertisements for this gathering? No; but despite this, I can see that there are many new people here. There are some people here who are used to coming, by the Fadhl of Allah, and there are also some new people here. Allah ta’ala has brought them here. Why? Because Allah ta’ala has promised, saying ‘I have definitely arranged this and have given you the Tawfeeq. I have definitely given you the Tawfeeq so that you can be saved from Jahannam and reach Paradise.’
​So when Allah ta’ala gives a human being the Tawfeeq to do good deeds – whether he is given Dhikr or Salah, or deeds that just come at certain times in the year, such as Ramadhan which only comes once a year, or Hajj which might only come once in a person’s life – it doesn’t come all the time; perhaps you will perform it only once. Zakah is also the same – when you have the money, you give it, and once it has been given, then that’s it. But there are other deeds which Allah ta’ala repeatedly, time and time and again, enables a human being to perform – like Salah, for instance. Again and again, Allah ta’ala repeats His invitation towards this deed. And there is another Amal that Allah wants us to do, about which Allah ta’ala says ‘Don’t just do it repeatedly – rather, do it Katheer, abundantly.’ And what is that? The Dhikr of Allah! So what is this? You can see this written in the Qur’an, where Allah says { وَٱذۡڪُرُواْ ٱللَّهَ ڪَثِيرً۬ا }. Allah has distributed this Himself – it is not Moulana Sahib or Pir Sahib or me who has distributed this Amal. Who has given out this deed? Allah ta’ala is doing this. So we should have at least this much understanding, because we understand about other things.
So just think about the status of actions which Allah ta’ala gives. Hajj has been prescribed once in a lifetime, so okay, we will do Hajj, and because Allah may not call us time and time again, we are then free of our obligation. As for Ramadhan, it comes once a year, so we try to make an effort to gain as much as possible – that is the case, isn’t it? As for Salah, Allah ta’ala tells us to come time and time again, so there will be benefits for us in that. Allah ta’ala gives to a human being from His Hikmah, so Allah gives him more where he needs more. Say SubhanAllah. What we need most of all is air to breathe, and do we have to buy it? Tell me. Do we have to go to a shop with a bottle to buy air? Allah ta’ala has distributed it abundantly, and if Allah ta’ala was to eliminate oxygen and air for even a short time, would mankind survive? No. So Allah ta’ala has given us this free of charge. He knows, and He has given us this in high quantity because we, His servants, need it; He has made it free for all because we are desperately in need of it.
So A’maal are the same, in terms of what we are most in need of. Hajj is once in a lifetime, and we don’t need it more than this. Allah ta’ala is saying that it is fine if we want to do more and more for the sake of Thawab, but that the distribution of Hajj is that if it is done once, properly, that is sufficient. So what is in that deed? Allah ta’ala has placed a lot of Barakah and Noor in that deed, so that if you do just one good Hajj, as long as you stay alive, the Noor of that Hajj will last – if you protect it. That is how powerful it is because you only have to do it once. As for Salah, we are desperately in need of Salah; we are so desperately in need of this that we cannot imagine, which is why Allah ta’ala has given this to us. It is not a tax or a burden or a punishment for a crime that we have been told to come five times; rather, we should be extremely grateful after every Salah and think ‘Oh Allah, Your Karam and Grace and bounty is so great that You have given me this tremendous reward. What greatness must lie behind this! I cannot understand the power of Your Name in Salah, but I know that there cannot be a small reward for this action of Salah. If You are calling us five times a day, then there is definitely some secret behind this.’
So how sad and unfortunate is that person to whom Allah ta’ala wants to give this gift five times a day, and yet he cannot understand this. In the Akhirah, Allah ta’ala will explain to us, saying ‘This is the reason that I called you five times a day – look what I wanted to give you.’ Will there be any benefit in regretting at that time? No, the story has finished at that point, and though we will regret, there is no benefit in regretting at that point. Today is the time for regret; have courage and determination and understand these words today. You have come to this Majlis, and Allah ta’ala has brought us here, so He will allow us to listen to His words. I did not prepare a Dars or a lecture – I don’t prepare anything before I come. Rather, I think ‘Oh Allah, instil into my mind the words needed by those of Your Makhluq who come.’ That is how the Hadith and other things come out. You enjoy listening, don’t you? Yes, because it is not coming from here, it is coming from there; it is coming from above, from Allah. It is not man-made – this discussion is Rabb-made. Yes? And it is due to Allah ta’ala’s Karam and blessing that, due to you coming, I get benefit as well.
So the Mas’alah here is that the way and the manner in which Allah ta’ala distributes the various deeds shows their importance; they are owned by Allah ta’ala, and they are necessary for us – so we should not delay. So after today, make this binding upon you – in Punjabi, they say ‘Tie a knot on this’ – and resolve that you will implement and complete five times Salah in the manner that Allah ta’ala has instructed. Okay?
Moving forward, Allah ta’ala gives human beings the ability to do A’maal, so we have to do them as directed. But what happens? As I explained to you regarding Dhikr, if you go to a Majlis, then Allah announces that this brings forgiveness and the elimination of all sins, so that if you die, then immediately the doors of Jannah are open. The angel on the left will say ‘Oh - Allah has forgiven him! I tried so hard to write down all the sins on his sheets that I got tired, but now all those sins have been eliminated. They are finished!’ Say SubhanAllah. Allah will say ‘Who are you to record his sins? I know best – and My servant knows as well. And this servant of Mine is the Ghulam of My Habeeb sallallahu alayhi wasallam, so why shouldn’t I send him to Jannah? I gave him flexibility and Tawfeeq, and he benefitted from that flexibility, so the decision is made – he has passed the test.’
Allah gives the Tawfeeq for us to do Dhikr and other Ibadahs, and that is why I am explaining to you with these words. People give Da’wah and invitation to the Deen – Da’wah continues to happen, doesn’t it? And those who give Da’wah do not call you to themselves – and I am not calling you to me. What need do I have for that? Rather, I am calling towards Allah by saying that we must pray Salah. The reason for coming to Salah is not to come to me; no, it is to go to Allah. When I say that we should do Dhikr, that doesn’t mean that you should come to me; rather, it means what? That you should remember Allah. Okay?
So when Allah ta’ala gives Tawfeeq to an individual to do a good deed, then there is a big danger that arises at that time. When a person practices and practices, it can be that rather than going forward, he goes into reverse and starts going backwards. I have seen many games and tricks in my life, and I keep on looking out for these, for which I am grateful to Allah. Brothers, I see people who come and are passionate and eager for Dhikr – and you can apply this to all other deeds; the same thing happens. This is not just about Dhikr – the same principles that I am explaining apply to all other deeds; I am just taking the example of Dhikr here. For example, if someone says to me ‘Hadhrat Sahib, I want to learn Dhikr – teach me Dhikr.’ I say ‘MashaAllah – this is Allah’s Karam and Grace!’ Whose Karam is it? It is Allah’s Karam, because which deed has Allah ta’ala given him the Tawfeeq to do? That which opens Jannah! I am explaining this through this one deed, but for all other deeds, it is the same. It is the same for Salah – indeed every Amal is of high value.
But using Dhikr as an example, what happens? If an individual starts coming to pray Salah, and he starts praying Salah regularly, you see that he comes for a while and then he starts to disappear. Similarly with Dhikr, he does Dhikr regularly and passionately and takes Bai’ah, but then after a while, he disappears; slowly and gradually, he comes less and less often, and hence he starts to go backwards. I can make a comparison for you with a race. You know how when a race is held, you see quite a few people standing there. You see fifteen or twenty men preparing, and then the horn or whistle is blown, and they start running, thinking ‘I want to be in front!’ But how many people can be at the front? Only one. That is the case, isn’t it? All the rest are straggled out behind, slower and slower, and some lose heart and stop trying. One man doesn’t give up; he remains determined and keeps on running. Even if people come up to challenge his lead from behind, he accelerates and overtakes them, and eventually he ends up coming first in the race.
In the same way, on this path of Tasawwuf, the path to attain Allah’s Qurb by journeying to Allah, the situation is the same. A person comes with energy and passion, thinking ‘I am ready today and I will do this and that,’ and he makes promises, saying ‘I am going to keep the beard from today.’ People may forget, but who have they promised to? It is not to me, but rather to their Rabb, to their Creator. And remember this - when you disobey your Rabb, you are not saved; you are not free. Man can forget – he can forget everything – but when you make a promise to Allah ta’ala, will you forget? Remember this. What happens? Allah ta’ala gives chances, as if to say ‘Maybe he will understand now; maybe he will turn back to Me now – he made a promise to Me.’ If not, what can happen? It is as if he is calling down the wrath of Allah, saying ‘I don’t care about that promise I made to You.’ He doesn’t have Yaqeen in Allah and he doesn’t have Khawf in Allah – he doesn’t care about Allah.
If you make a promise to someone who is nice and pious, saying that you will meet him in the evening, and that person is a good, respectable person who is highly thought of in society, then when you invite him, he will say ‘Yes, I will come – will you be there?’ So you say ‘Yes, I will come.’ You then turn that commitment over and over in your mind and change your schedule, because your heart is being pulled towards that person due to his dignity and respectability. If a relative calls you, you will say ‘No, I need to meet someone, so I am sorry but I can’t meet you today. I am a bit busy, and I have to give my time elsewhere.’ You say this because you know that if you don’t go and meet that person, he will be upset with you, and you don’t want to cause or experience his displeasure and upset. This is the case, isn’t it?
So tell me, what of a person who makes a promise to Allah and doesn’t have fear about his commitment to keep a beard and pray Salah and do this and the other thing? When a person makes those promises and does Tawbah, who is he doing Tawbah to? To his Rabb – to his Creator. If he subsequently makes a fuss about those commitments, then who is he openly challenging and joking with? Who is he playing games with and trying to trick? He would be careful with a normal person in the world, but he has no awareness of his Rabb, and he has no Yaqeen. What is the reality of the situation? If it was a case of not meeting someone after promising to come, he would be inviting the anger of that person. So if you make a promise to Allah and you say ‘I don’t care’ due to your Nafs, then whose anger are you inviting? The anger of your Rabb – may Allah ta’ala forgive us. If a person were to die in this situation, then we can guess what the situation of that person would be and what a severe reckoning he would encounter. He will be seized harshly, and it will be said ‘Did you joke with your Rabb? Did you play games with your Rabb? Allah ta’ala gave you such an easy way out because He wanted to make you His pious servant – and you ran away. Is this what you did?’
So this is inviting the wrath of Allah, if, after promising to Allah, a person turns away and makes a U-turn on his promise. Understand that such a person gets grabbed severely by Allah. Firawn did this, as did Abu Jahl – who stopped them? Openly, they did this, and then they ate and drank and enjoyed themselves and did sins and all sorts of things, and then they thought that they were successful - but no. It is written in the Book of Deeds - Rabb-e-Karim knows; the consequences are all recorded. Some people will have a very bad end point, and a very bad Hashr, due to not keeping their promises with Allah. You are not taking the hand of the Sheikh in Bai’ah – rather, you are taking the Hand of Allah. This is not a minor thing - you are attaining such a great connection. As soon as you take the hand of the Sheikh, where do you reach? You reach Madinah! The Qur’an is saying this. When your hand is taken into that hand, what happens? Destinations open up; doors open up – yet we think Tasawwuf is a joke. We don’t know and we think ‘Nothing is happening to me’ - but nothing happened to Abu Jahl, so even today, it may well be that nothing will happen here. Is anything happening to anybody?
However, those who people who have fear in their hearts will think ‘Oh no, my Rabb must be displeased with me because I made a promise to Him. Do I have no shame?’ They won’t say ‘Oh, it doesn’t make any difference – my business is running, and I have chapattis and food to eat; everything is progressing in the world for me.’ Shaytan comes to such people, saying ‘Don’t worry bro, everything is fine. The whole world is doing it, so you can do it as well – what difference will it make?’ Beware – you are not the whole world! Every human being has a unique relationship between him and Allah that is nothing to do with anyone else. You have an individual love and connection – Allah ta’ala has love for every individual in the world and He has an individual relationship and connection. That connection is such that every human being is Allah’s servant; it is not a question of this and that person being special – no. Allah loves every man and woman; Allah loves every individual separately - say SubhanAllah.
So, brothers, should we disobey Allah? Should we not do Tawbah? Do Tawbah and say ‘Oh Allah ta’ala forgive me – I have made a mistake. I promise now, and if I do not implement this promise, then I am standing on the doorstep of Your anger. Everything around me is artificial – all the people without Iman are eating as well, so that is not the basis of success. The basis of success is that I attain Your Radha and Your love by continuing to follow the promise that I made to You. And after promising to You, it doesn’t matter how many difficulties, obstacles and problems that I encounter, because alhamdulillah, these will elevate my status. I should not have gone backwards, for You would have pulled and dragged me to Your nearness, to Your Qurb. I am not scared of difficulties and obstacles along the way.’
Many people run away today when they encounter difficulties – why do they run away and make U-turns? Only one or two people remain – just a few people - so what is the reason for this? May Allah ta’ala forbid that we should be amongst those people – and that danger is always present. There is a reason that some people come and then make a U-turn and start going backwards, go into reverse and become lazy, negligent and laid back, and say ‘Oh, it’s not important – I need to do other things.’ You will have observed that some people initially came in Ramadhan with passion and energy, and then they disappeared thereafter. What is the reason for this? Let’s analyse and understand this, so that if this starts to happen to us tomorrow, then alhamdulillah, we will remain alert and depart this world with Iman. This could happen – there is always a danger that this could happen to us. A person can be sat here today, but maybe he won’t be here tomorrow.
The main reason for these U-turns is that when Allah ta’ala gives us the Tawfeeq to do A’maal like Salah and Dhikr, there is one thing that we do not care about – and what is that? It is our biggest enemy, that enemy that Allah has defined in the Qur’an as {عَدُوٌّ۬ مُّبِينٌ۬} – our biggest enemy, our severe enemy, about whom we are told ‘Save yourselves from him; save yourselves from him’; but we do not have any worry or concern about him. The analogy to this would be that you have a million or a hundred thousand pounds with you, and you are in a city with lot of thieves, bandits and pickpockets, but you have no worry or concern about this and say ‘Khair, it’s okay.’ Then will that money not be stolen from you? Tell me. If you have money in your pocket and you know that there is danger, then first and foremost, what would you do? You would protect yourself from that enemy, thinking ‘Oh, I must safeguard my money so that nobody can steal it from me.’ This is what you would do, is it not?
Now if Allah subhana wa ta'ala gives you the Tawfeeq to do an Amal in this day and age – say SubhanAllah – then you are obtaining a wealth greater than you can comprehend. For example, this Dhikr brings so much wealth; that wealth is so great that we cannot imagine – it is too great to comprehend, for just the first aspect of the wealth gained by Dhikr is forgiveness! What will the end point of that wealth of Dhikr be, if the beginning is forgiveness? Tell me. Where will the Dhikr of Allah take us? Allah is giving such a great reward and such great wealth that will our enemy not run behind us, trying to grab that wealth and steal it from us? How can it be that he will not? So what should we do? Don’t be like those who have no concern or worries about that enemy, thinking ‘Oh, I have come to Dhikr, so I have everything.’ Such people have forgotten that Allah ta’ala has given the opportunity to do Dhikr, so first and foremost, who do you have to protect yourself from? From Nafs and shaytan. Don’t lose your worry and concern about this, for if you lose concern, then shaytan and Nafs will pull that Amal away from us.
How do they pull it away from us? They do so by instilling Waswasah into a person’s mind. The first thing shaytan and Nafs will do is instil Waswasah. We are human beings, so there is no guarantee of success for us. If we start doing Dhikr and praying Salah and other good A’maal, is that a guarantee that we will not sin after that? No - there is no such guarantee; we are human beings. When a person does a very big sin after doing Dhikr and making Tawbah, that shows we have no guarantee that we will not commit a sin tomorrow - a human being can definitely make mistakes. So when a human being makes a mistake after coming to Dhikr and taking Bai’ah and making Tawbah, then shaytan says ‘Oh, you’re finished brother. I have made you commit this sin, so what is the point of doing Dhikr now? What is the benefit to you of doing Dhikr? What is the point of doing this Amal now? You committed this sin during the night, so why continue?’
If this happens, don’t be upset – say SubhanAllah. It is natural for a human being to commit sins – it is part of his natural inclination - but do not think that the Amal you do will not have an effect. You are doing Dhikr and you have committed a sin, but you should have total conviction that the Dhikr you are doing and the other deeds that you are performing will not go to waste. Understand this point one hundred percent, and do not reject your A’maal due to that sin you have committed. Even if you do Zina or steal something or consume interest, do not think ‘Oh, I have done Zina so forget it. What is the point of going to Dhikr now?’ Never say this. Most definitely you should come to Dhikr – why? You must get there; even if you have committed a sin, say to yourself ‘I don’t care – I must get there.’ Be sure to keep coming to Dhikr and don’t give up. Why? Because Allah ta’ala has given us something to go with sin - what will save your A’maal? Say you have committed Zina or the biggest sin - whatever sin you have committed – Allah says ‘Do one action straightaway - after committing a sin, regret and do Tawbah.’ Repent – make Tawbah.
A poet has said ‘My Lord has given me the ability to repent, so good riddance to my sins!’ However big a sin a human being commits, if Allah gives the Tawfeeq to do Tawbah, then good riddance – the sins evaporate into the air. Think ‘Good riddance to my sins - off you go. No sins remain with me, for they have all evaporated into the air.’ Don’t even remember that sin – that is how powerful Tawbah is. When a human being commits any type of sin, Allah ta’ala has prepared Tawbah for him at that time. You don’t need to make Wudhu for this, and you don’t have to go to the Masjid or to the Ka’abah; whatever condition you are in, and wherever you are, even if you have just done Zina and have not even had a bath yet, if you suddenly stop and think ‘What have I done? Ya Allah, forgive me, forgive me!’ Even though you are not even physically pure, Allah ta’ala will say ‘Go, My servant – I have forgiven you.’ This is why that poet wrote ‘Good riddance to my sins.’ Allah ta’ala gives regret and remorse to a person if he is doing Dhikr; he gets the opportunity to feel remorse and regret because he realises that the Noor of Dhikr has gone. So remember, if you have committed a sin, then never reject that Amal of attending the gathering. Rather, what should you do? Do Tawbah – repent. Don’t run away from that action and leave it. What should one do? Do Tawbah and repent, and don’t just think ‘This must not happen again.’ No, with regret and remorse, think ‘Oh! How did I do this? Oh Allah, forgive me and save me next time.’ Say SubhanAllah. So that’s it – end of story. Go and do Dhikr – why are you running away? That way, you will get the benefit of Dhikr again.
What is the second Waswasah? Now you know that you can defeat shaytan, learn the second Waswasah of shaytan. What does he say? He says ‘Oh - now he has understood what sin is and he is getting even more reward. Why should I keep pushing him to sin?’ So he says ‘Stop, stop - don’t make him do sin!’ He will free you and release you and then you won’t commit sins, because his objective was to end that thing which benefits you. Now that you have seen the cure for that, your sins evaporate within a minute when you go to Dhikr. So he says ‘Oh, leave this client of mine. I am wasting my time,’ and then he tells his students ‘Don’t run after him and push him towards sin because he is learned and so I am getting more loss, since when he does Tawbah, he gets more reward.’ Remember this – shaytan realises that a person gets more reward when he has regret and remorse; shaytan thinks ‘This man has become a lion – he is brave now and he is standing firm. Never mind his sins – the sins have gone, and he has acquired a higher level of Thawab as well. This client of mine has become knowledgeable now.’ So if you commit a sin after doing good deeds, you should never stop coming here; never stop doing good deeds and coming here.
The second Waswasah that shaytan puts into him is ‘Oh – I am not enjoying myself.’ He tries this angle now. He makes you think ‘Oh, I heard that when you go to Dhikr, this and that happens, and you are supposed to feel such and such and become a Wali of Allah. You should become like Hadhrat Mohiuddeen Chishti rahmatullah alayh or Hadhrat Abdul Qadir Jilani rahmatullah alayh or become another Hadhrat Data Ganj Bakhsh rahmatullah alayh, and you should become a pious person who floats in the air. This and that should happen, and you should start to float in the air and start seeing visions in dreams.’ Enjoyment - a person starts to seek enjoyment, in other words. And if this does not happen, he thinks ‘Well what’s the point of doing Dhikr?’ and due to not getting that enjoyment or supernatural experiences, then slowly and surely, he starts to leave Dhikr due to that lack of enjoyment.
So what is the solution to this? First and foremost, whenever Allah ta’ala gives you the Tawfeeq to do a good deed, like the Tawfeeq to recite the Qur’an, then don’t seek enjoyment in it, thinking ‘Oh, I want tears and emotions to arise, and I need to understand every word of the Qur’an and my beard should be wet with tears after reading these verses.’ No – you have no link with this, and you don’t need this. Keep on reading the Qur’an whether you enjoy it or not – just keep on reading. Yes? There is a big reason for this happening, which is that our Niyyah is wrong. If we are reading the Qur’an for enjoyment or coming to Dhikr for enjoyment or to become a Wali of Allah and to get Kashf and Karamaat, or if we think we are a Mufassir and are reading Qur’an to extract Tafsir and so on, then the first thing to understand here is that when Allah ta’ala gives you the Tawfeeq to do any good deed, then make your Niyyah sincerely and solely for Allah’s sake. Say SubhanAllah. Do you understand the words of the Faqir? Yes? Come purely and solely for the sake of Allah. Think ‘What is the reason that I am going to the Dhikr of Allah? I am going for Allah’s sake – whether I enjoy it or not, I am going for Allah’s sake. When I recite the Qur’an, I am not looking for Ma’arifah or some high-grade status; I am going to read it whether I understand it or not. Why? Because I have made the Niyyah that I am not seeking enjoyment – rather, I am seeking Allah’s pleasure.’ Say SubhanAllah!
Then see what Allah ta’ala says, namely that when you are seeking Allah’s pleasure rather than enjoyment, then Allah Himself will give you enjoyment. Allah is saying ‘If you don’t get enjoyment after making the Niyyah purely for Me, then come and ask Me. I give you this guarantee.’ So seek Allah’s pleasure and do an Amal solely for Allah’s sake, then after that you won’t get Kashf but Allah’s Rahmah comes; and you don’t have to see this. All you need to think is ‘I want Allah to be happy with me.’ Why? Look at the difference in this Niyyah. This Niyyah is very different. For example, when you are doing an Amal for a higher motive than enjoyment, then Allah ta’ala does not leave you empty-handed for any deed.
Do those A’maal that Allah ta’ala invites you towards - I don’t call this Hukm, but rather this is Da’wah, invitation. What Hukm does Allah give? He gives us an invitation with love – look at the difference between Hukm – instruction - and Da’wah – invitation. They are different. Allah ta’ala is calling to us with love, saying ‘Come towards My Salah; come to pray.’ Allah ta’ala is not beating us with a stick - He is inviting us. Allah is not being strict and stern when He says ‘Come towards Salah.’ Why? Because behind any deed you can think of, for example Dhikr or Salah, then when Allah ta’ala makes you do that Amal, by enabling you to do that deed, Allah wants to be able to give us this and that and the other. There is no Amal for which Allah ta’ala has given you Da’wah that is empty and devoid of benefit. Rather, Allah ta’ala fills our pockets with rewards – can there be any enjoyment that would replace that? There are so many rivers and Hoors and this reward and that reward; from one Salah, mountains upon mountains of reward can be attained. From sitting in one gathering of Dhikr, Allah ta’ala gives so much to you that the angels will get tired of writing the rewards for the Kalimaat you are reciting. So do you want enjoyment or do you want Allah’s Radha, my brothers?
So what do we need to think whenever we do any good deed? After we have prayed Salah, we should think ‘Oh Allah, I am so grateful to You for the great rewards You have given me. You have given me the reward of one Hajj and one Umrah!’ Understand that so much wealth has been placed into your pocket that you cannot even walk - and that is why you see that the friends of Allah bow and walk in a state of submission. Why? Because they are weighed down by the burden of the wealth that have been given. When they speak or do any great Ibadah, then you see that they bow when they walk as if they are carrying a burden. Are they ill? Is Hadhrat unwell? No, they are not ill; rather, they have collected the money and the wealth – hordes of wealth. When there is a lot of money in your pocket from the shop, then your pocket dangles and it weighs you down, so when they are carrying so much of the wealth of the Akhirah, then they bow as they walk wrapped in their blanket or sheet. Say SubhanAllah. They are humbled by carrying such great notes, by carrying the keys to the palaces and the mansions. This is his palace, that is his palace, there is another mansion of his – why? Am I saying this? No – a person who does not have Yaqeen in this is not a human being.
Allah says {إِنَّكَ لَا تُخۡلِفُ ٱلۡمِيعَادَ } – ‘Am I lying? Am I saying something that is not correct? Is it a lie that I am going to give you this and that after you do Dhikr? No!’ So then should we leave these deeds and listen to shaytan’s instruction? Never! Whether we enjoy it or not, we are going to come; even if we sin, we are still going to come. We have understood these two things: no enjoyment – still come; and if you sin, still come. And when we fulfil Allah’s promise, then all the rewards will come, alhamdulillah. So why should we leave that deed? We should most definitely come. Will you leave this deed now? No – this is a great lesson. Allah has given us the Tawfeeq, so embrace that and increase it and multiply it, alhamdulillah. So then, how can we reject and deny all these actions that Allah has given us the Tawfeeq to do? How can we go backwards and do a U-turn? It is shaytan, our enemy, whose enmity makes us go backwards - Allah ta’ala has promised.
The next point people stumble over is ‘Will my actions be accepted’ – and this is another Waswasah of shaytan. ‘Oh, I prayed Salah, but my mind and thoughts were elsewhere. I don’t know if my deeds will be accepted or not.’ Shaytan makes you lose hope in your actions and makes you give up, saying ‘Oh you’re nothing! You’re mad to be praying Salah – what is the benefit of praying Salah? You’re wasting your time. You are standing in Salah thinking about your shop when you could have been at your shop earning a few pounds.’ He is trying to make you lose hope and give up. ‘Oh, you don’t even know what you recited when you made Sajdah or were in Ruku.’ Regarding Dhikr, many people say ‘Oh, I don’t enjoy it – I don’t understand what is going on or the meaning of what I am saying.’ Due to this, shaytan instils in their minds the idea that their Ibadah has not been accepted. He makes a person believe that the Amal is not accepted, so that he gives up, thinking ‘I prayed Salah and I did Dhikr, but it has not been accepted. Why should I keep saying Allah, Allah, Allah? I repeat this, but it is not being accepted. If it had been accepted, then this wouldn’t have happened; if it had been accepted, then that wouldn’t have happened.’
If you want to look at Allah’s acceptance of our deeds, how can we measure that? Regarding acceptance, Allah has made a beautiful statement. Allah has made it such that you can find out within a matter of seconds whether your deeds have been accepted or not. I will give you an example now of this point. Say a person comes and recites a Nasheed or a Naat in a gathering, if the people and the committee like it and are happy with his Naat or Nasheed, what will happen? The committee and members of the public will force him to return so they can hear him again. They will say ‘Hadhrat, please come again; please honour us with your service by reciting a Naat. How do you recite Naats so nicely?’ They praise him and will request him to come again, won’t they? If they didn’t like his Naat or his Nasheed, would they call him back? They would say ‘Begone with him – good riddance. He bored us and he will bore us again, so let’s not call him back.’ Would they invite him again? No. So what we realise is that if he is asked to come again, that means the whole gathering liked that person. The people like him, and so they call him back time and time again.
The point is clear: if you pray Salah and then Allah makes you pray Salah again, then understand that Allah likes your Salah. Say SubhanAllah. Just as when the committee of the mosque call a person back again because they like him, so when you do an action, has your Rabb called you for nothing? He is inviting you again, so what a big deception of shaytan this is, because when you come back to Salah, this is proof that Allah has accepted your Salah; Allah loved your Salah so much. But we think ‘Oh, what’s the benefit? It is not accepted.’ Oh servant of Allah, when you come back for prayer again, then consider that your first one was accepted.
Let us go further and beyond that. Allah ta’ala says ‘Why do you go so far looking for Allah’s Pleasure? Even within one Salah, you do the first prostration, and then after that, you do the second prostration, and if Allah did not wish it, He would not allow you to do the second prostration.’ If this was not such a big deal in the acceptance of deeds, then great personalities, like kings, millionaires and scientists, would all be able to bow in front of Allah. They have such a great Dunya, but they do not have the Tawfeeq to bow in front of Allah. But the poor man in a mud hut, the Faqir wearing old clothes, prostrates time and time again. Is Allah with him or with those other people? Tell me. Say SubhanAllah.
So are your deeds being accepted or not? Is your Salah being accepted or not? We are talking about the first Sajdah and the one the follows it, so what about Salah and the one that comes after it? Yes? So the point comes out that if you are praying Salah and are delaying and neglecting the next Salah, then I say again that you should suddenly become alert and think ‘Is my Rabb upset with me?’ This is what you need to think about. Think ‘Oh! I came to Fajr, so why did I not make it to Dhuhr? My Rabb must be unhappy with me. Why? Because I could have come to Dhuhr if I had been given the Tawfeeq, and this would have shown that my Rabb was definitely happy with me. If I had come to Dhuhr, I would have known that my Rabb was one hundred percent happy with me. But now, I did not make it – something stopped me. I did not understand the importance of this, and my Rabb is most definitely unhappy with me.’
So now you need to do the second action – say SubhanAllah. What is that? Make sure you please your Rabb until Asr. Cry, have regret, make Du’as and say ‘Oh Allah, I have made a big mistake – what mistake was that? What have I done wrong, ya Allah? Forgive me, my Maula, my Rabb! Why did you not give me the Tawfeeq to present myself in Your Court?’ In the example of the good Naat or Nasheed singer, they will say ‘Please – why don’t you come again?’ If they don’t invite him again, he will say ‘Did I not recite it properly? Didn’t you like my Naats? Is that why you are not inviting me again? Was there something wrong?’ Will he not say this? So here, you have to understand this point and think ‘Why did my Rabb not give me Tawfeeq? He called me at Fajr, so what happened at Dhuhr time? I must have committed a sin or made a mistake, or perhaps I disobeyed.’ Seek that fault – look for it, then do Astaghfar and Tawbah to Allah so that the door can open up for you again and you can prostrate at Asr again. SubhanAllah - what a connection there is between Allah and His servant! Say SubhanAllah.
This is the connection with Allah, your Rabb, that mercy comes within a second - a person cannot be detached from Allah. So if Allah gives you the Tawfeeq to do Dhikr, SubhanAllah, and yet you don’t come to Dhikr in the morning, or if you come some days but not others, then understand that when you are not doing the Amal that Allah ta’ala enabled you to do, your Rabb will not be happy with you, and shaytan will make you keep doing sin after sin until you please Allah and come back toward that deed. So can a person now leave the deeds and make a U-turn? Tell me.
What a great lesson Allah ta’ala has given to us. Allah has explained these points; shaytan is our enemy and Nafs is our enemy. We say ‘Oh if I leave Salah and pray at home, what difference does it make?’ Don’t we understand? Allah is unhappy with you because He is not giving you the Tawfeeq to go to His Home again and prostrate to Him in the Masjid? Why? What is the Mas’alah? We are not looking for acceptance in the right way. Why? Because for us, the certificate of acceptance is that after one deed, you straightaway move on to the next. Whether you are broken down or bone idle, it doesn’t matter – present your prayer and acts of worship to Allah, and this shows that the previous one has been accepted, alhamdulillah. You will not be empty-handed. So those people should be worried if they come to one prayer but do not come to the next. If a person comes to Fajr but not to Dhuhr and then thinks he is a steadfast Namazi and that he has pleased Allah, then he is not giving the due importance to repetition of deeds. Inna lillahi wa inna ilahyhi Raji’oon. If you want to see clearly, then look at those people who have consciousness. No person who is righteous or has nearness to Allah could imagine missing Dhikr or Salah, or that he does not complete his Tasbeehs or that he stops doing some Amal. If it were to befall him, he would immediately become upset and cry and feel that he is finished, saying ‘Oh Allah, what mistake have I made? Please forgive me.’
This is called the life of a Mu’min. This is the Tariqah in which he lives his life. We are not here for eating and drinking, nor for earning money and hoarding wealth, nor for putting chicken into our stomachs; we are not here for Kebabs. We have one concern only, that our Rabb should be happy with us on an ongoing basis, alhamdulillah. Say SubhanAllah. Do you understand what I am saying or not? Do you understand? Tell me the truth – am I working hard here for nothing? At least I should get some benefit – and there is benefit for me – but you should also get benefit, definitely; and that is why I am asking. So do you understand?
So this is the real, genuine thing that we are looking for. And who makes us sin and takes us away and puts us into reverse and distracted with the game of enjoyment so that our deeds are not accepted? Who does that? Is it your friend or your enemy? It is your enemy – and which enemy? Nafs and shaytan - {عَدُوٌّ۬ مُّبِينٌ۬}. So at the time that a human being is about to do a good deed, like coming to Dhikr and taking Bai’ah and doing Tawbah, what does a person with wisdom and ‘Aql need to do? He needs to control Nafs and shaytan. He needs to protect himself from that enemy, otherwise he will put you into reverse and make you go backwards. So don’t lower your guard - the first action you need to do is save yourself from him.
Now if Allah has given you the order to save yourself, and has explained that shaytan is your avowed enemy, then will Allah ta’ala not have arranged a method and explained to us how to save ourselves from shaytan? If Allah ta’ala is saying that shaytan and your Nafs are your enemy and that you must save yourself from them, will Allah not have given us a Tariqah to save ourselves? Allah has prescribed a Tariqah, so adopt that Tariqah. If Allah has given me the Tawfeeq to do Tawbah and the Tawfeeq to do Dhikr, and I start coming on the first day, then I should stay like this always; don’t go backwards. So the first action that we need to do is to control and suppress Nafs and shaytan with the method that Allah and His Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam have prescribed to us. In this way, we will never have to turn back, and even if they invite us towards sin and offer us their tricks of enjoyment, we will not go down that path. So what should we do? As soon as Allah ta’ala gives you Tawfeeq, then Allah gives you an Amal to keep you doing good deeds, and through this, shaytan and Nafs die, they evaporate, they cool down and freeze – they don’t even come near to you.
How? Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has given an example to explain this solution, a beautiful example. Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam said ‘If your enemy is running after you - he has weapons and you do not, so you are running away and he is chasing you - and he is coming so close to you that he can strike you and harm you, and then you happen to see a fortress in front of you, you enter and secure yourself against his attack because he remains outside while you are safe inside.’ Say SubhanAllah. Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam is saying that this is the same as when Nafs and shaytan are running after you to grab you; when that happens, you should run away from them – and what do you need? You need a fortress. Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam said ‘What is the fortress? It is the Dhikr of Allah, the remembrance of Allah.’ Say SubhanAllah. When Allah’s servant sits and does Dhikr of Allah, then immediately Allah ta’ala says ‘You have come into that fort which shaytan cannot penetrate; he cannot enter.’ So it is proven from this that whenever you do a good deed, then on the left and on the right, in front and behind, what should you do? Do Dhikr of Allah in parallel, so that Amal is protected and safeguarded.
That is why Allah ta’ala has said that it is enough to do Hajj once in your life – that suffices; and Ramadhan comes once a year - thirty fasts is enough; the percentage of Zakah to be given has been stated, and that is enough – the boundary has been set; as for Salah, five times a day is enough. But as for Dhikr { وَٱذۡڪُرُواْ ٱللَّهَ ڪَثِيرً۬ا }, we are told to do it in high quantity, abundantly, because shaytan is running after you every second. So don’t just do this many Tasbeehs and think that this is enough – always, at every moment, remain in Allah’s Dhikr so that shaytan cannot come near to you because you are sealed in that fort. As soon as you detach yourself from Dhikr, shaytan will catch you, penetrate you, and generate Waswasah within you and will drag you towards hell. And it could be that death comes at that time when he has influenced you. So Allah has given you protection and that is why the Walis of Allah say that the first action to implement after doing Tawbah and before all other deeds is what? It is to do the Dhikr of Allah. And alongside Dhikr, you can do Tableegh and read Qur’an and pray Salah and do Hajj and pay Zakah. If you do Dhikr in parallel, you will be safe and sealed within that fort, so always stay in the Dhikr of Allah. Do it in the morning and the evening; first and foremost, the first action that we need to do in our life after doing Tawbah is to do the Dhikr of Allah. That is why we do Dhikr.
So brothers, this is the situation. Alhamdulillah, I have explained to you how we need to secure ourselves, and if you live your lives in this way, inshaAllah, Allah has promised that you will enter into Paradise laughing and smiling. It is not difficult, is it brothers? It is not difficult – it is a system; Allah has given a methodology. So implement that system and take hold of it firmly. This is a beautiful system, and if you follow its schedule, inshaAllah there will be no barriers for you and you will spend your lives as true Mu’mins.
May Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq to do this. Ameen.
Recite Durood Sharif.
2nd Sep, 2021
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