Ultimate Happiness The Face of Allah - Corrected Lecture

Ultimate Happiness: The Face of Allah

Dr. Yasir Qadhi - 2013 ICNA-MAS Convention

Opening

Allah is the Greatest. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala Rasool Allah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa min wala.

Amma ba'd. Before I begin my actual talk, I just like to point out that mashaAllah tabarakallah many of you have been sitting here for how long now? Two and a half hours, is that right? Two and a half hours sitting here listening to lecture after lecture. And frankly after a while it does get a bit tiring to sit and listen and sit and listen and sit and listen.

And I was sitting over here on the stage and I was looking at another amazing phenomenon that we have a group of our brothers and sisters right here who alhamdulillah mashaAllah tabarakallah they are not listening to me but having my talk and other talks interpreted via sign language for the last two and a half hours.

The Dua of Ammar ibn Yasir

In a very beautiful hadith narrated by a sahabi that I named my son after - which sahabi is that? Ammar ibn Yasir, my son is called Ammar - in a very beautiful hadith narrated by the sahabi Ammar ibn Yasir and reported by the Sunan of At-Tirmidhi, it is narrated that once Ammar ibn Yasir led a group in salah for a short salah and he then did the taslim, did his dhikr and walked out of the masjid.

Some of the people followed him and said, "Oh Ammar ibn Yasir, you led us for too short of a salah, why didn't you make it longer?" Now pause here - when's the last time you ever heard a complaint in a masjid about the salah being too short? Those were the good old days! So they're complaining that "You led us in too short of a salah, why didn't you prolong the salah?"

What did Ammar ibn Yasir say? He said, "Even if I did a short salah, I made a dua in it that I heard from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) that I think makes up for that shortness. Even if it's short, I made a very special dua and so I'm happy at that dua."

So somebody said, "What is that dua? Oh Ammar ibn Yasir." So he gave a very beautiful dua that he heard from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم).

The Complete Dua

And what is this dua? There's only one phrase that's relevant to us but I'm gonna narrate because it's a beautiful dua. It begins:

"Oh Allah, I ask you through your knowledge of the unseen and your power over the creation, I ask you through these attributes for what? Give me life as long as you know my life has good for me in it, and give me death when you know death will be better for me."

This is how the dua begins - beautiful! "Oh Allah, give me life as long as life is in my interest and better for me, but when life becomes a problem, when a prolongment of life will not bring me good, then bring me a quick and easy death. Give me death when death is better for me."

A Muslim doesn't just wanna live for the sake of living. A Muslim wants to live for the sake of the akhira, and when life doesn't help the akhira, he might as well finish up his life and move on to the akhira.

The dua continues: "Oh Allah, I ask you your fear in open and in secret - wherever I am I want to fear you. Oh Allah, bless me with the truth whether I'm happy or angry." Notice two extremes here - you want to fear Allah when people are looking at you and when you are alone. You wanna speak the truth when you're happy and when you're angry.

"Oh Allah, I ask you for a happiness that never finishes and the coolness of the eye that never ceases."

The Key Phrase

And now listen to this: "Oh Allah":

(Tirmidhi 3235)

This is the phrase that is relevant to our talk: "Oh Allah, I ask you for the sweetness of looking at your face. Oh Allah, I ask you for the لذة - he called it a لذة, he called it a sweetness of looking at your face والشوق إلى لقائك - an eagerness to be with you, an eagerness to finally meet up with you."

So of the duas that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught the Sahaba and taught Ammar ibn Yasir was the dua: "Oh Allah, I want that sweetness of looking at your face and I want that eagerness to want to meet you والشوق إلى لقائك."

Why? Because every single desire of love, every single desire of love, it is manifested in meeting, it is manifested in looking. And the love of Allah is the greatest love, so the meeting of Allah is the greatest meeting, and the looking at Allah, the looking at the face of Allah is the greatest blessing.

The Greatest Blessing of Jannah

And that is why it is a fundamental principle of Sunni theology - أهل السنة وجماعة - a fundamental principle that the greatest blessing of Jannah is not Jannah. The greatest blessing of Jannah is not the things inside of Jannah. Rather, the greatest blessing of Jannah is something even more than Jannah itself.

Quranic Evidence

Allah says in the Quran:

"Those who do good they shall get al-husna which is the name of Jannah - they shall get al-husna وزيادة and they will get more than Jannah."

What could possibly be more than Jannah? Our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) explained this verse. He made a tafsir of this verse and he said: "When the people of Jannah have entered Jannah, Allah will ask them - Allah will ask them that 'All my servants, are you happy?' The people of Jannah will say 'Yes O Allah, we are.' Allah will say 'All my servants, is there anything more that you want?' The people of Jannah will say 'And what could we want more than this O Allah? Have you not forgiven our sins? Have you not made our scales weighty? Have you not caused us to enter this paradise? What more could we want?'"

Then the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: "Allah will lift the veil and they will look at his face, and they will not be given anything better and more noble than the looking at his face, and this is the زيادة that the Quran talks about." This is what the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said : وَهَذِهِ الزّيَادَةُ - "This is the thing that is more than Jannah."

(Muslim 181)

The Hadith of the Full Moon

Once our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was praying Salah and it was the middle of the night and the Sahaba were there, most likely in Ramadan, and it was a full moon outside - full bright moon, no clouds. And so our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: "Do you see this full moon?" They said "Yes O Messenger of Allah." He said: "Do you have any problems? Are you jostling and shoveling? Are you fighting one another to see that moon?" They said "No O Messenger of Allah."

He said: "Then verily you shall see your Lord just as you see this full moon. You shall see your Lord." The comparison is to the people looking at the moon and the people looking at Allah. "You will see your Lord just as you see this full moon. No one will be fighting, no one will be jostling and shoving, no one will be arguing to see it. Everyone will be able to see Allah."

Connection to Prayer

And the Quran is explicit on this point of the looking at the face of Allah. The Quran links worship to the face of Allah. The Quran encourages us to worship in order to see the face of Allah, and our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) did the same.

In the same hadith he said: "You will see your Lord as you see the full moon, so therefore try your best not to fall asleep at Fajr and at Asr timings." At Fajr and Asr they would be sleeping - the afternoon nap and the early morning. He said: "Try your best to pray Fajr and to pray Asr on time." He linked the looking at Allah - he linked it to Fajr and Asr. He encouraged them to pray their salawat in order to see Allah.

(Bukhari 554, Muslim 633)

Quranic Encouragement to Seek Allah's Face

The Quran encourages many good deeds in order to see Allah. For example, Allah tells us to make dua to Him in order to see His face:

"They're making dua to see Allah's face."

Allah says in the Quran:

"You're only spending your money to see the face of Allah. You're spending your money في سبيل الله to see the face of Allah."

Allah says you're being good to your relatives in order to see the face of Allah. Allah says you're being patient:

"They're being patient in order to see Allah and the face of Allah."

The Promise of Radiant Faces

And the Quran tells us that when we see the face of Allah, when we see the face of Allah, our faces will become bright and shining. We all know the verse:

"On that day faces will be bright, shining, gonna be shining bright. Why? Because they will be looking at their Lord إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ"

And this shows us that looking at the face of Allah is the greatest blessing given to us. And even this blessing, brothers and sisters, will be given in accordance with our own good deeds. Not everybody will see Allah the same quantity. Everybody in Jannah will see Allah, but not everybody will see Allah to the same level and quantity. And the higher up one goes in Jannah, the more shall be this Ziyadah.

The Face of Allah: Descriptions in the Quran

And Allah mentions in many verses in the Quran this linkage of good deeds with looking at His face. And that is why the Quran describes the face of Allah with beautiful adjectives. We all know Surah Ar-Rahman,

what does Allah say?

"Everyone on this earth will perish, and our previous speakers were talking about the same point - everyone is going to die. Who shall remain وَيَبْقَى وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ - and the face of Allah will remain, and that face has been described as ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ ."

The face has been described as ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ جلال means magnificence, جلال means honor, جلال means magnificence, and إكرام means nobility. The face of Allah is a face of honor and a face of nobility. Why? Because anybody who sees that face has been honored beyond anyone else. Anyone who sees that face has been given an honor and a nobility that no one else will possess.

The Divine Light and Hijab

And that face of Allah we will not see it in this world. Musa asked to see, but Allah said "You don't have the power, you don't have the power, the capability." That is something only in the next life.

The Hadith of Abu Dharr

And a famous hadith of Abu Dharr al-Ghifari - after Isra wal-Mi'raj when the Prophet went up and he went to a place higher than Jibreel. Jibreel took him up and Jibreel said "I cannot go anymore, now you have to go on your own. I'm not allowed beyond this point." So the Prophet went higher than any created being has ever been, then he came back down.

Abu Dharr al-Ghifari asked him - this hadith is in Sahih Muslim, very beautiful hadith, very interesting hadith:

"O Messenger of Allah, did you see your Lord? Did you see your Lord?"

And our Prophet replied:

"There was light everywhere, how could I see him? نُورٌ أَنّى أَرَاهُ - there was light everywhere, how could I see him?"

(Muslim 178)

What light is he talking about? What is this light? Our Prophet explained in another hadith, he clarified in another hadith, and this hadith is reported by Abu Hurairah in Sahih Muslim as well, and in it he said:

"Allah Azzawajal has taken a hijab - - Allah'shijab is nur. Allah Azzawajal has taken a hijab." By hijab we mean a covering. Allah has taken a hijab. What is that hijab?

You see, for us the hijab covers the beauty, it covers the beauty and it envelops the beauty. For Allah, the hijab itself is beauty, and what it covers is beyond imagination, what it covers is beyond what the mind can comprehend.

So our Prophet said:

"Allah'shijab is light. Were He to lift that hijab, the rays of light that come from Allah's face would destroy everything that it sees."

(Muslim 179)

The beauty, the radiance of Allah is so powerful that the creation cannot bear to see it. So when the creation cannot bear to see it, out of mercy for the creation, Allah has veiled himself from us in this dunya. And what is his veil? His veil itself is light.

So when our Prophet went up all the way, he saw the veil of Allah. So when Abu Dharr asked him "What did you see? Did you see Allah?" he said "There was the light, how could I see Allah? How could I see Allah?"

The Ultimate Goal of Every Believer

So our Prophet saw the hijab, but as for seeing Allah, this is impossible in this world. Our bodies cannot bear it in this world. That is only in the next world. That is in the akhirah, and it is the greatest blessing of the akhirah.

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