10 Farhan Abdul Azeez There is nothing here for you... (Outward Religiosity)

There is Nothing Here for You - Outward Religiosity

Introduction

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen, wassalatu wassalamu ala khatimin nabiyyin, wa imamil mursaleen habibina muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in. Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

The Exercise: Examining Our Deeds

Okay, how many of you guys have a pen and paper? The rest of you, mashallah, Bukhari memory? Huh? Just everything is... Alright, pen. Those of you who have pen and paper, take it out. If you have a smartphone, take it out. Open up your notepad. And if you don't have either, then I want you to make notes in your head. Okay? You can either, if you have a... If it's easier, pen and paper, make two columns. If you're using your iPad or iPhone or whatever it is. I just made the conversion, (لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ - laa hawla wa laa quwwata illa billah), from Android to iPhone last week. And it's been a struggle. I'm in detox right now.

If you take out your notepad, you can't make columns, just make one list and you're gonna make a second list. Okay? So on the first list or the first column, I want you to write on the top, the headline of that column is, Good deeds that I do, that people know about. Okay? Good deeds that I do, that people know about. And on the second column, or underneath, go ahead and make a second list of good deeds that I do, that only Allah knows about. So the first column, good deeds that we do, that people know about. So if that's your wife, your husband, your friends, your mom, your dad, that all counts. If your cat knows about it only, then I'll let it pass. Okay? But if it's anybody else, that goes to the first column. Number two, good deeds that you do, that only Allah knows about.

Reflecting on Our Lists

Now, I'm not gonna ask you to do this, but maybe when you go home tonight, if you're willing to take an assignment, go ahead and make two more columns, and write bad deeds that I do, that people know about, and bad deeds that I do, that only Allah knows about. I think if we look at our columns, for the most of us, myself included, when I first did this exercise, and even now, not just when I first did this exercise, but even now, we find that the first column is very easy to fill. It's very easy to fill. Taraweeh in the masjid, fasting this, fasting Mondays, Thursdays, Hajj, Umrah, all this good being good to Allah, everybody knows, right?

But go to the second column, and I think a lot of us may struggle to write one, two, three things down, right? And if we take it a step further and go to the bad deeds, right? The bad deeds that we do, that people know about, usually very few, hopefully very few, because that reflects something else, we'll talk about it in a second. And good deeds that we do, bad deeds that we do, that only Allah knows about.

The Greatest Loser

Ibn Arabi, one of the great scholars, you know what he says? He says:

Ya Allah. He says, the biggest loser on the Day of Judgment, the biggest loser will be the one who shows all his good deeds to the people. He appears to be this amazing person, but he almost wages war with Allah, or with the one who is more closer to him than his own internal jugular vein.

Our Reputation with Allah

If we look at this list, these columns that we have, it gives us a reflection about something. And that reflection is, it reflects how we view Allah truly. How we truly view Allah. Because if we're more concerned about our reputation among society, our reputation with my family, and my friends, and my co-workers, and my colleagues, and the people at the masjid, and the people at the gym, then we are about a relationship or our reputation with Allah, our reputation with the angels in the samawat, then there's a problem.

Because Allah in the hadith of Prophet ﷺ tells us that when he loves someone, he calls Jibreel عليه السلام . You see, we all have reputations both in this world and amongst the people, and we have a reputation in the samawat. And if Allah loves someone, He says:

(Sahih Muslim 2637)

Allah calls Jibreel علیه السلام and says, Oh Jibreel, I love this person. And He mentions your name. He could mention your name. Sumayyah, Fatima, Muhammad, Abdullah. He could mention your name in front of all the angels, higher than the seven heavens.

Ubayy ibn Ka'ab's Story

When Allah told the Prophet ﷺ to go to Ubayy ibn Ka'ab and recite him Surah Al-Bayyinah. Go to Ubayy ibn Ka'ab and recite Surah Al-Bayyinah. Now Surah Al-Bayyinah by the way, it's a very hard surah. I think it's harder than Surah Al-Baqarah personally. I think if the one surah that will keep me from becoming a hafidh of the Qur'an is probably Surah Al-Bayyinah. You never hear anybody reciting in salah, do you? You'll hear somebody recite Surah Al-Baqarah, but you'll never hear Surah Al-Bayyinah. You know, I actually once mentioned it in the sweetness of salah course I teach. And so the brother who was in the class said, you know what, I'm gonna do it. So he recited Surah Al-Bayyinah in Salatul Maghrib, and he made mistakes. It's a hard surah.

The Prophet, he says, I was commanded by Allah to go to you Ubayy ibn Ka'ab and recite to you Surah Al- Bayyinah. How does it make you feel, man? Ubayy ibn Ka'ab is one of the people of the Qur'an, right? He was talking about the people of the Qur'an. If you get an ijazah in tilawah, you know, in tajweed, in the riwayah of hafs, a chain that takes you back to the Prophet ﷺ in your recitation of the Qur'an, it'll go through the sahabah. One of the sahabah that will be listed in your chain is Ubayy ibn Ka'ab. He's a person of the Qur'an, right? And so Ubayy ibn Ka'ab, the Prophet of Allah, the one whose revelation is being sent to, is told to go to recite to him. How would they, you know, say like, thank you very much. Yeah, I must be father status. Mushari Rashid, you know what I'm saying? Like that level.

When the Prophet said, he just paused for a second. He's just like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, time out, time out. He asked him one question. He said, Did Allah mention, did he mention me by name? Did he say, recite to Ubayy ibn Ka'ab? And he said, yes, he mentioned your name. And the narrator says, he just broke down crying. That Allah mentioned, who am I? Allah mentioned his name.

The Angels and Our Reputation in the Heavens

Allah, everyone who Allah loves, we have a reputation with Allah. Allah says, I love so-and-so, so-and-so. Oh, Jibreel love this person. And then Jibreel عليه السلام calls out to all the angels in the samawat. How many angels are in the samawat? You know, it's amazing. The Prophet says, The skies have let out these sighs of distress. The skies, the heavens, the skies above us have let out these cries of distress. And he says, they have every right to do so. He says, there is no space, the width of a hand, except that there is an angel, prostrating, making sujood, and praising Allah.

And how big are the samawat? When I say the skies, you know, the dunya that we know, the lowest heaven, how big is it? The furthest, I looked at this a while ago and I forgot now, maybe somebody can help me. The furthest star that we've ever discovered. I don't know, it's like some, whatever, billion, trillion, light years away, right? That's all part of the lowest heaven. Because Allah says:

We have decorated, we have beautified the lowest heaven with the beauty of stars. So as far as we have discovered, this is all the lowest heaven. But you know what the size of the lowest heaven is compared to the second heaven? Like the size of a ring in the desert. And the second to the third, and the third to the fourth, all the way to the seventh, like that, compared to the Qursi of Allah, is like a ring in a desert.

All of these samawahs are full of angels. And the Angel Jibreel calls out to these angels saying, Allah loves Sumayyah. So all of you love Sumayyah. So all of them love Sumayyah:

(Sahih Muslim, 2637)

Then the acceptance for this person will be placed in the hearts of the people. Similarly, if somebody was bad and Allah dislikes them, the same thing happens. But the point being, we all have reputations both in this world and the hereafter. And if we make our priority to rectify our reputation with the people of this world, at the expense of our reputation with Allah, then we've lost. Now we are the biggest losers.

Hiding Our Sins vs. Publicizing Them

And here's the thing though. You see, we tend to try, I hope we tend to try to hide our bad deeds. And if we do, that's a good sign. That's a sign that there's still some shame left in us that we're hopefully turning back to Allah and repentance. What's worse is someone who openly sins. Openly sins. They'll do something and they'll tell their friend the next day, you know what I did yesterday night? Or you know what website I went to? Or what club I hit up? Or what I did with this person, or this person, or that person?

When you publicize your sins, and this is how serious of an issue it is, because the mercy of Allah has enveloped every single thing. The Prophet says in a Sahih hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, 6069)

Every single individual from my umma is forgiven. He has the potential to be forgiven except for one group. Who is this one group? The group of people who they spend their night in sin. They spent their night in the cover of Allah. As-Sattar, the one who covers us and conceals our sins. And in the day, they uncover what Allah has covered by exposing what they've done.

So they'll post on Facebook their pictures of what they're doing haram. Or they'll post on Twitter what they're doing haram. Or they'll go out openly in haram and commit haram. They'll have a boyfriend at school, a girlfriend at school, and it becomes normal now in the high school. So Muslim kids coming up now, 9th grade come into the high school, say, oh wow, all the Muslims are doing it, why don't I do it? You make haram normal. And because of that, the doors of forgiveness are closed. That's terrifying. If you understand the mercy of Allah and how wide it is, that's terrifying. Right?

What About Our Good Deeds?

But what about our good deeds? What about our good deeds? My talk today isn't about bad deeds. My talk today is about good deeds. What about our good deeds? You see, many of us, we don't have the same concept that we do with hiding our bad deeds with our good deeds because they're good, right? We don't mind being known, right? I'm trying to get married. When I go to the masjid, I'm gonna pray my two rak'ah sunnah like surah Baqarah. So the uncle who's there, whose daughter I wanna marry, he sees me. And when he comes to say salam, say, I'm fasting today too, by the way. Right? You wanna be known.

You tweet out, oh, team fajr, hashtag, oh yeah, team fajr, right? I mean, that's cool if you're encouraging. I'm speaking generally in terms of you. But we talk about our good deeds. Hey bro, you wanna drink a water? Oh, I'm fasting today. That's fine. You're not lying. You're fasting today. But you could say, I'm good. I'm alright. Right? And then you kept that secret. Now you see the true ibadah of Allah. They keep their good deeds secret just like you and I would keep our bad deeds secret. They will keep their good deeds secret like you and I will keep our bad deeds secret.

The Example of Bilal ibn Rabah

And I wanna share with you some examples. You know, Bilal ibn Rabah, the Prophet, peace be upon him, he comes to him, and he says:

(1149 ,Sahih al-Bukhari)

He says, oh Bilal, tell me what it is that you do. Tell me the deed that you do that you have the most hope in. For I have heard your footsteps in front of me in paradise.

Now understand this. My focus today isn't the answer to the question. My focus today is what Ahlul Ilm say about Bilal's response. Bilal, he told the Prophet what his deed that he does that he's most hopeful about. And

if you want to know what it is, check out sweetnessofsalat.com I'm not gonna tell you today. But what they say is if the questioner was anyone other than the Prophet, Bilal would not have answered the question. If the questioner was anyone other than the Messenger of Allah, he wouldn't have answered the question because that's something between him and his best friend. Something between him and his best friend Allah.

Stories of Hidden Good Deeds

You see, you know, there's so many stories of scholars and the like, you know, people who would fast. Salaf who would fast, their wife would prepare for them some breakfast and he would take the breakfast and some lunch. And his wife is thinking he's eating the lunch at work. But what he does is he gives it in charity on the way. And so when he comes back home, he eats dinner thinking, the family doesn't know that he was fasting but he fasted all day.

The sahabi who would get up, even from today, people who would get up and pray at night, quietly sneak out of the bed, quietly go to the bathroom so their mom doesn't wake up, or their wife or their husband doesn't wake up, or their cat doesn't wake up and they make their wudu, they go pray and they come back to bed so when the fajr alarm goes off, they act like they're just waking up for the first time. They keep their deeds secrets. And there's so many examples of this.

Justice and Excellence in Deeds

But you know what's... Here's the thing. And this is beautiful. It's amazing what fascinates people. Just with Twitter and Facebook and stuff, the tweets that get a lot of retweets and tweets that get a lot of Facebook posts that get a lot of shares and stuff, sometimes the most inconsequential silly things. And some of the stuff is just like, just shakes you, man. Everybody's like, whatever. This is one of those things that all of you on Twitter should tweet. This is something like another level powerful. Right?

This... Sufyan ibn Uyaynah rahimahullah ta'ala, he says about this verse, about the verse that you perhaps all have heard in Salatul Jumu'ah. The khutbah, oftentimes the khateeb ends the khutbah by saying:

You heard the verse before? It's familiar to you? What does it mean? It means Allah orders you to justice الْعَدْلِ Allah commands you to الْعَدْلِ justice وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى excellence and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. And He reminds you so that you may be those who remember.

You know, Sufyan rahimahullah, he says about this ayah, he says What is الْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ He says:

Justice is that your public life and your private life are one and the same. That's being just. Your public life and your private life are the same. And he says:

And excelling is that your private life is better than your public life.

Our Private Life Reflects Our Grave

You see, nowadays, if you're trying to get married, you're looking into, you know, a spouse, potential spouse. You gotta do mad background checks, right? You gotta send like spies into the masjid. You gotta like, you know what I'm saying, Facebook stalking and Twitter stalking and everything to find out, man, who is this person really? Right? Back in the day, it was different. Back in the day, after you get married, then you find out your wife is someone who does this, this and this. And your love for her increases more and more and more. It was just a different paradigm.

But now so many people live these double lives, right? But subhanAllah, if we wanted to know what our life in the grave would be like, the first step of akhira is the grave, right? Akhira starts when the angel of death comes. It's not the day of judgment. And if we wanna know what our life will be like in the grave, the scholars say that to know your life in the grave, simply look at your life in private. And that will give you a good reflection of what your life in the grave will be like. For some people, that's scary. For some people, that's awesome. Which group do we fall in?

Loving to Do Deeds for Allah Alone

And you know, if we truly loved Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala, we would love to do deeds solely for him, right? Just like, you know, when a brother and sister get married, right? I'll go ahead and say a new couple, right? Because maybe after one month or one year, I don't know what it's gonna be like. But in the first month at least, or the first two months, or hopefully their whole lifetime, they're so much in love with one another that they'll love to do things for the one they love, right? They'll love to do things for the one they love. And it's a secret. They don't want anybody else to know.

Like if I did something for my wife and then my wife goes and tells her mom that, oh, you know, for 100... You know, like, that was kind of between us, you know? It was a special connection that you share, right? And similarly, the ibadah rahman, they share this special connection with Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala. The deeds they do, they don't want anyone to share in that. It's between them and Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala, right?

The Definition of Ikhlas

And that's the definition of ikhlas. That every sincerity, every single thing we do, what we say, how we move, how we dress, how we act, every single aspect of our life is solely done for Allah with no other gain in mind. With absolutely no other gain in mind. And if you're doing good deeds, you know what? I'm working in the ICU this month. It's a tough month everyday when I'm going on the way to work. I'm making the adhkar al-sabah.

It's partly for, it could be a good reason. It could be to save someone, right? I could be giving charity because I wanna feed my wrist so I can provide for my family. That's fine, that's part of your intention if that's there. But I'm saying, the true Ibadur Rahman, no matter what it is, it's solely for Allah with no strings attached. No strings attached. It's truly solely for Allah, right?

The Day When Secrets Are Tested

And Allah, if you live a life like that, where your whole life is guided by this philosophy, that you have the special connection with Allah and you have these secrets with Allah. As-Sarirah, Allah says, Allah says, most definitely He has full capability to bring these people back, right? On the Day of Judgment, then He says:

On the day when the sarair will be exposed and put to the test. What is sarair? Sarira, the Arabic word sarira refers to something that is, you know, that is intentionally made a secret. Intentionally made hidden. Allah says, on this day, these secrets will be brought forth. These secrets will be exposed. These secrets will be put to the test, right?

And so what the scholars, what do they say? Allah is gonna bring whatever the secrets of this person was and expose it on his face. It will be exposed, it will be seen. Clearly evidence, whose secret life was righteous and whose secret life wasn't, right? Allah, He says, about those who did bad deeds. He says, it is as if:

You know, the night is dark, it's black, right? Allah gives a description, He says, as if a piece of this darkness came onto their face. So they'll come on the Day of Judgment. You could see their limbs and everything else, but their face is blacked out. Their nose, their eyes, their facial features, the unique characteristics that separates you from you and you from you, it will be gone. Just have this piece of the, as if a piece of the night is covering their face, right?

And the other people:

Allah will make other faces bright and shiny, right? And so on this day when the secrets will be exposed, it can be good for some of us. All our secrets are exposed. All of our secrets will be exposed.

The Justice of Allah in Judgment

But you know what's interesting? And this is from the justice of Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala. This is from the justice of Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala that He did not make the judging of mankind in the hand of any other person except for Him. Because we may think we know things about someone and we don't, right? We may think small, we may think somebody, oh, this person is not righteous, this person is not this, this person doesn't do this or doesn't do that. But in the eyes of Allah, they're very powerful.

The sahabah once look at Ibn Mas'ud, he was climbing the tree, getting some miswak, and they began laughing at him because his legs were very thin. And the Prophet ﷺ said, you're laughing at the legs of Ibn Mas'ud? And they said, yeah, they're kind of small. It's kind of funny. Prophet ﷺ said, by Allah, his legs on the Day of

Judgment are heavier than the mountain of Uhud. Mountain of Uhud is a huge mountain, like 12 kilometers long, right?

You may think insignificant of someone, but in the eyes of Allah, they're powerful, right? So it is from the justice of Allah that he kept judging to himself. Why? Because for the one, for some of us, maybe when we're hearing this, when our secrets will be exposed, we're scared, right? But for the ibadur rahman, the true slaves of Allah, when they're hearing this, they feel a sense of satisfaction. That all these things that I'm doing now that only Allah knows about, there's coming a day when Allah will reward me for it. That day is coming.

The Best Moment: Meeting Allah

You know, the best moment is when you get to be alone and meet with the one you love the most. The one you love the most, when you get to be with them and meet them, that's the best moment. So for the believers, their best moment is the day they get to meet Allah. And all these secret deeds are exposed. All their tahajjud is exposed. All their serving their mother is exposed. All their being good to the creation of Allah is exposed. And it's not just fasting and this and that.

You know, when you're walking to campus and you see a squirrel, you know, chilling on the side, grabbing some whatever he's looking for and doing his thing, you could walk right by him and you have every right to do so. But knowing that this is a creature of Allah and this creature of Allah is scared of these tall things with two feet that walk and they're like, they're always looking at some device in their hand, the whole time they're walking, right? Out of mercy for this squirrel, you choose to cross the road, wait 10 seconds for the cars, cross the road and walk on the other side. Nobody knows what you did. Nobody will think about it for a second. But Allah knows. That out of sincerity to Allah and showing mercy to this creature of Allah, you chose to walk a different path.

That's what I mean by this true relationship with Allah that envelops your life. Everything you do now has a meaning and a purpose, right? When you live a life like that, you prepare for the day you meet Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala.

Those Who Wake at Night

Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala, He says:

The slaves of Allah, they are those who get up from the bed at night. And again, we're giving this example, but could be anything. They get up from the bed at night. They call upon Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala and fear and hope. And from what Allah has given them, they spend in the way of Allah. So they do things secretly. They hid their deeds in this world.

So Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala, He says in response:

Allah says, they hid their deeds. They woke up quietly at the night and prayed. They gave charity and the right hand, what even their left hand didn't know. They were so sincere and they hid their deeds. So Allah says in response, and so no soul knows what has been hidden for them as well from their reward, from the coolness of their eyes, جَزَاءً بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ as a reward for what they did. They hid their deeds in this world. Allah hid their reward, a special, absolutely amazing reward for them in the hereafter. Right?

A Day of Happiness

And on the Day of Judgment, brothers and sisters, when we meet Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala having lived a life like this, it will be a day of happiness. It will be a day of happiness. Right? When Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) the angel of death, they take permission from the prophets before they take their souls. And so when Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) the angel of death came to him, it's come in the narration that he said to the angel of death, he said:

He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, time out man. This doesn't jive with me. Ibrahim is the best friend of Allah, the Khalil of Allah. We know him as the best friend of Allah. So Ibrahim is saying, how is it that Allah will cause death to his best friend?

And he says, the angel of death says in response, he said to Ibrahim:

Oh Ibrahim, do you understand that the one who is in love hates to meet the one who he loves? The one who lives like this, they'll look forward to the Day of Judgment. When the angel of death comes:

Now is the time to rest. Allah when He describes the three different people in Surah Al-Waqi'ah, the Awliya' of Allah and the people of Jannah and the people of Hellfire. Those who are closest to Allah, He says:

Those who are close to Allah, their first description Allah gives is that they have rest.

They have rest and they have reward and they have a great paradise. Now the time is up.

The Hadith of 99 Scrolls

I'm gonna end with this hadith. That's in the books of Imam Tirmidhi. It's an authentic hadith.

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2639)

He says, it will be called on the day of judgment billions of people around. One person is called forth. Stand up and prepare to stand before Allah. And all his bad deeds are brought and they are as long. They fill up 99 scrolls. Each scroll is so far as the eye can see. Each scroll is so far as the eye can see.

And the hadith says:

Allah asks him, look at his deeds. Do you deny anything that's in these 99 scrolls of bad that you have done? And he says, No, O Allah. I don't deny it. What can I say?

So Allah says:

Have those angels recording your deeds wronged you in any way? And then he will say:

Do you have any excuse? Do you even have one good deed that you with brought forth you?

The man will become terrified because he knows he doesn't. And he says, No, I have nothing. I have no excuse and I don't even one good deed to bring.

Then Allah says:

We have some good deeds. And most definitely there is no injustice today. No injustice today.

So a card is brought out. And all it says on this one card compared to 99 scrolls is:

So he will say, what is this? I'm gonna be wronged. So the card will be put on one side of the scale and the scrolls in the other and the card will outweigh it.

The Point: Sincerity of the Heart

Now what's the point? I just talked about all these secret deeds we need to do and that's what we need to be successful. Then I'm saying one card will save you. What's the point? This is the point. Ibn Al-Qayyim rahimahullah ta'ala he says, that deeds are not given credence one over another based on their number or based on how they look:

إِنَّمَا تَتَفَاضَلُ بِتَفَاضُلِ مَا فِي الْقُلُوبِ

They're given preference based on what's in the hearts. And he goes on and I have my time is up. So Ibn Al- Qayyim rahimahullah ta'ala he says, this is the point. He says, take for example, there's two hadith. I'll share one for the sake of time.

The hadith of the woman from Bani Israel who's a prostitute. But she saw a thirsty dog and out of mercy for the dog gave it some water. Allah forgave her all her sins and granted her paradise for that one deed. One deed. One deed. All her sins forgiven and she's granted paradise. Right? Why? Why is it that she was granted paradise? Because what we're talking about. That sincerity in the hearts. That you know what? This is for Allah. This is for Allah. And that sincere moment that enters the heart and the deed that's performed based on that can be enough. Now if we live a life like that, if we live a life like that, then imagine the reward.

The Greatest Reward

Allah says:

On the day of judgment, today, Allah says, those who were true, their truthfulness will benefit them. For them is gardens underneath which rivers flow, they will stay there in forever. Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Allah, and that is the greatest reward.

Conclusion