True Submission to Allah (SWT) | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Opening

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ، الحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ العَالَمِينَ وَعَلَى آخِرَةِ الْمُتَّقِينَ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى أَشْرَفِ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالْمُرْسَلِينَ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ النَّبِيِّ الْأُمِّيِّ الَّذِي اسْمُهُ مَكْتُوبٌ فِي الْإِنْجِيلِ وَالتَّوْرَاةِ، أَمَّا بَعْدُ

Allah says in His noble Book, after seeking refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan:

And Allah, Exalted and Most High, says in another place:

And the Prophet ﷺ said: "The du'a of my father Ibrahim..." — as the Prophet ﷺ narrated.

The Hidden Hero of Hajj: Hajar

My dear brothers, sisters, youngsters and elders — one of the heroes of this beautiful journey of Hajj, the icon, one of the symbolic individuals that allows Hajj to be what it is, that allows the movements of Hajj to have a soul behind them, that allows the journey of Hajj to have purpose behind it — one of the hidden heroes is our great mother, Hajar, alayhi salam.

The city of Mecca was a land that had no humans, had no animals, had no vegetation:

Ibrahim, alayhi salam, says: "Ya Allah, I am leaving my family and allowing them to seek shelter in this land that has no life — مِن غَيْرِ ذِي زَرْعٍ — there is nothing here. It is absolutely empty. It's a shell."

And Allah had told him and ordered him to leave the beautiful gardens of Quds and of al-Aqsa, to bring his family on a journey without telling him where he should stop — and He told him to go, and he continued going.

The Definition of True Submission

And this is the definition of submission — that submission does not lie behind a layer of emotional connection. It lies in front of every layer of our life. Submission is accepting without reluctancy, without hesitation. Submission is when Allah said, "Ibrahim, you travel" — he said, "No problem."

Submission is when Allah said, "Leave your family here, and you cannot tell them why" — it was okay: أَسْلَمْتُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ.

Until his wife Hajar, alayhi salam, came and asked him: اللهُ أَمَرَكَ؟ — "Is this the command of Allah?"

For seventy years this man had been seeking and asking Allah for children. He was given Ishaq and he was given Ismail. Ishaq is in Quds, and Ismail — this little boy — with his mother, is left in the land of Mecca as we know it today. But at that time, nothing but rocks and mountains and hills, no sign of greenery or life, no birds chirping above trees. And he was told to leave the family. He said: I submit.

It was never سَمِعْنَا وَفَهِمْنَا — that we listen, we understand, and we obey. We listen and we obey. We listen and we take it and we submit ourselves to Allah's command. Allah's command is the greatest form of success, and breaking Allah's command is the greatest form of failure. Accepting Allah's command is earning Allah's pleasure, and removing Allah's command from our life is removing the barakah of Allah from our life.

Every command is a command that we should think of as a potential source of going to Jannah, and breaking any command of Allah should bring a sense of remorse — not guilt — into our hearts, where we are compelled to take ourselves towards seeking forgiveness from Allah.

The mercy of Allah was never a form of empowerment of sinning. The mercy of Allah was never to empower us to sin, but rather it was a form of encouragement to seek forgiveness. Many a time we take Allah's mercy, unfortunately, as a form of empowerment — that we can sin. It was a form of encouragement that we can be forgiven.

Hajar's Trust in Allah

Nonetheless, she says: اللهُ أَمَرَكَ؟ — "Is this the command of Allah?" — and instantly he nods his head. And she says: إِذَنْ لَا يُضَيِّعُنَا اللهُ أَبَدًا — "If that is the case, then Allah will never waste us. Allah will never allow us to suffer."

Because suffering and struggle in the course of Allah, in the way of Allah, is not true suffering, is not true struggle:

Struggle in the path of Allah — because that struggle is there because Allah chose you to struggle. Everyone is struggling for something, but lucky are those like you and I who are able to struggle for the pleasure of Allah.

So she is left behind in this place where there is no life, and now she has this beautiful baby child with her, and she is unable to feed him. And as any mother would — that they love their children and would go above and beyond to serve that child — mothers can see themselves suffer, but they cannot see their children suffer.

Her husband leaves her, and many would say: "How can a husband do such a thing? How can a man who has a heart do such a thing? He is heartless." No — he had a heart, because he knew that Allah was looking after them. The moment we believe that we are the caretaker is the moment we lose our trust in Allah:

There is no creation in this world, no human in this world, no individual in this world, except that Allah is responsible for us. الحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ العَالَمِينَ — our praise and gratitude belongs to Allah who is the Rabb. And in the meaning of Rabb is caretaker — He is the murabbi. He is the one who will take care of us in every moment of our life, in every struggle of our life. Allah will be there to pick us up.

Allah is the owner of everything, and He can give honor and give respect.

The Sa'i — A Movement With Purpose

Nonetheless, this mother — she runs and she moves from Safa to Marwa. Safa to Marwa. Safa to Marwa. And she continues going back and forth, looking for a traveler. And every time she goes, she stops to get back to Ismail, because she does not want to lose sight of her beloved son. And she comes back, and then she goes back, every time looking for something — though she knows there is perhaps no one there that she can see.

But there was a movement. And this movement is what we call Sa'i today — the movement between Safa and Marwa.

My dear brothers and sisters — here in Arafah, in Dhul Hijjah — a reminder for us: we need to readjust our Sa'i. We need to reaffirm what our Sa'i is for. And the definition of Sa'i is a continuous, intentional movement — and her movement was intentional. She was looking for Allah's response. She was looking up to see if Allah could hear her du'a.

My father once mentioned that since her movement was so unique, Allah responded to her du'a in a unique way. If her du'a was simply raising her hands and asking, Allah would have brought a traveler to give her water — Allah could have brought water from the clouds, as He brings water for the rest of us. But since her way of asking was so beloved to Allah — it was a part of her movement, she was making an effort in asking — so tomorrow when we make du'a, we make an effort: praying to Allah, fasting, and then asking while making that effort. That du'a has a unique level of acceptance.

Since her way of asking, her method of asking, was unique and different — the acceptance of her du'a was also unique and different. The water came from beneath — water that until today the world is benefiting from. There is no water bill for Zamzam. There is no one that pays for the water of Zamzam. It continues to fertilize the lands of Mecca in every way, and fertilize our hearts and our bodies when we go there — and nourish us and nurture us — through the movement of one lady.

Her movement — though seen by no one but Allah — is today echoed in a synchronized way by every single person that goes to Mecca. There was no clock-keeper there. There was no camera there. There were no people watching her movement except for Allah. And since Allah had recorded her movements, till today our Hajj cannot be complete until we mimic her movements.

And Allah appreciated her movement to such an extent that not only do we know where she went from — Safa and Marwa — we actually know how she did it. The process matters. It's not just about going from Safa to Marwa; it's also about how she did it, where she walked. Where she walked, we must walk. Where she ran, we must run. If we walk where she ran, or if we run where she walked, it will be reprehensible and it would not be preferred. So not only is her placement appreciated — how she did it was appreciated.

The Soul Behind the Movement

My dear brothers, youngsters and sisters — it is important for us, while we honor these great beings, that we also mimic not only the movements but also the soul behind them, the purpose behind them. It's not about whether or not we're doing something — it's about why we're doing it. It's not about whether or not we are struggling — it's why the struggle.

And when we struggle for the sake of Allah — just as Hajar struggled, and her Sa'i, her continuous movement, was for Allah — Allah brought continuous water in her life and in the life of this Ummah. When we struggle for the sake of Allah with continuity and consistency, Allah will bring His mercy and bring His blessings in a way that will never end, and it will be seen by us, our children, and our progenies.

This Hajar, alayhi salam, became the foundation of the blessed city of Mecca. We speak about how we can start a business, how we can found a community or institution, and we say: we require money, we require structure, we require infrastructure, we require personalities, we require people, we require a community. Some people are such that a child requires a community to raise them — but some people raise an entire community. And Hajar was amongst those who raised an entire community, an entire Ummah, because of her struggle — that she never knew it was going to come to fruition in this way, but she did it for the sake of Allah.

What were the ingredients that furnished and structured the community of Mecca? It wasn't wealth. It wasn't education. It wasn't personalities. It wasn't individuals. It was tears and struggle for the purpose of pleasing Allah.

So tomorrow, our tears — and tomorrow we realign our purpose and our struggle for the sake of Allah — there needs to be one point of reference, and that point of reference must be the pleasure of Allah. The moment our points of reference are colluded, our decision-making also becomes more difficult, and there is less continuity and consistency in the movements that we have in life.

The more we move for the sake of Allah, the more Allah will allow the world to move for us. When we become subservient to Allah, Allah will make the world subservient to us. It's not about what we're doing for them — it's about what we're doing for Allah. Because when we work for Allah, Allah will make the world work for us. And when we work for people, they will never respond and reciprocate us in the same way.

(Whosoever rectifies what is between him and Allah, Allah will rectify what is between him and the people.)

Whosoever rectifies their relationship and their movements for Allah — Allah will rectify the entire world for them. Because they have seen a purpose bigger than themselves. They have seen their purpose to be amongst those that struggle, that cry, that put their body and their life and everything there for the purpose of pleasing Allah.

Closing Du'a

May Allah make us amongst them. May Allah make this great day a day for us of realigning our purpose, our struggle, and our motivation. May Allah allow this motivation to take us to our last breath, and allow the last breath that we take to be synonymous with the kalima:

JazakAllah khair. May Allah bless you all.