The Blessings of Being in Makkah

The Blessings of Being in Makkah

Mufti Menk

Opening

"[Peace and blessings of Allah be upon you]"

"[In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful]"

We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his entire household, and we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless him, his household, his companions, and to bless every single one of us and to grant us goodness and ease.

The Gift of Being in Makkah

Beloved brothers and those sisters who may hear us a little bit later on, it is indeed an honor to be in this house of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the beautiful suburb of Tan'im in Makkah al-Mukarramah. And we thank Allah for giving us the opportunity to be here, even though we may be here for a short period of time.

I see the brothers here, I'm very happy to see you here as well, and I'd like to share a few words with you that perhaps would be able to help you during your stay in this beautiful sacred city, the most sacred city in Islam, which is the city of Makkah al-Mukarramah. In this city you have the most sacred masjid which is al-Masjid al-Haram. There is no masjid on the globe which can boast a higher spirituality or level than the masjid we have just a few kilometers to the south.

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us from those who can realize and understand His gift that we are here today. It is a very big gift of Allah. We call it ni'mah. Ni'mah min ni'ma Allahi azza wa jal. A very big gift that Allah has selected you by name to be here in Makkah al-Mukarramah in the most blessed city.

The Question We Will Face

And what will happen, myself and yourselves, we are indeed really answerable to Allah. He is going to ask us a question. I put you in Makkah al-Mukarramah, what did you do whilst you were in Makkah al-Mukarramah? That is indeed something that is going to happen because everything that we do or we go through in our lives, we are going to be questioned about it by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So prepare an answer.

That is all we are saying. Prepare. What is your answer? I came to Makkah. I did not go to the masjid for salah. Once a week, I still did not go to Makkah or should I say to the haram in Makkah, although I was living in the outskirts. I never ever attended any talks that were there. I did not learn how to read the Quran or to understand it, nor did I attempt to learn how to read the Quran or understand it. Is this the answer we are going to give Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? If that is the case, we are at a loss and we have lost a lot. But rather, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us strength and to forgive our shortcomings, to make us from those who can make the most of our time whilst in this beautiful city.

Learning the Quran - The City of Revelation

So, we have lessons of Quran. We need to try our best to learn the Quran. We have lessons of the Arabic language. Whilst we are here, it is important that we make the most of the fact that we are in Makkah al-Mukarramah to learn a little bit of Arabic, not only to talk with one another, but to be able to understand the word of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. One of the reasons is, do you know that wahi and revelation started in this city of Makkah? The words of the Quran, I'm sure we would know them:

Read in the name of your Rabb who created, the one who has created man from a clot.

These words were revealed in Makkah al-Mukarramah. You and I are sitting here today. How can I not understand the wahi and the revelation when I am in the city of revelation? I am where it all started, subhanAllah.

This is where Jibreel was. This is where the Sahaba radiallahu anhum were. This is where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was. This is where it all started and it happened. This is where they were driven out of. This is where they came back to. And this is where Islam grew, subhanAllah. Today we are sitting at the point of the birth of Islam. And what have I done? What have you done? Not only to thank Allah for this gift, but at the same time, to be able to stand up on the day of judgment and say, Ya Allah, you took me to Makkah al-Mukarramah for so long. I sat there, I got closer to you. I did not get further away from you.

The Danger of Wasting This Opportunity

I sat in Makkah al-Mukarramah and I got closer to you. We don't want to say I sat in Makkah, I was watching television all night. Some people, this is what they do. And I was sitting with my phone all night. And I went to work in the morning and I came back. And I was only worried about a riyal or two or a dollar or two. Or I was worried about my link with this one and that one. Is my air conditioner working? Is my water happening? Is everything okay? Have I bought my shoes? When am I going home? When am I coming back? If that is the core aim of our existence in this city, then we have a reminder of this nature.

To remind us that let us change focus. Let us change focus to be focused on the right path and to be focused on the right thing. As I said, Wallahi, we will be asked by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, I blessed you, I favored you, over and above the others who are crying to come to Makkah. Who are really dying to see this place. Who are saving up so much money just to come for the period of Hajj. And where am I? Am I from amongst those who have made use of a center of this nature? Where there is a little bit of dissemination of good Islamic teachings. Have I ever come? Have I ever attended? Have I encouraged others? Have I brought them along? Have I taught people? Have I learned myself? If that is the case, Inshallah, I will be from amongst the successful and I will be from amongst those who can really stand up and beg the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on the day of judgment to say, at least we tried, Ya Allah, to earn your pleasure. We tried to learn whilst we were in this beautiful city of Makkah.

Pure Islam - The Spring of Revelation

The reason why I have started in this way is because Islam has many forms that it has taken today on the globe. But there is one form of it which will remain pure. It will remain pristine. It will remain good. It will remain clean. If you have a well, and the water of the well is gushing out. And that water, you get it two kilometers down the line. It will have some dirt in it sometimes. You might need to filter it again and again because you are filling your cup two kilometers away from the well. But if you have a spring that has gushed right here and your cup is right at the spring, you will have the purest water.

Why I say this is because you are sitting in what is known as (مَنْبَعُ الْوَحْيِ - manba' al-wahy). منبع is a well that gushes forth. What did it gush forth? It gushed forth revelation. This is where it descended. So if you were to come to this city and not be able to understand how to purify your own beliefs and to remove superstition from your beliefs and to be able to learn the proper pristine deen of Islam, then I would like to think you have wasted your time in Makkah al-Mukarramah. Where else are we going to get the deen from? Yes, we may be fortunate to have it filtered at a distant land. But the reality is we are sitting right here right now.

The Example of Zamzam

Today people come to Makkah, they take drinking water with them. What is the water they take? Zamzam. Mashallah. Why? Because the well of Zamzam is in Makkah. So if you were to go to your country or anywhere else and you were to get Zamzam from there, perhaps you would need to pay for it. Whereas here you can take your little bottle, go yourself and you know this is pure. Sometimes in your country or in my country when we get a drum of Zamzam or someone says this is Zamzam, you taste it and you say, I don't know, maybe it's mixed, maybe it's not pure. But here we are in Makkah al-Mukarramah. We have pure Zamzam. You can go back home and say, Wallahi, I filled this drum myself. You can say that. Because you took your drum, you went to the Zamzam, you pressed the button and it came out. So you were at the well. You would be foolish to go home without any Zamzam.

So when we go home we take some Zamzam or we try to take it inshallah. But the same way we are worried about getting pure Zamzam, we need to be more worried about purifying our deen and purifying our faith, purifying the beliefs we have. Because sometimes shaitan comes to us on a regular basis. And one of the first things he wants to take from us is our belief and our faith. And he wants to really make us from those who are losers.

The Danger of Shirk

Shaitan has promised Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He says, I will show you this man will not worship you. He will worship everything but you. So today people worship graves. People worship trees. People worship human beings. People consider a man higher than the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. People consider a man equal to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. People start saying, oh man in the grave, you give me paradise. And if you ask him, why are you calling out to the man in the grave? He will tell you because that man is purer than me. I am too dirty to go straight to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We have heard this. We have seen people say this.

How can we say that when Allah has chosen you to utter the shahada yourself. Your relation with Allah is a direct link. That is the beauty of Islam. It is Hinduism and Buddhism and Christianity and other faiths that have added a medium between human beings and their creator. Islam came and taught us removal of all those mediums. It is you and above you is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The True Status of the Prophet

The way to get there, the messengers may peace be upon them all. And the last messenger, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came to us to teach us how to get to Allah. But he himself did not say, worship me besides Allah. He never said that. In fact, he warned the people in a hadith. He says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 3445)

Be careful, do not go beyond the limits with me like the Christians went beyond the limits with Jesus, the son of Mary. You should always remember and say (عَبْدُ اللهِ وَرَسُولُهُ - He is the slave of Allah and his messenger). A slave.

Some people get upset when we say Muhammad is the slave of Allah. They say, don't use the word slave. But that is the hadith. (عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ - came from the hadith). This is why we say (وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ - And we bear witness that Muhammad peace be upon him, is عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ - His slave and messenger who obeys the instruction of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala).

If Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam obeys every instruction of Allah, it makes him a slave. If I obey every instruction of Allah, I become a slave of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But if I disobey the instruction of Allah, am I a slave of Allah? Am I a true slave of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? May Allah forgive our shortcomings and may He make us from those who realize and understand.

The Christians and Jesus

So, when we have understood that the messenger came to us, not to invite us to worship him, but to invite us to worship Allah directly, then we are true Muslimin. And this is why in the Quran, we know that the Christians started worshipping Jesus may peace be upon him. When Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came, the Christians were already worshipping Jesus may peace be upon him. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala asks the question, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala responds that particular question in the Quran. If you take a look at Surah Al-Ma'idah, towards the end, Allah says:

And when Allah will ask Jesus, the son of Mary, did you tell the people to worship you and your mother besides Allah? Are you the one who said it? And he will say, سُبْحَانَكَ Glory be to you, all praise is unto you O Allah. How could I have said something that you did not permit me to say? I did not have the right to say it. Had I said it, had I uttered it, you would have known it.

One of the reasons of revelation of that particular verse is to clarify for us that we do not worship a Nabi of Allah. So how can we worship a pious man in our midst? Allahu Akbar.

The Example of the Postman

If we do not worship a Nabi of Allah, we worship Allah, the one who sent the Nabi. Imagine someone writes you a letter and they tell you something very important. Say for example your wife writes you a letter. I'm giving you an example obviously which is something for me and you to understand. If your wife writes you a letter for example and the postman comes to you and he gives you the letter. And you read it and you start kissing the postman. Allahu Akbar. Can you say, oh I love my wife so much, come thank you so much and you begin to kiss the postman. The postman will tell you, what's your problem? I am just a postman. I delivered the message from your wife to you. That is all I did. So if there is anything kind written in the letter, you need to reply straight to your wife.

Subhanallah. I think none of us would ever kiss the postman. I think none of us would ever kiss the postman. But why is it that we understand it regarding a postman and a letter that has just come in the example I gave you. But Allah's example is far higher than that. We respect the Nabi because he did the job:

He definitely fulfilled the task that Allah gave him. And he has conveyed the message. And he has been genuine and sincere towards the entire ummah.

But we do not render an act of worship for him. If that was the case, what makes us different from the Hindus and the Christians who begin to worship various things. And if you ask them, they say we believe

The Value of Salah in Makkah

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala safeguard us. So this is called pristine deen. Islam is different from other religions because of its stressing the issue of monotheism. Remember Allah alone provides. Allah alone is the one who is in control of absolute existence. You would like to develop a link spiritually, it should be with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If someone helps you, you respect them, but you do not worship them. There is a difference between respecting someone and worshiping them. So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us from those who understand.

Today I am sitting in front of you. I am no saint. Nor am I a person who would ever want my hands or my head or my feet to be kissed. No. We are just like you. No one knows who will go to paradise before the other. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us all Jannah together.

So my beloved brothers, it is a beautiful city. More than its physical beauty, it has spiritual beauty that is unmatched. You do not have another city on the globe that is as high as this particular city. Al-Madina tul Munawwara is second in line, but Makkah is first, no matter what. That is why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 1190)

One salah in my masjid is better than one thousand salah in any other masjid besides Al-Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah.

Why? Al-Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah, it takes the prize. It goes right up to one hundred thousand, subhanallah. Imagine one hundred thousand.

Using Your Time Wisely

If I were to tell you, my brothers, that you give me one riyal at the end of the month, I will do business and give you one thousand riyal. You might say, no, let me see first, because you know, riyal is very valuable for our pocket. I might give him one, and I will lose that one also. It happens nowadays, people promise you, give me and I will give you more, and that one also goes. So, what happens, you might ask other people, they will tell you, no, he will give. He does business, it is halal, if it is halal, he does business and he gives.

In that case, we would give, because we want one thousand at the end of the month. And if someone tells you, I will give you one hundred thousand at the end of the month, what will we do? We will make sure that we give, so that we can achieve more, as much as possible. Wallahi, salah is more valuable than one riyal.

Salah is more valuable than one riyal. How many of us, once a week, twice a week, a few times, we try our best in our own free time, to go and read one salah. Not in order to meet your friend there, you know, we will go on Friday, we will meet each other, we will laugh at each other and joke. No, that is by the way, it's in the process. If it is achieved, alhamdulillah, but your aim is to go solely to read the salah, and to come back, subhanallah, or to engage in tawaf, or whatever the case might be, some form of ibadah, or act of worship, you would like to engage in. That is a big achievement, you would cry.

I spent many years in Madina Munawwara, no matter what we did in Madina Munawwara, when we left, we regretted that we did not do enough. My brothers, I see there are a lot of brothers seated here, use your time. When you leave this city, you will regret, that I had it right in front of me, I did not go.

Don't Lose Respect for the Sacred Places

Do not allow yourself to lose the respect of Mecca, just because you are sitting in this blessed city. That can happen. Many people, sometimes they are living in Mecca, or in Madina Munawwara, they lose the respect of the city, because they are there too long. Come time of salah, they are sleeping. Allahu Akbar. Imagine, if you are sleeping outside Mecca, it is sinful. What about if you are in Mecca al-Mukarramah, and you are busy sleeping? Do you not think it is a bigger disgrace? There are other people crying to be in Mecca. Your family, my family, the other Muslims, there are poor Muslims who are saving up. I know in Indonesia, I came across some people who told me, that they are saving for the last 20 years, to go to Mecca for Hajj.

We are saving for 20 years, and the problem is, the more they are saving, the more expensive it is becoming, to come for Hajj. We are sitting here, mashallah. Brothers, let us understand and realize, seize the opportunity before it is gone. This opportunity is not going to last forever. It is going to remain for a short period of time.

Learning to Understand the Quran

And this is why I say, subhanallah, we are going to be questioned by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, what did you do whilst you were in Mecca al-Mukarramah? And I advise you, I encourage you brothers, before you leave the city, learn not only how to read the Quran, reading the Quran is one thing, you need to learn that, purify, spend some time. We work, and I know a lot of you look like you work very hard. Alhamdulillah, Allah help you, and grant you ease and goodness. But with our hard work, spend 10 minutes a day, 10 minutes a day trying to learn your Quran.

Go to the masjid, get hold of someone who can read Quran properly, and say, look brother, I'm in Mecca, let me learn the Quran a little bit, and by the will of Allah it will help you. Subhanallah, by the will of Allah it will help you. Not only recitation, what is equally important, if not more important, understand what Allah is saying.

What is Allah saying? You know my brothers, many of us are Muslimin. We are now old, 40, 45, 50, 55, sometimes older. We still do not know what is the message in the Quran. We still don't know it. How? My brothers, it has become so easy for us today, to get an authentic CD, or to have a little DVD, put it in a little CD, put it in some form of a book, or sit in a lecture, and as I said, you are sitting in Mecca, It is very, very simple to learn the meaning of the Quran in a city like this, with technology of this nature. Walk into any bookstore, they will give you something to benefit, by the will of Allah.

The Pure Heart

But, have we learnt the meaning of the Quran? That is a question. That is why sometimes we are weak. Our iman is weak. I was born, I either was born a Muslim or became a Muslim, and after that, I studied so that I can get a job. Allah's gift, He made me get a job in Mecca. Now, my job will help me to send money back home, my job might help me in order to be able to live comfortably, to buy some food, but the day I die, will my job have helped me? The answer is no.

Only if you arrive, as Allah says:

"Except one who comes to Allah with a sound heart."

Only if you have arrived with a pure heart. What is a pure heart? A pure heart is that heart, which is not contaminated with shirk, or with association of partnership with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That heart which is pure.

How are you going to know how to worship Allah, when you don't know what the Quran said? What is the word of Allah? The word of Allah is the Quran. He sent it to you and to me. So, sometimes we have read books, so that we can pass our examination. We want to learn English, we want to learn French, we want to learn other languages, we want to study higher to get this degree, and that degree.

Understanding the Purpose of the Prophet

I was in Sri Lanka two weeks ago, and they told me, here in this country, many people have so many degrees, not just one. One, two, three degrees. Subhanallah, we want to study, we want to get a job, we want to get a promotion. How many of us want to get a promotion in understanding the word of Allah, my maker? When you understand Allah's word, that is the time you will be able to worship Allah correctly. Those who are truly fearful of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, those who have the proper consciousness of Allah, are those who know, those who have some form of knowledge. If you don't know what is the consciousness of Allah, or who is Allah, or if you don't know what is the message of Allah, how will you know how to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? You won't.

This is why today we have something else. It is known as innovation. You know, something which was not done by the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So, I have spoken to a lot of people, telling them,

brother, this is an innovation, or that is an innovation. They tell you immediately, that no, what's wrong? Everything is an innovation. What's the problem? It's not bad, it's good.

So now, we have to understand, they don't know why Allah sent the messenger. That's the reason why they are innovating. If anyone understands why Allah sent Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he would not innovate. He would not do something new in the deen. Because now he knows, why did Allah send the Nabi? Let me tell you. He sent the Nabi to teach us how to worship him.

Firstly, to recognize him, meaning to recognize Allah. So Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came, his message to us will help us recognize Allah, and to know how to worship Allah, that is the job of the messenger. He came and he taught us. He said, I want to tell you there is Allah. And I want to tell you this is how you worship Allah. That is the message of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

The Problem with Innovation

So, if you want to know who is Allah, and how to worship Allah, you will only be able to find that out from Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, which means from the ahadith, and from whatever he brought. He also brought the Quran, because it came through him, from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So, if Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's job was to teach us how to worship Allah, so if I do something he did not do, and I think that this is an act of worship, am I not insulting him? For example, someone decides, okay, in salah, I want to nod my head.

I'm just giving you an example. So now they start, and after a while they start doing this. They start nodding their heads. If they were to nod their head, and you say, brother, what are you doing? He says, I'm agreeing with what we are saying. I'm agreeing with what we are saying. So, did Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam nod his head? The answer is no.

So, if you are nodding your head, thinking that that is the way you agree, then you have innovated. The way you agree is when the Imam says:

What do you say? Ameen. That is the proper way. That is how he taught us. Subhanallah. So, to think you are doing something better, in any way, is actually insulting Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

This is why innovation is out. Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's job was to come to us, to teach us how to worship Allah. If you think you have an act of worship that he did not do, that is better than what he brought, you have already insulted him, number one. Number two is, if you think that you have an act of worship that he forgot to teach, then you have insulted him in another way. And if you think that there is someone else who knows more than him, so he taught us something which Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did not bring, then you have made someone else a prophet higher and above Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Allahu Akbar.

True Worship and Healing

So, it is very, very important for us to realize these two matters. Extremely important. Make sure that we do not associate partners with Allah. Neither in the form of a stick, nor a stone, nor a grave, nor a saint, nor a pious man, nor an imam of a masjid, nor a sheikh who might have taught you goodness. We can respect those who have done good. We do not worship them.

Goodness comes from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You know, sometimes people think that if I shake your hand brother, I can now wipe my hand on my whole body, and I will be cured. Brother, that man, you don't know what his link with Allah is behind the closed doors. Did Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam tell you that you must shake someone's hand, and then wipe that hand on your whole body to get cure from the pain that you have in your knees? No, he did not say that. If he did not say that, why should we do it? Better for you is to raise your hands, Ya Allah, cure me. I am sick, Ya Allah, I am ill. Cure me, grant me shifa. You are the owner of cure.

"And when I am ill, it is He who cures me."

That dua is more powerful than having wiped your hands on your body a thousand times after having touched somebody or something. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us goodness. So many people when we say this, they start getting upset.

The Greatest Insult

What is this? We go back to the rule. Do not insult Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Some people insult him by creating cartoons. Some people insult him by creating videos. But Muslims insult him by adding or subtracting from what he brought. That is a bigger insult than any video or any cartoon. The reason is, we are claiming to be Muslims. And he says, do not go beyond the limit. Subhanallah, we go beyond the limit.

Sometimes some people, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us all guidance, do not realize that Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, yes, he was the highest of the prophets, he was the best of creation. We don't deny that. But he said himself, do not worship me. So how can we then worship him? Or how can we worship someone else even worse? May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala safeguard us.

Making the Most of Your Time

So whilst we are in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, we need to realize and understand, the knowledge that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has kept amongst the scholars, we need to go to them and make an effort to learn from them. Here in this markas, they have teachings of Islam in many languages for many different

expatriate groups. And we need to make the most of it. Yourself, your family members, and your children will all benefit from it.

If a man comes here, or a woman comes to the city, and they do not use the opportunity to learn the knowledge, when they go home, what are they going to take home? Maybe money. Money that might not help them. Sometimes money might create more disaster. Sometimes your daughter is asking you, Daddy, when you come from Makkah, buy me a mobile phone. And you say, okay. So you take her a mobile phone. When you take her the mobile phone, that creates a big disaster because she starts using it for wrong things. When you go back after one year, your daughter is now a different girl. My daughter, what happened? So the mother tells you, you know our daughter, she now is on the mobile phone, she is meeting all the boys, and she is doing this and that. If that is the case, that money, that wealth, that technology was used for wrong.

Rather you take from here something that is like a Quran, something beneficial, or sit with them at home, tell them, my children, let me teach you what I learnt whilst I was in the city of Revelation. Allahu Akbar. Let me teach you what I learnt.

The Importance of Learning While Here

But if we did not make an effort to learn whilst we were in the city of Revelation, do you really think we are going to go home and learn there? Allahu Akbar. If someone has not drunk Zamzam when they were in Makkah, do you really think they are interested in Zamzam when they go home? No. If you are in Makkah and you are really keen, you are really bothered, you are really worried about the knowledge you have, Wallahi you will be able to purify it, you will be able to learn. When you go home, you will be able to take it with you. All the others will see it beaming from you. It will come out like a radar.

And everyone who is around you, if they are doing something wrong, you can beautifully correct them in a nice way. Look, you know what, this thing, just leave it out for now, I'll explain to you later what is going on. So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to help us.

Life is Short - Hearts Must Be Straight

My brothers, I am passionate about the message. The reason is, our life is very short. No one knows how long we are going to live. Not one. You might not leave Makkah. You might pass away here. May Allah grant us a good death. You may never go back to your city. You might not exit the masjid, nor may I. Allah knows best.

But it is the condition of the heart, we need to tilt it now in order for it to be on the path:

Oh Allah, who controls the turning of the hearts, turn our hearts towards the deen, not away from it.

We want our heart to be straight. My brothers, sin in the city is very very bad. It is bad, but it's a tool, it's like a knife. You can use a knife when you are eating to cut your throat, or you can use it to cut your food, or you can use it to slaughter an animal, halal, or you can use it to harm someone, you can use it to murder someone. It is up to you how you use it, but you are responsible regarding the way you use it. The same applies.

Technology as a Tool

WhatsApp is a knife, you use it how you want to, but you are responsible. The same applies to various other means of social networking. Some people have more time for Facebook than they have for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Some people have more time for Twitter and for other things, for their phone, than they have with Allah. Some people have more time for movies and television than they have with Allah. How? We sit at night for three hours watching one whole movie, and we cry when they are hurt, yet they were just acting and playing. And after that time of tahajjud, we sleep, we miss fajr, and we almost miss dhuhr. Allahu Akbar. And this is in Makkah.

Why should that happen? I am trying to speak of realities, and I am trying to speak of matters that might affect us directly. My brothers, remember, if we can cry for that which is fake on the screen, it is a very bad sign. And if we cannot cry for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it is even a worse sign.

Making Every Minute Count

So this is why we say, it is very important for us to seize the opportunity whilst in Makkah al-Mukarramah. Number one, I have spoken about increase of knowledge, because if you do not have knowledge, you will not know how to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You might grow thinking that, you know, I am a Muslim, I read my five salah, and I try my best to do this and to do that. That is not the only thing Islam teaches. Sometimes your five salah might be a waste of time if you are engaging in some form of association or partnership with Allah. Sometimes your five salah might be wasted because you are adding something in it that you are not supposed to be adding in terms of innovation.

So the hadith says, whoever does a deed that we have not instructed them to do, the sin of it will be rebounded to them. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not make our deeds rebound to us because we've done something wrong. The way to know that is to be able to learn what is right and what is wrong. Whilst we are here, it is the best opportunity you have.

Then I am also concentrated on the issue of not wasting your time in this beautiful city. Do something constructive. And I have also spoken about something else which is important which is, do not use technology detrimentally. Whether it is your screen in front of you in the form of a computer, or in the form of a television, or in the form of a mobile phone, or in the form of any other thing that is in front of you. Do not allow shaytan to distract you from your main aim and your cause.

Time is ticking away, really clocking. If I were to tell anyone here, that you know brothers, if you walk 5 meters, there is a man who is asking you to lift a little pail of milk. A man who is asking you to lift a pail of milk. And for a bucket of milk, they, you know, what they keep, the milking. And when you lift it and you move it 5 meters, he will give you 5000 riyals. I think I would also. I would join you and we would all go and we would all go one, one, if not two, two each. And we would get 10,000 riyals. Because, imagine, 5 meters, 5000 riyals. Allahu Akbar. Very big achievement.

So if someone were to tell you that the more you do every day, the more money you will get. You know what we would do? We would do sahih, you know, with different religion. Which means we would carry it, go, come back. Take another one, go, come back. And we would count our minutes. We would count our minutes. Wallahi, count your minutes because salah is more important than that. For salah, you get a bigger reward than that. Count your minutes. Every one minute wasted is one minute full of loss in terms of not only material loss, but even in terms of spiritual loss.

Closing

My brothers, we need to do as much as possible to earn the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And as I said, we thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for being in this beautiful masjid here, in this beautiful suburb of Tan'im in Makkah al-Mukarramah. And I appreciate the fact that the brothers have attended here.

Some of them perhaps may have been lost because of the location of the city. But may Allah reward you for having made an effort to attend. Wallahi, it is solely the love of Allah that has brought us here. Nothing else. It is solely the love of the message of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that has brought us here. We want to hear something.

I don't want to give a long lecture where when you go from here, you can say, look, it was a good speech, but I can't remember what was said. So rather we give you short words to say mainly concentrating on seeking knowledge whilst you are here. Make the most of this center and make the most of the other centers around you, the ulama, those who are doing work around you.

Remember when someone corrects you for the purposes of deen, and when they are doing a good job of correcting you, returning you to what Allah and his rasul have said, don't get angry. Understand that the correct message, sometimes shaitan makes it seem like it's difficult or it's wrong. I had one brother. He was doing something which was unacceptable. And when I told him, brother, you know, this is wrong. The way you are doing it is wrong. He then told me, no. I have been doing this since I was born. My father, my forefather, my grandfather, all of them used to do this.

I told him, do you know, in the Quran, there is a verse that states that some of the people, you call them towards goodness, they have already uttered the statement:

That we have seen our forefathers doing something and we are going to follow them, even if they are astray. So how can we repeat the same statement? A brother of that nature has never read the Quran. Because he did not see that to answer that way is a wrong answer.

If I were to tell you, brother, you are not supposed to be engaged in this type of behavior or this act. For example, it's not an act of worship. And you tell me that, okay, my forefathers, that is wrong. But if you come up with evidence to prove that you are right, and they match, I'm wrong. SubhanAllah. So this is why you need to know to purify the knowledge you have.

Final Reminders

It's the first feature that requires dedication and effort. You need to fight shaytan. Don't think that, no, I am very busy, I won't be able to do this. Today, we have online lessons. Just make sure it is correct. Go to someone and say, look, I have this website, can you check for me? Is it good? If you are doubting it, leave it out. But go to something that is solid, and you know it's correct. And Alhamdulillah, you will be able to achieve as time passes.

You know, today, we are living with Muslims, and back at home, we are non-Muslims as well. So we need to know what Islam is. Sometimes the non-Muslims do not like Islam. Not because they actually do not like the religion, but because the people following it make it so difficult. They make it so difficult and they have so many superstitious beliefs. When our children get married, we have 500 things which are un- Islamic. And the only thing that was Islamic was two items.

So people look and they say, it is so hard in Islam for people to get married, not realizing that that was not Islam. It is a culture that has been made into what people believe is Islam, yet it is not the religion. In Islam, the Nikah is very easy. And the Hadith speaks about facilitating that, and making it easy for the people to get married. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us ease.

The reason I say this many times, we save money to get our daughters married. I am saving a lot of money so that I can have a big party with my daughter. So 20 years, I am saving so many thousands, and I just go home in one marriage of my daughter, money is finished. You know what is worse? After two months, she is back home. It is even worse. Sometimes it happens, we save a lot of money, and our daughter, we send her, and after two months, she comes back, she says, I cannot stay here. The man is very mad. Then you start thinking, did I waste my life? This is why simple Nikah, something easy. I have just given you one example. But there are so many other examples in our lives.

We need to rectify, we need to change. Sometimes we don't know how to read Salah. Our Salah is not correct. For many years, we have been reading Salah, we don't know how to read. I had one man, and I want to show you this is true. He was reading Salah a few years ago in front of me. And when we start

Salah, he squashes his ears. He does this, Allahu Akbar. See, look, he squashes his ears. Allahu Akbar. I told him, why are you doing this? He says, because that is how I saw my father doing. I said, brother, you don't need to squash your ears to start Salah. You don't need to squash your ears. You don't need to pull your earlobes like this, Allahu Akbar. No, it's not Salah by putting your hand in front, facing the Qibla of this nature, Allahu Akbar, and you start your Salah.

So he was surprised. I told him, believe me, you need to learn to believe. Sometimes we are making simple mistakes in Salah, and the ulama are living right next to you or nearby. If only you could ask, brother, do me one favor, sit with me, correct my Salah today, and I just want to learn what I'm doing is correct, and there you are. We are so lucky. We have workers of this nature. We have an institution of this nature, where we can come, correct our Salah, correct our beliefs, correct, for example, so many things that we are doing wrong. Sometimes we are doing Hajj wrong. Sometimes the Umrah we are doing is wrong.

I have seen people, they come for Umrah, and the right arm is open all the time. The right arm is open completely, from the beginning right up to the end. And so much so that it gets burned in the sun. And if you tell them, brother, close your arm, they say, no, everybody's got right arm open. Brother, don't worry about what people are doing. That arm is only supposed to be open during Tawaf. No other time must the right arm be open. So you explain to them what it is. How will you know if you have never ever made an effort to learn? And then you think what I'm doing is right. You see everybody else doing the same thing. Wallahi, it is possible that a lot of people are doing that which is wrong. It's possible.

Because knowledge is what liberates you. When you have knowledge, you achieve freedom. When you have knowledge, you start swimming, subhanallah, and getting closer and closer to Allah. This is why he says, Indeed, those who truly are fearful or conscious of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala are those who have knowledge. Let us increase our knowledge, my brothers.

Final Words

I have spoken quite a bit this evening. I hope we have benefited. And inshallah, we will achieve the best of their time during their stay here in Makkah al-Mukarramah, myself as well. I still have a few more days in Mecca. And I'm sure some of us might be here short term. Some of us are here long term. And some of us are here very long term.

You are so lucky. You are so fortunate. Wallahi, if we had it our way, and if it was not for the calling towards Islam in various other places of the world, perhaps everybody would have wanted to sit in Makkah al-Mukarramah. But it's not possible for everyone. It is a gift that Allah has chosen you for.

I know one man very well. When he came to Mecca, no one used to tell him that if Allah wants, you won't go. He said, no, what do you mean if Allah wants? I have to go. I have the money. He came to Mecca with the intention of fulfilling Hajj. And when he arrived in Jeddah, they sent him back. Why? Because there

was a very big mistake in his fast. There was a wrong name and something else. And they tried to rectify it. The authorities did not accept it. They told him, go back. And he, all his money did not allow him to come. All his money and all his payments did not allow him to come into Makkah al-Mukarramah.

So what I am saying, thank Allah for being here. And Wallahi, you are going to be asked about the position that you have taken up here. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help me respond. May He have mercy on myself and all of us.

Till we meet again, inshallah.