Strengthening Our Relationship with Allah - Corrected Khutba

Strengthening Our Relationship with Allah

By Yasmin Mogahed

Opening

As-salāmu alaykum wa-rahmatu llāhi wa-barakātuh

I'm going to be the guy that tells the brothers to move over to the left and start sitting down. And for the people at the door, please start sitting down. We're causing too much noise.

I hate being that guy, but oh well. For our last lecture, we're going to bring back to Sayyid Yasmin Mujahid to teach us and talk to us about reconnecting with Allah. Life's more than just praying five times a day. Life is more than just blindly following our religion. We must create and establish a relationship with Allah. So without further ado, Sayyid Yasmin Mujahid. As-salamu alaykum.

People got back from lunch.

The Purpose of Our Creation

I consider this one of the most important topics. And the reason for that is that Allah told us the answer to a very, very important question in the Quran. This is a question that many people struggle with, whether they're Christian or Jewish or agnostic or atheist. And that is, why am I here? What is my purpose? I know I exist, but why? The question of why. Allah answers this question clearly in the Quran.

That we have not created jinn and human beings except to fulfill worship of Allah, to know Allah, to enslave ourselves to Allah.

That is the reason why we were created. And it's extremely important that we come back to that because that is our purpose. Allah has given us perspective in this ayah.

So the question now is, if that's my purpose, that's why I'm here, that's why I exist, how do I do that? We live in a world that distracts us. We live in a world that even if we believe in this somewhere here, right? But it becomes very difficult to live that with all the distractions that we have. We tend to run after things of this life and become distracted from our ultimate purpose.

And so I want to bring back that reminder of how is it that we can fulfill this purpose of our creation and reconnect with Allah. I'm going to mention five things, okay?

Five Ways to Strengthen Our Relationship with Allah

1. Love Allah Most

The first is we have to love Allah most. There is this principle that governs human nature, right? And it goes like this. You become a slave to whatever you love most.

Simple, yeah? You become a slave to whatever you love most. Every single human being has a master, whether that person believes in God or they don't. Everyone has a master.

Everyone has something that they enslave themselves to. Now the question is what is your master? Now remember, everyone has a master. An atheist, an agnostic, a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, everyone has a master.

But what's your master? And the answer is whatever you love most. So how does that work? Well, if you're a person who loves money most, guess who your master is? Anyone? Money. You're a slave to money.

If you're a person who loves power most, then guess what you're a slave to? Power. In other words, you will do anything to get more money or you will do anything to get more power. If you're a person who loves appearing a certain way in front of people, if you're a person who loves image most, if you're a person obsessed with this concept of what are people going to say, what are people going to think, then you're a slave to what people think.

You're actually a slave to what other people say. That is your master. So how does that look like? It looks like you'll do anything and not do anything based on what people are going to say, what people are going to think.

You're a slave. So remember this. You will always be a slave to whatever you love most.

And that is why you have to be very careful what you love most. It's a simple concept, but it's extremely important. Allah tells us in the Quran:

That there are people, there are from among people those who take rivals with Allah besides Allah.

Now when you think about shirk, typically when we think shirk, we think praying to an idol, right? Or saying that God is three or has a son. This is shirk for sure. But in this ayah, it's talking about a different type of rivalry that we take with Allah.

- They love them as they should only love Allah. So Allah is telling us that there are people who take rivals with Allah. How? Not because they're praying to another idol, not because they're taking something else and making dua to it, but because they love those rivals as they should only love Allah.

So it is a rivalry in love. Be careful what you love most. Make sure that you love Allah most.

More than your money, more than your career, more than your family, more than power, more than what other people think. That it is not about what other people are going to say or what other people are going to think or what does society say. But what's most important to you is what does Allah say.

So this is love. And remember, you will always obey what you love most.

(Quran 2:285)

You know someone you love says jump. What's your answer? How high? That's how it works. That's just how love works, right? You become a slave to what you love most. Loving Allah most.

2. Remember Allah A Lot

Number two. Remember Allah a lot. (ذِكْر - dhikr) Here's the thing about remembrance.

When you remember something a lot, it becomes bigger and more important to you. And when you forget about it, its significance diminishes. When you love someone, you can't get them off your mind.

Like, Ahmad doesn't have to put a reminder on his phone to think of Sara. You know what I'm saying? Oh God, it's 12, I have to think about Sara again. It doesn't work like that, right? If Ahmad loves Sara, he doesn't have to force himself to remember her.

It's a natural part of love, right? And the more you remember something, the more important it becomes. Allah tells us in the Quran:

This is one of the mistakes we make. Is that we remember Allah every once in a while. You know, this is a mistake that even practicing people make. Even religious people might make. Even like a good person.

Is that we might remember Allah, but you know like once a week, or you know, if you pray, it's like your body is praying, but you're remembering Facebook and Twitter. You know, like you're not actually remembering Allah enough. And it's very interesting, because Allah doesn't say just remember Allah.

He doesn't tell the believers to remember him. He says remember Allah a lot. (ذِكْرًا كَثِيرًا - dhikran kathira) So what we have to realize is that dhikr is the oxygen of our hearts.

The Three-Part Prescription for Daily Dhikr

It's what keeps our hearts alive. And so one thing that we have to do is we have to practice this prescription. And one prescription that I try to give every audience I talk to, is this three part prescription for what we have to do every single day to get this dose of oxygen.

Because the heart needs oxygen to stay alive just like the body. And we need to eat, and we need to drink to stay alive. And the heart also needs food and water.

And that is the remembrance of Allah. So very quickly, the first part of that prescription is the salah. Allah commanded the salah, and we're told that it's the first thing you're asked about on the Day of Judgment.

See there's this amazing thing that Allah actually gives us a snapshot of the future, of what's going to happen on the Day of Judgment. And in one of these snapshots, Allah tells us that the people of Hellfire are going to have, you know, we have a snapshot of their conversations. And people asking them, what entered you into Hellfire? And we have their answer told to us by our Creator.

And the very first thing that they say is:

We were not among those who prayed. It's very simple, really. That what entered us into Hellfire is we were not among those who prayed.

It's like a person who, you know, they're dead, and you say, well, what was the cause of death? Well, they didn't breathe. They didn't have oxygen. Or they suffocated.

Or they drowned. A lack of oxygen is going to kill a body, right? Not really sure? It is, right? So a lack of spiritual oxygen is going to kill a heart. If you don't pray, the heart dies.

And so this person is saying that the reason that I entered Hellfire, the first reason is we were not among those who prayed. Salah is the oxygen of the heart. And it has to be something that is non-negotiable.

Just like breathing. Just like breathing. And I cannot have any of these talks where we talk about getting closer to Allah, being more spiritual.

You know what I mean? We like to see, like, we like to see cool memes, cool quotes. You know what I'm saying? Like, give me something new. But I can't talk to you about spirituality without talking to you about spiritual oxygen, which is the salah.

That is the essential of how you keep your heart alive. The second is the adhkar. Now the adhkar, by that I mean get an app on your phone called My Dua, or any app for Fortress of a Muslim, some collection of adhkar.

These are the remembrances, these are the duas that the Prophet ﷺ would say throughout his day. This is how you actually turn theory into practice, right? Everything I'm saying right now is theory. If I were up here talking to you about getting fit, yeah, talking to you about health and how to get fit, I could sit here and talk to you for eight hours straight, but has anyone gotten fit? Sitting here for eight hours talking about exercise and healthy food, did you get fit? No.

Why? Because you have to actually take that information, that theory, and you have to practice it in order to get fit. And that's how it works. Everything I'm saying here is theory until you go home and do it.

And this is how you turn that theory into practice, is that you actually are saying the adhkar every single day. That's like food and water for the soul. That's like taking your vitamins and minerals.

That's how you make the heart healthy. And so when you get this app, Fortress of a Muslim, on your phone, that's what it is, My Dua, M-Y-D-U-A-A. When you get this app, it has like a dua for everything.

When you're traveling, when you leave the house, when you come in the house, when you enter the bathroom, when you leave the bathroom, start eating. There's a dua for intimacy. There's a dua when you're scared.

There's a dua for everything. You have a problem. So there's going to be a lot there, but there's some that you have to stick to every single day.

And this is my advice. In the morning, you need to do your morning adhkar. And there's a lot of morning adhkar.

The Prophet ﷺ had a lot of duas, he said. You don't have to do all of them. Please, please understand.

It's not all or none. Our deen is not all or none. So you take a portion, but you be consistent.

The Prophet ﷺ said that Allah loves the actions that are consistent, even if they're small. And that's how it works in the physical world, right? If you're going to exercise, but you're going to be consistent, you're going to be better than someone who exercises a lot but is inconsistent, right? So you have to just be consistent, even if it's a small amount. Morning supplications are after fajr.

Evening supplications are after asr or before maghrib. And then there's supplications before you sleep. And now this app allows you to make a starred list.

Top of the top right corner. You star it. That becomes your collection.

Stick to it. And it will actually change your life. So you don't have to take my word for it, but do it.

And you'll see that effect. So that's number two. Number three in this dhikr practice, this dhikr prescription, is the Quran.

It's keeping a daily relationship with the Quran. And trying to not just read it, but to understand it and to apply it, even if it's a small amount. So remembering Allah. Now when we talk about the importance of dhikr, I just want to kind of put something into perspective.

The Prophet ﷺ told us that the difference between a person who remembers Allah and one who does not remember Allah is like the difference between the living and the dead. Dhikr is actually what gives us

life. Allah says:

If there's no other reason to remember Allah, let this be it.

Allah says, if you remember me and I'll remember you. Like, remember me, I'll remember you. Imagine like a celebrity remembering you.

You know what I mean? Like, suppose there's some celebrities like your hero. And imagine that they're like doing an interview and they like do a shout out to you. By name.

You know what I mean? You'll feel pretty chuffed, right? Pretty special. Yes? Yeah. If you care, right? If it's someone you really think is amazing and they're remembering you, you're going to feel like really honored.

So imagine that the lord of the world is remembering you, right? Allah says, you remember me, I'll remember you. And when Allah remembers us, he doesn't remember us just among the people but among the angels. Those in the heavens.

Even better assembly, as Allah says. If we remember him in this assembly, he's remembering us in a better assembly. And so Allah is telling us that this is how we can stay alive spiritually.

3. Avoid the Trap of Arrogance

Number three is that when we are on the right path, when we are practicing, be careful not to fall into the trap of arrogance. Not to fall into the trap of self-righteousness. See, here's the thing about shaitan.

Shaitan will come at you in different ways depending where you are. Alright? When you're up, he comes at you through the door of arrogance. Right? Man, look at you, right? You're praying, you know, you wear your hijab or you have your big beard and your short pants.

You are amazing. And look at all these other people. They're not as amazing as you.

So what happens is that sometimes when we are on the right path, we might fall into the trap of becoming arrogant. Of becoming self-righteous and then looking down on others. Be careful of that trap.

Be very careful of that trap. And I'll tell you why. Number one, your guidance is not from you.

It's a gift from Allah. Be grateful for it. Don't take credit for it.

It's another gift that you shouldn't be taking credit for. Number two, the fastest way to lose a blessing is to take it for granted. And I'll just repeat that.

The fastest way to lose a blessing is to take it for granted. So you know those people who became really self-righteous and they look down on everyone else? And you see this pattern that they end up falling into the same type of thing that they used to make fun of.

Or they used to look down on someone for something and then they fell into it.

So this is a very dangerous thing that can happen if you become arrogant. And you take it for granted. Your own guidance.

So don't fall into that trap. Always give thanks to Allah. Give credit to Allah.

Don't take the credit for yourself. Now, I said that shaitan comes to you in different ways depending where you're at. So I said if you're on your high, you're feeling good, you're feeling religious, so he'll come through arrogance and self-righteousness, right? But what happens when you're in a low? What happens now when you've slipped? Or you've committed a sin or you're making a mistake? You're at a low place in your deen or in your life.

How does shaitan come at you? He'll come through the door of despair. He'll come through the door of, you know what? You're so bad, you might as well just give up, right? You know the, she might as well take off her hijab? Ever heard that before? Right? I hate when people say stuff like that because that is absolutely aiding shaitan against your sister, right? You judge her, you say, okay, she's doing this, she's doing that. You know what? She might as well take off her hijab.

It's like you're saying, stop trying. Give up. You know, imagine seeing someone who's drowning and instead of helping them, you tell them, you know what? You should just stop trying.

Like, who does that? That is pretty cruel, right? Or worse yet, push them down more. Throw things at them. That's insane, right? You see someone drowning, help them out, right? Don't throw things at them.

Don't say, you know what? You're really deep right now so you might as well stop trying to swim. Just drown. You understand? That's what we do to people.

When people are struggling, right, what do we do? We say things like that. Oh, you know what? She should just take off her hijab. Or, you know, we're feeling so terrible.

So shaitan will come and say, you know, you're such a terrible person. You should just stop praying. Or, you know what? Just stop going to the masjid because you're a hypocrite, right? You're being two-faced.

You're going to go commit that sin and then turn around and pray? So shaitan will deceive you and tell you that that's being two-faced. What does he actually want you to do? Stop praying. To give up.

Stop going to the masjid. Stop having any good company. Or, my favorite, stop hanging out with those people because they're so judgmental, right? Oh, they're just old.

Man, my crowd, this other crowd, I'm going to hang out with them because they don't judge me. It's all a deception to just make you give up, right? So this is another trap that we have to be careful about and not lose hope when we mess up.

4. The Lesson of Adam and Iblis

It's very important to reflect on the story of Adam alayhis salaam.

If I ask you this question, what did Iblis do wrong? We're told about the story of Adam and shaitan, right? If I ask you, what did Iblis, what did shaitan do wrong? Everyone's going to say he didn't bow, right? Well, it's true. He didn't bow, and that was a sin. But let me ask you a question.

Have you ever in your entire life, your 25 years on this earth, your 55 years on this earth, your 17 years on this earth, have you ever missed fajr in your life? You don't even tell me, right? Okay, how many sajdahs did you miss? Even if you just missed one fajr, you don't have to be a mathematician, folks, right? Even if you missed one fajr, you've actually refused. Shaitan refused how many sajdahs? One. If you didn't pray one fajr, you missed one fajr, you've actually refused four sajdahs.

Is that scaring you? So what makes you different than shaitan? Anyone? It's repentance. It's actually tawbah. And what saves us isn't the fact that we never sin.

It's the fact that after we sin, we repent. So it's that ability to not lose hope. And that's exactly what shaitan did.

He lost hope. Yes, he refused to bow because of his arrogance, but after that, how did he respond? Did he regret and seek forgiveness? Did he repent? And the answer is no, he rebelled more. He lost hope and rebelled more.

He said, okay, since you're kicking me out of paradise, I'm going to try to take all of them with me. I'm going to attack them from their front and from their back. And he says, I'm going to attack them on the straight path.

From their front, from their back, from their right and from their left. So shaitan took an attitude of rebellion as opposed to repentance. But look at Adam.

Now compare it to Adam. Did Adam do something that he wasn't supposed to do? Yes. Adam wasn't supposed to eat from the tree. Did he? Yes. Shaitan made them slip. They ate from the tree.

Now look at what Adam did. So I want you just to understand. Shaitan refused to obey a command. And Adam broke a rule that he wasn't supposed to do. He did something he wasn't supposed to do. But look at the difference between them.

What was Adam's response when they slipped?

Our Lord, we've wronged our own selves. And if you don't forgive us and have mercy on us, we will be among the losers. Look at the difference in response.

Do you understand? The difference is what they did after. Adam didn't lose hope. And Adam repented.

And the reason Allah tells us a story. Realize that when Allah tells us something in the Quran, it's not a bedtime story. I mean it's cool we tell it to our kids.

But it's actually a lesson, isn't it? It's a timeless lesson. So Allah is telling us this story. So that we know what to do when we mess up.

And that is you don't lose hope and you repent. And you get back up. We have to be able to get back up.

Because if we're a people who just stay down every time we slip, we will not be successful. There's this very powerful quote I read. And it goes like this.

You don't drown by falling into the ocean. You drown by staying there. You don't drown by falling. You drown by staying there. And that's the mistake that we make sometimes. When we fall, when we slip, when we're in a low place, we just stay there.

We don't get back up. So the key is that you can't lose hope. And you have to be able to get back up.

5. Focus on the Right Things

Finally, the fifth one is be careful what you focus on. Shift your focus. And when you shift your focus, you shift your world.

See, there's another principle and it goes like this. Whatever you focus on grows. Alright? We have to be a people who focus on the light.

If we focus on darkness, it's going to grow. When we focus on everything that's going wrong, everything that's missing, then we start to feel more and more poor. See, how many people have heard my favorite little meme story? Basically, there's two pictures, right? The boy who has one slice of cake and he's really happy.

And next to him is another boy holding an entire cake, maybe 13 slices, and one slice missing, so he's sad. What's the difference between the two of them? Well, first of all, who has more cake? The one who's sad. But why is he sad? The answer is because of what he's focusing on.

The one who's sad is focusing on what's missing. And the one who's happy is focusing on what he has. What you focus on grows.

So gratitude, very powerful. Allah tells us:

If you're thankful, I will increase you.

One other thing when it comes to focus is this. We have to be careful not to focus only on material things. We tend in our life, just because there's so many distractions, our entire world, if everything that we talk about, everything we read about, everything we see on magazines and billboards and social media is all dunya, dunya, dunya, dunya, guess what's going to become the most important thing to you? Anyone? Dunya, great. You're all psychologists.

Dunya. Because if that's your focal point, then that becomes what's most important to you. When you shift what you focus on, you shift what matters most.

Now I'm just going to give you guys just a practical way to do that. Most of us spend a lot of time on our phone. Most of us are engaged in social media, right? If you change your newsfeed, you're going to change your heart.

It's really very interesting. Your newsfeed, what you follow, what you read every day, what you look at every day, what you listen to every day, all of that is input that goes to the heart. Everything you see, everything you hear, everything you speak, everything you read, that's all input.

It's like food, right? Let me ask you a question. If you're eating really unhealthy food and sipping on a little bit of poison, you know, with your unhealthy food, what's going to happen to your body? You're going to be unhealthy and eventually you're actually slowly killing yourself. The same thing happens spiritually.

When what we're reading and what we're looking at and what we're taking in and the messages and the concepts and the haram that we look at and forget the haram for a second. Just how much we're obsessed with appearances. Like we live in a society right now where we are obsessed with how everyone and everything looks, right? It's all about looks.

What you're wearing, how you look, being perfect, right? You got to be perfect. You got to have a perfect life, perfect children, perfect spouse, perfect skin, and if you don't put a filter on it. And this is the way we are obsessed with appearing perfect.

And we're obsessed with how things look. Now that focus becomes what's most important to us. But how did that happen? It happened because all we're looking at every single day is just appearances, right? What's this person wearing? What's in fashion? How do you contour this in all the millions of ways? And the different, you know what I mean? It's like just take a look at your newsfeed.

Just take a look at your newsfeed. Think of your newsfeed like your fridge, right? That's what you're going to eat that day. Whatever it is that's on whatever social media platform.