Life In Perspective

Praise be to Allah (SWT) Guardian Evolver, cherisher and sustainer of the worlds. We seek help from Him. We believe in Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We bear witness that nothing deserves worship except Allah (SWT), the One Lord and Creator, and we bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger. Peace and blessings upon his companions, upon all the righteous, and upon all the Muslims, The believing people here and throughout the world.

· Growing up in America is something many of us take for granted. Growing up in America is something that many of us lose sight of. Too often we lose sight of the greatness given to us in life.

o So I want to take a moment help remind myself first of a couple of things, and hopefully we can all grasp something from it.

· This khutbah is derived from a lecture I heard at the Unity Center in Bloomfield, held by Shaykh Mokhtar Moghrawi earlier last month. He talked about many things, but his main focus was on the inherent beauty of the PM (SAW).

o Its always good to remind yourself and others, because reminders serve as helpful keys to those who have faith. It helps them jump start their faith.

o We must purify our hearts because once it is pure it will see the need for Allah (SWT) and his Messenger.

o The reasons why we love others is usually because we build an attachment to them, love is an internal inclination towards something.

§ We must strive to love Allah, the Prophet, his family and companions, and our parents.

· I think we should look into two examples from the Quran and Hadith that will help us reflect and remind ourselves we need to be on the straight path to Allah.

· When we all pass away, we will be asked three questions in the grave:

o Verily a dead man is taken to the grave, and then the man sits in his grave without fear. Afterwards it is said to him: What state of religion were you in? He will reply: I was in Islam. He will then be asked: Who is this man? He will reply: Muhammad, The Messenger of Allah. He came to us with clear proof from Allah and so we did believe in him. It will be questioned to him: Have you seen Allah? He will reply: It is not in power of anybody to see Allah.

o Then an opening will be made out for him towards the Fire, and he will see towards it some hurling down over others. It will be said to him: Look what Allah has saved you from. Then an opening for him will be made towards Paradise and he will cast his glance towards it and what is therein. It will be said to him: This is your place; upon the sure belief you lived and on it you will be raised up if the Almighty Allah so wills.

o But an impious man will sit in his grave fearful and anxious. It will be questioned to him: What state of religion were you in? He will say: I don’t know. It will then be asked to him: Who is this man? He will reply: I heard the people say a word which I used to say blindly.

o Then an opening will be made for him towards Paradise and then he will look to its fineries and what is therein. He will be asked: Look to what Allah has deprived you from. Then an opening will be made for him towards the Fire. He will look at it that some of them were hurling others down. It will be said to him: This is your place, upon doubt you live, upon it you died, and upon it you will be raised up again if the Almighty Allah so wills.

§ This is why we should always keep our tongues wet with the remembrance of God, so that when it comes time to be asked these questions, we can say it with no hesitation, so that we may see Paradise as our final abode.

· Satans rejection Sad 38: 71-85

o Allah says: Remember when your Lord said to the angels: “Truly I am going to create man from clay”. So when I have fashioned him and breathed into him his soul created by Me, then you fall down prostrate to him.” So the angels prostrated themselves, all of them except Iblis (Satan) he was proud and was one of the disbelievers.

§ He became a disbeliever simply from not obeying one of Allahs commands

o Allah said: “O Satan! What prevents you from prostrating yourself to one whom I have created with Both My Hands. Are you too proud or are you one of the high exalted?” Satan said “I am better than he, You created me from fire, and you created him from clay” Allah said “Then get out from here, for verily you are outcast” And verily! My Curse is on you till the Day of Recompense.”

§ For stating he was better than Allah’s creation, he was taken out of Paradise, for his arrogance.

o Satan said: “My Lord! Give me then respite till the Day the dead are resurrected. Allah said: “Verily! You are of those allowed respite “Till the Day of the time is appointed.” Satan said: “By Your Might, then I will surely mislead them all, “Except Your chosen slaves amongst them.” Allah said: “The Truth is, and the Truth I say, That I will fill Hell with you and those of them that follow you, together.”

§ Imagine where we are in the eyes of Allah on count of the number of times we’ve listened to that whispering in our hearts.

· We can get onto this straight path if we remember that Satan is always trying to deceive us, because it is his job to do so.

o If we are weak in faith, it will seem okay to commit wrong deeds, so we need to keep each other in check and ask others for guidance at times.

· Personal relationship you build with Allah, the ups and down

o In this journey of life, we have our very own Imaanometer. Check on it regularly, just as you check your oil for your car. It’s a vital part of your heart.

o Often times we destroy our hearts by the sins we commit, and it becomes blinded. In order to give it sight, we turn to Allah for His help by reading dhikr, hoping for a boost in faith.

§ The ailments of our hearts lead us to believe falsehoods as truths.

o It fluctuates at times, but that is normal, keeping it steady is the hard part.

§ People you hang out with will rub off on you.

· Example we can take from the P.M. (SAW)’s life. “open up the channels of my heart to you O Allah”

o The Ansar in Madinah felt as if they were being cheated when the PM (SAW) would give the booty of war to new converts and even back to their enemies.

o So the prophet addressed them saying: Oh group, I heard of something you found inside yourselves about me, which displeased you, ‘hasn’t Allah found you lost, deprived, enemies, Allah found you, enriched you, brought you together. Group members stated “Allah/Prophet are bountiful” PM SAW said, reply what your heart tells you, they said “Unto Allah and his Messenger belong all bounty” At this moment the PM (SAW) realized their love for him and said

o “You could have said ‘look what he’s saying to us, if he wants us to speak the truth, we’d say: ‘you came to us rejected from Meccah, helpless, people disbelieved you, and we believed you, we helped you, we gave you refuge, you came to us poor, we consoled you.’ Yet you find in your hearts that this ‘bean’ of dunya that I distribute wealth to soften their hearts to Islam to save them from Hell, and I have entrusted you all to Islam.

o That was the level of love and trust for the prophet people had.

o His family and his companions had such reverence for him, such respect.

Alhamdu Lilahi rab al alameen , wassalatu wassalamu Ala Khairul Mursaleena Muhammadin Nabiyeenul Ummy wa Ala Ilayhi wa sahbihi Ajmaeen Amma Ba’d. Ya Qoo lullah Ta Alah fee Quran il Karim, Inna Allaha wa mala e kati yusalluna Ala Nabi. Ya Ayyuhaha Lazeena Amanu sallu alay wa salammu tasleema. Allahumma sallee Ala Muhammadin wa Ala a li Muhammad. Kama sallayta A la ibraheema wa ala ibraheema, wa barik ala muhammadi wa a la a li muhammadin ka ma barakta a la ibraheema wa a la ali ibraheem fil alameen innaka hameedan majeed a qala rabbakama da oo nestajib la kum.

· In his dying moments he said ‘as salat, as salat’, we MUST make salat our core, bring a desire for salat, and that will increase our relationship with Allah, and hopefully keep our imaan high and steady.

· Summer free time use it wisely, every breath towards purification of our souls.

o We should all try to put our lives into perspectives and gain from it what we want.

o We choose to do every action, we have our own mind to contemplate, and we should use it, to save ourselves and our friends and family.

O Allah, please help us all, to perform well in the life of dunya, so that when we face that final Exam known as Yawmul Qiyyaamah, You will be pleased with our results.

O Allah, may you help this Generation and the next generation to become the ideal Ummah. So we beg Almighty Allah (SWT) to give us the ability to learn and understand His true religion, to apply it practically on ourselves, and then preach it to others. We also beg Allah (SWT) to forgive our sins and anything we may have done that transgressed our duty to Allah (SWT). O Allah (SWT) make our hearts firm on Islam and make out lives end with true faith. May Allah (SWT) send His Salat and His Salaams upon our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and upon his family and upon his noble companions. Ameen ya Rab al Alameen.

Aqi Mas Salat.