Covenant With Allah

Covenant With Allah

Nouman Ali Khan

Understanding the Seriousness of Our Contract with Allah

You just love the iPhone. You just have one side, you don't have the full awareness of what it is that you're getting into. A lot of people entered into subprime mortgages not realizing what they're getting into, right? So one side knows what they're getting into, and the other doesn't.

This is not mithaq. Mithaq is when it's a serious agreement, and both sides are very, very well aware of what it is that they're getting into. Islam is like that.

Allah calls it a mithaq between us and Allah. It's a very serious agreement, and Allah is fully knowledgeable of its serious implications. And because of this book now, we are fully aware of our end of the deal, our end of what is owed in this contract.

But how many Muslims now are aware of the seriousness of this agreement, this mithaq? And if you don't even know what the conditions of this contract are, how easy is it for you and me to violate those conditions?

The Qualities of Those Who Honor the Contract

And Allah says in this ayah, who will benefit from this book? Who's gonna make an effort to remember except those part of their description? They don't violate the mithaq. They don't violate the clauses of this contract between themselves and Allah.

They're the ones who keep connected what Allah commanded to keep connected. What does that mean, if they keep connected what Allah commanded to keep connected? You know, this means many things. This is from the jawami'ul kalim in the Qur'an. Comprehensive words in the Qur'an that include many, many lessons inside one.

The Unity of Faith - Not Separating What Allah Has Joined

But I'll refer to a couple of them. You know, Allah in this deen, He joined a few things. For example, He joined the sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ with our understanding of His book. You can't separate the Messenger from the book. You know, you'll find people that believe in the Qur'an and they have a hard time believing in the sunnah of the Prophet. You'll find people like that, right? Allah commanded something to keep it joined and they separate them.

The Mistake of the Mushrikun

In the case of the mushrikun, they keep... You know, Allah combined this idea that Allah is the creator with the idea that Allah is also the master. Now, when Allah is the master, what does that make you and me? Slaves. When Allah is the creator, what does that make you and me? Creation. They had no problem. Listen to this carefully.

The mushrik had no problem accepting Allah as creator. Because they know they're creation. They have a creator. No problem. But they separated this idea from Allah being the master and therefore themselves being the slave. Because if you're a creation, that doesn't necessarily mean that you owe somebody, anybody has authority over you. But if you accept a master, then you have to accept that you're a slave. And if you're a slave, somebody has authority over you, the party is over. Basically.

And the mushrikun did not want the party to be over. Which is why, interestingly, in this surah also, you'll find in comparison to Surah Al-Ankabut, in Surah Al-Ankabut, Allah asks, Allah tells the messenger to ask people who don't believe in Allah, people who do shirk:

If you were to ask them who created the skies and the earth, they will certainly say it is Allah. They don't deny it. They don't deny that He's the creator, but in this surah, you know:

Ask them, who is the master? Who's the owner? Who's the authority over the skies and the earth? No answer.

Tell them Allah. This time you don't hear it. They will say Allah. They don't say it. So the messenger says, when they are silent, you say, you tell them it's Allah. Because they're not willing to accept that part. Separating some aspects with their relationship to Allah with others.

Our Own Selective Obedience

You know, we do this in our religion, by the way. In our religion, we have certain obligations. All of you know the bare minimum obligations. It doesn't need a scholar for you to know what you owe in this deen, what are the major things that are haram, and what are the major things you're supposed to do. Pretty much everybody knows. And if you're pretending not to know, don't kid yourself.

Now what we do is we make a deal with Allah in our head. Okay, I'll give you Ramadan. We say to Allah. I'll give you Ramadan. But I need New Year's Eve. And I need the summer break after Ramadan's over. I

need, you know, spring break. I need to hang out. I need to do some stuff. I got some business things I gotta do. A little haram question. I'll make a deal with you.

We decide we're gonna cut apart, shred some instructions from Allah and hold on to other instructions. This is what Allah is warning about.

The Continuous Fear of Allah

But I chose this passage for another reason. Allah says about these people they keep what Allah has commanded to keep together. They keep it together. And He adds:

And they continue to fear their master. You know there are people who start practicing the religion and they start thinking I should get an award. I'm pretty good. My family's pretty messed up. Alhamdulillah. Allah has guided me to Islam.

This is not the attitude of the people Allah describes as people of sound minds. These are the people who continue to fear Allah. They continue to fear their master. They're worried no matter how much I did how many mistakes did I have and even the good things I did. Forget the bad things. That's bad enough. Even the good things we do are full of mistakes. Even the good things we do.

So they're afraid. Is this even acceptable with Allah or not? And on top of that:

They're afraid of the worst type of audit. I'm using the word audit here instead of accountability. And it's important to understand on the Day of Judgment, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ warns:

(Bukhari 103)

Whoever is asked even once has been destroyed. If your interrogation begins, if one question gets asked, you're done.

The Easy Audit vs. The Difficult One

There on the one hand there are people of hisab yasir - their audit is supposed to be easy. Let me tell you what an easy audit looks like. All of you were pretty much at some point in elementary school I think. And you know the teacher is checking everybody's homework assignment. Right? You come up, especially back in Pakistan, right? You bring your copy. You put it in front of the teacher. You put the thing in front of you. You put a checkmark on it. Next, next, next.

And most of the time teachers don't even look at the page. They just need to see scribble on there. Oh, you did some work. Okay, check and move on. Right? Now there's the student who always does his work.

He always does his work. He presents his work to the teacher. The teacher doesn't even look at him. He says, I know about you. You just go. I know, I know. I understand.

And he's really afraid to but the teacher says, I understand. You go. And then this criminal kid who never does his homework like, hey, the teacher's in a good mood today. He said to that guy, you go ahead. So he brings his blank copy too. Hoping the teacher, before looking at it, what's he going to say? Oh, I know. You go ahead. But guess what? He gets pulled over. Yeah, let me see what you wrote here. Let me see what you got here. He gets caught. And even if he's asked once, he's done.

So what were you doing that night outside AMC theater in Mansfield? What was that? Who's that with you? Tell me all about it. One question. That's all you need. You're done. So this is su'al-hisab. The worst kind of one. The worst kind of questioning. It's for those, they fear it.

Patience in Pursuit of Allah's Face

But this is my favorite part of this ayah:

And those who remained patient in pursuit of the face of their master. You know what that means? All of us, in some point in life, we go through a hard time and we're supposed to be patient. All of us. There's no exception. Whether your test of patience comes to you from your wife, or your husband, or your parents, or your children, or your job, or your friends, or all of them at the same time, or your money, or your career, or your immigration status, or your car trouble, whatever it may be, your patience is tested. It's tested in little ways and big ways all the time.

And when your patience is being tested, you know what makes you get through it? You say, only a couple more days and it'll be alright. I see a light at the end of the tunnel. I used to tell myself when I was a kid, I'd go to the dentist and you start hearing the... You know? You hear that and it's supposed to get closer, and the pain starts, you tell yourself, 30 more seconds, it'll be so over. You know? You have to tell yourself it's gonna be over. Something ahead, good lies ahead, and that helps you get through your troubles.

If you see no end in sight, you become completely hopeless. You basically kill yourself. Psychologically, you kill yourself. Allah says, the real people of patience, you know what light at the end of the tunnel is there for them? They're gonna get to see Allah. They're gonna see the face of Allah. They're in pursuit of Allah's face. That's what gives them patience. That's what drives their power to be patient. When you and I are losing our patience, maybe we haven't found the right motivation to be patient yet. These ayat are offering that motivation.

Establishing Prayer and Spending in Allah's Way

And they establish the prayer, and they spend from what we have given them, secretly and openly.

So easy to say, so easy to remember, but so hard to live by. So hard to live by. He says they repel every bad thing that happens to them with something good. Bad stuff happens to us all the time. Things that test our patience happen to us all the time.

These people that Allah is praising in this passage, Allah says their quality is when something bad happens, their immediate reaction is they do something good. They do something good, and they heard some really nasty language, they say kind words in response. Something really horrible happened at work, they pray two extra rak'ahs. They do a good deed in response to a bad one. It's an incredible thing.

You know when somebody says something bad to you, what's your almost always reaction? You said two things to me? Let me tell you. My arsenal, I am far more equipped than you are. They do pop pop, you do brrrrrrrrrrrrr. That's what it is.

could also mean here whenever they do a sin, immediately, they nullify that sin by doing something good. What do people do when they do a sin? I'm so messed up. Might as well be a little more messed up. You know, like, you just spiral downward. I'm in a rut already, might as well, you know, go as far as I can take this, right? But this is not the quality of these people.

The Final Home in Paradise

Those are the people, exclusively, they are going to have the final, the end, the final home. And the uqba here is really interesting. It's used for the nth degree of something, the climax of something. You know, when you and I move into a house, we say to ourselves, I'm never moving from here again. This house is perfect. Everything's the way I like it. It's perfect.

Ten years later, what happens? Does the thought of moving cross your mind? Does the thought of moving somewhere else, getting a better place, moving to a better neighbor, does it cross your mind? It does, doesn't it? Allah is telling us here, when the house of Jannah is offered, it will be the final house. You will never ever think there's a better crib out there. No.

Every time you think of a modification of your home, it will happen. I wish we had a bigger yard. Done. You know? There should have been two bedrooms upstairs. Done. You want a third floor? We've got that too. You know? No restrictions.

The Gardens of Paradise and Family Reunions