{فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ۬ فَزَادَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ مَرَضً۬اۖ وَلَهُمۡ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمُۢ بِمَا كَانُواْ يَكۡذِبُونَ}
Surah al-Baqarah, v10
At the beginning of the Qur’an, Allah subhana wa ta’ala has explained the entire Deen. The entire Deen – clearly. The initial introductory verses of the Qur’an are so important and necessary that if a person understands these verses, and if, along with this understanding, they penetrate his heart, then he attains his destination. And our destination is Akhirah – the Hereafter. In these verses, Allah subhana wa ta’ala has explained our defects, and He has told us our objective. Our objective is Allah’s Deen, which is the one path, that {ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ}, to establish the Straight Path and to travel along it. And Allah ta’ala has said that to understand Deen, get the summary from the whole Qur’an – and that is the summary of these verses. Now these verses that we are reading {فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ۬ فَزَادَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ مَرَضً۬ا}, this is such an important, necessary verse of the Qur’an. Just as in Surah al-Fatiha, {ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ} the whole meaning of the Deen comes into our lives in this verse {فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ۬}. The method of practicing the whole Qur’an is mentioned in this verse. Without understanding this verse, we can never progress in the understanding of the Qur’an.
Now look: with regard to the Qur’an, Allah ta’ala has told us two sides of the Qur’an. The first part of the Qur’an is that Allah says ‘I have revealed the Qur’an for you; and the reason I have revealed it for you is Dhikr.’ Allah says that you should learn My orders so that you can practice upon the Qur’an.’ Allah says {وَلَقَدۡ يَسَّرۡنَا} – ‘I have made this Qur’an very easy!’ The Qur’an is so easy and so simple that Allah has said that it is easy to understand for a person who is an illiterate villager, if he practices the Qur’an. He will understand all the orders of the Qur’an, in respect to Halal and Haram, by implementation. {وَلَقَدۡ يَسَّرۡنَا ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ لِلذِّكۡرِ} Whether he is hearing a verse, or a lecture or a speech, he will easily understand that this is the Deen of Islam. Allah says ‘And We have indeed made this Qur’an easy to understand and remember’, Allah says, even for an illiterate person from the desert.
{وَلَقَدۡ يَسَّرۡنَا ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ لِلذِّكۡرِ فَهَلۡ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ۬} (Surah Qamar v17) Allah says that is very easy to understand and practice the Qur’an. It is not something to get upset or stressed about, thinking ‘I cannot understand it.’ It is very easy to understand, SubhanAllah. At the same time, it is very hard to understand the Ma’arifa of the Qur’an, its knowledge, its heights, its status, its glory. Even if the whole world were to come together, the intellectuals and the modernists and thinkers cannot even understand an amount equivalent to the width of a hair if they do not have the right intention. There is no limit to the depth of the Qur’an. So the Qur’an has made a challenge right at the beginning, that you can never understand {الٓمٓ}- this is too hard! But it so easy at the same time; as Allah ta’ala says ‘I have revealed the Qur’an with an objective: to be practiced. {وَلَقَدۡ يَسَّرۡنَا ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ} It is very easy to implement.’ It is not hard to practice. If somebody makes an excuse ‘Oh I don’t know. I will read Tafsir, a commentary, and then I’ll understand the meanings.’ Reading translations and lengthy Tafasir, lengthy explanations and technicalities, grammar etc – these are all excuses. How could the illiterate villager understand? He cannot read, so how would he understand the practice of the Qur’an? How could he know the ‘Uloom, or the Tafsir of Ibn Katheer? Where would he get it and how would he read and understand it? He cannot do that; he is unable to do so.
So the Qur’an says { فَهَلۡ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ۬}- SubhanAllah! And is there anyone that will take it to heart, and act upon it? So how will you? If there’s somebody present who has the desire, then Allah ta’ala says { فَهَلۡ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ۬} – Is there anyone who wants to take it to heart, to implement it? Allah ta’ala says ‘It’s not difficult; it’s very easy and simple. You can do Amal on the Qur’an and reach your destination - I revealed the Qur’an for this purpose.’ But there is nobody who wants to implement { فَهَلۡ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ۬} People make excuses and say ‘Let’s bypass it – it’s too hard.’
The Qur’an has promised, in one line. Allah ta’ala has started the Qur’an by saying ‘How will you become successful? {ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ} If you follow this path, the Straight Path, there is nothing to be afraid about – end of story.’ What is the Straight Path? Allah ta’ala has defined it very simply. How? {وَٱلَّذِينَ يُؤۡمِنُونَ بِمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيۡكَ} Allah says ‘Whatever I gave to My Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam, whatever I have given to him, have faith in that, have Iman in that {وَٱلَّذِينَ يُؤۡمِنُونَ بِمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيۡكَ}, practical Iman, practical faith.’ That’s what we need to do. So Allah says ‘After having belief, then practice whatever I reveal to My Beloved Habeeb sallallahu alayhi wasallam; travel along that Straight Path, and be cautious and careful not to swerve and come off the track.’ Allah ta’ala says that the sign of the Straight Path is what? It won’t have { ٱلضَّآلِّينَ} upon it. Allah ta’ala says
{ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ (٦) صِرَٲطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنۡعَمۡتَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ غَيۡرِ ٱلۡمَغۡضُوبِ عَلَيۡهِمۡ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ} ‘You will not meet the path of the Magdhoob, or the Dhaaleen. Who will you meet? Those who follow the path of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the path of the noble Companions radhiAllahu anhum, the path of the Awliya-e-Karam rahmatullah alayhim. Your practice should meet that path. If your practice is meeting that path, then your practice is on the Straight Path, and you have nothing to worry about.’ The Qur’an has explained everything so simply.
So then, why does a person come off track and become deviated? What is the reason for coming off track? Why are we distressed and worried? ‘Oh, I don’t understand this – I am getting stressed and worried!’ – people make this excuse and follow another path or some other ideology and mindset. It is a very Straight Path. {ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ} Can there a simpler explanation than this?
And then further, beyond that, SubhanAllah, Allah says that the commands of your Rabb, of your Lord, are all there. Haram, Halal – the orders are all very easy for you to understand. It is not difficult. Every man can understand the Qur’an. You don’t need science and technology and research. If we can understand those complicated formulas, can we not understand Halal and Haram, and their benefits? We all understand everything. So where do we lose out? We don’t do Amal on Allah’s orders. Everybody knows, everyone with faith knows, that the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam’s path is the true path, and that his Sunnah is the right path. His blessed Sunnah is the best practice – every Mu’min knows this. Every believer knows this. There’s no one who does accept this – it cannot be! It is very easy to understand this point, because Allah has said.
Everybody knows, because Allah ta’ala has given everybody ‘Aql. Remember this point, this technical point that I am telling you. Where does a person’s understanding come from? From his ‘Aql, from his wisdom, from his brain. So if the brain can do research and so on, can it not understand what Halal and haram, and what loss comes with Haram? If we drink a liquor that Allah ta’ala has made Haram , then it is straightforward and easy to understand that loss will follow. Can we not see the losses in this society that come for those people who adopt habits that are Haram, those Haram habits that have been made Halal? Can we not see the bad effects? If something that has been defined by Allah as Haram has been made Halal, can we not see the consequences? Whether people believe or don’t believe, everyone knows why these things are mentioned in the Qur’an, because ‘Aql accepts this; our brains accept this. So Allah ta’ala challenges, {وَلَقَدۡ يَسَّرۡنَا ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ}, the Qur’an challenges every man – whether a person is ignorant, of no faith, old, a villager, a nomad, everyone. Allah ta’ala says that there are two parts to the Qur’an: it is so easy that you can implement it, but it is so difficult that you cannot understand the technicalities of its Ma’arifah.
But we don’t need to go that far. Why should we delve into the things that are difficult? We just need to know one thing from the Qur’an, and Allah ta’ala has given it to us for this purpose, which is to do Amal on the Qur’an. But we don’t want to do Amal on the Qur’an, and instead we do research into commentary and translations, and seek points about the philosophy of the Qur’an - everyone is busy in this these days. But the shocking thing is we don’t do Amal on the Qur’an. Why? Because the Qur’an is understood by the ‘Aql, and this is the point I have been explaining to you, a short point, which is what? That Allah ta’ala tells us to understand the Qur’an with the ‘Aql that He has given to us, and where does this become difficult? In the matter of Amal, practice! ‘Aql will not make you do Amal. Understanding alone will not take you to Amal. Your brain, your understanding and your knowledge will not take you towards Amal.
For Amal there is another preparation, a pre-requisite. To implement the Qur’an, don’t rely on your brain, on your ‘Aql. For Amal, you need something else. What is that? SubhanAllah - it is the heart of a human being, which needs to be in the right state, the right condition. So understanding the Qur’an is easy - we have understanding, we have brains, we know what losses come from Haram, what benefits come from Halal, how great the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was, and what was his glory and status. There is that book, the 100 greatest human beings in history – they know. The writer knows that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was number one – ‘Aql makes them accept this; they understand the answer to that question. So why don’t they do Amal? Because to do Amal, you need a heart, the right state of heart. To practice the Qur’an, you need the heart to be in the right state; you need the heart to accept, and take you towards practice.
Hadhrat Hudhayfa radhiAllahu anh relates that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said: “أَنَّ الأَمَانَةَ نَزَلَتْ فِي جِذْرِ قُلُوبِ الرِّجَالِ.” Where does Allah allow understanding to occur? In the hearts! And what is that trust that Allah ta’ala has put into the hearts? SubhanAllah – Allah ta’ala has inserted a trust into the hearts – and this is an agreed-upon Hadith, narrated by Hahdrat Hudhayfa. What was the trust that was inserted into the hearts? The Qur’an and the Sunnah. Allah ta’ala inserted this into the roots of the heart. So what happened then? In the first generation, those who lived with the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the noble Companions radhiAllahu anhum, accepted this reality of the Deen in their hearts. The heart accepts the Qur’an and the Sunnah; that is where there is love for Qur’an and Sunnah. The heart accepts the reality. ‘Aql explains, but what accepts, embraces and absorbs? The heart! This Hadith tells us this. So ‘Aql, the brain, understands and is aware, but to realise and accept the truth is the function of the organ of the heart.
So we have understood, we are aware, but why are we not accepting? Because of the heart, for this is what absorbs. Allah ta’ala says that the understanding of the Qur’an and the Sunnah was inserted into the depths of the heart. And it is stated further, in this Hadith, that as the generations go further away from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, a man will go to sleep. And as the eras and the years recede further away from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the Hadith then states that such a generation will come that the trust which Allah has put into the hearts will be removed, taken away, and the heart will become empty and void, and the hearts will not accept that trust of the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The hearts of the early generations had trust and they absorbed the Qur’an and they absorbed the Sunnah – such were the hearts and the belief of the Sahaba. As the time passed further away from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the trust was still there, but the hearts were not accepting. Why? Because the Deen becomes tiny inside the heart, like the size of a lentil or a small seed. Only a small trace of Iman will be left in the heart, a very small sign. There will be no appreciation in such a heart.
And then Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that the time will go further and further – and this sounds like this generation now – until the generation will be so far from the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam that even this small sign will disappear, and a weird sign will be left, which would be like a blister, of the sort that can result when your hand gets burnt – a blister on the skin, where a bubble of skin is raised and there is a liquid inside. This is the word that is used to describe it. So it is stated of the trust that Allah ta’ala placed in the heart, that the trust that will be removed and taken out, and what will be left is a blister. And if the skin of the blister is removed, all that is within is dirty, impure water. So Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has said that a generation will come, a time will come, when the hearts will be devoid of the trust that Allah subhana wa ta'ala gave, which is the Qur’an and the Sunnah. There will be no capability to practice, and all that will remain will be in the form of a blister. There will just be show on the outside, a raised blemish externally, but internally nothing but dirty water.
You know if you have a big blister, on the outside is it swollen up like a boil, but inside there is nothing. So the hearts of the Munafiqeen will be filled with hypocrisy – nothing beneficial inside, but outside there will be so much. There will be outward show. In the Hadith it says “مَا أَجْلَدَهُ مَا أَظْرَفَهُ مَا أَعْقَلَهُ” that there will be a man in such and such a place, and it will be said ‘Oh, he’s pious, MashaAllah - look at his Salah and his Umrah and his Hajj. Tickets are pre-booked way in advance! He’s a big-shot, he has knowledge, he has reached the heights, he has ‘Ilm, Qur’an and Hadith.’ People will be praising him and putting him on a pedestal, this Hadith says, but Allah is telling us ‘No! Be careful – that is like a blister. On the outside, it is swollen up with show, but the external deeds are nothing at all. In reality, the trust that I gave him, the trust of the Qur’an and the Sunnah’ - this is a Sahih Hadith I am explaining to you – ‘is totally absent inside that person. His deeds have no worth, no value. Without the Shari'ah and Sunnah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, they have no value.’
We must understand this verse of the Qur’an. That is why we have not gone beyond this verse, because it is a very important Ayah. If we can understand this verse, then the whole Deen comes into our hands, and we can become corrected and reformed. From this Ayah that we are currently reading in the Qur’an, alhamdulillah, we are not criticizing anyone or saying anything bad about anyone or quarrelling with anyone. We are just speaking so that Allah ta’ala can rectify us and improve us and do our Islah, because the time that is ahead is very severe. We need to come out of the condition of the Munafiqs now that the signs have been conveyed to us, which is not following the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam’s Shari'ah and Sunnah – the whole Qur’an tells us this! There is nothing to get upset about or distressed about. Allah ta’ala has opened the doors of His Rahmah, Karam and Mercy! The biggest Rahmah and Mercy is that Allah ta’ala is explaining this; we are reading this. This is the greatest Rahmah and mercy of Allah ta’ala, and we should be grateful millions of times over for this. There is nothing to be fighting or quarrelling about, or getting upset or criticizing, saying ‘Oh, what’s this? Are we all Munafiqs? Are we all people without faith?’ Yes, if we understand this verse of the Qur’an, then the whole Dunya may become Munafiq and have no faith. Allah ta’ala has no care for that, because Allah’s Deen is Haq.
So we have come here for Islah, and to understand that this is the style of the Qur’an. A person must sit in front of the Qur’an with this Niyyah, which is how he should read, because this is the objective of the Qur’an. The biggest objective and the biggest right of the Qur’an, whether you read Qur’an ten times, fifteen times, or become a Hafidh or an Alim – that’s all fine – but the biggest right of the Qur’an is that we need to practice and do Amal upon the verses of the Qur’an that we read. That’s why we are repeating this verse and taking a long time over it. Otherwise we are wasters, we can do what we want. We are like blisters, swollen boils, bubbles! On the outside, people are praising, saying he has knowledge, he’s a scholar and this and that - but inside he is nothing. A person who doesn’t have Shari'ah and Sunnah within, then he is a waste of a person.
This Hadith is an agreed upon, Sahih Hadith, narrated by Hadhrat Hudhayfa radhiAllahu anh. People can say a person is pious because he goes on holiday and does Hajj and Umrah, but the way to tell if a person is righteous is to look at whether he has Shari'ah and Sunnah in his life. And this is not about physical show, for that will also be highlighted. If he wants to keep a beard for a while because he has heard that you get more status in the world if you do, then he will keep it. Some even draw something on the face for a couple of days, and then people say, ‘Oh, look! He’s doing Amal on the Sunnah – he’s got the beard.’ But he doesn’t live his life according to Shari'ah, according to what is lawful and unlawful. So to deceive people, he does things for show. He may just have a very trimmed beard for a few days, and people say ‘Oh yes, he’s got a beard!’ And side-kicks like us will run after him and say ‘Oh no, he’s good. He’s pious – he’s got a beard.’ Behind, there will be many people who will praise him and raise him up, even people with knowledge, because they are side-kicks! They want recognition. They have control of the Masjid in their hands, and so people say ‘How can we go against him? He will turf us out!’ This is the age of Fitnah, of evil, and of mischief – the Masjids are in their control and the Mimbars too. They will have titles, but no beards on their faces, and Haram in their homes and no Deen, but they will be running the Masjids. Their children, offspring, homes - everything - will be against the Shari'ah and Sunnah, but they will have control of the Masjids. They will be sitting on the Mimbar giving speeches, making announcements on Eid – these are the people who run the Masjids. They won’t have Deen. Go to the committees, and you won’t find a man there who is oriented to Deen. They will have wealth - they will be oriented to wealth, but not to Deen, and they use their wealth to control the Masjids. My words may be bitter, but this is the reality and the truth.
Today our eyes have opened, alhamdulillah – that why we speak about these things. We aren’t saying bad about anyone, we aren’t fighting or quarelling or saying everyone’s a Munafiq, we’re not saying that nobody has belief. What the Qur’an says is the case – whoever has this is a Muslim, and whoever doesn’t have this is a Munafiq. This is the Qur’an. We are not saying this, astaghfirullah astaghfirullah. Who has the right to tell anyone that they are a hypocrite? Who has the right to say that someone doesn’t have belief? The Qur’an is saying this – the verses of the Qur’an are detailing the signs. Whoever has the good signs in his life, alhamdulillah, he is a good Muslim, a Mu’min. Whoever has the bad signs, the negative signs, the wrong signs, what will he be? They will be the people that the Qur’an is defining.
So the Qur’an says, and the Hadith explains the point, that the real thing for which the Qur’an was revealed is so that the hearts can accept the Qur’an and Sunnah. What thing accepts the Qur’an and Sunnah? The heart, and as time passes, the Qur’an and Sunnah diminishes and gets wiped away from the heart. And then another generation comes, and then the matter is reversed; it turns 180 degrees into Munafiqat, hypocrisy. Allah says that they go behind and take over the whole Deen. This is the Hadith, and we don’t know if somebody is in this state or not, if they are here or there. We have no link with that, we are just saying what the Qur’an is saying. If there is someone like this, then he is what the Qur’an and Hadith is defining him to be. And if we see these germs and this bacteria in our lives as we are listening to Qur’an and Hadith, if we see these bad qualities in our lives, then today we need to do Tawbah and repent, and then we will be successful. A person says ‘I thought I was a solid Muslim, a true Muslim, because I have got a little bit of a beard on my face’, or ‘My clothes may be tight, but I have a cloth on my head so that’s ok, I observe Purdah’ – La Hawla wa la Quwwata illa bi’llah! La Hawla wa la Quwwata illa bi’llah! There’s a piece of cloth on the head, but beneath that, everything is visible due to the tight clothes, and she says ‘Oh I observe Purdah – I have a cloth on my head’, while the clothes are clinging to her skin. And then people are praising her, ‘Oh she’s pious – she observes Purdah.’ She goes to work observing Purdah! Amazing. SubhanAllah – what sort of Deen is this? Its like saying ‘Oh, he drinks alcohol, but only a little bit – he doesn’t put much in the glass!’ Will he be purified? Understand the point I am making.
So it is very important that we understand what we hear from the Hadith and this verse of the Qur’an { فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ}. The Qur’an has defined what is Deen, and it has been proven from this Sahih Hadith. What is Deen? Deen comes into the heart, as the Hadith says – Allah says that He revealed the Deen to the hearts. ‘I revealed my Trust onto the hearts of the human beings’, and what was that trust? “فَعَلِمُوا مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ وَعَلِمُوا مِنَ السُّنَّةِ” So understand, Allah says, that it was the Ilm of the Qur’an and the Ilm of the Sunnah that He inserted into the hearts; and those hearts absorbed that trust. So what we realise now is where the whole package descended. The brain, the’Aql, understands, and every human being understands, but why is there no Amal? Because the state of the heart is wrong! { فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ} Whoever’s heart is diseased and contains hypocrisy and Nifaq, he will never accept the Shari'ah and Sunnah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. It is clear then that the problem is not that we don’t understand, for everybody understands; rather, people don’t accept because their hearts are dirty. Allah ta’ala says { فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ} . SubhanAllah.
In the generation of the Sahaba, their hearts were like gold and silver, and so immediately their hearts would absorb the Qur’an and Sunnah, like this Hadith is saying. But after time passed, the hearts became dirty and unprotected, and thus they couldn’t absorb the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and this reduced until a small sign was left, like a little scar. Then as more time passed, Tazkiyya stopped, and out of the three { وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلۡحِكۡمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيہِمۡ}, one of them disappeared { وَيُزَكِّيہِمۡ}. If we want to understand { وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلۡحِكۡمَةَ }, we need { وَيُزَكِّيہِمۡ}. We need Tazkiyya, purification. We need to purify the heart, to do Tazkiyya-l-Qalb in order to understand Qur’an and Sunnah, but people today have left this path. They say ‘These people are Sufis, they are innovators, they have made these things up, they are magicians’ and so on. Obviously, there are people who are good, and those who are not good. It is not ‘Aql that is necessary to distinguish. Those people that have Qur’an and Sunnah all around them, they are the genuine Muslims. Go to the Sufis, the genuine teachers. And if you don’t go, how can you learn? If you do go, it is not for black magic or exorcism. How will you recognize the real Sufis if, when you have a problem, you go to the people who do black magic?
Without Tazkiyya, the Deen cannot come into one’s life. Allah ta’ala says {فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ۬} – without Tazkiyya, you cannot learn the Deen; without purifying the heart, you cannot learn the Deen. You cannot become a Muslim, nor a Mu’min, and if you don’t do Tazkiyya, the Qur’an and the Hadith are both saying that you have become a Munafiq, and you will die as a Munafiq. If you don’t clean and purify your heart, you will die as a Munafiq. Why? Because in the heart, all of the capacity is there, but if we wipe away the Qur’an and the Shari'ah and Sunnah from the heart, then we have lost that capability. Now we have understood why it is that people don’t practice the Shari'ah and Sunnah. What is the reason? Because the hearts have removed the Deen.
So what should we do? We don’t want to pass away as Munafiqs, as people without faith. So what should a person do who has understood these verses? He should do Tazkiyya of his Qalb, of his heart. That is the Deen. What an important point - the Qur’an has given us this message. So what should we do? As soon as a person realizes and starts to think ‘This is the Deen – I need to follow Shari'ah and Sunnah totally, 100 percent. Every decision of my life should be according to the Shari'ah and Sunnah – eating, drinking, house, outside, wedding, function, business, buying, selling.’ There should be no divergence from the Shari'ah and Sunnah; and where there is divergence, this is Nifaq, hypocrisy. It is not about profit and loss. If a person sustains a loss from following Shari’ah, then that’s fine. The Sahaba-e-Karam showed this, for though they took losses in the world, nobody in history compares to them, SubhanAllah. They lived their whole lives with one Izhar, waist-wrap, and one shirt, and they didn’t waste their lives making buildings and businesses and building up assets. They gave their whole lives for the Deen. They became an example for us, showing that if you get tests and challenges in the world through following the Shari'ah and Sunnah, don’t worry. The world is not your destination; the Hereafter is your destination.
Tests will come; challenges will come; ups and downs will come. It is ok if your Halal wealth is little, and you don’t get enough money to build two or three houses in Pakistan, one for the father, one for the mother, one for the other, with big gardens and orchards, and flower gardens. SubhanAllah, if all this is acquired through Haram means and wealth, what is the point? If a person cannot earn enough for this through Halal means, then the lives of the Sahaba showed us that if you have food, clothes and the basics, this is sufficient. Persevere, and don’t look left and right, for it is all a dream, a mirage. What will happen when you go into the grave? The rewards of the grave and the Hereafter are permanent. Sacrifice today, take the pain today, and we will get the gardens of Paradise tomorrow. Don’t we think like this?
So the Qur’an has stated that, if we don’t do Amal, if we don’t practice, the reason is that our hearts have become so dirty that they don’t absorb the Qur’an and Sunnah anymore. The best solution for this, SubhanAllah, is what Allah ta’ala has given us in a very simple, beautiful Hadith that Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us, where he gives a very simple formula: Take hold of Dhikr of Allah! Take hold of the assistance of the Dhikr of Allah. SubhanAllah, when such a guarantee has been given by the Nabi of Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, when such a day and age arises, when Shari'ah and Sunnah are not coming into and penetrating our hearts, when people don’t appreciate Shari'ah and Sunnah, when love is diminishing, then don’t just sit down, fold your arms and legs and say ‘I give up.’ Straightaway, go towards the solution. Just like in a house, when a room gets dirty, you use the vacuum cleaner and clean the room, if there’s dirt in the room, and spiders and a bad smell, then you clean that room. We should do the same when we see that our heart is not absorbing or appreciating Shari'ah and Sunnah, when we are doing Haram actions, and when all the decisions in our homes are wrong, and there is music, singing and wrongdoing, while we say that we are Muslims. The Qur’an is saying that we are not Muslims if this is the case. This Hadith that we have learned today gives a very simple example.
If a person says ‘I am Sharif and honorable and the people are praising me’, then Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam says in this Hadith that “وَمَا فِي قَلْبِهِ مِثْقَالُ حَبَّةٍ مِنْ خَرْدَلٍ مِنْ إِيمَانٍ” in that person’s heart there’s not even a seed’s weight of Iman, not even a hair’s width of Iman. He has Salah and he is big-headed and controlling masjids, but there is not even a hair’s width of Iman, not even a seed’s weight of Iman, because he doesn’t have Shari'ah and Sunnah in his life. What a very clear message! Astaghfirullah, we are in delusion, this Dunya is in delusion. This is a Sahih, agreed upon Hadith. Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated that his Iman doesn’t even have the weight of a seed “مِثْقَالُ حَبَّةٍ”. Not even a hair’s width or an atom’s weight of Iman is present in that person’s heart.
Standing, sitting, out, in, mother, father, relationships, buying, selling – everything has to be in accordance with the Shari'ah and Sunnah. If Shari’ah says something is unlawful, don’t go towards it. If Shari’ah says stop this, then we won’t meet that person; if Shari’ah says leave this, then leave it; if the Shari’ah says you can meet this woman, then you can meet; if the Shari’ah says mend the ties, then mend the ties; if the Shari’ah says break the ties, then break the ties. We won’t follow the Nafs, mending and breaking the ties according to our desires. This is not in our control. We can’t just make friendship and ties with who we want and break with who we want. If you don’t like a person, but the Shari’ah instructs that ties must be kept with that person, then you cannot break the ties with that person. If a person is beloved to you and you like him, and the Shari’ah says that you should not be close to him, then you should not go close to that person; the relationship should not be maintained. The Shari’ah dictates relationships. Muaasharah, society, environment - the Shari’ah dictates all of this, not our whims and desires and friendships based on what we like or don’t like.
So Allah says that what we need to do immediately is start cleaning our heart, so that love for Allah and His Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam can come into the heart. This is the Da’wah, the invitation, of the Qur’an. If we find that our hearts are weak, then this is a comprehensive invitation. Allah ta’ala is inviting. All those people around you today that you think are solid Muslims, we, all of us together, need to analyze ourselves – we should consider everyone else to be pure, good Muslims. We must analyze how much Shari'ah and Sunnah is in ourselves, in our homes, in our families. I consider everyone around me to be a Muslim; everyone is a true, solid Mu’min; everyone is pious – I think they are all Walis of Allah. I think that everyone is great and fantastic. The Qur’an is saying analyze yourself. Don’t look around and label others. Who are we to label others? Astahgfirullah – the person who labels others is bad; we have no right to label others. Look at yourself - I should look at myself. Obviously, I am sitting and reading the Qur’an in front of you, but that doesn’t mean that I am saying everyone is a Munafiq, and that everyone has no faith, ashtaghfirullah ta’ala rabbi min kulli dhambin. I am just saying that these are the signs that the Qur’an is explaining. Whoever has these signs, he should cure himself. Whoever doesn’t have these signs, then congratulations, alhamdulillah, he is an innocent Mu’min. How do we know whether this or that person is or isn’t – we have no right to label anybody or say that you are not right. I say to everybody: you are true Muslims, men and women. For me, you are all sealed, so you will be forgiven; you have the seal of approval.
No, the Qur’an will tell us who is true, and who is false; we have no right to label anybody. If these deficiencies are present inside us, what do we have to do? The Qur’an says that we should start to clean our hearts; we should do Dhikrullah. And we cannot do Dhikr until we go to a person who teaches Dhikr. We have to go to a Wali of Allah, to a Sheikh, and say ‘Please teach me Dhikrullah.’ And Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has also told us the importance of Dhikrullah. Abu Darda radhiAllahu anh narrates that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated: “أَلاَ أُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِخَيْرِ أَعْمَالِكُمْ”. We have read this Hadith a few times, and there is enjoyment in reading this Hadith today. What is the importance of Dhikr? Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said ‘Should I not tell you such an action, that will be the best of all of your deeds?’ SubhanAllah! “بِخَيْرِ أَعْمَالِكُمْ” – the best of your deeds. Count all the deeds that you implement, and the best of all of them, better than Qur’an, fasting, Hajj, Zakah, is what? It is the purest deed in the sight of your Lords, and the deed that will elevate “دَرَجَاتِكُمْ” your rank most; it will give you the highest and biggest increase to your status. SubhanAllah! It is the best of deeds, the purest of deeds in the sight of your Lord, that will elevate your rank and status to the highest level, and which is more valuable than gold and silver spent in the path of Allah, a better deed than struggling in a fight with someone who is against you – Allahu Akbar! The noble Companions radhiAllahu anhum said ‘Oh Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, what is that deed? What could be better than all of this?’ Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said “ذِكْرُ اللَّهِ” – Dhikrullah, the remembrance of Allah.
Why? Why is Dhikr better than all those deeds that were mentioned? Think about it yourself. Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated this. Hajj is Hajj, and then there’s fasting, recitation of Qur’an, Salah – how can Dhikr be better than all of these actions? How is this the case? It is because in all those deeds, you have good and bad, pure and impure. You have real notes and fake notes. Which is better? The real note, of course, not the fake one. If you have pure milk or contaminated milk - which is better? So why is Dhikrullah greater than all the deeds? Because it purifies and cleans the heart, so then the deeds that emanate from a clean heart will all be greater. Why? Because Dhikrullah purifies the heart. Allah ta’ala has made Dhikr greater and better because due to Dhikr, people’s deeds become pure. They become high quality deeds, clean deeds, because the heart has become clean and pure.
I will give you an example to help you understand that ‘Aql makes us understand a deed or action, while the heart enables us to practice that action. Say you have water, or a drink like juice or milk, and you put it into a glass that is dirty or has a bad smell. Even though the liquid has a nice fragrance in itself, if you put it into the dirty vessel, then the liquid becomes dirty. The milk is not at fault, but it has been placed into a dirty vessel. In the same way, deeds are pure and nice in themselves, but if they come into a heart which is dirty and impure, that heart will contaminate the actions, which will therefore come out impure. The Dhikr of Allah purifies your heart, so when your deeds come into the heart, they are absorbed and accepted, and that heart thus enables you to practice Deen, and your Salah will become so pure that Allah ta’ala will elevate your rank and status. That is why it is stated that Dhikrullah is greater than the other impure deeds that we do. It is greater.
So, my brothers, what a great point we have understood. If we don’t practice Shari'ah and Sunnah, if our Deen is all show and drama, like the outward bubble of a blister, then may Allah forgive! We have to change that Deen, to improve that Deen, and we need to immediately go into the company of a Wali of Allah, a friend of Allah, learn the Dhikr of Allah and do Tazkiyya. Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has taught us this, as Allah ta’ala says {وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلۡحِكۡمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيہِمۡ}. The Qur’an was revealed, the Shari'ah and Sunnah was revealed, and also { يُزَكِّيہِمۡ}Allah ta’ala purified the hearts of the believers, which we need to do today. And then the hearts will automatically absorb the deeds and the A’maal will come into our lives.
So our function and objective is one, SubhanAllah. Look, I will present a beautiful statement of my Hadhrat Sahib to you. Today we say ‘Why doesn’t a person practice. I can’t practice. It is hard in the environment that we are in. It is too hard in this generation that we are in, especially in the western hemisphere, in the country that we are in. We are over here, and it is difficult. We can’t practice – how can we improve and reform our children? How can we practice this Deen?’ We give thousands of excuses and reasons. My Hadhrat Sahib, my dear Hadhrat Sahib, made a beautiful statement. He said that on the Day of Judgement, when we are presented in Allah’s Court and Allah asks us ‘Why did you not practice?’ we will say ‘Oh we were in that country, it was difficult for us. We were forced to leave the Deen. How could we practice? How could we do this and that?’ Then Allah ta’ala will ask a question, a question that recurs throughout the Qur’an. We read it in Qur’an and Allah ta’ala will ask us on the Day of Judgement, when we make the excuse ‘How could I practice, oh Allah? It was a difficult era, and they were difficult days, and the environment was difficult. How could we practice Allah?’ The answer is present in the Qur’an, and on that day Allah ta’ala will give the answer. He will say, ‘Ok, fair enough, you have put forward your excuse that you couldn’t practice, and say that this was caused by Me. I ask you one question.’ Allah will say ‘Did I not tell you in the Qur’an that at least you should try?’ { جَـٰهَدُواْ فِينَ} Allahu Akbar!
{ وَٱلَّذِينَ جَـٰهَدُواْ فِينَا لَنَہۡدِيَنَّہُمۡ سُبُلَنَاۚ وَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَمَعَ ٱلۡمُحۡسِنِينَ} (Surah Ankaboot v69) Allah ta’ala says ‘You try. I am Your Rabb, the Creator! As for those who strive in Our cause, We shall certainly guide them to paths that lead unto Me.’ Allahu Akbar! If the Allah ta’ala can make the fire cool for Hadhrat Ibrahim alayhi salam, and save Hadhrat Moosa alayhi salam from Firawn, and remove Hadhrat Yunus alayhi salam from the stomach of the whale, then can our Rabb not save us from these bad and severe conditions? Did you ever try? Allah says { وَٱلَّذِينَ جَـٰهَدُواْ فِينَا لَنَہۡدِيَنَّہُمۡ سُبُلَنَا}. We say ‘Oh it’s difficult for me and my children – how can I save us?’ Allah says ‘Did you try?’ Allah says ‘For those who strive in Our Cause’ - even just a small effort. Allah ta’ala tells us at least to try this much: pray Salah, raise your hands and say ‘Oh Allah, { ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ} show me the Straight Path, oh Allah!’ This is our Yaqeen, our Iman, our belief, that if we do this Dua and it becomes regular, reciting it in Salah and raising our hands in Dua and asking Allah ‘{ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ} Allah, show us the Straight Path, guide me to the Straight Path, define for me the Straight Path!’, then my Iman bears witness, and I swear by Allah and say this, that a path will unfold in front of you. Allah ta’ala has promised this in the Qur’an. Allah says { وَٱلَّذِينَ جَـٰهَدُواْ فِينَا لَنَہۡدِيَنَّہُمۡ سُبُلَنَا}. Try, make effort - don’t run away!
If you are stuck in a rut, and it’s hard for you to get out, we can do one action, can’t we? We can cry and raise our hands and do Dua to Allah ‘Oh Allah! Take me out of this rut! Remove me from this trap! Oh Allah, I gamble – save me from gambling! Oh Allah, I drink alcohol – save me from drinking alcohol! Oh Allah, I am running after a woman to do Zina – save me from this girl! Ya Allah, give me a pious, upright life! Oh Allah, I smoke and consume drugs – please save me!’ Cry! Cry, pray Salah and make Dua, and Allah ta’ala will listen. Plead to Allah, beg Allah to be taken to His Path. { وَٱلَّذِينَ جَـٰهَدُواْ فِينَا لَنَہۡدِيَنَّہُمۡ سُبُلَنَا} This is the way to strive: ‘I cry to You and ask You and plead to You!’ Allah ta’ala says ‘This is your striving! And when a person strives hard in Our Cause, I will most certainly guide him onto the Paths that lead to Me!’
So Allah will ask ‘Did you try?’ And then our jaws will drop and be speechless. What will be the answer? Allah ta’ala will say ‘Take hold of this person and throw him into the Fire of Hell - he is a liar!’ {يَكۡذِبُونَ} These are the Kaadhiboon that the Qur’an speaks of. {بِمَا كَانُواْ يَكۡذِبُونَ} He was lying, he was joking, he enjoyed Haram, he was enjoying himself while making these excuses ‘Oh it’s too hard to be saved. I can’t practice. How can I turn off this machine? How can I save my eyes?’ This is a reality – {بِمَا كَانُواْ يَكۡذِبُونَ} Allah ta’ala says. ‘They were liars! He was a deceiver! And the punishment for his lies is that he should be counted amongst the Munafiqeen, so throw him into the worst, most intense fire of Jahannam. If he had been honest and sincere and a Sadiq, he would have cried about his sins, he would have raised his hands about his sins.’ If a woman says ‘I am forced to go to work, and I don’t want to go to work. I don’t like this job and exposing myself and being immodest and losing my shame.’ If she just cries in front of Allah, and pleads, then Allah says ‘I will open up not just one path, but thousands of paths for you, and will most certainly guide you to the Path.’ Allah ta’ala saved Ibrahim alayhi salam, Moosa alayhi salam, and our Rabb, our Lord, sent the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam to this world, Allahu Akbar, and sent him as the guide. He sent him to Makka, to conquer Makka, and the descendants of those same people are there today. Now they are Ummatis.
So if you are an Ummati of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, will Allah not help you as he helped all those people before you? Allah ta’ala assists people – He says ‘I am Your Rabb, Your Lord – how could I lie! How could I let a girl from the Ummah of My Habeeb sallallahu alayhi wasallam wander in the marketplace bare-headed? How could I be happy if an Ummati of My Habeeb sallallahu alayhi wasallam walks in the marketplace bare-headed? At least she should have called out to Me, begged Me ‘Allah, I am lost! I don’t want immodesty. I want the life of Shari'ah and Sunnah!’ But she didn’t ask. Oh deceiver woman, you are a deceiver, a Kaadhib, a liar.’ This Hadith will apply to her. She won’t go into the Jahannam of those who had no faith; rather, she will go into the Jahannam of the Munafiqeen, and we cannot imagine how intense that fire will be – double the punishment.
So my brothers, if we are stuck in a disease, in a bad action, in sins, then at least we should accept that this is the wrong path and plead for the right Path. Don’t become liars. May Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq to save ourselves from the great evil of Nifaq; and may Allah ta’ala give us the Twafeeq to practice the Sunnah and Shari’ah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And the biggest and most important point is may Allah ta’ala open the doors of Tazkiyya, purification, for us, so that we can clean our hearts with the right Niyyah, the right intention. Ameen.
وَءَاخِرُ دَعۡوَٮٰهُمۡ أَنِ ٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ
29th Jun, 2020
Subhanallah
Listening to this is similar to standing in front of a mirror
{فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ۬ فَزَادَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ مَرَضً۬اۖ وَلَهُمۡ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمُۢ بِمَا كَانُواْ يَكۡذِبُونَ}
Surah al-Baqarah, v10
At the beginning of the Qur’an, Allah subhana wa ta’ala has explained the entire Deen. The entire Deen – clearly. The initial introductory verses of the Qur’an are so important and necessary that if a person understands these verses, and if, along with this understanding, they penetrate his heart, then he attains his destination. And our destination is Akhirah – the Hereafter. In these verses, Allah subhana wa ta’ala has explained our defects, and He has told us our objective. Our objective is Allah’s Deen, which is the one path, that {ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ}, to establish the Straight Path and to travel along it. And Allah ta’ala has said that to understand Deen, get the summary from the whole Qur’an – and that is the summary of these verses. Now these verses that we are reading {فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ۬ فَزَادَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ مَرَضً۬ا}, this is such an important, necessary verse of the Qur’an. Just as in Surah al-Fatiha, {ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ} the whole meaning of the Deen comes into our lives in this verse {فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ۬}. The method of practicing the whole Qur’an is mentioned in this verse. Without understanding this verse, we can never progress in the understanding of the Qur’an.
Now look: with regard to the Qur’an, Allah ta’ala has told us two sides of the Qur’an. The first part of the Qur’an is that Allah says ‘I have revealed the Qur’an for you; and the reason I have revealed it for you is Dhikr.’ Allah says that you should learn My orders so that you can practice upon the Qur’an.’ Allah says {وَلَقَدۡ يَسَّرۡنَا} – ‘I have made this Qur’an very easy!’ The Qur’an is so easy and so simple that Allah has said that it is easy to understand for a person who is an illiterate villager, if he practices the Qur’an. He will understand all the orders of the Qur’an, in respect to Halal and Haram, by implementation. {وَلَقَدۡ يَسَّرۡنَا ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ لِلذِّكۡرِ} Whether he is hearing a verse, or a lecture or a speech, he will easily understand that this is the Deen of Islam. Allah says ‘And We have indeed made this Qur’an easy to understand and remember’, Allah says, even for an illiterate person from the desert.
{وَلَقَدۡ يَسَّرۡنَا ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ لِلذِّكۡرِ فَهَلۡ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ۬} (Surah Qamar v17) Allah says that is very easy to understand and practice the Qur’an. It is not something to get upset or stressed about, thinking ‘I cannot understand it.’ It is very easy to understand, SubhanAllah. At the same time, it is very hard to understand the Ma’arifa of the Qur’an, its knowledge, its heights, its status, its glory. Even if the whole world were to come together, the intellectuals and the modernists and thinkers cannot even understand an amount equivalent to the width of a hair if they do not have the right intention. There is no limit to the depth of the Qur’an. So the Qur’an has made a challenge right at the beginning, that you can never understand {الٓمٓ}- this is too hard! But it so easy at the same time; as Allah ta’ala says ‘I have revealed the Qur’an with an objective: to be practiced. {وَلَقَدۡ يَسَّرۡنَا ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ} It is very easy to implement.’ It is not hard to practice. If somebody makes an excuse ‘Oh I don’t know. I will read Tafsir, a commentary, and then I’ll understand the meanings.’ Reading translations and lengthy Tafasir, lengthy explanations and technicalities, grammar etc – these are all excuses. How could the illiterate villager understand? He cannot read, so how would he understand the practice of the Qur’an? How could he know the ‘Uloom, or the Tafsir of Ibn Katheer? Where would he get it and how would he read and understand it? He cannot do that; he is unable to do so.
So the Qur’an says { فَهَلۡ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ۬}- SubhanAllah! And is there anyone that will take it to heart, and act upon it? So how will you? If there’s somebody present who has the desire, then Allah ta’ala says { فَهَلۡ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ۬} – Is there anyone who wants to take it to heart, to implement it? Allah ta’ala says ‘It’s not difficult; it’s very easy and simple. You can do Amal on the Qur’an and reach your destination - I revealed the Qur’an for this purpose.’ But there is nobody who wants to implement { فَهَلۡ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ۬} People make excuses and say ‘Let’s bypass it – it’s too hard.’
The Qur’an has promised, in one line. Allah ta’ala has started the Qur’an by saying ‘How will you become successful? {ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ} If you follow this path, the Straight Path, there is nothing to be afraid about – end of story.’ What is the Straight Path? Allah ta’ala has defined it very simply. How? {وَٱلَّذِينَ يُؤۡمِنُونَ بِمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيۡكَ} Allah says ‘Whatever I gave to My Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam, whatever I have given to him, have faith in that, have Iman in that {وَٱلَّذِينَ يُؤۡمِنُونَ بِمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيۡكَ}, practical Iman, practical faith.’ That’s what we need to do. So Allah says ‘After having belief, then practice whatever I reveal to My Beloved Habeeb sallallahu alayhi wasallam; travel along that Straight Path, and be cautious and careful not to swerve and come off the track.’ Allah ta’ala says that the sign of the Straight Path is what? It won’t have { ٱلضَّآلِّينَ} upon it. Allah ta’ala says
{ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ (٦) صِرَٲطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنۡعَمۡتَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ غَيۡرِ ٱلۡمَغۡضُوبِ عَلَيۡهِمۡ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ} ‘You will not meet the path of the Magdhoob, or the Dhaaleen. Who will you meet? Those who follow the path of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the path of the noble Companions radhiAllahu anhum, the path of the Awliya-e-Karam rahmatullah alayhim. Your practice should meet that path. If your practice is meeting that path, then your practice is on the Straight Path, and you have nothing to worry about.’ The Qur’an has explained everything so simply.
So then, why does a person come off track and become deviated? What is the reason for coming off track? Why are we distressed and worried? ‘Oh, I don’t understand this – I am getting stressed and worried!’ – people make this excuse and follow another path or some other ideology and mindset. It is a very Straight Path. {ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ} Can there a simpler explanation than this?
And then further, beyond that, SubhanAllah, Allah says that the commands of your Rabb, of your Lord, are all there. Haram, Halal – the orders are all very easy for you to understand. It is not difficult. Every man can understand the Qur’an. You don’t need science and technology and research. If we can understand those complicated formulas, can we not understand Halal and Haram, and their benefits? We all understand everything. So where do we lose out? We don’t do Amal on Allah’s orders. Everybody knows, everyone with faith knows, that the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam’s path is the true path, and that his Sunnah is the right path. His blessed Sunnah is the best practice – every Mu’min knows this. Every believer knows this. There’s no one who does accept this – it cannot be! It is very easy to understand this point, because Allah has said.
Everybody knows, because Allah ta’ala has given everybody ‘Aql. Remember this point, this technical point that I am telling you. Where does a person’s understanding come from? From his ‘Aql, from his wisdom, from his brain. So if the brain can do research and so on, can it not understand what Halal and haram, and what loss comes with Haram? If we drink a liquor that Allah ta’ala has made Haram , then it is straightforward and easy to understand that loss will follow. Can we not see the losses in this society that come for those people who adopt habits that are Haram, those Haram habits that have been made Halal? Can we not see the bad effects? If something that has been defined by Allah as Haram has been made Halal, can we not see the consequences? Whether people believe or don’t believe, everyone knows why these things are mentioned in the Qur’an, because ‘Aql accepts this; our brains accept this. So Allah ta’ala challenges, {وَلَقَدۡ يَسَّرۡنَا ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ}, the Qur’an challenges every man – whether a person is ignorant, of no faith, old, a villager, a nomad, everyone. Allah ta’ala says that there are two parts to the Qur’an: it is so easy that you can implement it, but it is so difficult that you cannot understand the technicalities of its Ma’arifah.
But we don’t need to go that far. Why should we delve into the things that are difficult? We just need to know one thing from the Qur’an, and Allah ta’ala has given it to us for this purpose, which is to do Amal on the Qur’an. But we don’t want to do Amal on the Qur’an, and instead we do research into commentary and translations, and seek points about the philosophy of the Qur’an - everyone is busy in this these days. But the shocking thing is we don’t do Amal on the Qur’an. Why? Because the Qur’an is understood by the ‘Aql, and this is the point I have been explaining to you, a short point, which is what? That Allah ta’ala tells us to understand the Qur’an with the ‘Aql that He has given to us, and where does this become difficult? In the matter of Amal, practice! ‘Aql will not make you do Amal. Understanding alone will not take you to Amal. Your brain, your understanding and your knowledge will not take you towards Amal.
For Amal there is another preparation, a pre-requisite. To implement the Qur’an, don’t rely on your brain, on your ‘Aql. For Amal, you need something else. What is that? SubhanAllah - it is the heart of a human being, which needs to be in the right state, the right condition. So understanding the Qur’an is easy - we have understanding, we have brains, we know what losses come from Haram, what benefits come from Halal, how great the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was, and what was his glory and status. There is that book, the 100 greatest human beings in history – they know. The writer knows that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was number one – ‘Aql makes them accept this; they understand the answer to that question. So why don’t they do Amal? Because to do Amal, you need a heart, the right state of heart. To practice the Qur’an, you need the heart to be in the right state; you need the heart to accept, and take you towards practice.
Hadhrat Hudhayfa radhiAllahu anh relates that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said: “أَنَّ الأَمَانَةَ نَزَلَتْ فِي جِذْرِ قُلُوبِ الرِّجَالِ.” Where does Allah allow understanding to occur? In the hearts! And what is that trust that Allah ta’ala has put into the hearts? SubhanAllah – Allah ta’ala has inserted a trust into the hearts – and this is an agreed-upon Hadith, narrated by Hahdrat Hudhayfa. What was the trust that was inserted into the hearts? The Qur’an and the Sunnah. Allah ta’ala inserted this into the roots of the heart. So what happened then? In the first generation, those who lived with the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the noble Companions radhiAllahu anhum, accepted this reality of the Deen in their hearts. The heart accepts the Qur’an and the Sunnah; that is where there is love for Qur’an and Sunnah. The heart accepts the reality. ‘Aql explains, but what accepts, embraces and absorbs? The heart! This Hadith tells us this. So ‘Aql, the brain, understands and is aware, but to realise and accept the truth is the function of the organ of the heart.
So we have understood, we are aware, but why are we not accepting? Because of the heart, for this is what absorbs. Allah ta’ala says that the understanding of the Qur’an and the Sunnah was inserted into the depths of the heart. And it is stated further, in this Hadith, that as the generations go further away from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, a man will go to sleep. And as the eras and the years recede further away from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the Hadith then states that such a generation will come that the trust which Allah has put into the hearts will be removed, taken away, and the heart will become empty and void, and the hearts will not accept that trust of the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The hearts of the early generations had trust and they absorbed the Qur’an and they absorbed the Sunnah – such were the hearts and the belief of the Sahaba. As the time passed further away from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the trust was still there, but the hearts were not accepting. Why? Because the Deen becomes tiny inside the heart, like the size of a lentil or a small seed. Only a small trace of Iman will be left in the heart, a very small sign. There will be no appreciation in such a heart.
And then Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that the time will go further and further – and this sounds like this generation now – until the generation will be so far from the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam that even this small sign will disappear, and a weird sign will be left, which would be like a blister, of the sort that can result when your hand gets burnt – a blister on the skin, where a bubble of skin is raised and there is a liquid inside. This is the word that is used to describe it. So it is stated of the trust that Allah ta’ala placed in the heart, that the trust that will be removed and taken out, and what will be left is a blister. And if the skin of the blister is removed, all that is within is dirty, impure water. So Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has said that a generation will come, a time will come, when the hearts will be devoid of the trust that Allah subhana wa ta'ala gave, which is the Qur’an and the Sunnah. There will be no capability to practice, and all that will remain will be in the form of a blister. There will just be show on the outside, a raised blemish externally, but internally nothing but dirty water.
You know if you have a big blister, on the outside is it swollen up like a boil, but inside there is nothing. So the hearts of the Munafiqeen will be filled with hypocrisy – nothing beneficial inside, but outside there will be so much. There will be outward show. In the Hadith it says “مَا أَجْلَدَهُ مَا أَظْرَفَهُ مَا أَعْقَلَهُ” that there will be a man in such and such a place, and it will be said ‘Oh, he’s pious, MashaAllah - look at his Salah and his Umrah and his Hajj. Tickets are pre-booked way in advance! He’s a big-shot, he has knowledge, he has reached the heights, he has ‘Ilm, Qur’an and Hadith.’ People will be praising him and putting him on a pedestal, this Hadith says, but Allah is telling us ‘No! Be careful – that is like a blister. On the outside, it is swollen up with show, but the external deeds are nothing at all. In reality, the trust that I gave him, the trust of the Qur’an and the Sunnah’ - this is a Sahih Hadith I am explaining to you – ‘is totally absent inside that person. His deeds have no worth, no value. Without the Shari'ah and Sunnah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, they have no value.’
We must understand this verse of the Qur’an. That is why we have not gone beyond this verse, because it is a very important Ayah. If we can understand this verse, then the whole Deen comes into our hands, and we can become corrected and reformed. From this Ayah that we are currently reading in the Qur’an, alhamdulillah, we are not criticizing anyone or saying anything bad about anyone or quarrelling with anyone. We are just speaking so that Allah ta’ala can rectify us and improve us and do our Islah, because the time that is ahead is very severe. We need to come out of the condition of the Munafiqs now that the signs have been conveyed to us, which is not following the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam’s Shari'ah and Sunnah – the whole Qur’an tells us this! There is nothing to get upset about or distressed about. Allah ta’ala has opened the doors of His Rahmah, Karam and Mercy! The biggest Rahmah and Mercy is that Allah ta’ala is explaining this; we are reading this. This is the greatest Rahmah and mercy of Allah ta’ala, and we should be grateful millions of times over for this. There is nothing to be fighting or quarrelling about, or getting upset or criticizing, saying ‘Oh, what’s this? Are we all Munafiqs? Are we all people without faith?’ Yes, if we understand this verse of the Qur’an, then the whole Dunya may become Munafiq and have no faith. Allah ta’ala has no care for that, because Allah’s Deen is Haq.
So we have come here for Islah, and to understand that this is the style of the Qur’an. A person must sit in front of the Qur’an with this Niyyah, which is how he should read, because this is the objective of the Qur’an. The biggest objective and the biggest right of the Qur’an, whether you read Qur’an ten times, fifteen times, or become a Hafidh or an Alim – that’s all fine – but the biggest right of the Qur’an is that we need to practice and do Amal upon the verses of the Qur’an that we read. That’s why we are repeating this verse and taking a long time over it. Otherwise we are wasters, we can do what we want. We are like blisters, swollen boils, bubbles! On the outside, people are praising, saying he has knowledge, he’s a scholar and this and that - but inside he is nothing. A person who doesn’t have Shari'ah and Sunnah within, then he is a waste of a person.
This Hadith is an agreed upon, Sahih Hadith, narrated by Hadhrat Hudhayfa radhiAllahu anh. People can say a person is pious because he goes on holiday and does Hajj and Umrah, but the way to tell if a person is righteous is to look at whether he has Shari'ah and Sunnah in his life. And this is not about physical show, for that will also be highlighted. If he wants to keep a beard for a while because he has heard that you get more status in the world if you do, then he will keep it. Some even draw something on the face for a couple of days, and then people say, ‘Oh, look! He’s doing Amal on the Sunnah – he’s got the beard.’ But he doesn’t live his life according to Shari'ah, according to what is lawful and unlawful. So to deceive people, he does things for show. He may just have a very trimmed beard for a few days, and people say ‘Oh yes, he’s got a beard!’ And side-kicks like us will run after him and say ‘Oh no, he’s good. He’s pious – he’s got a beard.’ Behind, there will be many people who will praise him and raise him up, even people with knowledge, because they are side-kicks! They want recognition. They have control of the Masjid in their hands, and so people say ‘How can we go against him? He will turf us out!’ This is the age of Fitnah, of evil, and of mischief – the Masjids are in their control and the Mimbars too. They will have titles, but no beards on their faces, and Haram in their homes and no Deen, but they will be running the Masjids. Their children, offspring, homes - everything - will be against the Shari'ah and Sunnah, but they will have control of the Masjids. They will be sitting on the Mimbar giving speeches, making announcements on Eid – these are the people who run the Masjids. They won’t have Deen. Go to the committees, and you won’t find a man there who is oriented to Deen. They will have wealth - they will be oriented to wealth, but not to Deen, and they use their wealth to control the Masjids. My words may be bitter, but this is the reality and the truth.
Today our eyes have opened, alhamdulillah – that why we speak about these things. We aren’t saying bad about anyone, we aren’t fighting or quarelling or saying everyone’s a Munafiq, we’re not saying that nobody has belief. What the Qur’an says is the case – whoever has this is a Muslim, and whoever doesn’t have this is a Munafiq. This is the Qur’an. We are not saying this, astaghfirullah astaghfirullah. Who has the right to tell anyone that they are a hypocrite? Who has the right to say that someone doesn’t have belief? The Qur’an is saying this – the verses of the Qur’an are detailing the signs. Whoever has the good signs in his life, alhamdulillah, he is a good Muslim, a Mu’min. Whoever has the bad signs, the negative signs, the wrong signs, what will he be? They will be the people that the Qur’an is defining.
So the Qur’an says, and the Hadith explains the point, that the real thing for which the Qur’an was revealed is so that the hearts can accept the Qur’an and Sunnah. What thing accepts the Qur’an and Sunnah? The heart, and as time passes, the Qur’an and Sunnah diminishes and gets wiped away from the heart. And then another generation comes, and then the matter is reversed; it turns 180 degrees into Munafiqat, hypocrisy. Allah says that they go behind and take over the whole Deen. This is the Hadith, and we don’t know if somebody is in this state or not, if they are here or there. We have no link with that, we are just saying what the Qur’an is saying. If there is someone like this, then he is what the Qur’an and Hadith is defining him to be. And if we see these germs and this bacteria in our lives as we are listening to Qur’an and Hadith, if we see these bad qualities in our lives, then today we need to do Tawbah and repent, and then we will be successful. A person says ‘I thought I was a solid Muslim, a true Muslim, because I have got a little bit of a beard on my face’, or ‘My clothes may be tight, but I have a cloth on my head so that’s ok, I observe Purdah’ – La Hawla wa la Quwwata illa bi’llah! La Hawla wa la Quwwata illa bi’llah! There’s a piece of cloth on the head, but beneath that, everything is visible due to the tight clothes, and she says ‘Oh I observe Purdah – I have a cloth on my head’, while the clothes are clinging to her skin. And then people are praising her, ‘Oh she’s pious – she observes Purdah.’ She goes to work observing Purdah! Amazing. SubhanAllah – what sort of Deen is this? Its like saying ‘Oh, he drinks alcohol, but only a little bit – he doesn’t put much in the glass!’ Will he be purified? Understand the point I am making.
So it is very important that we understand what we hear from the Hadith and this verse of the Qur’an { فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ}. The Qur’an has defined what is Deen, and it has been proven from this Sahih Hadith. What is Deen? Deen comes into the heart, as the Hadith says – Allah says that He revealed the Deen to the hearts. ‘I revealed my Trust onto the hearts of the human beings’, and what was that trust? “فَعَلِمُوا مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ وَعَلِمُوا مِنَ السُّنَّةِ” So understand, Allah says, that it was the Ilm of the Qur’an and the Ilm of the Sunnah that He inserted into the hearts; and those hearts absorbed that trust. So what we realise now is where the whole package descended. The brain, the’Aql, understands, and every human being understands, but why is there no Amal? Because the state of the heart is wrong! { فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ} Whoever’s heart is diseased and contains hypocrisy and Nifaq, he will never accept the Shari'ah and Sunnah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. It is clear then that the problem is not that we don’t understand, for everybody understands; rather, people don’t accept because their hearts are dirty. Allah ta’ala says { فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ} . SubhanAllah.
In the generation of the Sahaba, their hearts were like gold and silver, and so immediately their hearts would absorb the Qur’an and Sunnah, like this Hadith is saying. But after time passed, the hearts became dirty and unprotected, and thus they couldn’t absorb the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and this reduced until a small sign was left, like a little scar. Then as more time passed, Tazkiyya stopped, and out of the three { وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلۡحِكۡمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيہِمۡ}, one of them disappeared { وَيُزَكِّيہِمۡ}. If we want to understand { وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلۡحِكۡمَةَ }, we need { وَيُزَكِّيہِمۡ}. We need Tazkiyya, purification. We need to purify the heart, to do Tazkiyya-l-Qalb in order to understand Qur’an and Sunnah, but people today have left this path. They say ‘These people are Sufis, they are innovators, they have made these things up, they are magicians’ and so on. Obviously, there are people who are good, and those who are not good. It is not ‘Aql that is necessary to distinguish. Those people that have Qur’an and Sunnah all around them, they are the genuine Muslims. Go to the Sufis, the genuine teachers. And if you don’t go, how can you learn? If you do go, it is not for black magic or exorcism. How will you recognize the real Sufis if, when you have a problem, you go to the people who do black magic?
Without Tazkiyya, the Deen cannot come into one’s life. Allah ta’ala says {فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ۬} – without Tazkiyya, you cannot learn the Deen; without purifying the heart, you cannot learn the Deen. You cannot become a Muslim, nor a Mu’min, and if you don’t do Tazkiyya, the Qur’an and the Hadith are both saying that you have become a Munafiq, and you will die as a Munafiq. If you don’t clean and purify your heart, you will die as a Munafiq. Why? Because in the heart, all of the capacity is there, but if we wipe away the Qur’an and the Shari'ah and Sunnah from the heart, then we have lost that capability. Now we have understood why it is that people don’t practice the Shari'ah and Sunnah. What is the reason? Because the hearts have removed the Deen.
So what should we do? We don’t want to pass away as Munafiqs, as people without faith. So what should a person do who has understood these verses? He should do Tazkiyya of his Qalb, of his heart. That is the Deen. What an important point - the Qur’an has given us this message. So what should we do? As soon as a person realizes and starts to think ‘This is the Deen – I need to follow Shari'ah and Sunnah totally, 100 percent. Every decision of my life should be according to the Shari'ah and Sunnah – eating, drinking, house, outside, wedding, function, business, buying, selling.’ There should be no divergence from the Shari'ah and Sunnah; and where there is divergence, this is Nifaq, hypocrisy. It is not about profit and loss. If a person sustains a loss from following Shari’ah, then that’s fine. The Sahaba-e-Karam showed this, for though they took losses in the world, nobody in history compares to them, SubhanAllah. They lived their whole lives with one Izhar, waist-wrap, and one shirt, and they didn’t waste their lives making buildings and businesses and building up assets. They gave their whole lives for the Deen. They became an example for us, showing that if you get tests and challenges in the world through following the Shari'ah and Sunnah, don’t worry. The world is not your destination; the Hereafter is your destination.
Tests will come; challenges will come; ups and downs will come. It is ok if your Halal wealth is little, and you don’t get enough money to build two or three houses in Pakistan, one for the father, one for the mother, one for the other, with big gardens and orchards, and flower gardens. SubhanAllah, if all this is acquired through Haram means and wealth, what is the point? If a person cannot earn enough for this through Halal means, then the lives of the Sahaba showed us that if you have food, clothes and the basics, this is sufficient. Persevere, and don’t look left and right, for it is all a dream, a mirage. What will happen when you go into the grave? The rewards of the grave and the Hereafter are permanent. Sacrifice today, take the pain today, and we will get the gardens of Paradise tomorrow. Don’t we think like this?
So the Qur’an has stated that, if we don’t do Amal, if we don’t practice, the reason is that our hearts have become so dirty that they don’t absorb the Qur’an and Sunnah anymore. The best solution for this, SubhanAllah, is what Allah ta’ala has given us in a very simple, beautiful Hadith that Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us, where he gives a very simple formula: Take hold of Dhikr of Allah! Take hold of the assistance of the Dhikr of Allah. SubhanAllah, when such a guarantee has been given by the Nabi of Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, when such a day and age arises, when Shari'ah and Sunnah are not coming into and penetrating our hearts, when people don’t appreciate Shari'ah and Sunnah, when love is diminishing, then don’t just sit down, fold your arms and legs and say ‘I give up.’ Straightaway, go towards the solution. Just like in a house, when a room gets dirty, you use the vacuum cleaner and clean the room, if there’s dirt in the room, and spiders and a bad smell, then you clean that room. We should do the same when we see that our heart is not absorbing or appreciating Shari'ah and Sunnah, when we are doing Haram actions, and when all the decisions in our homes are wrong, and there is music, singing and wrongdoing, while we say that we are Muslims. The Qur’an is saying that we are not Muslims if this is the case. This Hadith that we have learned today gives a very simple example.
If a person says ‘I am Sharif and honorable and the people are praising me’, then Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam says in this Hadith that “وَمَا فِي قَلْبِهِ مِثْقَالُ حَبَّةٍ مِنْ خَرْدَلٍ مِنْ إِيمَانٍ” in that person’s heart there’s not even a seed’s weight of Iman, not even a hair’s width of Iman. He has Salah and he is big-headed and controlling masjids, but there is not even a hair’s width of Iman, not even a seed’s weight of Iman, because he doesn’t have Shari'ah and Sunnah in his life. What a very clear message! Astaghfirullah, we are in delusion, this Dunya is in delusion. This is a Sahih, agreed upon Hadith. Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated that his Iman doesn’t even have the weight of a seed “مِثْقَالُ حَبَّةٍ”. Not even a hair’s width or an atom’s weight of Iman is present in that person’s heart.
Standing, sitting, out, in, mother, father, relationships, buying, selling – everything has to be in accordance with the Shari'ah and Sunnah. If Shari’ah says something is unlawful, don’t go towards it. If Shari’ah says stop this, then we won’t meet that person; if Shari’ah says leave this, then leave it; if the Shari’ah says you can meet this woman, then you can meet; if the Shari’ah says mend the ties, then mend the ties; if the Shari’ah says break the ties, then break the ties. We won’t follow the Nafs, mending and breaking the ties according to our desires. This is not in our control. We can’t just make friendship and ties with who we want and break with who we want. If you don’t like a person, but the Shari’ah instructs that ties must be kept with that person, then you cannot break the ties with that person. If a person is beloved to you and you like him, and the Shari’ah says that you should not be close to him, then you should not go close to that person; the relationship should not be maintained. The Shari’ah dictates relationships. Muaasharah, society, environment - the Shari’ah dictates all of this, not our whims and desires and friendships based on what we like or don’t like.
So Allah says that what we need to do immediately is start cleaning our heart, so that love for Allah and His Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam can come into the heart. This is the Da’wah, the invitation, of the Qur’an. If we find that our hearts are weak, then this is a comprehensive invitation. Allah ta’ala is inviting. All those people around you today that you think are solid Muslims, we, all of us together, need to analyze ourselves – we should consider everyone else to be pure, good Muslims. We must analyze how much Shari'ah and Sunnah is in ourselves, in our homes, in our families. I consider everyone around me to be a Muslim; everyone is a true, solid Mu’min; everyone is pious – I think they are all Walis of Allah. I think that everyone is great and fantastic. The Qur’an is saying analyze yourself. Don’t look around and label others. Who are we to label others? Astahgfirullah – the person who labels others is bad; we have no right to label others. Look at yourself - I should look at myself. Obviously, I am sitting and reading the Qur’an in front of you, but that doesn’t mean that I am saying everyone is a Munafiq, and that everyone has no faith, ashtaghfirullah ta’ala rabbi min kulli dhambin. I am just saying that these are the signs that the Qur’an is explaining. Whoever has these signs, he should cure himself. Whoever doesn’t have these signs, then congratulations, alhamdulillah, he is an innocent Mu’min. How do we know whether this or that person is or isn’t – we have no right to label anybody or say that you are not right. I say to everybody: you are true Muslims, men and women. For me, you are all sealed, so you will be forgiven; you have the seal of approval.
No, the Qur’an will tell us who is true, and who is false; we have no right to label anybody. If these deficiencies are present inside us, what do we have to do? The Qur’an says that we should start to clean our hearts; we should do Dhikrullah. And we cannot do Dhikr until we go to a person who teaches Dhikr. We have to go to a Wali of Allah, to a Sheikh, and say ‘Please teach me Dhikrullah.’ And Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has also told us the importance of Dhikrullah. Abu Darda radhiAllahu anh narrates that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated: “أَلاَ أُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِخَيْرِ أَعْمَالِكُمْ”. We have read this Hadith a few times, and there is enjoyment in reading this Hadith today. What is the importance of Dhikr? Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said ‘Should I not tell you such an action, that will be the best of all of your deeds?’ SubhanAllah! “بِخَيْرِ أَعْمَالِكُمْ” – the best of your deeds. Count all the deeds that you implement, and the best of all of them, better than Qur’an, fasting, Hajj, Zakah, is what? It is the purest deed in the sight of your Lords, and the deed that will elevate “دَرَجَاتِكُمْ” your rank most; it will give you the highest and biggest increase to your status. SubhanAllah! It is the best of deeds, the purest of deeds in the sight of your Lord, that will elevate your rank and status to the highest level, and which is more valuable than gold and silver spent in the path of Allah, a better deed than struggling in a fight with someone who is against you – Allahu Akbar! The noble Companions radhiAllahu anhum said ‘Oh Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, what is that deed? What could be better than all of this?’ Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said “ذِكْرُ اللَّهِ” – Dhikrullah, the remembrance of Allah.
Why? Why is Dhikr better than all those deeds that were mentioned? Think about it yourself. Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated this. Hajj is Hajj, and then there’s fasting, recitation of Qur’an, Salah – how can Dhikr be better than all of these actions? How is this the case? It is because in all those deeds, you have good and bad, pure and impure. You have real notes and fake notes. Which is better? The real note, of course, not the fake one. If you have pure milk or contaminated milk - which is better? So why is Dhikrullah greater than all the deeds? Because it purifies and cleans the heart, so then the deeds that emanate from a clean heart will all be greater. Why? Because Dhikrullah purifies the heart. Allah ta’ala has made Dhikr greater and better because due to Dhikr, people’s deeds become pure. They become high quality deeds, clean deeds, because the heart has become clean and pure.
I will give you an example to help you understand that ‘Aql makes us understand a deed or action, while the heart enables us to practice that action. Say you have water, or a drink like juice or milk, and you put it into a glass that is dirty or has a bad smell. Even though the liquid has a nice fragrance in itself, if you put it into the dirty vessel, then the liquid becomes dirty. The milk is not at fault, but it has been placed into a dirty vessel. In the same way, deeds are pure and nice in themselves, but if they come into a heart which is dirty and impure, that heart will contaminate the actions, which will therefore come out impure. The Dhikr of Allah purifies your heart, so when your deeds come into the heart, they are absorbed and accepted, and that heart thus enables you to practice Deen, and your Salah will become so pure that Allah ta’ala will elevate your rank and status. That is why it is stated that Dhikrullah is greater than the other impure deeds that we do. It is greater.
So, my brothers, what a great point we have understood. If we don’t practice Shari'ah and Sunnah, if our Deen is all show and drama, like the outward bubble of a blister, then may Allah forgive! We have to change that Deen, to improve that Deen, and we need to immediately go into the company of a Wali of Allah, a friend of Allah, learn the Dhikr of Allah and do Tazkiyya. Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has taught us this, as Allah ta’ala says {وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلۡحِكۡمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيہِمۡ}. The Qur’an was revealed, the Shari'ah and Sunnah was revealed, and also { يُزَكِّيہِمۡ}Allah ta’ala purified the hearts of the believers, which we need to do today. And then the hearts will automatically absorb the deeds and the A’maal will come into our lives.
So our function and objective is one, SubhanAllah. Look, I will present a beautiful statement of my Hadhrat Sahib to you. Today we say ‘Why doesn’t a person practice. I can’t practice. It is hard in the environment that we are in. It is too hard in this generation that we are in, especially in the western hemisphere, in the country that we are in. We are over here, and it is difficult. We can’t practice – how can we improve and reform our children? How can we practice this Deen?’ We give thousands of excuses and reasons. My Hadhrat Sahib, my dear Hadhrat Sahib, made a beautiful statement. He said that on the Day of Judgement, when we are presented in Allah’s Court and Allah asks us ‘Why did you not practice?’ we will say ‘Oh we were in that country, it was difficult for us. We were forced to leave the Deen. How could we practice? How could we do this and that?’ Then Allah ta’ala will ask a question, a question that recurs throughout the Qur’an. We read it in Qur’an and Allah ta’ala will ask us on the Day of Judgement, when we make the excuse ‘How could I practice, oh Allah? It was a difficult era, and they were difficult days, and the environment was difficult. How could we practice Allah?’ The answer is present in the Qur’an, and on that day Allah ta’ala will give the answer. He will say, ‘Ok, fair enough, you have put forward your excuse that you couldn’t practice, and say that this was caused by Me. I ask you one question.’ Allah will say ‘Did I not tell you in the Qur’an that at least you should try?’ { جَـٰهَدُواْ فِينَ} Allahu Akbar!
{ وَٱلَّذِينَ جَـٰهَدُواْ فِينَا لَنَہۡدِيَنَّہُمۡ سُبُلَنَاۚ وَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَمَعَ ٱلۡمُحۡسِنِينَ} (Surah Ankaboot v69) Allah ta’ala says ‘You try. I am Your Rabb, the Creator! As for those who strive in Our cause, We shall certainly guide them to paths that lead unto Me.’ Allahu Akbar! If the Allah ta’ala can make the fire cool for Hadhrat Ibrahim alayhi salam, and save Hadhrat Moosa alayhi salam from Firawn, and remove Hadhrat Yunus alayhi salam from the stomach of the whale, then can our Rabb not save us from these bad and severe conditions? Did you ever try? Allah says { وَٱلَّذِينَ جَـٰهَدُواْ فِينَا لَنَہۡدِيَنَّہُمۡ سُبُلَنَا}. We say ‘Oh it’s difficult for me and my children – how can I save us?’ Allah says ‘Did you try?’ Allah says ‘For those who strive in Our Cause’ - even just a small effort. Allah ta’ala tells us at least to try this much: pray Salah, raise your hands and say ‘Oh Allah, { ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ} show me the Straight Path, oh Allah!’ This is our Yaqeen, our Iman, our belief, that if we do this Dua and it becomes regular, reciting it in Salah and raising our hands in Dua and asking Allah ‘{ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ} Allah, show us the Straight Path, guide me to the Straight Path, define for me the Straight Path!’, then my Iman bears witness, and I swear by Allah and say this, that a path will unfold in front of you. Allah ta’ala has promised this in the Qur’an. Allah says { وَٱلَّذِينَ جَـٰهَدُواْ فِينَا لَنَہۡدِيَنَّہُمۡ سُبُلَنَا}. Try, make effort - don’t run away!
If you are stuck in a rut, and it’s hard for you to get out, we can do one action, can’t we? We can cry and raise our hands and do Dua to Allah ‘Oh Allah! Take me out of this rut! Remove me from this trap! Oh Allah, I gamble – save me from gambling! Oh Allah, I drink alcohol – save me from drinking alcohol! Oh Allah, I am running after a woman to do Zina – save me from this girl! Ya Allah, give me a pious, upright life! Oh Allah, I smoke and consume drugs – please save me!’ Cry! Cry, pray Salah and make Dua, and Allah ta’ala will listen. Plead to Allah, beg Allah to be taken to His Path. { وَٱلَّذِينَ جَـٰهَدُواْ فِينَا لَنَہۡدِيَنَّہُمۡ سُبُلَنَا} This is the way to strive: ‘I cry to You and ask You and plead to You!’ Allah ta’ala says ‘This is your striving! And when a person strives hard in Our Cause, I will most certainly guide him onto the Paths that lead to Me!’
So Allah will ask ‘Did you try?’ And then our jaws will drop and be speechless. What will be the answer? Allah ta’ala will say ‘Take hold of this person and throw him into the Fire of Hell - he is a liar!’ {يَكۡذِبُونَ} These are the Kaadhiboon that the Qur’an speaks of. {بِمَا كَانُواْ يَكۡذِبُونَ} He was lying, he was joking, he enjoyed Haram, he was enjoying himself while making these excuses ‘Oh it’s too hard to be saved. I can’t practice. How can I turn off this machine? How can I save my eyes?’ This is a reality – {بِمَا كَانُواْ يَكۡذِبُونَ} Allah ta’ala says. ‘They were liars! He was a deceiver! And the punishment for his lies is that he should be counted amongst the Munafiqeen, so throw him into the worst, most intense fire of Jahannam. If he had been honest and sincere and a Sadiq, he would have cried about his sins, he would have raised his hands about his sins.’ If a woman says ‘I am forced to go to work, and I don’t want to go to work. I don’t like this job and exposing myself and being immodest and losing my shame.’ If she just cries in front of Allah, and pleads, then Allah says ‘I will open up not just one path, but thousands of paths for you, and will most certainly guide you to the Path.’ Allah ta’ala saved Ibrahim alayhi salam, Moosa alayhi salam, and our Rabb, our Lord, sent the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam to this world, Allahu Akbar, and sent him as the guide. He sent him to Makka, to conquer Makka, and the descendants of those same people are there today. Now they are Ummatis.
So if you are an Ummati of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, will Allah not help you as he helped all those people before you? Allah ta’ala assists people – He says ‘I am Your Rabb, Your Lord – how could I lie! How could I let a girl from the Ummah of My Habeeb sallallahu alayhi wasallam wander in the marketplace bare-headed? How could I be happy if an Ummati of My Habeeb sallallahu alayhi wasallam walks in the marketplace bare-headed? At least she should have called out to Me, begged Me ‘Allah, I am lost! I don’t want immodesty. I want the life of Shari'ah and Sunnah!’ But she didn’t ask. Oh deceiver woman, you are a deceiver, a Kaadhib, a liar.’ This Hadith will apply to her. She won’t go into the Jahannam of those who had no faith; rather, she will go into the Jahannam of the Munafiqeen, and we cannot imagine how intense that fire will be – double the punishment.
So my brothers, if we are stuck in a disease, in a bad action, in sins, then at least we should accept that this is the wrong path and plead for the right Path. Don’t become liars. May Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq to save ourselves from the great evil of Nifaq; and may Allah ta’ala give us the Twafeeq to practice the Sunnah and Shari’ah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And the biggest and most important point is may Allah ta’ala open the doors of Tazkiyya, purification, for us, so that we can clean our hearts with the right Niyyah, the right intention. Ameen.
وَءَاخِرُ دَعۡوَٮٰهُمۡ أَنِ ٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ