Qualities, Habits, Mindset and Paradise - Mufti Menk in Chipata, Zambia

Qualities, Habits, Mindset and Paradise - Mufti Menk in Chipata, Zambia

Opening

"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and companions, all of them."

My brothers and sisters, gratitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is what will bring about increase in the goodness that you have. Gratitude to Allah almighty is what will bring about increase to the goodness that you have. I want increase in what Allah has bestowed upon me in terms of favor.

Be it that which is connected to this beautiful worldly life or connected to the even more beautiful hereafter. My beloved brothers and sisters, Allah has created us as human beings. He chose to make us from this species and the choice was His alone.

The Purpose of Creation

You are not on earth by a choice of yourself. You are not on earth by a choice of yourself nor are you in a place where you had chosen to be born in terms of your place of birth. It was Allah who chose. And everything Allah chooses, remember, it's part of your test. So Allah almighty puts you in a situation and a condition whereby certain things you have no say in but many other things Allah gives you the ability, the capacity, the brain, the understanding to a degree and Allah wants you to use all of that to worship Him and Him alone for this reason Allah says in the Quran:

"I have not created mankind or jinkind except for them to worship me."

One might ask, what does that mean? Because the young children think that worship means to be engaged in perpetual prayer or to be involved in perpetual Quranic recitation or to be fasting every single day, that is what worship is.

But as you learn more and more, you realize that just by you living your life in a halal, beautiful way, fulfilling the instruction of Allah, staying away from the prohibitions, your life becomes an act of worship. Every aspect of your living becomes an act of worship. When you connect it to Allah, the minute you disconnect from Allah, you lose the path.

The Most Important Du'a

And this is why if you take a look at the most repeated du'a on earth, it is the most important du'a. What is the meaning of du'a? Du'a is supplication. Some people say prayer. Prayer in actual fact, yes, it does translate as du'a, but when we say salah, some people say, well, that is prayer. Truth is the English language doesn't qualify to give you the proper meanings of all these terminologies that are used in

order to refer to what Allah has ordained or even for that matter, that which is in the Arabic language. So when you say prayer in English, it depends what you're talking about.

It is more supplication and du'a than salah. Although salah is a certain type of calling out to Allah in a way that starts with Allahu Akbar when you are starting the prayer and ends with a salam. So Allah wants you to ask Him. Allah wants you to supplicate. Allah wants you to pray to Him. And the most repeated du'a on earth is a du'a for guidance.

Who knows what that du'a is? Anyone? The one that is repeated the most on earth. The billions and the trillions and the quadrillions and the pentillions and the septillions and the nonillions. You can see I'm a Zimbabwean. I know all these figures, right? MashaAllah. You guys are doing much better than we are at this moment. That's why you're probably weak with your numbers. If Allah wants to bless you, perhaps He might allow you to learn some of these figures. But inshaAllah, that blessing is not as important as the blessing of being sustained by Allah and guided by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So, all of those people who have come from the beginning to now, there was a supplication taught to them and it has to be repeated. That supplication and du'a, you all have to repeat it and so do I if I'm a believer. And my five daily prayers will not be accepted if I don't repeat that. What is it? Guide us to the straight path.

The most important du'a that you will ever read and say in forms of supplication is guide us to the straight path. It is compulsory to repeat that in every unit of your prayer. At times behind the imam, the imam does it for you. But mostly we would be doing it ourselves because how many units of prayer do you fulfill every day? So many. 17 minimum and beyond that there is sunnah and nafil which goes on to many units or raka'at. So Allah wants you to repeat that because the most important gift that Allah can ever give you is that he guides you to the straight path.

Not the path of those who have earned his anger nor the path of those who have gone astray. Allah says, every one of you have to say, guide us to the straight path. So by me calling out to Allah and supplicating to him, it increases the chances of myself being rightly guided.

Divine Assistance in All Matters

The same applies anything I want on earth. Don't think that your capacity and your capability will singularly get you to achieve what you want. No, it won't. It is the help of Allah that will give you what you want. It's not just your capacity. There are people far more intelligent than you and I. They didn't even find the straight path. There are people who have top brains but they are struggling on earth. Why? Because it shows you the top brain is not necessarily the richest person. Many times you find some of the wealthiest, they don't really have a school certificate.

Because Allah wants to prove to you and I that your sustenance is not necessarily connected to your brain capacity. No, it's Allah. If Allah wants you to earn, he will put you in the right place at the right time with the right idea and interact with the right people and so on and suddenly you will earn. What happened? Was that not Allah? It was Allah. He bestowed upon you his favor. He made you do things that gave you.

But sustenance is not everything. Your wealth is not everything. Many people have wealth but they don't have a connection with the owner of the wealth, the true owner of the wealth. And who is that? If you say, well, it's me, then you are wrong. When you came onto this earth, you came with nothing. When you leave, you shall leave with nothing.

While you were on earth, you struggled to achieve something. And you strove and you worked hard and you toiled and you amassed and you collected. And all of that which you collected, not a single penny are you going to take back with you. But guess what? Allah is going to question you about every single thing that you left behind. I left it behind. What was the purpose? I left it behind.

One might say, well, are you trying to tell us that we shouldn't earn? No, not at all. But what I am telling you is, when you earn and you achieve, connect yourself with Allah. Relate with your maker.

Recognizing Allah's Blessings

Who are you? When you came onto the earth, you came with nothing. Allah bestowed you with things. Right now, we are seated here. All of us are clothed. We have some clothing. That means Allah gave you. You can never be below zero. When you came, you were on zero. Do you not have clothes right now? Do you not have something right now? Allah has already given you more than you can imagine.

Your heartbeat that is perhaps pumping without even you noticing. How many times does the heart beat in a day? On average, 136,000 times. Ask those who are heart patients. May Allah give them cure. Ask them, if you skip a beat or something goes wrong with your heart or has gone wrong, you would go to the other corner of the world in order to make sure that you are dealt with so that your heart continues to pump in a proper way. You put in a pacemaker. You do your stents. You have the bypasses and so on. May Allah grant us good health.

But when you were healthy, you didn't notice that your heart was pumping. Right? When you were healthy, you didn't notice a thing. Your heart was pumping. Today, I'm looking at you. MashaAllah, I see you. You can see me. What did you pay? What did you pay for your eyes to be able to see in full color, high definition, top without any need of fine tuning your eyes? What did you pay? Nothing. Nothing, zero. You can hear me, can't you? What did you pay to have the ability to hear? What did you pay to have the ability to breathe? What did you pay to have the ability to smell? What did you pay to have the ability to walk and to talk? What did you pay to have a brain and an understanding?

Allah says, All I want you to do is worship me and me alone and stay away from that which is harmful to you. And because I created you, I'm the one who knows what is harmful for you and what is not harmful. So when Allah has made something haram, you need to know it means it is harmful, whether you've understood the harm or not. It's not up to me to say, You know what? I don't understand why this is haram, so therefore I will do it. Astaghfirullah. That's wrong. You can't say that.

I don't understand why this is haram, but I know that Allah made it haram, so I consider it haram. That is a believer. That is a believer. And if you are weak and you have fallen and you have faltered, Allah tells you,

You know what? We want you to come back to us as soon as you can. Come back to us. Turn to us. Repent.

The True Worshippers of Ar-Rahman

The verses I read before you, the last verses of Suratul Furqan, Allah Almighty is describing the true worshippers of the most merciful. If He wanted, He could have said, the true worshippers of the most severe, the true worshippers of the one who would punish, because Allah Almighty is just, but Allah chooses to bless us, to give us good news and glad tidings.

He says, The worshippers of the most merciful. The worshippers of the most merciful, Ibadur Rahman. Who are they? They are the ones whom when they walk on earth, they tread with humility. They are humble people. They don't consider themselves a big deal, because nobody is a big deal. That's the reason. If Allah has blessed you, thank Allah. Be humble. Talk to the people. Treat them well. You are one of an entire species on earth. The true worshippers of Allah are those whom when they walk, they walk with humility, humbleness.

And when someone speaks to them in a negative way, either abuse them or swear them or mock at them or deceive them, Allah says:

"peace than to create a problem." Someone, as you are walking on the street, and they call you with a silly name, don't even look towards them. You say salam and you keep walking.

Those are the worshippers of Allah. Allah describes them in the Quran. So Allah Almighty guides and Allah Almighty wants us to ask Him and to keep asking Him. And He wants us to supplicate to Him and to call out to Him in a Hadith known as Hadith Qudsi. And for your information, Hadith Qudsi is where the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him is telling us that Allah Almighty has said the following. So it's not a Quranic verse, but it's the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him narrating to us what Allah has said to him to relate to us.

Hadith Qudsi - Divine Guidance

(Sahih Muslim Hadith 2577)

Ya Ibadi, Allah says, "O My worshippers, all of you are astray except those whom I have guided. So seek guidance from Me and I will guide you."

Allah tells you, O man, don't think that you are upon guidance because of yourself alone. It is My favor upon you that you are guided. If you get up for prayer, don't think it was only you. Yes, Allah gave you the acceptance and made you understand and gave you the capacity and gave you the urge to want to get up for Fajr.

So thank Him for that. Thank Him for that. I started off by saying gratitude will bring about increase. You thank Allah, O Allah, I thank you. You gave me the urge to get up for Fajr. You made me open my eye. You

gave me a heart that wanted to get off my bed. So I got off because you made sure that I felt that I needed to get off the bed. You gave me the energy. When I got off, I made wudu. I was in time. I went. I did Salatul Fajr and I came back. O Allah, I thank you for that. If that happens, what will be the outcome? Allah says, we will give you increase.

In a short time, we will give you the acceptance to get up for another prayer. What is it? Tahajjud. Why did you get up for Tahajjud? Tahajjud is the early morning prayer before Fajr. Because you loved Allah and you thanked Him for getting you up for Fajr. He says, because of your gratitude, I will invite you to another prayer and I will give you the strength to get up for it. It is a prayer where the closest you can be to me is at that particular time. And more than that, when you go into sujood or prostration, you will be the closest to your Lord. You can cry to Him. You can praise Him and you will find the comfort of your soul and heart.

That is Allah. So Allah says, together with your ability, pray. Understand where it's coming from. Whether it's guidance or sustenance or anything you want or your marriage or your goodness on earth, your houses, your cars, whatever it may be. It's not just you and your brain. Call out to Allah. O Allah, grant me goodness and give me blessing in it. Because there is no point in amassing wealth without goodness and barakah and blessings. That wealth will be a means of your downfall.

The Story of Qarun

Look at Qarun at the time of the Prophet Musa, O Moses, may peace be upon him, He was given a lot of wealth, more than you and I.

"gave him so much wealth that the keys to the treasures of his wealth alone had to be carried by a group of strong men and it was difficult for them to carry just the keys."

Imagine how much he had. What was his crime? Why did Allah destroy him? His crime was, the more he got, the more arrogant he became. The more he got, the more he despised the people around him. The more he got, the more he unplugged from Allah. The more he got, the more he felt, it's me, my brain, my capacity and I am the one who was sharp enough to become so wealthy. Allah says, because you connected it to you, we want to show you, we're going to take it away, just like that in a flash.

Now as you know, when you see someone with a nice car, we are human, it happens to me too. I look at it and say, mashallah, so beautiful man. I wish I had one of those, agree? Agree? You see a beautiful motor vehicle, come on you young guys, you can't tell me, you don't look and say, mashallah, one day I will get a car like this, right? Or you say to yourself, one day, inshallah, I wish I can get one of these. So you see someone's house, well built, beautiful, inshallah, when I build my house, I'm going to build it like this. Is it wrong to say that? It's not wrong to say that.

It's okay, no problem. Say, mashallah, alhamdulillah, oh Allah bless me, but connect it to Allah, ask Allah, oh Allah grant me and grant me goodness. And you know what, when you're asking Allah and He starts

Focus on the Hereafter

However, my brothers and sisters, it's wrong for us to forget the main focus. What is the main focus? If I ask you today, are you a believer? You're going to say yes. Do you worship Allah alone? You're going to say yes. And then if I say, what is your main focus? What are you going to say? There's only one word, one answer. Can you say it loudly? Come on, I want to hear it. What is your main focus? People of Chipata, mashallah.

We know what it is. Your main focus is paradise and Jannah. Do you not agree? What do you want? If Allah gave you in this world, but you don't get paradise, you're lost. And if Allah did not give you in this world, but He gave you paradise, you won. You won even if the world thought that you had nothing. May Allah bless you and us all with Jannah. And unite us in the companionship of those whom He loves. Nabi Muhammadsallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the anbiya. May Allah bless us all.

For as long as your focus is Jannah, you will make a certain type of a dua and a supplication. What will it be? It will include the hereafter in it. Oh Allah, you blessed me in this world. Grant me humility and grant me the bigger blessing where you can bless me in the hereafter too. The people around Qarun, they looked at him and they were divided into a few categories. They saw him with amazing belongings. And they said, we wish we had like Qarun. So some of the scholars at the time and the knowledgeable, they said, if Allah gave him and it caused him to be unplugged from Allah's connection, then don't ask Allah for that type of wealth. Don't ask Allah.

The Wisdom of Tests for Believers

The people of knowledge at the time of Qarun told those who were wishing to have what Qarun had, that you know what, the reward that Allah will give you is better than what this guy has. Because whatever he has, drifted him away from Allah. If you're going to get it, you're going to be drifted away from Allah.

So Allah says, He became so arrogant, we opened the earth, caused an earthquake, and we swallowed him in there and closed it back. When they got up in the morning, where is this man? Where is his palace? Where is his wealth? Where is everything he had? Nowhere to be found. Gone. Swallowed. Now the people are looking saying, hey, just as well Allah didn't give us. If he gave us, we would have been swallowed with this man. They realize that the true value is that which is with Allah. In terms of your connection with Allah.

(https://sunnah.com/search?q=muslim+2628)

The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, tells us: "The two units of sunnah, of fajr, are better than the whole world and whatever it has in terms of material items." Two units of fajr. Why? Because those are a sign of your connection with Allah. Can you put a price tag at that? I give you one example. I told you earlier your heart pumps 136,000 times. If you are a multi-millionaire and you have a hundred million dollars and your heart starts pumping irregularly, what would you pay to save your life? Would you not give all of those hundred million and say, never mind if I'm being saved and my heart is going to pump properly, I don't mind paying a million, ten million, hundred million, whatever, for as long as I have that life. Or at least a large amount of money, you're ready to pay.

For what? For one heartbeat. Because if it misses, you're gone. For one heartbeat. You can't see properly, you pay. You can't hear properly, you pay. You're ready to pay. Allah tells you, we gave you all of that. All of that for free, man. For free. And we told you, for years on end, all we want from you, just be a better person. Come, connect to us. When we tell you to pray, we want you to get up early. We want you to do certain things. You may know, you may not know the benefit of it. But the benefit of it will stretch way beyond your imagination. You get into the hereafter, you have so much. You will have the blessings more than you imagined. So, Qarun was destroyed.

The people began to say, just as well we didn't have what he had.

"be swallowed by the earth. Just as well he didn't."

The Balanced Du'a

My brothers, my sisters,

"I'm living, I'm alive on earth, I'm a human, I like nice things, I make dua, O Allah, grant me goodness in this world."

say, O Allah, grant me goodness in the hereafter. For your information, which one is more important? The one for the hereafter. That's why we say,

"Save us from the punishment of hellfire."

So three things are mentioned in this blessed dua, blessed supplication. Two-thirds are connected to the hereafter, and one-third is connected to this world. The first part of it connected to this world, because I'm on earth now. O Allah, give me goodness on earth. It's not wrong to have goodness, you can have. May Allah bless all of us with beautiful sustenance on earth, that will help us to get closer to him. Say ameen. But my brothers, my sisters, listen to this carefully.

If you study that dua, it gives you proportion. It teaches you that, look, the greater prayer, more things are being asked for the hereafter, rather than this world. So Allah says, if you have been given both, mashallah, you are fortunate. But not everyone is going to be given both. Some might have struggles on earth. So people say, how come I'm a believer, but I'm struggling? And then there are people who don't believe, and they are leading a life full of ease and comfort. They are enjoying. The answer to that is quite simple. The minute you declare that I believe, Allah says, do you really believe? That's a question.

"Do people think that just by them saying we believe, that that's sufficient? Do they think that by them saying we believe, they are not going to be tested?"

Allah says, those are the ones we will test. We tested them before. You. Allah says, we tested those before in order to distinguish who is truthful and who is not truthful. When you don't believe, Allah might give you anything. Allah says,

"Those who don't believe, don't let yourself become deceived by their enjoyment on earth."

Because the hereafter, they would lose. But for you and I, Allah says, you claim to believe, now we will start testing you. So you will have more tests.

Yesterday in Lusaka, I gave an example of a school. And I said, you know what? We have examinations. Who is tested? Only those who are in the classroom, in the school. If you're not in the school, and you're outside, are you tested? You're not tested. Because why? You're not interested in the certificate. You want the certificate, you want to graduate, you want the good things. Well, you better enroll. And when you enroll, you better study. You're gonna know, and we're gonna teach you what's right and wrong. And when you know what's right and wrong, we're gonna test you. We're gonna give you one after the other, after another of the tests and exams. And each one becomes more difficult than the previous one. But Allah says, you know what? Because you're in here, you will graduate. And when you graduate, you now have access to paradise. That's why you are tested more.

Understanding Life's Tests

A lot of believers, sometimes they become despondent, I'm going through struggles. You know what? Allah wants you to get closer to Him. That's why He made you go through tests. When we go through challenges and tests, Allah wants us to pray to Him, to cry to Him, to come to pray, to change our lives. That's why it happens. How many people change their lives after a problem came in their lives that they thought would never be solved, and Allah solved it.

On the other hand, when you have a problem and you want to get to bad habits to solve your problem, it becomes even worse. There are people when they have a bad thing that has happened to them, and they are going through a trying time, they go on to drugs, they go on to drinking, they become intoxicated, and they think, you know what? I will forget my problem. You will forget your problem for five minutes,

and after that you have a bigger problem for five years. Is that a solution? It's not. But Allah says, we put a problem in your life in order for you to get closer to us because we saw that you were going far away, and we love you so much, we wanted to tap you to say, hey, hey, hey, you better come back. But you're not coming, so Allah says, well, we are going to put for you a challenge in your life, your health, your family, your business perhaps.

Something will go wrong until you come crying to us and say, oh Allah, forgive me. I have done wrong. Help me through my problem. Allah says, continue to call out to Allah until the day we grant you that reprieve or that ease. So Allah doesn't solve it immediately most of the time. Why? Because He loves you. He wants to keep you there. I know people who get up for salatul tahajjud and they said, it started off with a problem where we had a major issue in our lives and we couldn't solve it, so we got up for tahajjud and when we got up, we cried to Allah to solve our problem and Allah did not solve it instantly, but we continued to cry. The day the problem got solved, we already got used to getting up for this prayer. By that time, I'm awake. I'd rather come and pray for Allah. Was that not a sign of the love of Allah? So Allah says, call out to me.

Call out to me for everything and anything. Don't underestimate it. You have to, you must. Make dua, always. It's a very powerful tool no matter what. Do you know what Allah says? I told you guidance. Allah says, all of you are astray except those whom we chose to guide. So ask us for the guidance. We will guide you.

Hadith Qudsi Continued

The same hadith Qudsi says, O my worshippers, O my slaves, Allah is addressing us.

"All of you are unclothed except those whom we have clothed, so ask me to clothe you, to grant you clothing, a covering, to grant you goodness." Sahih Muslim Hadith 2577

Allah has covered all the bad. And what we show people is all good. You know that covering is from Allah. Imagine, I'm standing in front of you, you cannot see my sins. You are sitting in front of me, I cannot see your sins. Why? It's the favor of Allah upon you and I. If we had our sins written on our foreheads, no one would want to look at us. But Allah says, no man, you are my slave, my worshipper, my relationship with you is a personal one. You call out to me, you ask me, I will cover you, I will clothe you, you appear beautiful, you appear good. So develop a connection with me. That's what Allah is saying. Allah covers. Imagine how merciful Allah is.

"O you, referring to Allah, O you who has covered that which is not good, and only shown that which is good."

"based on your repentance. People will judge you based on your sin."

You did something wrong 10 years ago, the whole community will remember it. They were there to see it, they saw it, they heard about it, they talk about it, but they were not there to see you crying in tawbah to Allah. How do they know? You're probably closer to Allah than they are. That's why I don't judge people like this. You were there to witness the sin, you were not there to witness the repentance. Be careful when you talk about the sins of others in a way that is called backbiting. Don't. You become worse than them because why? You are scoffing and mocking at someone who must have already engaged in tawbah and sought the forgiveness of Allah. They became pure, they became good. And where are we? We're still talking about them 10 years later. May Allah forgive us.

Allah says, "O my worshippers, O my slaves, all of you have no food, besides those whom I have granted food to. All of you are hungry, besides those I have fed. So ask me to feed you and I will feed you." Sahih Muslim Hadith 2577

What's the point of this hadith? Call out to Allah. Remember Allah is the owner of everything. He owns you. He owns you and I. If He owns me, surely He owns everything that I own. That I think I own at least. Temporary ownership of this world. I can say this phone is mine, this clothing is mine, this headgear is mine. In actual fact, all of that belongs to Allah. I found it on earth, I'm going to leave it on earth. When I depart, guess what? I'm taking nothing with me. The only thing I'm taking is my good deeds. The only thing you are taking is your good deeds.

Banking Good Deeds

So just like you want to see your bank balance become bigger and bigger and bigger, you should want to see your balance of good deeds become bigger and bigger and bigger. You know when a person is young and you give them their first amount, say for example, 20 kwacha. Oh, they're excited, you can buy sweets, can't you? 20 kwacha is quite a bit of money these days.

When I was young, we used to laugh at the kwacha. Now the kwacha laughs at us. MashaAllah, you know what I'm talking about, right? 20 kwacha, you can buy something, I'm sure you can buy a few things to eat, some chocolate maybe and this and that. The youngster gets excited, then he grows a bit older, you can't give him 20 anymore, you got to give him 200, agreed? He's a bit older. And then you got to give at a certain point, the guy's got married, you want to give him a gift, it's got to be 2000, agreed or not? What happened? You see the zeros, they are going more and more, you see? The zeros, they are becoming more and more. Then the guy has a bank account.

When you have a bank account initially and you have 2000 in the bank, what are you concentrating on? Wallahi, I tell you, it's a human thing. You're concentrating more on the zeros than anything else. You want to see where the comma is, that's more important. Then you grow older and you start getting 20s of thousands, you are more worried that for as long as the two is there at the beginning and there's a zero with a comma, I know I'm in the 20s. As you become wealthier, you start looking at 200, okay. For as long

as the two, before the decimal, I'm still okay. Then you go into the millions, you no longer look at the small figures, the tens and the hundreds and the thousands don't apply to you. For as long as that million is still there, I know I'm a wealthy person. Then you become in the 20s and 30s of millions, and then what happens? You just look at that figure.

This is man. Trust me, those who are wealthy from amongst us, they know what I'm talking about. Even if you're not wealthy, you know exactly what I'm saying. As you grow, you start concentrating on different figures. Why am I saying this? It's true. I am saying this because just like you concentrate on figures, and not the small ones but the bigger ones, concentrate on how many deeds you have packed away for the sake of Allah every single day.

Ask yourself today, what did I do? Did I do my five daily prayers? Yes. Was I charitable? Was I kind? Did I hurt somebody's feelings? Did I bite about someone? If that's the case, you paid tax. You paid an amount from your deeds. They are gone to someone else. So don't do that. Don't underestimate the loss you will suffer if you hurt someone, you abuse them, you deceive them. You have backbitten about them. The loss you suffer is tremendous. Why would you want to do so many deeds and it's going to go to a person perhaps you don't get along with simply because you made their life difficult.

Make life easy, Allah makes life easy for you. Have mercy upon those on earth and Allah will have mercy on you. Have mercy on other people, Allah will have mercy on you. Have mercy on the animals and those that are creatures of Allah and Allah will grant you forgiveness and Jannah. He has already done it to others. If mercy to animals will get you in paradise, what do you think mercy to human beings will get you?

The Ownership of Allah

The same hadith continues to show the ownership of Allah. Didn't we say we call out to Allah? We ask Him. Listen to the ownership of Allah. What does He own? I said I belong to Allah, you belong. He owns me and you. When a person passes away, the dua we quickly make. Someone says, you know what? Did you hear that brother passed away? What do you say first thing?

"Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un"

Have you ever thought for a moment what exactly that means? Many of us know. We only know what is to be said but we didn't think about it. Soon as you hear the news, In fact, if someone's on the phone, they answer the phone and you are in their presence. And then they say, You automatically know that some calamity has struck. Agree? Or someone has passed away. Why? Because that's a believer. But what exactly do you mean and what did you say? You said we all belong to Allah and all of us are going to return to Allah ultimately. That's what you said. You hear someone died, in essence you are saying, you know what? I'm also going to die. That's what you are saying. That's what you are saying. May Allah make it easy the day He takes us away.

So Allah says, We own you. We own everything. We own so much, we didn't even show you what we have. What you know is a droplet. Listen to what Allah says. Oh my worshippers, If the jinn kind and

mankind from the beginning of the species of man to the last of the species of man, so it would include Adam alayhis salam and everyone who came thereafter including all the prophets and all the others, the tyrants and the disbelievers, everyone included, the beginning to the end of humankind, the last person who's going to live and all the jinn from the beginning of the jinn right to the end of the jinn. If all of you had to ask me whatever you wanted completely, everything you ever wanted and I gave all of you everything you wanted from the beginning to the end, it would not displace from my kingdom and my ownership more than what a pin would displace if it were to be dipped in the ocean and taken out.

That's the kingdom of Allah. Did you hear what that is? Can you think about it for a minute or two? You know what Allah just told you? Allah told you, you know what? You still don't know what is our ownership. Whatever we've given and we shall give all of you from the beginning to the very end not just you alone and all jinn kind as well not just mankind. Allah says that does nothing man. You haven't yet seen when you put a pin in the ocean and you take it out how much water is displaced. That's the amount that Allah says is equivalent to everything I've ever given anyone of you and shall give you right up to the end.

Imagine the kingdom of Allah. And Allah almighty says O man you will never be able to harm me because you cannot reach that level of harm and you will never be able to benefit me because you cannot reach that level of benefit. Who is talking? Allah.

When You Worship, You Benefit Yourself

Do you know what that means? When you worship Allah you are actually serving Allah and helping yourself. When you sin you are going against yourself. You have not harmed Allah. When you worship Allah you did not benefit Allah. You benefited yourself. When you did something wrong you harmed yourself. Not Allah. Allah is saying Allah is not affected by your good deeds or your sins. It's you who are affected O man.

So we are just telling you try to understand why we made you. Imagine 70 years on earth is an average life span. Some a little bit less. Some a little bit more. Allah says well you have to come back to us. Look forward to the day that you are going to meet with us. How? It's hard. We look at death as a tough thing. It is. But in essence when you've prepared for it with lots of istighfar and you believe that Allah has forgiven you and you believe that you sinned out of your weakness not out of defiance of Allah then there's hope for you. There is hope. Were you a good man? Were you a good woman? Did you try your best? Did you constantly seek the forgiveness of Allah? Did you become better as the days passed? Then in that case you can look forward to the meeting with Allah.

(Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 6512)

"Whomsoever is looking forward to meeting with Allah Allah is looking forward to meeting with him. Whomsoever loves to meet with Allah, Allah loves to meet with that person."

So wouldn't you love to meet with Allah? Well when you meet with Allah your deeds are going to be presented. You need to give your everything. It's going to happen. In fact you will receive a book of your own deeds. At least take something good. At least have some good deeds that are secret and private between you and Allah. When we sin, we sin secretly. We don't want people to know.

If you sin openly Allah says the hope for you is very little. Because you openly sinning you encouraging others to sin. But if you are to sin privately there is still hope that perhaps you might repent. But just like we don't want people to see our sins surely there should be some good deeds that we have that are between us and Allah. Allah knows it and that's it. And you're looking forward oh Allah when I meet you, you know what I've been doing. Everyday I do this good deed for you oh Allah. Not to show this person, to show that person but rather to show you and you alone. That is a true love story. May Allah grant us His love and may He love us. Ameen.

Allah's Constant Forgiveness

My beloved brothers, my sisters. The hadith, the same hadith Qudsi Allah Almighty is telling us O my worshippers you commit sins at night and at day you commit sins and I am the one who forgives all your sins. So constantly seek forgiveness from me and I will forgive you. That's what Allah is saying. What a beautiful narration. It gives us hope. It makes us feel worthwhile.

When I fulfill my salah, my concentration is not 100%. Yours cannot be 100% because you're a human being but we should try our best. One brother told me I think I am a very bad Muslim. I said why do you think that? He says because when I say Allahu Akbar sometimes I cannot remember which rakah I am in. I cannot remember which unit out of 4, did I do 2? Did I do 3? So I feel I'm very bad. I said my brother that does not make you bad.

You're a human. The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was asked the same question by his companions who were the best to tread this earth after the prophets of Allah. So he told them:

(Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 401)

"Imagine the same words. He says if anyone of you is praying and you cannot remember whether you did 1 or 2 or 2 or 3 or so on then this is what you should do"

and he gave them the answer and the response. He says you build on that which you are certain about and that's in the initial stages of that type of a problem. He didn't say that means you are a weak Muslim. At least you are praying. You are praying.

You see shaitan, what does he do? He tries to stop you and block you from far. So he makes you feel lazy to get up, number one. If he succeeded there, he won. But he may not succeed there because you are a believer, you are going to be strong. So now you got up, you opened your eye, he makes you start thinking you know what the water is going to be very cold or it's going to be a tough one or there's going to be mosquitoes or it's going to be too hot or the Imam is going to read too long. All of those are excuses of shaitan. Imagine shaitan is telling you this Imam is going to read too long. Too long. That's

shaitan. Why? Now he couldn't stop you from getting up, you got up. He's trying to stop you from making your wudu. If he succeeded there, he succeeded. If not and you made your wudu, he's going to come back and he's going to try another trick.

You know it's a little bit dangerous. You know it's this. You know it's all of that are his tricks. Allah says don't turn to him. You worship me, come let's go. So you get right to where you are going to start your salah. You walk in the saf in the row and you say Allah Akbar. Shaitan is so upset that you started your prayer. Shaitan is so upset that you started. Guess what he starts to do now? Takes your concentration away. And he wants you to think no no no your prayer is not accepted. You are a sinful man. How can you stand in front of your lord when you committed so many sins? But it is that prayer that will bring you closer to Allah. So don't listen to shaitan. Don't listen to shaitan.

And then shaitan makes you start doubting things. I'm doubting. What am I doing? Did I do one or two? Did I do two or three? That type of doubt work on it. Work on it. If you have that struggle, even some of the companions of Nabi Muhammad had that struggle. It happens to all of us at some point. Especially when you have some concern or you're in a little bit of a rush. Try not to be a rush when you are praying in a rush. But sometimes you would be. As a human it happens to all of us. Don't lose hope. Don't lose hope.

You see, you start thinking. Every time your mind goes to something quickly bring it back. Then it starts going again. Bring it back again. It goes a third time. Bring it back again. Try to concentrate on what you are saying. Try to understand the words you are saying. Then Allahu Akbar. You go to ruku. You are now bowing down. If your mind moves this way bring it back. Don't bring it back. And then when you say Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah. And you are completed with your prayer. Thank Allah. Thank Allah. And don't look back to doubt. It's okay. It's over. It's done. And let's start moving. May Allah Almighty accept it from us.

So Allah is telling us Oh my worshippers you commit sins by day and night and I am, I forgive sins. In fact in another narration Allah says I love to forgive sins. I love to forgive sins. So seek my forgiveness and I will forgive you. In a nutshell Allah is telling you every movement of yours just ask me. Pray to me. Call out to me. No matter how able you think you are. Connect it to me. Thank me. I will give you more. Thank Allah when he allowed you to worship him. Thank Allah when he blessed you with something. Look at those who have less than you so that you can thank Allah in the correct way. If you look at those who have more than you in terms of worldly material items, you're not going to be able to thank Allah. You're always going to say I'm so upset I don't have what they have. Why? What didn't Allah give you? He gave you everything. If you don't have what they have, perhaps it's a blessing. Thank Allah.

May Allah Almighty grant us goodness and ease. May Allah Almighty bless us.

Appreciation for Chipata

My brothers, my sisters, this is my first visit to this blessed, beautiful city of Chipata. And I say blessed, beautiful. Can you see how lovely the air is? Can you see how beautiful the ambience is? Can you see we

are seated here just wanting to listen to a good word that will remind us about Allah? That's what it is. Can you see that Allah has given us masajid? Allah has given us madaris. Allah has given us places of worship. Allah has given us communities.

Let's look after each other. Let's look after each other. Let's resolve our matters, whatever they may be amongst us. Tomorrow, our children need to get married. Our grandchildren need to get married, perhaps. They need to live in a healthy community, a good society. If we are not going to resolve our matters and issues, we are not going to sow a good seed for them. Our elders and our pioneers have come in and they've done the groundwork. Actually, we only have to build now. We have to build on it. And that's it. We are fortunate.

So thank Allah and ask Allah to continue to grant you more and more to protect yourselves and all of us. May Allah keep us steadfast on the deen and our offspring to come. Similarly, those who live around you who don't belong to your faith, you have a duty unto them by Allah. They were created by the same Allah whom you are trying to impress. So if you want him to be impressed with you, be careful how you treat them, how you interact with them, what you say to them, how you behave with them, and have you conveyed a message of goodness to them or not? If you are going to treat them unfairly, if you are going to disrespect and abuse and utter words as though you are the boss and they are nothing, you have lost your connection with Allah, the maker. You need to remind yourself.

If Allah tells you to respect all creatures, including animals, imagine what the emphasis is to respect other human beings. Subhanallah. It's something worth thinking about. Many times people take it for granted. Why? Allah elevated you in this world in a certain way. So we take it for granted. Someone works for us, we treat them badly, we talk to them rough, we abuse them. When Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him says, these are your brothers, it could have been the other way around. When you tell them to do something, don't ask them to do something that they won't have the ability to do.

Imagine you have a 70 kg rock and you say, pick it up and put it there. 70 kg rock, what do you think I am? A weight lifter? What do you think I am?

(Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 30)

"Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him says, don't ask them to do that which will overpower, overcome them. If you have to do that, help them as well."

You say look, there's a 70 kg rock we need to pick from here and put it there. The two of us are going to lift it together. I will lift one side, you lift the other side.

Work on it. If you have that struggle, even some of the companions of Nabi Muhammad had that struggle. It happens to all of us at some point. Especially when you have some concern or you're in a little bit of a rush. Try not to be a rush when you are praying in a rush. But sometimes you would be. As a human it happens to all of us. Don't lose hope. Don't lose hope.

You see, you start thinking. Every time your mind goes to something quickly bring it back. Then it starts going again. Bring it back again. It goes a third time. Bring it back again. Try to concentrate on what you are saying. Try to understand the words you are saying. Then Allahu Akbar. You go to ruku. You are now bowing down. If your mind moves this way bring it back. Don't bring it back. And then when you say Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah. And you are completed with your prayer. Thank Allah. Thank Allah. And don't look back to doubt. It's okay. It's over. It's done. And let's start moving. May Allah Almighty accept it from us.

So Allah is telling us Oh my worshippers you commit sins by day and night and I am, I forgive sins. In fact in another narration Allah says I love to forgive sins. I love to forgive sins. So seek my forgiveness and I will forgive you. In a nutshell Allah is telling you every movement of yours just ask me. Pray to me. Call out to me. No matter how able you think you are. Connect it to me. Thank me. I will give you more. Thank Allah when he allowed you to worship him. Thank Allah when he blessed you with something. Look at those who have less than you so that you can thank Allah in the correct way. If you look at those who have more than you in terms of worldly material items, you're not going to be able to thank Allah. You're always going to say I'm so upset I don't have what they have. Why? What didn't Allah give you? He gave you everything. If you don't have what they have, perhaps it's a blessing. Thank Allah. May Allah Almighty grant us goodness and ease. May Allah Almighty bless us.

The Example of the Prophet's Kindness

Now you are a believer. Now you are talking. Now you are acknowledging, this is a human just like me. If Allah wanted it could have been the other way around. And he can make it with our children. May Allah almighty protect all of us. So be careful how you treat people. One day the Prophet peace be upon him heard a man abusing the one working for him. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam immediately tapped him on his shoulder.

It resulted in such embarrassment for him because he saw what happened. I want to ask you, when you talk to those who work for you, work with you, those who might be, others who might not be on your level of worldly material item. Think if the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was right behind you how would you treat them? Well I want to tell you something even bigger. Allah is with you. Allah is watching. Allah knows and Allah is going to take you to account. So seek forgiveness. Ask Allah to forgive you. And let's change our ways.

Why? We want to set a trend for the new generation. To offer respect to every human on earth. That's the way you will spread the goodness.

I remember a football team coming from a Muslim country, visiting a non-Muslim country. And there were people who entered the fold of Islam just by watching their etiquette and their mannerisms. Because they said, if these people are so beautiful in their character and they are respecting us so much, what is the difference between us and them? There is only one thing, they have a deen, they have a faith, they have a conviction that has made them become how they are. If that's the case, we want to be a part of it. But trust me, many people would see us, guys like you and I, and I think many of us, people would

just look and say, I don't even want to be close to these guys. Why? There's cheating, deceiving, swearing, screaming, shouting, abusing all day, all night, whether it's at home or out. Am I right or wrong? It's happening, isn't it? Inshallah, we who are seated here, I hope we are the exception. I hope. But it's just a hope.

We can be. See, some of the guys are smiling and laughing because they know sometimes we lose it. We need a reminder to say, come on, let's be good people.

The Hadith of Khyber

They are, you see, and I want to end on this point. I could still go on and on and on, but inshallah, we need to come back to Chipata at some point, so let me not finish things now, right? One thing I want to tell you, there was a war going on, the battle of Khyber, and the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was addressing his cousin, Ali bin Abi Talib, one of the greatest of the Sahaba, one of the top four. And he says, Oh Ali, you are about to go into there. There is a war going on, right? I just want to remind you,

(Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 3701)

"Wallahi, Wallahi means I swear by Allah, If Allah uses you to guide one person if Allah uses you to guide one person, it is better for you than the most valuable conveyance, which means the mode of transport at the time was camel, the red camel."

Up to today, you might pay $150,000 for that red camel. Today, if you go to Saudi Arabia and ask them, show us the red camel, and what is the price of the red camel, it could perhaps go to one million riyals, maybe even more, who knows.

I saw some dates recently, they were selling some dates, and they sold a box for 40,000 riyals. You seen that? I was wondering, I still want to find out the detail of why and how. Where was that from? What was so special about it? But, whoever paid for it had the money. The man who received it must have been smiling all the way. I want to tell you all of that money together and all of whatever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us, if you are used to guide one person, it's better for you than that material item. The most expensive conveyance you can have.

Today, what's the conveyance? I will tell you probably the most expensive conveyance we have today is an aircraft. How many million would you pay for an aircraft? Perhaps, how many ever? Maybe some of the top planes on earth, maybe $100 million. Thumbs up, I'm guessing. I didn't check it, but perhaps. Surely, if your interactions with so many people whom you feel they haven't yet seen the guidance, is such that they might come closer to Allah simply because you were honest with them, you were upright with them, you treated them well, you were amazing in your character, outstanding in your behavior, and they came closer to Allah, and if they got that deen, and you were involved in that process, good news to you, good luck to you. When you meet Allah, you will have a full reward of every act of worship that that person did from the beginning to the end.

Full. Why? Because Allah used you. That's why I say, make du'a, O Allah.

"O Allah, guide us, and use us to guide others, and make us a means of the guidance of others."

That is the truth. But if I myself am not interested in doing the right thing, where have I even started the path? Therefore, I invite you, my brothers, my beloved sisters, those who may watch this later on, who may hear it, those who are listening right now, live, I want to invite you to effect some change in your lives.

Call to Action

A few changes. We can do it, we shall do it, we must do it, we have to do it. Inshallah, we do it. We become closer to Allah. We have to. I am here in order to remind you about the same Allah whom I always need a reminder of. Whatever I've said applies to me first, and then to all of you. And I'm not here to collect or get something from you. I don't wish to burden you with anything. But I'm thankful that Allah has given me the opportunity to talk to you. And I'm really grateful that you have come out in large numbers for Chipata. I was not even expecting these numbers.

But I thank you for coming. And for lending us an ear. And I'm sure you will go home without a regret to say, you know what? We were reminded about Allah. We were reminded about becoming better people. What other message do we have? There isn't. That's the main message.

If we don't talk about guidance and we don't remind each other about the right thing and to become top people, amazing human beings who are connected to Allah, they have succeeded in most of their things with their struggles also and their challenges. They have taken it in their stride because they know this is from Allah. Whatever comes to you is from Allah. Don't worry. Allah will grant you and bless you. Allah will open your doors.

So I really would like to thank Allah, giving us such a beautiful opportunity. I feel like continuing and going on further and further. I want to thank brother Yunus for having invited me here and pushing me to the degree that by hook or crook you need to come. And I told him, oh, it's far. Oh, there's no plane there. There's no direct aircraft to come there. He said, we'll get you to as close as possible. Don't worry. I said, I believe it's quite hot there. I believe it's like this there and like that there. All those were just excuses. Today I'm here. I thank Allah. And I pray that Allah bring me back again simply because there are certain things I've picked up in this place that I've really felt makes it stand out. And so therefore thank Allah.

You are blessed. You are indeed blessed. You have the favor of Allah in so many different ways. Worship Allah and thank Him. There are people who cannot worship Allah because they are being persecuted. People cannot wear hijab in some places because they are being persecuted. We can wear it but sometimes unfortunately voluntarily we don't want to wear it. Allah says, you know what? While you can, just do it because you don't want to have a day when you won't even be able to do that much. But you

want to do something and thank Allah for it. Allah says we'll open your doors one after the other. Learn the Quran. Learn the right things. And teach that to your children. And be concerned about the children of others so that Allah will protect your own children. It's not just about me and my children.

It's about our communities. It's about all the children out there. How do we save them? If you're not worried about drugs for example, falling into communities that may not include your children. But if you're not worried about it, a day might come when your children or grandchildren could fall into those habits because you are not concerned about it. But if you're concerned about the entire problem, at least your children will live in an environment where that particular thing will almost have been eradicated through efforts of people like yourselves. So they won't have it in the community.

That's why when you come to certain communities, you sit, you watch, you see. You can see they have this problem, that problem, that problem and you know what? They are struggling because their children are getting caught up in the same issues. When you don't have those issues that some people in the first world are facing, you need to thank Allah. You need to make the most of it and thank Allah. May Allah Almighty bless us all. May Allah Almighty grant us Jannatul Firdaus.

Lastly, I want to thank some of the older people who are seated here. I kept you for a whole hour, but I appreciate your attendance today. It has indeed installed confidence not just in us, but in the young boys who are here today and perhaps those who listen to this. May Allah bless you all and grant you barakah and grant this place beautiful growth. May Allah make us a means of helping and may Allah grant us ultimately Jannatul Firdaus in the companionship of Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

Closing