One short ayah can change your life!

How One Short Āyah Can Change Your Life

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ removes all spiritual illnesses from your heart. How is that possible? Half of all the spiritual diseases that you can imagine can be removed by Iyyāka Na'budu. By realizing it is only Allah that I worship, I devote my time to, I devote my attention to — only He can reward me, only He can give me, only He can take from me.

Because the vast majority of people put their trust and their hopes and their investment in people, in outcomes, in wealth, in things. But Iyyāka Na'budu means you're fully invested only in Allah and you are expecting everything only from Him, and you see nothing but His actions — nothing else. Iyyāka Na'budu removes from you the most dangerous of all diseases of the heart.

The Most Lethal Disease of the Heart: Ar-Riyā'

Who can tell me what is the most dangerous, the most lethal of all the diseases of the heart? Ar-Riyā'. It is the desire to be seen by people instead of being seen by Allah. For me to stand up and pray — but to pray because I want so-and-so to watch me pray. For me to give Sadaqah because so-and-so is watching me. For me to be addicted to the eyes of the people.

This is the greatest of all diseases because this takes you — you are one step away from making these other people or these other things equal to Allah, and that is the unforgivable sin, and you are on the edge at this point.

Iyyāka Na'budu fixes Riyā'. It fixes this idea of needing the eyes of others, the attention, the validation of others — because you are trained and focused and thinking about only one thing: the One I devote myself to is the One who created and fashioned me, only He can reward me and take from me.

The Second Great Disease: Arrogance

Arrogance — this is the other most dangerous spiritual disease. Iyyāka Nasta'īn rids you of arrogance and pride because you realize and you internalize: no matter what happens, I am dependent upon Allah.

From the day that my nappies were being changed and I could not even do that myself, to the day I am old and I will need help to walk — I will always remain dependent in between. And that is what Iyyāka Nasta'īn means: O Allah, I will always need You, no matter who I am, where I am, or what I am — I am always and constantly in need of You.

Al-Nuqaym says: if you only internalized this, if you only understood this, you would stop venting to people. He says if you look back at the Prophets before you, you will realize their strength did not come from bodybuilding — their strength came from: I will only complain to Allah, I only turn to Allah, I only need Allah.

The Prophets and Iyyāka Nasta'īn

From the du'ā that Mūsā (peace be upon him) makes when he arrives in Madyan:

"O my Lord, I am in need of whatever good You send down to me." O Allah, I need You — just whatever You give me, I need You. That is Iyyāka Nasta'īn.

What does Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) say when he is inside the fire?

"Allah is sufficient for me, and what an excellent Guardian He is." That is Iyyāka Nasta'īn — O Allah, I need You, I am stuck, where will I go?

What does Yūnus (peace be upon him) say in the whale?

"There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers." That is Iyyāka Nasta'īn.

The Same Formula, Again and Again

You will see the same formula repeated again and again and again. It is the acknowledgement that I have no objective, no interest in nothing and nobody except Allah — and that I need Him, I depend on Him, I am helpless without Him. And if you really digested this, your whole life would change.