Developing a closer relationship with Allah
إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ ,نَحْمَدُهُ ,وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ , وَنَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا ,مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ , وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ , وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُ
All praise is due to Allah. We praise him, we seek His help, we seek His forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil within ourselves and our evil deeds. Whoever Allah guides, there is none to misguide him. Whoever Allah leads astray, there is none to guide him. I testify there is no God but Allah alone, without any partners, and that Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is His servant and His messenger.
قال الله عز وجل في القرآن الكريم
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِۦ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ
Allahu Azzawajal said in the Holy Qur’an, “O you who have faith, fear Allah as it is His right to be feared and do not die unless you are Muslims,”
وقال الله سبحانه وتعالى
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱتَّقُوا۟ رَبَّكُمُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍۢ وَٰحِدَةٍۢ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًۭا كَثِيرًۭا وَنِسَآءًۭ ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ٱلَّذِى تَسَآءَلُونَ بِهِۦ وَٱلْأَرْحَامَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًۭا
And Allahu Subhanahu wa ta’ala said, “Fear Allah, from whom you ask each other, and in your family ties, for Allah is ever watchful over you,”
وقال الله
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَقُولُوا۟ قَوْلًۭا سَدِيدًۭا يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَـٰلَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَمَن يُطِعِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا
And Allah said, “Fear Allah and speak words as befitting. He will amend your deeds for you and forgive your sins. Whoever obeys Allah and His messenger has achieved a great triumph.”
وقال رسوله صلى الله عليه وسلم
إِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَأَحْسَنَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
وَشَرُّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلُّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلُّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ وَكُلُّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّار
And His Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The truest word is the Book of Allah and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace be upon him. The most evil matters are those that are newly invented, for every newly invented matter is an bid’ah. Every bid’ah is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Hellfire.”
اَمّا بَعْد
My dear respected brothers and sisters, Allah says in the Qur’an,
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
“And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.” (51:56)
Allah created us to worship Him. This is our purpose in life. Allah named us Muslims- coming from root word asalama meaning submission, so we submit to Allah. But in order to submit to Him, we have to create a connection with Him.
There are many ways in which we can do this, but one way to do this is through what Allah ordained for us- The Prayer.
The prayer which is one of the biggest manifestations of our submission to Allah. When we place our head, the most noble part of our body on the floor in sajdah, we do so out of humility.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said
أَقْرَبُ مَا يَكُونُ الْعَبْدُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ وَهُوَ سَاجِدٌ
“The servant is closest to his Lord during sujood.” (Sahih Muslim 482)
But then one might ask how can one be the closest if our head is on the floor and Allah is Al عAla- the Most High? It is because we are doing what we were created to do- Glorifying the Most High by saying “Subhana rabbi al عala” and humbling ourselves by worshipping and submitting to Him, and it is then that we have a much better relationship with Allah
The Sahaba used to look forward to the salah and see it as a way to show their love for Allah. One companion was said to always end his recitation with Surah Al Ikhlas with the reason that the “Surah contains the attributes of Ar Rahman, The Most Merciful and I love to recite it.”
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was told about this and he said, “Tell him that Allah loves him". (Riyad us Saliheen 388)
Abdullah ibn Shaqiq (رحمه الله) said about the sahaba,
كَانَ أَصْحَابُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لاَ يَرَوْنَ شَيْئًا مِنَ الأَعْمَالِ تَرْكُهُ كُفْرٌ غَيْرَ الصَّلاَةِ
The companions of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, did not consider leaving any deed to be kufr- disbelief except for the prayer (At Tirmidhi 2622)
Those who preceded us in goodness knew how important the salah is.
They knew how the Prophet (ﷺ) said
إِنَّ بَيْنَ الرَّجُلِ وَبَيْنَ الشِّرْكِ وَالْكُفْرِ تَرْكَ الصَّلَاةِ
“Verily, leaving off the salah is the difference between a person and falling into kufr and shirk.” (Sahih Muslim 82)
The salah was so important to them that they used to narrate how while praying, they used to narrate imagining Jannah on their right, Jahannam on their left, the Siraat- the bridge of Yawm al Qiyamah of the width of a thread in front of them, and the Angel of Death behind them- waiting and waiting for the permission of Allah to take their soul.
So Subhanallah, imagine the type of salah and the type of connection they would have with Allah. This is something we should all try our best to implement with the permission of Allah. Another way in which we can strengthen our relationship with Allah is through Good company and loving what Allah loves and staying away from what Allah hates.
As the khutbah last week taught us, it is imperative that we look to our environment and make sure it is one that drives us to Jannah and not to Jahannam. And if we take one of the gems from the lecture from Monday, when he was asked about tips to become closer to Allah, Ustadh Abu Taymiyyah taught us to keep the house of Allah close to you, by regularly attending their lectures, lessons, and activities. This would inevitably lead to us being able to strengthen our relationship with our Khaliq- our Creator by helping us in our respective journeys
The Prophet (ﷺ) said,
الرَّجُلُ عَلَى دِينِ خَلِيلِهِ
“A person is upon the religion of his closest friend,” (At Tirmidhi 2378)
And he also said that, “Perfection of faith is to love for the sake of Allah, hate for the sake of Allah, give for the sake of Allah and withhold for the sake of Allah.” (Abi Dawud 4687)
So part of our relationship with Allah is to make sure our actions and our emotions are for His sake.
If we are happy, it is for Allah.
If we are upset or angry, it is for Allah.
If we love, it is for Allah and if we dislike, it is for Allah.
This is another form of submission that can allow more of what we do to become acts of worship.
اقول قولي هذا واستغفر الله لي ولكم ولسائر المسلمين فاستغفروه انه هو الغفور الرحيم
(I say this and ask forgiveness from God for me and for you and for the rest of the Muslims, so seek forgiveness from Him, for He is the Forgiving, the Merciful)
[Pause between first and second Khutbah]
بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰه , وَالحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ , وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللهِ , وَ أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَاْ إِلَهَ إِلَّاْ اَللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَاْشَرِيْكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدَاً عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُوْلُهُ
(In the name of Allah, praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon Allah’s Messenger, and I bear witness that there is nothing worthy of worship but Allah and that Muhammad is his servant and messenger.)
In order to have a relationship with Allah, one must know who Allah is, knowing Allah, His Names and Attributes is vital as a Muslim, which we would get from His Book and the example of the one he sent as a Messenger (ﷺ)
Allah says
قُلِ ادْعُوا اللَّهَ أَوِ ادْعُوا الرَّحْمَنَ أَيًّا مَا تَدْعُوا فَلَهُ الْأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَ
‘Say, “Call upon Allah or call upon the Most Merciful [ar-Rahman]. Whichever [name] you call – to Him belong the best names.”’
We can learn about Allah by attending local classes or lectures or signing up to Islamic courses like iSyllabus, but either way, seeking knowledge is something that is not only an act of worship to bring us closer to Allah but also something that we are obliged to do since the Prophet (ﷺ) said,
طَلَبُ الْعِلْمِ فَرِيضَةٌ عَلَى كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ
Seeking knowledge is a fardh- a compulsion upon every Muslim
We also must know how to worship Allah, we cannot worship based on our desires or what may please us, rather we have to worship based on what pleases Allah, through the best of examples, Muhammad (ﷺ) and so learning how he used to is also imperative upon us.
In summary, in order to have a better relationship with Allah, we can do three things:
Improve our salah, by remembering how important it is and also doing what those before us used to, such as imagining Paradise on the right and Hellfire on the left, the Siraat in front and the Angel of Death behind us
Making our actions and emotions pleasurable to Allah, and allowing those around us to help us on our journeys
Seeking knowledge since in order to worship Allah, we have to know who He is and also how to worship Him
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ ۚ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُواتَسْلِيم
ٱللَّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَىٰ مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَىٰ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ كَمَا صَلَّيْتَ عَلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَعَلَىٰ آلِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ إِنَّكَ حَمِيدٌ مَجِيدٌ
رَبَّنَآ ءَاتِنَا فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةًۭ وَفِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ حَسَنَةًۭ وَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ
اللهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلامَ وَالمُسْلِمِينَ
وَأَذِلَّ الشِّرْكَ وَالمُشْرِكِينَ
رَبَّنَا وَلَا تُحَمِّلْنَا مَا لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا بِهِۦ ۖ وَٱعْفُ عَنَّا وَٱغْفِرْ لَنَا وَٱرْحَمْنَآ ۚ أَنتَ مَوْلَىٰنَا فَٱنصُرْنَا عَلَى ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ
عِبَادَ اللّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ
اُذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ الْعَظِيمَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ واشْكُرُوهُ يَزِدْكُمْ واسْتَغْفِرُوهُ يَغْفِرْ لكُمْ واتّقُوهُ يَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَمْرِكُمْ مَخْرَج
وَأَقِمِ الصّلَاة
[Time for Prayer]
