The Spiritual Essence Behind Allah's Signs And Worship

The Ruh Behind Every Sign and Act of Worship

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the worshippers of those who ask for forgiveness afterwards. I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the accursed.

One of the purposes of the examples that Allah gives us in the Qur'an is to clarify and make us understand a certain concept — or how hideous a certain sin might be, or how the Mushrikoon would worship someone. One of the examples Allah gives in Surah Al-'Ankabut is regarding those people who take any guardian, any deity other than Allah as their Ilah, as their god of worship. They are like people that build a spider's web.

Just as the spider's web is very weak — a strong wind, a gust of wind, or anything can basically tear it — that is how these Mushrikoon are. The deities they take will not be able to give them any benefit, avail them, or prevent any harm from them. And then Allah mentions:

"Those are examples which We bring forth to the people. And those that will be able to understand these examples are the Alimoon — those that actually have 'Aql, that have Ilm, and have knowledge. They will be able to understand these examples."

So in every single thing Allah has placed in this dunya, there is an example, there is a ruh behind it. It is supposed to be a source of ibra for us, an admonishment. Imam Al-Zuhri mentioned the story of Muhammad ibn Sirin, who was a great dream interpreter. One person had come to him and asked: "I had seen in my dream that I was closing and sealing the mouths of people, and sealing their private parts. What is the interpretation of this dream?" For us, we would not really know the answer. But Muhammad ibn Sirin said, "You are actually the Mu'adhin in Ramadan." Because the Mu'adhin — as soon as he gives the Adhan — you can no longer eat, drink, or have relations. So the dream itself had a hidden meaning behind it. The Mu'adhin is technically like a stop clock for everyone.

There is a ruh behind every single action a person does.

The Day of Arafah: A Reminder of the Day of Judgment

On this specific day — the Day of Arafah — there is the plains of Arafah, and there is the day of Arafah. Those that have been to Hajj, and as we see in pictures of the plains of Arafah — what is the ruh behind that? That manzar, that spectacle, is supposed to be a reminder for us of literally how the Day of Judgment is going to be. Because when you see everyone crowded on the plains of Arafah, people are not wearing their typical clothes — men are wearing the ihram, two pieces of cloth — and people are crying and sweating because they are under that heat, under the sun. For hours they are making du'a.

What is that supposed to be a reminder of? That is literally how Qiyamah is going to be. Because everyone will be resurrected —

They will be resurrected in their natural state — barefoot, without any clothes, uncircumcised. That is how we will be resurrected. It is going to be a flat plain with millions, billions, trillions of people. And everyone will be scared at that moment. The sun will be so close. People will be in their sweat — some up to their loins, some up to their chest — drowning in their sweat in accordance with their sins and the deeds they performed here in this dunya.

So Arafah itself — people going there and performing Hajj — there is a ruh behind it. It is actually supposed to be a source of ibra.

The Story of Ibrahim and Ismail: Sacrifice for the Sake of Allah

Similarly, we find the whole story of Ibrahim and Ismail:

Ibrahim saw in his dream that he was going to slaughter his son, and both of them obeyed and yielded to the commandment of Allah. But there is a ruh behind that, a motive behind it — to show what a person's sacrifice should be, and what they should be willing to give for the sake of Allah. Regardless of whatever blessings or bounties we may have, at the end all of it belongs to Allah:

"You will not attain perfect piety until you spend from that which you love." Some people, money is beloved to them. For others, it is a child — as in the case of Ibrahim. But he was willing to even give his own son for the sake of Allah. So each action we do actually has a ruh. It has a soul and a spirit behind it.

Making Du'a on the Day of Arafah

On this day of Arafah, we are not on the plains of Arafah, but we are in the day of Arafah — in our time zone. We may not be able to acquire all the blessings of how the hujjaj are, but definitely one thing which is important on this day is to make excessive du'a to Allah. Because if you look at the Sunnah of Nabi ﷺ and how he performed Hajj, Nabi ﷺ mentioned:

"Whoever performs Hajj and does not commit any sins during it returns as on the day his mother gave birth to him" — meaning he returns sinless. The ulema have a difference of opinion on whether major sins are forgiven after performing Hajj or not — generally, for major sins you have to make tawbah — but a person essentially returns back forgiven.

So what type of Hajj do you have to perform in order to attain that fadila? That Hajj should be in accordance with the Sunnah. And if you look at the Sunnah on this day — on the plains of Arafah — Arafah is not about making du'a for just a minute. Nabi ﷺ made du'a for hours in the heat — different du'as for this ummah, to save us from different calamities, for shafa'ah for this ummah and things like that. He made du'a for hours.

For us, we can barely even make du'a sitting here in the comfort of the masjid or in our houses with AC. We can barely even make du'a for 10 minutes. We don't know how to speak to Allah. We don't know what our needs are. But we are always destitute. We are always in need of Allah's mercy:

"O people, all of you are al-fuqara — in need of Allah. And Allah is the One who is independent, free, and praiseworthy." So we are always in need, but we do not know how to address that need. We do not know how to make du'a to Allah and talk to Allah.

The Du'a of Forgiveness

In this day of Arafah, one of the most important du'as that a person should make is the du'a of forgiveness — that Allah grants them an easy hisab on the Day of Judgment. This is something which Nabi ﷺ made du'a for his entire ummah on the Day of Arafah. When you are actually on the plains of Arafah, in the heat, without shade — you are out in the open with the sun beating down on you — at that moment you feel: if this is the heat of this dunya, what will my condition, my hal, be in the akhirah when I am resurrected?

So the first du'a a person will naturally make at that moment is the du'a for forgiveness of whatever sins they committed, major or minor. There is never a time in a person's life that they should feel despondent of the mercy of Allah. In numerous places in the Qur'an, whenever Allah describes Jahannam or Jannah or His mercy and His 'azab, He gives more emphasis to His mercy, or uses a different uslub and method of describing His mercy compared to His 'azab. For example, addressing Musa, Allah says: "My 'azab — it comes upon whom I will. But My mercy — it encompasses everything."

Even though technically one might expect the contrast to be: "My punishment comes upon whom I will, and My mercy comes upon whom I will." But it is different. Because Allah is showing that His mercy is much more vast. And we know from the hadith:

Allah is saying: "My mercy supersedes and surpasses My punishment and My anger." So a person should never feel despondent. But obviously at the time a person is making tawbah, it is necessary that they pair it up with good deeds. Because in numerous places in the Qur'an when Allah addresses the believers and describes how they make tawbah, it is paired up with 'amal salih.

In Surah Al-Furqan, in Surah Al-Baqarah — those that do tawbah rectify their actions and clarify something that was wrong. Meaning if you did something wrong to someone else, you would have to fix that and make amends with them. In Surah Ali 'Imran — those that do tawbah and rectify their actions again. So part of tawbah is that you have to rectify your actions. It is not simply making du'a and asking forgiveness from Allah. There has to be some type of effort in rectifying one's actions and doing good deeds.

Arafah Falls on a Friday — A Double Blessing

That is one of the most important du'as a person should make on this day of Arafah. We don't know, and especially this year, Allah has made it such that Arafah falls on the day of Jumu'ah — which is already a blessed day. And as it comes in a hadith, there is a specific time in this day when the du'a is accepted. We do not necessarily know what time that is. The ulema and muhaddithun have discussed different possible times. But a person should try to make du'a as much as they can — for whatever hajat they have.

We find among our salaf as-salihin that they would make du'a even for the food that they needed — to that extent. The hadith we know — why is du'a considered as ibadah? Allah says:

"Implore Me, beseech Me, talk to Me about your needs, make du'a to Me." And then He says about those who are arrogant from His worship — and here ibadah is not referring to worship in the general physical sense. It is talking about those who are arrogant from making du'a, arrogant from asking Allah directly. This shows that du'a itself — something we might think of as simply reciting some words — is actually a form of worship. Because when you are asking Allah, you are displaying your humility. You are showing Allah that you are a faqir, and that you are always in constant need of Allah's mercy to encompass you. So when you are asking and making du'a to Allah, that is one of the best forms of ibadah.

And for us, since we are not on the plains of Arafah, that is one of the most important things we should do on this day. Whatever needs a person has, they should make du'a to Allah. Talk to Allah. Even if you think, "Allah knows my needs already — He knows the unseen and the seen, He knows what is hidden within our hearts" — but Allah wants you to express that need. Look at all the du'as that Nabi ﷺ made — at the time of difficulty, at the time of Badr and many different battles, when he was going through difficulty in giving da'wah. That du'a was the du'a of an 'abd. That is how a worshipper of Allah, a lover of Allah, should actually make du'a.

For us, it is not simply reciting the Arabic and wiping our hands over our faces. There has to be a ruh in that du'a itself. There must be a soul in that du'a. Make that du'a alive. Ask Allah from the bottom of your heart, whatever your needs are. Allah is the one who will fulfill those needs:

"Who is the one that responds to the person that is completely disturbed, in a state of frenzy? They are frantic, they do not know what to do." Allah, at that moment, accepts a person's du'a. So whatever a person's needs are, they should make du'a for them — especially on this day.

Allah Frees His Servants on the Day of Arafah

We have roughly about six hours before this day comes to an end. We do not know what our condition will be. As is mentioned in a hadith in Sahih Muslim, Nabi ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1348)

"There is no day in which Allah frees more slaves from the fire of Jahannam than the Day of Arafah." And Nabi ﷺ mentioned that Allah draws close to the Mala'ika and addresses them — He boasts to the angels about His slaves:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1348)

"What do these slaves want from Me?" — meaning they are asking for forgiveness and to be set free from the fire of Jahannam.

At the end, we do not know what our condition is. We do not know which of our deeds have been accepted. That is why it is necessary that a person lives their life between khauf and raja' — between fear and hope — and makes du'a excessively, especially on this day, that Allah saves us from the fire of Jahannam, makes us among those servants who are freed from the fire, and makes us among those servants with whom Allah is pleased.

May Allah give us the tawfiq to use the remainder of this day properly — in du'a, excessive ibadah, and adhkar.

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