Asking Allah (SWT) | Mufti Azeemuddin | Jum'uah Khutba - August 5th, 2016

Asking Allah Alone: The Foundation of Faith and Reliance

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم نحمده ونصلي على رسوله الكريم، أما بعد

Allah in Surah Al-Fatiha teaches us to recite, on a daily basis, multiple times — after praising Him in the first verses of Surah Al-Fatiha — we are taught to say:

"Oh Allah, we worship You alone and we seek assistance from You alone." This is one of the most core aspects of our faith — that Allah is the only one worthy of worship, because He is the only one who can truly take care of our needs. He is the only source of all fulfillment — of everything — needs that are related to this world as well as that of the Hereafter.

The Beauty of the Structure of This Verse

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ — O Allah, we are only worshipping You — and then comes after that وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ — and O Allah, we do not seek assistance from anyone besides You.

Notice the way this ayah is formed and presented. Allah does not say نَعْبُدُكَ وَنَسْتَعِينُكَ — "O Allah, we worship You and we seek assistance from You" — but instead, the object of worship and the object of istia'anah (seeking assistance), which is Allah, has been brought first. Instead of saying نَعْبُدُكَ وَنَسْتَعِينُكَ, like we say in du'a al-Qunoot:

Many of us recite this in our winter salah — اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْتَعِينُكَ — "O Allah, we seek assistance from You." There, the pronoun كَ refers to Allah. But in the Qur'an, this pronoun has been brought before the verb, and it is mentioned as إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ — "O Allah, You alone do we worship, and You alone do we seek assistance from."

Scholars explain the beauty of this: when a person is pronouncing the word نَعْبُدُ, when the person is pronouncing the word نَسْتَعِينُ — when the person is saying "I worship, I seek assistance" — even for that moment, even for that one portion of a second, there should not be any shadow of doubt. There should not be any possibility in someone's mind: "Oh, who do you worship? Who do you seek assistance from?" Not even for a moment should there be a question. Rather, it should be so set in stone — before we even get to the aspect of worshipping and the aspect of seeking assistance, we already establish: it is only Allah. Only Allah. It is only Allah that we worship, and it is only Allah — only Allah — that we seek assistance from. How beautiful is the structure of this ayah, that emphasizes the point that Allah is the source of all good, and it is only Allah that we have our attention focused towards.

The Hadith of Ibn Abbas: Ask Only Allah

The Prophet ﷺ, while with Abdullah ibn Abbas, taught him a few important principles of Islam. You've heard this hadith a number of times — each one of those principles requires large amounts of time to expound upon — so we're just going to focus on one small portion of that hadith of Abdullah ibn Abbas, when the Prophet ﷺ said: "O young boy, I am going to teach you some words, I am going to teach you some fundamentals." And one of them was احْفَظِ اللَّهَ يَحْفَظْكَ, and the second one was:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2516 — graded Hasan Sahih)

"Whenever you ask, ask Allah. And whenever you seek assistance in any affair, seek assistance from Allah." That is a core principle of our faith, brothers and sisters.

Asking is Humbling — So Only Ask Allah

Asking and begging — in begging and asking we are humbling ourselves, we are lowering ourselves. We are making ourselves dhalil. We are, at times, making ourselves despicable. We are disgracing ourselves. That is what asking does. People say, "I don't want to beg, I don't want to ask, because it looks really bad." It's true — it does look very bad. Asking and begging is something that usually does bring disgrace. And for a mu'min, for a human being first of all, it is not befitting that he be disgraced in this manner. And especially for a Muslim, it is absolutely not befitting for him or her to be disgraced, for him or her to have to face humiliation.

That is why asking has been reserved for Allah — never humble yourself, never lower yourself, never disgrace yourself by asking except in front of Allah. Because when a person asks Allah, in reality this is not disgrace — this is honor. Because Allah will never let you go empty-handed. Allah will never mock at you. Allah will not point fingers at you and say, "Why now? Why here? Why at this time? Where were you before? Didn't I tell you before?" Those types of things that you and I do to each other every day.

Someone says, "What time is it?" — "Didn't I tell you to get your own clock, get your own watch?" The smallest of things. "Can you go get some on the way out? Can you bring something for me?" — "Didn't I tell you in the morning to bring your lunch?" Anything that we ask, we always have to hear something. And if we don't, then raise the bar and ask something a bit bigger. Ask a person for $5, and if you still didn't hear it, ask him for $5,000 and see what happens.

This is the dunya — as the saying goes:

The son of Adam — if you ask him, he gets upset. Allah, on the other hand, gets angry and upset when a person refuses and rejects asking Allah.

So brothers and sisters, dhull and hawaan — disgrace — comes by asking the makhluq (creation). Allah does not want any human being, and especially the reciters of the kalimah لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَمُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ, to suffer disgrace in this world at the hands of other people.

A Beautiful Du'a of the Prophet ﷺ

That is why there is one of the beautiful du'as of the Prophet ﷺ which we should recite and learn. There are so many lessons just in reading through the supplications of the Prophet ﷺ:

"O Allah, do not allow a sinner, a transgressor, an oppressor, an evil person to have a favor upon me because of which I will have to be his prisoner — because of which I will be indebted to him in this world or the next. O Allah, do not allow any sinner, any transgressor, to shower his blessings or be kind and nice to me such that I will always have to say I am indebted to that person — and that person is a fajir. He will misuse me, he will blackmail me, he will do all sorts of things because he knows I am bound to him. He has done something for me because of which I cannot turn my back to him — I am obliged to him. O Allah, do not allow a sinner to bless me or to be kind to me in a manner that will make me indebted to him or her for eternity in this world or the next." What a powerful du'a of the Prophet ﷺ.

The Du'a of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, rahimahullah, would also make a similar du'a and he would say:

"O Allah, the way You have saved my face, the way You have saved my forehead from prostrating in front of anyone besides You, the way You have protected my forehead from being lowered in front of anyone besides You — O Allah, protect my hands from being extended in front of anyone besides You. The way You have never allowed me to put my head down in front of anyone, save me from ever having to extend my hands in begging and supplicating and trying to earn someone's favour. And O Allah, no one is capable of removing any type of harm from anyone in this world, nor bringing about any good for anyone — except Yourself. When none can do this besides You, why should we turn to anyone besides You?"

Allah Opens and Closes the Doors of Mercy

Allah says: whenever Allah chooses to give a person honor, to give a person wealth, to give a person children, to give a person a beautiful spouse, to give a person a successful business, to give a person excellent grades, to give a person an excellent career — Allah, when He chooses to open the doors of mercy for you — to give you a beautiful voice to recite Qur'an, to allow your sons and daughters to become huffadh of the Qur'an, to become ulama of the deen, to become du'at and leaders of the deen — when Allah chooses you and your family with a blessing — فَلَا مُمْسِكَ لَهَا — the entire world put together can be jealous of you, can put obstacles against you, but they will never be able to close the doors of blessing that Allah has decided to shower upon you.

وَمَا يُمْسِكْ فَلَا مُرْسِلَ لَهُ مِن بَعْدِهِ — But if Allah decides to close upon you or your family, upon myself and my family, the doors of mercy — such that masaib and difficulties and horrible, unexpected things are descending upon a person — then all the insurance companies of the world, all the lawyers of the world, all the physicians of the world, all the law enforcement agencies of the world — all of them put together cannot, cannot benefit this person in the least when Allah has decided otherwise.

That is why the Prophet ﷺ said — وَاعْلَمْ — know very well:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2516 — graded Hasan Sahih)

If the entire ummah — the millions and billions of people — gathers together to benefit you, they will never be able to benefit you except in that amount which Allah has already destined for you before you were even born. And if they all gather together to put a dent in your car, to put a dent in your career, to put a dent in your marriage, to bring down your prestige and your honor — they will never, ever be able to harm you — even though they may plot all they want — except to that amount and that extent which Allah has already written for you.

Brothers and sisters, this is the basic level of iman and yaqeen. This is the basic foundational belief in Allah — that benefit and harm, good and bad — all lies in the hands of Allah. Why would a person, after knowing this, turn to anyone besides Him? Why would we extend our hands in front of anyone besides Allah?

Allah is Near — He Answers the One Who Calls

Respected friends, our deen teaches us — the Qur'an teaches us — that Allah yearns and looks forward to the servant when he raises his hand and asks. Allah says:

"Whenever My servants ask about Me, let them know — I am very near." When Allah wants to introduce Himself to you, He doesn't introduce Himself by saying, "I am the one who is waiting to punish you at the end of the day, I am waiting at the end of your death to take you to Hell." This is not Allah's description. Allah's description is وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ.

I mentioned this before in Ramadan — in one of the nights of Tafsir — there are approximately 14 places where Allah talks about su'al (asking) in the Qur'an. Our Nabi ﷺ — when they ask you — يَسْأَلُونَكَ — approximately 14 or so places — when Allah says, "When the companions come and ask you about something — they ask you about liquor, or they ask you about gambling — tell them this." So here, Allah says: وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِي عَنِّي — "When My servants come to you, O Muhammad ﷺ, and they ask you about Me" — look how personal this is — first person — عَنِّي — "when they come and ask you about Me."

Now, if you look at the other verses where su'al has been mentioned, Allah tells the Prophet ﷺ: قُلْ — "Tell them: إِثْمُهُمَا أَكْبَرُ مِن نَّفْعِهِمَا" — "قُلْ هُوَ أَذًى" — "قُلْ قِتَالٌ فِيهِ كَبِيرٌ" — etc. Allah says, "When they ask you about X, Y, and Z, O Muhammad ﷺ, tell them this — قُلْ." But when it comes to this question — when Allah says "when My servants come and ask you about Me" — Allah does not even bring the word قُلْ. He does not say, "O Muhammad ﷺ, give them this answer." Instead, He automatically, Himself, starts answering the question — so quickly — that we don't even have the delay of the Prophet ﷺ delivering the answer. The answer comes directly: فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ — "I am very, very near."

فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ — how near? What does it mean, "near"? أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ — what else do you want? Everyone wants to have a comfortable living. Everyone wants to be successful in school. Everyone wants to have love and mahabbah within their family. Everyone wants easy sustenance. Everyone wants to remain healthy. Everyone wants their parents to have a long life. These are basic needs that we all have. So Allah says: if you want to know what I mean by being close to you and near to you — أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ — "I accept the supplication of the caller whenever he calls out to Me." إِذَا دَعَانِ — whenever he turns to Me.

What does this tell us? إِذَا دَعَانِ — that you have to turn to Allah. He says: when he turns to Me, when she turns to Me, I am waiting to accept that supplication. But if you and I decide not to turn to Him — if we decide to turn to everyone besides Allah — how do you expect Allah to bring your life together, to put your life in place the way you want it?

We Have Not Truly Dealt with Allah

Brothers and sisters, we have not done tijara (business) with Allah. We haven't dealt with Allah. We've been burnt by the rest of the world. There are people who've been burnt by friends. There are people who've been burnt by their children. Unfortunately, I must say, there are people who've been burnt by their own parents. And definitely there are people who've been burnt by cousins, friends, business partners, and hundreds and thousands of people like that. Show us one person who has been burnt by Allah. Show us one person who has dealt with Allah, done business with Allah, and saw that Allah did not fulfill His end of the deal. By Allah, you will never find that.

Allah says: who could be more truthful than Allah? "I stand by My word. You deal with Me." And that is why Allah says:

"Shall I not lead you to a business which will save you from the eternal punishment, the horrible punishment of the Akhirah?" Allah wants to do business — and actually He has already initiated the business:

Allah says — in the past tense — "I have already purchased your wealth. I have already purchased your life. And in lieu of that, I am giving you Jannah." The contract is done. Now come through — give Me your wealth, give Me your life, and Jannah is waiting. We've already done the contract. We're already locked in. And this is how the rules of fiqh are: once you have made a deal with someone and then you find a better buyer or a better deal, you cannot break through that — you cannot do iqalah — unless you have permission from the other party. Allah is saying: "I've already done the deal with you. And guess what — you go look in the marketplace, you will never find a better deal than this." You will never find anyone who says:

(Quran 6:160)

"You do one good deed — in response to that I'll give you ten rewards." You make an intention for a good deed — you get a reward. You do the good deed — you get ten rewards. You make an intention for a sin but you don't do it — you don't get any sin. And then when you repent from that intention, you do get a reward. And then — Allah forbid — when you slip and fall and do that sin, you only get one sin.

Again, I repeat: when a person makes an intention to do a good deed — a mere intention — كُتِبَتْ لَهُ حَسَنَةٌ — a good deed is already written. And then when a person follows through and does the good deed, at the very minimum عَشْرُ حَسَنَاتٍ — ten good deeds are written. And then when a person intends to do an evil — he says "I'm going to do it," but he hasn't done it — no sin is written. And then after he repents from that intention — remember, no sin was written — but once he repents from that intention, a good deed is written. And Allah forbid if he falls through and does that sin — one sin is written.

Can we find any other business like this? Deal with your children, deal with your parents, deal with your friends — do we find anyone as gracious, as merciful as Allah? As He says in the Qur'an:

"O human being, what has deceived you from your gracious Lord? Tell me — why do you turn the other way? What is so attractive here, what is so attractive over there, that you are not focused on Me? That you are so easily swayed away from Me, so easily distracted, and so easily get caught up in other things besides Me?" This is Allah's appeal to us, brothers and sisters.

Those Who Lose Hope in Allah

Allah says, regarding those people who are pessimistic and who quickly lose hope in Allah — the one who thinks "Allah will not help me" — there are multiple tafsirs of this ayah from Surah Al-Hajj. One meaning is: he should extend and hold on to the rope from the heavens — hold on to good deeds — ثُمَّ لْيَقْطَعْ — and then cut away from sin. فَلْيَنظُرْ هَلْ يُذْهِبَنَّ كَيْدُهُ مَا يَغِيظُ — and then see: do those things that were making you angry and depressed come to an end or not? Meaning, if you hold on to the rope of Allah and cut off from that evil company, cut yourself off from those evil habits — give it a try and see — do your needs get fulfilled with Allah or not?

A second meaning of this ayah is: whoever has this horrible suspicion about Allah — that Allah is not going to help him — then bring a rope from the roof, tie yourself, put a noose around your neck, then cut it — meaning, kill yourself. And the meaning is: if that is what you think of Me — you who I brought up through three layers of darkness, whom I created, for whom I have been there every second of your life — and then you casually say, "Allah is not listening to me, Allah doesn't take care of me" — how dare we utter such statements about our Lord? That is the most ungrateful thing to say. Try saying that to your mother: "You haven't done anything for me" — she who has done everything for us. Brothers and sisters, we are dealing with Allah — the One who created the love in our mothers for us.

Ask Allah for Everything — Even Your Shoelace

So coming back to where we started — the core base of our deen is istia'anah billah — seeking assistance from Allah in all sorts of affairs, things that are related to the dunya and akhirah. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3604)

"Every one of you should ask all of his needs from Allah — even your shoelace. Once it's broken, turn to Allah and ask Allah before you go to the shoe store and buy it, before you go buy anything from anywhere. Turn to Allah and say, 'My shoelace is broken.'" And some statements mention: ask Allah for salt, ask Allah for flour — at any given state, in whatever situation you are, ask Allah.

Those Who Enter Jannah in Chains

Brothers and sisters, when problems happen — depression, family issues, husband and wife not getting along, parents and children not getting along, business going bad — the lucky ones among us run to the masjid, run to the house of Allah, turn to a scholar for help. That is why Rasulullah ﷺ said in a hadith:

Allah is amazed at those people who will enter Jannah in chains. Meaning, some people don't like to come to Allah just like that. Allah has to throw a net on top of them, put them into difficulty, make them suffer — and then they come quietly, all tied up, running to Allah: "Okay Allah, I'm here. I'm going to spend the night crying now, I'm going to pray two raka'at of Salatul Hajah." But if you had told them yesterday — "You have no problems, why don't you just come pray Salatul 'Isha' in the masjid, come pray Salatul Fajr in the masjid, why don't you recite some Qur'an at home? Alhamdulillah, your life is going good, business is going great, wife and kids are happy — why not?" But no — some people just can't do it until a musibah doesn't fall upon them, until some horrible thing doesn't happen to them and their family. They won't come to the masjid, they won't get back to Allah.

So before Allah throws upon us the chains, we should gladly, willingly, and happily come to Allah. But for those of you who are going through difficulties right now, as we speak — remember, this is a net to bring you in. This is a net not to push you out, but to bring you to the masjid, to bring you close to Allah. Every difficulty that makes you say, "Ya Allah, what is going on?" — إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ — in reality this is a blessing in disguise, that it is taking you towards Allah.

Which Group Is Worthy of a Good Life?

You've got two groups. One young man, one young woman, who leads his or her life at college and high school — guarding the gaze, looking down, staying away from social media, making sure they're away from haram, making sure they don't visit haram websites, trying to keep themselves away from the internet and the evils of the internet, trying to ensure that they speak softly to their parents, don't give back answers to their parents, making sure they don't get involved in gossip and namimah. And that parent and that father who chooses to make sure that every single penny that comes into the house is from halal — does not cheat, does not lie in business, ensures that he prays salah on time at work. That mother who ensures that when she's cooking for the kids she's saying bismillah, when she's putting them to sleep she's doing it in the name of Allah, she's teaching them good morals and ethics, ensuring: "I'm going to wake my children up for salah even though they aren't getting much sleep, but I'm going to encourage them to pray at home or at the masjid. I'm going to be as worried about their deen as I am about their dunya." That's one group of people.

And there's another group of people — left and right they sin. From their eyes, from their hands and their feet, from their ears, from their nose, from their tongue — every part of theirs is involved in sin. Their earnings are halal-haram, their spending is in haram. They drink haram, they eat haram, they think haram. They have absolutely no regard for Allah — weekdays, weekends, Jumu'ah, non-Jumu'ah, Ramadan, non-Ramadan — it makes no difference for them. That their name is Ahmad and Fatima makes no difference for them. That their father was a great scholar, that their mother was a great pious lady — it makes no difference. They lead a life of sin.

Allah says: you tell Me, you be the judge — which group is more worthy of having a good life? Which group is worthy of having a safety net around them? Obviously the first group. The first group who leads a life of obedience will ensure that Allah will be for them — they will have a safe and good life, they will have an enjoyable life. And the other group that chose to break the bridges with Allah, that chose to war with Allah by committing sins — of course they're going to have a difficult life. The choice is ours.

Never let shaytan come and tell you that you have no choice — that your choice is only to indulge in interest, that your choice is only to get involved in adultery, that your only choice is to drink and be intoxicated, that you have no other choice but to lie and give and take bribes. No, my friends — all of us have a choice. Allah has clearly shown us both avenues. We are at the crossroads — every single day. Never think that you cannot earn a living except through haram. Wallahi, this is the biggest deception — the biggest deception. "My business is haram, I know that, but what can I do?" Yes, you can. You can. But you are not willing to take ownership, you are not willing to stand up and be strong.

Effort and Reliance Together

Lastly — a person came — and I'll end with this. A person came, he had an argument with someone else. The Prophet ﷺ listened to both sides and decided for one party that, for example, this belongs to you. So the person walked away and said, "Khair — I trust in Allah," and walked out. The Prophet ﷺ called him back and said: "Listen, this is wrong what you just said." Basically, "Don't play the 'Allah is watching' card right now" — and who is saying this? The Prophet ﷺ telling the sahabi: "Don't say this."

The Prophet ﷺ said: you have to be smart and hardworking. Did you bring the proof to court? Did you bring your paperwork? Did you bring all your witnesses to prove that this thing belongs to you? If you didn't do your work — and then it was decided against you — how can you just walk out and say, "Allah is watching"? You have to put in your effort. You have to put in everything you have. And then you say:

"Ya Allah, hadha ma 'alayya — this is what I have. Now the rest of it is upon You. Hadha du'a wa 'alayka al-ijabah. Hadha al-juhd wa 'alayka al-qabool."

"O Allah, I've done the du'a — acceptance is upon You. O Allah, I've done the actions — acceptance is upon You. Ya Allah, I've done my work — work for school, work for a job, to earn a halal living, to lead a halal lifestyle, to remain chaste and halal — I've done my job. Now I'm asking You to make it happen."

We cannot say "Allah is watching" and leave it at that without working hard. We must stand up — whatever situation we are in. As difficult as it may seem to come out of the haram we are involved in — Allah is watching. You put your hand up — Allah will pull you out. But if we do not put our hand up — if we sit on our hands and say, "Allah, pull me out if You want" — it is not going to happen. Allah says:

"Do you expect Me to force iman down your throat while you don't want it? I'm not going to do that. You show desire and talab — I'll pull you out."

Closing Du'a

We pray to Almighty Allah that He makes us from amongst those who turn to Allah in times of happiness and in times of difficulty — say ameen. And we pray to Allah that He saves us from extending our hands in front of anyone besides Him. We pray to Almighty Allah that He makes our hearts filled with conviction that only Allah can benefit and only Allah can harm — and none in this world, none, absolutely none, can benefit or harm us in the least. We pray to Almighty Allah that He allows us to lead a life filled with iman, die with iman, and be raised with complete iman on the Day of Judgement. Ameen, ya Rabbal 'Alameen.