Doubting the Test - Mufti Menk

Doubting the Test - Mufti Menk

Opening

My brothers and sisters, you know when we read the Quran it has in it so many different aspects and angles of learning. It's from Allah if you look at revelation from the heavens, the Almighty has reminded us of so many things. He gives us stories of the past as well. Why does he give us these stories? Can someone tell me? Why do we hear of the people of the past? Yes. So we can become better Muslims and we can learn what happened to them. What might happen to us if we were to do the same anyone else? Why do we need these stories in the Quran of what happened to previous nations or to other people? Yes. Yes. Everyone who has a problem can reflect and definitely Muhammad ﷺ being the final Messenger of Allah we look at their issues and we reflected upon what we're going through.

If you take a careful look at what Allah did from the very beginning, He created Adam and Eve and then when he sent them onto the earth and gave them children, He told them to remind the children about him and worshiping him alone. So they did the job from among the children. He told them to remind each other about who Allah is, the fact that he's your maker you should worship him alone. And the fact that Shaytan or the devil is to be understood and looked at as the one who is deviating. Be careful of Shaytan from the very beginning. He has already declared that he wants to prove that man is going to be ungrateful. So you worship your maker alone? That's it. No one else. That's the duty.

So Allah says:

"And We sent to every nation a messenger to tell them to worship their maker alone, to worship Allah alone and to stay away from everything and anything that is displeasing to the Almighty."

That which is sinful, that which is unacceptable, that which negates what the Almighty has sent down and so on you stay away from. And Allah says he sent messengers to remind us about where we came from and where we are going.

The Journey of Life

We don't know ourselves, we cannot remember. Meaning I know now because I was told but if I was not told I would have to think where did I come from? There are people today who are not bothered about thinking about where they came from. They couldn't be bothered if you tell them where do you come from? I don't care, all I know is I'm here right now. That's what they tell you.

In actual fact, we are taught to look back, to go back and to think about where we came from and where we are going to go once we die. You know I've asked the children and I've asked adults as well, a child who is so many years old. How old are you? 13, where were you 14 years ago? 15 years ago, where were you? How old are you? 10, where were you 11 years ago? How old are you? 14, where were you 15 years ago? You see the question, you need to know. I want to know. Where was I 51 years ago? But it's true I want to know where I was, okay. You must be wondering how old is this guy, right? I want to know.

So in order to know I will never know unless I'm told. You will not know. Where were you, you know two years before your birth? The true answer is we were with Allah. In a way that Allah knows better than I and better than you. I was with Allah. How was I with Allah? I really don't know. I can only know what I was told and that's it.

Where am I if I die at the age of - how old would you like me to live meaning? How old do you think? Say it again? 70, 70. Okay, okay, where would I be like a year after I died and you guys are still around for example? Maybe many of you or some of you, where would I be? Where would you be a year after you died and a lot of people would still be here in Glasgow, right? But where would you be?

It's very important to answer these questions because you need to know. I mean, I'm so sophisticated. I have feelings. I have a brain. I have eyes. I'm so sophisticated. I earn, I spend, I have people I love, I miss people. I really am connected to people. There are so many, you know so much sophistication. I'm sitting with you here today. We made an effort to travel, we fly, we go here. Do you really think that one day I'm just gonna be no more and that's it gone and done? We believe as we believe. No, we move from one phase to another.

The Womb Analogy

Do you remember what I said in Glasgow the last time? How many of you attended the last talk when I had a talk here? Put up your hands very high. I want to see. MashaAllah. Okay, put your hands down. That's really nice. MashaAllah.

I said something interesting about the womb and about how if you had a discussion in the womb with a twin that would have been there if there was one, you would never dream that there is life outside that womb, never ever. For you as you grew older, that was your life. That was everything and you were in there talking and saying hey, I'm getting squashy. I wonder what's gonna - I'm gonna die. That's it. There's no life after this. But you didn't realize that there is a thin membrane, the belly of your mum. If you were to cross it you would get into a world you never imagined to the degree that nothing that ever existed in the womb would ever be of relevance to you in terms of liking. You wouldn't like it. You wouldn't want it. If I offered you what you had in the wombs of your mother's to drink, would you ever want it? Impossible. I see some of you are saying yeah, okay, but to be honest.

There's nothing yuck about it. It's just a phase that was your life and one day when you really thought it was game over, it was actually the beginning of a new life. There was birth, childbirth. I love this example, I've repeated it many times. Suddenly you're born. Oh, I just thought I was going - imagine your twin comes out a guy who here man. Where's this place? I couldn't dream of this man. Oh so many people looking just like us right here. Oh, we were inside there. We didn't even know what was going on. It was warm. Yeah, it was a comfort zone, but now we're out.

I promise you as you grow older and you start feeling like I'm going, my knees are sore and whatever, someone dies. You know what? They crossed through that membrane into the eternal life completely. And when we get to the other side, we're gonna say whoa. Whoa, whoa, just like nothing within the womb is of relevance for you right now, nothing of this world will be of relevance for you there in terms of materialistic items. Nothing.

The Hadith speaks about it, the Quran speaks about it that in paradise nothing that you've seen will be there, nothing that you have actually heard of, nothing that has crossed your mind. It won't, it will be there nothing. It's going to be something that's never crossed your mind. You've never seen and so on. Even your own spouse or whatever else you're going to get there is going to be amazing, unique in a way that you would never ever have imagined, not at all. SubhanAllah.

Just like when you're in the womb of your mother you started off very small, you know. You look very weird at a certain point, right and then you get to a certain age when you can now come to the real world. If you came out a little bit too soon, you may not have survived, right? Sometimes but as you come out you're a certain age. In the same way when you get to the hereafter, it will be a totally different ballgame. Allah knows best, but he sent messages to us to say listen, don't be deceived.

The Promise of Allah

"Oh people, the promise of the Almighty is the truth. You came from somewhere, you are somewhere, you are going somewhere. Allah promises you this life is going to come to an end, your life is going to come to an end."

You don't know. You might say 70, you might say a hundred or eighty or whatever. You might die right here right now. That doesn't spell doom if only you're prepared for it even in the least. You understand what I'm saying? Prepare a little bit.

How do I prepare? Develop your relationship with your maker. Oh you who made me, I love you, and I know you love me. You've made me. I go through the struggles of this world in order for me to appreciate the jannah. If this world was free of problems and difficulties hardship and struggles, jannah would have no value at all because we would all want to live here forever. But there comes a time when you tell yourself, you know what, I'm fed up, man. SubhanAllah.

So what's keeping you alive? The decree of the Almighty is keeping me alive. And I'm going to keep worshipping the Almighty until the day I meet with him. I'm going to go back to him, so we need to think about this.

The Almighty says:

"Oh people, the promise is the truth, so don't let this world deceive you. It is very temporary, and it is very fake. SubhanAllah, very fake, very temporary and don't let the big deceiver deceive you."

You know who's the big deceiver? Who is he? Shaytan. The devil, the big deceiver. He's gonna tell you things, he's gonna whisper just like he whispered to Adam. And he's gonna come and try and make you do things that you're not supposed to be doing.

The Almighty says it's okay, turn back to me, turn back to me and as you turn back to the Almighty he wipes out your sin. As he's wiped out your sin, the devil comes back and says no you're not forgiven, that Almighty is not merciful. So you start believing within yourself, I'm not forgiven, the Almighty is not merciful. That's a bigger sin than the sin you committed initially. Initially it was a sin out of your weakness, now it's a sin questioning who the Almighty is and denying one of his qualities known as the most merciful or the most forgiving, the most compassionate. So be careful. Shaytan tries to trap you.

A few days ago I spoke about that, how the devil traps you. Don't be trapped. That's what we said and the idea was to show you how the devil traps you after you sought forgiveness by trying to make you think I'm not forgiven because I'm not worth forgiving. In actual fact you're insulting the one who says I am the most forgiving and you're saying nah, I don't think so. Stop it. May Allah forgive us.

The Prophets and Their Messages

So the Almighty sends us reminders and He has sent them from the very beginning. The Prophet Sheath, who can name some of the prophets of Allah? Yes Adam, who can name another prophet of Allah? Idrees, another one? Dawood, another one? Ismail, Muhammad ﷺ, who else? Say it again? Ibrahim, mashallah, what's your name? Mashallah. Yusuf alayhis salam, Suleiman, can you hear who are these people?

Wallahi each one of them came to their people and told them worship Allah alone, worship your maker alone, prepare for the day you're going to meet with him. That's what they said. That's what they said. Be careful of the deception of this world.

You know what? The people who passed away passed away in one of two conditions in general: Those who were within the obedience of the Almighty, they tried to develop a link with the Almighty and the others who didn't try at all. When I say they tried, nobody from amongst us is perfect, not a soul. I cannot claim perfection at all. I can never say I'm sin free because part of the plan of the Almighty is human desire will lead you towards things that you're not supposed to be doing. You may fall out of human weakness, not because you're defying Allah, but you didn't want to do it, but you fell.

They say you've fallen into sin. Soon as you fall you get up. You know if you trip as you're walking, and you trip right, if you're walking here, and you trip. What would you do? Get up and do what? Keep walking right. And if another person's coming and you turn around and see them. What will you tell them? Be careful right. Be careful watch out. There's a little you know this step here, or you might fall here because you care for them. You tripped but you got up and you kept going.

The winners are those whom when they trip they get up and they keep going. We're not perfect. I'm not going to be able to do every single thing. This whole world is not perfect at all. Perfection is for the hereafter. So when I am in here I shouldn't lose hope number one, but I need to keep trying to develop my relationship with Allah. If I've missed a prayer I need to make sure I make it up or I need to make sure the next day I don't miss it. I need to make sure I do better. If I'm trying and keep trying and keep trying, don't go backwards, go forward. It will show in your character.

True Piety

You know piety? You know what is piety? When someone is pious when they've developed a friendship with Allah, with their maker. You know where it shows? How does it show? If you want to tell this guy's pious? How do you tell? Who knows how do you do? What does it show in? Character exactly, thank you so much. It shows in your character immediately because you know what, when you're conscious of Allah, and you have a relationship with Allah and you love Allah, and that Allah is so close to you within your heart and you want to prove to him that you love him, wouldn't you love everything that he has made?

Even if you disagree with some of the people around you, your character will ensure that you love him but you don't insult them or abuse them. Why not?

The Quran says:

"Don't you dare insult those who are calling out to gods besides Allah." Quran 6:108

Wow. I'm not allowed to insult people who are worshipping whatever else they are worshipping besides Allah. If I'm not allowed to insult them, how on earth am I going to be allowed to insult anyone else? You follow? So Allah saying you disagree. Yes, no problem. We are human. I will disagree with my own family members on certain matters, but I will not insult, I will not abuse. When I'm a pious person close to Allah I learn to love everyone, to care for them, to treat them equally because they're all the creatures of Allah no matter what their ethnicity is, their size is, their financial standing is, their social standing is, their looks there and whatever else. I will treat them all fairly. I will give them importance simply because they were created by the same one whom I'm trying to prove my love to.

I'm surprised by people who haven't, for example, an illicit affair with a person who has a dog, a poodle, right? They become friends with the poodle, you know that? Why? That's my girlfriend's poodle. Haha, subhanAllah, you know it from a hundred poodles. SubhanAllah. You know, what's a poodle? A little dog, okay? Duggie duggie. Why? That's my girlfriend's dog. SubhanAllah. You're ready to make friends with your girlfriend's dog to prove to your girlfriend that you are caring for whatever she has and you're not prepared to create a relationship with what Allah has created to prove that love with Allah? And I'm talking here about respect at least. You don't have to agree. We all know we follow different religions and we may be totally different. Some people may be following no religion at all. I disagree perhaps but be respectful, show it in your character.

The hadith speaks about two characteristics of those going to Jannah, you know them:

"Taqwa of Allah and good character - relationship with Allah, relationship with the rest of the creatures of the same Allah." Sahih al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2004

We're all creatures. That's why those who go around spewing hate such that they insult and belittle, they don't even have a relationship with Allah. They don't even know, they don't even understand what is the relationship all about. Some people use the excuse of being close to Allah to hurt others, insult them, eradicate them even kill them. May Allah protect us.

The Example of Prophet Nuh

Now these messengers who were sent to us, how long were they with their people? Who can tell me? How long did the Prophet Nuh spend with his people calling them towards Allah? 950 years. 950 years. What did he tell them? He reminded them: You know what guys, become better people, become better people, you know, you are responsible, you worship Allah alone, stop all your bad ways and so on.

Guess what? When they did not stop their bad ways he kept warning them about a punishment. A punishment is going to come, a punishment is going to come, a punishment is going to come. Those who took heed they were saved. But when the punishment came it was in the form of a flood. When it hit and it struck, guess what? It struck everyone. It struck all those who were deserving of it and they were affected, right? Were they not warned about it? They were warned but they didn't change. So what did Allah do? Allah gave them a chance? How long was the chance? 950 years. Wow. Allah gave them a long chance.

Then Allah said wait, hang on now. We're punishing you. You know when you plan to do a bad deed, it's not written. You know that it's not written yet. When you do the bad deed the angel just holds a little bit. Do you know that? By the instruction of Allah the angel just holds a little bit. You know why? He's waiting in case you seek forgiveness. He won't even write it.

Did you ever know that? It's a hadith of the Prophet. So you did a bad deed and you quickly repented to Allah, that deed wasn't even written. It's like it didn't exist. SubhanAllah. But when you do it and you haven't repented and you continue in that way the deed is written against your name. SubhanAllah. Amazing.

It's like for example, you owe someone a hundred pounds and you tell them I'm short of a hundred pounds, let me quickly go, I'm getting and coming back. They won't write anything because they believe that you're gonna go and you're gonna come back. A day passes, two day passes, five days pass, they start writing it down and then they say this man owes me a hundred pounds, right? Because he hasn't come back. The same applies when we do something wrong. Allah says hang on. We know you're human. You are going to do things wrong. Come back quickly. No matter what you've done, come back quickly. When you come back quickly you've entered good territory, good waters. If you don't come back now,

we're gonna write it against your name. But still while you're alive you can turn back to Allah. Turn back to Allah.

Divine Justice and Mercy

So my brothers and sisters, these warnings came. The Prophet Suleyman warned his people, the Prophet Lut warned his people, the Prophet Shuaib warned his people, the Prophet Salih warned his people, all these prophets warned their people, the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم warned all of us while they gave good news to those who would do good. They had to give a warning to those who did bad.

So people say why does Allah punish those who do bad if he is so merciful? Well, I can tell you what one might argue that you know the roads are beautiful right here in England. Nice roads. Do you agree? Nice roads. Do you agree? I don't know. Maybe it's just been snowing or something. Nice roads, right? MashaAllah nice roads.

If you were to drive as you wish coming on the wrong lane, crossing the solid lines, going through the red traffic lights. Did you do a good deed or a bad deed? Do you deserve to be penalized or not? You deserve it. They should stop you. If you are driving according to the rules and you see another do breaking every rule there is, what would you say? You would have to alert the police at least or then you would want them to be punished because they're putting your life at danger as well. They must have lost but they want you to lose too, right?

They say when you speak on a phone while you're driving or you manage or handle the phone, it's worse than drunk driving. It's proven, statistically proven. So how many of us have - okay, I don't want to ask you because I'll have to put my hand up. Okay. May Allah forgive us and strengthen us, right? If you've ever touched your phone, you should remember you're worse than a drunk driver, worse than a drunk driver. I'm not worried about you dying. I'm worried about me dying. By the way, you know why? You're gonna bump into my car. Sorry, I am worried about you dying, but I'm just wording it that way. What I mean is if you die, you were guilty of having touched the phone, what about those you killed with you? They were not guilty of anything. The poor uncle was driving all his life at 20 miles an hour. You killed the poor fellow. SubhanAllah because you were on your phone. May Allah grant us ease.

This is why we say to penalize someone is not necessarily to penalize someone is not necessarily an act of dislike or hate. Sometimes that's what's needed. When Allah warns us, you know what he tells us? He tells us listen I give you a warning all the bad deeds you do. You know what? I will punish you or I will forgive you. You know that.

So Allah says and I want you to listen to this very very carefully in your life. No matter what deeds you've done. Allah says if you seek forgiveness, I will forgive you. You're alive. You're breathing. Are you listening? Whether it is shirk, whether it is whatever else. You know, what is shirk? Association of partners with Allah, you worship deities besides your maker. Allah says you know what? In your life if you turned while you were breathing I forgive you right? No matter what you have done, major sin minus and I will forgive you in your life for as long as you ask for the forgiveness.

If you die, and you did not seek forgiveness, then Allah said you know what? I'm still the most merciful, the most forgiving, the most kind, the most beneficent and the most just. So what I will do? I will still forgive you if I want. SubhanAllah if I want. But there's one sin. I don't want to forgive. What's that sin? Shirk. The only time Allah doesn't forgive shirk is when you die in the condition of shirk without seeking forgiveness while you were alive.

If you did it while you were alive and you sought forgiveness, most of the Companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم were like that. They were mushrikeen prior to accepting Islam, right? They used to worship idols and so on. They were proper, proper mushriks. Like I say they had committed the major act of shirk. But when they turned to Islam Allah wiped it out and Allah says no problem. You're now worshipping your maker alone. It's fine. They became known as the best of people after the prophets of Allah, right?

When you die and you haven't repented, Allah says I still love some of the deeds you did. I might give you a paradise because you were compassionate. Because you donated five pounds for water to quench the thirst of a person who was dying of thirst in some rural country in another continent and Allah loved it so much. He says I loved it, I gave you Jannah for it. Wow. A bottle of water, a bottle of water. There was a man who gave a few a little bit of water to a dog. He got paradise. I'm sure you know the story, right? So if you gave a bottle of water to someone who was dying of thirst, don't you think inshallah Allah will love that deed?

That's why we have the charity always telling you come on five more, one more, five more. Okay. I heard him saying one troublemaker. Did you hear him say one, one more troublemaker? That's not a troublemaker. That's a person who's just like, you know, kicking the next five in. May Allah bless us. I learned something. But to be honest with you those charities can actually get you to paradise.

Now if you've died Allah says I may still forgive you even without you having repented, but there's one sin very dangerous. It's something very very close to Allah where he's passionate about it. If you did a deed that you associated a partner with me, I am the richer of the two so I don't want the deed. You keep it and let it be for the one whom you associated partnership with.

It's like you have a multi millionaire right, multi millionaire very very wealthy. Does he need the money? He doesn't, not at all. And if you want to share a five-pound note between that wealthy person and another guy down the street, the wealthy guy would say keep the five, I don't need it. Right? Keep it. You want to give it to him? Give it. I don't even need it. So Allah says you want to give me an act of worship. It's you who needs it, not me. You want to give it to someone else as well? Rather give it to them. Let's see what it does to you. That's what, that's the meaning of it.

So therefore we actually worship Allah alone, but we need to know those who didn't turn. Allah gave them a warning. He set a time for them. He gave them a chance. He gave them another chance.

Learning from Trials

Sometimes we sin and we didn't get caught and we're so happy. So what happens? We do it again. You know why you were not caught and you're not caught and then you do it a third time then you get used

to it. Then you get so happy with it that you don't consider it a sin anymore. It's just by the way pastime. It's excitement right? One day when you get caught, boom, what happens? Your life turns upside down. You regret big time, big time because you know what? When you kept going for it and kept going for it simply because you were not caught.

So Allah says hang on. It's me giving you a chance. You were not caught because I love you. Second time you're not caught because I love you. Third time you're not caught because I love you. Now I love you so much. I want you to be caught so that you quit the habit.

You know when people are caught in immoral relations or illicit affairs when they're married and the spouse catches them and says, you know what you having an affair? That's the blessing of Allah that you were caught. You know, why? Now you're gonna give it up inshallah. Now you're gonna give it up. The problem is nowadays people are not so forgiving.

So if you're caught they're gonna say I want out. I'll tell you my brothers and sisters. Not everyone who's committed the sin is an evil person. They may have made a mistake. They may have made that mistake a little bit too many times and sometimes Allah wanted you to see something because he loved them so much and he knows by you making a big deal out of it that person's gonna quit the habit and become such a better person. SubhanAllah.

Sometimes after that type of a sin when a person turns back to Allah they turn in such a beautiful way. I've seen relationships build better than they ever were prior to that sin being caught out later on. SubhanAllah. I hope you get what I'm saying.

So it doesn't mean that I need a divorce straightaway. Don't just listen to the world. The world tells you the minute you catch your spouse doing something wrong. That's it. Go home. I'll tell you not necessarily. That's what I'll tell you. Not necessarily means if the person's a good person, they're taking care of you. You're taking care of each other. There's a lot of respect. There's kindness. There's fulfillment of rights and they committed a sin or two or three and might have repeated it a few times. You've got to know it. Perhaps you want to mend it and keep the same Mercedes. MashaAllah. SubhanAllah.

But if the person is evil and abusive and hurtful and they don't fulfill their rights and they don't this and they don't that and then you catch them doing XY and Z then perhaps you might want to look into final separation. That was the last straw gone. May Allah grant us goodness.

Conclusion

So I want to end because my 30 minutes are up. I want to end by saying my brothers and sisters, the Prophet Nuhalayhis salam, there was a time when he complained to Allah. Oh Allah. These people are not accepting your message. So Allah says, you know what? Just build your ark now and don't bother with them anymore. Then whoever has accepted has accepted, whoever has not accepted will not believe. Why will they not believe? Because the quota of reminders is over.

Every one of us, myself included and all of you seated here and everyone else who might listen to this whenever they do, Allah has set aside a number of reminders for you after which there'll be no more reminders. If you turn within that number of reminders, you are fortunate. If you haven't turned you are to blame.

So when if a thousand reminders were written for you, you've already clocked 775, there only 200 and a few remaining right, 225 remaining and once you clock 999 reminders one more remaining, you clocked a thousand, it's over now. Now you're in charity with Allah. That is very very dangerous.

So what I'm inviting myself and yourselves to do tonight is let's become better people. Let's promise Allah. We're gonna improve on our relationship with him. We're gonna try our best to improve on our character and conduct. No more swear words. No more abuse, no more hurt. No more hate. I'm gonna be the best person within my house, within my community and I'm gonna make sure that I worship Allah alone and I'm gonna make sure that I actually turn before it is too late.

Don't you agree at times it becomes too late? It does become too late. Do you know what? It's a little bit late now. It's 9:24. SubhanAllah, that's late in a different way. But the lesson is learned. Sometimes it does get late.

May Allah help us to turn before it is too late.