The Hitchhiker s Guide to the Garden

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Garden

Opening and Quranic Recitation

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen wa kafa wa salamun ala ibadihil ladheena astafa khususan ala sayyidina wa habibina wa shafi'ina wa mawlana Muhammad rasulillahi wa khatimin nabiyyeen.

Wa ala alihi at-tayyibina at-tahireen wa ashabihi al-ghurril mayameen. Amma ba'da. Fa a'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajeem.

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem.

"Successful indeed are the believers: Who are humble in their prayers; And who turn away from ill talk; And who are active in paying zakah; And who guard their private parts Except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they will not be blamed - But whoever seeks beyond that, then those are the transgressors - And those who are to their trusts and promises attentive - And those who carefully maintain their prayers - Those are the inheritors: Who will inherit al-Firdaus. They will abide therein eternally."

Sadaqallahul Azeem. (Quran 23:1-11)

The Character of the Prophet Through Aisha's Eyes

Aisha radiallahu anha was one day asked, as Imam Bukhari narrates in his famous Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, that describe to us the Prophet ﷺ. And she replied back by saying, the Prophet ﷺ, his character was the Quran. The companion then probed forward and asked her, describe him further to us. And then while giving a further description of the Prophet ﷺ, Aisha radiallahu anha recited these opening verses of Surah Al-Mu'minoon.

The Successful Believers and Their Characteristics

In these verses Allah جل جلاله starts off by saying قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ. Indeed, those who believe in Allah are successful. Those who believe in Allah جل جلاله are successful.

But then after that, for the next verses that follow, in these verses Allah جل جلاله highlights certain characteristics that exist within those successful believers. Certain things that exist within them. Certain characteristics of theirs, that make them stand out amongst people.

The First Characteristic: Devotion in Prayer

And the first thing that Allah جل جلاله says from those things قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ . These are people who are very focused, they are devoted, they are fearing of Allah جل جلاله

when they pray. There is a narration, Imam Suyuti rahmatullahi alayhi quotes it in his tafsir, that when the sahaba of the Prophet ﷺ used to pray, at times they were turned right and left.

And at times they would even look upwards. There was no prohibition, so they would look a little to the right when praying at times, turn a little to the left, sometimes look up around. And then this verse was revealed that Allah جل جلاله says الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ

Those who are absolutely devoted and focused in their prayer. When this verse was revealed, the sahaba they mentioned after that day, it was known that the sahaba when they would pray, they would look at their point ahead of them and they would not move their eyes from there at all. And the scholars who do commentating of the Quran, they explain that this focus is not only internal, but it actually has an external form as well.

And what's the external form of the focus that while one is praying, you don't fidget around and move right to left. Now in order to understand the true meaning of this salah, why is it that Allah جل جلاله opens up the beautiful characteristics of the believer with salah, you have to see and understand that the Prophet ﷺ, when did he receive the revelation for salah? And what were the incidents that occurred before this revelation of salah came to him?

The Comparison to Abu Bakr's Prayer

You know the companions when they talk about Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu's prayer, they say, Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu when he prayed salah, it was as if someone took a stick and pushed it inside the ground.

When you put a stick in the ground, it doesn't move, it's focused, it's there. Because when these people prayed in front of Allah جل جلاله to them that was the most intimate moment that was the closest they were to Allah جل جلاله

The Year of Grief (Am ul-Huzn)

Now we all know that the Prophet ﷺ there was a year in his life known as the year of grief. You've heard this many times, especially those of us who are students of Islamic history.

There was a year, a particular year in the life of the Prophet ﷺ known as عام الحزن (Am ul-Huzn). This was a very tough year in the life of the Prophet ﷺ. Some of the incidents that build up to this year that made it so tough for the Prophet ﷺ, his beloved wife Khadijah radiallahu anha had passed away. And she was someone that was very close to the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ leaned on her for a lot of support.

The Prophet's Love for Khadijah

Even after Khadijah radiallahu anha had passed away, the Prophet's ﷺ love for her only increased. There were times when he would be sitting with his wife and he would talk about Khadijah. And he would talk

about her so excessively that his other wives would say, O Messenger of Allah, why do you talk about her when she's gone? We're here with you now.

And the Prophet ﷺ would say, Khadijah was Khadijah. Allah gave me children from her. All of my children were born through Khadijah.

And he was a person that even after his wife Khadijah passed away, when he would sacrifice animals, the meat, he would send it to the friends of Khadijah radiallahu anha. If he knew that she had friends that were around, he would send her gifts because out of remembrance for his wife.

The Support During First Revelation

Here the Prophet ﷺ receives the first revelation and he's shivering, he's shaking. And his wife Khadijah is the one who covers him in her sheet. She's covering him in her mantle and calming the Prophet ﷺ down. And this was an effect, this action of hers that lasted with the Prophet ﷺ. He loses his wife Khadijah radiallahu anha.

The Death of Abu Talib

The second thing that happens in that year, the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Talib, also dies. And he was like a fatherly figure to the Prophet ﷺ. And what bothered him, that made it so difficult when Abu Talib died, was that he died without Islam.

This is something that was very painful to the Prophet ﷺ because he was a messenger of Islam and the one thing he wanted was his uncle accepting Islam. Yet his uncle leaves the world without Islam.

The Journey to Ta'if

The third thing that happens in that year is the Prophet ﷺ, that was the year, the tenth year after Prophethood, the exact same year, that the boycott came to an end after three years.

There was a three-year boycott from the seventh year to the tenth year. And during that boycott, the Muslims were starved and many had died because of starvation. So the Prophet ﷺ, thinking that maybe there were other people who would be interested in Islam, he went to Ta'if.

The Rejection and Abuse

And when he comes to this area of Ta'if, the city of Ta'if, the people, not only did they reject him, but they abused him on the way out. Now this person who had gone through so much in his life, you know when you talk about, you lose your motivation. For you and I, if we talk about hitting rock bottom, the Prophet ﷺ didn't hit rock bottom.

He wasn't that type of person. But for a person like you, for average people like us, we would hit rock bottom at this point. And the Prophet ﷺ, he's leaving Ta'if, and not only have they rejected him, but

they're abusing him.

There are people that are swearing at him. People are throwing stones at him. And Zayd ibn Harithah radiallahu anhu, who was his adopted son, he says, I was by the side of the Prophet ﷺ that day.

The Prophet's Dua at Ta'if

And he ﷺ was bleeding so profusely. He was bleeding so profusely that he was covered in his own blood. You know, what would you and I know about the blood of the Prophet ﷺ? What would we know about that? But here Zayd ibn Harithah radiallahu anhu says that, I carried the Prophet ﷺ on my shoulder until we came outside Ta'if, and there was a boulder there.

I lowered him down there. And after lowering down the Prophet ﷺ, the Prophet ﷺ said to Zayd, give me some space. And Zayd ibn Harithah radiallahu anhu said, I stepped to the side, and I was looking at the Prophet ﷺ. I wanted to see how he would react to all this.

I mean, Allah did call him as the one who possessed the best of character. So I wanted to see how he would react. He said, I was standing by the side, and the Prophet ﷺ lifted his hands and put his face in his hands, and he started crying.

And he ﷺ cried and cried and cried. And then he said,

(Allahumma ashku ilayka du'fa quwwati wa qillata heelati). O Allah, this Prophet of yours doesn't have a habit of complaining, but today he's going to complain.

And the Prophet ﷺ complains to Allah اللَّهُمَّ أَشْكُو إِلَيْكَ. And what is he complaining of ضعْفَ قُوَّتِي وَقِلَّةَ حيلتي. O Allah, I'm complaining that I'm sorry that I wasn't strong enough when conveying the message to them.

I was weak. They were strong. They were worthy of the message. I just wasn't strong enough when I conveyed it. And then he continues on إِلَى مَنْ تَكِلْنِي إِلَى عَدْةٍ (ila man takiluni ila aduww). It's a long narration.

But in that narration, the Prophet ﷺ at the end of it, he says, O my Lord, if you are not angry with me, then I don't care about what happened today, we can do this again tomorrow. As long as you're not angry with me. The Prophet ﷺ returns back home and this was a very tough year.

The Night Journey and Mi'raj

The Prophet ﷺ is in the house of Umm Hani radiallahu anha. And he's lying there between two of his cousins one night. Jibril عليه السلام comes, he wakes up the Prophet ﷺ. He takes him to the Hatim, which is a semicircle around the Ka'bah, the house of Allah.

And he ﷺ opens up the heart of the Prophet ﷺ. Opens the chest of the Prophet ﷺ. Takes his heart out and washes it with the water of Zamzam. And then fills his heart with wisdom. And then he seals the heart of the Prophet ﷺ. And the journey of Isra and Mi'raj starts.

Leading the Prophets in Prayer

Now as a part of his journey, the Prophet ﷺ, his first stop was that he went to Bayt al-Maqdis in Palestine. And when he goes to Masjid al-Aqsa, all of the Prophets of Allah were gathered there. And the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was honored by Allah, that Allah allowed him to lead all of them in prayer.

And this was a sign that the Prophet ﷺ was an imam of the Anbiya. He was a leader of the Prophets of Allah. As the journey continues on, a point comes. Jibril عليه السلام, who was a companion of the Prophet ﷺ during his journey. That Jibril says, O Messenger of Allah, this is the furthest point where any creation has come to. Beyond here, the journey is yours alone.

No other creation of Allah has ever crossed this. And as a point, he says that, he's capturing the moment, he says, Jibril said to the Prophet ﷺ that, if I were to cross this line, I would burn and turn to ashes. You're on your own now.

The Gift of Salah

And the Prophet ﷺ continues on with his journey. And the Prophet ﷺ is having this beautiful intimate conversation with Allah جل جلاله And during that journey, the Prophet ﷺ, he is given salah. And the scholars, they say that, the reason why the Prophet ﷺ was given salah was because difficulties in life are only going to continue on.

They're only gonna continue. Challenges in life are only going to continue on. But you have to realize that every time you have a challenge, not every one of us can go on a mi'raj between the heavens and walk to the gardens of paradise and stand at the throne of Allah and get a moment to cry your eyes out there.

Not everyone has that chance. But what we do have a chance to is every time when we face our challenges, we lower ourselves down in front of Allah جل جلاله and pray our salah.

Salah as Comfort for the Prophet

The Prophet ﷺ he used to say to Bilal radiallahu anhu, (أَرِحْنَا يَا بِلَالٌ - Arihna ya Bilal).

He used to say to him, (أَرِحْنَا يَا بِلال - Arihna ya Bilal). He said, oh Bilal, why don't you give us some comfort? And Bilal radiallahu anhu knew when the Prophet ﷺ would say that, give us comfort, that means he wanted to hear the adhan. And Bilal radiallahu anhu would say, oh Messenger of Allah, let me give the adhan.

He would give the adhan and the people in Medina would gather together to pray in front of Allah جل جلاله. The companions, this they understood was their moment to connect with Allah جل جلاله And here

exiting the body does not break the wudu.

Because he says the sahabi was hit with the arrow, he continued to pray. He uses this hadith in his support, you'll find it in the books of fiqh. Now the interesting point here, that sahabi says, I was enjoying my prayer so much, I didn't feel the pain of the arrows in my body.

The only reason why I broke my prayer was because I thought I might bleed out to death, and then the Prophet's life would be at risk. So then I said, assalamu alaikum, assalamu alaikum, broke my prayer, and then I woke other sahaba. Now this sahabi literally almost died praying salah.

Because they could do that. There was a connection there. Everyone asks this question.

Building Devotion in Prayer

We go to universities, we go to colleges, high schools, wherever you go, everyone's got the same question. Shaykh, you keep talking about (الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ - alladhina hum fi salatihim khashi'un) are devoted in their prayer, and how there was a generation that was so devoted in their prayer. How do we create that devotion in our prayer? Is that a good question? Fair? Yes? No? I mean, how do we create devotion in our prayer? Okay, we've heard the story that there was a generation,

"That was a nation which has passed on. It will have [the consequence of] what it earned, and you will have what you have earned."

was a generation that's passed away, for them is what they earned, for you will be what you've earned.

How do I build that devotion in my prayer? So someone asked the scholar. He said to him, dear Shaykh, how do I build devotion in my prayer? So the Shaykh said to him, it's very simple. It's a three-step process.

The Three Steps: Ma'rifah, Mahabbah, and Ibadah

It's called (مَعْرِفَة - Ma'rifah) (مَحَبّة - Mahabbah), and then (عِبَادَة - Ibadah). Does that make any sense to you guys? Yes or no? Anyone know about the word... Let's work backwards. What does the word عِبَادَة mean? Worship, okay, so that's the third one.

He said عِبَادَة is preceded by مَحَبّة. What does مَحَبّة mean? Love. And he said مَحَبّة is preceded by معرفة. What does مَعْرِفَة mean? Awareness, knowledge, to recognize, to be aware of. So what he's saying is this, that in order for your عِبَادَة to be considered an عِبَادَة you have to love the one you're doing عِبَادَة to. And in order for you to love that person, first you have to know them.

If you know Allah, you have an awareness of who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala actually is. How many of us can take this mic, literally, and talk about Allah with so much passion and love and detail, that we can

bring this crowd into tears? Because there were people who simply just by hearing Allah's name, their hearts would tremble. That was a nation.

They knew their Allah so well. They had seen the power of Allah in their lives on so many turns. And we've seen it too. We've seen Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's ability and power and qudrah, His blessings in our life on a day to day basis. But we just forget to attribute them to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We end up attributing them to science, maybe their extra neighbor's dog.

We'll attribute them to our TV. Maybe I'll attribute them to Sherlock Holmes. We'll attribute them to someone random. But we don't think about attributing it to Allah. But for them, everything they attributed back to Allah. And because of that, they knew who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was.

They know Allah. Once you come to know Allah, then you can love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's why Allah in the Quran again and again, He keeps talking about Himself.

"He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed. He is the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, the Sovereign, the Pure, the Perfection, the Bestower of Faith, the Overseer, the Exalted in Might, the Compeller, the Superior. Exalted is Allah above whatever they associate with Him."

These verses continue on.

"Allah - there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of existence. Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep."

Allah is talking about His might. Allah is talking about His power. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is talking about His ability, His qudrah. But we have to establish our connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala first.

The Three Levels of Love

The second thing once you know who Allah is, the second thing now is learning to love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You have to develop that love with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the love has to be unconditional love.

The scholars say there are three levels of love. The first is what we call حُبُّ الصِّفَاتِ حُبُّ الْإِحْسَانِ، حُبُّ الذَّاتِ. The first is حُبُّ الْإِحْسَانِ which means you love someone because they favor you, you love me. You favor me, I love you. Now, you can call that love but it's a very cheap level of love. The reason is because in our communities we call that being self-centered.

Where someone does you a favor, you love them. They don't do you a favor, you leave them. The cheapest love that's on the market.

The second love that you have is what we call حُبُّ الصِّفَاتِ حُبُّ الصِّفات means you love someone because of certain characteristics. Because of how tall they are, because what kind of hair they have, what kind of eyes they have, what color hijab they wear. So now, these unique characteristics of theirs make you love them.

That's also quite cheap. The reason is because what happens when those characteristics go? What happens when you get married to a girl and ten years down the line she doesn't look the same? You know, this happened once. I'll tell you guys a story.

I'll tell you guys a story. Listen, I'll tell you a real story. I won't mention any names though. There was a sister, she came crying to me. She said, Sheikh, this guy played me. I said, well, I've heard that one a lot before.

But what happened? Tell me your story. She said, well, I met this guy, you know, junior year of college. We talked to each other, we liked each other. We dated for a full year. We made commitments that we were going to get married to each other. His parents shipped him off to medical school.

And we agreed we want to talk to each other. We want to be friends on Facebook. So they kind of cut off, literally cut off. Now, so many years later, he just graduated and came back. And she went to fulfill the commitment. She said, you're down to get married? He said, no.

She was hurt. She said, Sheikh, I waited for him all those years and he just played me. So I called him, and I called her too. She was there, he was there. And I said to him, why would you do that to her? Why did you make the commitment in the first place? But if you made the commitment, you should, unless you have valid reasons. He said, Sheikh, six years ago, she was 120.

Oh my God. So what does that mean? You guys understand that? She wasn't 160, she was 120 six years ago. And since that characteristic is gone, the love is gone too. That characteristic is gone, the transaction is gone. I can't marry this person anymore. How am I going to carry this person around? No, no, no, wait a minute.

No, no, I'm trying to explain to you something. Look, Wallahi, I don't mean that in a bad way. I'm trying to explain to you the point that I'm making. The point that I'm making is this, that the characteristic is what this person was holding on to. When in reality, love means so much more than that. This is the point that I'm trying to make.

This is the real point that I'm trying to make. It's the characteristic that you can't hold on to. That's why I call it the second level of love.

The Highest Level of Love

The third level of love, which is what we call the real love. It's what we call حُبُّ الذَّاتِ. When you come to know a person so much, when you come to know them so much, that you now love that person for who they are, no matter whatever their features are.

You ever thought about this sometimes, that how your mom and dad, you ever seen their marriage pictures, and they're like, you know, cuties, mashallah. And you're looking at them now, and they're still cuties, but they're cuties like, mashallah cuties now. And you're comparing the pictures like, mashallah and mashallah.

But they still love each other a lot. Have you noticed that? And the reason is because that love is not an infatuation. You know, there's a discussion in psychology, for those of you guys who are psych majors, right? Passionate and compassionate love.

You guys read about this? Any of you who are interested in getting married, this is very important. Especially when we do marriage counseling, it's a very important theory. It helps solve so many marriages.

It's called passionate and compassionate love. And they say that every love starts as passionate. The passionate love must exist throughout the marriage. But in order for your marriage to last, you have to transition from passionate to compassionate. And our parents reach a level in their marriage, where now their love is compassionate. It's more than just passion.

It's more than just infatuation. There's so much more meaning to it. When the father looks at his wife, when the husband looks at his wife, his sixty-year-old queen, he thinks to himself, mashallah, she was the mother of my kids.

She was the one that looked after them. She looks after me. And she looks at her husband and says, he stuck through with me, with all of my drama. Literally, their love is so much more meaningful because they love each other for who they are. They can't live without, because it's a higher thing here.

There was an incident, they mentioned that. There was a king, he called one of his advisors, the city's advisor, find me the most beautiful child in my kingdom. Find me the most beautiful kid there is. So this advisor of his, he went city to city, town to town to find the most beautiful kid.

He came back a few weeks later with this kid, and the king's looking at him, this kid is tall, lanky, anorexic, horrible skin tone, his hair is all over the place. He says, are you serious? This is the most beautiful thing in my kingdom? The advisor says to him, he says to him, dear king, you asked me to find the most beautiful child in your kingdom. I looked through all the cities, but when I came back last night, and I was thinking about the most beautiful one I've seen, I realized that in my eyes, there would never be anyone more beautiful than my own son.

So I had to bring him in. Because that's what you call حُبُّ الذَّاتِ You know a mother can give birth to a defective child, but do you think she just leave him in the hospital, and come back home alone? No.

Because it's more than that. It's a higher level of love. But whether you're in difficulty, whether you're in ease, Ayyub (عليه السلام)'s story is a witness to this. Ayyub (عليه السلام) has gone through everything. He's suffering from illness, right? He's lost his children, lost his land. He's lost so much.

But yet at the end of it, when he's lying down, if you would put your ear against his mouth, he would be praising Allah. Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illallah, Allahu Akbar. These were men of resolve.

The Prophet has gone through so much, and he's lying there praising Allah. They had a connection. There was love there.

Examples of Love for Allah

You know when you have that love, it's something different. The things that you can never imagine, joy lying there, you're enjoying those things. Here, Bilal ibn Abi Rabbah radiallahu anhu, is lying on his deathbed.

Bilal radiallahu anhu is dying. And when he's passing away, his wife is crying and she's saying, Wa Karbah, Wa Karbah, what a difficult day, what a difficult day, my husband's dying, she's crying. And he says to her, don't cry, don't cry.

Today is not a difficult day, today is actually a very good day. He's saying this while he's lying on his deathbed. And she says to him, what are you talking about? How is today a good day? He says (غَدًا تَلْقَى مُحَمَّدًا وَحِزْبَهُ - Ghadan nalqa Muhammadan wa hizbahu) I've been waiting for this day, I'm going to meet the Prophet finally.

You know, death, which is such a difficult thing, has now become so beautiful for him, because he's waiting to meet the Prophet. He's been yearning to meet the Prophet for all these years, and now it's something that's pushing him forward. So this is the nature of love.

Come to know your Lord, you can then love Him. And once you love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, trust me, you don't need alarms to wake you up for Salah anymore.

How Did They Wake Up for Prayer?

You know, think about this realistically. How did the Prophet wake up for Tahajjud Salah? It's a serious question. Okay, duas were there, other than that. I mean, I'm going from a physical standpoint, not philosophical.

Did they have an alarm clock? Animals were asleep at that time as well. The rooster would wake up for Fajr, we know that. That's in the hadith,

"When you hear the crowing of roosters, ask for Allah's bounty." (Bukhari 3303)

The rooster was asleep at that time. People are sleeping. How was the Prophet ﷺ waking up for Tahajjud Salah? It was his love that drove him to wake up for Tahajjud Salah. It's kind of like if I told you that your girlfriend's waiting for you, or someone that you love is waiting for you, let's say it's your girlfriend.

Someone that you love very dearly is waiting for you and they said they want to meet you at 10 p.m. and you were asleep at 9, do you really need an alarm to wake you up at 10? Let me give you a better example, okay? You know, we're all... MashaAllah, right? You guys are really into this one. Someone says to you that, you know, I'll give you a free ticket for Umrah, but the catch is that the plane leaves at 3 a.m. in the morning, or 4 a.m. You have to wake up at 2 a.m. Would you take the ticket or leave it? Take it, right? It's free, come on, right? That's why I said, you guys are really into this. I'd take the free ticket.

But the catch is that you have to wake up at 2 a.m. Would you really need an alarm to wake up at 2 a.m.? No, you probably wouldn't sleep all night because you're so excited, you're so hyped. You know, I'm gonna go for Umrah for free. There's a hype of going for Umrah, and there's a hype of going for free.

So there's two hypes here. You'll stay awake all night. And here you have, you know, the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahaba, they were so excited about their tahajjud salah, they didn't need anyone to wake them up, they woke up themselves.

Modern Struggles with Waking Up

You know, I remember once I went to a dorm, one dorm room in a university, before I landed and I had a crazy day. So I actually gave a lecture in one state, I flew into a state, gave a lecture there, flew out, went to another state, and then I gave a lecture there, and I was supposed to fly back to Chicago, I was like, okay, there's already one here. And when I got to the second venue, I was tired because I had traveled, you know, three states already.

So I was tired and exhausted, so I said to the brothers that, you know what, I need to lie down somewhere and rest. So they took me to one of the dorms. Never go to a dorm to get rest. Advice from a friend. So I got there and I said, guys, please, you know, I don't mean to be harsh, but just make sure the bed sheets are clean, and the place is clean. So they cleared it up, I got there, I lied down for a little bit.

And you won't believe this, the alarm clock next to me, I looked at it, it was funny, I actually have a picture on my phone. It was an alarm clock, you know where the snooze button is? He had taped a blade there. Now why in the world would someone tape a blade on their snooze button? You ever thought about that? You know why? So you wake up.

So you wake up. I went to a friend's house once, and I remember he was telling me, they had a small little house in Chicago, so the women and the kids were in the living room, they needed more space, the kids were running around. So we were inside the bedroom, it was a one bedroom little studio.

So we were sitting inside his bedroom, and my friend and another friend was there, he was there, and we were all just sitting in his room, and I said to him that, you know, bro, what happened to that mirror there? Right in front of his bed, at 12 o'clock there was a mirror there, and it was broken. So I said, what happened to that mirror? He said, Mufti, it's better you don't ask. Now in Arabic there's a saying, (مَا نُهِيَ الْإِنْسَانُ عَنْهُ فَفِيهِ حَدِيثُ - ma nuhiya al'insanu 'anhu fa fihi hadith) which means that once you've been prevented from something, you gotta know.

So I said, no, I gotta know, what happened to that mirror? He said, no, Mufti, you don't wanna know. I said, no, I really wanna know now, what happened? So he said to me, actually what happened was that one morning we woke up for Fajr, the alarm was going off, I said to my wife, turn it off. She said, no, it's your turn, you turn it off.

So I said, no, you turn it off. And we started going back and forth, she got mad, she picked up the alarm, and that's what happened. Look at the state of the ummah. It's shocking. Look at our state for Fajr Salah. We're not even talking about the Tahajjud yet.

I went to Hajj a few years back, I'm not sorry. And there was a young man who was my roomie. It was so hilarious because when we checked into the room, this young guy comes up to me, and I was happy, mashallah.

So he's really excited, and he comes to me and says, Sheikh, let's get some rest, it's night time, let's get some rest, tomorrow morning I'll wake you up for Tahajjud. So mashallah, that's some confidence there. What makes you so excited that you're gonna wake up for Tahajjud before me? So he says to me, I have an app on my phone.

I was like, okay, I have one too. Tell me something new, right? And he's like, well, I have a special app, it's a paid app. I was like, okay, that's something new, I don't need my app. So what's this app about, right? This guy tells me that, Sheikh, this app right here, it's an alarm clock, and in order for the alarm clock to go off, you have to answer three mathematical formulas correct in a row. Have you guys ever seen that app? Yes, you guys have seen it, okay. And I'm thinking to myself, is this what we really have to go through to wake up? Is this something that means nothing to us? Now, you're looking on the other hand, the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahaba, look at their love.

Their love was such. You know, Aisha radiallahu anha says, sometimes the Prophet ﷺ, he would keep asking me, Aisha, is it time yet? He would lie down next to me at night and then he would ask me, Aisha, is it time? Time for what? For tahajjud. And she said, he would repeatedly keep asking me until the entire night would pass by and he would miss out on his sleep.

He would miss his sleep because he was anticipating and waiting for his salah. This is something very serious, my friends. And if we're talking about the road to Jannah, if that's a topic for this lecture, then we have 10 verses here, there's so much to talk about in these verses.

But I feel like the first verse is the punchline. That is the punchline. If you're walking away from this seminar, this weekend, this day, this conference, if you're walking away from this with something, the one thing that I can offer to you in today is that I want you to walk away knowing that we have to change our attitude towards our salah.

The Need for Revolution in Our Hearts

It really has to change. Shaykh Hasan al-Banna said something very beautiful. He said, the ummah will never see a revolution if our revolutionists talk about a revolution all night, but are never there for fajr salah.

Because revolutions don't happen by words. Otherwise we see a revolution every other day. Revolutions occur by actions. You need people that want to do something, not people that talk. Because talk is very cheap, my friends. Anyone can get up and yak their mouth and talk.

It's not about talk. It's about doing something. And there are so many things we can do. But one of the best things you can do is make yourself punctual and particular on your salah. Right from the moment, right from the beginning. When it comes time for you to pray salah, let's build ourselves right from there.

In order to focus on that salah, I'm just gonna highlight the three points that I mentioned, one or two more points and we'll close down. In order to focus on that salah

There are three things I told you. First, know the one you're worshipping. Love the one you're worshipping. And then we can talk about worshipping. That's when you're really gonna find out what ibadah and what worship is.

Addressing the "I Don't Feel It" Excuse

Now one point I want to address here, which is that many of us feel that there's no need to pray salah because we don't feel it. You guys know what I'm talking about? You know, we get people in our community that say, I don't pray salah because I don't feel it. I don't feel that spiritual thing so I don't pray it.

So Imam Al-Ghazali rahmatullahi alayhi, he has a very beautiful discussion on this issue. He says that if you don't feel it, that doesn't justify you not praying. He says you have to pray, you have to involve in the physical action, and then the feel is something that comes along the journey.

It's something that comes the more advanced you get. You can't expect yourself to be a black belt if you were never a white belt in a martial arts. You know, there's a saying, they say, black belts are white belts

who never give up.

That's what they are. Black belts are white belts who don't give up. So the khushu is actually people who continue praying, praying, praying, praying, praying, and they never gave up.

And that's how you build it. Shaykh Hussain Ibn Tahan rahmatullahi alayhi said something very beautiful. He said that most acts of worship start off as a show off, they then turn into a habit, and then later on at some point they actually turn into worship.

Most acts of worship they start off as riya, turn into adah, and then they turn into ibadah. They start off as a show off, it becomes a habit at some point, and then after becoming a habit you think to yourself, I've been doing it for all these years, I might as well be sincere. And then there the sincerity comes in.

So focus on this, give it attention, know that this is something that requires great attention, and if we can put this one block into place, so many things will fall into their place.

Review of the Verses

I just want to read through the verses that I recited at the beginning. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,

Indeed the believers are successful.

Those who are very focused and sincere while they're praying in front of their Lord.

And those who turn away from useless things. They don't involve in useless things, they don't have time for that, useless discussion, things that don't benefit them, they don't get involved with them because they have so many things they need to be concerned about, those things that do not concern them, they don't have time for them. So why are we talking about people that we don't need to talk about? Why are we engaging in things that we don't need to engage in? The things that we engage in that don't require our attention are diverting us from things that need us to be engaged in.

You guys understand what I'm saying here? Staying focused. You're a part of a conversation, you see someone's talking about something that doesn't help you, leave there, walk away. Stay yourself, keep yourself in things that will make you productive.

Those who give their charity with their wealth, they give their zakah. Your love for your wealth doesn't prevent you from spending in the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. No matter how much you think you

need your wealth, Allah is the one who gave it to you.

If the obligation is there, zakah is upon you, you should be the first person to go and give it. The next thing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,

They safeguard their private areas. You know, this is a perfect discussion for a college setting, for a university setting. Safeguarding yourself. This is an age that it's so difficult. Your carnal desires are exploding.

Or may I say imploding. You're like, you don't know where to go. Run right, run left. All that's on your mind is Nikah. That's the most important word right now. How do I get Nikah? It's turned into a verb in English.

People call it Nikah. How do I get Nikah? How do I get married? That's the only thing that's on your mind. Every time you look at someone you think to yourself, that may be a potential. So you have to remember one thing. First of all, the MSA isn't the best place to find a married spouse. Your parents won't be happy.

But anyway, other than that, you have to control yourself. This is something very important. Learning to keep yourself under control. The Prophet ﷺ, he encouraged the Sahaba that if you can get married at a young age, it's good. But if you can't get married, you know that it's not in your reach right now, you're not financially stable, you're not emotionally stable, you can't do it, then that's where restraint comes in. You fast, you lower your gaze, you remind yourself that Allah جل جلاله is watching you.

Stay away from looking at images that will excite you. Stay away from being in gatherings that will harm you spiritually. Because these feelings, they burn away your spirituality.

Allah جل جلاله says

They safeguard themselves. With their spouse. Or those whom their right hands possess. For they are not blameworthy in them. Whoever seeks fulfillment of their desires beyond this are the transgressors.

Those who are punctual with their prayer. We started off with prayer, and what does it all close off with again? It closes with prayer again.

Those who are punctual with their prayer.

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