Finding Inner Peace Through The Remembrance Of Allah

Jumu'ah Khutbah — Mawlana Ahsan Syed

الحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على سيد الأنبياء والمرسلين وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين. أما بعد، قال الله تبارك وتعالى في كتابه المجيد، بعد أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم، بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم:

سبحانك لا علم لنا إلا ما علمتنا. رب اشرح لي صدري ويسر لي أمري واحلل عقدة من لساني يفقهوا قولي.

The Universal Pursuit of Peace

Each individual human being desires and wishes that the life that he has in this world go by comfortably, peacefully. In Urdu we say, chain sukoon ki zindagi — a life of peace, a life of no worry. We see that in this country as well; its motto, its slogan is the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Pursuit of happiness. Allah says in the Qur'an that those who believe in Allah and who find that peace and contentment in the dhikr of Allah — and verily, indeed, it is through the dhikr of Allah that people and hearts will find peace and contentment. What happens is sometimes we conflate certain things, we don't understand certain things, and we try to find things that are not there.

So for example, there are many who will try to find peace and find contentment in the material world. But Allah didn't put it there. Allah didn't put it there. Or at least we could say — someone may say, well look, I found some peace, I found some contentment within it — so we could say that permanent contentment, permanent peace, is not found there. Why? Because it was never put there. Yes, you may find temporary peace, you may find temporary contentment in these things. But the permanent, the ultimate, eternal peace and contentment is put somewhere else — not in where we think it is.

The Parable of Mulla Nasruddin

There is a very famous scholar whose anecdotes are quite often given — Mulla Nasruddin. Perhaps those who are older may have heard the name Mulla Nasruddin. He has some very funny anecdotes, but they are full of lessons.

So one time, some of his students, or some of the people who knew him, they found him in an area. He's just searching for something, looking for something. So they said, can we help you? What's going on? He said, I lost something, I lost something and I'm looking for it. They said, okay, we'll help you try to find it. So a couple groups of people are looking for it, looking for it, looking for it. A good number of time passes by and they can't find it. So, as often we do, we try to retrace our steps. They said, okay, where did you lose it? What happened? Could you tell us a little bit more information? He said, yeah, I lost it over there. They said, ya Allah, you lost it over there and you're looking for it here? How are you going to find it over here when you lost it over there?

Likewise, how is a person going to find peace and contentment here in the material world when Allah never put it there? Allah put it somewhere else. That person who's striving, that person who's struggling for the sake of the material world and he's giving up everything — his energy, his time, his wealth. And subhanAllah, for what? To find that peace and contentment and happiness in something where Allah never put it.

Where did Allah put it? Allah says here in the Qur'an:

It is only with the remembrance of Allah that hearts find contentment, hearts find peace.

The Analogy of Vitamins and Dhikr

There are individuals who say, we do dhikr as well — why is it that I don't find the barakah of it? Why is it that I don't feel the peace and contentment? So I say, you know, you have vitamins — Vitamin C. What's Vitamin C good for? It helps boost immunity, right? Helps protect from flu and so on.

A person who takes a Vitamin C pill one day — is he going to find the effect of it for just one day? He can't come tomorrow and say my immunity is strong. It doesn't work like that. That person will have to take it regularly, every single day. Then he'll find some benefit.

Then, if you ask him, can you show me the effect of that Vitamin C? Can you say, yeah, look at my arm, it's here? Look at my face, it's here? No, you can't find it — why? Because it's something internal. What does it do? It boosted your immunity. You become less prone to disease, less prone to different types of illnesses, depending on the vitamins you take.

So that person who is now doing dhikr every single day — regularly, consistently. If you ask him, can you show me where the effect of that dhikr is? Is it on your head? Is it on your feet? No, it's an internal thing. What will be the result of it? The result will be that he will be protected from the ill effects, the disease of the shayateen. He will become less prone to the attacks and the disease of the shayateen — waswasa.

You Cannot Expose Yourself to Harm While Expecting Full Benefit

Now, can a person who's taking vitamins — it's very interesting, Allah has made so many parallels between the physical body and the spiritual body. If a person is taking their vitamins, taking all of these beneficial things, but at the same time they're consuming things that are harmful — so here a person is taking Vitamin C, but at the same time they go out in the cold without wearing a proper jacket for the weather, and then they become sick. Can they say, man, I've been taking Vitamin C every single day for the past two years, how is it that I'm not able to protect myself? No — you didn't take the right measures and actions. If you're going out in the cold, you're going to have to make sure you wore a nice jacket appropriate for the weather.

Same thing. If a person is doing dhikr of Allah, but at the same time they're not guarding themselves and protecting themselves from sin, how do they expect that dhikr is going to give its full benefit? I don't want to say that it gives no benefit — of course, there's going to be benefit. But how is it going to bring about its full benefit?

A person who's doing dhikr every single day, but at the same time they're exposing their eyes to looking at haram. They're watching things they shouldn't be watching. They're exposing their ears to haram. They're exposing their mind to all kinds of thoughts. They're using their tongue for haram. How are you going to see the benefits and the fruits of that dhikr?

Then there are certain things that are like poison. There are degrees of it too — some things will just make your stomach bad. Certain things put a person in the grave. There are certain types of poison where a person will pass away. Likewise, there are certain things spiritually that are like poison. Maybe for a certain time it will paralyze a person. Maybe for a certain time it's going to put a person in a tight spot spiritually.

For example, if a person consumes haram — if your intake is haram, what do you think is going to happen to the spiritual self? That food that you just consumed is now part of your body. Your blood, your muscles, your bones are being mixed with those haram elements. What's going to happen to a person's spirituality? So then we wonder — why is it that in our salah we're not able to concentrate? Why is it that when we're reciting Qur'an, we're not able to connect with Allah? Have you removed all those elements from your life or not?

The Importance of Our Environment

For us here, alhamdulillah, it's almost the end of our academic year. And those students who came for the first year, the Tanweer one-year program, at this stage, many of them throughout our different classes are asking one question that's constantly being repeated: what do we do when we leave? And although for them it's quite pertinent — you spend one whole year in this type of environment — I think this is something that's important for all of us. Because mashaAllah, everyone that's here, our husnul dhann is that we're frequenting the masjid, coming for the Jumu'ah prayer and so on. What do we do when we go out?

So I say to them — after thinking about it a lot — it's about our environment. The type of environment that we're going to surround ourselves in is going to have a big impact on us. If the people around us are inclined towards haram, they're inclined towards the disobedience of Allah, what do you think is going to happen to us? So I say, you have to be careful. Make sure that you surround yourself well. Make sure you frequent the masjid. Try your best to pray as many prayers in the masjid as you can.

Think about it. If that person who's coming to the masjid five times a day — do you think he'll have the time to commit sins? And if he is committing sins, don't you think that at some point in time the haya will kick in, the sharam will kick in? I've got to go to the masjid. How am I going to be watching this? I'm going to go to the masjid soon. Am I going to come in the state of janaba? Am I going to come in the state of najasa? And then go to the masjid? At some point in time, it's going to kick in.

So I say, develop the ta'alluq with the masjid. Why? The Nabi ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 5, Hadith 1215)

The most beloved of places to Allah are the masajid. You want to build a connection with Allah? Come to the most beloved of places. Come to the masajid.

In the hadith that talks about the Day of Judgment, where there will be no shade — when the sun will be brought near — the only shade that a person will have will be under the arsh of Allah:

In that hadith, the Prophet ﷺ mentions that one of those individuals who will be under that shade is:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 660; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1031)

That individual whose heart was connected to the masjid. Whose heart being connected to the masjid doesn't mean he's in the masjid 24/7. It means that when the prayer time comes, he schedules his day around the prayers. So when he prays one prayer, it's already in the back of his mind — I have to go back for Dhuhr, I have to go back for Asr, I have to go back for Maghrib, I have to go back for Isha.

That person who's in the masjid five times — do you think he's going to be as open to the attacks of Shaytan as easily as another person who's not frequenting? Most of us, or our youth, or the young men and women going to schools, colleges, and universities — why are those confusions there? Because of the environment they've exposed themselves to. That person who's not wearing a nice warm jacket for the bitter cold weather — what's going to happen? He's exposing himself to illness and disease.

The Spiritual Environment of the Home

The second thing is the environment in the home. I've said this once before too — I cannot stress this enough. The environment in the home. As the home is a place for physical comfort — you go home, you feel at rest, you go to your bedroom, Allahu Akbar — once you call a place home, that place is where you get comfort. You come home, kick off your shoes, and subhanAllah, you feel at rest.

So just as it's a place of physical rest and comfort, it has to become a place of spiritual rest as well. Our kids, us — we go to work in the morning, our kids go to school, they come home. Okay, maybe we're finding physical rest, we find food there, there's a nice comfy bed there — but it has to be a place of spiritual comfort too. How is it that in our home, where we have that physical comfort, we're actually prone to more spiritual attack? These cell phones, laptops, TV — these are attacking us.

Here Allah says in the Qur'an:

Tell the believing men to lower their eyes. Tell the believing women to lower their eyes. That's not related to just when we go outside — that we make sure we're not looking at anyone or anything that's haram. Unfortunately, within the home, within our own hands, we have access to all kinds of things.

So now here, yes, we may be doing dhikr — we're doing la ilaha illallah, we're doing subhanAllah, we're doing tasbih, we're doing tahmid, we're doing istighfar, we're doing salawat. But at the same time, the next minute — Allah knows what we're watching. So now we become — it's cancelling it out. It's cancelling the effect of that dhikr.

Two Essential Elements: Consistent Dhikr and Guarding Against Sin

So there are two elements. The first: we have to do dhikr regularly. That's your internal spiritual nourishment. Those are your vitamins. You may not see the effect of it on your physical body, because it's something internal. You will see — but if you try to gauge the progress after one week of dhikr, most of the time these are things that come with a long-term effect.

I say to students who come here too — when they come for the first year of the Arabic program, after a week or two weeks they get so overwhelmed and say, we can't do this. I say, no — don't gauge your progress day to day. Don't gauge your progress from week to week. Gauge your progress after a month. Gauge your progress after two months. After a semester, after a trimester. Then you'll see.

The best and most effective change is that change which happens in small increments, but happens consistently. So if we want to bring about change in our home — I'm not saying go home and do some dynamic things, break down the TV and so on. SubhanAllah, it's most likely going to result in a negative impact. Rather, say: you know what, let's just sit for 5–10 minutes and let's read a hadith together. Let's have the whole family sit together and let's read Qur'an. All of us — mother, father, children — let's read 10–15 minutes together. Let's do some salawat and istighfar together as a household. Let's eat together. When I come home, I'm putting my phone away. Children — phone away.

There are cases where a young man, 16–17 years old, is so addicted to the phone that 8 hours of the day is spent on the phone. Can't communicate with anyone. Why? Because for so many years, this is what they've had — they've become addicted to it. And then we wonder, how was it that people in the past used to stay up all night in tahajjud? How was it that people used to recite Qur'an?

When you remove something, you will naturally add something. So if a person has removed the ta'alluq with the Qur'an and the dhikr of Allah, it's going to bring something else. And when you try to remove this and add dhikr of Allah, eventually what's going to happen? You will see.

Don't we have cases where people are up all night playing video games? If you understand that, it's not too difficult to understand how people would spend the whole night in tahajjud reciting Qur'an. It's because we've taken something out, and we've added something else. Our ta'alluq, our love, our connection, is with something else now.

So now, if you want to remove it — yes, individually, personally, and as a community, we have these issues. Okay, let's slowly take it out. I'm going to come home, I'm going to put my phone away. If I have to look at it, I have a set time at which I'll check for any important messages. Mom, dad, wife, children — everybody, let's put our phones away when we're home. And let's start: 10 minutes, let's read Qur'an together. 10 minutes, let's do dhikr together. We're going to have dinner together. Let's go to the masjid together. There's a program happening — let's come and listen to the lecture. There's a tafsir in our masjid — let's attend that. We have to start slowly, inshaAllah.

The most beloved actions to Allah are the ones that are done consistently and regularly, even if they are small. They are the ones that are done consistently, even if they are small.

So may Allah grant us tawfiq, inshaAllah. Change our condition for the better.

Announcements

Please pass the donation box from left to right. Donate generously. Sadaqah wards off calamities. And the Prophet ﷺ said that charity given on the day of Jumu'ah is greater than any other day. (Musannaf 'Abd al-Razzaq)

There is no curb parking. Please do not park on the curbs behind the seminary building or the Swift Highway. We have additional parking spaces in the used car lot.

Join us for our weekly programs. Team Fajr will continue tomorrow. Fajr Iqamah is at 4:45 AM. Tafsir will continue with Surah Al-Hajj on Tuesdays with Mufti Azimuddin — please register.

We have a number of programs coming up:

• A Deen Intensive starting on June 20th
• The Tanweer batch for next year starting on August 14th
• Qur'an, Islamic Studies, and Sports for boys and girls ages 6–14
• A Tarbiyah program for ages 4–5
• The Theme Weekend Program fall semester starting August 19th

For more information, visit masjidds.org/summer for details and to register.

We also have our Annual Retreat this weekend — mashaAllah, many people are here already just for the retreat. I ask and urge those who are local that you all join us as well — you, your families, anyone you know around you. Join us for this retreat. It is titled "Changing Tides of Right and Wrong: Navigating Modern Shifts in Modern Society." So many issues that we're facing today — the Muslim Ummah has always faced different trials, but we've always had places where we could discuss them and get guidance from our Masha'ikh. This is a good opportunity to find guidance on what we should do and what the issues are that we're facing. We have a list of guest scholars that will also be joining us and speaking on various topics.

The retreat will begin tonight after Salatul Asr and will continue all the way till Sunday Asr. There are programs for kids, youth, and children, along with an exclusive sister session on Sunday. Please join us tonight or whatever time you can throughout the weekend, and spread the word amongst your family and friends. JazakumAllahu Khayran.

Du'a Request

There is a du'a request for brother Zahir Sayyid. He was diagnosed with blood cancer. May Allah grant him shifa'an kamilan, 'ajilan, da'iman. Likewise, all the Muslims who may be sick, ill, or going through various difficulties — may Allah relieve them of whatever difficulties they may be going through. Whoever from our community and the Muslim Ummah has passed away, may Allah elevate their maqam and grant them Jannatul Firdaus.