Note: The following transcript was generated using AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. Praise be to Him, the Good, the Beautiful. I bear witness that there is no god but God. Alone, without a partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. Peace be upon him and his family and companions. And follow them in good faith until the Day of Judgment.
God Almighty, today I am going to mention the fifth means, the fifth way to attain self-motivation, dedication, enthusiasm, and conviction. This is going to be the fifth means to have an expanded chest, to be at a state of ease and tranquility. And it is dawamu dhikri Allahi Ta'ala, being consistent in the remembrance of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
My beloved brothers and sisters. Being consistent in the remembrance of Allah is one of the greatest means, one of the greatest ways to attain the tranquility of your heart. And relaxation and comfort. And the removal of distress and depression and sadness. My beloved brothers and sisters.
Distress and sadness is not removed. And no hardship will ever be removed from you. Except in the remembrance of Allah. And when you are truthful in turning back to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Please remember this brothers and sisters. In the course of your life, as long as you live on this earth, remember this statement that I am going to say inshallah.
And that is, the human body requires water. You as an individual, there is an amount of water that you should be taking daily. And if you ignore that, and you choose not to take that amount, over time your body dehydrates. And what tends to happen is you start to feel headache. You also have complications. Your skin, you start having spots and things like that. All which comes from not taking the required amount of water.
The same applies my beloved brothers and sisters to the heart. If you don't give your heart the amount of dhikr of Allah that it needs, the heart will dehydrate. The heart will suffer. And then what happens is, just like your body, when it's not given the amount of water it needs, it dehydrates. The heart will also feel the same. And the same way that your body starts to react to the absence of that water, like headache, migraine, and all the other things that happen to you, the heart is the same. What happens to the heart is it starts to become sad. Distress. Depression. Suicidal thoughts. All of that is the absence of the remembrance of Allah.
And Allah Ta'ala says in the Qur'an, "Take in this verse, remembering Allah brings tranquility to the heart." You feel at ease. You feel relaxed. Even though around you the problems still stand, inside you're at a state of comfort. You would never think about suicide. You wouldn't. And the overwhelming majority of people who are suicidal, who are on antidepressant pills, the overwhelming majority, if you investigate and you ask, you will tend to find that the remembrance of Allah is what the heart is yearning for. Give the heart what it wants. Don't give your heart these chemicals that it doesn't want and it doesn't need.
Brothers and sisters, once you don't give the heart the remembrance of Allah that it requires and it needs, it starts to dehydrate and your actions, your production level, reduces. You're not able to do anything much. People who are depressed, what do they do? They stay in bed. They don't come out. They lock themselves in the room. They don't want to see the people. Why? Because they're not in a good place. Their heart is depressed. Anxiety, panic attacks, all of those. All of it is the absence of the remembrance of Allah.
Allah says, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ ذِكْرًا كَثِيرًا "Remember Allah a lot." All those of you who believe. Those of you who claim Iman. Those who believe in Allah and the Day of Judgment. اذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ Remember Allah. A little bit. Sometimes here or there. No. اذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ ذِكْرًا كَثِيرًا "Remember Allah a lot." وَسَبِّحُوهُ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِلًا "And exalt Him subhanahu wa ta'ala."
Remember Him. The opposite to the remembrance of Allah, brothers and sisters, is Al-Ghaflah. Heedlessness. What is heedlessness? جَمْهَرَةٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمُ A large number of scholars, they said that Ghaflah is ظُلْمَةٌ تَكُونُ فِي الْقَلْبِ "It's a darkness that is placed on the heart." وَوَحْشَةٌ تَكُونُ فِي الشَّدْرِ "And it's that loneliness that a person feels inside." وَنَكَدٌ يَكُونُ فِي الْعَيْشِ "And it's that hardship that you feel in this earth." You think everybody's out there to get you. So you're running away from everybody. You want to be alone. You don't trust anybody. You're on the edge all the time. All of that, brothers and sisters, is because of the absence of the remembrance of Allah.
Give the heart what it wants, brother. Give the heart what it wants, sister. And you'll be so productive. You would be an effective person in the community. Brothers and sisters, the car that you drive, it requires an amount of water. If you don't, it damages the car. Your car requires an amount of oil. If you don't give it, the car doesn't function properly. وَهَكَدًا The human needs the remembrance of Allah. Allah created you like that. If you don't give it, there are side effects. There are consequences.
The Prophet ﷺ said, مَثَلُ الَّذِي يَذْكُرُ رَبَّهُ "The one who remembers Allah." وَالَّذِي لَا يَذْكُرُ رَبَّهُ "And the one who doesn't remember Allah." Is like what? مَثَلُ الحَيِّ وَالْمَيِّدِ "Is like one who's alive and one who's dead." This hadith, al-Imam al-Bukhari narrated in his Sahih al-Muslim. Also in his Sahih, وَالْلَفْظُ لِلْبُخَارِي "And the wording is the wording of al-Imam al-Bukhari."
Let's ponder over this hadith. A lot of you have heard this hadith. But let's ponder and think over it. مَثَلُ الَّذِي يَذْكُرُ رَبَّهُ "The one who remembers Allah." وَالَّذِي لَا يَذْكُرُ رَبَّهُ "And the one who doesn't remember Allah." Is like what? مَثَلُ الحَيِّ وَالْمَيِّدِ "Is like one who is alive." Full of energy. Enthusiastic. Motivated. When you see him, he is alive. Vibrant. وَالْمَيِّدِ "Is the one who is dead." His presence in the gathering is like his absence. Can't contribute anything. He is also someone who is absent. Like the dead individual who is nothing. Part of anything. Why? Why is he like a dead person? Who is lying down like he is dead. But here this person is not lying in a grave. He is lying in his bed all the time. He can't hold a job. He can't look after his family. He can't follow a routine and a timetable that his life requires from him. He can't. He is not productive in any way, shape or form. He is like a dead person. The reason to this is because his remembrance of Allah. He doesn't remember Allah.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah. Imam. Ibn Taymiyyah summarized the situation. Ibn Taymiyyah summarized it. He looked at the Quran. He looked at the Sunnah. And he summarized it from it. What did he say? He said. Al-Dhikr. The remembrance of Allah. Is what? Is like? The remembrance of Allah for the human body. For the human heart. For the human mind. The remembrance of Allah is like the water is for the fish. How is a fish going to be without water? How? Will that fish be? If you take it out of the water. Will the fish live? No it won't. It will die. You are like that brothers and sisters. If you are taken out of the remembrance of Allah. You are not in that circle where Allah is being remembered. You do not read your adhkar. Nothing. You do not do your dhikr when you enter the house. You don't do your dhikr when you come out of the house. You do not read your dhikr before you go to sleep. You do not do your dhikr when you wake up. You do not do your dhikr when you put your clothing on. You do not do your dhikr when you take your clothes off. You are going to die brothers and sisters. You are vulnerable. You are without fortress.
The author of the book Fortress of a Muslim. He called it Fortress. He got it from the famous hadith of the Prophet. That the dhikr is like a fortress for you. How? It protects you from everything. You are in that fortress. You are protected. You are taken care of. What do brothers and sisters say who are depressed? Who are sad? Who are depressed? They say I need to avoid people. Why do you need to avoid people? Because they will say things to me that will hurt me. Do they not say that? They do. So they want to be protected from the people. The remembrance of Allah protects you from all of that. It is a fortress. It is a fortress. It is a solid cemented wall. That Allah has placed for you subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Ibn Uthaymi rahimahullah Mentioned something very powerful. This is something many people fall into. They say Ya Akhil Kareem. Don't show your blessings to the people. The people give you an evil eye. No. If an evil eye happens to you. It doesn't always mean that you have something great. It just indicates that you haven't done your dhikr. You have left off remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In order to protect the blessings of Allah from yourself. Sorry. In order to protect yourself from the evil eye. You have to do your dhikr. Not leave off doing the good. And the righteous actions. No. Do your dhikr.
So brothers and sisters. The remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Brings self motivation. Brings tranquility. It brings happiness into your life. It removes distress and sadness and depression and all of that. Al Allama Ibn Al Qayyim rahimahullah Has a kitab called Al Wabil Sayyib. He mentions That the remembrance of Allah has a hundred benefits. He said that. But then when he counted it. He went through 70 benefits. He mentioned how many? He mentioned 70 benefits. Go to the 94th volume of the kitab Al Wabil Sayyib. Up to 198. Look how he counts. The remembrance of Allah is The best thing you can preoccupy your time with. It's the best thing you can preoccupy yourself with.
My beloved brothers and sisters. It is the best thing that you can. You could. Do and commit to. And spend your time in it. It will increase you in all forms of good. The reality of happiness. The means to success and prosperity. In this world. And in the hereafter. Is really connected to the remembrance of Allah.
Nabiullah Muhammad. He was harmed. Our Prophet was harmed. The people in Mecca. What they did to our Prophet. Many of us haven't endured. We have not gone through it. A lot of us who are sad and depressed. We haven't gone through. Nothing close to what the Prophet went through. And Allah said to the Prophet. وَلَقَدْ نَعْلَمُ أَنَّكَ يَضِيقُ صَدْرُكَ بِمَا يَقُولُونَ "We know Muhammad." وَلَقَدْ نَعْلَمُ "We know." أَنَّكَ يَضِيقُ صَدْرُكَ "That your chest is tight. You're feeling something in your heart." بِمَا يَقُولُونَ "What the people are saying to you." What the people are saying to you. Is making you feel a certain way. So this is natural brothers and sisters. That you feel sad when somebody says something to you. So then what was the Prophet instructed? What was he instructed to do? When people are not nice to you on social media for example. And when people are disrespectful to you on the streets. And when people speak about you or talk about you in a nasty way. What is it that you should be doing? The Prophet was told what to do. فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ "Praise your Lord Allah SWT for all the blessings that He has given you." The blessings that you have is far greater and better and more. Than this little criticism and these little problems that you're having. فَسَبِّحْ "First of all exalt Allah." بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ "Praise Him SWT for the blessings that He has given you." وَكُمْ مِّنَ السَّاجِدِينَ "And be from those people who prostrate for Allah SWT."
وَكُمْ مِّنَ السَّاجِدِينَ العلامة عبد الرحمن ابن ناصر السعدي he said أَكْثِرْ مِنْ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَتَسْبِيحِهِ وَتَحْمِيدِهِ وَالصَّلَاةِ "فَإِنَّ ذَلِكَ يُوَسِّعُ الصَّدْرَ وَيَشْرَحُهُ وَيُعِينُكَ عَلَى أُمُورِكَ" What it means is increase in the remembrance of Allah SWT. Increase in exalting and praising Allah SWT and sending salutation on the Messenger AS. Why? فَإِنَّ ذَلِكَ يُوَسِّعُ الصَّدْرَ "Because this will expand your chest." From this you will gain focus, motivation, energy. You will become vibrant. You will become a person who is uplifted. A person who knows what they need to do. A focused individual. That's what you would become. وَيَشْرَحُهُ وَيُعِينُكَ عَلَى أُمُورِكَ "And it will help you in all of your affairs." You will learn how to deal with people.
Take this from me today inshallah. When someone says something evil about you and they treat you in a way that is not pleasant. Do the following brothers and sisters. Exalt Allah SWT. Praise Him SWT. Send salutation on the Messenger AS. And you will see what you gain from that inshallah. You will see how you become.
I'm going to stop there inshallah. Any mistakes or shortcomings or faults or errors that you have seen in this lecture. Is from me and Shaytan. Allah and His Messenger are both free from it. سُبْحَانَكَ اللَّهُمَّ بِالْحَمْدِ أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَى اللَّهِ أَسْتَغْفِرُكَ وَأَنتُمُ بُنَيكُمْ
