From Fear to Love: The True Essence of Worship

Opening & Welcome

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Those who are here for second Jumu'ah, insha'Allah please move towards the front insha'Allah.

The most beloved of sufoof, the most beloved of rows to Allah are those that are in the front. So please insha'Allah fill in the front rows, so you can make space for brothers in the back when they come later. Jazakumullah khair.

وَلَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ الْعَلِيِّ الْعَظِيمِ — Allah, the Exalted, says in His noble Book. After seeking refuge from Shaytan:

Sadaqa Allahu al-'Azim. I want to begin by saying that I love you all for the sake of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. And I make du'a that Allah سبحانه وتعالى unite us with the love of the deen and love of Islam and love of Allah سبحانه وتعالى.

Islam Reduced to Orthodoxy

It's unfortunate but the reality of the Muslim Ummah today is that we have reduced our religion. We have watered down our religion to an orthodoxy. What that means is that we have defined our deen as a list of theoretical principles, theoretical beliefs. And as long as you claim, as long as you say that those beliefs are true, that this set of theory is true, that is the extent of your deen. As long as you say that Allah سبحانه وتعالى is one, that Nabi ﷺ is the final messenger — you believe in all the things that we have been commanded to believe in. And as long as you claim that that is true, that is the extent of the deen. That is what we call an orthodoxy. And if we continue on this path, we will unfortunately liken Islam to every other religion there is out there. This beautiful, amazing tradition of Islam, this amazing connection to Allah عز وجل directly — if we keep reducing it, we will destroy it completely.

Fear vs. Love in Worship

One of the main and primary reasons why we end up doing this is because we follow the deen of Islam from an aspect of fear. A fear that if I don't do what I'm supposed to do, and if I keep doing the things that I'm supposed to stay away from, I will eventually face the consequences of Jahannam. And yes, it is established — that is a concept that is very eminent within the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. We see many times when Allah سبحانه وتعالى tells the Nabi of Allah ﷺ:

You are a warner. Your purpose is to warn the people. One of the maqasid, one of the main purposes of the Nabi of Allah ﷺ was to warn the people of the punishment coming ahead.

But if we worship Allah سبحانه وتعالى, if we follow this amazing religion of Islam purely based on a fear factor — of being terrified of the consequences of not doing so — we will do the bare minimum and leave it at that. We will do what is required and we will leave everything else. But there is an aspect of the religion that balances fear, and that is the aspect of love.

When you worship Allah سبحانه وتعالى out of love, it is on a completely different level than when you worship out of fear. And the fear that is referenced in the Qur'an, the fear that is talked about, is not a fear that is terrifying. It is a fear of shame. There is no example to Allah سبحانه وتعالى — you cannot make any example that is close to Him عز وجل — but just to understand: if an adult commits something that they're not supposed to be doing, if they do something that is shameful, and they have to face their parents, that fear, that confrontation is not a matter of fearfulness as you were as a kid. That fear is a fear of shame, of guilt. Of how could I do this in front of my parents? To understand that that is the fear with Allah سبحانه وتعالى as well. The fear of being ashamed in front of Him عز وجل. But we balance that fear with love, as I mentioned before, and it is a treading of that exact balance.

In the Qur'an Allah says: thus We have made you a balanced nation. Moderation. It is going on that line of perfection, that line of perfect balance, that you will end up with Allah سبحانه وتعالى. Extremes take you nowhere.

The Nature of Love

So going back to the aspect of love. Love is something that is quite interesting to discuss. Number one, love is something that is almost impossible to define. Nearly impossible to truly understand what love is. There are so many aspects to it. Some people define it as a chemical reaction. Some people look at it from an emotional perspective. For some people love is just a connection that you have with someone else. There are so many aspects that it's almost impossible to define what love is. But love is something that every single one of us has and every single one of us needs. We have love towards others and we also need love towards us. That is our nature as human beings. We cannot live without love. Without love, there is no life. There is no existence. There is chaos.

The Journey of the Soul Begins and Ends in Love

In the soul, subhanAllah, our ruh — it craves love as well. The journey of the soul, the journey of the ruh, subhanAllah, it begins in a place of love and ends in a place of love. It begins with honor:

We have honored the son of Adam. When Adam عليه السلام was first created, what was the first thing that happened?

All of the angels prostrated to Adam, giving him honor, respect, and love. So the journey of man, the journey of our souls begins in a place of love and it will end in a place of love with the permission of Allah سبحانه وتعالى:

O soul that is content, مُطْمَئِنَّةً — that is in tranquility — ارْجِعِي إِلَىٰ رَبِّكِ — come back to your Lord — رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً — while He is pleased with you and you are pleased with Him. A place of love.

So when we understand that the journey of the soul begins and ends from two aspects of love, everything in between requires love as well. And that love of the soul is only attained through connection with the Divine. And that is why our soul craves to be in ibadah. Our soul craves to be in salah, to recite the Qur'an, to be in the dhikr of Allah. Why? Because it craves that connection with the Divine that gives it some semblance of the love that it began with and the love that it will end with.

But unfortunately our minds, our rational, has completely diverted and clouded the wants and the needs of the soul for the desires of the nafs. We have become clouded by the wants of the dunya, by the distractions of the dunya, the rat race that we are in to constantly want more of everything that is around us.

The Arena of the Dunya

SubhanAllah, I was talking to someone a few days back and they described to me — they said, Ahyan, let me tell you something about the dunya. He said that dunya is like an arena, a playground if you will. The rules of the arena are simple. Number one, when you're in it, you don't know when you're gonna leave it. Number two, you can't take anything from the arena. Number three, you came into the arena with nothing and you will leave with nothing as well. And that's the reality of life. We are here right now and we don't know when we're gonna leave.

As the Qur'an says, of the five things that Allah سبحانه وتعالى says no person has knowledge of, one of them is when a person will pass away. We don't know — could be tomorrow, could be today, could be years from now. But we will never take anything with us from this dunya. If you notice the kafan, the shroud, the garment that's put on a dead body, a janazah — it doesn't have pockets. It doesn't have anything to take with it. You will never see a U-Haul behind a hearse. Why is that? Because you will never take anything with you.

But the people of the arena, the people of the dunya, become so obsessed with the arena. They become so engulfed in this rat race of constantly competing with one another for money, for fame, for power, for friends, for relationships. This constant rat race of wanting more creates feelings of enmity, hatred, disunity, jealousy. And people begin to fight and argue, harm one another. This is the state of the dunya.

And the angels, subhanAllah, they predicted this before we were even created:

Ya Allah, are You going to create a creation that will cause corruption in the earth? وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ — they're gonna fight with one another, they're gonna shed each other's blood. The angels, subhanAllah, predicted this before we were even in existence.

But because of the constant wanting of the dunya, the constant focus of competing with one another, it causes disunity and hatred amongst the people of the dunya. And that is when Allah سبحانه وتعالى sends a delegate. He sends someone to the arena. And this person's objective is twofold. Number one, to remind the people of the arena that this arena is a confined space — there is more beyond this arena. This arena is temporary. You are here for a limited time. You will leave and everything in here is an illusion. And the second point is to connect the people of the arena with their Creator, Azza wa Jal.

We see the prophets — that is exactly what their mission was. Number one, to remind the people, to remind their qawm, that this dunya is temporary:

This dunya is temporary. Today it's here, tomorrow it's gone. Everything:

Everything will be destroyed. And the second objective of the prophets was to connect us with Allah Azza wa Jal. And when these two things begin to happen — when the people of the arena, when the people of the dunya begin to realize there's something beyond this place that we are in, there's an objective, there's something to be attained, there's a goal beyond all of this, and that goal is dependent on my connection with my Creator — then all the hatred, the jealousy, the fighting, the arguing, all of it begins to disappear. And if we as an ummah can instill these two things, the entire ummah will unite under the banner of Islam. Number one, to realize that this dunya is temporary. Number two, to connect ourselves with Allah Azza wa Jal.

And the prophets came — the delegates that came to the arena — they never said to disassociate yourself from the dunya. They never said to just leave the dunya completely and worship Allah سبحانه وتعالى 24/7. They said that the dunya has been made for man's enjoyment. Whatever is halal, enjoy it to the fullest extent. Enjoy it, but never let the dunya enter your heart. Enjoy the dunya, but never let the love of the dunya creep into your heart. Keep your heart a place where only true love is to be — and that is the love of the Divine, the love of Allah Azza wa Jal. As long as you keep that focus, the journey to Allah is very simple.

Does Allah Love Me?

But someone might ask, someone might object: how do I know that Allah loves me? Well, you ask the brother that — why do you say that Allah doesn't love you? He says: if you look at my life, I have so many trials and tribulations, constant tests. My work isn't that great, I don't have that much money, my relationships aren't the best, I have lost many family members, I have lost many things in my life. I am constantly being tested by Allah again, time after time, again and again. How does this mean that Allah loves me? If Allah loves me, shouldn't He bless me with blessings and gifts?

This is the result of our reductionistic understanding — that we reduce Islam, we reduce Allah's love for us simply by the amount of possessions that He gives us. A truly sad state for the ummah currently. Now we define Allah's love for us by the money that we have, by the way that we live in the dunya.

The Prophets Were Tested Most

But then you look at the prophets — the best of the best. You look at all of them. You look at Nuh عليه السلام — 900 and some years he preached to his people. 900 years. How many people followed him? You look at Ibrahim عليه السلام — after so many years, in his old age he finally gets his first child. And Allah commands him: Ibrahim, go, leave your family in the middle of the desert. When he gets his son back after that many years, the command comes again: Ya Ibrahim, sacrifice your child.

We look at the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, Muhammad al-Mustafa ﷺ. We see the verbal abuse that he had to go through, the mental abuse, the physical abuse, seeing his companions being tortured, being mocked, some of them killed. Seeing his wife — the love of his life — pass away in front of him. Seeing his uncle, Abu Talib, seeing the person that stood with him till the very end, pass away without Islam. Do you know how much that hurt the Nabi of Allah ﷺ? Going to Ta'if for help, being driven out of Ta'if while being stoned at the same time, being driven from his own hometown of Makkah.

There's a saying that goes: if all of us came together and put our problems in one pile, I guarantee you would take your stuff and run. Can any of us imagine living the life of the Prophet ﷺ? Yet who is he? He is the most beloved person to Allah عز وجل. Allah's love for him — we cannot even begin to imagine. His name is with Allah's name on the 'Arsh of Allah. Are you gonna say that Allah didn't love him?

The Example of Sulayman عليه السلام

But that is not to say that Allah does not treat people differently. We look at Sulayman ﷺ when he said:

He said: Ya Allah, give me a kingdom, give me an ownership that nobody after me will get. Allah responded to him:

Allah describes all the gifts that He gave to Sulayman عليه السلام — such a kingdom, such an empire that nobody after him has such an empire.

Allah's love for you and I manifests in the way that benefits us the most. And who knows what is better for us than Allah عز وجل Himself. Allah's love for you will come to you in different ways. For some it might be tests, for some it might be gifts. But Allah's manifestation of His love is to see how much you love Him back. To see how much of a ta'alluq, how much of a connection you have built with Allah سبحانه وتعالى.

Allah says: do people assume, do they think, that they can just say "we believe" and We will not test them? أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَن يُتْرَكُوا أَن يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ — do you really assume that you can just say "I believe in Allah" and that Allah won't test you? وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ — Allah says that We have tested those before them. And why did He do so? فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَاذِبِينَ — so Allah can know those that are truthful in their iman and those that are not truthful in their iman. Allah's test to you is to see how much you love Him.

Loving One Another for the Sake of Allah

And when we begin to build that connection with Allah عز وجل, when we begin to develop that love to Him سبحانه وتعالى, then we can begin to love one another for the sake of Allah as well. A hadith in Sahih Muslim comes when the Nabi ﷺ mentioned — a very lengthy hadith, but a portion of it — he said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 32, Hadith 6219)

Be the servants of Allah, إِخْوَانًا — as brothers. Your connection to one another should lift you up to your connection with Allah عز وجل. That is a sign of a good friend, a good believer — the one that when you see him you remember Allah عز وجل. The one who raises you in your connection with Allah عز وجل. May Allah give us tawfeeq.

Insha'Allah we can be our sunnahs.

Announcements

A few announcements insha'Allah. Number one, please stand up and move forward insha'Allah. If you can all stand up and fill in all the gaps. We can make more space insha'Allah. So please brothers if you can all stand up and start moving towards the front insha'Allah. Please fill in the rows and the gaps.

The donation boxes — please pass them from your left to right insha'Allah. Donate generously insha'Allah. It is mentioned in the hadith that the sadaqah of a person wards off the calamities and afflictions that will come to them.

Announcement insha'Allah: join us tonight insha'Allah after Salatul Isha for our first monthly seminar with Mufti Minhaj-ud-Din, hafizahullahu ta'ala. Between the Two Extremes: The Islamic Perspective on Abortion by Mufti Minhaj-ud-Din insha'Allah. Tonight after Salatul Isha. Amazing program, amazing topic. Please be there insha'Allah. Invite your family and friends as well.

Please keep in mind we have our annual Seerah Conference coming up as well, as you've seen us announce many times before. RSVP right now insha'Allah at masjidds.org/seerahconference. Again that's masjidds.org for more details and to register for the Seerah Conference insha'Allah.

We also have a goal of reaching 25 million salawat as a community. For that please visit masjidds.org as well for more details.

The weekly programs as well at Darussalam — we have our Saturday team Fajr. That will continue insha'Allah tomorrow with Mufti-ud-Din. Fajr will be at 6:15. We'll have a small lecture by Mufti-ud-Din and then we'll have some breakfast — community breakfast insha'Allah — so that we can bond and build our brotherhood.

We also have the Sahih Bukhari Darussalam class — that will continue on Mondays after Salatul Isha. Tuesday Tafsir with Mufti-ud-Din is also taking place insha'Allah — please join us again after Isha as well. So Bukhari Darussalam Mondays after Isha, and Tuesday Tafsir with chai as well after Salatul Isha with Mufti-ud-Din. And lastly we have our weekly salawat program on Thursdays after Salatul Isha as well. Please invite your family and friends and make an effort to join these programs. Jazakumullah Khair. Assalamu Alaykum.

Salah — Recitation

وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ — And the remembrance of Allah is greatest.

Please make sure the rows are straight, fill in the gaps insha'Allah, and please turn off your cellphones.

First Rak'ah — Surah Al-Munafiqun / Al-Munafiqun Recitation

Second Rak'ah — Surah Al-Ma'un