husain-abdul-sattar-making-deen-viral

Making Deen Viral

Opening

"Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh" - Peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.

"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful."

"All praise is due to Allah, and peace be upon those whom He has chosen. I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan."

"Say, “He is Allah, [who is] One."

"Glory to your Lord, the Lord of might, above what they describe. And peace be upon the messengers. And praise to Allah, Lord of the worlds."

Introduction

There was a topic that we were supposed to talk about today. I'll talk about that next week inshallah, which was just this whole issue of continuing with that theme of grudges and grudge being a spiritual disease, the holding of a grudge being a spiritual disease, the dropping of a grudge being an opportunity for Jannah, and some wisdom regarding how to avoid grudges which we've been talking about over the past few weeks. Inshallah, we'll continue to talk about next week.

I was just on the way here and another thought came into my mind, and since that came into my mind, I just wanted to share it.

Signs of Progress on the Spiritual Path

One of the things that we look for as we progress along the path is signs that we are progressing, and that's something that's very important because without those signs we lose the confidence that's necessary when we travel along a path.

I've given this example before, but it's worth reiterating. When a person is making a journey, and particularly a long journey, it's very important as they make that journey that they see the signs of progress because those signs of progress give the person encouragement that the journey is reaching its end and they also give the person confidence that they're on the right path and that they're moving and that they're doing something that's allowing them to reach their goal.

For example, a person wants to travel to Los Angeles and they want to drive to Los Angeles. They'll start driving and maybe for the initial immediate phase of the journey they don't really see any signs. They know they're headed in the right direction. I'm headed, for example, in this case I'm headed west and so I know that

I'm heading in the right direction. Maybe I passed one state and the next state and the next state and I know that these are in the direction of Los Angeles.

Eventually, as a person's progressing, they see that there is a sign that says Los Angeles. Even if it says 500 miles away, if they came from far they get excited and then as they move forward they get more excited every time the number decreases. Los Angeles 400, Los Angeles 300, Los Angeles 100, Los Angeles 20, and people get more excited and they become more confident that they are achieving their goal.

The same is true on the Path of Suluk, as we've mentioned many times before. We have signs that allow us to recognize that we are achieving our goal, that we are headed in the right direction, and those are important for the same two reasons. Number one, when a person sees these signs they become more confident in the journey and number two, they become excited that they're reaching some sort of milestone of progress in the direction in which they're traveling.

The Key Sign: Moving from Self to Others

We've talked in the past about many of these signs but there's one sign that sometimes we don't talk about, in fact most people don't talk about, which is very important to recognize. That is that one of the key signs is that a person begins to leave themselves and approaches the world of people around them. The person begins to leave themselves and begins to enter into the world of the universe around them.

Now what do I mean by that? Most people, and most of us, are relatively self-centered. Relatively self-centered means that we care about ourselves, we care about the difficulties that we undergo, we care about those that are immediately surrounding us, but it's hard for us to go beyond that sphere.

For example, if I'm hungry it's a big deal but I don't recognize that there's a whole planet of hungry people. If I'm sick it's a big deal but I don't recognize that there's a whole planet of sick people. If I'm undergoing a difficulty, everybody has to know but I don't recognize that there are so many people in the world who are undergoing difficulty for whom there is no voice. So this is a general self-centered nature that we as human beings have.

Now, what happens is I'm pretty concerned about myself and then I tend to get concerned about the few people around me that affect myself. For example, I worry about my children. Yes, because they're my children, but even more so because it bothers me. For example, I might worry if I get sick, I worry if my children get sick. I sometimes might think about what happens if my children's children get sick but I'm not thinking five generations down the line and worrying about what's going to happen with those kids even though they may be eventually from my lineage because I'm not going to feel it. I'm going to be in my grave, I'm not even going to know what's going on at that time.

So this is human nature. We're very concerned with ourselves and we're very unconcerned with the people around us whether that be immediately around us and particularly in the distance.

The Example of the Prophet ﷺ

When a person begins to progress on the path of Deen then one of the things that begins to arise in that person is that that concern that they had for themselves begins to turn away from themselves and towards others.

For example, you look at the concern that Rasulullah ﷺ had for the people around him. He had such a deep concern for the people around him that regardless of the way he was treated he always had hope that they would eventually come to Deen.

Now, what they did to him, nobody in this room would tolerate. Everyone would think, I can't let anybody do this to me. I have to react, I have to give them their due. But Rasulullah ﷺ was so patient despite undergoing such severe difficulty because in the end, it wasn't about him. The fact that they had harmed him or insulted him or mistreated him had nothing to do with it. It was completely erased from the equation.

The only thing Rasulullah ﷺ cared for was that those people eventually come on Deen. And if that meant dealing with them patiently until they figured out that they had to come on Deen, Rasulullah ﷺ was ready to do it. So you see that over a period of so many years eventually the people around him, they came into Deen because his ultimate concern was them rather than him.

Now, when he interacted with them, they recognized that. They never felt that Rasulullah ﷺ was trying to bring them into Deen so that he could benefit. They knew that this person is trying to bring us into Deen but he's not going to benefit, he only cares about our benefit.

And that's a very unique characteristic to have because honestly, even the people nowadays who try to spread Deen, half of it is the spreading of Deen, the other half of it is so that they can pat themselves on the back and feel comfortable that at least people believe what I believe. They get this comfort that I've convinced somebody of what I'm thinking to be correct so therefore that shows how much better I am than them.

Rasulullah ﷺ was absolutely concerned only about others, only for their sake. That desire to bring others to this same goodness that he was aware of, that desire became a passion that allowed Deen to spread and it wasn't only present in Rasulullah ﷺ, it was present in the companions and it was present in the Taba'een and the Taba Taba'een and all of the subsequent generations that came.

Making Deen Viral

That is why Islam spread like wildfire. You know they talk about this term nowadays, it's a very interesting term. They say this thing went viral. I don't know, there's a video, somebody makes some video, they're doing

And when they all do that, that creates a unique institution called a hospital. And what does that hospital do?

That hospital allows everyone to benefit and the more well oiled it is, the more well oiled the machine is, the more the people have that attitude, the more they are people who are serious, the more people come from all over the world to benefit.

You have some hospitals where people come from all over the world to benefit. Somebody gets sick in another country they say I have to go to this hospital, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, whatever it might be. They come from so far away. Why? They don't come to hear the problems of others. They come because people are there to hear their problems. People are there to treat them. People have no other motive. That's why they all gather together at that institute and that's what makes that place unique.

Our Mission as People of Deen

We are people of Deen. We have the exact same goals. Our goal is to embed Tawhid within ourselves and to spread that Tawhid to every single person walking on the planet. Every single person walking on the planet must know that Allah is one. Every single person walking on the planet needs to know the greatness of Deen. Every single person walking on the planet needs to know the miracle of the Quran, needs the Adab, needs the Akhlaq that Islam has to offer, and that should be our mission.

We come into the environments that we can benefit not because we want to benefit ourselves and keep it all tied up just for ourselves. It's so that we want to take that benefit and then share that benefit. And when we share that benefit we know that that's how we benefit more.

The Franchise Example

Just as an example and I've given this before but this just applies in this circumstance as well. The example is that there's a central knightess which is Deen, alright. It's a company, just think of it as a company for a minute. And that Deen, it spreads Nur, it spreads guidance, it spreads light, it spreads Tawhid, it spreads the words of Allah and the Sunnah of Rasulullah. Okay, it's a shop.

Now what happens? People come to that shop and they want to represent that shop. They decide that, for example, give you an example, there's a restaurant called McDonald's. It's not the best example but there's a restaurant called McDonald's, okay. Somebody goes there and eats there, they taste the food and they say oh I really like this. I want to also have this in my city, I want to serve this to people in my city. I'll be able to spread this message to another place and I'll be able to make money at the same time.

So what do they do? They contact McDonald's and they say I want to open a franchise and I want to open it in Morris, Illinois, okay, some place where there's no McDonald's for example. So they open it in Morris, Illinois

and they spread that message to Morris, Illinois and then maybe they open up another branch and another branch and another branch.

Now they don't sit at the headquarters all the time and just eat. Their goal once that passion has been ignited in them, their goal is to make that product viral. They go and they talk to everybody about it, they convince people, they are convinced and they convince others to carry this message forward and what happens? That's how corporate America works. Now you see McDonald's is everywhere, Domino's is everywhere, KFC is everywhere. Started with one, started with one guy cooking chicken in a corner somewhere. So that's the way the world works. That's the way that the corporate America works, capitalism works.

But Deen actually is much more powerful than that. The beauty of Deen is that a person comes in contact with Deen and their eyes are open to the beauty of what they've been given. Now they want to expand that and they want to expand that within themselves. So how do they do it? The way that they do it is by spreading it. The more they spread, the more they gain.

The Reward of Spreading Deen

Look, in the end, the final accounting book for every Muslim is the Day of Judgment. There's only so much that I can do on the Day of Judgment that will come to my account. On the Day of Judgment if I'm one individual, if I'm one individual I can offer five prayers a day, I can give some sadaqah, I can learn something of knowledge, I can treat whoever the few people I interact with well.

But if I go and I convince another five people to practice Deen, then I gain the reward of everything that they did. I gain the prayers that they prayed, I gain the adab that they exhibited, I gain the mannerisms with which they act, I gain the charity that they bestow on others.

So this is the sign of a person who is passionate about Deen. When they have something they're not worried about themselves, they're worried about how they can spread it far and wide, far and wide. The person who has hifz in their heart, they want to spread it far and wide. The person who has the opportunity to sit with the mashayekh and learn adab, they want to spread it far and wide. The person who happens to have the ability to come to the masjid and experience its serenity, they want to spread it far and wide.

That becomes their speech, that becomes the thing that wakes them up in the morning and puts them to bed at night.

Now we have the opposite. We found something and we want to insulate it within ourselves and we certainly don't want to inconvenience ourselves by going and sharing it with others. That's not the sign of progress. That's the sign of the beginner. That is the sign of the beginner.

The Companions' Questions

Now you'll see when Rasulullah ﷺ used to sit and people used to come, the Bedouins would come and ask questions all the time. The very superficially introduced individuals would come, they would ask questions. Sahaba would listen, they would take benefit but they wouldn't dare ask any question.

So rare were their questions that their questions are actually related in the Quran. So many of them, yas'alunaka, they talk about these ayat that they start with yas'alunaka, that the Sahaba ask you about this, the Sahaba ask you about this, the Sahaba ask you about this. Their questioning was so rare and so sincere that Allah preserved the interaction of their questioning and also the answer.

You know, I mean you want to talk about a topic, just talk about the topic. Why do you have to say they ask you, you say they ask you, you say because it was dear to Allah and it was an example for us that there are this group of people that are passionate about spreading Deen and that are far advanced who we look up to. But their circumstance was such that they barely asked any questions and when they spoke they spoke about the greatness of Allah, about the greatness of Deen and they spread it like they made it viral throughout the community. That's where viral begins from.

True Viral vs Modern Viral

You know they say that this video is viral. That's not viral. That's just some person saying something. Viral, what does viral mean? Viral means the true viral means that that thing has been contagious for centuries, for centuries.

You know you look at the influenza virus, right? That virus has been rampant throughout humanity for centuries. That's viral. Not some dog jumping through a hoop and everybody watches it for a week and then nobody knows where it went after that, then they're watching the next video, a parrot jumps through a hoop, okay. That's not viral. That does not go beyond one node. Viral is something that perpetuates itself for centuries.

Deen is viral. Hajj is viral. Hajj is really viral. You want an example of something viral? Hajj is something viral. One guy caught the cold of Hajj, one prophet caught the cold of Hajj, made a call and everybody is still suffering from the virus if you want to use the term suffering. That's viral.

This Deen is viral. We caught it from some place and that's coming all the way from centuries before and we have that responsibility to spread it. And honestly you don't have to do much. Literally you just have to sneeze and Deen would spread itself.

What are we doing? We're covering ourselves. We don't even have to do much but what happens is we take all the energy we have and we want to sit in front of our scholars and we completely consume them. We completely consume them. There's not even like a bit of meat left on their bones. We want them to solve all our

problems, we want to talk for hours and talk about the same problems over and over again when actually the problems get solved when you just go out and do the work.

The Solution: Focus on Others

If we would just turn away from our own problems and stop being fixated on ourselves and instead go and try to solve the problems of others, these problems would disappear naturally. Half the problems are because we have too much free time and we're just focused on ourselves. So many of these issues would disappear if we took others' problems on our shoulders and served them instead.

They say like in the Deen there's so much emphasis on the neighbor that it was as if the neighbor would have become an inheritor. Obviously the neighbor is not an inheritor but such emphasis was placed on the neighbor because such emphasis was placed on the neighbor that it was as if the neighbor would become an inheritor. Why? Because the neighbor is the person that surrounds us. That's the first line of people that we should be spreading Deen towards. That's the first line of people that should be feeling the effects of our Deen.

Not one neighbor, not two neighbors, 40 this way, 40 this way, 40 this way. Everyone around us should know about Deen.

And it's the type of thing that you don't even have to say. Nobody says, I'm going to spread virus everywhere, watch out, I'm going to spread virus. The person just comes into the room and everybody gets the virus. They shake your hand, you get the virus. They talk in front of you, you get the virus. They sneeze, you get the virus. They leave a piece of cloth somewhere, you get the virus.

That's how contagious Deen is. Deen should be such that there should be such a burning passion for Deen within us and we should be so desirous to spread the Deen to others that we just walk into a place and it just automatically begins to spread everywhere.

The Pious and Their Influence

And they say this, they say this, you've heard this before. What do they say about the pious? You know about the Oliya? They say that the Oliya just walk through a city and when they walk through the city the effects of their piety are felt. What does that mean? That means that they're so fixated on the people around them, on benefiting the people around them, and they have such piety within them that the Tawajju, the benefit, the Barakah of that individual spreads far and wide just as they pass through a place.

This is the history from which we come. Now, this generation has taken it upon themselves to weigh down the whole boat, weigh down the whole ship by becoming so fixated on ourselves. We're more concerned about what

we eat than how we feed others. We're more concerned about how we live than how others should be living. We're more concerned about what we make rather than what others don't have.

When we become like that, then that virus does not spread. And what we do, we shut down the machine. We have this lineage of Barakah. We don't have to do anything but just be ourselves and instead what we do is we preclude the spread of Deen by becoming so fixated on ourselves.

The Sign of Progress

The sign of progress for an individual is that as they begin to progress in their Deen, the passion of Allah ignites in their heart and they become less fixated on themselves. They become less centered on themselves. They leave that orbit of themselves, you know, people are all revolving around themselves. It's me, me, me, me, me, me. They leave that orbit of themselves. They move to a much broader orbit which is the orbit of all of the people around them.

That is Deen. That is the sign of Deen.

Our History of Service

Look at the history of our people, by the way. Look at the history, not us. Look at the history of all of us, you know. Look at the history from Adam عليه السلام all the way until now.

What was a common thread? Sacrificing for others, feeding the poor, taking care of the needy, guiding the one who is lost on the way, housing the one who's traveling from a distance. What are these? These are all ways by which we serve the people around us.

When Rasulullah ﷺ first got the Wahi, first got the Wahi, he was very afraid that he was possessed. He was very afraid that there was some evil effect on him. He didn't know exactly what, he didn't fully and fully know what had just occurred. And then what happened? Then he came home, and then he spoke to his wife, and his wife said what? No, you'll never be wasted.

He was afraid that he would be wasted. He was afraid that maybe he was going, you know, he was experiencing something that was even beyond his mind. And what did she say? She said, you'll never be wasted.

And then she gave a reason. She said, why was the reason? Because you serve the people around you, you care about others, you can read the description. The description is, all the description is, is the sacrifice from, turning away from oneself towards others, feeding others, connecting broken bonds, guiding others, sacrificing for others.

And what was Deen? Deen was all that. The people came in and Rasulullah ﷺ was giving, giving, giving, giving, giving, nothing for them, taking nothing, always giving. So Sahaba became like that. They were afraid to take, but they were always giving.

Allah Fulfills Us

And the benefit is that when a person does that, Allah fulfills them, which is really the issue, which is really the thing that we miss. What is, what fulfills us in the end is not us, it's that Allah puts barakah in the interactions that we have.

People think that, well, you don't understand, I really need to talk to this person because I really need to just get psychologically, I need to talk, I need to get this all out. So I need to give, this is my therapy. And if I don't have this, then I'm not going to be able to survive.

That's, it's the complete opposite. It's the complete opposite. The benefit that comes is not because there's a person who has so much wisdom in the room that they can guide you to what you need to be guided to. The benefit actually comes because two people care about deen and want to approach Allah. And then Allah puts the benefit in it.

So what that means is that the benefit that we gain from silence far supersedes the benefit that we gain from speaking. The benefit that we gain from trying to minimize ourselves far supersedes the benefit that we gain from trying to maximize our attention, meaning maximize the attention that's drawn to us.

We put down our own problems and we bring forth the problems of others. That's when a person benefits and that's when Allah fulfills them in a way that no person on the planet can fulfill anyone. Allah fulfills them.

Trusting Allah with Our Problems

So we have to put our problems aside. We have to recognize that all our problems will be rectified. Look, it's very simple. The equations here are very simple. I have a problem. Okay. Allah knows it. I don't need to say it.

So now that saves me one headache. I don't have to talk. Allah knows everything, right? And if I have a problem, Allah will compensate for me, compensate me for it. Either he'll give me something in this life or he'll give me something special in the hereafter.

And we know that on the day of judgment, the people who didn't get something in this life for their problems will be so happy that it was all reserved for the day of judgment. So what is there to do? There's nothing to do.

Allah knows my problems. Allah hears my problems. Allah will acknowledge my problems and Allah will rectify and remediate my problems, whether it be in this life or the next. So I don't have to worry about my

problems. There's nothing to say. I don't need to say anything.

Sure, there's a rare circumstance where something needs to be spoken about. That's a different story. But constantly going back into our problems and constantly wanting to talk about our problems and letting our problems become the actual thing that blocks us from progressing. That is the problem. That's the actual problem.

When a person progresses, their problems become secondary. And the problems of others become primary. And their goal becomes that I want to resolve the problems of others. And in the process, our problems get resolved. And in the process, we get a huge reward in this life and the next.

The Story of the Three Companions

If someone's hungry, then it's my problem to make sure they eat. Now look, there's a famous incident which we're all aware of. There's a famous incident that we're all aware of that there was a Sahaba on the battlefield who was dying of thirst. Somebody came and gave them water. And as they were about to give water, they heard another person calling for water.

So they didn't take the water. They pointed to that individual, right? And then they're about to be given water. The second person's about to be given water. And they hear another person calling for water. They didn't take the water. They point to the next individual.

So the person with the water goes and sees that the third individual has passed away. Comes back and sees that the second individual has passed away. Comes back and sees that the first individual has passed away.

So what is the circumstance there? The circumstance is that even in the clutches of death, even in the clutches of death from thirst, Sahaba preferred others over themselves. That was so embedded in them that even at the circumstance of near death, they were still preferring that another person get water even though they're dying of thirst themselves.

Our Blessings and Responsibility

We're not even in that circumstance. We're all living it up. We have all the blessings in the world. We have more than the kings that came before us. We have more food choices than the kings that came before us. We have more clothing choices than the kings that came before us. We have more comfort in our homes than the kings that came before us.

We have food from all over the world. We have the ability to communicate all over the world. We have the ability to study all over the world. What blessing haven't we been given? And yet we're still caught up in ourselves.

We have a responsibility upon ourselves to turn away from ourselves and to turn towards others. And part of that is the service of others and another part of that is the spreading of deen.

That is a sign that an individual has progressed.

Closing Dua

So, may Allah grant us the tawfiq to be among those who fall in love with deen. May He ignite our hearts with a passion of deen and may He make it such that we are able to spread the deen to all those who are around us.

Announcement

Just one quick announcement. Isha prayer is at 9 o'clock, adhan is at 8:45. So we're 20 seconds, 30 seconds away from the adhan. So again, adhan will be called in a few seconds and isha prayer is at 9 o'clock, which is in 15 minutes, inshallah.