God Consciousness | Mufti Azeemuddin | Jum'uah Khutba - August 19th, 2016

God Consciousness & Haya

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

And from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, he said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2458)

Be ashamed of Allah truly as He deserves. We said: O Messenger of Allah, we are ashamed, and all praise is due to Allah. He said: That is not the case. But to be truly ashamed of Allah means to guard the head and what it contains, to guard the stomach and what it holds, to remember death and the decaying of the body. And whoever wants the Hereafter should leave the adornment of this world. Whoever does that has been truly ashamed of Allah as He deserves.

Brothers and sisters, elders, students — السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Our Relationship with Allah

Allah, our Creator, our nourisher and provider — He is very close to us. And a person in every instance is indebted to this Lord, to this Creator. Every second of our life, we are indebted to Allah. And when a person realizes who Allah is, then his relationship with his Lord and with his benevolent Lord changes. And instead of being merely a relationship of fear and worry and concern — of, I don't want to get in trouble, I don't want to go to hell, I don't want to get punished — instead that relationship changes to that one of love, admiration and awe.

When a person really knows Allah and understands what Allah has done, continues to do, and shall always do for us, then the relationship changes to that of love and admiration, appreciation. Allah throughout the Qur'an — and over a third of the Qur'an talks about His greatness — talks about what He has done for us, what He continues to do for us. And the beautiful ways that the Qur'an describes how Allah created us in the various layers of darkness in the mother's womb, and granted us the strength that we have today. All of that is mentioned, and yet Allah says:

How sad — that human beings simply have not appreciated Allah the way He ought to be appreciated. Human beings have not appreciated Allah the way He ought to be appreciated. Everyone else we recognize has rights, that they need to be appreciated, they need to be thanked for what they do for us. But it is Allah that a person puts all the way at the bottom. A person very easily neglects and forgets and doesn't think twice — what does Allah think about this?

What Does Allah Think of Me?

My brothers and sisters, routinely we always ask ourselves: what do you think the people will say? The whole aspect of PR management, the whole aspect of public opinion — whether it's politicians, whether it's large companies, they invest so much money into this aspect because what people think of them is so important. What people view them as is so important. So they invest hundreds of millions — and at times even more — whole departments dedicated to that. But how often does a person think: what does Allah think of me? What does Allah think of my actions? And the actions of, for example, my organization or my company?

What is the actual judge whose opinion actually counts? Whose verdict actually counts? What He thinks about me is actually the deciding factor of where I'm headed. This distance is created when a person doesn't think about Allah, when a person doesn't ponder about the greatness of Allah.

So our Nabi, عليه الصلاة والسلام, came here on this earth, in this world, to take us back to Allah, to introduce us to Allah, for us to feel that love, the passion that we should feel towards our biggest, most benevolent, greatest source of all benefit that we have — al-Muhsin al-haqiqi — the one who truly is granting us blessings.

When a person reaches that and thinks about Allah and truly ponders about Him — through muraqabah, through other methods of looking at ayat kawniyyah, looking at the signs of Allah in the heavens and the earth — he will reach a level where he begins to, as I said earlier, feel shy from Allah. A person begins to feel awestruck and says: I cannot disobey Allah. Not because I am simply afraid of the punishment — that's there — but besides that, I don't want to disappoint Allah.

The Power of Haya — Modesty and Bashfulness

For example, a person who is full of rage and anger and upset over something — a young, strong man, a powerful person who could put him down walks into the room — that does not necessarily all of a sudden make him subdue his anger and forget what he was angry about. He might even say, "Hey, what did you come for? You have a problem?" He may resort to getting even more angry.

But in that fit of anger, when the person is about to spew some not-so-nice language and can't control himself — at that instance, if one's old grandmother, one's elderly mother, an elder parent, an elder grandparent, an elder teacher walks in — all of a sudden that person says, "I'll get you later, I'll take care of you later, let me just keep quiet now."

What happened? That elderly parent, that elderly grandparent is not going to hit them with a staff or push them to the ground like that younger person could have done. But instead, the relationship has changed now. It's not fear. What is this elder parent or elder grandparent going to do? It's simply that a person feels ashamed — that in front of this person, I don't want to lose my temper. I don't want to say things which are not right, which are insults. I feel ashamed that these type of words should be on my tongue in the presence of my elders, in the presence of my parents.

We see this on a daily basis — how we control ourselves, we inhibit ourselves when we see people who we respect, when we see people who we have genuine love for and appreciation for. So this, alhamdulillah, is great. Because some people don't even have that. Some people have absolutely no inhibition — whether the parent is there, the elder is there, the teacher is there. There is no haya.

And that's why the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

When you lose any sense of modesty, when you lose any sense of shame, then you may do as you like — because there is nothing going to stop you now. Shame is one of the greatest things that will hold you back. That sense of inhibition that comes within a person — "what are people going to say? If I continue to sin in this manner, this is something horrible, I don't want people to think of me like that" — that's great, alhamdulillah. If we have that within us, that is a great gift of Allah.

Because unfortunately there are people who don't have this. They will openly, gladly tell you: "I don't care what people think of me. I will sin left and right. What are you going to do about it? I treat my wife like this, I treat my kids like this, I treat my elders like this, I treat my parents like that." And you can see them — in public they disrespect their parents, in public they abuse their spouses. So for them we can only pray that Allah brings them back, because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

(Mustadrak al-Hakim, Hadith 52; also reported in al-Bayhaqi's Shu'ab al-Iman)

Modesty, bashfulness and haya, and iman — they are partners. Qurana — that which sits next to you, that's always with you — they are together. When one of them is taken away, when one of them is lifted from the heart, the other one is on its way out. Meaning, a person who has no sense of modesty and shame, of bashfulness, of inhibition — they know very well that iman is the next guest that's going to be leaving. And what's after that? Nothing. Because one of the most salient features of a Muslim, of a believer, is haya.

Haya in the Qur'an — The Daughters of Shu'ayb

This is something that the Qur'an and hadith are replete with. Allah instructed the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and when describing the daughters of Shu'ayb, peace be upon him, also talks about:

How the daughters of Shu'ayb were walking — on top of modesty, on top of a whole heap of haya. That's how much haya they had. Because this is something which is a great quality. He describes the daughters of Shu'ayb, the wife of Musa, peace be upon him — that they were an embodiment of haya.

There Is No Proper English Translation for Haya

We keep translating haya with words like modesty, bashfulness and shame — but brothers and sisters, in reality, there is no proper translation in the English language for haya. You could do all the research on it and you'll arrive at the same conclusion. Because when I use words like modesty, bashfulness, and shyness, they all have certain connotations that come with those words that are not good — certain connotations that are definitely not included in the concept of haya.

Haya is not the opposite of chivalry. Haya is not the opposite of courage. You can be very courageous, you can be the leader and a general on a battlefield, you could be a king of a country — but still you could have loads of haya. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, as we know, was the most generous person, the most honorable person — and at the same time he was of course the most fearless person.

The companions of the Prophet described in great length the fearlessness and courage that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had. There was once a loud thud, a loud noise in Medina — so loud that people came out of their homes worried. "What happened? Is Medina under attack? What's going on?" And they start looking around and worried. And the first thought was: where is our Nabi? Let's quickly go check on him. So they go and Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him, is not there. People are getting anxious and worried as they are trying to figure out where this sound came from. Then they see the Prophet riding back from the outskirts on horseback — possibly without even any type of bridle or any type of saddle, riding saddleless on this horse because there was no time.

So they say, "Ya Rasulullah, what's happening?" The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had already got up before everyone else. As soon as he heard the noise, he sat on his horse, rode out in a very hurried manner, went to the outskirts where the sound was coming from, checked it out, figured out what the problem was, and came back — while the Sahaba were still trying to figure out what happened. At a time when something really intimidated them, a loud noise in the middle of the night that they had never heard before — that is the courage of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

Yet when describing the haya of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him — the Sahaba said: if you were to see a newly wed wife, a bride, sitting in her hodaj, her carriage, or a young girl not yet married sitting in her carriage — the bashfulness she would have, the modesty she would have — the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was that modest. In the sense that if a person said something not very appropriate in front of his gathering, his face would go red out of shyness, out of bashfulness.

So you can't really find a word in the English language that will give you all of that meaning — that you've got chivalry, you've got courage, you've got generosity, and at the same time there are certain things that make your face blush, there are certain things that make you stand back. Not because you're afraid of anyone, not that you have any reason to be inhibited — but it's a beautiful concept that brings the best of everything.

Haya — A Great Branch of Iman

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, when speaking about the branches of iman, mentioned over 70 branches of our faith. But then with special mention he said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 9; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 35)

Al-haya — and that's why I just stick to the word حياء — is a very great branch of our faith. If this faith is a tree that's growing out of a seed and has over 70 branches with beautiful fruits on them, then one of the most prominent branches that comes out of this tree is the concept of haya — that a Muslim is always trying to inculcate that within himself.

The Levels of Haya

Brothers and sisters, there are many different levels of haya. A person has haya from his parents. A person has haya from his children. A person has haya from the general public. A person has haya from his teachers. A person has haya from the angels — yes, from the angels. "My angels are writing my deeds, I should have shame, I need to control myself."

Then there is haya — subhanAllah — from Allah. And it is the first and foremost one. Al-haya min Allah — that a person has this inhibition from Allah: "I don't want my Allah to see me in this situation. I don't want Allah to see me in this situation."

The Definition of Taqwa

That's why the definition of taqwa — the ulema have given:

That God consciousness simply means that your Lord should never see you where He told you not to be. He should never catch you there. That is what taqwa is. That every time — before a person makes a move, before he makes a purchase, before he makes a sale, before he or she eats something, looks somewhere, listens to something, indulges in something — ask: does Allah want me to be in this situation? Is Allah happy to see me?

Because Allah — you can never run away from Allah. Allah is always:

All well aware — khabir. Khabir is that Being who has the expertise of getting to the depth and the bottom of what's going on. Not simple 'ilm. He has excellence and He is an expert at getting to the very bottom of the most hidden thing.

Allah knows not only the secrets — akhfa — that which is even more hidden, more subtle than a secret. That which you haven't even shared with anyone, you haven't texted anyone, you haven't brought it up in pillow talk — it's between you and yourself. But you have to add Allah into this formula. Between you, yourself, and Allah. That Allah knows:

Those desires and those whisperings of the nafs, of the soul — Allah is well aware, reading and seeing it all, aware of what's happening.

Haya from Allah in Everyday Life

So when a person — subhanAllah — when a person is thinking of something, let's say a thought crosses the mind. Whether that thought is evil, thinking that this person is so sinful, looking down upon that person, debasing that person internally — or it's a lustful thought about that person. Immediately a person should think: the thought that is being processed through my mind right now — my khawatir — for Allah, it is as bright and as clear as a bright sun. It's on huge screens. What I'm thinking about this person, what thoughts are crossing my mind, what desires, if they are lustful desires, are crossing my mind — all of that is all over the place for Allah.

Other people in the room don't know. The person next to me doesn't know. The person in front of me who I'm looking at doesn't know what I'm thinking about them. But Allah is completely well aware. That's what haya from Allah does — that a person says astaghfirullah, and people say, "What happened?" "Don't worry about it." No one knows why you're saying astaghfirullah, because this is between you, yourself, and Allah.

Haya at the House of Allah — The Ka'bah

A person is visiting the house of Allah — may Allah make it easy for those who are performing Hajj, that Allah accepts it. And those who are planning to go, may Allah make it easy. May those who have not yet been able to go, may Allah also accept them soon, insha'Allah. Say ameen.

So a person goes there. He's looking at the Ka'bah for the first time on this trip. He's overwhelmed with emotion. But then his eyes fall on a non-mahram — also in tawaf — next to him, in front of him, behind him. Now what happens? People are crying next to you in the group, people around you are amazed, overtaken by emotion as they come face to face with the Ka'bah. But now we've got another problem here. Our dua was going great, our istighfar was going great, our concentration was going great — until our eyes fall upon a non-mahram.

Now no one in our group — not our parents, our wife and children, any of our friends — no one knows what's going on. But you and I and Allah. Our Allah knows what's going on. At that time immediately a person has to have haya from Allah. "Ya Allah, shame on me. This is Your house. This is Your Ka'bah. This is Your servant in the state of ihram who has come. How dare can shaitan attack me at this moment? How dare can my nafs attack me at this moment — that I have the guts and the audacity to look at haram in this place, in this sanctified place?"

If that person has haya from Allah, he will immediately be able to retreat, he will immediately be able to say, "Astaghfirullah, please forgive me ya Allah." But if a person does not have that haya, he will continue to shamelessly sin while others are saying, "Wow, mashallah, what dua he's making, look at his concentration, may Allah accept." And my brothers and sisters, we are just piling up sin after sin after sin as we're in that house, in that sacred place, shamelessly breaking the orders of Allah.

Haya in Family Relationships

When a person is speaking to his parents — and there are others there or there are not — and a person retorts back, gives a back answer that is just full of darkness, full of evil. Even if a person is alone and no one's listening — subhanAllah — a person should have haya from Allah.

A husband is scolding his wife and their little children are there. A wife is getting upset at her husband and their little children or elder children are there. A person has to have haya from Allah. "Really? Is this proper? Should I really debase my husband? Should I really belittle my wife in front of my kids? Is this exactly what type of children I want to raise — who have no respect for their parents — because I'm arguing with my spouse in front of my children?" A person has to have haya from Allah.

Haya in Positions of Power

A person who is in a position of power — you're an employer, you're a physician, you're a business owner, you are a teacher, you are a husband, you're in a position of leadership — you have an upper hand. There's a client, there's a patient, there is a customer, there is someone who is in need, an employee. And at that time you have the means to twist their arm. You have the means to emotionally, physically, financially blackmail them. You have the ability to put a price tag for what they're asking for at a hundred times more than they can afford. Because you are in a position of power. Because the reins are in your hands. Because you just feel like today is my day.

Brothers and sisters, at that time remember that Allah is watching. This person — Allah is looking at what poor situation, what despicable or horrible situation this person is in. And Allah is watching how you use that power. How you misuse or use that power — to help that person out of whatever difficulty he was going through, or to make it worse. That he was struggling and limping, and a person — Allah forbid — grabs his hand and pulls him down into the ditch instead of giving him or her a hand to lift them up. A person pushes them down.

That is very possible. We could do that. What's gonna stop us? Haya from Allah — that we are very well aware that Allah is watching. Yes, I'm in a position of power and strength and I have an ability to do something.

How many instances between marital relationships things go wrong and the husband says, "Well guess what, the right of divorce is in my hands. You see what I'm gonna do." SubhanAllah. That's not what our deen taught us. That is not what our deen taught us.

Misusing the Deen as a Tool of Tyranny

Brothers and sisters, I must add that today the deen has been used — used as a tool — for promoting our own lustful desires, for promoting our tyranny. We use hadith and Qur'an selectively to promote our understanding of tyranny. "I'm gonna use this against a poor lady, or a poor young man, or a poor young woman who believes in Allah. I can pull out the Allah card, pull out the Jahannam card, and the person will get scared." So I use these things instead of trying to practice on them or improve myself.

This is the use for emotional torture, for physical torture — believe it or not. All over — parents torturing or abusing kids, spouses doing this amongst themselves, business partners stabbing each other in the back — and all have mashallah a nice ayah of the Qur'an, a nice hadith of the Prophet, a nice statement of some scholar taken out of context from a khutbah or from some book. And each one is using this to promote their tyranny. That's not what the Qur'an was revealed for. That's not what the Sunnah of the Prophet was there for.

But when a person has no haya from Allah, there's no stopping. Deep down a person knows — Allah knows I'm wrong, I know I'm wrong — and I should not be using this verse of the Qur'an to just promote my tyranny, to envelope or cover up my tyranny in the garb of religiosity. "Well, that's what the scholars say, that's what the fatwa says." And even though a tenth of that or a hundredth of that we are not applying in our own lives.

We see this unfortunately manifest itself to the greatest extent in marital relationships, when each one is using a hadith out of context, each one is using a Qur'anic verse out of context — because there's no haya from Allah.

Who Are You in Khalwah — When Alone?

So how a person at the end of the day needs to see himself — when I am in khalwah, when I am alone, what is the condition of my heart? In public I say something, in public I'm acting in a certain manner — but at home, amongst spouse, amongst family members, amongst friends, am I the same or am I not? If we are not the same, then that tells us that whatever we do, we're doing it out of haya from the people. We are ashamed of people. But Allah, who is everywhere — when we are with people and when we are alone — unfortunately we're not afraid of Him. We're not even bashful, we're not. The level of respect: "Ya Allah, I feel guilty. I don't want You to see me. You've done so much for me."

These beautiful eyes You've given me — You could have taken them away long ago. How many people here know someone who is blind? SubhanAllah. That person can't appreciate anything, can't see whatever you and I are seeing. But Allah has given these eyes — repeatedly, day after day. If I use these very same beautiful eyes — a gift of Allah — to look at haram, to look at a non-mahram, for a sister to look at a brother, a brother to look at a sister with lust — a person has to have haya from Allah, that Allah can easily turn off the switch on these eyes. If not today, a day will come.

And maybe I'll suffer at the end of life — at the end of life I'll be looking and wondering, "Why am I suffering like this? Why is everything going haywire? Why are my children and grandchildren in this manner? Why is my spouse in this manner? Why is everything not going the way I planned?" And then, hopefully, if he or she is lucky, a person will come to realize that it was mistakes that were made 20 years ago that we're having to pay for the price now. A person did not have haya from Allah initially, and a person has to pay the price now.

A Warning from a Lawyer — The Reality Behind Public Appearances

So the safe way is that a person says — besides impressing the people, besides trying to keep a good face and good name in front of the people — subhanAllah, you know, one lawyer was telling me, another person also told me this. He said, "SubhanAllah, I feel guilty. I have such a hard time coming to the masjid." I'm sharing what he said because it hurts.

He said, "I have such a hard time coming to the masjid because I see people sometimes in the front rows of the masjid, coming early for salah, staying late after salah — and their case is with me. And I know what's going on in their homes. I know what's going on in their business. I know what type of things they're involved in. And here in front of the public, a person is putting on this image that subhanAllah, everything is fine, everything is dandy — when really things are not fine at home, when there's so much oppression, so much deceit, so much lying, corruption, and infidelity in the marriage. All sorts of things are going on at home and in the business. And then a person puts on this garb of righteousness and piety."

I can deceive you, you can deceive me, and we can cover up from each other. But my brothers and sisters, Allah's watchful eye:

Nothing is hidden from Him.

An iota's worth of sin or good deed, whether anywhere in the heavens or the earth, is not hidden from Allah.

Closing Du'a

May Allah, jalla jalaluhu, create within me and all of us here haya from Allah — bashfulness and modesty from Allah. Genuine love for Allah where we feel guilty — not only afraid of hell, but we feel guilty from breaking the orders of Allah. We feel guilty from trampling on the teachings of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. We feel guilty when we stab each other in the back, when we use harsh language, when we mistreat our parents, when we mistreat our spouse, when we mistreat our children. That we feel guilty that Allah is well aware, and Allah knows my intentions.

"Ya Allah, these eyes are a gift of Yours. These ears are a gift of Yours. This wealth, this health, these hands and feet — all a gift of Yours. Ya Allah, I feel guilty that I'm misusing them in a manner that is not liked by You. Lest it should happen that You snatch away these things from me — and then what will I do?"

So this — we have to spend some time alone, in khalwah, whether in our individual dua after salah or at home, one on one with Allah. Saying: "Ya Allah, create within me this haya. Create within me this love. Create within me this fear — that I begin to stay away from trouble because I love You, out of Your sake. Because I know when I have my phone in my hand, when I'm sitting in front of the computer, when I'm alone in my bedroom, when I'm alone in the car, when I'm alone in a private place with someone else — I know very well that You're watching and You're with me."

He is with you wherever you may be.

"Ya Allah, create this istihdar — this realization — that You're with me and within my heart." InshAllah, if we continue to make this dua and stay in the company of people who have this haya, with Allah's permission, Allah will make us from amongst those chosen servants.

I pray to Allah that He makes this a reality for us. Please move forward inshAllah and perform your Sunnah salah. Move forward and fill up the safs.