# Heartwork: From Heaven to Earth | Ustadh AbdelRahman Murphy | Class 14

An episode of [Heartwork | Ustadh AbdelRahman Murphy](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1747587869), 10 Feb 2026, 1 h 08 min.

Audio: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/gf12m7kldyrzxhc0/yt_video_kzztvkvpPvo_zycj7g.mp3

Become a sustainer at http://rootsdfw.org/sustain

## Transcript

[4:12] Okay.
[4:21] Alhamdulillah.
[4:25] Welcome home everybody. It's good to see
[4:27] you. Alhamdulillah. Uh winter is done.
[4:29] Summer is back. We're here.
[4:31] Alhamdulillah. Quick show of hands. Um
[4:34] how many of you were able to come out to
[4:35] the pre- Ramadan uh souk and festival
[4:38] yesterday? Real quick. Okay. Nice. M.
[4:41] Okay, so a lot of people didn't make it.
[4:42] That's all right. Um we had obviously
[4:44] mashallah the the souk and the festival
[4:46] that was kind of the the idea and then
[4:48] we also had a really amazing idea for
[4:50] the kids uh which was that um sister um
[4:54] who's the head of our kids programming
[4:56] at Bloom she came up with this play um
[4:59] it was basically a Ramadan uh themed
[5:02] play between uh three characters a
[5:04] dinosaur brother dino brother cow and
[5:07] Mr. pig mister cuz he's not our brother.
[5:10] He's not one of us, right? So, we don't
[5:12] we don't accept him. Uh but uh it was it
[5:15] was awesome and the play happened every
[5:17] hour like on the hour kind of thing. So,
[5:19] the kids could come and whoever whatever
[5:21] period of time you came as a family you
[5:22] could benefit from that. So, it was
[5:24] really sweet. Mashallah. Uh if you
[5:25] weren't able to join us, this is
[5:27] something that we want to do uh more
[5:29] often. We had food trucks, we had
[5:30] vendors, we had all kinds of stuff.
[5:32] Alhamdulillah. Um so, if you see
[5:34] pictures and you're like, "Man, I wish I
[5:35] could go." the next time we have it.
[5:37] Make sure that you lock in the calendar
[5:38] for yourself, the date, and please come
[5:40] through. We also have, it's really
[5:42] exciting. Ramadan's coming up, and
[5:44] obviously we know part of Ramadan, uh,
[5:46] is the worship, and the other part is
[5:48] the fashion show. No, I'm joking. Uh,
[5:50] the other part is that we want to, you
[5:52] know, express our fashion in a way that
[5:55] is Islamically, uh, pleasing to Allah,
[5:57] that's more modest. And so, we know that
[5:59] sometimes getting modest wear, sometimes
[6:02] there's a long, um, lead time on that
[6:04] with shipping. sometimes it's just
[6:06] expensive. And so we are we've organized
[6:08] now an Islamic clothing drive that we're
[6:10] doing all week this week. Um and the
[6:12] drop off box is actually in the foyer in
[6:14] between Roots and the multi-purpose
[6:16] hall. So if you have anything that is
[6:18] basically something that is worth
[6:20] wearing, like you would still wear it,
[6:22] it's clean, it's nice, it's not ruined,
[6:23] it's not damaged, um you know, it could
[6:26] be returned back to the store if you
[6:27] hypothetically could. Uh and you don't
[6:30] wear it anymore or you don't want to
[6:31] wear it. um and you think you can part
[6:34] with it uh then please whether it's new
[6:36] or like new, you can drop it off and
[6:38] then we plan to have an Islamic clothing
[6:41] uh kind of like a bizaar where people
[6:43] can come and pick up some nice abayas th
[6:46] uh modest wear that they can wear during
[6:48] the month of Ramadan. We know that it's
[6:49] the time of year where people do want to
[6:51] come to the masid more. They do want to
[6:53] have something that's a little bit more
[6:54] you know Islamically kind of adjacent to
[6:57] wear. Um and so even though of course at
[6:59] roots and you know you're welcome just
[7:01] as you are but we understand that
[7:03] there's a need there. So please do
[7:04] contribute and also look forward to
[7:06] coming and shopping and getting some
[7:08] clothing for yourself.
[7:10] Okay, now that the commercials are done,
[7:13] let's start.
[7:17] One of my favorite a hadith. I didn't
[7:19] plan for this. I was just looking um as
[7:21] I was preparing yesterday. I was looking
[7:23] at the narration and within the first
[7:26] couple words, I knew which narration it
[7:27] was because it's one that I grew up
[7:29] hearing a lot. And so, you may have also
[7:30] heard this narration. Um, but as is
[7:33] always the case with things that are
[7:35] classic,
[7:37] um, no matter how many times you've
[7:39] witnessed them, there's always something
[7:41] very beautiful and powerful to
[7:42] experience and to take away. Um, and so
[7:44] this narration is a narration that talks
[7:47] about um, the last wish of a father. And
[7:52] so it's a very powerful story and it
[7:54] occurs before the time of the
[7:57] prophetatam. But he's given this this
[8:00] information. He's given this story by
[8:02] Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So part of
[8:04] what makes it hadith is that this is
[8:06] something that is told to him by Allah
[8:08] about a previous nation. But the other
[8:10] part that makes it hadith is that Allah
[8:12] subhana t speaks in this hadith. He
[8:14] mentions his conversation with this
[8:17] individual.
[8:19] And so the narration goes and I put the
[8:21] translation here. So we'll read it
[8:22] together at the prophetatam he mentioned
[8:25] that there was a man that came before
[8:27] from a previous nation from a previous
[8:30] uh uh group that receives a prophet and
[8:33] Allah subhana wa ta had given this
[8:35] person uh wealth and children these are
[8:40] the two blessings that are mentioned in
[8:43] this hadith they're also mentioned in
[8:44] the Quran there's a verse where Allah
[8:46] says that
[8:49] that on that day the day of judgment
[8:52] there will be no benefit for anybody um
[8:55] neither from their wealth nor from their
[8:57] children
[9:00] except for a person that comes to Allah
[9:02] with a submitting pure heart. So this
[9:05] idea of resource this idea of of
[9:08] blessing here is being categorically
[9:10] mentioned as wealth and children. So
[9:15] what we know about this father is that
[9:17] this father was well off and we know
[9:20] that this father was blessed immensely
[9:22] by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So you
[9:23] think about for example like when Allah
[9:25] blesses you the natural instinct when
[9:28] you feel blessed by Allah is to return
[9:30] some kind of gratitude back to Allah if
[9:33] you're if you feel like you're going to
[9:34] miss your flight and somehow someway you
[9:37] know the flight gets delayed by 30
[9:38] minutes you feel this sense of gratitude
[9:41] to Allah you want to do something to and
[9:43] I say this very you know metaphorically
[9:45] pay Allah back even though you can't you
[9:47] want to do something to show Allah your
[9:49] gratitude so this person is immersed in
[9:52] blessing Now despite the fact that this
[9:54] person is immersed in blessing
[9:56] we learn about this individual
[9:59] that uh he had a major source of regret
[10:03] and guilt in his life. What was that?
[10:05] The hadith says when death came when
[10:07] death came that he said to his sons
[10:13] what kind of father was I to you? What
[10:18] kind of father was I to you? and his
[10:21] children, they respond back to him that
[10:23] you were like the best dad. You were
[10:27] incredible.
[10:28] No one was better than you. And this is
[10:31] again, think about it like this is the
[10:34] last thought that this father is having,
[10:38] which shows you a lot about subhan
[10:40] Allah, the psychology of our parents.
[10:43] You know, I I know that this hadith is
[10:44] going to be somewhat some somewhat
[10:45] triggering to some people because the
[10:47] reality of the world is that not
[10:49] everybody in this room has the greatest
[10:51] of relationship with their parents. And
[10:53] that's that's just the nature of it,
[10:55] right? We hear about, you know, serving
[10:57] our parents, taking care of them, and we
[10:59] know like deep down all of us know that
[11:02] this is my responsibility to do my best.
[11:04] But that responsibility is battling with
[11:08] maybe some feelings of disappointment,
[11:10] some feelings of hurt. And some of them
[11:12] some of them maybe are a little bit
[11:14] exaggerated, but some are valid, right?
[11:16] Some are valid. Some people come up and
[11:18] they say, "My parents treat me this way
[11:19] and that way." And as I'm listening to
[11:21] the story, I'm like, "Man, subhan Allah.
[11:23] There's no reason for a parent to treat
[11:25] their child like that." And sometimes I
[11:27] hear a story and I'm like, "Okay, let's
[11:29] add some perspective to this. Maybe we
[11:30] can help kind of widen your lens, your
[11:32] scope, and see what it is about your
[11:34] parent that that gave them the idea that
[11:37] that would be okay to do. and let's try
[11:39] to find some mercy here, right? But
[11:41] there are some scenarios. And so as we
[11:43] read this hadith, I don't want people to
[11:46] think or to disqualify a themselves or
[11:49] their parents. Just take it for what it
[11:51] is. Don't read this hadith projecting
[11:53] your life onto it. Let's just take it
[11:54] for what it is. This is a story of an
[11:56] individual who is asking his children,
[12:00] "What kind of dad was I to you?" And his
[12:02] children respond by saying, "You were
[12:04] the best dad. You were the best dad."
[12:07] Now, this is one of the things that I
[12:09] was talking to Abdaser about when I was
[12:11] reading it earlier and I said, "Subhan
[12:12] Allah, I never realized this correlation
[12:15] that's about to happen. I never put the
[12:17] two of them together." As much as I've
[12:19] heard this narration, I've read it
[12:20] before. I've never put these two points
[12:22] together. The first is that he was a
[12:24] great dad. He had a lot of wealth. But
[12:26] then he said that I have not sent forth
[12:30] any good with Allah. I have not done
[12:33] enough good with Allah. And so he says,
[12:38] "If Allah has power over me, he will
[12:40] punish me severely." Basically, he's
[12:42] aware that I'm not I've not been the
[12:44] best of believers. I did not do my job
[12:47] as a believer in Allah to fulfill the
[12:49] commandments. Maybe I didn't pray as
[12:51] much as I should have. I didn't I didn't
[12:53] fast as much as I should have. I didn't
[12:55] live a life that I'm proud of that maybe
[12:58] Allah will grant me ja. So he says,
[13:00] "When I die," he's telling his kids now,
[13:03] "When I die, burn me. Cremate my body
[13:06] and then when my body becomes cold,
[13:09] crush whatever is left." Like when
[13:12] everything is gone and my body has been
[13:14] reduced down to the bone. Crush those
[13:17] bones and then gather the dust from
[13:20] whatever you can. And on a windy day,
[13:23] on a windy day, he says, "Take me to a
[13:26] place where there's a sea that's
[13:29] overlooking and throw my my ashes over
[13:31] the sea and scatter me."
[13:34] And so the time came after his father,
[13:37] their father passed away where they
[13:39] followed his last wish. They took his
[13:42] body. They cremated it. They put him
[13:45] into dust. They made him into dust. They
[13:46] took the dust over to an area
[13:48] overlooking the sea on a windy day and
[13:50] they threw the dust and his ashes spread
[13:53] and scattered.
[13:55] The hadith says then
[13:58] that Allah subhana wa ta'ala gathered
[14:00] him together. Allah subhana ta gathered
[14:04] him.
[14:06] So Allah gathered the ashes and said be
[14:11] And all of a sudden, instantaneously, he
[14:13] was the standing man that he was while
[14:15] he was alive.
[14:17] So this plan, this plot to escape the
[14:20] accountability of Allah subhana wa
[14:22] ta'ala, as intricate and as
[14:24] sophisticated as it was, it didn't work.
[14:26] This complex idea because Allah just
[14:29] gathered the dust said, and he was
[14:31] standing there right in front of his
[14:32] lord. Allah subhana wa ta asked him, "Oh
[14:36] my servant,"
[14:40] what were you trying to accomplish in
[14:42] what you did? Like what was the goal?
[14:47] He says,
[14:52] he said, "I I was doing it out of fear
[14:55] \[snorts\] of you. I was doing it out of
[14:58] fear of you so that maybe perhaps I
[15:01] could escape the accountability that I
[15:03] knew was coming my way. Like maybe just
[15:06] maybe this was my only logical this was
[15:09] the only way that my brain came up with
[15:11] this idea that I could escape the
[15:13] punishment and the consequences of my
[15:15] own neglect my own misdeeds.
[15:19] Allah subhana wa ta'ala upon hearing
[15:21] this the narration says because of his
[15:24] sincerity and because of his fear
[15:27] because of his ownership and his
[15:29] authenticity in that moment Allah
[15:31] subhana wa tala pardoned him and forgave
[15:34] him all of his sins
[15:36] okay the hadith is very powerful very
[15:40] beautiful couple points that I want to
[15:42] take before we dive deep a little bit
[15:45] number one is that this father was a
[15:50] good dad
[15:52] according to his own children and Allah
[15:55] subhana wa ta mentioned about this
[15:57] father that he was successful
[15:59] financially and he had a good family he
[16:02] took care of his family but in lie of
[16:05] that in lie of that effort to take care
[16:07] of his family he didn't do everything
[16:11] the way he should have when it came to
[16:13] his relationship with Allah subhanahu wa
[16:14] ta'ala now some of us we may be kind of
[16:19] like maybe imagining in our mind's eye
[16:21] this type of individual this person who
[16:24] works a lot who does what he can but
[16:26] when it comes to like prayer he's like
[16:29] all right you kids go ahead I'm going to
[16:30] stay home and rest I worked all day and
[16:33] then as we're driving to the kids are
[16:35] like man I wish my dad would come to
[16:37] with us or there's a lecture happening
[16:39] in the evening and you're like the
[16:41] family's going and everyone goes except
[16:43] for dad baba why because baba's tired
[16:48] And there is sometimes kind of sneaks up
[16:51] in the heart of a person this feeling of
[16:55] judgment of one own one's own parents
[16:59] that like you know what I come to shake
[17:01] malak on Wednesday I come to roots I go
[17:05] to kalam for the 27th night and I'm
[17:07] there and my parents are texting me
[17:09] where are you why are you doing this you
[17:11] know I remember back in the day this was
[17:13] like back in uh you know the early 2000s
[17:16] We would do these night, you know how
[17:19] people, okay, forgive me. You know how
[17:21] people have like bar crawls, you know
[17:22] what that is?
[17:24] Those of you who laughed,
[17:27] seek repentance from Allah. Those who
[17:29] didn't laugh, may Allah bless you. Your
[17:30] hearts are still pure. So people do like
[17:33] the I only know because when I was in my
[17:35] master's program, they were like,
[17:36] "Abdul, come with us." I was like, "No,
[17:37] I'm okay." And then they were like, "Can
[17:39] you be our DD?" And I was like, "No, I'm
[17:40] not going to enable this." Right? I was
[17:43] like, "I'll pray for you heathens." Um,
[17:46] I didn't say that. But so you know how
[17:49] people have like what they do is they go
[17:51] these people when they go drink they go
[17:53] from bar to bar to bar. It's like the
[17:54] worst culture. May Allah t help us those
[17:57] who are struggling with their addiction
[17:58] to alcohol. Okay. The reason I'm
[18:01] bringing this up you're like where did
[18:02] we go here? You're like just quoted that
[18:04] where why are we here? Because in
[18:06] Chicago growing up in high school and
[18:08] college we used to do like
[18:10] crawls. So we would pray had one masid
[18:14] then we quickly grab some food usually
[18:16] Taco Bell and then we run to another
[18:18] masid for for the first and then we go
[18:21] to the other one and the other one and
[18:22] it happens here in Dallas too right
[18:24] people are like I'm going to pray here
[18:25] I've actually seen this on TikTok may
[18:27] Allah forgive us I'm going to pray Isha
[18:29] here then here then I'm going to here
[18:31] then I'm going to you know that I'm
[18:33] going to wrap up my evening with Omar at
[18:35] Valley Ranch right lowkey an elite
[18:38] evening okay
[18:40] you should be proud of yourself. So that
[18:44] person when they engage in this type of
[18:47] you know Ramadan or whatever this is
[18:50] like the nature of their their schedule
[18:52] they might start to turn and look back
[18:54] on their own like family and look and
[18:55] kind of feel this sense of judgment
[18:58] like I'm doing and your family might be
[19:00] texting you like where are you why are
[19:01] you spending time so late so some of my
[19:02] friends their parents were worried that
[19:04] they were like joining the Taliban like
[19:06] they were like you need to come home and
[19:07] study and our friends were like no no
[19:10] we're just praying they're like you
[19:11] prayed enough.
[19:13] And subhan Allah, what I what I learned
[19:14] from this hadith, Subhan Allah, was that
[19:18] anybody who feels comfortable looking at
[19:20] somebody
[19:22] and judging them
[19:25] because of the mistakes or maybe the
[19:26] neglect or maybe the lack of completion
[19:29] in their devotion, but that person's
[19:32] intention and their heart is in the
[19:34] right place. They're trying their best
[19:37] and they want to take care of their
[19:38] family. In this case, it's a father. In
[19:41] some cases, it may be a child to their
[19:43] parents. In some cases, it may be a
[19:45] spouse to their other to their spouse.
[19:47] Allah subhana wa ta ranks that sincerity
[19:50] so highly
[19:53] like so high
[19:56] like this individual was fully aware of
[20:00] his neglect in his spiritual actions
[20:05] but that still in the sight of Allah was
[20:09] forgivable because why? because he was
[20:12] doing his best just to take care of the
[20:14] ama that Allah placed in his life.
[20:17] And what this hadith, just this part
[20:19] teaches me is that as Muslims, we need
[20:22] to be a lot more expansive in our
[20:25] understanding of what it means to do a
[20:27] good deed.
[20:29] There are some good deeds that are
[20:31] obligated. Five daily prayers, fasting
[20:33] the month of Ramadan, giving zakat,
[20:36] making these are obligated, right?
[20:38] Certain dress code. We know this. But we
[20:41] cannot limit what it means to be a
[20:42] virtuous person. We cannot limit that to
[20:48] the things that are much more noticeable
[20:50] and much more visible when it comes to a
[20:53] good deed. And by the way, this isn't
[20:56] the only narration that tells us this.
[20:59] And this isn't negating the obligation,
[21:00] but it's saying along with a person's
[21:03] attempt and striving at the obligations,
[21:06] Allah weighs very heavily those sincere
[21:09] moments that a person struggles with in
[21:12] the midst of the battle that's occurring
[21:14] within their heart to try to do their
[21:15] best as is.
[21:18] You know, there was a the narration that
[21:20] we're given about the woman who, you
[21:23] know, engaged. She would offer herself
[21:26] in exchange for money. And just because
[21:29] she one day felt this sympathy towards
[21:33] an animal that was starving and
[21:35] dehydrated in the desert and took care
[21:37] of that animal, the narration tells us
[21:39] that Allah forgave her of her entire sin
[21:41] and enters her into paradise. Likewise,
[21:44] or I guess you should say on the
[21:45] contrary, there was a woman who was very
[21:47] devoted in her worship. But for some
[21:49] reason her heart had this weakness in
[21:52] which she tied up and apprehended this
[21:56] animal, this cat and would not let it
[21:58] eat or drink. So she was praying and she
[22:01] was doing herikat and everything, but
[22:04] she had this weird ailment of torturing
[22:08] this animal until the animal died.
[22:11] Really sad, very grotesque. And because
[22:13] of that, Allah subhana wa ta'ala
[22:16] destined for that woman that she would
[22:18] enter the fire of hell. This isn't meant
[22:21] to be confusing. It's meant to be
[22:22] clarifying
[22:24] that Allah weighs our intentions just as
[22:27] much, if not more, as he weighs our
[22:30] performances.
[22:31] And we've become because we're hyper
[22:33] vvisible all the time. We've become so
[22:36] fixated on the performance that
[22:39] sometimes we even forget that the
[22:41] intention is the flame that's inside of
[22:45] the actual performance itself. It's the
[22:47] thing that runs it.
[22:49] And so when I read this hadith, I
[22:51] thought to myself, man, subhan Allah,
[22:52] how many how many parents have existed
[22:56] who haven't been able to do the things
[22:57] that they wanted to do when it came to
[22:59] their own relationship with Allah
[23:01] because they were preoccupied and
[23:02] weighed down by trying to give their
[23:04] family a better life.
[23:06] I know of a person in this community who
[23:11] mashallah
[23:12] his son is half of the Quran
[23:15] like mutin like strong you know they say
[23:17] in order pakka he's a super paka kid man
[23:20] like all around super bakka like he's
[23:23] young he's young but I'm already trying
[23:26] to figure out how I can get close to
[23:27] their family so my daughter one day you
[23:29] know what I mean you know once you have
[23:30] a daughter you'll figure it out okay
[23:32] trying to like hey
[23:34] you mean to drop off from school I got
[23:35] you Right. What's your plan? You know,
[23:38] I'm 12. \[laughter\]
[23:41] Sure, it's okay. We can plan, right?
[23:43] That kind of kid. That kind of kid. And
[23:47] you want him to like lead his hid. His
[23:49] voice is beautiful. All of this, right?
[23:51] While his father struggles to read the
[23:53] Quran,
[23:55] right? Now, some might say like, "Oh,
[23:57] you know,
[23:59] man, you know, you take care of your son
[24:01] this and this. Why? His dad's working
[24:03] hard. His dad works really hard to make
[24:07] sure that his kid can get a good, strong
[24:10] Quranic and Islamic education, all of
[24:13] his kids. And maybe he's not as fluent
[24:16] as his kid. Maybe he can't pick up the
[24:17] musaf like his son and just rattle it
[24:19] off. But you know what? Allah notices
[24:22] the intention.
[24:24] while that dad is at work in front of a
[24:26] computer in meetings having one-on ones
[24:28] doing all of his thing and the son is
[24:31] reviewing the juz for the day guess who
[24:33] gets the reward for that it's not just
[24:35] the kid
[24:37] right even though the dad's not able to
[24:39] do that and maybe maybe there's a world
[24:41] where the dad's like man I wish one day
[24:43] I could retire and that's why subhan
[24:45] allah what do you see when a lot of our
[24:47] elders reach the age of retirement is
[24:49] what they just spend all their days in
[24:50] where the masid because they just didn't
[24:54] get that opportunity.
[24:56] Like you know they say we stand on the
[24:58] shoulders of giants. Truly truly we are
[25:01] living in the garden of privilege
[25:04] because of the sacrifices of people that
[25:06] we had no clue what they had to give up
[25:08] in order for us to show up here on a
[25:10] Monday night and listen to a lecture
[25:12] while having matcha.
[25:14] Unfathomable. Unfathomable.
[25:18] Right? So Allah subhanaa tala in this
[25:20] hadith tells us he appreciates that. He
[25:23] appreciates the imperfect slave, the
[25:26] imperfect servant, the dad who just is
[25:29] so tired from working. The mom who's so
[25:31] tired from taking care of her her
[25:34] family, from working, from serving
[25:35] because that she wants or he wants their
[25:37] kids to have a good life, to be able to
[25:40] get closer to Allah. May Allah bless our
[25:42] parents. And by the way, even if you
[25:45] don't have the greatest of relationship
[25:46] with your parents, still ask Allah to
[25:48] bless them. It's okay. It's okay.
[25:51] There's friction that's going to happen.
[25:54] But maybe there's a world in Jenna where
[25:56] all that friction disappears.
[25:59] And in Jenna, in eternity, you'll have
[26:01] the perfect relationship with your
[26:02] parents. Why? Because all of their
[26:04] stress, all of their anxiety, all of the
[26:07] things that hold them back from being
[26:09] that self-actualized person, right?
[26:13] that hold them back from being able to
[26:15] have that conversation with you because
[26:17] they're carrying a lot of burden. Maybe
[26:19] all that stuff disappearing will give
[26:21] you guys the chance to sit down in the
[26:23] garden of paradise and have that
[26:24] conversation. May Allah bless us and
[26:26] bless our parents with Jenna. So this
[26:29] hadith begins by teaching us that very
[26:31] important lesson. Now the other thing
[26:32] that's interesting is that some people
[26:35] might say well you had a long time like
[26:38] I mean you're coming to this realization
[26:39] on your deathbed
[26:41] right but an important point that we
[26:43] learn from our religion is a heart can
[26:46] awaken at the very end our heart can
[26:49] awaken at the very end Allah does not
[26:51] disqualify a person because their heart
[26:54] turns later than someone else's
[26:57] the heart turning is all that matters
[27:01] you You know there's one narration
[27:02] subhan Allah that always like when I
[27:04] think of it it kind of shakes me. The
[27:07] prophetat wasam describes a person who
[27:09] lived their entire life and he says that
[27:12] in their life they performed they
[27:14] performed the deeds of a person that was
[27:17] going to Jenna like basically they were
[27:20] following the script perfectly and then
[27:22] when it came to the end of their life
[27:25] something went horribly wrong. They ran
[27:27] out of their performative juice and they
[27:31] started to turn and go against Allah and
[27:34] they contradicted their entire life up
[27:36] until that point and because of that
[27:38] Allah says this person will end up
[27:40] placing themselves in the hellfire. May
[27:41] Allah protect us. The opposite is true.
[27:43] True. The hadith continues that there's
[27:45] a person that lived their entire life
[27:47] performing the deeds of a person who if
[27:51] we had to judge them based on
[27:53] appearances looked like they were
[27:55] heading straight for the fire of jannam
[27:57] of hellfire.
[27:59] And then something happened. Finally
[28:02] their performative
[28:04] you know vice was finally conceited. It
[28:09] was conquered by the light that was in
[28:12] their heart that was there the whole
[28:13] time and they turned and Allah subhana t
[28:17] granted them jenna as a result of that.
[28:20] So this hadith sometimes when you read
[28:22] it it kind of throws you off like wait a
[28:24] minute wait a minute you're saying that
[28:26] somebody could perform good deeds for 75
[28:28] years and then on the 76th year they go
[28:32] on said bar crawl.
[28:36] It's unc I know it's making you
[28:37] uncomfortable. I'm sorry. Please accept
[28:38] my apology, but it's funny. Okay, so
[28:42] they do something wrong. They just they
[28:43] just stop. 75 years of praying, 76th
[28:46] year, they're like, I'm going to retire
[28:48] from salah as well. And they just stop.
[28:50] And and you're telling Hold on. You're
[28:52] telling me that all those 75 years are
[28:54] outweighed by that one year of
[28:55] disobedience? How is that fair? And then
[28:59] likewise you're telling me that somebody
[29:01] lives 75 years of their adult life
[29:03] disobeying Allah in the worst way and
[29:07] then suddenly
[29:09] 76th year of their life they decide you
[29:11] know what I'm going to go for I'm going
[29:12] to go for Hajj come back and all of a
[29:14] sudden now be a sahhabi going be a
[29:17] companion of the prophet. How does that
[29:18] work? The hadith actually in the
[29:21] language of the hadith, we learned the
[29:23] answer to that question
[29:25] because the word that is used in Arabic
[29:29] is not that these people did the deeds
[29:31] sincerely but that they were performing
[29:34] the deeds of the other person. So the
[29:37] person who was faking it the whole time
[29:38] pretending to be good their heart never
[29:41] actually bought into that.
[29:44] They actually felt and and and the
[29:46] entire time that they were following
[29:48] those that path of a person of Jenna,
[29:50] their heart was so irritated, so angry,
[29:53] so frustrated. Why am I doing this? Why
[29:54] am I do maybe there was some kind of
[29:56] circumstance? Maybe they had to because
[29:59] you know they were supported by their
[30:00] family or whatn not and then finally
[30:02] their heart got fed up with it. They
[30:03] said enough.
[30:05] Likewise, the other person was doing
[30:09] those deeds that they regretted. And
[30:11] even though they kept doing it over and
[30:13] over and over and over again, every time
[30:16] they did it, every time they faltered
[30:17] and failed, their heart wept. Even
[30:21] though they maybe looked like they were
[30:22] having a good time, there was no light
[30:24] in the eyes. The smile was dead.
[30:28] Even in the pictures, they didn't look
[30:29] like they were themselves.
[30:31] And at night when they finally got home
[30:34] and they were by themselves and they
[30:36] were laying down trying to go to sleep,
[30:38] all their heart could do was marinate in
[30:40] the thought of what? I need to stop. I
[30:43] need to stop. This can't keep going. And
[30:46] then finally by Allah's by Allah's favor
[30:49] and grace one day late into their life
[30:54] their heart got the courage and strength
[30:56] to conquer their desires. And because of
[30:59] this, who they always were the entire
[31:02] time finally shown through.
[31:06] So this hadith teaches us about the
[31:08] importance of never ever giving up hope
[31:12] and never ever turning back. Allah
[31:14] subhana wa tala in the Quran he tells us
[31:18] in the chapter
[31:24] of
[31:26] he says
[31:29] Oh my servants, which is by the way like
[31:32] a loving term. It's like a term that
[31:33] brings you close. Oh my dear servants
[31:36] who have wronged themselves repeatedly
[31:40] like constantly wronged themselves.
[31:42] Don't raise your hand because we're not
[31:44] here to this isn't group therapy. that
[31:48] how many of us, just think in your
[31:49] heart, how many of us are struggling
[31:53] with something and we just cannot seem
[31:56] to shake or get that shackle off of our
[31:59] hearts. Don't raise your hand, but
[32:01] you're just struggling with it.
[32:03] Maybe there are some people in here that
[32:04] have been trying to do something good
[32:05] for a long time. Trying to get your
[32:08] prayers for a long time.
[32:11] Trying to get, you know, in the right
[32:14] social circle for a long time. Trying to
[32:17] put on the hijab for a long time. Trying
[32:19] to make your relationship halal for a
[32:21] long time, but you just can't seem to
[32:23] get it. Every time you just fall back
[32:26] into it over and over and over again.
[32:28] That's who Allah is describing. Oh my
[32:31] beloved servants who continuously fall
[32:34] over and over and over again. By the
[32:36] way, reading the Quran as a parent is
[32:39] like one of the most in incredible taps
[32:42] because you always think about how
[32:44] frustrated and how low patience we have
[32:47] sometimes with children and Allah has
[32:50] more patience with adults than we have
[32:52] with children. Even for example,
[32:55] I don't think my children have once in
[32:58] their entire existence yet gotten in the
[33:01] car and put on their seat belts by
[33:02] themselves.
[33:04] At this point, at this point, I'm going
[33:07] to just turn into the flight attendant
[33:10] where I do the demonstration every time
[33:12] because why? Literally get in the car.
[33:15] Ma, please put your seatelts on. I
[33:17] literally I'm dying a slow death of a
[33:20] seat belt announcer and I at one point I
[33:24] felt my eyes tearing up, my lip
[33:26] quivering. I said, "Guys, how many times
[33:29] can you please just get in the now?"
[33:32] They will remember the most insanely
[33:34] detailed thing. Like Iman was like, "Do
[33:37] you guys remember that one time that we
[33:39] were in California and you said you buy
[33:40] me a soft pretzel? You never did."
[33:44] What? your seatelt is still off. I'm
[33:47] gonna make you a pretzel. You know, like
[33:50] they remember the most obscure things.
[33:52] Why can't you remember to put on a
[33:53] seatelt? Right. So then I have to Oh,
[33:56] there's a police car. Oh, where? You
[33:57] know, they just go.
[34:00] We have zero mercy, you know, like over
[34:02] and over again. And then you get upset.
[34:03] You get angry and your voice raises.
[34:05] Guys, if you don't put on your seatelt,
[34:07] right, I'm not taking you. And they call
[34:09] your bluff. They're like, okay, try.
[34:11] \[laughter\]
[34:12] Allah t has more patience with us and we
[34:16] deserve less patience really because
[34:17] we're all our faculties are fine. We're
[34:20] cognitive adults. We're thinking people.
[34:23] Children deserve more patience and we
[34:25] have less with them. Allah has so much
[34:26] patience with us.
[34:31] Continuously wrong yourself over and
[34:33] over and over again. How many fedures
[34:35] have I missed? How many prayers have I
[34:38] just skipped? How many disappointments
[34:40] will I set myself up for? over and over
[34:42] again,
[34:45] you know, and when you read the verse,
[34:47] it could go anywhere. It could go
[34:50] anywhere. Allah could say like, "Wake
[34:52] up. What's wrong with you?" And in the
[34:55] Quran, there are verses that say that.
[34:57] They don't start like this, though.
[35:00] Allah in some verses says, "What what is
[35:03] what is tricking you away from me?"
[35:05] Like, "What is taking away from me?"
[35:08] In this verse, when Allah brings up your
[35:10] mistake over and over again, he's
[35:13] basically referencing very gently. He's
[35:15] not saying this, I am. Imagine if
[35:17] somebody came to you and said, "So, you
[35:19] failed every day, huh?"
[35:22] And we all have been conditioned that
[35:24] when somebody brings up mistakes and
[35:25] failure that what's coming is going to
[35:27] be very heavy. A reminder of our
[35:30] failure. A reminder, are you not
[35:31] serious? Do you not care? If you cared,
[35:34] you'd do better. If you were serious,
[35:36] you would actually take this seriously.
[35:39] Allah says,
[35:42] "Don't you ever."
[35:45] By the way, here is
[35:48] means what? It's forbidden. You cannot
[35:50] do whatever he's going to say next. It's
[35:51] haram to do this. Do not lose hope in
[35:54] the mercy of Allah.
[36:02] Allah can forgive all of your sins
[36:04] together as a group. If we all got
[36:07] together and made like the worst
[36:10] casserole ever, we just disclosed our
[36:12] sins and we placed all of them in there.
[36:15] Allah could forgive them. We cannot
[36:17] forgive each other. By the way, somebody
[36:20] does something marginally offensive to
[36:22] me and I have trouble forgiving them. I
[36:24] hold grudges for a long time. I remember
[36:27] it every time I see them. But Allah
[36:30] forgives the most offensive of things.
[36:33] He will forgive
[36:35] instantly as long as a person turns back
[36:37] to him. So what do we learn from this?
[36:40] Number one,
[36:43] a
[36:45] what late awakening am I deferring?
[36:50] Like what thing do I know? I know, you
[36:54] know. Subhan Allah. Like we all know
[36:56] there's something. Anyone here ever had
[36:58] a cav cavity before?
[37:00] You know you have a cavity before you
[37:02] see the dentist. You're not like showing
[37:04] up and you're like and he's like, "Yeah,
[37:05] you have three cavities." Like what?
[37:08] No. You had something cold and your
[37:10] tooth was a little sensitive. You're
[37:11] like, "Oh boy." Right. Maybe something
[37:13] was hurting a little bit. You know you
[37:15] had a cavity when you start to get sick.
[37:18] That first sniffle
[37:20] some. Yeah. Once that first sniffle,
[37:24] right? or that first cough, it's not the
[37:26] same. You guys ever woken up and your
[37:27] throat was a little sore and you know
[37:29] it's coming. It hasn't hit yet, but you
[37:31] know
[37:33] all of these symptoms they they send
[37:36] messengers. So all of us are aware of
[37:39] the ailment that is occupying our heart.
[37:42] We know we are aware and if we're honest
[37:45] with ourselves, we could write it down.
[37:48] We could forecast it. That awakening is
[37:51] coming. But sometimes we're too
[37:53] comfortable and we don't want to deal
[37:55] with that awakening right now because we
[37:57] know that that awakening comes with
[37:58] responsibility. It comes with ownership.
[38:01] We have to make sure that and it comes
[38:02] with change.
[38:05] And that's one of those things that
[38:06] subhan Allah Allah subhana wa ta tells
[38:09] us when it comes to the change of a
[38:13] person there's good news and bad news.
[38:17] I'll do bad news first. The bad news is
[38:19] that you'll never be ready. There's not
[38:22] a day where a person will be ready to do
[38:24] the right thing. Because why? Because
[38:26] the way that Allah made good deeds is
[38:29] that they require some courage.
[38:32] You have to be courageous. You have to
[38:34] do the right thing. Look at all the
[38:35] stories of the prophets. Like it wasn't
[38:37] easy. N never ever was it easy. In fact,
[38:41] it was so difficult that they doubted
[38:44] themselves.
[38:46] They had Allah revealing revelation to
[38:48] them and they still doubted whether or
[38:50] not they were ready. Can you can you
[38:52] like let's wrap our heads around that
[38:54] for a second. So it Gabriel himself is
[38:57] not going to show up to you one day and
[38:59] say like hey by the way you're ready get
[39:01] started. You're going to have to take
[39:03] that jump that plunge yourself. That's
[39:06] the bad news. The good news is that
[39:08] Allah subhanaa tala promises that the
[39:11] moment that you decide and the moment
[39:14] you express that courage and you take
[39:16] one step towards him that he takes many
[39:19] steps towards you. The moment that you
[39:21] walk he runs towards you comes to you
[39:22] with haste. You go towards him a little
[39:25] bit he comes towards you a lot. Every
[39:27] investment you make towards Allah is
[39:30] returned multiplefold tenfold.
[39:33] So the courage climbing that mountain of
[39:35] fear is the hardest part. But once you
[39:38] decide that you're committed,
[39:42] he says once you've decided, trust in
[39:44] Allah. Trust in Allah. There's steps.
[39:48] Take those steps and watch how Allah
[39:51] aids you in your life. May Allah give us
[39:55] that courage. Number two
[39:58] or 1B, sorry. If Allah accepts a servant
[40:02] at the end, then what does that say
[40:05] about my relationship with people who
[40:06] are quote still on the way?
[40:09] In other words, why am I so comfortable
[40:12] judging people that Allah subhana wa
[40:15] ta'ala may judge favorably after I have
[40:18] judged them in an unfavorable way? Like,
[40:21] how does that make sense? It doesn't.
[40:24] Now, I know what you're thinking, which
[40:26] is, well, how am I supposed to know?
[40:28] Like how do I know that this person this
[40:30] individual that is doing ABC right 1 2 3
[40:35] that all of a sudden now like Allah is
[40:36] going to give them Jenna like well the
[40:38] scholars say you don't and that's the
[40:40] beauty of it is that the only safe way
[40:42] to live your life is assume that the
[40:44] person you're talking to across from you
[40:46] is close to Allah subhanaa tala somehow
[40:48] someway just assume the best live your
[40:52] life assuming the best of people if you
[40:55] assume the worst of anybody
[40:57] if If you assume the worst of anybody,
[41:00] it's going to be a very lonely life.
[41:02] It's going to be a very painful life.
[41:04] Being a negative person, a pessimistic
[41:06] person is not rejuvenating or refreshing
[41:09] at all. Optimists,
[41:12] they live with being disappointed. But
[41:14] in between the brief moments of
[41:16] disappointment, they get to see the
[41:18] world as being so bright and sunny,
[41:19] glass half full.
[41:22] One of our teachers told the story,
[41:23] Subhan Allah, of a a Muslim woman that
[41:26] was serving on an airplane. She was a
[41:29] flight attendant. And again, you meet
[41:32] people and you see things and you come
[41:33] to your own assumptions, right? It's
[41:35] part of the curse of having this, this
[41:37] intellect that Allah gave us. So,
[41:39] there's a Muslim woman and she's on this
[41:42] airline and they're serving alcohol,
[41:45] which if you remember from our
[41:46] conversation earlier about the bar crawl
[41:47] is haram. Okay? So she's serving alcohol
[41:52] and the sheh is watching this whole
[41:55] thing and she's pouring the wine and
[41:56] doing all these things and when it
[42:00] finally comes turn for the sheh to order
[42:02] his drink on the plane you know he
[42:04] orders whatever water and then he asks
[42:06] her not judge not judgmentally just asks
[42:10] her just kind of taking inventory
[42:13] how do you feel
[42:15] are you okay
[42:17] how does it feel when you have to ser
[42:19] the alcohol.
[42:21] And she responds by saying, "I know it's
[42:24] wrong. Listen to this. I know it's wrong
[42:27] and I don't want to do it, but I don't
[42:30] want to get in trouble and I don't want
[42:32] to lose my job and I'm afraid." Now,
[42:35] some people might say, "Yeah, sister,
[42:39] quit your job.
[42:41] Quit your job right now." Right? I
[42:43] should do the British accent. That would
[42:44] make it more realistic. \[laughter\]
[42:47] Hold the shot.
[42:49] If you know, you know, look.
[42:54] Don't bring a knife to a gunfight,
[42:55] right? They just I see the stuff online.
[42:59] So my quit your job, blah. Don't you
[43:02] fear Allah. Blah blah. Okay. Don't you
[43:04] fear Allah? You know what she said? She
[43:06] started crying and she said, I know that
[43:08] it's wrong. So when I have to serve it,
[43:10] I serve it with my left hand. which if
[43:13] you think about it, the left hand in the
[43:15] Islamic tradition is the hand that you
[43:17] use to handle filthy things.
[43:20] So, she's battling. She's struggling.
[43:24] She knows it's not right. She's not
[43:27] dumb. Why do we assume this? Why do we
[43:31] look at somebody who's struggling and
[43:32] assume that they're just not smart? No.
[43:35] Everyone knows. Every single person in
[43:38] this room knows nine times out of 10 the
[43:41] things that we're doing wrong that
[43:42] they're wrong. We know. It's not that we
[43:45] don't know. It's that we don't have what
[43:48] we need to conquer that weakness.
[43:52] And maybe it's good friends. Maybe it's
[43:56] being in a good environment. Maybe it's
[43:58] learning and growing. Maybe it's all of
[43:59] those things. But what we don't need,
[44:02] absolutely. What we do not need are our
[44:05] brothers and sisters looking at us
[44:08] making us feel even lower about
[44:09] ourselves because of something that we
[44:11] already feel low about.
[44:13] How did that help anybody?
[44:16] I tell this story a lot, but there's a
[44:17] lot of nuance in it. The people that
[44:19] were on their way to rob the
[44:21] prophetatam, they were sticking him up
[44:23] in the middle of the desert. They didn't
[44:25] have guns. I know I'm doing this. They
[44:26] were trying to rob him. They were trying
[44:28] to capture him. They were bounty hunters
[44:31] and when he see and they're known for
[44:33] this, right? They're known for this.
[44:35] This is the equivalent of like a
[44:36] gangster in the desert. And when they
[44:40] see him and he sees them, he addresses
[44:43] them,
[44:44] "Who are you?" And they say, they're so
[44:47] overwhelmed by his question being so
[44:50] direct. They respond with utter truth.
[44:53] They say, "We are disgraceful."
[44:56] Like they own it. They're like, "We are
[44:58] bad people. We steal. We mug people,
[45:03] travelers, right? The weakest,
[45:05] those people that are on a journey. They
[45:07] have no security, no safety, no plan.
[45:10] They're in the middle of the desert
[45:11] traveling for weeks. We we ransack those
[45:14] people. They have no tribe around them
[45:16] to protect them. We ransack those. We
[45:20] are horrible people." The prophet says,
[45:22] "No." He says,
[45:25] "You are noble people. You just have to
[45:28] stop this."
[45:30] He tell don't ever look at how he could
[45:33] have been like, "You're right. You're
[45:35] horrible." He could have like spit on
[45:38] them, made them feel so bad about
[45:39] themselves. Think about it. Their answer
[45:42] had already showed him what? That he
[45:43] won. But instead of dancing on their
[45:47] disgrace, he lifted them up from the
[45:49] ground.
[45:51] You're noble.
[45:53] It's crazy. Subhan Allah. When you treat
[45:56] people with dignity, they become
[45:58] dignified.
[45:59] But when we try to remove people's
[46:01] dignity, they lose all of their honor.
[46:04] The prophet wasallam was the one who
[46:06] dignified people. We don't have a
[46:08] narration. We don't have a narration
[46:10] where he went to somebody who was sinful
[46:13] and he said, "You are so bad.
[46:16] How could you?" We don't have that.
[46:20] But we have narrations where he spoke to
[46:21] people that were objectively
[46:25] bad people and he spoke to them with
[46:28] such elevation in his tone that they
[46:32] became exactly what he was forecasting.
[46:34] Subhan Allah. Sallallahu alaihi
[46:35] wasallam. This is what the believer does
[46:39] as much as we can. We have to stifle our
[46:42] own weaknesses. We have to turn away our
[46:44] nuffs when we feel the need to judge. We
[46:46] have to look we can be judgmental. We
[46:49] can be pessimistic. It is part of our
[46:51] soil. The western secular postmodern
[46:54] reality that we are in is one that leans
[46:57] heavily towards criticism.
[46:59] We critique all the time. We're
[47:01] skeptics.
[47:03] We're skeptics. Think about it. This
[47:05] country was founded through such
[47:08] horrific things. Like we are a part of
[47:10] that. It's in our intellectual DNA to be
[47:15] that kind of person. We have to counter
[47:17] that with the positivity of the sunnah
[47:18] of the prophetatam.
[47:20] It's not cool to be somebody who
[47:22] dishonors or takes away the dignity of
[47:25] others or mocks.
[47:28] Isn't it so strange that we live in a
[47:31] world in a place where people people are
[47:34] inclined children are inclined to end
[47:38] their own lives because they are bullied
[47:40] in schools? In what world is that type
[47:44] of behavior propagated and grown? In a
[47:48] world where people don't think about the
[47:49] honor of being dignifying to other
[47:52] people. But imagine a world where we
[47:54] taught our kids. Imagine a world where
[47:56] we told our kids, "Hey, it's cool to be
[47:58] nice. It's actually cool to compliment
[48:01] kids. It's cool to make." I actually saw
[48:04] a father, Subhan Allah, I saw this right
[48:06] before my eyes. There was a kid that was
[48:08] having a tough time at school being
[48:10] picked on
[48:12] and a group of us dads, we knew about
[48:13] it. A father in our group told his son,
[48:16] "Hey, the next time you see him, tell
[48:19] him that your shirt is cool." And the
[48:22] son was like, you know, kids when
[48:23] they're eight, seven, nine, they're kind
[48:26] of like
[48:28] a little dense.
[48:30] So the kid's like, "What if the shirt's
[48:31] not cool? I cannot factually say that. I
[48:35] would be lying." which is haram, right?
[48:39] And the father said, "You know, this
[48:41] kid's having a tough time at school. He
[48:42] doesn't have any friends. Go and tell
[48:44] him his shirt is cool, that you like
[48:45] it." And I saw the kid go and see that
[48:49] boy and went up to him and said, "Your
[48:51] shirt's so cool, man." And the kid's
[48:54] face lit up. Why is this not normal? Why
[48:57] is this a story in a podcast, in a
[48:59] session of heartwork? Why? Why is this
[49:01] like, oh, wow. It should be normal.
[49:05] All right. Okay, we ask Allah to make us
[49:06] people that honor each other.
[49:09] Number two,
[49:12] we can be sincere even if our words are
[49:14] confused. What does this mean? Well, if
[49:17] you think back to the narration, this
[49:20] man, his sincerity,
[49:24] unfortunately, was manifest in a way
[49:27] that was a little bit problematic. When
[49:28] you think about what it means to believe
[49:30] in Allah, we know without a doubt that
[49:32] he believed in Allah because he told his
[49:35] children, "Do this because I'm afraid
[49:37] that Allah will punish me." However, the
[49:40] action that he did was directly in
[49:42] contradiction to what we believe about
[49:43] Allah. He thought that he could escape.
[49:46] Does that make sense? You guys picking
[49:47] up what I'm laying down? He believes in
[49:49] Allah, but he was kind of contradicting
[49:51] that belief by saying, "You know what?
[49:53] If you cremate me, take my ashes, throw
[49:55] them on a windy day, maybe I can escape
[49:58] Allah. But that is directly opposed to
[50:00] the definition of Allah. Allah is he's
[50:02] the totally capable,
[50:04] right?
[50:06] He can do anything he wants. So doing
[50:09] this is is futile. It's so weak. It's
[50:12] not going to work. So it's interesting
[50:15] because the scholars actually pull apart
[50:16] this thing and they say, "Look, did this
[50:19] person, you know, were they genuine with
[50:21] Allah? Like was this a was this a stunt?
[50:23] Were they trying to do something? And
[50:24] subhan Allah, we even have other hadith
[50:27] narrations
[50:28] where the prophet tells us that Allah is
[50:33] so pleased. Listen to this hadith. It's
[50:35] so cool. Has anyone here ever lost
[50:37] something before like really important?
[50:39] I'm not trying to trigger you, but have
[50:41] you lost something really important and
[50:44] then after like a reasonable amount of
[50:46] time where you were kind of stressed,
[50:49] you were fretting, you were really
[50:50] worried, maybe you started taking like
[50:53] the measures that would that it would
[50:54] take to replace it. Suddenly, somehow
[50:56] someway you found it. What was it? What
[50:59] did you feel? What did your chest What
[51:00] did you feel in that moment?
[51:04] Huh? Ease. Okay. What else?
[51:08] gratitude. Has anyone like fallen to the
[51:10] ground and like made sujud like out of
[51:12] just like utter gratitude to Allah? You
[51:15] found something something happened. It
[51:16] just worked out, right?
[51:20] Subhan Allah. There's a hadith which
[51:23] actually describes that experience. The
[51:25] prophet sallallaihi wasallam says that
[51:26] Allah tal is so happy with his servant
[51:29] who was in the middle of the desert
[51:32] thought that he tied or she tied their
[51:34] camel and anchored them so that they
[51:37] couldn't escape but then forgot to do
[51:40] something the rope was not tight enough
[51:42] and the camel goes away. So the person
[51:44] imagine goes to sleep at night wakes up
[51:46] in the morning and their animal is gone
[51:48] with all their belongings and now you're
[51:50] just sitting in the desert. Now I know
[51:52] like when you think of desert for those
[51:54] of you who haven't been it the desert
[51:56] when you go to the middle of the desert
[51:59] you actually feel so weak because you
[52:02] look around it's equally disorienting.
[52:06] There's no relief in sight. It's just
[52:09] sand everywhere.
[52:12] And if you go in the hot climate, it's
[52:14] hot and you're just sitting there and
[52:17] it's like an open air oven
[52:19] and it's very very easy. Like I mean
[52:22] imagine being stranded at sea. It's the
[52:25] equivalent. It's just on land. There's
[52:27] an there's a sense of just desperation
[52:29] and honestly just giving up, right? I
[52:32] was actually recently in a Middle
[52:35] Eastern country. I was in the desert and
[52:36] I took that moment to just look around
[52:37] and I was like, "Wow, this would be
[52:39] frightening to be out here and not know
[52:42] that I have a cell phone, that I have a
[52:44] car, that I have it would be really
[52:46] scary, right?" So, this man wakes up and
[52:50] the animal's gone. Imagine the just I
[52:53] mean, just give up. And so, suddenly,
[52:55] the hadith says this person looks, they
[52:58] frantically run, they but no matter
[52:59] which direction you're running in, you
[53:01] don't know if it's right. You have no
[53:02] clue. You're trying to follow the
[53:04] tracks, but maybe the wind has blown,
[53:05] the tracks are gone. You're hopeless at
[53:07] this point. So, the man looks and looks
[53:09] and looks and then suddenly just
[53:10] decides, you know what? This is my fate.
[53:12] This is who I am. And just lays down,
[53:15] ready to die. Just gives up. If I'm
[53:18] going to die, at least let me concede.
[53:21] I'm going to lay down. Maybe God will
[53:22] take me peacefully. This man closes his
[53:24] eyes, decides that this is it. Says his
[53:27] last prayers, opens his eyes suddenly,
[53:29] and sees the camel looking down at him.
[53:32] I again the hadith is beautiful because
[53:36] it evokes that feeling but think for a
[53:38] moment there's not laughter there's like
[53:41] tears there's like scream but you know
[53:42] what I mean have you ever thought of a
[53:44] man kissing a camel on the lips like
[53:45] this is the f the only time that you
[53:47] could imagine that scenario being not
[53:48] weird you know you know what I mean and
[53:50] subhan Allah out of his joy the hadith
[53:53] says that the man looks to Allah right
[53:57] raises his hands and wants to express
[54:00] his gratitude to Allah
[54:02] and was intending to say to Allah, "Oh
[54:04] Allah, I'm your slave and you're my
[54:06] lord." But he mixes his words up and he
[54:08] says, "OH ALLAH, YOU ARE MY SLAVE and
[54:10] I'm your lord."
[54:12] Because he's so overwhelmed. And the
[54:13] hadith says that Allah laughs at this
[54:16] person out of their their excitement.
[54:20] Like they're so excited that they got it
[54:21] wrong. Can you imagine like
[54:24] you know the other person who said, "Oh
[54:26] Allah, I'm the Lord." is
[54:30] anyone else who claimed to be a lord
[54:32] like if you're in's company not good not
[54:35] good at all but this person was so
[54:37] overwhelmed with joy that he's reached
[54:39] up to the oh god you are my servant I'm
[54:41] your lord not meaning that meaning what
[54:44] the opposite actually but Allah
[54:46] understood Allah knew God knows
[54:51] so what is this teaching us because the
[54:53] same thing kind of happened here this
[54:55] person was in a deep state of worry and
[54:57] fear about Allah. And so he did
[55:00] something. He asked his kids to carry
[55:02] out this kind of like act of hope. Maybe
[55:05] I can escape. Knowing that God is
[55:08] inescapable.
[55:09] And so when Allah asked, "Why did you do
[55:11] that? What were you trying to accomplish
[55:14] by doing that?" It was clear what his
[55:16] intention was. He said, "Oh Allah, I was
[55:18] just so concerned. I was afraid. I was
[55:20] afraid because I knew who I was."
[55:23] What does this also teach us? Subhan
[55:25] Allah. She als said it best. His quote
[55:27] was spot on. When I asked him, he said,
[55:30] "The intention is the core of
[55:31] everything." And sometimes
[55:35] the intention, the goal is that your
[55:37] intention and your actions, they line up
[55:39] like this. But he said, "Allah will
[55:42] never accept a good action with a bad
[55:44] intention. But Allah most often will
[55:47] accept a good intention with a bad
[55:48] action." Not bad meaning intentional,
[55:51] but a mistake. Right? So a person for
[55:54] example wants to pray they stop to pray
[55:57] it's right it's time to pray asser right
[55:59] in their mind oh it's time to pray asser
[56:01] okay let's pray and then they finish
[56:03] praying they look at their phone as
[56:04] still 1 hour away
[56:06] it was a good intention you still have
[56:08] to pray asser later but guess what
[56:11] accepted that as extra prayer maybe one
[56:14] time you miss something Allah is going
[56:16] to take away that that mistake that you
[56:18] made Allah will always accept a good
[56:20] intention he will never let your deeds
[56:22] go to waste however
[56:24] In the absence of a good intention, the
[56:27] deed is actually just so performative.
[56:30] And Allah subhana t in the Quran, he
[56:32] actually highlights this. He asks the
[56:34] question,
[56:38] have you ever seen the person that
[56:40] rejects and denies the day of judgment
[56:44] or their accountability?
[56:48] They're the ones who repel the orphan.
[56:50] They push them away.
[56:53] And they do not encourage others to take
[56:55] care of those who are in need.
[56:59] Serious warning and threats to those who
[57:02] pray.
[57:06] Those people
[57:08] because why? Because those people in
[57:10] their prayer they are negligent
[57:15] and they just want to be seen
[57:18] and they prevent good from being done.
[57:20] Subhan Allah. Allah tied together all of
[57:23] those things, the one who doesn't
[57:25] believe in the day of judgment, the one
[57:26] who repels the orphan, the one who
[57:28] doesn't take care of people with the one
[57:29] who is performative.
[57:32] Because when a person becomes used to
[57:33] being performative, when the only good
[57:36] deeds they do is for that right there,
[57:38] you see that little thing right there,
[57:40] not the phone, just that, the camera.
[57:43] When the only reason why they do good
[57:45] deeds is for this, Allah says that deed
[57:48] will live and die here. it will not make
[57:50] it to the heavens. May Allah protect us.
[57:53] So your sincerity is the heaviest thing
[57:55] that you can do even when your words are
[57:58] confused. Like I just confused the Quran
[58:00] right now. Like I just made my mistake.
[58:02] But Allah knows my intention and he
[58:03] knows yours too. Don't ever think for a
[58:06] moment that Allah is so particular, so
[58:09] nitpicky that unless I'm perfect, right?
[58:11] They call this paralysis analysis. That
[58:14] unless I'm perfect, Allah is not going
[58:15] to accept. No, Allah accepts your
[58:17] intention and he covers whatever
[58:19] imperfection you have as you grow in
[58:22] your effort. May Allah accept from us.
[58:26] And that's what it means to bring Allah
[58:28] a state of heart. What does it mean to
[58:31] bring Allah a state of heart? In
[58:33] English, we have a phrase. It's the
[58:35] thought that counts. It's the thought
[58:37] that counts. And for anyone here who's
[58:40] ever received a gift from someone that
[58:42] they love, like you love that person,
[58:45] you know, and I know that there are a
[58:47] certain category of people in your life
[58:49] that really the gift is so irrelevant.
[58:52] Like it really is. People go travel and
[58:55] they're, "Oh, I came back and I brought
[58:56] you something." And you're like, "A, you
[58:58] really actually don't care what it was,
[59:01] but you're so touched that they thought
[59:04] about you while they were there." And
[59:07] then they hand you something like the
[59:08] amount of people that came back from
[59:09] Omra. Guys, I have so many 4 oz bottles
[59:12] of Zum in my office and dates. You will
[59:16] not I could actually start a shop. We're
[59:18] going to start selling them as actually.
[59:19] I have so many. But you know what's
[59:21] crazy? I can't believe that somebody
[59:23] thought about me in the holy cities. I
[59:26] can't believe like that to me. They're
[59:27] like, you know what? I thought about you
[59:28] when I was there and I bought you this.
[59:29] I'm like a little keychain. Says I love
[59:32] Medina.
[59:33] Little thing. You know, Mecca is my
[59:36] favorite place. It's like all these
[59:37] little, you know, uh uh uh souvenirs.
[59:42] And to be honest with you, I'm never
[59:43] going to use that keychain.
[59:46] It's kind of cringy, right?
[59:48] But the gift is so irrelevant. That's
[59:51] why the prophet was he says,
[59:55] "If somebody gave me a dry bone,
[59:57] useless." Think about dry bones,
[59:59] useless. I would accept it because the
[1:00:02] person thought about me. It's all it's
[1:00:04] the thought that counts with Allah.
[1:00:06] There is nobody that can outdo Allah
[1:00:08] with it's the thought that counts. Like
[1:00:11] you think that you're generous or
[1:00:12] someone's generous. Nobody can outdo
[1:00:14] Allah with the phrase it's the thought
[1:00:16] that counts. As long as you think about
[1:00:18] Allah, whatever you're doing will count.
[1:00:20] That's it. So bring Allah your state of
[1:00:23] heart.
[1:00:25] The believer's emotional framework. This
[1:00:27] is the three-step process. Fear and hope
[1:00:30] and gratitude. It's like the three legs
[1:00:33] of the stool. Fear and hope and
[1:00:36] gratitude.
[1:00:38] Exactly. The baby's getting mah. Fear of
[1:00:40] disappointment. Hope in salvation and
[1:00:44] gratitude for his blessings.
[1:00:46] Okay. Now
[1:00:50] and other scholars, they describe this
[1:00:51] in a few different ways. Imagery to help
[1:00:54] us. They say that the believer's heart
[1:00:57] is like a bird which has two wings. One
[1:01:00] of them is fear and the other is hope.
[1:01:02] And the head which is the direction of
[1:01:04] the bird it directs where it's flying is
[1:01:06] love of Allah. So a question that we
[1:01:10] have to ask ourselves when it comes to
[1:01:11] this is which of these wings is weak in
[1:01:13] me right now? Like am I leaning way too
[1:01:17] heavily on the hope side? Or am I really
[1:01:21] hurting my growth by fearing Allah? And
[1:01:25] this is true far too much. Meaning, I
[1:01:29] believe that Allah will never forgive
[1:01:30] me. I believe that Allah will not answer
[1:01:32] me. I believe that I'm so far from Allah
[1:01:34] that I'm not even worth being glanced at
[1:01:36] by him. That's way too much fear. How
[1:01:39] can you let your estimation of yourself
[1:01:42] contradict what Allah tells you about
[1:01:44] you when Allah says that he'll answer
[1:01:46] your prayers? Don't you dare say no, you
[1:01:48] won't. Don't you dare. It's the most
[1:01:51] offensive thing, right? When you're
[1:01:52] doing a favor for somebody, hey, you
[1:01:54] need a ride. No, man. You're not going
[1:01:55] to want to. What do you mean? I just
[1:01:57] told you. Do you want to ride? No, you
[1:02:00] never will. I will. I just asked you.
[1:02:03] It's so offensive. It's so hurtful. Why?
[1:02:06] Because the person you're asking thinks
[1:02:08] that you're not being legit. So when
[1:02:10] Allah says, "I will forgive you." And
[1:02:11] you say, "I don't think so." You're
[1:02:13] telling Allah, "I don't no, I don't
[1:02:14] think you will." How how rude.
[1:02:18] How are in what way are you
[1:02:20] underestimating Allah's forgiveness?
[1:02:22] That's not right. So over fear is a real
[1:02:24] thing. But over hope is another real
[1:02:27] thing which is Allah will take care of
[1:02:30] it. It's fine. I don't really have to do
[1:02:32] everything. I don't have to do anything.
[1:02:34] Right? The analogy of the person that
[1:02:36] just leans so heavily on their
[1:02:37] relationships, their friends, their
[1:02:39] family, they'll always be there for me,
[1:02:41] but they continuously abuse them. At
[1:02:43] some point, at some point, Allah tells
[1:02:45] us that the forgiveness and the mercy
[1:02:47] that you're yearning for, Allah can and
[1:02:50] will always offer it. But by by his
[1:02:53] justice, it has conditions. And the
[1:02:56] conditions are sincerity.
[1:02:59] And sincerity is directly opposed by a
[1:03:01] person that takes Allah for granted.
[1:03:04] Someone who takes someone for granted
[1:03:05] cannot have a sincere relationship with
[1:03:07] them. It's transactional at best. At
[1:03:10] best.
[1:03:12] Now, how do you fuel the fear and the
[1:03:14] hope? How do you make sure you always
[1:03:16] return yourself back to a state of
[1:03:17] gratitude?
[1:03:19] I am grateful to Allah that he gave me
[1:03:21] this and I am hopeful and fearful about
[1:03:25] the accountability or the removal of
[1:03:27] this and I pray that Allah continue to
[1:03:29] bless me with this. Gratitude is the
[1:03:31] fuel that pushes this along.
[1:03:34] Okay. And lastly,
[1:03:38] Allah subhanana wa ta'ala is concerned
[1:03:41] about your motive. That's what he looks
[1:03:42] at first and then he looks at the
[1:03:45] performance.
[1:03:47] One of my teachers used to say something
[1:03:48] beautiful. He said that in in Dean in
[1:03:52] religion,
[1:03:54] sometimes your heart will be motivated
[1:03:56] and sometimes you will be not motivated.
[1:03:58] It's just the reality of life. Sometimes
[1:04:00] you're going to have those fedgers. He
[1:04:02] used to say you have those prayers that
[1:04:04] are the prayers that want you to go to
[1:04:06] Jenna and then you have those prayers
[1:04:07] that you're only doing because you don't
[1:04:08] want to go to hell, right? You have the
[1:04:10] fudgers where you're like awake. This is
[1:04:12] my Jenna fudger. And then you have the
[1:04:14] fudgers where you're like, "Oh Allah,
[1:04:15] please. I've just I'm just I just don't
[1:04:16] want to go to hell, right? And he says
[1:04:19] that your iman goes up and down. That's
[1:04:21] normal. That's normal." Okay? But the
[1:04:24] one thing that cannot be absent is a
[1:04:28] sincere intention in this. Making sure
[1:04:31] that you have sincere intent. Now, how
[1:04:32] do you know you have a sincere
[1:04:33] intention? Well, there's a few ways that
[1:04:35] scholars measure this. They tell us we
[1:04:37] can measure ourselves by number one,
[1:04:40] will we be constant and consistent even
[1:04:42] in the absence of the environment that
[1:04:44] makes us comfortable?
[1:04:46] So, are we only going to because our
[1:04:49] friends are going? Try this in Ramadan.
[1:04:51] Are you guys ready for this? It's tough.
[1:04:53] Try going to a that you're not going to
[1:04:56] know anybody there.
[1:04:58] Go to a masid that you're like not you
[1:05:01] don't know. Oh, you've never been there
[1:05:02] before and go pray there and see. All
[1:05:07] right, we just had a pact being taken
[1:05:08] right now in front of us. Heartwork live
[1:05:11] 4D experience, right? Try going
[1:05:13] somewhere where again it's not about
[1:05:17] your friends are going to be there. Save
[1:05:18] me a spot. Is there parking? Did you get
[1:05:21] towed yet? Matcha. Like don't don't go
[1:05:25] somewhere where you can one night. One
[1:05:27] night where you're going to go and no
[1:05:28] one knows you. You don't talk to a
[1:05:29] single person. It's just you, right? If
[1:05:32] you can or maybe perhaps if let's say
[1:05:35] your family wants to go together or
[1:05:36] whatever, maybe do it for fedger. You've
[1:05:38] been awake all night, you had sahur, go
[1:05:41] pray fedger at a masid where it's just
[1:05:43] there's actually a masid by my house
[1:05:44] that I have never been to. And I was so
[1:05:46] my my son, we were driving by. I was so
[1:05:48] curious. I was like, oh. He's like, why
[1:05:49] haven't we been there? I was like, I
[1:05:50] don't know. And I was like, let's go.
[1:05:53] Right. They got the green lights
[1:05:54] outside. I'm looking forward to it.
[1:05:56] Right. I'm probably going to be the only
[1:05:58] guy my type walking in there. Anyways,
[1:06:00] the point being is that every place
[1:06:03] gives you an opportunity to experience
[1:06:04] that sincerity. Do something in an
[1:06:07] environment that you're not accustomed
[1:06:08] to, that you're not used to. The second
[1:06:11] measure of sincerity is doing something
[1:06:12] when it's difficult.
[1:06:15] Doing something when there's every
[1:06:16] reason not to.
[1:06:18] And the third is that doing something
[1:06:22] consistently for a long period of time
[1:06:24] and not flaking on it. Those three
[1:06:26] things the scholars say doing it in
[1:06:29] isolation okay doing it with consistency
[1:06:33] and doing it even when things are
[1:06:34] resisting against you are the signs of
[1:06:37] sincerity.
[1:06:38] Ask yourself this question. If Allah
[1:06:40] today asked me what carried me to him
[1:06:44] with the actions that I did what would
[1:06:46] my honest answer be? Why do I pray?
[1:06:50] Why do I wear the hijab? Why do I live
[1:06:54] my life the way that I do? Why don't I
[1:06:56] do these things that otherwise I could
[1:06:58] do? Ask yourself, if Allah asked me this
[1:07:01] today, what would my answer be? How
[1:07:02] would I give him my honest response? And
[1:07:05] if this question is hazy and it's kind
[1:07:08] of vague, then this is actually where we
[1:07:10] have to start, right? May Allah give us
[1:07:13] and our intention, our may Allah make us
[1:07:16] amongst those that are people that
[1:07:19] always think from the ground up,
[1:07:21] foundational first. May Allah purify our
[1:07:24] intentions, make our motivations for
[1:07:26] him. May Allah make us those that no
[1:07:28] matter our mistakes, no matter our
[1:07:30] shortcomings, he always forgives them.
[1:07:32] He overlooks them. May Allah never
[1:07:34] replace our hope with despair. May Allah
[1:07:36] always make our hope greater than our
[1:07:38] despair. And may Allah make us people
[1:07:40] that give hope to others and not cause
[1:07:42] despair.
[1:07:44] And everybody, we went a little bit long
[1:07:46] tonight. So we won't be able to do Q&A
[1:07:47] because is in about four minutes. So if
[1:07:49] you're going to join us for salah,
[1:07:50] please do. We have the malah. You can
[1:07:52] head down this hallway. Other than that,
[1:08:18] How's that doing?
[1:08:20] >> He's good.
[1:08:22] >> Oh, you did? Okay.
[1:08:25] >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

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