Joe Bradford - 5-16-25

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Alhamdulillah, all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, who created and perfected and decreed and guided.

And I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship but God alone, and that Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is his slave and messenger. May Allah send peace and blessings upon him and his family and those that follow them in righteousness until the day of judgment. Allah Ta'ala said, O you who believe, fear Allah as He should, and do not die except as Muslims.

O you who believe, be mindful of Allah as He should be minded. Fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims. Allah Ta'ala said, And hold fast to the rope of Allah altogether, and do not differ amongst yourselves.

Allah Ta'ala has promised those who are steadfast in His path an immense reward. When He Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said, Indeed those who have said, Our Lord is Allah, and then they remain steadfast. Indeed those who have said, Our Lord is Allah, and then they remain steadfast. Indeed those who have said, Our Lord is Allah, and then they remain steadfast. Angels will descend upon them saying, Do not fear, nor have any grief, but receive good tidings of paradise which you have been promised.

We angels are your allies both in this worldly life as well as in that hereafter. Therein you will have whatever your souls desire and you will have therein whatever you request as an accommodation from a forgiving and merciful Lord. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentions this immense reward for whom? For those who believe and then remain steadfast. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, or he was asked rather, by Sufyan Ibn Abdullah Al-Thaqafi.

Tell me something that I can only hear from you. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 38)

Say, I believe in Allah, then be steadfast. Steadfastness in these ayats and these ahadith which warrant this immense reward mean moderation.

The Balanced Path of Faith

Does not mean the extreme of becoming lax and giving no importance to your faith whatsoever. Nor does it mean the extreme of going to extremes and being harsh and arrogant. It's a balanced path between these extremes of extremism and laxity.

Shaytan's strategy, when he sees people trying to improve their lives, trying to better themselves and their faith, trying to do more of what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala wants of them, when he sees them inclined towards good, he then tempts them. But he doesn't tempt them with those things that they would know would take them away from him. They would know would take them away from Allah.

He tempts them with those things that take them to excess. They become excessive in the way that they look at their faith. They become excessive and so strict on themselves, that eventually they abandon faith altogether.

Or they develop a public appearance of faith, but in private they leave monstrous lives. This is one of shaytan's paths. He won't come to the person who's fasting and praying and tell him to go and drink in club.

He's not going to do that. But what is he going to do? He's going to come and say, because you fast and you pray, you are better than others. So fast and pray more.

Now you're even better. He will drive them through the worst of character, coupled by the best of actions, out of the deen completely. And on the flip side of this, is when he, that is shaytan, when he sees someone who is drawn to sin, who doesn't take their faith seriously, doesn't take the rights of their body and their family and their Lord seriously, what does he do? He's not going to tempt this person through more prayer.

He's going to tempt this person through more sin, through more laxity, by saying, you're fine, you're doing just fine. In fact, you can do more of it, because none of that matters. All of the things that people are telling you are harmful for you, are not harmful.

All of the things that people are telling you are sinful, are not sinful. Continue on that path until he does what? Until he finds himself in the same position as the first person. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded his Prophet, and through him commanded us:

Be steadfast as you have been commanded. You and those who return to Allah with you, and do not transgress. So our transgressions happen in one way or another. They happen through us making things more difficult for ourselves than they have to be.

Or treating things extremely laxly, when they should not be treated lax at all. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 39)

This deen is ease. And no one will buck this deen except that it will throw him off.

This is the imagery of a person who is taming a horse, who is riding a bronco. You wanna get on to a horse, and try and force it into submission, it's gonna throw you off. You want to approach things with calm, with collectedness, with a mindset that you're there to benefit, then you'll be in that middle path, and you'll be saved from those extremes.

Seeking Help from Allah

Because complete steadfastness is beyond our human capacity alone. We cannot do this by ourselves. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, in many verses of the Qur'an, pairs this with forgiveness.

He says:

So be steadfast towards Him, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and seek His forgiveness. So we cannot do this alone. But the steadfastness that we seek, we also have to seek help for from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said:

(Sahih Ibn Majah, Hadith 277)

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Therefore, سَدِّدُوا وَقَارِبُوا Plug in the holes. Come close as you can to your goal. And understand that your best action, or the best action you can perform, is your prayer.

And that no one preserves or sticks to his wudu, sticks to cleanliness and hygiene, sticks to his ablution, except for a believer. Prayer is the pillar of our faith. It maintains and it preserves our faith.

And whoever neglects their prayer, neglects their faith in its entirety. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

And establish the prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing. And the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows that which you do. And Allah says:

Those who are constant in prayer, they will be in gardens, honored.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also says, Maintain and take care of your obligatory prayers, especially the middle prayer, meaning Salatul Asr. And stand before Allah, devout and obedient.

The Middle Path of Consistency

The Prophet ﷺ, to help us solve this riddle of extreme harshness or extreme laxity, he gave us the middle path. And that middle path is continuity. Continuity and consistency in the small effective actions that we do every day.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 43)

Take to those actions that you're able to perform, because Allah does not bore of your actions when you become bore of them.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6464)

He also ﷺ said, The most beloved of acts to Allah are those that are done most consistently, even if they are small.

The Story of the Three Young Men

Three men during the life of the Prophet ﷺ, three young men, they heard of the Prophet ﷺ's prayer, they said, we can never pray like this. They heard of his fasting, they thought we can never fast like this.

They heard of him marrying, they said, we can never do that. So one of them said, I'm going to pray all night, I'm never going to sleep. The other said, I'm going to fast every single day, I'm never going to break my fast.

And the third one said, I will never get married. When the Prophet ﷺ was told of these three young men, he said, call them to me. He said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5063)

He said, as for me, I pray at night and I sleep sometimes, and I fast during the day, and I break my fast, and I marry women. So whoever seeks other than my sunnah, is not from me.

The sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ is consistency, continuity, and moderation. This act of moderation is something that Allah ﷻ encourages us to seek every single day.

The Straight Path

The path that we ask for in our salah:

Guide us to the straight path, the path of those that you have favored, not the path of those who have evoked your anger, nor of those who have gone astray. The path that Allah ﷻ has favored belongs to those who are obedient to Him and following the footsteps of the righteous.

And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, they will be with those whom Allah has bestowed His favor upon from the Prophets and the Siddiqin and the martyrs and the righteous and how excellent of companions are they.

We therefore seek refuge in Allah ﷻ from the path of those who went astray through ignorance without guidance and the path of those who incurred His anger through knowledge without action. Those who are misguided because of their extreme ignorance and those who earned His anger because of their extreme laxity. Allah ﷻ tells us of the great reward of steadfastness in these verses that we started with.

Indeed, those who say, our Lord is Allah and then they are steadfast, the angels descend upon them, saying, do not fear and do not grieve and receive glad tidings of paradise which you were promised. We are your allies in this world as well as in the hereafter. You will have those things that your soul desires and whatever you request therein an accommodation from your Lord.

Eight immense rewards, each of them special for whom? For the person who remains steadfast. May Allah ﷻ guide us all and grant us the success and the ability to remain steadfast, to maintain the path of righteousness in our speech and our actions.

Modern Distractions and the Path of Steadfastness

Understand that one of the greatest obstacles to steadfastness today are all of the things that we have that distract us in our daily lives. Trials and tribulations that lead people astray from Allah's path. Especially the distractions of social media and electronics and technology and digital communication that have not only clouded our judgment but have extremely dominated everything that we do in every aspect of our lives.

Many people have gone astray. They become extremely lax or extremely extreme in their faith because of the influence of social media and the influence of digital communication. It is therefore incumbent upon each and every one of us to not only be steadfast in our faith but to be moderate and economical in our consumption of all things whether those things are online or in real life.

Many people are taken away from their prayers taken away from family time taken away from their obligations by all of these distractions. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us from them.

So my advice to you brothers and sisters is do not let these things dominate your family life. Do not let them dominate your personal time. But turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in forgiveness. Seek Him and repent to Him. And make the best of the time that you have for you don't know when your soul may be taken.

If you cannot let these things into your home then that is best. And if you do let them into your home then you must have rules. Otherwise you will find not only yourself but your children not only distracted but many times let down the wrong path.

Oh Allah! Oh Allah! We are Your servants and we ask You to protect us and protect our faith from these trials and these tribulations.

Sending Peace and Blessings

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala orders us with something that He started on His own. And He mentions His angels secondly and then mentions us as believers with this command.

Indeed Allah confers His blessings upon the Prophet as do His angels. Oh you who believe then ask Allah to confer His blessings upon him and ask Him to grant him peace.

Oh Allah send peace and blessings upon Your servant the Messenger of Muhammad ﷺ upon his rightly guided successors Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali and all the companions of the Prophet ﷺ and all those who follow them in righteousness until the Day of Judgment.

Oh Allah strengthen Islam and Muslims and destroy shirk and those that support it. Oh Allah we ask You for safety and security for peace and for submission to You alone. Oh Allah protect the blood of Muslims.

Oh Allah protect the blood of Muslims. Oh Allah support our brothers and sisters in Gaza. Oh Allah support our brothers and sisters in Gaza.

Oh Allah protect their blood. Oh Allah give victory to our weakened brothers and sisters in Gaza. Oh Allah protect their lives and protect their blood.

Oh Allah protect those who wronged them. Oh Allah protect those who wronged them. And those who have helped them in that wrong.