Abdul Rahman Chao - Finding Sweetness in Worship

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His final messenger and prophet. Allah tells us in the Qur'an:

O you who believe, fear Allah, be God-conscious and do not die except as Muslims.

O mankind, fear the Lord who has created you from one soul, and from it, its mate, and from it, many men and many women. And fear Allah through the rights that you ask of one another and by the wombs that bore you. Verily, Allah is ever watchful over you.

O you who believe, be God-conscious, fear Allah and speak the truth. He will render your deeds righteous, and He will forgive your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His messenger has achieved a great victory.

Verily, the best speech is the speech of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad ﷺ, and the worst affairs are those that are of innovation. For all of it is misguidance, and all misguidance leads to hell.

The Story of Abbad ibn Bishr

In the fifth year of Al-Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ had sent out an expedition towards the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, or east compared to where Medina was, but it was located in the central region of the present day Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia. Known as Al-Najd.

And so the Prophet ﷺ had sent about 400, if I'm not mistaken, fighters, and they had won the battle. And so in the evening, the Prophet ﷺ camped or he encamped his army in a valley. But the Prophet ﷺ was also acutely aware of the dangers of ambushes and surprise attacks in the middle of the night.

And so he ordered that there be people that will stand guard and make sure that ambushes and surprise attacks don't happen. So these two companions were Ammar ibn Yasir and the other companion was Abbad ibn Bishr. Ammar ibn Yasir you might be familiar with, at the very onset of Islam, his mother was killed, his family members were killed, and tortured and persecuted for their beliefs.

Abbad ibn Bishr, this companion, had embraced Islam when he was in his teens. He had heard the Qur'an from Mus'ab ibn Umair, another companion of the Prophet ﷺ whom you might have heard of. He had grown up in a life of luxury, in the lap of luxury. And he gave all of that up.

So Abbad ibn Bishr and Ammar, they agreed that they would take turns watching and standing guard. So Ammar was tired. So he said, I'm gonna sleep first, the first half of the night. So Abbad said, Okay, I'll watch the first half of the night, and you can go to sleep.

So Ammar quickly goes to sleep, and then Abbad is thinking, Well, I can get two rewards, watching the army of the Prophet ﷺ, but also I can use this time to pray Qiyam al-Layl, to pray the night prayer. So he stood up and he started praying.

In the darkness, an enemy soldier spotted this silhouette of this person, Abbad, praying. He didn't know what he was doing. So he took out a bow and arrow, and he shot him. And it hit Abbad ibn Bishr. Without missing a beat, without even crying out loud, or making a noise, Abbad just simply took the arrow, pulled it out, and continued his salah.

And I don't think any of you here has been shot by an arrow. May Allah protect us. Pulling an arrow out is not something that is enjoyable. It has barbs on it. It's going to tear as you pull it out. So he just simply pulled it out. And he continued his salah.

This enemy soldier is looking on and he's wondering, What is going on here? This person didn't react. So he takes his bow and arrow, he shoots another arrow at him, and it hits Abbad ibn Bishr for the second time. And again he pulls it out, throws it away, and he continues his salah.

Then this person shoots a third arrow at Abbad ibn Bishr. And this time, it proved to be too much for him. So he woke up his friend, finished his salah. And his friend Ammar was shocked and exclaimed, You could have woken me up at the first onset of this attack. But it's really about the words that Abbad ibn Bishr said, that we should take notice.

I was reading some verses from the Qur'an and my heart was filled with awe and inspiration. And I did not want to interrupt this experience.

By Allah, if it wasn't because the Prophet ﷺ had commanded me and instructed me to guard this post, which by the way was Surah Al-Kahf - a surah that we can all read on Jumu'ah - if it wasn't because the Prophet ﷺ had asked me to guard this post, I would have preferred to die than to interrupt my recitation of the Qur'an.

I want you to think about what this means. He was willing to forego his life. He was willing to give up his life, which would have been justified if he had broken his Salah. But he said I would have given up my life and not interrupt this divine experience that I'm having, that I'm reading the Qur'an.

Brothers and sisters, this is a companion of the Prophet ﷺ. This is not even the Prophet ﷺ. And this story highlights for us this goal that we should all try to attain. And that is how do we get to a point in our spiritual and religious formation where we come to enjoy the sweetness of the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? For this person his connection was Salah and Qur'an.

The Prophet's Love for Worship

You look at the life of the Prophet ﷺ. You see that the Prophet ﷺ used to say to Bilal, his muezzin:

(Sahih hadith)

Give us ease, bring this Salah. Call the Iqama so that we can start the Salah. That's going to give me ease. That's going to give me joy. That's going to give me relaxation.

The Prophet ﷺ used to pray at night until his feet would swell, until his feet, in some narrations, were cracked. And his wife Aisha رضي الله عنها asked: Messenger of Allah, why do you exert all of this effort when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has forgiven you of your previous sins and for the future? He says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim)

Shall it not be that I am a grateful servant?

Why We Find Worship Difficult

So brothers and sisters, what exactly is causing - what are some of the reasons why we find the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala difficult? And as you know, Ramadan is coming along the way. And I am sure that majority of Muslims are excited for the festivities. Sometimes this excitement is because they get to eat nice food. And sometimes this excitement is because they get to stay up at night.

And for whatever reason it is, brothers and sisters, these acts of worship that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has asked you to do - to fast during the day, to abstain from food and drink and relations with one's spouse, and to stay away from what is haram - all of these things have a purpose. And so do you find it a burden, or do you find it to be something that you relish and cherish?

The scholars of the past have strived to decipher the mysteries of the human condition. And they have written thousands of pages regarding the human condition and why we as people are so not acclimated and used to worship, and why we do not find Salah, Al-Qiyam, and extra acts of worship to be enjoyable.

First: Check Your Heart

And the first thing, brothers and sisters, is that you have to first check your heart. If you want to know why you cannot do something, you have to look inwards. Not look outwards at people. Look inwards to the self and ask yourself: Is my heart in a state that is hardened?

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has not given a greater calamity and punishment and a test on a person except what? That they have a hardened heart. In other words, they are stubborn and they don't listen to the truth and they don't want to obey.

So this heart, brothers and sisters, is something that we have to first empty out the vices. As we say in the khutbah in the beginning: نَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا - that we ask Allah, we seek His refuge from the evil that is within our hearts - evil feelings, evil thoughts, jealousy, hatred, arrogance - and from the evil that results from our sins.

One of the scholars of the past gave a very good example, a great analogy. And he said: When your body is not feeling well, your body lets you know by sending pain signals. Your body will let you know that you are not feeling well by putting pain in your body. And in the same way, when your iman is hurting, when your spirituality is hurting, how do you know that it is hurting? By your indulgence in sins.

And so just like when a person is ill and is presented with his favorite food, he has no appetite for it. In the same way, when a heart is afflicted with sin, when worship is presented to it, it has no appetite for it. So we have to first purify our hearts first, brothers and sisters.

Second: Apply Yourself

Number two, brothers and sisters, is that sometimes we have never actually applied ourselves. We think that by doing the bare minimum that we are going to get to the highest level. You have to apply yourself. You have to exert more effort so that you take yourself to the next level.

Athletes will tell you about this. The reason they get to this certain point in their career is because they didn't settle for the bottom statistic. They settled for something that was unimaginable.

Third: Don't Confuse Culture with Religion

And before we conclude for the second khutbah, another reason why sometimes we find that ritual worship is not our strong point is because we have made our culture into religion. And so when a person does not identify with their culture anymore, because they've been brought up to associate their culture as religion, once they feel the alienation towards that culture and that how it is foreign to them, they will think that this salah is just something that you do on the body.

And you have people that are saying that now: "Brother, it's just in the heart. This salah is not important. This acts of worship is just robotic, monotonous work. Allah doesn't need it." Sure, Allah doesn't need these acts of worship, but you need them.

And so when a person says, "It's all just - I'm focusing on the heart," I say to them: you are composed of flesh and spirit, of body and spirit. And so Allah gave you Islam to complement body and spirit. So these acts of worship, these movements that you do, they have benefit. Allah would not have legislated these five prayers if it didn't benefit your body.

Second Khutbah

After talking about some of the reasons why we find it difficult to enjoy the sweetness of worship, let's talk about some of the practical ways that we can implement in preparation for Ramadan.

First: Accept That Worship Requires Effort

Number one: there is nothing wrong, there is no sin in admitting and acknowledging that worship is not a cakewalk. It's not an easy thing. Ibn Mas'ud was praying with the Prophet ﷺ. And he said:

Ibn Mas'ud said: I was praying with the Prophet ﷺ qiyam al-layl. And I was standing by him and the Prophet ﷺ had stood for a very long time, practically all of the night. And at that moment of weakness I wished - I had thought about doing something bad. So the people asked Ibn Mas'ud: what is the thing that you thought of doing bad? He said: I wanted to sit down. I wanted to sit down. That's what he considered to be bad.

So number one, we have to accept that Islam - when we say Islam is a religion of ease, we also have to accept that Islam requires your devotion and practice and to develop healthy habits so that you become used to these acts of worship.

Ibn Al-Qayyim in his book Madarij As-Salikin, to summarize, he said that the traveler - if there is a traveler embarking on the road of worship, what are they going to see? The first thing they're going to experience is fatigue. They're going to find that these obligations are difficult. They're going to find difficulty associated with these acts. Why? Because the heart is not yet acclimated to servitude and worship.

Second: The Three Characteristics of Faith's Sweetness

Number two, brothers and sisters, is that we have to really examine deeply within ourselves and put our iman to the litmus test regarding: Do we really love Allah? Do we love Muhammad ﷺ?

The Prophet ﷺ tells us in a sahih narration, he says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim)

Three characteristics that if they are in an individual, they will find the sweetness of faith. And the ulama they have said that the sweetness of faith refers to finding the sweetness in worship, enjoying worship.

And the first thing he says: that you will love Allah and that you love Muhammad ﷺ more than anything else in the world. And number two is that you love a friend for the sake of Allah. It's not for some casual benefit because you happen to like the same sports teams, but because you have no problem having a relationship where you tell the truth to each other, that you call one another out, you encourage what is good.

And the third thing the Prophet ﷺ says is that the person hates to go back to disbelief. He hates to return to disbelief after Allah saved him from it.

So let's talk about this first part quickly. Love for Allah. Ibn Qayyim also comments in another book, and he says: When you really love something - in other words, the summary is: When you love something, all the obligations and responsibilities that are associated with it doesn't become a chore anymore in the person who loves what they do. It becomes an act of devotion.

When you have football fans and you ask them: "Don't you find it really... or basketball fans, don't you really find it difficult when you're keeping your bracket? Isn't that just way too much tracking?" No, they don't find it difficult because they enjoy it. You tell the bodybuilder: "Don't you find all of this working out and stretching and sleeping at certain times and eating - don't you find that just too much work?" To them, no, because they enjoy it, because that is their passion.

The Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih Muslim)

That person will taste the sweetness of faith when they are pleased, when they are proud of being Muslim. When you are pleased that Allah is your Lord, that Islam is your religion, and Muhammad ﷺ is your Prophet.

Do you see the obligations that Islam brings to you as a burden, or do you see it as guidance from Allah, as a blessing from Allah?

Choose Your Friends Wisely

Number two: your friendship with people. Sometimes it's okay to cut back on your social events. You don't have to go to every single dawah or invitation that people invite you to. The reason why is because sometimes you need time for yourself to connect with Allah.

And if everyday you're working and you're 9 to 5 working, working, working, and by the time you get home you're tired, and on the weekend that's your only free time - spend it with your family. Take some time to read the Qur'an. And that is why picking your friends is paramount. You want friends that will encourage you to do good, not just simply friends that will distract you from the worship of Allah.

Cherish Your Islam

And the third thing the Prophet ﷺ said is that a person hates to return to disbelief. They hate to return to disbelief after Allah has saved them from it. And what does that mean? It means that you really cherish this Islam that Allah has given you. You don't take it for granted. You don't take it as a joke. It's not something you do when it's convenient for you. It's not something you do when you need Allah, but then when you don't need Allah you don't come to Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ he said: Remember Allah in times of ease, Allah will remember you in times of difficulty.

Understand the Qur'an

The Prophet ﷺ in a few more, two more points. The Prophet ﷺ also taught us about how we need to prioritize. How many times do you read in the Qur'an where Allah says:

Do they not ponder over the Qur'an?

Brothers and sisters, how are you going to ponder over the Qur'an if you don't understand what the Qur'an is saying? For those who do not understand Arabic, and for many Arabic speaking people, if you ask them certain words in the Qur'an, they don't know what they are saying. Do you understand the Qur'an?

So if you want to be able to ponder over the Qur'an, you have to understand it. And if you want to enjoy the recitation of the Qur'an, you have to be able to ponder over it. So make that a personal goal for yourself. Connect back to Allah.

Beware of Misplaced Priorities

The Prophet ﷺ also tells us about a person who has misplaced priorities in which he says - and be careful of this narration - he says:

This hadith gives me a chill when I read this hadith. It really makes you think about what is your priority.

The Prophet ﷺ says: Verily Allah dislikes these following characteristics. He said ja'zareen - basically means the person who is arrogant and doesn't listen to advice. Jawwaz basically means someone who is obsessed with food and drink and is ungrateful. Sakhkab bil-aswaq - loud and obnoxious in the marketplace. Jeefah bil-layl - like a corpse at night. In other words, they don't get up and pray. Himar bil-nahar - like a donkey during the day. In other words, they are just working, working, working, working. You know, when the donkey is around the mill and just going in a circle non-stop, slaving away. Alim bi amr ad-dunya - very knowledgeable about the affairs of the world. Jahil bi amr al-akhirah - completely ignorant about the affairs of the akhirah.

So brothers and sisters, this hadith is not condemning people who are well versed in their careers. It is saying: Do you know about the akhirah as much as you know about the dunya?

Don't Indulge in Too Much Luxury

Finally, brothers and sisters, one time the Prophet ﷺ missed praying at night. He didn't get up. And he asked his wife: Who had folded my mattress? So basically the Prophet ﷺ's mattress, it was very, very thin. And so what the Prophet ﷺ used to do is that he used to fold it in half like this. But his wife, Umm Salama, she folded it again in half so make it four layers to make it comfortable for the Prophet ﷺ.

Compared to our beauty rest and Simmons, whatever mattresses that we have, this is not even anything. She folded it again. And you know when the Prophet ﷺ got up, he was frustrated. And he said: Who did this? She said: I was just folding it to make it more comfortable for you. He says: fold it back. Return it to its state because I missed my salah because of it.

In other words: Don't indulge your body in too much luxury and enjoyment and eating and sleeping, because that body becomes lazy and you will not be able to perform.