Weakness of Emaan (Faith) & Its Cures

Weakness of Emaan (Faith) & its Cures

A Lecture by Yusha Evans

Opening

Introduction: The Sickness of the Heart

Inshallah Ta'ala, I'm going to try to address a very very serious topic in a very very small amount of time, unfortunately. You see when it comes to weakness of Iman, weakness of faith, this is something all people suffer from. But the problem is we don't know why we suffer from it, nor do we understand properly how to deal with it.

It's like being sick, we get sick for a reason and we need to understand why do we get sick, why does the body get sick? We learn that we're supposed to wash our hands, we're supposed to not take in germs, we're supposed to take vitamins and get exercise and plenty of rest. And that's just for the body, to keep the body from getting sick. And then when the body gets sick, we find that there are medications, there are things that you need to do in order to recover.

Stay in bed, drink plenty of water, take fluids. So these things we pretty much know about the body. But when it comes to Iman, which is a matter of the Qalb, of the heart, we don't take as much interest. We don't know why it gets sick or how to remedy it.

And this is a big problem because the body can be healthy, but if the soul and the heart is sick, then the health of the body is not going to do it any good. The soul needs to be nourished.

The body can be sick, and if the soul is nourished and the soul is healthy, well then if that person even dies from that sickness, then we know that they will be okay in the hereafter inshaAllah. But even if you live a very long life because of your health, and your soul is sick, or your soul has lost Iman, or no Iman, or weak Iman, then you're going to have problems in the next life. So we need to try to balance the two inshaAllah.

The Importance of the Soul

But the importance, according to the Ulema, the importance should be given to the soul. Because the soul is

what's going to live forever. The body is going to die, and Allah is going to resurrect it and recreate it the way He did it the first time.

But the soul will continue to exist. Allah says about the soul:

"Every soul will taste death."

Reference: Surah Ali 'Imran (3:185), Surah Al-Anbya (21:35), Surah Al-'Ankabut (29:57)

The soul just tastes that death and then it continues to exist.

Understanding the Heart (Al-Qalb)

Now, when it comes to the matters of Iman and the heart, we have to first understand the heart a little bit. And like I said, it's too short of a time to go through all this topic, to be honest with you. But I will try to do the best justification that I can in the time frame.

The heart, which is known in Arabic as what? I don't talk if you guys don't realize that. I like to ask questions. I want you to think. Because if I don't make you think, then this is going to bounce off the side of your head.

What is the heart called in Arabic language? القلب - Al-Qalb. Why? The Prophet ﷺ said that the heart takes its name from its constant change.

تقلب - That the heart takes its name from the fact that it can constantly change.

He said that the heart is like a feather at the root of a tree, constantly flipping about in the wind. Constantly flipping about in the wind. Or that the heart is like a feather in an open field. What happens to a feather in an open field? It just flips and turns and wherever the wind goes it takes it. And that's how the heart is.

That's the matter of the heart. Also the Prophet ﷺ said that man's heart changes as much as rapidly boiling water flips over. That the same way rapidly boiling water flips over, the heart changes.

So we're always going to be in constant battle with this قلب this thing we have. But the Prophet ﷺ also said about the heart that there is a piece of flesh, that if it is good, then the entire body will be good. But if it is bad or it is dirty, then the entire body will be dirty and bad. And that is the heart. The heart.

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 52; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1599

We have to take care of our heart. And I'm not talking about just the physical beating heart in your chest. You got to take care of that too. Or you're not going to make it very long. But we also have to take care of our spiritual heart. The center of our Iman. Because this is where Iman rests.

What is Iman?

Iman rests in the heart. Al-Hasan al-Basri rahimahullah ta'ala said that Iman is not the substance of your hopes and wishes. That it's not just what you aspire to be.

You can aspire to be the best Muslim that you want to be. You can dream about making Salah all day long. You can dream about Qiyam ul-Layl all day long. I dream about being the best Muslim. But that's not Iman.

He said Iman is that which settles itself in the قَلْب and then becomes manifested through the actions.

And according to the Quran that Iman is three parts:

1. It is a belief

2. It is a belief that is affirmed in the heart

3. Then it is manifested with actions

This is true Iman. This is true Iman. So if there is some weakness in the Iman, then there must be some weakness in some of those parts. Either in the belief - the belief system could be wrong. The Aqeedah could be messed up. Therefore it's causing one to have weak Iman.

Or the acceptance of that Aqeedah or that belief system - there could be some problems which causes weakness of Iman. Or the manifestation there is something wrong with - the way you perform your Ibadah. The amount of action that you do, etc, etc, etc. That it has to be a problem in that system somewhere.

The Heart in Allah's Hands

And insha'Allah today I'm just going to discuss with you four reasons of cause of weakness of Iman. Of course that's not comprehensive. It's not even near comprehensive. But I can only manage four. Four causes of weak Iman. And four solutions to improve upon that Iman.

Also the Prophet ﷺ, and this is narrated by Abdullah Amr ibn al-Aas, that the heart of all the children of Adam is between the fingers of Allah. In a manner that befits His majesty. That the heart of every son of Adam is between the fingers of Allah and He can turn it whichever way He wishes.

So this is why the Prophet ﷺ used to constantly make the dua:

"O Turner of hearts, make my heart firm upon Your religion."

Reference: Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2140

That was one of the earliest duas that I was ever taught. And it's something I have very rarely prayed any salah without trying to say that. Because staying on the straight path with your heart and your heart staying attached

to Allah, is a ni'mah that comes from Allah. Allah at any time can flip that heart whichever way He wishes for whatever reason.

So we constantly ask Allah every single day:

"Guide us to the straight path."

Reference: Surah Al-Fatihah (1:6)

And guidance is a matter of the heart. So when we're asking Allah to guide us, we're asking Allah to keep our heart firm upon this straight path of the deen.

The Priority of Iman

We need to understand how important our heart is. How important our spiritual heart and iman is. Iman is something that we should take care of more than we take care of our children.

We should be more keen on our iman than we are over our own children. Because without iman, you're not going to benefit yourself, nor your children, nor your family, nor your wife, nor your husband, nor anyone else. Without iman you're going to be lost, and someone who is lost cannot help anybody else.

As the statement goes, you cannot give what you don't possess. You cannot give what you yourself don't possess. So you can't say that you're going to help other people when you're not first helping yourself.

Allah commands you in the Quran:

"O you who believe, save yourself first [then your family from the Fire]."

Reference: Surah At-Tahrim (66:6)

Allah says first you've got to save yourself from hell, then your family. Because if you're not saving yourself, you're not going to be able to save anyone else. You're going to misguide people and probably lead them astray. So we have to understand this matter of the heart.

Allah's Closeness to the Heart

Allah also says in Surah Al-Anfal, and I'm going to leave a lot of the Arabic out just because of the simple fact that you all understand English. Maybe not my southern English, American English. You might have to go get a translator for that. But we don't have time for all of the parts.

But I will give you the translation of the meanings of what Allah says. In Surah Al-Anfal verse 24 Allah says, Allah comes in between every person and his heart. Allah comes between every person and his heart.

Reference: Surah Al-Anfal (8:24)

Allah tells us he's closer to us than our own jugular vein. Meaning that this vein is the system by which the heart pumps the majority of the blood up and down through the body. And Allah is telling us, I'm closer to you than that.

I come between every one of my slaves and their heart. So Allah and the relationship we should have with Him, should be closer than our own heart relationship to our body. The body cannot continue to live without the heart.

Just like the spiritual heart and the soul cannot continue to live without its relationship with Allah.

The Clean Heart

Allah also says in Surah Ash-Shu'ara verse 89, that no one will be saved on the Day of Judgment except he who brings a clean heart to Allah. That no one can be saved on the Day of Judgment unless he brings a clean heart to Allah.

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

Reference: Surah Ash-Shu'ara (26:89)

And we know this is not speaking of the physical heart. This is speaking of the spiritual qalb. That the heart itself needs to be clean when you present it to Allah. Because Allah gave it to you clean.

"We have certainly created man in the best of stature."

Reference: Surah At-Tin (95:4)

And Allah gave us perfection when He created us. It's us that corrupt that. But Allah wants us to try to the best of our abilities, to represent ourselves to Allah in the best way that we can, closest to that which He gave us. InshaAllah ta'ala.

Allah also says in Surah Al-Hajj verse 53, that those whose heart is dead or hardened, they are doomed. They are doomed. That someone whose heart is dead and hardened, they are doomed.

Because a hard heart can't be penetrated by the words of Allah. A hard heart can't be penetrated by the words of the Prophet ﷺ. The advice from your brother and sister will just bounce off of it, if the heart is not softened. So we have to work on softening the heart, and that's one thing we'll talk about inshaAllah.

Allah also says in Surah Qaf, that in verse 33, And the promise of Paradise is for those who feared Ar-Rahman in the unseen, and they brought a heart that was repentant to Allah.

Reference: Surah Qaf (50:33)

That those people who brought a repentant heart, a clean heart, a heart that has freed itself from the sin it's committed, these are the people whom the promise of Paradise is upon them. So we have to understand this heart thing is a very, very serious issue.

Guarding the Heart

The Prophet ﷺ also said, and this is reported by Bukhari and Muslim, Whoever falls into doubtful matters enters Haram. He's like a shepherd who grazes his flock around a place where he's not allowed, and soon he will enter into the Haram.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 52; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1599)

Meaning that the heart must constantly be checked and rechecked and rechecked and rechecked, because the closer you get, the farther you get away from Allah with that heart, the closer you get to the Haram issues, and the doubtful matters, and the shubuhat, and the shahawat, and the next thing you know you're dead into the Haram, and you don't even know it.

The heart is that vehicle which Allah gave us to differentiate ourselves between Halal and Haram, through understanding the book and the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.

FOUR CAUSES OF WEAK IMAN

Cause #1: Being Detached from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah

Now, first reason, for the greatest reason for weakness of Iman. The greatest reason for weakness of Iman is being detached from the book of Allah and the sunnah of his Prophet ﷺ. This is number one.

This will kill you every single time. If you are detached from the book of Allah, meaning you don't read it, you don't ponder upon its meanings, you don't memorize it, you don't try to implement it in your life, then you cannot be wondering why your Iman is weak. Because you have no attachment to Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ said, I leave behind me two things, if you hold to them you will never go astray. The first of them is the book of Allah, which is like a rope. One end of it with Allah and the other end of it in your hands.

If you let go of that rope, then you lose your connection with Allah. You have to continue to keep that connection with the book of Allah. The only way we know Allah is by that which He has revealed to us about Himself.

And where else are you going to find that which Allah has revealed to us about Himself other than in His word. Other than in His word. This is the words of Allah. This is as close as you're going to get to being near to Allah in this life. It's through your connection to Allah, through His book.

The Quran as a Warning

Allah says in surah al-furqan, does anybody know the first verse of surah al-furqan?

"Blessed is He who has revealed the Criterion upon His servant to be to the worlds a warner."

So that it can become to mankind a warning. Not just so that it can become to mankind a recitation, it is to be to mankind a warning. A warning.

The first verse revealed to the Prophet, after اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ was what?

"O you who covers himself, arise and warn."

Get up and go warn someone about me. The Quran is supposed to warn us. It's supposed to advise us. It's supposed to encourage us.

And we cannot wonder why the Muslims are so disobedient to Allah. For me that solution is very simple. Aisha radiAllahu anha, she described it very well when she talked about how the Quran was revealed.

And we have lost that understanding. She said, had the verses of halal and haram been the first things to be revealed, then everyone would have ran away from the deen of Allah. Everyone would have just took it off.

They would have said, no way man. If the first thing that was revealed was forbidden alcohol, or fornication, or gambling, or these things, they would have said, no way man. We don't have time for this nonsense.

She said, but the first things to be revealed were the verses of jannah and nar. Till the hearts were so attached to Allah, the qalb was so attached to Allah, that whatever Allah revealed after that, they responded with:

"We hear and we obey."

(Surah Al-Baqarah (2:285))

If the hearts are not attached to Allah, we should not wonder why people are so disobedient. Because they don't fear anything. They don't care about anything that Allah gives them, if it's not in dunya. And they don't even really understand akhira, nor do they fear it, because it seems like it's a long-off fairy tale.

Take Advantage of Your Youth

It's a long-off fairy tale. Especially for you young men. It's an unfortunate fact that you think your youth is on your side, and it's not always the case.

I was with our dear brother Abu Usama yesterday, and he had to rush back to Birmingham today, because there's a young man dying of lupus. And lupus is a disease that the younger you are, the worse it is. Because your own immune system has turned on your body, and the younger you are, the stronger that immune system is, and the stronger it attacks you.

So his youth is actually killing him. So for those of you who think your youth is something that you can just play around with, take disadvantage of it if you want, and see how Allah takes it from you.

"Take advantage of five things before five."

One of them:

"Take advantage of your youth before your old age."

(Al-Mustadrak, Hadith 7846)

Your health before your sickness. You need to fix that relationship now, because this young man is on life support, and he can't even fix his relationship with Allah if he wanted to. He can't even barely breathe on his

own. And he thought, this young man, you know, strong, in vigor. Next thing you know, he took a turn for the worse.

So we need to wake up to the reality, that if we're not constantly fixing the heart, then we have a problem. So being away from the Book of Allah, and the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. These two things are equal. I don't care if you don't like it, it's equal.

The Sunnah is Revelation

The Prophet ﷺ said:

"I was sent the Quran, and something which is similar to it."

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4604)

And we know according to the correct aqeedah, that the sunnah is wahi. The sunnah of the Messenger of Allah is a wahi just like the Quran was a wahi.

Allah says it in Surah An-Najm:

"Nothing does he say of his desire, it is all revelation that has been revealed."

So the Prophet ﷺ, and we're also told in the Quran:

"Obey Allah and obey His Messenger."

And he who has obeyed the Messenger of Allah, has indeed obeyed Allah. And then we find in Surah Aal-i- Imran, where Allah says:

"Say, if you love Allah, follow me. Allah will love you and forgive you your sins."

The Quran Without the Sunnah is Darkness

The sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ is the way by which we know the Book of Allah. If you think, and this is an

unfortunate fact, that there are so many people running around disparaging the sunnah, and think that they can have the Quran without the sunnah, and I've given all of them one challenge. If you can have the Quran without the sunnah, you must be able to do this one thing for me.

Go into a room, close the door, turn off the light, open the Quran, and read one page from it. If you can do that, you can have the Quran without the sunnah. But you can't. You can't. It's dark.

Without the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, we have no idea what the Quran means.

Those who think, Oh we were born into the Arab tongue, we know the Quran. How many of you were born speaking Arabic? Let me ask you, what does:

"By the racers, panting, And the producers of sparks [when] striking And the chargers at dawn..."

(Surah Al-'Adiyat (100:1-3))

What does that mean in Arabic? You don't know. To normal Arabs, this has no meaning to it. Without the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, a large portion of the Quran has no meaning.

Or you will give it the wrong meaning. You will take subha, and say that it is glorifying Allah. When we also know that part of understanding of subha, is it can mean salah as well.

Because Aisha radiAllahu anha, said about the Prophet ﷺ, when talking about duha, she called duha salah subha. Subha. That duha salah, she called it subha. The whole thing she called it subha.

So if we don't understand the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, you are going to do injustice to the Quran every single time. Because you're not going to know how it was implemented.

How can you say you follow the book of Allah, and you don't know how the man to whom it was revealed to followed it. Aisha radiAllahu anha said, the Prophet ﷺ was:

"His entire character was the Quran."

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 746)

So, without the sunnah, you have no Quran. Without the Quran, you have no attachment to Allah. This is why when we take shahadah, it's shahadatain. Both of them are mandatory for you to be a Muslim. La ilaha illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullah. You have to have both of these things.

And therefore you must have your connection with Allah through his book, and you must have connection to the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. These two things are mandatory. Losing these will cause you to have weakness of iman. Wallahi, every time.

The longer you stay away from the book of Allah, the more you will find your iman draining. Because the book of Allah is like gasoline in the car, like the petrol you put in the car. If you don't put any petrol in the car, what's going to happen? It's eventually going to be stuck in the middle of the road.

You're not going to be able to go anywhere else. The same without putting the heart filled with the remembrance of Allah through his word, you will find a heart that becomes empty. Empty of any energy whatsoever to please Allah.

What it will have energy for is to disobey Allah. Because Shaytan will be the one filling it up at that point. With all the doubts and the masiyah and things of this nature.

Cause #2: Staying Away from an Iman-Nourishing Environment

Also, one of the things that causes weakness of iman is staying away from an iman nourishing environment for too long. Staying away from an environment that will nourish your iman for too long will cause you to fall into sin. Will cause you to fall into sin. Because sin was one of the things that weakened the iman.

Like for instance, if you're sitting in the house of Allah, how many times do you think about sinning? Very little. If you're sitting in the house of Allah and the Quran is being recited, the circles of remembering Allah are going on, then your mind is not thinking about disobeying Allah. You're almost in jannah in some instances.

But the moment you go home and you start kicking it on Facebook and you're on Xbox Live or PS3 network, and you're shooting people all day long and kicking footy around and things of this nature, what happens? You start thinking about disobeying Allah. Shaytan comes to you and you start getting into that mode and that environment. And the longer you stay away from the environment that nourishes iman, the weaker you will become.

The weaker you will become. This is why, for such a long time, the ulema made hijrah mandatory. You have to understand why. They made it mandatory because they knew if the Muslims stay away from the environment of Islam for too long, that they will lose their iman. Iman will suffer because of it.

Unfortunately, I don't know much nourishing environments or what's called the land of Islam we have left. Other than the haramain or some of those pockets of things. But if you don't have that environment, then you can make hijrah too. Guess what? You're supposed to create it where you are.

If you don't have a place where you can make hijrah to. Because if you told me, you're supposed to make hijrah to the Muslim lands, I'll be like, show me where, buy me a ticket and I'm out. No problem.

But if we don't have that, in lieu of that, we're supposed to create that environment because that's what the Prophet did. In lieu of having an environment to nourish Muslims, he created the environment to nourish Muslims. So we have to think about creating that environment.

Creating an Iman-Nourishing Home

Maybe your home should be that environment. Wallahi, if you have a home that you don't have at least one halaqatul ilm every day, your home is dead. Your home is dead.

If you don't have one time where at least maybe you sit down in the morning or the evening with your children and you read a few ayat of the Quran and a few ahadith of the Prophet, you remind each other to fear Allah. If your husband when he leaves in the morning, you don't tell him to remember Allah. If your wife when she goes out for whatever reason, you don't tell her to remember Allah, then your house is dead.

You might as well just dig a grave and start burying yourself in that home right away. You have to have your homes to be environments to remember Allah. This would be something that a husband and wife should do.

Remember the Prophet ﷺ said, May Allah bless the woman who wakes up in the middle of the night to pray. And she wakes up her husband to pray. And if he doesn't get up, she does what? She doesn't dump the jug of water on his head. No, she sprinkles water in his face to wake him up. And if that happens, Wallahi, you should get up and make dua for your wife because your wife is a rahmah upon you. Allah has given you a mercy in your own home.

Reference: Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1308

The same with, blessed be the man who gets up in the middle of the night and he wakes his wife up to pray and if she doesn't wake up, he doesn't snatch the sheets out from under her and toss it on the floor. No, he sprinkles her water with her face and tells her to get up and remember Allah. This is how the home is supposed to be.

This is how the home should be. Even the Prophet ﷺ and Aisha had these struggles at one time. When she said that he was going to pray in the middle of the night and she was kind of, you know, she was standing in his way. She didn't want to let him get by. He's like, let me go remember my Rabb. She's like, I'd just like to be near you and I miss you.

And she said that night he sat and he prayed so long, so much that he cried until his beard became wet. And then he cried until his lap became wet. And one of the companions came and said, Ya Rasulullah, Allah has forgiven you of your past and previous sins.

Why are you putting yourself in this condition? He said:

"Then should I not be grateful?"

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4836

You see, this is the type of iman, nourishing environment the Prophet ﷺ created, even in his home. He didn't go to the masjid and pray. He prayed in his own home. He prayed in his own home and created that environment.

So we need to create that environment for our children, inshaAllah, and for ourselves and for our families. We have to make our homes that first place of nourishing. You can't expect the Sunday school at the masjid to do all the work because it's not going to be enough. Because what happens is you drop them off at Sunday school and what do you do? You go shopping and do this and that and the third. So what do they do? They learn your example.

That look, I only have to go to this while I'm young. As soon as I get old I can drop my kids off and I can go out and do my business. We need to nourish that iman in our children because children are going to inherently repeat their behavior of the people who raise them.

They're going to repeat that behavior. That's the way they're infused to do so. They are infused to do as you do, not as you say. What you do is not as important as what you say. InshaAllah.

Cause #3: Keeping Away from Righteous Companions

Number three, keeping away from righteous companions causes weakness of iman. Keeping away from people who remind you of Allah. As the Prophet ﷺ said:

"Be careful of who you take as your companion because every man has the deen of his companion."

Reference: Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4833

If you tell me my best friend is a Christian, I'm going to tell you you have a problem. I'm not saying we can't be friends, we can't be companions, but if you tell me the person you spend the most time with is someone who does not remember Allah, does not remember Allah the way you should remember Allah, then guess what? Your iman is going to suffer because of that. Whether it's now or later on down the road.

Because one thing I do know, in this life, either you're giving da'wa or you're getting da'wa. One of the two. Either you're getting da'wa or either you're giving da'wa to someone or you're getting it.

So you need to be aware. Because at one time you're going to be doing both. You'll be getting it and you'll be giving it. So you need to be aware of what you're giving and you need to be aware of how you're getting the da'wa.

So we need to try to insha'Allah ta'ala keep righteous companionship. Righteous companionship. Look at your friends. Check your friends.

We live in a time today where just because this guy says (لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ - la ilaha illallah muhammadun rasulullah) doesn't mean he might be the best companion for me. We live in a very awkward time where people need to be tried and tested.

Even Ali رضي الله عنه used to say that until you've actually spent a certain amount of time with a man, you've journeyed with him, you've ate in his home, things of that nature, you can't really consider this man your dearest brother. So people need to be tested today.

We need to find companions that are going to help us and benefit us. And if you see that slacking, you should either try to bring your companion closer to you, or if you feel that you're too weak to do so, separate that company. Separate that company for the sake of Allah and let somebody else come and try to nourish that relationship.

The Loss of the Prophet's Companionship

Because if not, you're both going to get dragged into the ditch. The Prophet ﷺ, when he was buried, SubhanAllah, this is how much the companions benefited the companionship of the Prophet ﷺ. He was their companion. He was their best friend. He was their mentor. He was their teacher.

When battles were fierce, he was the person they looked for. When he died ﷺ, they said, we looked at our hearts and we felt deep change. The moment he died, the moment we buried him, we looked at our hearts and we felt a deep change.

And it is said about them, that they were like sheep on a cold winter's night with no shepherd. Seriously, they were almost lost. Even Umar lost it on that day because this loss of companionship of the Prophet ﷺ hurt them so much.

These are the type of companions we should try to get. We're not going to find anyone like the Prophet ﷺ, but we should check our companions, check your friends. Check your friends, inshaAllah.

Cause #4: Preoccupation with Dunya

Number four, so we can finish on time. Preoccupation with dunya causes weakness of iman. It causes weakness of iman and forgetfulness of akhira. Forgetfulness of akhira. Being unmindful of akhira, meaning the next life, and all you are preoccupied with is this life, will cause your iman to become weak. Will cause your iman to become weak.

Why? Because this dunya doesn't do anything but suck the life out of iman. It will suck your iman out like nothing else. It will. It doesn't mean that we cannot have anything from this dunya and have iman. No, but it must be in some balance.

"Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire."

Reference: Surah Al-Baqarah (2:201)

Ask Allah for good in this life and the next, but upon that we ask for Allah to save us from the punishment of the next life. We ask Allah to save us from the punishment of the next life.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

"He is doomed who is the slave of the dinar and the dirham."

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2887

That the person who is the slave of money is doomed. They're doomed. If all you do is a slave to the job, you're a slave to the paycheck, every week you're a slave to this check, then you're doomed. You're doomed.

You are doomed. And you've lost the understanding that your rizq was written 50,000 years before Allah created anything. Allah wrote how much money you would make, where you would make it, how you would make it.

So if you are using that money to disobey Allah, to go away from Allah, then you are an idiot. You're a fool. You're a fool because that rizq was already written for you. You didn't need to disobey Allah to get it. You could have obeyed Allah and still gotten it.

It doesn't mean you don't need to go out and work. Like some of our illustrious brothers, mashaAllah, go sit in the masjid and eat dhal and curry all day and make dhikr and the check is going to come in the mail. No, no, no. You must work.

But work is ibadah. You need to understand that your work is an ibadah in and of itself. Brothers, if you go out of the house every day thinking that you work to put food on the table, and to pay the light bill, and to pay the rent, and to put nappies on your children, then your reward is that paycheck at the end of the week.

You better kiss it like it's gold. Because you won't have anything left in the akhirah. Because the Prophet ﷺ says:

"Every deed is judged according to its intent, and you will get the reward of that which you have intended."

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1907

So if you go to work only to pay the bills, then your reward is paying the bills. If you only go to work to eat, well then you get your reward when you eat. You better love that food.

But if you work to please Allah, and to worship Allah, and let Allah take care of your family, then that work will become ibadah, and every single dime you spend can be sadaqah for your family. MashaAllah. It's the beautiful thing.

Sufficient Provision

Also the Prophet ﷺ said, sufficient for you in this dunya is that you have the supply of a traveler. What does a traveler have? Just enough he can carry in his two hands. He said the sufficient for you in this dunya is that.

He also said the sufficient for you in this dunya is, I'm trying to remember the first one, is, I think it's sustenance for the day, and a riding animal to go out in the path of Allah. That's enough for you. Anything above that is Allah has given you a ni'mah.

If you have enough food to eat today, and you have a bed to sleep in tonight, and you have a transportation to take you to and from, you should thank Allah. You should thank Allah. And you shouldn't worry about tomorrow. Let tomorrow worry about tomorrow.

Allah reminds us in the Qur'an, do you not see the birds? How they go out in the morning and they don't even know, they don't have a plan for the day. It's not like they sat down the night before and said, look tomorrow we're going to go over to this tree, we're going to go to that tree, and I think that there might be something over here.

No, they get up in the morning and they go out trusting in Allah that Allah is going to feed them and they come back with a full stomach. Every single day. Because of their (تَوَكَّل عَلَى اللهِ - tawakkul). They have complete reliance on Allah and Allah does not let down reliance.

One thing I can assure all of you, and I've tried this a number of times in my life, I've put it to the test. If you rely on Allah, He will never disappoint you. Allah never disappoints those who rely upon Him.

"Indeed, Allah does not break His promise."

Reference: Surah Aal-i-Imran (3:9)

If you keep your word to Allah, you will find a Rabb who keeps His word to you more than you can ever imagine. More than you can ever imagine. And you'll never worry again. You'll learn not to worry. Worry for what? Worry about what? Oh, everything is falling down around us.

Well then Allah is tearing it down so He can build something better. MashaAllah, TabarakAllah. We thank Allah for that. If we have a little bit of hardship in between, you're not going to get to Jannah with an easy life. Jannah is surrounded by hardship and some of us think that we can catapult ourselves over the hardship and land directly in the middle of Jannah. It doesn't work like that.

You need to go through the hardship to get there. You need to go through the hardship to get there. So these are some things, inshaAllah, that can cause the weakness of Iman.

And I chose these four because of the simple fact that these are things that I know we deal with quite often and are practical and something you can try to implement today.

FOUR CURES FOR WEAK IMAN

Last, the four that will help so that we can finish, inshaAllah, in the next ten minutes. One thing we need to understand about Iman before I tell you how to fix Iman is you need to understand the Prophet ﷺ said:

إِنَّ الْإِيمَانَ لَيَخْلَقُ فِي الْقَلْبِ كَمَا يَخْلَقُ الثَّوْبُ

"Faith wears out in the heart, the same way clothes wear out."

Reference: Al-Mustadrak, Hadith 4

That Iman wears out in the heart the same way that if you wear clothes, they wear out. They constantly need to be cleaned and cleaned and renewed and you need to put on new ones.

It constantly needs to renew. So he said, ask Allah to renew your heart. The Prophet ﷺ told people, ask Allah to renew your دِین - your deen in your قُلُوب - :hearts:

يَا مُقَلِّبَ الْقُلُوبِ ثَبِّتْ قَلْبِي عَلَى دِينِكَ

We also need to understand that it is part of our Aqeedah that Iman rises and falls. You have to understand that or you're going to always think that you're a hypocrite. And if you do always think you're a hypocrite, it's a sign of Iman as well.

It's a sign of Iman. Don't always beat yourself up because you think you have become a hypocrite.

The Story of Handala

There was a companion named Handala who was walking in the streets of Medina one day and Abu Bakr encountered him.

(السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ يَا حَنْظَلَةُ)

He said, stay away from me because I have become a hypocrite. I have become a hypocrite so please stay away from me. Save yourself from my nifaq.

Abu Bakr was like, what? What's going on? How? He said, you know, when we're with the Prophet ﷺ I feel like I can see Jannah. When he tells us about Jannah it's as if we can see it. When he tells us about Nar it's as if we can feel it. And then I go home with my family and it just goes straight down. The wife is talking about this and the kids are doing that. Next thing you know my Iman has fallen.

Abu Bakr said, subhanAllah, if this is nifaq then I'm a hypocrite too. So we need to go to the Prophet ﷺ. So they went to the Prophet ﷺ and told him what happened. He laughed at them. He laughed at them.

He said, you know, if you were like you are when you're with me all the time, meaning if your Iman was so high like you are, you know when you're praying Taraweeh Salah, how your Iman is floating through the roof. He said, if you're like that all the time then angels would leave the heavens and come down on earth and shake hands with you and give you glad tidings of Jannah every day.

It's not like that. He said, Iman rises and falls. Rises and falls.

Reference: Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2750

The thing we need to try to fix though is that it doesn't fall to the point to where we fall into sin. It's like a muscle. We have to learn that Iman is a muscle.

Iman is Like a Muscle

It is a muscle. If you go to the gym and you want to work out, how many of you here work out? When you go to the gym, would I pick up the 50 pound weight first and just start chucking that thing over my head if I'd never worked out before? No, man. I'm going to rip every muscle in my body. That's it.

That's going to be the last workout I'll probably do for at least a month. I'm going to tear every ligament and tendon if I can even get the things above my head. And then I'm not going to work out anymore. I'm going to say that's too much. Right? Correct?

No, you start with the little weights. Correct? And then when those get easier, you go to the other one. Because what happens is you build something called muscle memory. I'm a martial artist by profession. So I used to run martial arts schools.

This is something I know. You develop muscle memory so that the muscles remember these movements and they get stronger. But if you stop working on those muscles, what happens? They go straight back downhill.

Iman is a muscle that must be worked on. But if you want to work on your Iman, you can't start by saying, okay, I'm going to fix my Iman by reading one juz' a day. I'm going to pray 20 raka of Qiyamul Layl. I'm going to read 50 ahadith. This, that, and the third. Because why? You're not going to be able to keep up that regimen.

I'm going to fast every other day, the fast of Dawud. You're going to put it all in at once. You're going to go from being a marginal Muslim to a super Muslim in one day. It doesn't work like that. You're going to jump off the building thinking you're Superman. You're going to splat right on the ground.

Start Small and Build Gradually

You need to work at it slowly. Maybe you're going to say today, I'm going to start praying the two raka before Fajr every day. Because this is part of the sunan mu'akkadah. Something the Prophet ﷺ never left even when he was traveling.

So I'm going to pray two raka before Fajr every day. And that's the only thing you're going to do for a week. Leave it. Once that becomes easy and now it becomes part of your regimen, then add something. And once that becomes easy and it becomes like almost you can't live without it, then add something else.

Slowly add the weight on. And you will find your iman continue to increase. You'll find it continue to increase. Because iman is a muscle. Little by little by little. People ask me, how do I increase my iman? You work little by little.

And Allah loves this. This is why He increases the iman. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(أَحَبُّ الْأَعْمَالِ إِلَى اللَّهِ أَدْوَمُهَا وَإِنْ قَلَّ)

"Allah loves a good deed that is done continuously more than He loves a large huge great deed that you do it once and you leave it."

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6465; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 782

Maybe I'm going to give sadaqah, I'm going to start giving sadaqah by giving one pound a day. That's it. I'm going to give one pound a day or one pound a week and I'm going to put that in a jar and I'm going to save it to the end of the month and I'm going to donate that for a good cause.

That's it. After that you will find yourself disgusted with that one pound. You'll think that's nowhere near enough. And you'll start putting two and then you'll put three. And then you'll start realizing the more you put the more you get and the more you can give. It starts becoming a process that you can't win.

You can't win. It's like if someone, let's say you had two hands and you took a dinar, excuse me, you took a pound out of a jar and gave it to someone and someone put two in your hand. You're going to eventually end up with more in this hand than you will in this hand.

And you're going to start having to give more. You're going to say, okay let me take three or four or five, six and they just keep pouring and pouring and pouring. This is sadaqah jariah for Allah. It just keeps coming, it keeps coming, it keeps coming. And you'll find that you cannot out give Allah. You can't.

I dare you, try it. If anyone of you thinks you can out give Allah, try it for a month. And if you end up poor and broke and homeless in the streets, call me and I'll give you a house. It's not going to happen. Not if you do it sincerely for Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(أَقْسَمُ عَلَى ثَلَاثٍ ... مَا نَقَصَ مَالُ عَبْدٍ مِنْ صَدَقَةٍ)

"I will take an oath upon three things... You cannot decrease your wealth by giving for the sake of Allah. You can only increase it."

Reference: Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2325

So that's the first one. Iman rises and falls.

Understanding the Cycles of Iman

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(لِكُلِّ عَمَلٍ شِرَّةٌ وَلِكُلِّ شِرَّةٍ فَتْرَةٌ)

"Every deed has energy and strength. And then the strength and energy is followed by a period of slackening."

Reference: Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1733 (meaning)

Every deed you fill up and you're ready to do it and you're ready to go and then there's a period of slacking. There's a period of slacking.

So he who's slackening is in accordance to my sunnah, then he is guided. He who's slacking is other than in accordance with my sunnah, he'll be doomed. Meaning that every deed has action. It has strength where you feel like you can do everything.

The ulema say, when you feel your iman high like that, take advantage and do good deeds. Then when you feel the iman slow down, stick yourself to the fara'id, the obligations. Because then you will find the energy come again to you.

Because you can't always be the superhero for the deen. You can't always be the super muslim every single day. There's gonna be days where you're not feeling it anymore.

We all had those days. Stick yourself to the fara'id and you will find that you are on the straight path. Allah will increase, increase, and increase you.

But when you find your slacking causes you to fall into the sin, and be derelict of Allah's duties, you should be worried. You should be worried because you're gonna fall into doom. Because you never know that slacking might be something that Allah caused you to die in.

You might die in that period of slacking and you die upon that. So be careful insha'Allah ta'ala.

Cure #1: Return to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah

Number one, we must return to the book of Allah and the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.

We talked about that. That is the cure for falling away, is to pick that back up. Allah says in surah al-Isra:

(وَنُنَزِّلُ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ مَا هُوَ شِفَاءٌ وَرَحْمَةٌ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ)

"We sent down the Quran which is a healing and a mercy to those who believe."

Reference: Surah Al-Isra (17:82)

Allah says, we sent down the Quran as a healing and a mercy to those who believe. It heals what's on the inside. It heals the body. And also we know the Quran can be a healing for the body as well. It can be a ruqya for the body as well. So we should take this Quran as what it is.

And this is known to the Prophet. He used to use the Quran to heal people even from physical ailments. Physical ailments. That medicine can't help you without the will of Allah anyway. I don't care how much of it you take. If you take too much of it, it might be the last medicine you take. But it's not gonna help you without anyway.

Also the Prophet, he used to ponder the meanings of the book of Allah. Always he used to ponder upon them. He sometimes would recite one verse and just think about it for hours and hours and hours.

On one occasion, he stood in salah at night and he only recited one single ayah of the Quran and he did not pass that ayah all night. He stood in qiyam all night. He recited one verse and he stopped. And he stayed on that verse all night long. Do you know what it was? The verse was in suratul ma'idah:

"Verily if you punish them, they are your slaves. And if you forgive them, then verily only you can forgive them. You are the Almighty, the All-Wise."

(Sunan an-Nasa'i, Hadith 1010)

So it was about the punishment and mercy of Allah. That that verse was so significant to the Prophet, that he pondered that entire verse all night long in his salah. Pondering upon the Quran is something that we need.

The Fearsome Surahs

Also the Prophet ﷺ said that suratul hud, suratul waqia, suratul amma yattasa'alun (suratul naba), and suratul idha shamsu quwwirat (suratul takwir), these four surahs he said, made me gray before my time. Why? Because of what they meant.

If you go read these four surahs and they don't scare you and cause you to have nightmares, then your iman is really weak. It's really weak. He said these four surahs made me gray before it was my time.

Because of what was in them, what was in them. They worried him very much. So we should be able to ponder upon the meanings of the Quran.

If you read a surah like suratul waqia, or suratul haqqa, or suratul idha shamsu quwwirat, or amma yattasaloon, and you don't realize what that great news is, and it doesn't cause you some unease, then wallahi your heart is probably like this table. You need to do some work on it. Because these surahs should frighten the hell out of you.

Seriously. They are the things of nightmares. Stephen King in his worst nightmares can't think of some of the nightmares that are waiting on the Day of Judgment.

Ibn Qayyim's Advice

We need to realize that fact. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzi rahimahu Allah ta'ala, he summed up what the Muslim has to do to remedy the hardness of the heart through the Quran. He said there are two things you have to do to remedy your heart through the Quran.

And we know Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzi was the doctor of the heart. He said first, you need to move your heart from dwelling on the things of this world, and move it onto dwelling in the Akhirah. Take your heart out of this life.

Your body can be here, but put your heart in the hereafter. And this is what we know from, Allah says in the Quran:

"The Messenger of Allah is a beautiful example for you, but for whom? For those whose hope is with Allah, and where? The last day, and remember Allah much."

(Surah Al-Ahzab (33:21))

He said move your heart out of this world. You can leave your body here, no problem, but put your heart in Akhirah. Put your heart in the Akhirah, and then focus your heart on the Quran, and ponder upon its meanings, and ponder upon why did Allah reveal it to us. Why did Allah give us this Quran?

Try to understand something from every ayah, and apply it to the disease in your heart, the same way you apply a medicine to cuts. He said the same way you would apply salve to a cut or a burn, apply the Quran upon your heart. For these ayat were revealed to treat the disease of the heart, so inshaAllah you'll be healed by the permission of Allah.

This was his sincere advice about treating the heart with Akhirah and the Quran.

Cure #2: Seeking Knowledge

Number two, seeking knowledge, and attending the circles of knowledge, and places where Allah is remembered. Knowledge also cures the heart. Do you know why? Allah says in the Quran:

"It is only those among him who have knowledge, who fear him."

(Surah Fatir (35:28))

And there was once one of our Salaf, who could not answer a question. He read a meaning of the Quran, he read a verse of the Quran, he couldn't understand what it meant, and he cried, and cried, and cried, and cried.

And someone asked him, why are you crying? He said, because I don't know what this verse means, and I fear that I have spent so much time, and have no knowledge. Because Allah says, only those who have knowledge, truly fear him. And those who have understanding of the Quran, of the book of Allah.

Also knowledge, increases something called certainty. Knowledge increases certainty. It builds yaqeen. As Allah says in the Quran, in Surah Al-Baqarah, the very beginning about the yaqeenun. Those who have in their heart, no doubt, no doubt. No doubt, certainty, comes with knowledge.

Because now you know. Someone can tell me, and I can trust you, you can tell me there's a very beautiful, fish and chips place, right down the road. And I'll probably go. I'll probably go. But now, if someone were to ask me,

before I went, where's a good fish and chips shop? I'll say, well you know, brother told me it's down there, but don't, you know. If you go there and it's not good, don't blame me.

Because I'm not sure. You get what I'm saying? But if I had gone there myself and eaten, and found that it's very good, now when I tell that person it's good, I'm going to tell you, yeah it's good. I know it's good. I've been there, I've eaten it myself. I have now certainty when I tell that person. So, knowledge brings certainty.

And certainty brings this trust in Allah. Because it was Ali رضي الله عنه who said, that Allah had given him such certainty of his heart, that even if Jannah was in front of him, placed in front of him, and he could pick from its fruits, he wouldn't want it more than he already wanted it. And even if Allah placed hell right in front of him, and he could feel its fire, he wouldn't despise it, and try to run away from it, more than he already did.

This is Allah had given him this certainty. And this was through the knowledge he had. So Ali's knowledge was impeccable. He grew up in the house of the Prophet ﷺ. So Allah had given him that purity of yaqeen, that nothing could have tempted him and stayed away. So we must seek knowledge.

Also the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2699)

"Whoever goes on a path seeking knowledge, Allah will make easy for him the path to Jannah."

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2699)

That a path to knowledge is a path to Jannah. That if you go on a path seeking knowledge from Allah, sacred knowledge, that Allah will make easy for you the road to Jannah. And we all want an easy road to Jannah. And according to the Prophet ﷺ, the easy road to Jannah is the path of knowledge. The path of knowledge.

Cure #3: Pushing Yourself to Acts of Goodness

Number three, finally, and the last two, number three is, pushing oneself, pushing oneself to acts of goodness, and righteousness. Pushing yourself to do good sometimes. Even when you're not feeling like doing it, and you don't feel like getting up, you push yourself to do it. You push yourself. You increase yourself to push yourself to be better. InshaAllah.

Maybe today I don't feel like getting up and praying those two rakat before Fajr. But you know what you do? You shake it off. You get up and you say, no, no, no, I'm getting up.

You seek refuge from Allah from the accursed shaitan. You get up, you slap yourself in the face if you need to a couple of times. Do your wudu with冰 cold water. And get up and force yourself to obey Allah.

Cure #4: Remembering Death

Finally, number four for solving the weakness of Iman is remembering death. Remembering death. And remembering the grave. Remembering death and the grave. And remember Allah that you will stand in front of Him one day. This cures weakness of Iman. Trust me.

I started giving lectures about the grave recently. And the more I give lectures on the grave, the more I hate everything I own. The more I despise this dunya. The more I'm satisfied with pretty much anything that comes in front of my path. Because what you realize is that you're going to be put in the ground and you're not taking any of it with you.

The only thing, the only currency of the aakhirah is deeds. When you reach that grave, it's almost as if there's a sign there that nothing beyond this point except العَمَ الصَّالح - righteous deeds. Nothing behind there except the good deeds that you've done or the bad deeds you have done. That's the only thing you can take beyond that point.

So dragging all this dunya around with you, it's not going to be yours anymore. We must remember death. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2307)

"Remember often the destroyer of pleasures."

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2307)

And what is the destroyer of pleasures? Death. Death. Death is going to destroy all that which you covered up this life. When you finally are at your death, you're going to take one final look at this world. And unfortunately, unfortunately, it's going to be the moment most of us realize how feeble this dunya is when we're about to leave it.

When we're taking our last look at this world, we will realize this world is nothing. Nothing. We will realize how feeble it is. But the people who are blessed are people who realize that before death.

The Dead Carcass Hadith

The Prophet ﷺ said about this dunya, and this is how we're going to finish inshaAllah. He said about this world that once he was walking with his companions and there was a dead carcass on the side of the road that was deformed. A dead deformed carcass on the side of the road. And he picked it up. It had little ears, it was deformed.

He picked it up. And he said, which one of you will buy this from me for a dinar? Meaning, who would buy this from me for a pound? They said, Ya Rasulullah, we wouldn't even take it if you gave it to us for free. We would not even take this dead stinking deformed carcass from you if it was free.

He said, then know that the world and everything it contains, all its glitz and glamour and gold and wealth and status and money and fame and fortune, he said, all of it to Allah is more despised than this carcass is despised in your eyes.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2967)

It means nothing. On the day of judgement Allah is going to roll it all up. The heavens and the earth, Allah is going to roll it up and hold it in His hand and say, where are the kings of the earth today. The people who used to fight each other and kill each other and strive and do so much injustice over this silly dunya, where are you today when I've rolled all of this up like it's nothing?

Do you not realize it was nothing? Unfortunately, we won't realize that fact until we don't have it anymore. And you know the one thing that I guarantee you and I think I'm trying to remember the name of the companion who said this, I believe it was Imam Malik but let me not attribute it to the wrong person.

One of our salaf said that by Allah every single son of Adam will regret every single moment they did not spend remembering Allah. Every moment you did not spend remembering Allah, you will truly despise it and regret it. So we have to remember that.

We have to remember that we're leaving this dunya. We can't take any of it with us. And we will regret. We will regret.

The Final Regret

Allah says in the Quran and I finish with this and let this not be any of us. When the angel of death comes to them, they cry out:

"My Lord, send me back."

Why? Why do they want to go back? Do they want to go back to pray? No. Do they want to go back to see their family? Do they want to go back for...? No.

"So that I can go do some good with that which I left behind."

(Surah Al-Mu'minun (23:99-100))

So that that which I left behind, I can go back and get it and do some good with it. Let us not be of those people insha'Allah ta'ala. Let us do the good that we have while it is in front of us.

And let us avoid the evil that is in front of us while we're here. Let's take advantage of the things that Allah has given us to purify ourselves and to purify our hearts. And I ask Allah to give us the tawfiq, the ability to purify that which is inside of us.

Because if we can make the heart good then the rest can be good insha'Allah ta'ala. And may Allah accept this from me. Anything that I have said that is good, Allah says in the opening of His book:

"All praise is for Allah alone."

Reference: Surah Al-Fatihah (1:2)

No human being deserves to be praised at all whatsoever. And anything that I've said that is wrong or mistaken or incorrect, then know that it is because I'm a human being that has no knowledge and doesn't even deserve to be on this platform. And I ask you to forgive me for it and correct me where you see fit.

Closing

End of Lecture