You are the Fajr of My Heart The Middle Path in Worship

You Are the Fajr of My Heart: The Middle Path in Worship

By Shaykh Navaid Aziz

Opening

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help and seek His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds.

Whom Allah guides, no one can misguide. Whom He misguides, no one can guide. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

Peace be upon him and his family and companions.

My dear brothers and sisters, assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Introduction: The Story of Three Men

Saturday morning, everyone's a bit mellowed out, tired. The room's a bit empty, the energy fuel is drained. So I'm gonna tell you a nice story.

A lot of people don't actually know what ziplining is. Ziplining is actually considered an extreme sport. And I myself never would have considered this up until I saw how much fun the brothers were having when they did this. Just to give you an example of what it is or to explain what it is.

Basically, the Rocky Mountains, they go through the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. So there's like a small mountain range where they took two mountains literally, one slightly higher than the other. And they put like a line going from the higher mountain to the lower mountain. So they take you to the top of the higher mountain. I think it's by helicopter or by car or whatever the case may be. And then literally they give you a rope and they tie you on to the rope. And you're just like holding on for dear life and sliding down the mountain.

And I saw this, I was like, this looks crazy. You know, what if you fall down or something happens? But then alhamdulillah, they have you tied down and you know, so far no one's died yet. But it's only been open for like six months. So inshallah, I'm looking forward to doing that. It's not actually next week, it's in two weeks.

Now, thinking about that, that within itself being called an extreme sport, I thought it would be a nice introduction to this very talk. And our talk and discussion is going to revolve around being balanced in our worship for Allah. The middle path in worship.

Three men once came to the house of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ. And they told the wives of the Prophet ﷺ:

One of them said, "I will fast all day and night and I will not break my fast. And I will continue to do this as long as I possibly can."

A second man said that "I will pray day and night without taking a break whatsoever." And he would continue to pray day and night.

A third man said that "I will not marry my whole life. And I will dedicate my whole life purely to worshipping Allah."

The Prophet ﷺ was not at his house at that time. However, when he returned, his wives informed him of these three men. So the Prophet ﷺ sought these three men out and brought them to his house.

And he told them, set the record straight: "I am the messenger of Allah. I fast and I break my fast. I pray and I engage in my worldly affairs. And likewise, I marry women and I am from the most fearing of Allah from amongst you. And indeed, no people harden the religion upon themselves except that they destroy themselves through it."

So you can see this concept of going to extremes in religion existed during the time of the Prophet ﷺ.

Defining Worship in Islam

Now in such a discussion, we want to define what worship in Islam actually means. Worship in Islam is something very intrinsic, something very important. And literally, it is the very purpose of our creation.

Allah explicitly says in the Quran:

"And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me."

Literally, you cannot get any more explicit than that. Allah clearly tells you why He created you. So you can see that this very purpose of creation, it is going to be something very important in Islam. Because not only is Islam a religion in which we worship Allah, but it is a way of life as well.

And this concept of worship needs to be manifested throughout our daily lives. So now in defining worship in Islam, several scholars have attempted to do so in trying to find a concise definition. I came across a nice one in the tafsir of Ibn Kathir.

And in his tafsir, Ibn Kathir, when he gets to the verse:

"You [alone] we worship, and You [alone] we ask for help." (Quran 1:5)

He mentions that worship in Islam is a comprehensive term that covers and encompasses everything that is beloved to Allah from statements, actions and beliefs, whether they be apparent or whether they be hidden. So it is a comprehensive term that includes and encompasses our statements, our actions and what we believe inside. All of these things being beloved to Allah, whether we do them openly or whether we do them in secret.

Now you can see this is approaching the concept of worship from a very physical aspect. That when someone asks you, you know, is salah considered worship? You would give them this sort of definition that yes, salah is considered worship because Allah likes it and it is a physical act. But the concept of worship is not just mere ritual.

Where we do these movements and it is void of spirituality, void of emotion. But rather the very concept of worship is to have a spiritual attachment. It is to have an emotion behind it.

And that is why Ibn Kathir goes on to explain that this was just a physical definition, a tangible definition. As for the stage that you want to be on the inside, when you worship Allah, then it encompasses three things as well. In worshiping Allah, there should be three emotions affiliated with it.

He says, it is the perfect combination of humility, submission and love for Allah. The perfect combination of humility, love and submission for Allah.

The Three Emotions of Worship

Now why is it important to have all of these three emotions?

First: Because a person can do an act of worship, he can be praying but he is not humble about it. He doesn't have that humility. But rather he is doing it just to show off or he is doing it just to show the people what a righteous individual he is.

Second: Or an individual can do it but he is not doing it for the sake of love. He does it out of spite. So for example, you have the example of an unjust ruler. You have this tyrannical ruler and he tells his people that, you know, I want all of you to give me gold, I want all of you to give me your harvest at the end of the year. This tyrannical ruler, even though the people may obey him, they are not obeying him out of love but rather they are obeying him out of fear. So when it comes to Allah, we are not worshiping Allah out of fear but rather it is out of love for Allah.

Third: And the last point being submission. That we are doing this because Allah commanded us to do so. Allah being our creator, being our sustainer, being the one who grants us everything that we desire, it is His sole right that we obey Him in everything that He asks.

Personal Reflection: A Beautiful Story

Now I want to share something, you know, for me it was personally beautiful. But I was thinking about the talks that I will be doing this weekend and I was having difficulty with one of those talks. That talk being the role

between reason and revelation in Islam and being the middle path between reason and revelation. So this talk, it is a very academic talk, very scholastic talk and I really was not too sure as to how to approach this talk.

However, these were just thoughts in my mind, I didn't share them with anyone, I didn't confess this to anyone. Then when I came to a bookstore, this was yesterday, I walk into a bookstore and the very first book that I see, literally just on the stand right over there, the very first one was "The Intellect and Its Role in Islam."

And I thought to myself, subhanallah, that here Allah knows what's going through my mind, He knows what's going through my heart. And before I even make dua to Allah, "Oh Allah, help me in preparing for this talk," Allah sent this book to me automatically.

And I was actually sad at that moment as well as happy. I was happy because Allah facilitated this for me, but I was sad that I didn't ask Allah before He gave it to me. Because I knew that asking Allah makes Allah happy. And this is something that I was deprived of, so that made me sad.

So Allah, He grants us everything that we desire, regardless of whether we ask for it or not. So why not be of those individuals that ask for it, and Allah is pleased with us, and we still get the sustenance in this world as well.

Goals of Worship

Now when it comes to worship, there are several goals behind worship. And these are actually levels of worship.

Goal 1: Spiritual Cleansing

Speaking from a purely psychological state of mind, you will see that people start increasing in their worship of Allah when they do something wrong. When they feel that they are sinful, when they are in need of redemption, when they need to clean the slate with Allah, that is when they will turn back to Allah. This is a natural inclination that Allah has created inside of us, that when you do something wrong, do something right to follow it up, and that will be your form of redemption, that will be your way of cleaning your slate.

So the very first goal is cleaning off our sins, and cleansing ourselves spiritually. And this is something that Allah naturally ingrained inside each and every one of us. Not only is it naturally ingrained, but this was the advice of the Prophet ﷺ to Mu'adh ibn Jabal.

Mu'adh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه, one of the great companions of the Prophet ﷺ, he was advised by the Prophet ﷺ with a very concise advice. And you know a lot of the times people come up to me, and they are like, you are leaving today sheikh, do you have any sort of farewell advice or any farewell words? And I always like to share this hadith with them.

As Mu'adh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه was leaving for the land of Yemen during those days, the Prophet ﷺ advised him with the following:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1987)

"Fear Allah wherever you may be, follow up a bad deed with a good deed and it will wipe it out, and treat the people with good character."

He said, fear Allah wherever you may be, treat the people in kindness and gentleness, and follow up a bad deed with a good deed, in hopes that it will wipe it out. So this was also the advice of the Prophet ﷺ, that when you do a bad deed, follow it up with a good one, and it will clean out the bad deed that you did and wipe it out as well.

Goal 2: Feeling Spiritually Close to Allah

A second goal of worship is feeling spiritually close to Allah. In our lives, some of you are still very young, some of us have a lot more experience than others, as we have lived quite a bit longer.

And those who have lived a bit longer can testify to the fact that the moments that they felt closest to Allah were the moments where they were spiritually inclined, the moments where they were worshipping Allah.

For me, I remember one moment clearly. It was when I went for Umrah for the second time, my father and I, and I was about 16 years old at that time, and I remember it was the 21st night of Ramadan, and I remember that we were in the haram in Mecca, not in the marble area, but as you're going up the steps, it's still the first floor, I was like in the second or third row over there.

And I remember that in salah, as we're praying taraweeh and we're praying qiyam al-layl, I can see the Ka'bah in front of me. And at that time, I still did not know what the imam was reciting, I didn't know Arabic, I didn't know what verses were being recited, but I knew that looking at the Ka'bah, thinking about history, Ibrahim (عليه السلام), Adam (عليه السلام), the prophethood of the Prophet ﷺ, all of that literally happening in front of my eyes, I felt close to Allah.

And I remember that tears just started coming down my eyes. Until this day, that is a moment that I keep longing to relive. I make dua to Allah, "Oh Allah, let me relive that moment." Because I remember how close I felt to Allah at that time. Being in Mecca, being in front of the Ka'bah, praying with literally millions of Muslims, and then the cherry on top was that you have someone like Sudeis or Shuraim reciting the Quran.

What more could you want than that?

So feeling the spiritual closeness is actually a goal of the sharia itself. As Muslims, we are meant to feel good, we're not meant to feel depressed, we're not meant to be people who are angry, but we're meant to be people who are spiritually enlightened, and people who are gentle in their character, and people who are overall and generally happy.

When you look at the Prophet ﷺ, Abdullah ibn Harith رضي الله عنه narrates that the Prophet ﷺ was the individual who smiled the most. Now you think about this hadith, and you may think that it's just talking about the virtues of smiling, that as Muslims, as people in general, we should be people that smile.

ARABIC TEXT (CRITICAL - PRESERVE EXACTLY)

But rather there's more to this hadith than just smiling. It's the state of mind, it's the state of the Prophet ﷺ's spirituality that truly allowed him to smile. What was it that allowed him to smile so much? It was his worshipping of Allah. An individual that worships Allah sincerely, that will be the most beloved thing to him in this world.

And that is why when you look at how the Prophet ﷺ used to tell Bilal (رضي الله عنه - radiya Allahu 'anhu) to make the adhan, he wouldn't tell Bilal, he wouldn't give him that simple commandment. But rather he would say:

يَا بِلَالُ أَرِحْنَا بِالصَّلَاةِ

"O Bilal, bring us comfort with the prayer." (Sunan Abi Dawud 4985)

"O Bilal, bring some comfort to us." And then the Prophet ﷺ would have the adhan given, and he would start the salah.

And the Prophet ﷺ, he goes on to describe, that the sweetness of the eyes, the coolness of my eyes, was placed in salah. Because once you taste the sweetness of iman, once you taste the sweetness of worship, that is something you're going to long for over and over and over again.

And this is something beautiful that scholars of the past have said, that indeed in this world is a paradise:

"Indeed in this world is a paradise, whoever does not enter it will not enter the paradise of the hereafter."

Whoever does not enter the paradise of this world, will not enter the paradise of the hereafter. This statement, it almost seems contradictory. Because as Muslims, we're generally told, that this world is a prison for the believer, and a paradise for the disbeliever.

And there are several nice stories related to this, I want to share two of them with you. One of the great scholars of Islam, Al-Hafidh Ibn Hajar (رحمه الله - rahimahu Allah), he was riding through the streets of Cairo. Now I want you to imagine, those fairy tales that we tell our children.

We tell our children of this princess, that's always seeking her prince. And the way we portray this prince, is that he's wearing like these white garments, he has those, you know, silky smooth flowing hair. He's riding on this white horse, as he's going by, everyone's looking at him and saying, you know, I want to be like this guy.

Al-Hafidh Ibn Hajar was that guy, he was the alpha male of his time. So he's coming through the streets of Cairo, and there is this slave. He stops him, literally as the horse is coming by, he just stands in front of the horse. And literally, you know, he had to screech his horse, and he almost fell off.

So Al-Hafidh Ibn Hajar, he asked the slave man, you know, what is it that I can help you with? Why did you do this? So he says, "I have a contention with you. You're supposed to be a great scholar of Islam, and I've heard that you answer people's questions, so let me ask you a question."

Al-Hafidh Ibn Hajar, he keeps his cool, he says, "Okay, go ahead, what's your question?"

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And he says, "I have heard, that your prophet has said, that this world is a paradise for the disbeliever, and it is a prison for the believer. Now compare the two of us. Here I am, I am the disbeliever. I am wearing the most raggedy of clothes, and you can imagine this as well now, I stink, my teeth are black, they're rotten, and then look at you. You're the believer, you're supposed to be in prison. You're wearing the finest of clothes. I can smell your fragrance from miles away, and your hair has been freshly washed. So is your prophet not a liar?"

Now this may be something that baffles the mind, but I want you to pay attention to the answer of Al-Hafidh Ibn Hajar. He tells the slave man, that yes, the Prophet ﷺ did make this statement, but you have not understood it correctly.

"For indeed, the punishment that you're going through right now, or the hard life that you're living through right now, wait until the akhirah, and you will see that it is many fold worse. And as for myself, all the blessings that Allah has bestowed upon me in this world. If you think this is luxury, if you think this is greatness and magnificence of Allah's blessings, then just wait till the akhirah, and wait till you see the blessings that Allah has prepared for the believers."

Now that is one understanding of this hadith, that this dunya being sijnal mu'min is relative compared to what Allah has prepared in the akhirah. A second understanding of this hadith is what I want to share with you today. And that is Allah has created a paradise in this world.

And the paradise in this world is not a physical paradise. It is not a paradise that is filled with much luxury. It is not a paradise that has everything that you desire. But it is a paradise where the soul is at rest. It is a paradise where the soul is content. It is a paradise where the soul is spiritually enlightened.

And thus the scholars went on to say, that indeed in this world is a paradise, whoever does not enter it, will not enter the paradise of the akhirah, meaning that if you are not spiritually enlightened in this world, then you will not be spiritually enlightened, nor will you reap the fruit of spiritual enlightenment in the akhirah.

Goal 3: Attaining Allah's Mercy and Paradise

The third goal of worship: attaining Allah's mercy and His paradise. Out of worshiping Allah, there are many goals that one can attain. The most individualistic, and I guess the most selfish of them, that you can claim, is what you yourself will benefit from it. And that is the mercy of Allah and His paradise.

If you reflect and contemplate upon the relationship of your worship and the relationship between the paradise that Allah has created, you will see that there is a direct correlation. There is a direct relationship between the two. How so?

The Prophet ﷺ, he said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 5673, Sahih Muslim

"None of you will enter paradise through his actions." The companions said, "Ya Rasulullah, not even you?"

And he said, "Not even I, except if Allah enwraps me with His mercy."

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2816)

None of you, none of you will enter paradise through his actions. But rather you will enter paradise through the mercy of Allah. The companions said, "Ya Rasulullah, not even you, not even you who has the greatest amount of deeds, the greatest amount of rewards, will you not also enter paradise through your deeds?" And he said, "Not even I, except if Allah enwraps me with His mercy."

So we see that entering paradise is not contingent upon the deeds that we do, but rather it is contingent upon the mercy of Allah. Because there is not a single deed that you can perform that you will earn paradise with it. But rather the only reason you will enter paradise is through the mercy of Allah.

So now the goal becomes to attain the mercy of Allah. And this is something beautiful that when you look through the Quran with an analytical eye, you will see that all of the verses that say:

لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

"...in hopes that you may attain mercy..."

In hopes that you may attain the mercy of Allah, they are always preceded by action. They're always preceded by a specific action that you can do with which Allah will give you His mercy.

وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

"Have fear of Allah in hopes that you may attain mercy."

Have fear of Allah. Have taqwa of Allah in hopes that you may attain mercy. Likewise in Surah Al-Hujurat, Allah says, and rectify and mend your relationships with one another in hopes that you may attain the mercy of Allah. So there are several actions that we can do through which we attain the mercy of Allah.

So now the question arises, where does our worship and our actions actually come into play? The way they come into play is that your entering paradise is contingent upon the mercy of Allah. However, the different levels of paradise, the highest and the lowest and the middle and all that is in between, that is contingent upon your actions.

An individual who increases his actions will have a higher level of paradise. An individual who had very few actions will have the lowest levels of paradise. And this is one of the virtues that Allah has given to the memorizers of the Quran.

On that day as people are entering paradise and they're being told as to which levels they will go to, Allah will tell the memorizers of the Quran that recite and read the Quran as you used to in this world. For indeed you will be raised to the level of the last verse that you knew.

Meaning that an individual who only knows Surah al-Fatiha and Surah al-Ikhlas, he will recite a little bit and he will be raised a couple of levels. But an individual who knows, let's just say 10 juz from the Quran, he will be raised higher. An individual who knows 20 juz of the Quran, he will be raised even higher.

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And the group that will have the highest places in paradise will be the individuals who have memorized the Quran completely. Because they will continue to recite and they will continue to recite until they finish the Quran. And then they will reach the highest and loftiest of places in paradise.

So thus entering paradise is by the mercy of Allah with which you attain through your actions. And the more actions you do, the more Allah will raise your ranks in paradise.

So quickly let's go through the three goals of worship:

Number one: Spiritual cleansing. We worship Allah because He takes away our sins.

Number two: We worship Allah to seek a spiritual closeness to Him.

And number three: We worship Allah to attain His paradise.

Types of Extremism in Worship

Now what are different types of extremism that actually take place when it comes to worshiping Allah?

First Type: Too Lax vs. Too Rigid

The first type of extremism that takes place is the spectrum of being too lax versus that of being too rigid. And I would like to share two examples with you over here.

Example 1: Secluding Oneself

Number one, when it comes to secluding oneself. In terms of secluding oneself, a lot of people think that it is a pious and noble act that you lock yourself up in the house and do not intermingle with the people. So this is a very rigid view.

The exact opposite is being too lax in this matter. Being individuals who are not sufficient with their own houses and they always need to be intermingling with the people and going out and about. These are the two extremes in the first scenario.

Example 2: Interaction with the Opposite Gender

The second scenario is the way we interact with the opposite gender. Number one, the side that is too extreme, they will say, we will not interact with the opposite gender whatsoever. You know it is fitna, it is haram, stay away from it like you would stay away from the fire.

So they will not deal with the opposite gender even in cases of necessity. And this is a rigidity that Islam does not call for. And then on the other hand, you have a laxity where people are just too lax.

You know, they may not be related to you, but all of a sudden, she is my sister in Islam, he is my brother in Islam. Just like I would speak to my own relatives on MSN and Google talk, you know all of a sudden I'm dealing with them the same.

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There was a funny cartoon that was made on how people actually become more practicing. And usually a lot of people become practicing through their MSA, starting through high school, college, university. And it usually happens that there is a group of them that become practicing all together. So you have a brother and a sister, they become practicing together and it starts off very innocent.

"In sha Allah, you know every day I'm going to send you one ayah of the Quran and we're going to reflect on it and we're going to share our reflections." Shaytan comes to both of these people, you know instead of emailing each other, why don't you just do it over Google talk. So then you exchange email addresses for Google talk and you add each other and now it's like, okay let's just reflect on those verses.

And it leads to the next step, you know instead of just typing to each other, "Brother your recitation is so beautiful, I want to hear it. Why don't you recite this verse for me?" So the brother starts reciting. And the brother now, he's like okay, you know I'm not too interested in what the sister recites like, but I want to see what she looks like.

"Sister you know it would be easier for me to recite if I can actually see you there." So then she goes on webcam and now they're communicating with one another. And then the cartoon ends that they've been speaking all night and Fajr has like come and gone, Fajr is over, they didn't pray Salatul Fajr.

And then the brother goes, "Sister did you know Fajr is over?" And then the sister responds, "Brother you are the Fajr of my heart." And that's how it actually happens.

So you have that exact opposite extreme where people are just too lax, everything is easy going, there are no boundaries, no guidelines.

The Middle Path

Now in both of these scenarios, Islam has come with a middle path.

In the first scenario: In Islam, we are meant to be people who go to the masjid. The men are highly encouraged to go to the masjid for their five daily prayers. However when the five daily prayers are over, go out into the world. If you're studying, go and study. If you're working, go and work. Do not seclude yourself to the masjid day and night. This was not how the Prophet ﷺ lived.

So the middle path over here is: go to the masjid when you have to go to the masjid and do your business, do your studying when you have to do that as well.

In the second scenario: When it comes to the interaction with the opposite gender, likewise Islam has come with a fine guideline. Islam does not require that everything in this world becomes segregated, that you have something for brothers and something for sisters. But rather what Islam actually came with is a nurturing, is a cultivation inside the body and the soul.

That when you interact with one another, take away the malice and take away the enticement from the way you speak and the way you look. So when you look at the opposite gender, lower your gaze towards them. When

Second Type: Imbalance Between Fear and Hope

A second type of extremism, and this was an extremism that was even seen during the time of the Prophet ﷺ, is an imbalance between fear and an imbalance with hope.

The scholars of Islam, they like to give a parable of the worship of Allah to that of a bird. So you can imagine this beautiful white bird, maybe a swan, maybe a white pigeon, or whatever you want, or maybe a dove. A dove is usually a nice example.

So you have this white dove, and it has a head, that head the scholars usually call love. And it is our main goal or our main indication of worshiping Allah, that our main aim in worshiping Allah is love, so thus it has become the head.

So you can imagine a bird that has no head, how is it going to be? Imagine that chicken that is headless, it's running around in circles, it doesn't know where it's going. And likewise, when an individual is worshiping Allah, and it is void of love, it is going to be void of direction as well. It will not know how to worship Allah. So the head is love.

And then they say that the two wings are fear and hope. The two wings are fear and hope. Now there's a lot of discussion between how do we balance between fear and hope, and should it be the same at all times.

Ibn al-Qayyim (رحمه الله), he's probably one of the more spiritual scholars that you'll ever come across. And he comments on this by saying that the companions (رضي الله عنهم) while they were alive, and they were physically able, they would increase the amount of weight in the wing of fear. That they were extra cautious of Allah. They were extra cautious of coming to the boundaries of Allah, and out of fear that they may transgress those boundaries. So they were more fearful of Allah.

However, when it came time to die, the wing of hope, it took precedence. They gave a lot more weight to hope when they were about to die. And this was because an individual who has good hopes of Allah, then likewise Allah will have good hopes of him as well. Those who long to see Allah, Allah will long to see them as well.

This is a brief point that Ibn al-Qayyim mentions. But Allah knows best, Allah has created us to be in a state of fear and hope and balance between at all times. That you always fear the wrath of Allah. You fear His anger and you fear His punishment.

And what you actually fear is that if you do not fulfill one of the obligations, then fear the anger of Allah. Likewise, if you embark upon one of those things that Allah has prohibited, then fear the wrath of Allah.

At the same time, if you have tried your utmost best and have come short, then have hope of Allah that Allah does not burden a soul more than it can bear. Likewise, if Allah has put you in a calamity and in a predicament, have hope of Allah that the one who created you, the one who sustains you, He likewise will get you out of this predicament.

So you see that there was one group that had so much fear of Allah that if anyone committed a sin, they would expel him outside of the fold of Islam. And then you had an exact opposite group that regardless of what sin you committed, you could even commit shirk with Allah, it wasn't a problem. As long as you said, "La ilaha illallah," you will still go to Jannah.

Then Islam comes as a middle path between the two. That when we commit a sin, we seek forgiveness from Allah. And as long as we're trying our utmost best, we have hope and the mercy and paradise of Allah as well.

Conclusion

Now I want to conclude. I want to conclude with two points, bi'ithnillahi ta'ala.

Point 1: No Extremism in the Fara'id

Point number one is that there's no extremism when it comes to the fara'id of Islam. That there's no such thing as being an extremist in Islam just because you're fulfilling the obligations that Islam comes with.

I remember as I was growing up, I was 15, 16 years old, and I tried my best not only to pray my five daily prayers, but go to the masjid as well. And while my parents were accepting of this, the friends of my parents were not accepting of this. Every time they would come over to our house and you know, the auntie and the uncle, they'd speak to me and ask me what I was up to. And I tell them, you know, I've started praying, I started listening to lectures, I started reading books.

They would tell me, "Beta, why are you becoming such an extremist? Like why are you becoming so extreme?" And I'm thinking, you know, I'm barely doing like the bare minimum right now. I'm struggling to wake up for fajr. It is the absolute bare minimum.

And this is the mentality that we ingrain into our children that once they start becoming practicing, all of a sudden they become an extremist. But we fail to realize that when it comes to the absolute minimal requirements of Islam, there is no extremism. These are commandments that Allah has commanded us with and we have to fulfill them.

They are the distinguishing criterion between a Muslim, one who submits to the will and command of Allah, versus that of a disbeliever, one who does not submit and compel himself to the will and command of Allah. So

that is point number one. When it comes to the faraid, when it comes to the obligations, there is no extremism. You have to do it regardless of what people tell you.

Point 2: The Three Categories of the Ummah

Point number two is that Allah divided this ummah into three categories. He divided this ummah in three categories and this is what I want to conclude on so that you know where you stand, bi'ithnillahi ta'ala.

Allah says in Surah Fatir, which is the 35th chapter of the Quran, in verse number 32, and I want to share this verse with you:

"Then We caused to inherit the Book those We have chosen of Our servants; and among them is he who wrongs himself, and among them is he who is moderate, and among them is he who is foremost in good deeds by permission of Allah. That [inheritance] is what is the great bounty." (Quran 35:32)

Allah says, "Then We gave this book to those servants whom We have selected and chosen and raised." So Allah has given this book, the Quran, to the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ. And He has selected us and chosen us and raised us above the previous nations with this book.

So what makes us benevolent and virtuous over the previous nations is this very book. Then He goes on to say, and from these slaves are three types of people:

فَمِنْهُمْ ظَالِمٌ لِّنَفْسِهِ

"...among them is he who wrongs himself..."

That he who oppresses himself. And this is the individual that he doesn't fulfill all the obligations, nor does he stay away from all of the prohibitions. So he's falling short in the obligations. Likewise, he's embarking upon some of the prohibitions.

Then Allah talks about the second category, the مُقْتَصِدٌ (muqtasid). The muqtasid linguistically, it means someone who's economical, someone who's moderate, someone who's taken a middle path. But a more correct translation in this ayah, is someone who is just neutral and doing the bare minimum.

So meaning, that he will do the bare minimal obligations. Five times a day salah, 2.5% zakah, only fasting in Ramadan, only going to make hajj once in his life, and he's going to be sufficed with that. This is the muqtasid, the one who's neutral, the one who does not seek beyond that.

And then Allah tells us of a third group:

وَمِنْهُمْ سَابِقٌ بِالْخَيْرَاتِ

"...and among them is he who is foremost in good deeds..."

Those people who race and precede one another in good deeds. These are the three types of people Allah has created in this nation.

Now what differentiates these three people is their actions. The most fundamental action, and I will break it down for you with just this one action, is the prayer. In Islam, the most important act of worship that anyone performs is the salah.

It is the distinguishing characteristic between Allah's pleasure and Allah's wrath. Between Allah's paradise and Allah's hellfire. Between Allah's love, mercy and compassion, and between Allah's anger and wrath. It is the prayer.

So when it comes to the prayer, likewise you will see that you have three levels where the people fall into:

The very minimal level: The very minimal level or lowest level is the doing of the fara'id alone. Just praying your five daily prayers.

The second level: Then you have people who take it to the next level. Not only will they pray their fara'id, but they're going to pray their sunnah prayers as well. Darawat prayer. You know, before fajr you pray two, before dhuhr you'll pray four, after dhuhr you'll pray two, after maghrib you'll pray two. These are the sunnah prayers that I'm talking about.

The third level: And then you have a group of people that take it to a level even higher. They pray the nawafil prayers, the qiyam al-layl, at night the tahajjud prayers, the duha prayers, and they're taking it to the next level.

Now the beauty of all of this is our iman is always going to fluctuate. At times it will increase in our deeds, at times we will fall short and we will give up some deeds.

So when it comes to the third level, an individual, who not only performs the fara'id, the sunnah prayers, and the nawafil prayers. When his iman goes down, what is he going to end up losing? His iman is about to dip.

We have this individual, he prays his five daily prayers, his sunnah prayers, and his nawafil prayers. When this person's iman dips, he ends up losing the nawafil prayers. He might not wake up for qiyam al-layl anymore, might not wake up for tahajjud, might not pray salat al-duha anymore. But he's still in a safe zone. He's still performing his fara'id, and he's still performing his sunnah prayers.

Then you have another individual. This individual just prays his fara'id prayers and his sunnah prayers. When this person's iman dips and it goes down, he ends up giving up his sunnah prayers. So he's only praying his five daily prayers. This individual is still in a safe zone. He's still fulfilling his five daily obligatory prayers.

But now I want you to imagine, an individual who's only praying his five daily prayers. When his iman dips, when his iman goes down, what does he have to lose? The only thing he has left to lose is his five daily prayers. So an individual who prays only his five daily prayers, when his iman dips, there's nothing to protect him, there's nothing to save him, there is no safe zone for him. He has actually fallen into the danger zone. He has fallen into a territory that is very, very severe.

So likewise, out of all these three categories, we learn to protect ourselves. In every act of worship, Allah has created these three levels:

1. A level which is compulsory

2. A level which is recommended

3. A level which we do purely out of our love for Allah

So an individual who is struggling with his five daily prayers, Allah has told us how we can preserve those five daily prayers. It is a very difficult journey. It takes a lot of battling of the soul. It takes a lot of battling against one's desires. But Allah tells us how to be consistent. He tells us how to be virtuous.

That do more than just the bare minimum. Aim higher than the bare minimum, and you will be safe. But if you aim for the bare minimum, you will be destroyed.

Just like an exam. An individual who aims for 90, he will get somewhere close to 90. He will get an 85, get an 89, whatever. He'll get somewhere close to that. Then the individual who aims for a 75, he might end up getting a 65 or a 70. But then someone who's aiming just for a bare 60, it is possible at times he may reach that 60. But the vast majority of the time, he will fall short and will end up failing.

So brothers and sisters, in order to protect your worship of Allah, always aim higher than what you yourself think you are capable of doing right now. Always aim higher than that. And bi'ithnillahi ta'ala you will be safe. But the second you start aiming for the bare minimum, that is when you yourself will be destroyed and will fall into a very dangerous territory.

So you yourself control the keys to salvation. Control your worship, and do it consistently, and you will be rewarded. And don't worry about those times where iman dips. There's always a way to salvage it again. Worship Allah. But you'll see that one of the worst forms of worship that you can perform, are those sprints of worship that we perform.

That where for like 3 or 4 days in one month, we'll pray our five daily prayers in the masjid, we'll wake up for qiyam al-layl, we'll be reading Quran day and night. But we burn ourselves out. And I'm sure we can all testify to this, that at some point during our lives, we felt we were high in iman, and we did these sprints of worship, where you just end up getting burnt out.

I want to remind you brothers and sisters, that while you may get burnt out, Allah's rewards do not burn out. Allah is not concerned with you doing sprints of worship. But rather what Allah is concerned with, is that you be consistent in your worship.

And this is what I want to conclude with, the advice of the Prophet ﷺ, where he said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 6465, Sahih Muslim 783)

"The most beloved deeds to Allah are those that are consistent, even if they are few."

The most beloved deeds to Allah, are those deeds that are consistent, and they are repeated time and time again, even if they are few in number. So if you truly want to have and achieve a high status with Allah, be consistent

in your worship. This is more beloved to Allah, than doing those sprints of worship, that a lot of us have a habit of doing.

Be consistent and be perpetual, and this is more beloved to Allah.

And I want to conclude with the fact, that in that very verse where Allah has chosen and selected and preferred this ummah, over the previous nations through the Quran. Allah has chosen you, each and every individual in this room, to be here today.

He has chosen you to be here, to benefit, to seek knowledge, hopefully implement it, and go and teach others as well. There are so many other things that you could be doing right now, you could be sleeping, everyone wishes they were doing it. But the struggle you do for the sake of Allah, realize that you're only here because of His will, and only because He loves you.

So feel special, feel that you're here.

End of Khutbah