Divine Light For Living Right

And we always have this overriding issue, that the Maker is the one who deserves worship. The one who made me, I owe him my entire existence. So I will call him the worshipped one.

And if we take a look at the root of the word Allah, which is the name given to that deity, we will find that it also includes in its meaning, the worshipped one. Aliha ya'lahu, to worship the one who is worshipped. Al ma'luh, the one who is worshipped. Allah. So if I say Allahu Akbar, in essence all I'm saying is, the one who is worshipped is the greatest. So who is the one who is worshipped? He who made me.

Whoever made me, I call him the worshipped one. He is one, he is singular, he is alone. I am not allowed to worship anything or anyone besides he who made me.

Whether it is a human being, whether it is a tree or a stick or a stone or a source of power besides he who is the Maker or a prophet of the Almighty or a saint or a grave or a tree. No. My life is once.

It is absurd for me to risk that life by worshipping that which I would be risking my entire life by, worshipping that which is created just like I am. I need to worship the Maker alone. So if I were to say for example, the name of an individual and I were to say I worship him, what a big risk I'm taking because I'd rather say I worship the one who made me.

And this is why if you take a look at the Arabic language, the term Rabb is used when we say:

All praise is due to the worshipped one. Lord of the worlds.

When we say Lord of the worlds, the term Lord is used because the English language does not have the exact equivalent of the word Rabbun. Whereas Rabb in the Arabic language includes or would mean the one who made you in the first place, the one who nourishes, cherishes, provides for, the one who is in absolute control of every aspect of your life and mine, every aspect of existence, the one whom we are going to return to all this part and parcel of the term Rabb. So when we say Rabbun, we're actually referring to the maker, the cherisher, the provider, the one, he alone, the irresistible.

The Beautiful Names of Allah

And for this reason, if we were to be bothered and we were to take a careful look at the names and qualities of the Almighty Allah, we would understand who he is much better. And for this reason, Muhammad ﷺ has explained to us:

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

That the Almighty has many names, many qualities. Whosoever memorizes, understands, and lives by the meanings of 99 of these names by the will of Allah, he will be granted paradise.

Because now, you have recognized your maker. You recognize your maker? You stand a great chance inshaAllah of entering the garden. May Allah grant us that garden.

May the Almighty grant us really that which is blissful in this world and that which is eternally blissful in the life after death.

The Common Source of Divine Light

My brothers and sisters, it is important for us to recognize and realize the source of the light. The source of the light from the maker himself.

He has sent the messengers. If you take a look at the common points between the Semitic religions, you will find definitely that their source is one. Take a look at the time of Muhammad ﷺ when he sent the messenger to the Negus of Abyssinia and Najashi, and this man was a staunch Christian, devout Christian, when he read verses of the Quran or when they were recited for him by one of the companions known as Ja'far ibn Abi Talib (may Allah's peace and mercy be upon them all).

Immediately he said, you know, the message that Jesus may peace be upon him brought, and this message you are reading for me now, hails from the same lantern. It actually is the light of the same lantern. It comes from the same source.

He recognized it was light. It has something in it that will pull you. It is magnetic.

It has a feeling of soothingness within it. We ask the Almighty to grant us from that. So, when he recognized the light, immediately he said, this is the light recognized by me as being that from the same source as what Jesus may peace be upon him came with.

Our Mission in Life

My brothers and sisters, we need to realize that if we do not make an effort to read, if we do not make an effort to find out, we definitely will be from the losers. We need to educate ourselves. What is it that the Almighty wants from me? I have a life that is so short.

When I die, am I just going to go into thin air? Am I just going to be a person who's going to go back into the atmosphere? Am I going to be a person who's going to become a tree and a plant and so on? These are questions that are pertinent. They are questions that need answers for me and you to understand. And the best, the best, if you look at the bulk of those who have looked into the light, they will tell you no way.

Indeed there is definitely somewhere we are heading and indeed we need to prepare for the day we leave because this world is just short and temporary. I need at this moment to make sure that I live my life such that I reach out to as many people whilst I'm here.

You are living, how long are you going to live for? You don't have a guarantee.

How long are you going to be here for? So your mission here is one of two things or both of these things. The first is to develop a link with He who made you because you are definitely going to return to Him. So when we put our head on the ground in what is known as the prostration or sujood, we would say:

Declaring the praise of He who made us, who is the highest, the Rabb.

I am putting my head on the ground for whoever made me. Wow, subhanallah. The feeling is something amazing.

I put my head on the ground. A lot of the times people have a misunderstanding. When we are not educated well enough, we think, why are these people putting their heads on the ground? What for? Do they worship a black box in Mecca? Or perhaps do they worship a little saint or someone else who is here or there? No.

We are saying, Glory be to You, the Most High, the One who made me, the One who nourishes, the One who is in absolute control of every aspect of my existence. I owe this to You that I put my head on the ground for You and I worship You alone.

In the first surah of the Quran, known as surah al-Fatiha, and I'm sure we would all, or the bulk of us, would know it by heart, Allah clearly makes mention of one of the major aspects of the iman.

And that is, You alone we worship, You alone we seek help. So when we seek help from the Almighty alone, and when we worship, we worship Him alone. We ask Allah to grant us understanding.

Reaching Out to Others

The first thing is to develop a link with our Maker. The second thing is to reach out to the rest of the creatures of the Almighty. Firstly, starting with human beings.

We always preach being kind to your family, being good to those around you, your relatives, your parents have been chosen for you, not by error, not by coincidence, not by mistake. Carefully planned and selected by the Almighty who made you, He made you, and He chose a means of creation through parents known as your parents. So you owe them a lot, be they Muslim or not Muslim.

Be they of any faith, you owe them the respect. You owe them obedience for as long as they do not instruct you to do something absurd that does not conform with that which the Almighty has instructed. Because obviously this ultimate Maker instructs you with one thing, if those whom He chose to make you through have instructed you with something contradictory, who would come first? The ultimate Maker.

May Allah grant us an understanding. So, develop the link with your parents, ensure that you speak with them correctly, ensure that you reach out to them, like I said, be they Muslim or not. Make sure that you serve them.

Make sure that you do not abandon them. Make sure that you excuse them sometimes perhaps for a few things they may have done that might not be that correct. A lot of the times we fail to understand that they too are human beings trying.

Many of us here who are parents, we have children, we are so concerned, especially in the environment that is ever changing so quickly. We are so concerned about the upbringing of our children and we try. And sometimes we might have said a harsh word. We hope and pray that our children can overlook that. Understanding that it's the love we have for them that would make us sometimes perhaps be so passionate about them seeing the straight path. May Allah grant us goodness.

Then we reach out to our brothers, our sisters, our children, our grandparents, our uncles and aunts, the rest of the community and thereafter, the entire ummah, the Muslims, the non-Muslims, and everyone, whether they think similar to you or not, how have you reached out to them positively? That's the question. People today, very very impatiently look at those who do not think exactly like them and say, this man is a hate preacher. That one there is intolerant.

This person is this and that person is that. This one does not deserve to be living. Who are we to say that? We need to ask ourselves, how can we reach out positively to everyone we interact with? How can we reach out to the maximum number of people? That is in fact Islam.

Kindness to All Creatures

That is the source of the light. That is the light through which you shall be living right. May Allah grant us correctness and uprightness of living.

So, if we are not prepared to reach out to fellow human beings, how are we going to reach out to the rest of the creatures of the almighty such as animals? I know of some people who say, what does Islam teach about being kind to animals? And I say, definitely there is a lot. If you take a look at Muhammad ﷺ's teachings, how he has taught us:

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

There was a woman who was quite sinful, who was granted paradise because she was compassionate towards a dog by quenching its thirst. Amazing, amazing.

A dog being an animal, and you and I would know that it is something that people use the term dog sometimes to swear one another. May Allah protect us. Yet, it is an animal that is a creature of the almighty.

How did I reach out to the dogs? May Allah protect us. That are real animals in a way that I perhaps could have got closeness to my own maker because that is a creature of the almighty. May Allah grant us an understanding.

Going back to that hadith or the saying of Muhammad ﷺ where he explains that this woman had quenched the thirst of a dog and in return the almighty became pleased with her. From that we definitely learn that there is a very, very great door of worship, a very, very great door through which we can worship the almighty known as being merciful and compassionate to all the creatures of Allah.

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi)

Powerful words of Muhammad ﷺ. The words of light. Have mercy on those on earth. Have mercy upon those. Be compassionate upon those on earth. And the one in the heavens will be compassionate upon you.

That is something we should be living by. Whenever we look at others we should ask ourselves and really and truly, how have I benefited this person? Whether you know them or not is irrelevant. If you cannot benefit them, do you know what we are taught the minimum is? And this is from the source, the guiding light.

We should not harm them. If I cannot benefit you in any way, I should ask myself, have I protected myself from harming you? So I will not spread rumor about you. I will not falsely accuse you.

I will not hurt you. Sometimes, you know, we don't realize in today's world even the way we park our cars sometimes is very very inconsiderate of those who perhaps have parked before us. Or we block out some roads or perhaps an exit and so on.

All this, if we were to follow the guiding light, it would immediately be made clear to us that I'd rather park my car a little bit further away and be a person whom nobody is going to curse. I don't want to harm anyone. I might not even know whom I created ease for, but the fact that I've followed the rules and I've been as best as I could in terms of consideration for others, I've already achieved some of the pleasure of the Almighty because we are all creatures of the Almighty with equal access to the same creator and maker.

Do not think for a moment that I have more access than you have to the Almighty. No! You are also a creature of the Almighty whom He loves, He made, He is waiting for to turn just like myself. May Allah grant us goodness and may He open our doors.

The Importance of Reading the Quran

Brothers and sisters, if we take a look at the Qur'an and if we take a look at the beauty of it, if we take a look at it, we will realize it is the source of light. The difficulty is, many of us who are born Muslims have

not yet read the Qur'an in a language that we understand, trying to understand what is it that my maker is telling me. And this is why we say, the most important message would be the message of the Almighty.

You haven't yet understood it? You haven't yet read it? You haven't yet made an effort to open the book and to actually read up on the verses and see what exactly they mean? If that's the case, people could fool you. A lot of people think Islam is a violent religion, preaching and promoting hatred and so on. The reason is they are ignorant.

They don't know about Islam. They haven't read the scriptures and they don't understand it. They have not comprehended. They did not go deeper in it. They did not discuss and they did not get from the good sources of the deen and the religion. And that's why they have a misunderstanding.

But if we are to look at revelation and we are to understand it, read the verses. Wherever you don't understand, clarify it from a qualified person. I've read this.

I really don't understand what it means. Please, can you explain it to me? Immediately you will be able to recognize the divine words of the Maker. Today, if you think there is a powerful speaker and he speaks so well and so on and you think his words are very effective, what about the words of the Maker himself?

Believe me, I started this particular talk with a little recitation from the Qur'an in the Arabic language and if you were to have listened very carefully, it would have affected you, definitely.

It has a soothing feeling in it. Allah says in the verses I read that if we were to have sent down this Qur'an upon a mount, it would have crumbled. It would have crumbled out of humility and out of the obedience of Allah.

And Allah says, we sent it to you, O man. Do you know what, O man? Have you even tried to read it, to understand it? Have you even tried to know what your Maker has said? At times in life, we become so engrossed in trying to live a life full of ease and goodness, where we have aimed at a particular motor vehicle, a particular type of a house, a particular area to live in, certain type of clothing, some type of perfume perhaps, certain type of dress and what have you. And we are living in such a way that we spend our days and nights earning money so that we can live a comfortable life, not realizing that we did not yet spend the moments.

We did not yet spend even a few moments trying to understand what would result in the happiness of the time after the closing of my eyes. When I have gone, when I go back to my Maker, what will help me the most?

The Qualities of Paradise Dwellers

So I want to end by making mention of the narration of Muhammad ﷺ, where the companions asked him a beautiful question. They said, O Messenger, may peace be upon them all.

What are the qualities that would have resulted in the people of Paradise having earned Paradise? We want to know. Those who have earned Paradise, what is it that took them there? What are the salient features of these people? What did they do that earned them that beautiful rank in Paradise? And immediately he said:

Jami' at-Tirmidhi Hadith 2004 - Two things, taqwa Allahi wa husnul khuluqi. The consciousness of the Maker, consciousness of Allah.

You know, we try our best to obey the instructions of our Maker. And good character and conduct. Good character and conduct. How you speak to people, how you relate to them, how you've helped them, how you've been of benefit to all creatures, mankind at large, and the other creatures of the Almighty. And the goodness of your heart, the purity of it, the fact that you have appreciated one another, and the fact that you've reached out as best as you could, and you have developed yourself. This is what will result in your entry into Paradise.

And this is what has resulted in the entry into Paradise of the bulk of those who are found in Paradise. May the Almighty take us there.

Conclusion

So tonight, we need to really make a resolve for ourselves to develop our character, to become better people within our own homes, with our own spouses, children, family members, parents, grandparents, uncles, in-laws, and so on.

As well as the neighbors, those whom we live around, those who perhaps may be of diverse nationalities. MashaAllah, this beautiful country has so many nationalities. Sometimes we don't even know the people who stay on our floor.

Where we live, high-rise apartment building, and we don't even know our neighbors. I think we are guilty. Have we never reached out to them with a little gift sometimes? To say, you know what my brother, you are my neighbor.

Or with a little note, or even a little visit to say, I'm your neighbor, if there's anything I can do for you, please. And you know, sometimes when we say these statements, some people don't really mean them. You know, one day, I was offered a drink by a certain person.

He had a few drinks in his hand, and he says, you know, would you like some? And I tried to take one, and he said, no, I wasn't really meaning it. And I'm like, what are you talking about? You know, tafadhal. Tafadhal does not mean, please don't take.

Come on, man. You should be genuine. You should be saying, look, can you have some? And if I take it, you should be genuine.

So, when you offer help to your neighbor, don't just say, if there's anything you need, let me know. And when they call you to say, you know what, we're leaving for the weekend, you say, sorry, we're not going to be able to do that. Not that, you know.

So, what was the point of offering help? Let's be genuine when we offer each other help, my brothers and sisters. And it's not that we're offering them help as in they are in need, but it is a privilege and an honor to be used by your neighbors for you to look or to keep an eye upon their property whilst they are away. Tomorrow, you may need that.

So, that is a topic on its own. But tonight, inshaAllah, we are resolute that we will make a difference within our own character and conduct. Reach out to, as I say, humanity at large.

Be at peace with the creatures of the Almighty. May Allah grant us goodness. And remember to develop the consciousness of the Almighty.

Remember to develop your link with the Almighty at all times. We ask Allah to bless us, to grant us ease, and to open our doors. InshaAllah, we meet again tomorrow.

And I hope the program can continue. Also, really, we have braved the cold in such large numbers. And to be honest with you, I, for one, am feeling so warm with the warmth of everyone who is here.

I hope you share that with me. I say this saying, and I ask Allah to forgive me and you, and all Muslims. And peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad.

Closing

And peace and blessings be upon you.