Note: The following transcript was generated using AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Ibn Hajar, rahimahullah, it was mentioned that he was dressed very well. He was wearing a very good garment, and a Jewish man saw him and said to him:
"You, Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani—you and the Muslims are the ones who say that the Prophet ﷺ said:
الدُّنْيَا سِجْنُ الْمُؤْمِنِ وَجَنَّةُ الْكَافِرِ
"This dunya is a prison for the believer and a paradise for the disbeliever.
"But look at you! You’re the one who is dressed nicely, you're the one wearing good clothes, you're the one who has a riding beast. And I’m a Jew—I have nothing, I’m struggling in this world. I’m more in a prison than you!"
Ibn Hajar, being who he was—the man who explains Sahih al-Bukhari—quickly responded and said to him:
"I am the one who is in a prison because, for me, this dunya is a prison compared to what awaits me on the other side. And you are in a paradise compared to what awaits you on the other side if you do not return to Islam."
That day, when death comes—when your nafs reaches your collarbone—Allah says:
كَلَّا إِذَا بَلَغَتِ التَّرَاقِيَ
"No! When the soul reaches the collarbone..."
وَقِيلَ مَنْ رَاقٍ
"And it will be said, 'Where is the healer?'"
People will say: "Where’s the doctor? Where’s the doctor? Call the doctor! She’s about to die! He’s about to die!"
وَظَنَّ أَنَّهُ الْفِرَاقُ
"And he will be certain that it is [his] separation [from this world]."
And at that moment, it becomes clear to him and her that the doctor can’t do anything for them.
No one can help you today—you’re alone.
You start realizing that your legs are losing life. The nafs has moved from your legs. It has moved to your knees. It’s going up—you’re dying.
Prepare for that day!
Sisters, Wallahi! Brothers, prepare!
Just the other day—only last week—one brother lost his wife. She was 25 years old.
Death came and knocked on his door.
Death comes—it doesn’t look at your age. It doesn’t look at your background. It doesn’t look at who you know, who you’re linked with, or your friends. It doesn’t care.
It will come and it will take you from this world.
And the truth of the matter is—the only person who is going to be saved is the one who didn’t take his religion as a joke.
I went to the British Library while I was studying at university. I had a university ID card, so I was permitted to go to the British Library.
I got to know the workers there, and they would let me take manuscripts and whatnot.
One day, I was at the desk, waiting for a copy of one of the books.
The book I was looking for was one written by Siraj-ud-Din al-Bulqini.
So I went—Wallahi, this is a true story—I asked: "Can you copy this for me?"
As I was asking for the book, a white British man came over and stood right next to me.
He said, "I’ve seen you come here, but why do you say 'Siraj-ud-Din al-Bulqini'?"
I said, "That’s how the scholars say it. That’s how it’s written in the books, and that’s how I read it."
He said, "The correct name is Siraj-ud-Din al-Bulqini."
Wallahi, he was right!
I researched and found out he was correct.
I was amazed!
I called some of the mashayikh and told them.
And they said, "Really?"
They researched, came back to me, and said, "Yeah, he’s right!"
Are you with me, brothers?
If you go to the libraries today in the Western countries, like, for example, the UK and others, the majority of the people who are in the library are not Muslims.
The non-Muslims are in the library.
They're the ones who are reading.
They're the ones who are studying.
They're the ones who are researching.
The Muslims don't read.
None of us here have been promised Paradise alive.
Has anyone been promised Jannah?
You don't know where you're going to be.
You don't know where you're going to end.
You don't know where your final abode is going to be.
When I was coming on my way right now, I called my mum.
And as I was speaking to my mum, she said to me, "Your face is glowing, and my face has become old."
My mum said this to me.
I said to her, "Mum, in four months from now, I'm going to turn 30."
And then we started to talk about when I first started my teenage years.
I was first 13.
Then I finished, and then I started in my 20s.
And then now, 30 is starting to hit.
And then it's no matter of time before you see yourself very old.
You, as an individual—every single moment you live, you're getting closer to your grave.
And you're getting closer to the day you're going to meet Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.
What is it that you have prepared?
And what is it that you have put forward?
The Salaf of this Ummah, the pious predecessors, what they used to do is, because they knew they were going to die and because they knew death would come to them, they would dig a grave in their house.
They would—what?
They would dig a grave in their own house.
And they would lie inside it.
They would lie inside the grave.
He would actually rehearse and play out the inevitable event that's going to take place.
He would lie inside the grave.
He would try to get the feeling of what is going to be inside here.
And then he would say:
قَالَ رَبِّ ارْجِعُونِ لَعَلِّي أَعْمَلُ صَالِحًا فِي مَا تَرَكْتُ
"Oh Allah, take me back to the dunya again—why? So I can come with righteous actions."
This is what he would say.
And then, because he has the opportunity to come out this time, because he is the one who is rehearsing it, he would clean the dust from himself.
And then he would walk on the earth and say:
"A second chance has been given to you—benefit from it!"
He would say that to himself.
This is one thing that we also need to take.
When we come to these places, we need to remember:
They didn't come here, and they didn't drive.
They came here to defend the religion of Allah.
And to put their chests forward so the arrows could go directly to them.
So this religion could be high.
We are enjoying their efforts and their hard work.
Don't play around with this religion.
A people sweated for it.
Blood was shed for it.
Efforts and hard work were put toward it.
When you come to this place, remember:
The noble companions walked here with the Messenger ﷺ.
And they did not leave his side.
They stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
And they fought until they dropped.
I think I mentioned recently that some of the Salihin used to pray Qiyamul Layl, and their legs would become so weak.
Their legs became tired.
They couldn't carry their legs.
They had a stick next to them.
They would take the stick.
They would beat their leg.
And they would say to themselves:
"Qum! Stand! Do you want to compete with Muhammad and his companions in Jannah, and you're tired?"
He is saying that to—what?
He is saying that to his legs and his body.
You see, when I looked at the lives of the companions, you realize that the Prophet ﷺ had to tell the companions to be easy on themselves.
That's why you find in a lot of places, one of the benefits I read was that because of that, Allah told these companions:
وَلَا تَنْسَى نَصِيبَكَ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا
"Don't forget your dunya."
They were told, "Just don't forget your dunya."
Our ones are: "Don't forget the Akhirah."
Saheeh?
It's the opposite.
It was mentioned in some of the books—Ibn al-Jawzi mentioned in Kitab Bahr al-Dumur—this book is a heart-softening book.
In that book, he mentioned that a man was requested to lead the prayer.
A group of people said to him:
"Lead! Lead! Lead!"
He said, "I don't want to lead."
They pushed him forward.
He said, "No, no! Somebody else lead."
Then they said to him, "Please, lead."
And then he said:
"Okay, I'm going to lead today, but I'm not going to lead tomorrow. Don't ask me to lead another day."
Then they said to him:
"Go back! Don't lead us!"
"Do you believe you're going to live for that long?"
We pray our prayer—this one—like it's our last.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Rahimahullah, as a young child, spent his time fil-jidd wal-ijtihad.
He worked hard and put in a lot of effort.
Ya Ikhwah, people differ.
People want to be of that caliber, but they don't want to put any effort in.
People differ, Ya Ikhwah.
At times, when people sleep and they go to sleep—if you want to be different, you have to be different by not sleeping.
You shouldn't be doing what other people are doing.
If you want to be different from the people, you need to do things that people don't do.
When it comes to working hard and putting in effort.
My advice to you, brothers, is that every one of you is going to come to this world, and you're going to leave.
Ask yourself:
What have you served this Deen?
What have you done for your religion?
What have you brought for it?
Don't be a person who came to this world, and your presence and your absence are the same.
The Messenger ﷺ, in one of the battles—Al-Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim both narrated—an arrow was thrown at the Prophet ﷺ.
Abu Talha (رضي الله عنه) saw the arrow coming from afar.
And when he saw the arrow coming, Abu Talha (رضي الله عنه) put himself forward for it.
And the arrow hit him.
The Messenger ﷺ looked and saw the arrow sticking out from Abu Talha.
Abu Talha (رضي الله عنه) looked at the Messenger ﷺ and said:
"Do like this, O Messenger of Allah ﷺ!"
"Everything for you, O Messenger of Allah ﷺ!"
"No arrow will ever hit you!"
Please, brothers—please, ponder on this!
إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ
This is shocking.
Abdur-Rahman ibn Mahdi said:
"If it was said to Hammad ibn Salamah, 'Tomorrow you are going to die,' he would not have been able to increase his righteous actions at all."
If you go to the libraries today in Western countries, like, for example, the UK and others, the majority of the people in the library are not Muslims.
The non-Muslims are in the library.
They're the ones who are reading.
They're the ones who are studying.
They're the ones who are researching.
The Muslims don't read.
None of us here have been promised Paradise alive.
Has anyone been promised Jannah?
You don't know where you're going to be.
You don't know where you're going to end.
You don't know where your final abode is going to be.
When I was on my way here, I called my mum.
And as I was speaking to my mum, she said to me, "Your face is glowing, and my face has become old."
My mum said this to me.
I said to her, "Mum, in four months from now, I'm going to turn 30."
And then we started to talk about when I first entered my teenage years.
I was 13.
Then I finished my teenage years and entered my 20s.
And now, I'm about to reach 30.
And soon, before you know it, you see yourself as an old man.
You, as an individual—every single moment you live, you're getting closer to your grave.
And you're getting closer to the day you're going to meet Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
What have you prepared?
What have you put forward?
السلف الصالح لهذه الأمة—the righteous predecessors of this Ummah—knew they were going to die.
And they knew that death would come to them.
So they would dig a grave in their house.
كانوا—ماذا؟
They would dig a grave in their house.
And they would lie inside it.
كان ينام داخل القبر.
He would actually rehearse and act out the inevitable event that is going to take place.
كان ينام داخل القبر.
He would try to get the feeling of what it is going to be like inside there.
And then he would say:
قَالَ رَبِّ ارْجِعُونِ لَعَلِّي أَعْمَلُ صَالِحًا فِي مَا تَرَكْتُ
"Oh Allah, take me back to the dunya again—why? So that I can come with righteous actions!"
This is what he would say.
And because he has the opportunity to come out this time—because he is the one rehearsing it—he would dust himself off.
Then he would walk on the earth and say:
"A second chance has been given to you—so benefit from it!"
He would say that to himself.
This is something that we also need to take.
When we come to these places, we need to remember:
They didn’t come here to relax.
They came here to defend the religion of Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
They put their chests forward so that the arrows could go directly into them.
So that this religion could remain high.
We are enjoying their efforts and hard work today.
Don’t play around with this religion.
A people sweated for it.
Blood was shed for it.
Efforts and sacrifices were made for it.
When you come to this place, remember:
The noble companions walked here with the Messenger ﷺ.
And they did not leave his side.
They stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
And they fought until they dropped.
I think I mentioned recently that some of the righteous people used to pray Qiyam al-Layl until their legs became weak.
أرجلهم أصبحت متعبة.
Their legs became so tired that they could no longer carry them.
They had a stick next to them.
They would take the stick.
They would beat their legs.
And then they would say to themselves:
"قم! Do you want to compete with Muhammad ﷺ and his companions in Jannah, and yet you're tired?"
He was saying this—to whom?
He was saying it to his own legs and body.
When I looked at the lives of the companions, I realized that the Prophet ﷺ had to tell the companions to be easy on themselves.
That’s why you find that in many places, Allah سبحانه وتعالى told these companions:
وَلَا تَنْسَى نَصِيبَكَ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا
"And do not forget your portion of the dunya."
They were told, "Just don't forget the dunya."
Our situation is the complete opposite.
We are being told, "Don't forget the Akhirah."
صحيح؟
It's the opposite.
Ibn al-Jawzi mentioned in his book Bahr al-Dumu’—a heart-softening book—that there was a man who was asked to lead the prayer.
A group of people came to him and said:
"Lead, lead, lead!"
He said:
"I don't want to lead."
They pushed him forward.
He said:
"No, no, let someone else lead."
Then they insisted:
"Please lead!"
So he said:
"Fine, I will lead today—but don’t ask me to lead another day."
Then they said to him:
"Go back! Don’t lead us!"
"Do you think you're going to live that long?"
We pray every prayer as if it is our last.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله—as a young child—spent his time في الجد والاجتهاد.
He worked hard.
And he put in a lot of effort.
يا إخوة, people are different.
People want to be of that caliber.
But they don’t want to put in the effort.
People are different, يا إخوة.
At times, when people sleep, if you want to be different—you have to be different by not sleeping.
If you want to be different from the people, you need to do things that people don't do—when it comes to working hard and putting in effort.
My advice to you, brothers, is that every one of you came into this world—and you are going to leave.
Ask yourself:
What have you done for this deen?
What have you done for your religion?
What have you brought forward?
Don’t be a person who came to this world, and your presence and absence are the same.
The Messenger ﷺ—in one of the battles, as narrated by Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim—was shot with an arrow.
Abu Talha رضي الله عنه saw the arrow coming from far.
And when he saw it, he threw himself in front of it.
And the arrow hit him instead.
The Messenger ﷺ looked and saw the arrow sticking out from Abu Talha.
Abu Talha رضي الله عنه looked at the Messenger ﷺ and said:
"افعل هكذا يا رسول الله ﷺ!"
"Everything for you, O Messenger of Allah ﷺ!"
"No arrow will ever hit you!"
Brothers, please—ponder on this!
إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ
This is shocking.
‘Abdur-Rahman ibn Mahdi said:
"If it were said to Hammad ibn Salamah, 'Tomorrow you will die,' he would not have been able to increase his righteous action"
If he was told that tomorrow the angel of death is coming, that he is going to take his soul, that he is going to die—Hammad ibn Salamah had already exhausted himself.
There was nothing else he could do.
The believers—they always live their life as though this can be the last minute.
الآخِرُ لَهَبَ—your last moment in this world.
واللهِ, we don't know.
We don't know when we are going to die.
We don't know when we are going to meet Allah عز وجل.
We work hard every day—this is what we do.
When you die and you depart from this world, that’s it.
The journey that has started for you is going to carry on.
You are now in a world other than the world you used to be in.
You are not with the loved ones.
Your family are going to go home.
And they are going to divide the wealth that you left behind.
The wealth that you exerted all that effort in—they are now thinking of how to inherit it.
Even before you were placed in the grave, you lost your name.
You were not referred to by your name.
When they were washing your body, they were saying:
"Lift the dead body."
"Turn over the dead body."
You've lost even your name.
Now, you are in your grave.
This is a whole different place.
Your family are going to leave you.
Your wife is waiting for that period of time—the ‘iddah—to finish.
And as soon as that ‘iddah finishes, she is now out looking to get married.
Your children are going to look at another man as their stepfather.
Life will move on.
The world will not stop for you.
You are the only one who thinks that you matter.
Imam Al-Bukhari—straight after that, what did he bring?
He brought the story of the man.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
"There was a man—a merchant—who used to lend money to the people."
And whenever he saw his debtor—the person who took the money and the wealth from him—when he saw that he was strained, when he saw that it was hard on him to pay back, and his circumstances weren’t as good, what would he say?
He would say:
"Let this man go. His situation isn’t bright. He doesn’t have the wealth to pay us back now—let’s leave him. Maybe Allah will let us go on the Day of Judgment."
فَتَجَاوَزَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ
And the narration mentions: "So Allah forgave him."
Al-Imam Ibn Hajar, when he brought this, Al-Bukhari included this hadith.
The narration is sahih.
Ibn Hajar mentioned a benefit that I liked about this man—who used to lend money to the people.
He mentions that some of the narrations show that this man never did any other khair except this.
No other good deed did he do.
It shows:
أَنَّ الْيَسِيرَ مِنَ الْحَسَنَاتِ
Small righteous deeds that you do—
إِذَا كَانَ خَالِصًا
If you do them with sincerity,
you may be forgiven for a lot of wrongdoings that you have committed.
Small good, big intention.
A lot of your sins and your shortcomings might be forgiven for you.
A lot of you spend a lot of time in your cars.
When you're driving—what do you really listen to?
When you're in your car—what can you listen to?
How many beneficial things can you do in that car?
Sit down. Do this for me.
Go home.
If you don’t have it, buy a stopwatch.
Every time you come into your car, press the stopwatch.
When you get out of the car, stop the stopwatch.
Note down how long you were in the car for.
When the day finishes, look at how long you spent in the car.
You’ll see that you spent in the car a lot.
Are we all together, brothers?
And you’ll realize that if you just got a lecture, if you designated a lecture for every time you go into the car, you’d probably finish a whole series like that in one year.
You’ll see that you’ve achieved something.
We have this mindset that we have to have a lot of hours or nothing.
Are you there, brothers?
If I don’t have two hours free, I don’t have time.
And that’s a misunderstanding.
Even if you have ten minutes somewhere—that’s something.
Are you with me, brothers?
You value those ten minutes.
You do something in it.
I just believe—not knowing how to benefit from your time—is what made us the way we are.
Really and truly, brothers and sisters—your children really love what you love.
They look at you, and they can tell when you love something.
And that energy that you come with when you’re doing it—because you love it—when you love something, you do it with passion.
And you do it with style.
Because you love it.
That is going to go to the heart of your children.
And it's going to affect them.
The Story of Al-A‘sha
قِصَّةُ الأَعْشَى
Al-A‘sha was a great Arab poet.
And his statement was given great weight.
If Al-A‘sha spoke, his words would go around Makkah.
The Arabs would read that line of poetry.
He was a poet from the great poets of the Arabs.
الأَعْشَى
At a very old age, he decided to accept Islam.
He said:
"I can’t live this life of kufr and disbelief of Allah."
So he made up his mind.
He got out of his bed.
He got his riding beast ready.
He mounted on it.
And he made his way to Medina.
Quraysh heard of it.
They heard that Al-A‘sha was heading towards Medina to take Islam.
And if he does, the man has influence in Makkah.
So they grabbed him.
They said to him:
"Al-A‘sha! We heard you’re going to Medina to meet Muhammad ﷺ!"
He said:
"I am. I want to take Islam."
They said:
"Have you not heard? Muhammad prohibits zina!"
Al-A‘sha said:
"I am an old man. The desires and shahwah of women has died out in me. I have no need for it."
They thought again.
They said:
"Al-A‘sha, do you not know Muhammad prevents—he prohibits alcohol?"
He said:
"Really?"
They said:
"Yes! He doesn’t allow a person to drink alcohol."
So Al-A‘sha said:
"Okay. If that’s the case… I will go back to Makkah this year. I will spend drinking alcohol until I am finished with it. And when my desires are gone, I will make my way to Medina, and I will testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger."
And Al-A‘sha died that year.
Never delay a good of today for tomorrow.
لَعَلَّ غَدٍ يَأْتِي وَأَنْتَ فَقِيدٌ
Tomorrow might come—and you are gone.
Allah has taken you from this world.
Jamal al-Din al-Qasim, the great scholar رحمه الله, came by one day and saw a group of people playing. He saw them, and he, being a great imam whose time was so tight, hadn't got any free time to do anything. He was actually short on time; he needed more time. So he saw a group of people that were playing, and he looked at them and said, "If only time was something that could be bought or sold, I would buy time from these people. They don’t understand what they have, so I would say to them, ‘I will give you money for it, and give me your time.’"
And sometimes, people think lying is a necessity. "I had to do it. I had no other choice." SubhanAllah, "I had to lie." And so they lie. "I didn’t want to, but what else could I have said?"
There was a great Sahabi; his name was called Zir ibn Huraysh. His name was what? Zir ibn Huraysh.
They said Zir ibn Huraysh never lied. He was never, never caught lying. It’s a very hard, hard characteristic. Sahabi, he never lied.
Zir ibn Huraysh—the people wanted to test him. They wanted to put him to the test. "Okay, let’s see if Zir will lie today."
Zir had two sons who rebelled against Hajjaj ibn Yusuf. They rebelled against him, his two sons. One day, they visited Zir ibn Huraysh’s house. They came to him, their father. And Zir ibn Huraysh was not like that. He never rebelled against any leader because the Sahabah never saw the permissibility of rebelling against a Muslim leader. However tyrannical he is, you’re not allowed to rebel against him.
So Zir ibn Huraysh—the people said, "Okay, today, we’re going to see if Zir ibn Huraysh is a truthful man. Today, we’re going to test him."
So they went to Hajjaj, and they said, "Hajjaj, the two sons of Zir ibn Huraysh are in Zir’s house. They’re in his house! Bring Zir ibn Huraysh and ask him where his two sons are."
So they brought Zir ibn Huraysh to Hajjaj ibn Yusuf.
Hajjaj said, "Zir, I have a question." He said, "Hey, what’s the question?" He said, "Where do you know your two sons to be? Where are your two sons?"
Zir said, "I just left them at home right now. I don’t know, whilst I’m with you right now or I was coming to you, if they left. But I left them at home. They were in my house."
Hajjaj ibn Yusuf looked at Zir ibn Huraysh, and he said to him, "Because of your truthfulness, I will not touch your two sons."
And Hajjaj killed 120,000 people! He killed Abdullah ibn Zubayr. He hanged him in the Kaaba. He never left anyone.
What we take from this is, sometimes, you may think lying might solve a problem for you. But you have to lie. Because of that lie that you lied, and then another lie has to be backed up with it.
Truthfulness may reach you—it will reach you into better places, even if you think that situation is tight and hard.
A rich man saw a poor man eating bread. He saw him eating food that wasn’t expensive—very cheap. A rich man, who could buy, who can weigh this poor man on a weighing scale—however much weight he is, he can give him of gold, how rich he is. He saw a poor man eating, and he became jealous of this poor man.
Because of the health Allah gave him سبحانه وتعالى.
That he is able to eat this food, which, due to his health, he can’t eat.
This rich man can never buy the health that this poor man has.
A rich man who envies and is jealous of a poor man.
And it’s from the blessings of Allah that you don’t yet understand—that you have right now with you, as an individual—healthy.
Allah سبحانه وتعالى gave it to you.
A man—his name was called Kifl. His name was called what? Kifl.
He was from the people of Bani Israel.
He never had wara'—he never feared Allah تعالى in sins.
Every sin that came to his mind, he would do it. Never cared. A sin came to this man Kifl—he wouldn’t hesitate. He would throw himself into it, and he would do it.
فأتته امرأة—a woman came to him one day.
فأعطاها ستين دينارا—he said to the woman, "Here is sixty dinars. Let me commit haram with you."
فلما قعد منها مقعد الرجل—when he sat in the position to fulfill the haram, the woman started to cry. And she started to shake.
Tears came to her eyes. And she watered. And she cried heavily.
And then he said to her, "ما يبكيكي?" "What is making you cry? Why are you crying like this? Have I coerced you in this action? Am I forcing you? Am I making you do it forcefully, or are you doing it out of your will?"
She said, "No, it’s not because you forced me. But it’s an action I’ve never done. And this is something I’ve truly never committed. It’s a crime I’ve never done. And what is making me do this is the money I need. I only need the money. That’s all I’m doing it for. فقر and poverty has made me reach this."
فَقَامَ—and the man stood up. And he left her. And he walked away from her.
And then he said, "Keep the money."
"والله بالله, لا أعص الله بعدها."
"I will never disobey Allah after this day onwards."
فَمَاتَ مِنْ لَيْلَتِهِ—he died that same night.
فَمَاتَ مِنْ لَيْلَتِهِ—he died that same night.
فَأَصْبَحَ مَكْتُوبًا—on the front door of his house, what was written on it was:
"إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ غَفَرَ لِلْكِفْلِ"
"Allah has forgiven Kifl."
Some people, الحمد لله, they came into Islam when they saw that the Muslims—when they go to the call of nature, and they do their call of nature—how they clean themselves and how they purify themselves.
Some people were like, "Wow."
I remember a story—something that happened to me in college.
I was studying business. I was studying business in college, and so they took us to Coca-Cola, which was situated in Edmonton—that’s a place in London, north of London.
So what I did was, we came. And when we came to Coca-Cola, they were teaching us how Coca-Cola came about, the history of Coca-Cola, etc.
So what happened was—I had to go answer the call of nature, so I wanted to go to the toilet.
When I went to the toilet, the guy who was doing the presentation for us—who was the branch manager—had to go to the toilet as well.
We both had to go to the toilet.
We went into the toilet at the same time but into two different toilets, okay?
And then we both came out. قَدَرُ اللَّهُ وَمَا شَاءَ فَعَلَ—at the same time.
I went and washed my hands with soap and cleaned myself.
He just walked out.
We were all together.
No, no! He was the head of the department of cleanliness at Coca-Cola!
He overlooks if they are following—that was his job!
It wasn’t the branch manager. The branch manager wasn’t the one talking to us.
عجيب!
Talking about cleanliness, and you haven’t even washed your hands?
This كتاب المصاحف—the first person who brought it out was an orientalist.
He read it.
And he manipulated the book.
Altered it.
Changed it.
Used it to his own advantage.
And this shows us how important it is that we, Muslims, read and study.
And we go through our knowledge and read it.
And if we sleep, then others will benefit from it.
Is it not sad that we’re behind in the world?
And then, even in our deen, others are coming into it?
Don’t you find that sad?
Historically, when you look at Islam, the non-Muslims used to love to learn the Arabic language.
The non-Muslims used to like it.
Times have changed.
The Muslims have forsaken the Arabic language.
And where have they run to?
The English language.
Historically, the glory was in learning the Arabic language.
Listen to this story.
أن يهودياً—a Jewish man سأل أبا عثمان المازيني—a Jewish man came to أبا عثمان المازيني.
A Jewish man came to this great scholar of the Arabic language.
What did he ask him?
He asked him أن يقرئه.
He said, "Please read to me كتاب سيبويه. Can you read to me the book of سيبويه?"
ودفع إليه مئة دينار—and he gave him a hundred dinars.
And he gave him how much?
A hundred—what?
You know what the دينار is, brothers?
دينار is gold, brothers!
He gave him a hundred gold dinars.
Today, that is thousands upon thousands of dollars!
This is true Islam, right?
The honor of our Islam.
That a Jewish man would give money—this much money—to learn what?
What would he do?
To learn this language!
And what happened?
انعكست الموازين—the scale flipped upside down.
Now we are paying that much money to learn what?
The English language.
There is a little رسالة I have at home.
There is a little رسالة—it makes you really sad when you look at it.
The battle against the Arabic language.
How the West—they pick funds.
Money, money, money is spent.
Just so the people don’t learn the Arabic language.
And they learn what?
The Western languages.
You see an Arab who can’t even speak Arabic!
That’s what they want to see!
So they can put all their ideologies into you.
Are you with me, brothers?
Because then you can watch their movies.
You can watch their news.
You can watch everything from them.
And that’s it.
They can tell you what they want.
And you listen to them.
And you are ignorant about your own book.
The most important book Allah سبحانه وتعالى sent you—you don’t even know it!
If you want to benefit from your time and you want to bring the best out of it, you have to eliminate, eliminate, eliminate and get rid of gadgets that steal your time.
A lot of people—and I say eliminate it—if it’s going to take away from your time.
Eliminate it!
If you have the discipline to use your gadgets accordingly, then inshallah, use it in that which will benefit you.
And don’t waste your time if it’s not going to help you.
These things, brothers and sisters, will work against you.
They will distract you.
And they will take away from anything we’re going to say today.
Are we all together?
One of the statements that my sheikh said—and it sticks with me greatly—is:
"If these gadgets were of so much value, Allah would have given them to the Prophet to aid him in spreading Islam."
True!
Imam Al-Shafi’i, when he was on his last moments of life, he gave advice.
He called him, "Ismail, come here."
And he said, "I want to tell you something—my final words. Take this from me."
He said:
"Fear Allah and be conscious of Him."
"Place the akhirah in your heart."
"Place the akhirah deep into your heart."
"Place death right in front of your eyes."
"And don’t ever forget your position when you’re standing in front of Allah."
"Be a person who is scared of Allah."
"Do the obligatory things Allah has obliged upon you."
"Be with the truth, wherever the truth is."
"Don’t belittle the blessings of Allah upon you, even if you see the blessing to be something little."
"And respond to that blessing with gratitude."
And he passed away.
He died after saying that.
Hassan Al-Basri used to say a lot:
"Youngsters, youth—upon you is the Day of Judgment and the Hereafter."
"Try to attain it."
"Try to look for the Hereafter."
We have seen a lot who tried to attain the Hereafter—and Allah gave them a good portion of this dunya with it.
But we have never seen—we have never seen—a person who ran after this dunya, who ran after attaining this dunya, but he reached the Hereafter with the dunya that he was trying to attain.
This is a story about a man by the name of Mohamed Abdel Baqir.
Mohamed Abdel Baqir traveled from his land to go and collect hadith.
One day, Mohamed Abdel Baqir came to a city.
When he came to the city in which he wanted to take hadith, he came for a particular sheikh.
But then, he found some pearls, a mount of rubies, pearls, and gems that were in there.
So what he did is, when he found it, as soon as he got it, somebody was outside saying to the people:
"I lost my property!"
And they were describing it.
He said, "Come."
He said, "Describe it for me."
He described it—what is in there.
The man said, "I promise whoever gives it to me that I will give them this amount."
He said:
"I don't want your money."
Are you listening, brothers?
"I don't want your money."
And he went.
He went for his journey for hadith.
So he took a—he went to the sea to mount the boat that he wanted to take to travel for hadith.
When he took his boat, there was too much tide, and the boat broke.
He held on to a part of the boat, and it brought him to the shore.
The rest of the people that were on the boat with him died from it.
Are you with me, brothers?
This is his rehla.
He came to a land.
The people of the land saw him lying down on the shore.
They saw him lying down on the shore, so they took him, they clothed him, they gave him food.
And they asked him his story.
He said:
"My story is I was heading to that particular land to compile the hadith of the Prophet of Allah."
They said, "You are seeking knowledge?"
He said, "Yes."
They saw his notes.
They said, "You know how to write?"
He said, "Yeah."
They said, "Can you teach our children how to read and write?"
He said, "Okay."
Then they heard him read Quran.
They said, "Allahu Akbar! You can read? You know how to read? Lead us in the salah!"
So he became the sheikh of the mamtika.
Then they said to him, "Listen."
He said, "Now I have to leave as my journey was to go and seek knowledge of hadith. I appreciate what you've done for me, but I have to keep moving."
They said, "With one condition."
And that's what they used to do—the righteous people.
This is what they used to do.
Whenever a righteous person would come, they would make him marry, so he'd come to that land again.
So what they did to him was they told him, "You have to marry, and then you can go."
Because they knew he was going to come back.
He said, "That's not my intention."
They said, "We're not going to let you go unless you get married."
He said, "Okay."
They brought him a young girl.
The first night, when the young girl entered onto him, he saw on her neck something.
He looked at it.
He gazed.
And he woke up in the morning, and the people of the city were knocking on his door.
He came, and he said, "What is the problem?"
They said, "The young girl complained about you."
"What is the reason?"
They said, "That all you did last night was look at her neck."
He said, "No."
He said, "I saw on her neck a necklace, and on the necklace were some pearls that I remember from somewhere. I gathered these pearls for a man once upon a time who lost it, and I saw it on her neck."
The people of the city started screaming and shouting.
He said, "What is the reason?"
They said:
"The young girl—her father was the one who lost the necklace! And he used to make dua that Allah marries his daughter off to the man who found the pearls for him!"
I remember one day I was in a car with a group of brothers.
We were driving, and the car skidded.
The car skidded, and it was about to go into another car.
Okay, brothers.
Everybody in that car said something.
Think here. Ponder.
I never said SubhanAllah.
I never said Allahu Akbar.
I didn’t say that.
I screamed.
I screamed—that’s all I did.
But other people?
Some made foul language—because that’s what they do when they get angry.
Some said something else.
I don't remember anyone saying dhikr or Allahu Akbar.
Why couldn't we say that?
Because on a normal day, we didn't teach our mouths to become consistent on this.
It really worried me that day.
Because imagine we died.
Imagine we hit that car—all of us died.
My last meeting with Allah would be screaming.
Somebody else? Foul language.
And the Prophet ﷺ said:
من كان آخر كلامه من الدنيا لا إله إلا الله دخل الجنة
"Whoever's last words in this dunya are La ilaha illa Allah will enter Jannah."
So what we learn from this is to train yourself now before the calamity comes to you.
Before the trouble hits you.
Before the problem.
Now connect yourself with Allah.
Strong.
Build a strong bond with Allah عز وجل.
I promise you, when the problem happens, you'll see yourself easily going through it.
I want to speak about a day which has no night—just a day, no night. Every single one of us is going to see the Day of Judgment. It's called a day because there's no night for it.
It’s a day that, when you look at the Quran, the way Allah spoke about it and the way Allah described it, it’s not easy. Allah said in the Quran:
وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا يَوْمُ الدِّينِ
"What do you know about the Day of Judgment?"
Allah repeated again:
ثُمَّ مَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا يَوْمُ الدِّينِ
"What do you really know about the Day of Judgment?"
And then Allah, in one sentence, summarized the reality of the Day of Judgment:
يَوْمَ لَا تَمْلِكُ نَفْسٌ لِنَفْسٍ شَيْئًا وَالْأَمْرُ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِلَّهِ
It’s a day where no one can help anyone. Your money that you have today cannot help you. The eloquence, your ability to articulate things, cannot help you that day. Your children can't help you. Your mother can't help you. Your parents—no one. Your lawyers, they can't help you. No one can.
وَالْأَمْرُ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِلَّهِ
The affairs are in Allah's hands.
It’s all dependent on how you were before you came to Allah. How was your attitude? Were you working hard when you were in the dunya, or were you not? It’s all dependent on that.
How have you pleased your Lord? Did you choose what Allah loves over what you love? Did you give preference to His commandments over your own wishes and wills?
Brothers and sisters, did you know that your rizq is working towards you? It’s coming to you, as the Prophet ﷺ told us:
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ ﷺ
And the Messenger ﷺ said:
إِنَّ الرِّزْقَ لَيَطْلُبُ الْعَبْدَ
The rizq looks for a person
كَمَا يَطْلُبُهُ أَجَلُ
The way that death is looking for you.
So if you are working and trying to make an income, know that the effort that you're exerting in trying to get this rizq is not as great as the rizq itself trying to look for you.
One of the greatest statements Ibn al-Qayyim ﷺ said was:
إِنَّ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ
Allah عز و جل provided for you in the womb of your mother without you exerting any effort. You never worked for it in the womb of your mother. Allah عز و جل was providing for you and giving to you. Would He then forsake you when you come out and you're working for it?
Don't consider your rizq something that's going to be delayed—it’s going to come your way.
وَفِي السَّمَاءِ رِزْقُكُمْ وَمَا تُوعَدُونَ
Your rizq is written for you the way that the day you're going to die was written for you. The same way, your rizq was written for you.
Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى writes your rizq in another country. In the morning, you have breakfast in this country, and in the evening, you are in another country—that's where your rizq was written for you.
Everything that is written for you is going to come your way. So perfect what you're looking for—look for it in a halal way.
This rizq, some of the salaf said, is going to come to you either in a halal or haram way—you choose which way you're going to get it.
The Prophet ﷺ said to us:
أَيُّ لَحْمٍ نَبَتَ عَلَى حَرَامٍ
Any flesh that is nurtured upon haram
فَالنَّارُ بِهِ أَوْلَى
The Hellfire has rights over that body.
On the Day of Judgment, the flesh that you're feeding with haram income—interest, money from the bank, this, that—don't you think that the Hellfire will say, "Okay, give me my rights"?
And it will.
Anyone today who studies عِلْمُ الْحَدِيث—the science of hadith—if they applied this in their day-to-day life, no one would oppress anyone.
Sah?
On Twitter and Instagram, somebody spreads an allegation about someone.
"So-and-so did this to me."
"So-and-so said this."
Somebody just comes and says something—just a little tweet, sah?
What do you do?
You retweet it.
Some people would spread it and say, "This happened, this happened!"
Who is the person who said it?
You don't know.
Where is the source of this information?
No one knows.
Are you with me, brothers?
That's why the scholars of hadith didn't just accept any information.
Everything that was told to them, they asked:
"Who told you?"
"Who did you take it from?"
"Who did they take it from?"
They looked into where the source was.
And when they realized the source was right, they based a ruling on it.
If it wasn’t for the chain, everyone’s speech would be the same—the liar and the truthful person.
What makes them different?
The chain.
When we go and research, we realize who's telling the truth or not.
But we have to verify.
Many people don’t do that.
That’s why, if this science were applied in daily life, many divorces wouldn’t happen, sah?
Marriages would have remained.
Families, ties would not have been cut.
Brothers who were once upon a time together and united wouldn’t have become disunited—all based on shai'at, allegations, and news that was spread, right?
Scholars—what did they do?
Everything that was told to them, they asked:
"Who told you?"
"Who did you take it from?"
"Who did they take it from?"
They checked where the source was.
And when they realized the source was correct, they based a ruling on it.
If it wasn’t for the chain, everyone’s speech would be the same—the liar and the truthful person.
What makes them different?
The chain.
When we research, we realize who's telling the truth or not.
But we have to verify.
Many people don’t do that.
I don't know if it's like that back home in India, like in my country, but where I'm from, if a person is bright, he's sent to academic sciences—engineering, medicine, or to become a doctor.
If he fails in life—become an imam, sah?
Is it like that?
That’s why the person who becomes an imam is a failed person in life.
He couldn't do anything, so he said, "I might as well just memorize the Quran."
One time, I was in a lecture of one of the mashayikh, and one of the students said, "Sheikh, I find it hard to revise in the morning."
The sheikh said something that shocked me. He said, "Seeking knowledge is not for you. Go for maths and science."
When he finished, I asked, "Sheikh, why did you say that to him?"
He said, "If we take people like him on board, they're going to be giving fatwa to the people. We need people who are sharp because those are the type of people that used to be when it came to seeking Islamic knowledge."
That’s what the Prophet's life was like.
Look at what he said to Bilal. Whenever he found hardship or stress, what would he say?
He would say:
يَا بِلَالَ أَرِحْنَا بِالصَّلَاةِ
"Bilal, give us relaxation and comfort with the prayer."
We just think to ourselves, "Oh, I need to take this burden off myself."
SubhanAllah, sah?
Because ibadah is not a love for us. We don't love it. We don't enjoy it.
When a person enjoys something, he just…
وَلِدَارِكَ
The scholars say: If a person has high aspirations and he has love for something, if he’s passionate about it, then may Allah have mercy on his body—because he's going to destroy his body.
When you love Allah تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى, and that love truly settles in your heart, you're unstoppable.
Ibadah that is motivated, that results, that reverberates, that springs from love—there's no way of it stopping.
وَلِدَارِكَ
عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الْمُبَارَك—as Ibn Abi Dunya mentioned in his kitab حُسْنُ الظَّنِّ بِاللَّهِ (Thinking Good of Allah عز و جل)—he narrated a story.
عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الْمُبَارَك came to Sufyan, and the Sufyan we’re referring to here is سُفْيَانَ الثَّوْرِيُّ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ.
عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الْمُبَارَك came to Sufyan al-Thawri عَشِيَّةَ يَوْمِ عَرَفَةِ—on the day of Arafah.
Sufyan al-Thawri was جَاثٍ عَلَى رُكْبَتَيْهِ—on his knees, his hands raised in the air.
His eyes were watering, and he was crying.
عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الْمُبَارَك looked at him.
And when he saw Sufyan al-Thawri crying, he cried as well.
Then عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الْمُبَارَك said to Sufyan al-Thawri:
مَا شَأْنُكَ؟
"What is the reality here? What is happening? What is the situation? What is it that's making you cry?"
Sufyan al-Thawri said:
مَنْ أَسْوَأُ أَهْلِ هَذَا الْجَمْعِ حَالًا؟
"Who is the worst person in this gathering?"
They were in Arafah, all of them.
The worst person in that place, in Arafah, is the one who thinks:
الَّذِي يَظُنُّ أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ لَهُ
"The one who thinks Allah will not forgive him."
You are a component of three things:
- You have a body.
- You have a mind.
- You have a soul.
Are you with me, brothers?
A lot of people, when they just think about their jobs and the money they need to make, they're only worrying about their body.
هَذَهُ
Really, the money that you're making—what do you want to do with it?
You just want to be big, strong, eat food.
That’s what it does for you, right?
Break down the reason why you work.
Why do you work?
Because you want to provide.
You want to eat.
That’s it.
صح؟ صح؟
But the only thing you're focused on is the body.
What about the mind and the soul?
The Sahabas realized that it is vital to take care of your body—to eat, to make money for your family and for yourself.
But they also realized that revelation is the only thing that can nurture the mind and the soul.
I'll tell you a story.
There was a young boy.
His teacher—he said to his teacher:
"Teacher, I want to come to the masjid."
A young boy, he said:
"Sheikh, I want to come to the masjid, and I want to be in the front row. I want to make it to the first row in the salah."
The sheikh said to him:
"You have to come early."
So the young boy, at night, told his mother:
"Wake me up early before the salah."
His mother woke him up early.
He woke up early.
He left the house without his mother's knowledge.
He went to the masjid, and he found that the door of the masjid was locked.
Being a young kid, he was able to go through a small hole that he saw from within the masjid.
And when he went in—he fell inside the masjid.
There was a sharp object facing upwards.
It went into his leg.
And he bled.
Then, he sat in the front row—bleeding.
The sheikh came into the masjid.
He saw the young boy.
But the young boy did not say anything.
He prayed the salah.
And when he finished the salah, the sheikh turned around—and there was a puddle of blood.
So he said to him:
"What happened to you?"
And the boy said:
"Sheikh, this is the story. I tried to come to the masjid. I wanted to make it to the front row."
The sheikh said to him:
"My son, write down what I am going to say to you."
And he said:
لَا تَحْسَبَ أَنَّ الْمَجْدَ تَمْرًا أَنْتَ آكِلُهُ لَنْ تَبْلُغَ الْمَجْدَ حَتَّى تَلْعَقَ الصَّلَاةِ
In summary, what he said to the young boy was:
"You wanted to earn a goal. You wanted to achieve something. You wanted to pray in the front row. And it wasn’t something easy—it had a cost and a price to it."
"Don’t ever think to yourself, my son..."
لَا تَحْسَبَ أَنَّ الْمَجْدَ تَمْرًا أَنْتَ آكِلُهُ
"Don’t ever think that honor, status, and position is like a fruit that you just take from a tree like this—no!"
"You have to sacrifice time and effort."
لَا تَبْلُغَ الْمَجْدَ حَتَّى تَلْعَقَ الصَّلَاةِ
"You're never going to gain what you're looking for unless you exert a lot of hard work and show patience."
Then, he said another very powerful statement.
He said:
إِذَا أَرَدْتَ أَنْ تَعْلَمَ
"If you want to know..."
مَا عِنْدَكَ وَعِنْدَ غَيْرِكَ مِمْحَبَّةِ اللَّهِ
"If you want to know whether you and others are loved by Allah..."
He said:
فَانْظُرْ مِحَبَّةَ الْقُرْآنِ مِنْ قَلْبِكِ
"Look at the love of the Qur’an in your heart."
If you want to know—somebody might come to you and say:
"How do I know Allah loves me?"
We say:
"How much do you love His word?"
The mentioning of Allah—is it high to you?
Yeah, brothers?
Is the mentioning of Allah, His Qur’an, His words—do they mean a lot to you?
Then the mentioning of your name to Allah means a lot to Him سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى.
That's what he says.
Are we all together, brothers?
It is not right for a person to say:
"I love the Qur’an."
Yet, he doesn’t even try to memorize anything from it.
Love cannot just be a mere statement.
It can't be.
Love has to manifest on your limbs.
It has to become actions.
It has to be a movement forward.
It has to be something you try to come with.
And I’ve seen brothers—Wallahi—when these kinds of quotes came across them...
Wallahi, they took it seriously.
And they made the Qur’an their closest friend.
The Salaf used to say:
"Dwelling over the past is like trying to bring the dead out of their graves."
Dwelling over the past, thinking too much over the past is:
إِخْرَاجُ الْمَوْتَى مِنْ قُبُورِهِمْ
"Trying to bring the dead out of their graves."
And you are going against the universal laws of Allah.
Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى—His universal laws, everything goes forward.
Nothing goes backwards.
And you are the only one going backwards—by thinking about what has already happened.
So don’t busy yourself with that.
Busy yourself with what’s in front of you.
And that which will benefit you.
Ibrahim Ibn Adham, he said—he said a very powerful statement.
I love this statement.
He said:
طَيِّب طَيِّب، perfect مَطْعَمَك
"Perfect your income and your earnings."
وَمَا عَلَيْكَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ أَلَّا تَصُومَ النَّهَارَ وَلَا تَقُومَ اللَّيْلَ
"And after that—your fasting, your night prayers—leave it to Allah."
"Allah will make it all happen for you."
My beloved brothers and sisters,
We have all claimed that we are Muslims.
We said we are Mu’mins.
Didn’t we say that?
Then, that has to be tested.
"أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَن يُتْرَكُوا أَن يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ"
Did you really think that you can just say, "I'm a believer," and you're not going to be tested?
No!
That statement you said—"I am a believer"—needs to be put to the test.
Let’s see if it's true.
ولذلك, some of the Salaf, whenever they would go through a period of time where they were not tested, they used to look at the sky.
What did they do?
They would look at the sky—and they would be scared.
Scared of what?
They were scared that Allah was giving them all the good now, and that the punishment awaited them on the Day of Judgment.
سُجِنَ أَحْمَدُ ابْنُ حَنْبَلِ
Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal was imprisoned.
وَجُلِدَ
He was whipped.
But that whipping—what did it lead to?
فَصَارَ إِمَامُ أَهْلِ السُّنَّةِ
He became the Imam of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah!
وُضِعَ السَّرَخْسِي
The great Hanafi scholar—Imam As-Sarakhsī—was placed in a well.
He was imprisoned inside a deep well.
And all he had with him was pens and papers.
What did he do?
فَأَخْرَجَ عِشْرِينَ مُجَلَّدًا
He authored twenty volumes in fiqh—inside that prison!
ابن الأثير was also imprisoned.
What did he do?
فَصَنَّفَ
He wrote two great books:
- جامع الأصول
- النهاية في غريب الحديث
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah was imprisoned.
Inside that prison—he finished the Qur'an 83 times!
And he died while reciting the words of Allah:
"إِنَّ الْمُتَّقِينَ فِي جَنَّاتٍ وَنَهَرٍ فِي مَقْعَدِ صِدْقٍ عِندَ مَلِيكٍ مُقْتَدِرٍ"
ابن الجوزي was exiled from Baghdad—his own hometown.
What did he do?
He came back.
He studied.
And he memorized the ten qira’āt of the Qur’an!
Every calamity that comes—Allah always brings good out of it.
You might not see it today.
Nor tomorrow.
Nor the day after.
But one day—you’ll see it.
Have good faith in Allah.
Just like the body becomes dehydrated if you don't drink enough water...
The soul becomes dehydrated if it doesn’t get enough dhikr!
Are you with me, brothers?
That’s why you find a man—he's fit.
He’s got six-packs everywhere—even on his ears!
Yeah—he does i’tikāf in the gym!
And yet—he wants to commit suicide.
He's rich.
He's got everything.
Why?
Because the soul has become dehydrated.
He doesn’t want to live anymore.
He's depressed.
He has anxiety.
And the reason is because:
"أَلَمْ يَأْنِ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنْ تَخْشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ وَلَا يَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلُ فَطَالَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْأَمَدُ فَقَسَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ"
He distanced himself from the remembrance of Allah.
The Qur’an.
And the heart needs the Qur’an.
It needs it.
It craves it.
Are you there, brothers?
You see a person entering Islam—and he’s just crying.
As soon as he says the Shahada—he's crying.
What are you crying for?
صح؟
A person hears the Qur’an—and he just can’t hold it in.
The serenity...
The beauty of the Qur’an...
You start crying.
You feel it.
Why?
Because the soul.
عَطَاءُ بْنُ أَبِي رَبَاحٍ—he said:
"مَا تَكَلَّمْتُ"
"I never spoke."
"I never uttered a word..."
إِلَّا سَأَلْتُ نَفْسِي سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً
"Unless I asked myself seventy times—Is this for me or against me?"
Because he said:
"Angels are writing everything I say."
"So I ask myself seventy times—is this for me, or against me?"
"If I wasn't sure it was for me—I wouldn't say it."
Are you with me, brothers?
When you read these people's lives—how they lived, how they thought—
Then you realize—this is what you want to be.
يا إخوة!
Don’t put your guards down.
Ahmad Ibn Hanbal—on his last moments before he died...
His son, Abdullah, was next to him.
And he heard his father saying:
"بَعْدُ بَعْدُ"
"Not yet, not yet."
So after he passed away, his son asked:
"Dad, I heard you saying 'Not yet, not yet.' What did you mean?"
He said:
"Shaytan came to me and said: 'Ahmad, you escaped from me. I couldn't catch you.' "
"And I said: 'No! Not yet! I still haven’t escaped!'"
"As long as I'm alive—you can still catch me."
This Dunya—brothers—
The way we perceive it today...
The way we see it...
مخالف للواقع.
It is opposite to reality.
Why?
Because Allah—who created this world, who owns this world—
He said:
"لَوْ كَانَتِ الدُّنْيَا تَعْدِلُ عِندَ اللَّهِ جَنَاحَ بَعُوضَةٍ مَا سَقَى مِنْهَا كَافِرًا شُرْبَةَ مَاءٍ"
If this Dunya was worth even the wing of a mosquito in Allah's sight...
He wouldn’t have given a disbeliever a sip of water from it.
If Apple came out today and said:
"All our iPhones are faulty."
Would people argue with them?
No!
Because they made it!
Likewise, Allah created this world—and He is telling you...
It’s nothing.
And the proof?
Allah gives it to both Muslims and non-Muslims.
So if Allah gives you Dunya—it doesn't mean He loves you.
And if He takes it away from you—it doesn't mean He hates you.
لكن
If He doesn't give you Jannah—then He does not love you.
And one of the greatest things, يا إخوة, that allows a person to be ascetic and not see any importance in this Dunya is to actually digest this particular point:
To know that what you have today, you might not necessarily have tomorrow.
If you're a leader—how many leaders have we seen?
Who were leaders?
They were the leaders, and then what?
They were killed.
The way they were killed...
They were once drinking from gold cups, and now what?
They were dragged on the ground.
صحيح؟
We saw that, right?
That's the Dunya.
That's its حقيقة—that's its reality.
So don't give it any importance.
Is it fair that Allah's religion is little in your eyes, and the Dunya is a lot?
Is it fair that you know how to make money, but you do not know how to increase your righteous deeds?
Is it fair that you decorate this Dunya—the house that you're living in—and you decorate it with beautiful things, but your grave, the place you will go into, you haven't decorated it with righteous deeds?
Is that fair?
Is it fair that you haven't thought about the day that you meet Allah عز و جل, and you come in front of Him, and the two things that would have helped you—beneficial knowledge and righteous actions—you haven't increased in them?
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said a statement that I came across.
One of the scholars—when you entered his house, it used to be written on the door of his house:
نفسك... أما نفسك...
You can say it both ways:
إِنْ لَمْ تَشْغَلْهَا بِالطَّاعَةِ شَغَلَتْكَ بِالْمَعْصِيَةِ
"If you don’t busy yourself with obedience to Allah, it will busy you with disobedience to Allah عز و جل."
And I know many of us can agree with this.
When you don’t have a schedule, a timetable, or a routine to follow...
If you give yourself that free time, this نفس is very evil.
"وَمَا أُبَرِّئُ نَفْسِي ۚ إِنَّ النَّفْسَ لَأَمَّارَةٌ بِالسُّوءِ"
This نفس is going to call you to evil.
Don't say, "Okay, I did this thing—can I do another one? What about this one?"
"Don't worry, let’s just have one hour of fun. I want to play this game or do this thing."
And tomorrow, you see yourself 10 hours sitting down, wasting your time.
It started from what?
One hour.
The نفس will go on.
You have to grab yourself.
You have to grab this نفس and restrain it—or it will go out of control.
This religion does not look at your background or where you're from.
It doesn't care.
You can be from whatever land you like.
What honors you is not your background, your lineage, or your people.
That doesn't honor you.
Mecca was once upon a time a place where the Companions were told to migrate from.
A land does not honor you.
And it was a land they were commanded to return to.
So your land, your country—it doesn’t honor you unless you become something for this deen.
Your life—what did you do with it?
How did you spend your life?
Allah says in the Qur'an:
"أَوَلَمْ نُعَمِّرْكُمْ مَا يَتَذَكَّرُ فِيهِ مَنْ تَذَكَّرَ وَجَاءَكُمُ النَّذِيرُ"
"أَوَلَمْ نُعَمِّرْكُمْ"—"Have We not given you a good portion of life to live?"
"وَجَاءَكُمُ النَّذِيرُ"—"And the warner came to you."
Abdullah Ibn Abbas said:
"وَجَاءَكُمُ النَّذِيرُ" means:
"We placed a white hair inside your beard to remind you that you're coming close to us."
And if you look at the way Allah عز و جل created creation...
He made everybody different.
SubhanAllah.
People just love different things.
Look at this book I’m reading from right now.
There’s a man who made the cover for the book.
And that's his passion.
He loves that.
He learned it.
He went forward in تَجْلِيدُ الْكُتُب—bookbinding.
And his company—there’s a history behind it.
Those of you who are scholars—these Arabic books, they have تَجْلِيدُ—proper binding.
Okay?
This book—its yellow pages.
They call it أوراق طبي—"medical pages."
It’s good for your eyes when you read in the sun.
There’s a company that does that.
They enjoy that—that’s their job.
They enjoy it.
The Shaykh who wrote the book—he enjoys the knowledge.
But if everyone loved doing the cover, who would write the book?
You see my point?
Everyone plays a role in this religion.
"صَلَحَةً هَدَاهُ"—everyone plays a role.
But you need to find your place—where you enjoy, where you find relevance.
It’s very important.
الله سبحانه وتعالى, my beloved brothers and sisters, commanded us to be steadfast.
And He told us to come with استقامة.
Allah said in the Qur'an:
"إِنَّ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ ثُمَّ استَقَامُوا تَتَنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ أَلَّا تَخَافُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا"
"Indeed, those who say, 'Our Lord is Allah,' then remain steadfast—the angels will descend upon them, saying: 'Do not fear, nor grieve…'"
Sometimes you ask yourself:
"Can I tell these topics to the people?"
A person who is steadfast himself can say to other people:
"Be steadfast."
But I am not steadfast—how can I say it to you guys?
I swear, brothers, the topic itself requires somebody who possesses this personality.
So I will conclude, إن شاء الله تعالى, with this:
Anything I have said that was wrong or incorrect is from me and Shaytan.
And Allah and His Messenger are free from it.
سُبْحَانَكَ اللَّهُمَّ وَبِحَمْدِكَ، أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ، أَسْتَغْفِرُكَ وَأَتُوبُ إِلَيْكَ.
I want to share something with you.
I was thinking about it, contemplating—shall I share it, shall I not share it?
I think I will share it with you guys because a lot of you kept coming every day.
I had a dream the other day.
After looking at the hadiths and preparing that night, I fell asleep while on my sofa, reading.
I slept on my side, and it was a long sleep.
Normally, I wake up quicker than other times, but this time, I slept deeply.
And in my dream, what I saw was this:
I was telling my children to get ready.
I was telling them, "Get up, prepare yourselves—we're going, we're going!"
And so my children said, "Dad, where are we going?"
I said, "We're going to meet the Messenger ﷺ. Get up, everybody, prepare yourselves!"
And my children got ready—my son, my daughters, all of us.
And we came out.
It was like—it was what I can describe to be like Eid.
Everyone was coming out of their houses.
When I came out, everyone else was coming out of their houses.
We were all going to a place—an open place.
So we walked for a while until we came to an open space—like a park, an open land.
But it wasn't grass—it was sand.
Everyone was there.
As we walked and walked, there was a line for every party.
There was one line on this side, which was on the right, and a line on the other side.
The people on the left side were moving faster than the ones on the right.
Before we entered the park or the land, there was security.
Some people were told, "You are not allowed to come into this place."
And another group of people were told to come in.
So I came forward and said, السلام عليكم, and I was told to come in.
And all my children—they came in with me.
So we went in.
A lot of people were asking, "Why can't we come in?"
I didn’t hear what was said to them.
But we went into the open land.
We walked, and as we were walking, we were on the right side.
I had my children around me.
And I saw an old man—not very old, but senior in age.
But not old to the point where he couldn't walk or anything.
He had a walking stick.
And there was another man holding him by the arm, like this.
I asked someone, "Who is that?"
Because they just looked unique from everybody else.
I was told, "The one who has the walking stick is Jabir ibn Abdillah."
And we all know that Jabir became blind in his old age.
So I said, "Okay, who’s the one holding his hand?"
He was holding him by the hand, and he had a pen and a small notebook in his hand.
And he was asking a question.
They were talking, talking—I could see they were mumbling something.
But when they came by me, the question that I heard him ask Jabir was:
"Who were the people who narrated hadith from you?"
But remember, they were on the fast track.
We were on this slow-moving line, while they were moving quickly ahead of us.
So I asked, "Who is the other man asking the question?"
I was told, "It's Shaykh al-Albani رحمه الله."
In my head, I said to myself, "I know why he's asking that question."
Because there’s a discussion in 'Ilm al-Hadith—whether Abu Zubayr al-Makki heard from Jabir.
Whether he is from the students who heard from Jabir.
There’s that discussion going on in the science of Hadith.
So he asks him.
Whenever Jabir gives the answer, he writes something down.
Then he holds him by the arm, and they keep moving forward.
At that moment, I was thinking, "SubhanAllah, he still wants to know Hadith. He still wants to know the rulings of the science of Hadith."
And they walk until they reach the front row, before everybody else.
And the Messenger ﷺ is standing there.
The Messenger did not stand for anyone else.
No one had the privilege of the Prophet ﷺ standing for them.
Everybody else—they would kiss his head, they would shake his hand, and then they would move on.
Pay attention here.
The Prophet ﷺ, when Jabir and Shaykh al-Albani came,
he stood up.
Then the Messenger grabbed Al-Albani on his left hand side,
And on his right-hand side, he grabbed Jabir.
He brought them close to each other.
And in the middle of their heads, the Messenger ﷺ whispered something.
He looked at both of them, and they smiled.
And the Prophet ﷺ smiled.
Then both of them walked towards where the Prophet ﷺ was facing.
In front of him, there was a large gathering of people sitting.
A lot of people.
So we get to the Prophet ﷺ.
I shake his hand.
I kiss him.
And I say, "Ya Rasulullah, Abdur Rahman—these are my children."
And the Prophet ﷺ greets them.
Then I am told, "Go to the back."
I don’t go in the direction of Jabir and Shaykh al-Albani.
I am told to go behind.
The people were divided into two groups.
One group was told to go forward, directly in front of the Messenger ﷺ.
They could see him, they could watch him.
And another group was placed behind.
And those who were being sent behind, there was security guiding them.
"Go this way. Go this way."
And those who were going in front of the Prophet ﷺ, they were told,
"Go, go forward."
So I asked, "Why can't I sit there? I want to see the Prophet ﷺ. Why do I have to go behind his back?"
And the thing that was said to me was:
"What did you do for the Prophet’s religion?"
"How have you served the Deen of the Prophet ﷺ?"
These people that you see in front—
They are the great scholars of Hadith.
Al-Imam al-Bukhari.
Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj.
Al-Imam Abu Dawood.
Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
Ishaq...
These are the people who were there—
Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman—
The people who gave their lives, their everything to this religion.
They worked hard for it.
And you—MashaAllah, a good Muslim—
At least you got to see the Prophet ﷺ.
Go behind now.
And so my son, when we went behind the Prophet ﷺ and sat down,
He said, "Dad, I want to go and see the Prophet. I want to see him, I want to vision him. Why can't we go? Why can't we go where everyone else went?"
And I said to him,
"Son, today, it's based on actions. It's not about anything else."
"We didn’t get it."
But he said,
"Dad, you used to teach a lot, you used to do this—why?"
And I said,
"I never served the religion like Shaykh al-Albani or Imam al-Bukhari—no way."
That’s really what I can remember.
I don't remember the rest vividly.
The point I want to take from this story—Wallahi—
We have to take a role in this Deen.
Wallahi, we have to serve this Deen.
We have to give our lives to it.
If we want to be with the Prophet ﷺ,
We have to be people who lived by his life,
Who served his religion,
Who worked hard every day of their lives—
To teach, to educate, to learn, to study.
And really, these people—that’s what they did.
That’s why they were honored.
And as the poet said:
"The people of Hadith are the Prophet’s people.
They are his companions—
Even if they didn't accompany him in this world,
They accompanied him by reading his Hadiths,
By reading his narrations."
That dream really affected me.
I thought about it a lot, and a lot, and a lot.
And I said, "SubhanAllah, we really—
We haven't done anything for this religion, have we?"*
These Ahadith—
We have to study them deeply.
We have to learn them properly.
That’s why the Messenger ﷺ said:
"I left two things for you—
The Qur’an and the Sunnah.
Hold on to them, stick to them.
And if you hold on to them,
لَن تَضِلُّوا بَعْدِي
"You will never be misguided after me."
The Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger ﷺ.
Oh Allah,
Make us those who hold on to the Qur’an and the Sunnah.
Make us cling to it with all our strength.
And never let go of it.
