We ask Allah — as this ayah is about du'a — that He allows all of us to benefit tremendously from the Book of Allah. We ask Allah that He does not allow our sins to become a barrier between us and truly benefiting from the noor of the Qur'an. We ask Allah that whatever issues we are going through in our life, we find the solutions for them and the answers to them in the Qur'an, in the dars of Qur'an. We ask Allah that He makes us amongst the lovers of the Qur'an, and the implementers of the Qur'an, and those who are able to invite people towards the Qur'an. Ameen.

The Great Declaration of Surah Ghafir, Ayah 60

Allah in Ayah number 60 of Surah al-Ghafir says:

"The Lord of all of you, O humankind, has said: Supplicate to Me, and I shall answer you. Indeed, those who are disdainful of My worship shall enter Hell, utterly humiliated."

This ayah — as I mentioned last week at the end of the dars — is an ayah that you've been hearing in your khutbah, most likely from the imam, for many years. We hope we can share some reflections and some things that the ulama have written and explained on this verse.

Let's go back a little bit. Allah mentions how people are never going to be the same — the ones who have sight and those who don't have sight can never be the same; those who have the understanding of the deen and those who don't; those who do righteous deeds and those who commit sins — they're never going to be the same. And then Allah says these people simply don't understand. The blind keeps going forward in his blindness, the sinful keeps going forward in his sin, not wanting to repent. So remember that the Day of Judgment is around the corner; the Hour of doom is coming — sooner or later you're going to have to pay the price. You might as well repent right now. How are we going to face Allah?

But then the issue is: what can we do? The majority of people simply don't even believe in the signs of Allah and they don't even believe in the coming of the Hour. Now we are up against lots of problems here. If you remember just last week, we started off with inna lansuranna rusulana — most definitely We will help and assist Our prophets and the believers. Allah's help has been promised. But where do we start from?

Well, the first thing — one of the first things — you have to start from is du'a. And this is one of the most powerful gifts Allah has given to this ummah.

Du'a: A Gift Reserved for the Prophets, Now Given to All

It is mentioned from one of the tabi'een that Allah has given this ummah something that He had reserved for the prophets of the previous ummah. And from amongst those things that were reserved for the prophets of previous nations and are now given to all of us, is a promise from Allah that: if you supplicate to Me, I will answer your call. Done deal. Just supplicate to Me, I will answer your call. Supplicate to Me and I shall answer you. This was something reserved for the prophets, and Allah then opened the door up for every single member of the ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ.

And who is saying this? This ayah — there are so many things to reflect on. Allah began this verse by making this big, bold proclamation: Your Lord has said. Your Lord has made a statement. So you need to listen to this statement. This is His farman — this is an official rule, an order has come from Allah. Listen attentively.

The Meaning of Rabb: The One Who Nurtures

Allah could have used many different names and attributes. He used the word Rabb — your caretaker. Rabb, as we know, is the one who gives you what you need at every given time, doesn't give you more than you can handle. The example the scholars give is that of a parent feeding a child — only that which the child can swallow, can nibble on, can chew — not more than that. Slowly building up from milk, then to fruit puree, and then much much later to heavier things. This is how the shoe size increases as the baby grows, how the types of toys you play with change as you grow. This is part of tarbiyah. This is called Rabb — that you nourish someone based on what they require at every given time, with tadarruj, step by step. So this word has lots of meaning of nurturing. It's not a teacher, it's not someone who just commands you or orders you — it's someone who nurtures you. This whole word of nurturing has such a beautiful meaning to it. It doesn't just shove things down your throat; instead it gives you what you need at any given time. That's the meaning of nurturing. So this is what Rububiyyah is about. Allah nurtures us. Allah gives us what we need at any given time.

If you start thinking about your own life — honestly, just the other day we were speaking about marriage. Someone was thinking about timing; many people say, "I can't get married now, I'm trying so hard," or others say, "I don't want to get married now, I'm getting a lot of proposals." If you really, truly submit yourself to Allah — and submit doesn't mean you say, "Oh ya Allah, do whatever you want" — no, you keep on asking Allah, you keep on begging Allah: ya Allah, please make that which is best for me happen. You will realize — 3 years, 5 years, 10 years down the line — why it is that you didn't get married to that person but you did get married to this person; why those 5 proposals fell through and the 6th one came through; why you wanted to get married at a certain age but it took so many more years. That job, that profession, that internship you were trying for but didn't get — the hikmah and the wisdom we may not understand at that time, but if you are sincere in your du'a and constantly begging Allah, most definitely you will see the benefit of it.

This is the trust you have to have in Allah. And any of you who have this trust and made du'a to Allah — I know you're sitting here nodding your head saying, "I know exactly what you're talking about." But if we've never tried that, then we're going to be always flustered and frustrated and upset — "Why aren't things happening?" So understand: trust that Allah is your Rabb. He knows what you and I don't know about our own selves and about our own future. There is a reason why everything happens at its given time.

I want all of us to seriously reflect right now for a second — if you can think of one thing in your life that you were really hoping for, really begging for, and you either didn't get it at all till now, or you got it much later, or you got it in a different form — think about the wisdom of Allah in that. Thoughts are just coming back to back in my own mind right now — various things in my own personal life. I wanted it this way but it didn't happen; I wanted it this way but it didn't happen. And at that time you get really upset, frustrated: "Why is it not going the way I want?" But little do you know that Allah is not only fully in control, but He loves you, He cares for you, He will definitely make a decision that's best for you. But you have to have trust in Him. You have to have good expectations from Him.

Why is there a delay? You don't know. That's why there is a du'a:

O the One who — if You choose to hold back something, none can bring it forth; and if You choose to bring something close, none can push it far away. Right? That's Allah.

The Crisis of External Religion Without Internal Conviction

But in order to gain the full benefit — remember last week we talked about sabr, that was an important topic. We said just doing sabr always is not enough. Sabr doesn't mean you don't change your life and you just keep getting whipped — that's not called sabr, that's straight up punishment. Sabr is when you repent from something and then you say, "Allah, please forgive me for what happened," and you remain patient while crying over what you did in the past. That's called sabr — that's beneficial sabr. But if a person does not repent and he keeps saying, "Oh I guess I'll just do sabr," no — that doesn't count as sabr; you're just getting punished. There's no benefit in that.

Similarly, when a person says, "I'll just do tawakkul 'ala Allah — I'll leave it upon Allah" — how much time have you actually spent asking Allah, making du'a to Allah?

SubhanAllah, this ayah is so important for me, so important for you, so important for our parents, so important for our children, so important for our spouses, so important for the ummah, so important for the students here. What is it? We are most in need right now of du'a. Really, really, really in need of du'a. And the only way you will make lots and lots of du'a is if you truly trust Allah, if you truly believe in Him.

We have a very serious crisis: the crisis is that deen has become just mazahir of deen — outward manifestations. Like, for example, you have a fake fruit basket that people purchase — fake roses that look beautiful from far, but when you come close you see they're plastic. They don't smell, the petals don't fall off, you don't need to water them. When you come close, you see there's no real beauty — just external beauty from the outside. Our deen, my deen, has become like that.

You'll see SubhanAllah the masjid full for Jumu'ah, full for Eid, but for daily salah — very few. And those who do pray — look at my condition. After salah, how many of us feel, "Okay, you know what, I'm in the right place; Allah allowed me to come to the masjid for Isha, for Fajr — now let me sit down." I cannot imagine any of you sitting here saying, "I don't have a bunch of problems." There is not a single person listening to me right now who does not have a huge laundry list of problems. But what are we doing about it? We're usually complaining to other people, grumpy about it, getting depressed about it, feeling angry about it, resorting to sin because of it — "I need to get the steam out through this or that because I'm stressed out." Someone's taking drugs, someone's smoking, someone's drinking, someone's gambling — what not. That doesn't help anything.

What our deen has taught us is that to solve your problems, you've got only one place. They say: how far are you from the solution to your problem? The distance between your forehead and the ground. That's it. The distance between your forehead and the ground is the distance between you and your problem being solved.

The Condition of Our Du'a After Salah

So now look at the condition of our own selves — let's not look at other people. How long are we motivated to raise our hands and make du'a after salah? That's the sad part. The day when our masajid become such that not only are they filled, but no one moves until we have all made our supplication — if it's a fard salah after which there is sunnah, then you make the longer du'a after the sunnah and a short du'a after fard; and if there is a salah after which there is no sunnah, then you sit and make that long du'a right then and there.

Who's going to sit and make du'a? The only person who's going to sit there and speak with his hands raised is the one who truly believes there is a God listening to him. You can't do that if you don't believe it. The only reason you're going to do that is if you have conviction that you're not speaking to a wall — you're speaking to someone who is closer to you than your jugular vein, someone who has full control of every aspect — not only of your life, but your spouse's life, your child's life, your parent's life, your sibling's life, your boss's life. Every aspect of your life is fully 100% in the control of this Being. And now He is giving you an opportunity to ask from Him.

And He says — as the Prophet ﷺ said — that du'a is accepted after every fard salah and in the last third of the night. That is why the Companions — when they had needs, when they had a problem at hand — they'd say, "Okay, it's 8:35. You've got a big issue? Let me wait till 9:30." What's happening at 9:30? Isha. After Isha is du'a time. That's when the next wide door is open from Allah — although Allah's door is open at all times, but if you want express delivery, overnight delivery — it's going to happen after Isha.

So they would literally wait for the next fard salah. When it comes to Yusuf's story — when they all came begging forgiveness from Yaqub, what did he say? He said, "I will soon seek forgiveness from Allah for you all." The ulama say he was waiting for tahajjud time, and another opinion is that he was waiting for the night of Jumu'ah. Where does that yaqeen and conviction exist in the ummah today?

That's what I'm talking about — when you have 600 or a thousand people for Jumu'ah, and after the khatib is done and the salah is completed, each one is lost, it should be: this is Jumu'ah, once a week, this is the place — I am not going to leave my Jumu'ah until I present my case in front of Allah. But why is the ummah not doing it? Ask yourself. It's not like you're going anywhere fast — you're going to get stuck in the parking lot, stuck in the shoe area, stuck talking to people, stuck purchasing lunch. What's going on? The conviction and yaqeen that Allah is with me, listening to me, and He is genuinely the only one fully capable of fulfilling my needs — that yaqeen and conviction is not there. It's slightly there. It's intellectually present — "Yeah, does Allah listen? Of course." But the action is not there, because that level of iman in the heart to push a person to raise his hands is, unfortunately, not there. It's enough, alhamdulillah, to get him to the masjid, it's enough to get him to Jumu'ah — but it's not enough to get him to raise his hands. That's what we're talking about.

Du'a: The True Powerhouse

Right now, what does the ummah need? What does your house need? What does my house need? What do our institutions need? We all need — my dear friends, and I hope you and I become like this — people who make lots and lots of du'a. We have volunteer groups for different occasions, different fundraisers, different political campaigns, different projects. Every single project and every single campaign needs a volunteer group of du'a, and we should be eager to join that group, because that is the true powerhouse that will make things happen. Otherwise, all the external things — who wins a campaign? Whoever got more money. We obviously don't have more money. Whoever owns the media waves — we don't have that either. What are you supposed to do?

We have something that no one else has: that is iman and yaqeen in du'a. When you have that, you literally can beat everyone else at the race. But that doesn't mean you don't use asbab — we use the means. But we have our afterburners — we have this extra powerful thing called du'a. That even with small asbab, Allah will grant us success that people of large asbab will never get. This is the test for us, which we are badly failing.

Even if this group of people listening to me right now — if each one of us says in this gathering: Ya Allah, make me a person of du'a. Ya Allah, do not allow me to stand up from salah until I have made a du'a. Do not let me leave the masjid without asking You. Do not deprive me of Fajr with du'a, Isha with du'a, tahajjud with du'a. This is sufficient to change the condition of millions of people. Even if a hundred, two hundred people stand up and say, "We are going to dedicate half an hour, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes begging Allah" — my beloved friends, you know the thing is, Allah gives you two things through du'a — many things, many barakah through du'a — but one is: du'a is ibadah itself. As soon as a person makes du'a, he has already become an abid. And that is a manifestation of your yaqeen in your heart.

The only one who is going to stay after Isha, after twenty rak'aat of Taraweeh — who stays back for the next ten minutes of du'a? It's 0.01% of people. It's a Ramadan night! You can eat your food later, you can drink your leftovers afterwards. There's no rush at home — let me just sit and make ten minutes of du'a in a quiet masjid. But do we get that tawfiq? We see how few, few, few will stay back.

So those who are blessed to make du'a — what are they? They have become arif and abid — they are people who know Allah, who recognize Allah. If you are making du'a, you know Allah — because if you don't know Allah, you will never be able to make du'a. That's one thing. The second gift is: by doing du'a, after you become an abid and arif, Allah promises you that He fulfills it. And when your du'a gets fulfilled, your yaqeen increases. That's the second gift.

Now, sadly, what happens is — when you tell someone, "Sheikh, my problem got solved! I was making so much du'a and today, miraculously, alhamdulillah, this happened!" — I'm sure many of us have hopefully experienced this — you tell someone with weak yaqeen, and they say, "Oh come on, that happened because of something else. It's the medicine you took. It was just a matter of time. It was just the weather." This is an even worse situation — that there is a person who has built his trust in Allah through du'a, and now a Muslim will listen to that and instead of saying, "MashaAllah, may Allah give me yaqeen like that," he will actually try to ruin this man's yaqeen and make him attribute it to one of the asbab of the dunya. He has an allergic reaction when you attribute something to the power of du'a. Have you seen that? You get a reaction: "Oh no, how can you attribute something to just raising your hands and talking in thin air?" Who's saying this? Muslims — not one or two, a massive amount.

Maybe we are one of those people. If someone says, "MashaAllah, through the power of du'a I got it," we say, "Yeah brother, but why you say that?" Why can't you simply say: "Yes, du'a is more powerful than any medicine. Yes, du'a is more powerful than any contacts. Yes, du'a is more powerful than any credit card. Yes, du'a is more powerful than any grade. Du'a is more powerful than any intelligence." Just say it. You're not there at that level, your yaqeen is not there — but just say it. If you keep on saying it, one day hopefully you'll get it. But don't be someone who comes and ruins someone else's yaqeen.

The Yaqeen of Children

Have you seen how much yaqeen little kids have? Try this at home — if you have a 2 or 3 year old at home and he gets hurt, he's crying, screaming — wallahi, just try this at home: put your hand on him and read du'a. Within 30 seconds he'll stop crying. It's not magic, it's not a placebo effect — it's the child's yaqeen that my baba or my mom is reading du'a and Allah is the doer. The child has not been polluted yet, he's still innocent. So his yaqeen is pure. And Allah will treat you based on your yaqeen. So when you put your hand on him and read — but you yourself are saying in your heart, "I don't know what's going to happen; let me just read this du'a, but bring the medicine in the meantime" — by the time you finish reading, the child says, "Baba, my headache is gone, fever is gone." Does it always happen? Not necessarily. But what we can say is: when it does happen, attribute it towards the du'a. Yes, you took the medicine too, but the medicine only worked because Allah willed it. We have more trust in pharmaceutical companies — that make billions off of us with all their lobbying — than we have in du'a. And we have more trust in them than we have in Allah. That is why the ummah is in such a terrible situation.

Dua as Ibadah: The Core of All Worship

Yes, we've got to get our salah intact, but the guys who are praying salah as well — where is our du'a? That is the question. If we start making du'a, the people who are praying — especially those who pray in the masjid — then the ones who are praying at home will start coming to the masjid. And then when they start making du'a, the people who don't pray will also start praying. And before you know it, the world will change. In every situation, all difficult conditions will be turned from difficult towards goodness.

There is a statement — an athar — from one of the Sahabah, in which he says:

"A time of fitna and trials will come in this world — and the only one who will be saved from the trial and fitna will be the one who supplicates to Allah the way a drowning man begs Allah."

Hopefully you have never gotten close to drowning. But those of you who have ever seen someone — you know how it is. It could be a swimming pool, a lake, a river — you are helpless and death is literally seconds away. Imagine the yaqeen and the conviction and the humility in a person who says, "Ya Allah, please save me! I promise I'll change, just save me!" That level of conviction, that level of humility — the Sahabi says that a time of fitna and trial will come in this ummah where everyone will be losing their blessings from Allah, except for the one who begs Allah with the sincerity, the humility, and the conviction that a drowning man has.

I think we've arrived at that time. We see people leaving the fold of Islam, people leaving the deen, children being disobedient, the ummah being afflicted left and right — from England to Bangladesh to what's happening here, all over the place. What can we do? We don't even know where to start from. What's the solution? The number one solution is we start a regiment: "InshAllah, I'm going to spend 15 minutes — 5 minutes after 3 salahs — or one shot, 15 minutes a day."

And you know they say, "The journey is the destination at times." Du'a is the destination itself. If anyone of us after listening to this begins to make du'a — 15 minutes a day, 20 minutes a day, 10 minutes a day — honestly, you're successful right there before you even get whatever you're asking for. Just the fact that you got motivated to beg Allah — game over. You've arrived. Now anything that you get on top of that is all extras. Because this is what you call ibadah — and not just any ibadah — the highest form of ibadah.

What is the difference between all the other ibadah and du'a? All of the ibadah have a specific time — salah has its five times, and there are times when you cannot pray; there are times when a person cannot fast; you cannot do Hajj outside of the ayyam al-hajj, and so forth. Du'a is something which can be done anytime, anywhere, anyhow, wherever you are — standing in a train with no space on the subway, you're making du'a; waiting at the doctor's office, you're making du'a; sitting in front of your manager trying to get a raise or a day off, you're making du'a. That's it.

The Names of Allah and the Power of Du'a

My beloved brothers — I love to hear stories of people who honestly have this yaqeen. Once in a while someone shares a story, and it increases our own yaqeen. One student from the summer intensive sent me a message — he said one of the adhkar I always share with students, taught to me by my teachers, is:

Ya Allah, Ya Wahhab, Ya Fattah — three names of Allah. And if a person is in any situation — stuck — turn to Allah with these names.

Allah says:

"To Allah belong the most beautiful names, so supplicate to Him through them." There is something for every occasion.

InshAllah I would like to share with you a beautiful news: our Team Fajr program — the Saturday morning Team Fajr that we have here — alhamdulillah for many years. We just covered three sessions on the shaytan as explained in Qur'an and hadith, alhamdulillah we completed that. And now from this Saturday onwards, bi idhnillahi ta'ala, we will be starting a new series on the Names of Allah — and this is something many brothers have been asking me for a long time. And inshAllah, hopefully this will be a beautiful series.

There is a khususiyyah and a speciality with each name of Allah, each name to be used in a different situation. For example, someone suffering a fracture: Ya Jabir, ya Jabir al-adhm al-kasir — O the Joiner of broken bones. Someone worried about a relationship that has fallen apart: Ya Mu'allif al-Qulub — O the Joiner of hearts. There is something for everything.

What does Wahhab mean? The one who gives gifts. And Fattah — the Opener. Look, brothers — this is for everything. Turn. So a brother says: "I went to go buy a pair of glasses, I needed two pairs. They were so expensive — five hundred dollars — I said I can't afford it, give me a discount. He said okay, I'll give you this one for two hundred and twenty." Then he said, "I just remembered — I should start doing dhikr." He's sitting in a random eyeglass store, he started doing dhikr. Then subhanAllah — all of a sudden the brother said, "I'll give you an upgraded edition with this type of lens — all this — for one hundred and forty dollars." And this is not the streets of India or Pakistan doing back and forth bargaining — this is a normal corporate eyeglass store. So he immediately messaged me and said, "SubhanAllah, I was making this dhikr and Allah gave it to me."

Now a person who doesn't have yaqeen says, "Brother, he probably found some coupon." But how did he find that coupon? Why didn't he find it before? The man said, "I asked once and he said, 'This is the discount, I'll give you five dollars off.' Then I quietly started doing dhikr." My point is — this is the difference between the one who asks Allah and the one who doesn't. You are literally, perpetually in the state of remembrance of Allah. Now you tell me — he's in the mall, but he has more yaqeen in Allah than the guy who prayed Isha in the masjid and ran out. The guy in the eyeglass store is making du'a, and the guy in the masjid is running. What's going on?

The Two Gifts of Du'a and Allah's Promise

This is where Allah is telling us: your Rabb, the one who cares for you, has made this declaration — just supplicate to Me, and I promise I'll take care of your things. That's why one Sahabi — it is an athar — says:

"Whoever has been given the gift of asking will definitely be given the gift of acceptance."

Look at the deal Allah says. This is my end: ud'uni — you ask Me. Condition: astajib lakum — I'll give it to you. This is a conditional statement — you ask Me, I'll give it to you. So if you do the first part, Allah has to do the second part. If you've been given the gift of asking, Allah will definitely give you the gift of acceptance.

So this is again a reminder — to myself first and foremost, and to everyone here. We're living in very challenging times. And no matter what school we put our kids in, no matter what program we put our kids in, nothing is going to save them besides Allah. Nothing is going to save me — forget my kids — nothing is going to save me besides Allah. That is where a person has to truly start increasing in his du'a at this time.

Protecting the Mind and Heart from Shaytan

One of the du'as that one of my teachers mentioned — he said: Ya Allah, Iblis, Shaytan — very powerful taqa, a very powerful force, a very powerful creation — but at the end of the day, this creation is a creation. Ya Allah, I beg You to keep my mind and my heart free from the grasp of Iblis. This is such an important du'a, beloved brothers. Make this du'a regularly: that ya Allah, do not allow Iblis and his armies to take control of my mind or my heart — when he starts putting in bad thoughts, when he starts infiltrating with shahawat and lustful things, when he starts putting doubts about the deen, when he starts making us prefer bad friends over good friends, when he starts making us say inappropriate things about the deen — that is when we have lost control of our mind and our heart.

Shaytan flows through your veins the way blood flows through your veins. How are we going to control our heart and our mind? Allah says:

"Indeed, Allah is the one who comes between a person and his heart." There is no one who can protect our heart from the influence of Shaytan except for Allah. Make this du'a: Ya Allah, protect my mind and my heart from the influence of Shaytan, from the tasallut of Shaytan — where Shaytan comes and takes it over and makes us do things the way he wants.

Allah's Introduction of Himself: "I Am Near"

Allah in another place says:

"And when My servants ask you about Me — indeed I am near. I respond to the call of the one who calls out to Me whenever he calls. So let them respond to Me and believe in Me, so that they may be rightly guided."

You heard this from Surah al-Baqarah. When my servants — or Rasulullah ﷺ — they ask you about me, they could be asking: Who is your God? What's His name? Has He always been there? Will He come to an end? Does He have any partners? It could be anything — a list of questions. Allah doesn't enumerate them. He says: whenever they ask you about Me — most places in the Qur'an, Allah says "qul — say," followed by the answer. This is the only place in the Qur'an where, when they ask, Allah does not say "say" — instead, He answers it Himself. What does He want to be known as? Close. Qareeb. Imagine that, brothers — how much love for Allah should increase in our hearts as we hear this. He did not even say to His Prophet, "You answer it." He Himself answers this question. Okay, now close — what does "close" mean? He explains it: I respond to the call of the one who calls out to Me whenever he calls. So in this ayah as well, Allah makes this beautiful appeal to us. Just simply start asking.

The Prophet ﷺ used this ayah and explained it in a hadith as the tafsir of this ayah:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3372; Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 1479)

"Du'a — it is worship." And then he recited this ayah as proof.

Look here — how is it that Allah asked us to supplicate to Him? He says, "Supplicate, make du'a, raise your hands, make du'a." Then He says, "Indeed those who arrogantly turn away from My..." — it doesn't say du'a here, it says ibadah — worship. So du'a was mentioned, and then it says those who turn away from ibadah will enter hellfire. Allah has interchangeably used du'a and worship. This is what the Prophet ﷺ is explaining — that du'a is ibadah.

Making Du'a After Every Good Deed

So now, my beloved friends — when a person does Hajj, when a person does Umrah, when a person gives Zakat, gives Sadaqah, finishes reciting the Qur'an, finishes doing dhikr, finishes performing salah, finishes feeding the poor, finishes helping a neighbor — these are all a'mal. What should we be doing after that? As soon as we do a good deed, we should be making du'a: Ya Allah, please accept it. I just completed helping my neighbor — I cooked some food and dropped it off — this is the time to make du'a: Ya Allah, accept this. Make it a means of my forgiveness.

Because the Nabi ﷺ says du'a is the essence of ibadah — like the essence of a banana is not in the peel; the essence is the fruit inside. When a person does all the salah, dhikr, a'mal — but doesn't do du'a — one example could be: you took the banana, kept the peel, and threw away what was inside. Meaning: I'm going to do the ibadah, but the actual du'a part, we'll skip it. I don't know how Shaytan has misled us so badly.

A Lesson from Malaysia: The Culture of Du'a

I was in Malaysia over the summer for a week or ten days, alhamdulillah. One thing — they have many jobs, corporate jobs. I was in a masjid in the midst of corporate people, mostly US-educated, mashAllah extremely accomplished. No matter which masjid you go to, after every single salah, no one stands up. Seriously — could be 500 people, could be 200 people, everyone sits and completes the adhkar, all the duas. Sometimes after Fajr and after many salahs, it's about 7 or 8 minutes — first they do adhkar, then the imam raises his hand and makes du'a in Arabic, and the majority of the population does not even understand Arabic. And I was just so moved to see the environment of du'a there.

And here — the opposite environment. Yes, collective du'a together with hands raised after every salah is definitely not from the Sunnah — no one is saying that. So consistently and constantly doing it to an extent that everyone thinks it's fard is not good. But I think we've done an overcorrection — now it seems any new Muslim will come in and literally think that as soon as the imam says salam, you jump up and run out of the mosque as if there's a fire alarm. That's how people run out of masajid — from Jumu'ah, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha — everyone's running. And you wonder: where are you running? Nowhere to go. This is an overcorrection, brother. This is not Sunnah.

And now we're in a big mess. The duas that I know today — I give credit to my ustaz, who, when I was 6, 7, 8 years old, after every salah would make du'a out loud. I literally memorized duas from childhood that most of us would never know, simply by listening to him recite them. I didn't even know the meanings at that time — that's not why it was done. Ta'liman — the du'a after salah should be done out loud to teach the people. So we should sit. But there's such an aversion to sitting, and honestly, not everyone has studied this whole topic and says "it's bid'ah." I know most people do it out of dekha dekhi — because they want to take the easy route. Okay, this guy's standing, so let me stand. And then we say, what is this? This is not a new madhhab. There is no madhhab that tells you to run after salah. Honestly, there's no madhhab that says that. Any righteous scholar from any madhhab will emphasize the importance of du'a — how could you not? When there are so many, so many instructions of the Prophet ﷺ to not leave your spot after salah without making du'a.

This Saturday we talked about one du'a after Fajr — if a person recites it 10 times after Fajr salah, one of the rewards mentioned is that for the entire day Allah will grant him protection from Shaytan. And what's mentioned in the hadith is that this should be done without getting up from his spot, without folding his legs — meaning if you're in the tashahhud position, sit in that position and recite it before you move. There is barakah in sitting in your exact same spot and making du'a. This is something I pray I'm able to bring into my own life, and I hope we can all start immediately tonight.

Force yourself. And I tell the students — if you care about one another, just tap the other guy: "Hey, sit." That's it. We all need reminders. I need a reminder, you need a reminder. Just tell each other: let's just sit one minute, one and a half minutes — your own personal du'a. Make a habit of it.

The One in Absolute Need: Being Mudtar Before Allah

Allah — what does He say? Those who disdainfully turn away from My worship — what's going to happen to them? They shall enter hellfire, utterly humiliated. Beloved brothers, we need to understand that sometimes our du'as seem not to be getting accepted. Why? One explanation: Allah says:

"Who is it that responds to the one in absolute desperate need when he calls out, and removes the difficulty?"

The mudtar is the one who finds all doors closed. He has lost hope in every door except that one door, lost hope in all means except the One who is in control of the means. He feels absolutely helpless, and now absolutely humiliated in front of Allah he says, "Ya Allah, I need Your help." Then Allah says He will accept and remove the difficulty.

So the ulama say: ask yourselves — are you mudtar? When you're asking Allah, are you saying, "Ya Allah, if You want to give it to me, give it to me. If You don't, it's okay, I'm alright"? Allah is not going to give it to you like that. It has to be: Ya Allah, I'm not putting my hands down until You give me this. I need it, I need it now, I need it every day. And what is most of the time this type of du'a we're making? Only for our dunya. The biggest du'a we need to be making is for our hidayah — for our protection from leaving the deen, for protection from any of us committing haram.

The Humility of Nooruddin in Du'a

The ulama have mentioned that when a person wants to start something — like the story of Nooruddin against the Crusades — it is mentioned that one of the du'as attributed towards him, after begging Allah all night, is that he mentioned in his du'a:

"O Allah, who is this dog Nooruddin that he deserves Your help? He doesn't deserve You. He's not worthy. He shouldn't even be asking You." That is how zalil and disgraced he made himself in front of Allah. And that's when you go high — the more you make yourself lowly before Allah, the higher your station rises with Him.

We're not supposed to disgrace ourselves in front of people — never. But in front of Allah, the more you humble yourself, the higher you raise. Ya Allah ana faqeer wa Anta al-Ghani. Ya Allah, I am in complete need — You are free of all need. Ana al-makhluq wa Anta al-Khaliq. Ana al-da'if wa Anta al-Qawi. Ana al-zalil wa Anta al-Aziz. Ya Allah, I am disgraced — You are the most honorable. I am the poorest — You are the wealthiest. I am the created — You are the Creator. I am the one being nurtured — You are the Rabb.

The more a person humbles himself before Allah — that is what Allah wants to see. That: Ya Allah, I am not going to be able to bring one dollar home through my job, through my education, through my certificate — this is all apparent, it looks like it, but it's nothing. The ruh in it, the soul in it, comes only from You. Until we do not ask Allah like this, things are not going to change.

Absolving Yourself from Asbab

And this is one of the beautiful du'as:

"O Allah, I absolve myself from all my knowledge, all my strength, all those around me — I have nobody. I have come to You naked, alone, without knowledge, without physical strength, without spiritual strength, without emotional strength — nothing. And I turn to Your strength, Your knowledge, Your power. O the Most Powerful."

I bank on You. I don't bank on myself. When a person truly absolves himself and says, "I've got nothing" — ask yourself: when is the last time you did that? A physician saying, "People call me a doctor — I'm nothing. What shifa am I going to give? I can't even treat myself. I can't stop my own bleeding. How can I give shifa to anyone else? Ya Allah, You put shifa in my hands. I'm nobody. Yes, I studied for 15 years — so what? Shifa is in Your hands." A mechanic: "Ya Allah, I know nothing. I trust only in You to get me through." A warrior: "Ya Allah, put effect into what I'm doing." Similarly in every situation — when facing an interview, a boss, a public presentation — when a person says, "Ya Allah, I'm nothing" — that is what Allah wants to hear.

And this is what لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ means — why it is such a powerful dhikr. There is no strength and no power to protect ourselves from sin, and no strength and no power to allow me to do any good, except for the power and strength that comes from Allah.

When the Muslim ummah will rise up like this — everyone puts their ego six feet under, puts their degree six feet under, their money six feet under — and says, "Ya Allah, my money doesn't do, my degree doesn't do, my fame doesn't do, my charisma doesn't do, my oratory skills don't do, my beautiful nature doesn't do — nothing. It all 100% depends upon You" — then you will see how much love will come between husband and wife, between parents and children, how successfully teachers will teach, how amazing students will become. Whatever profession you're in, 24/7 you'll see Allah will start giving you success.

One physician, mashAllah, a young man, was telling me: "Alhamdulillah, I will go make rounds. Residents are there, sometimes the chief resident, discussing a patient. I walk in and within 30 seconds, without even seeing the reports, I say, 'This is what the problem is.' And subhanAllah, 10 or 20 minutes later they'll say, 'We've been studying this for the past hour and you just walked in — and exactly what you said makes the most sense.'" I said, "How does this happen?" He said, "In Umrah and in Hajj, in tawaf, I made this du'a: Ya Allah, give me the sixth sense — that when I see a patient, out of Your miraculous power, I should know what the actual problem is and be able to give proper treatment immediately."

No one says don't study medicine. No one says don't do residencies and fellowships. We say: ya Allah, my medicine doesn't do anything — it's You who have the power. Like that in engineering, in IT, in business, in marketing — it's only You. That is what Allah wants to see: that we absolve ourselves of all asbab, we use the asbab but we don't trust in it.

True Tawakkul: The Man on the Raft

My beloved friends, they say: if you want Allah's help, then your yaqeen in the means in your hand and the means not in your hand has got to be the same. If I remember correctly, Imam al-Ghazali mentions the example of a person who is on a raft in the middle of the ocean — on a raft in the middle of the Pacific, waiting for some big cruise ship to pass by so he can get saved. He's got no satellite phone, no food, only saltwater. How he must be begging Allah in the middle of the Pacific — the level of yaqeen he has on Allah at that time.

And the man sitting inside his house, with his wife and kids surrounding him and his money at his feet — he says those two people must have the same level of yaqeen on Allah. That's what Allah wants from us. In the presence of all your means, in the midst of your home, you should never for one instant think that you have a better chance of success than the guy on the raft in the middle of nowhere. This is what tawakkul on Allah is. This is what you call powerful yaqeen on Allah. SubhanAllah — how far am I from that? When we bring that into our lives, then we will see things start falling into place.

Du'a as Therapy

My beloved friends — everyone wants to go to a therapist, a psychiatrist. There's a huge need for therapy, a huge need for psychiatry, a huge need for counseling, a huge need for everything. By all means — but before and after and during all of this, the number one need we have is to start pouring our heart out in du'a. Do you realize how powerful the therapeutic power of du'a is? Those of you who have tried it — you know what it is. When you sit and cry your heart out in front of Allah, the way a person feels like a mountain has come off his chest — it is the most powerful, most amazing thing. If you haven't tried it, try it. The cheapest, most effective way. I'm not saying don't try those other things — you must do those as well. Sometimes you definitely need to talk to someone who can help reconfigure the way you approach life. But let's start with du'a.

The Nabi ﷺ — and Allah says — every single night He descends to the first heaven in a manner that befits Allah, and instead of you saying, "Ya Allah, I need You," He is the one asking: "Is there anyone who has anything to ask? I'm ready to give. Is there anyone who needs to seek forgiveness? I'm ready to forgive you." Allahu Akbar — Allah is asking, instead of the other way around. Every single night the doors are open: "Who's got something to ask? Come."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1145; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 758)

But unfortunately — where is the rush? That's why our madrasas have become empty, our tabligh has become empty, our khanqahs have become empty, our organizations have become empty, because of the lack of crying — the lack of crying. Mawlana Inamul Hasan al-Kandhalawi rahimahullah — he would say, it's a well-known statement. In the Nizamuddin Markaz, it is reported that one day — 2, 3, or 4 am, before Fajr — he came out, looked, and went back. And the next morning when he spoke, very few words — he spoke very little but his dhikr was overflowing. Those few words were so powerful. He would speak not more than 4 to 5 minutes literally, but you would see half the crowd crying like babies — all old men, just breaking down crying. What is that? That is the dhikr behind those few minutes of speech, that literally hit the hearts. May Allah grant us that ta'alluq ma'Allah.

He said: "There was a time when I used to come out of my room to watch the masjid — when the brothers from the West used to come to do i'tikaf here in Delhi. The crying at night would not allow me to rest; I would come out to see all of you sitting here crying in tahajjud. But now I had to come last night, and your snoring at night is what doesn't allow me to take rest."

So when my nights — when our nights — are going to change from snoring to crying, I promise you the world will change. That's what you need in your house. That's what I need in my house. That's what this madrasa and masjid needs. That's what every institution needs. That's what every effort needs. Every campaign, every project needs du'a.

The Comprehensiveness of Du'a: Every Moment, Every Occasion

So let's all make niyyah today. We've heard enough on this one ayah — and there's so much more. There are books upon books. We didn't even get started on the Kitab al-Adhkar — that du'a is not just after salah saying, "Ya Allah give me a wife, give me kids." What is the Nabi ﷺ's state of du'a? There's not an occasion where there's no du'a: from the time you wake up and rub your eyes, there's a du'a. When you wash your hands, there's a du'a. When you wash your face, there's a du'a. When you do miswak, there's a du'a. When you wash your nose, there's a du'a. When you wash each hand, each arm, there's a du'a. When you wipe over your head, there's a du'a. When you wipe over your neck, there's a du'a. When you wash each foot, there's a du'a. When you finish wudu, there's a du'a. When you step out of your house, there's a du'a. When you walk in the darkness toward Fajr salah, there's a du'a. When you enter the masjid, there's a du'a. Allahu Akbar — we haven't even started Fajr salah yet. Every occasion has a du'a.

These duas are not to be read for barakah's sake — the purpose is that a person continuously, 24/7, is in a state of remembrance of Allah, and is cautiously saying: Ya Allah, I'm nobody. I need Your help.

If every morning — you have the 8am meeting, maybe for your workplace — if every morning we had this meeting with Allah: two rak'aat of Ishraq, or if you cannot pray Ishraq, just du'a: Ya Allah, I have a long day. These are my tasks for today. Ya Allah, please — I can't do this. The 8 o'clock meeting, the 10 o'clock one is even harder, the 11am presentation looks very hard, the 12 o'clock deliverables are hard, I have a lunch meeting with my supervisor that looks even more challenging. Ya Allah, share Your schedule with me. This is my schedule and I need Your help in these things. There's no way I can do this — no matter how much I prepare, I'm never ready for this. That's it. Share your schedule with Allah every day.

Now you're going to say, "Allah knows — of course Allah knows." But Allah wants to see abdiyyah from us. Allah wants to see all of us pouring our hearts out in front of Him. That's what He wants to see. And then look at how upset He gets — He says: if you arrogantly turn away from My dua, these people will enter Jahannam humiliated. He is so angered by this. So when a person does not turn to Allah in du'a, Allah actually gets upset.

The Night, Rest, and Sukoon in Tahajjud

Allah is the one who made the night for you to rest therein and the daylight by which to see — indeed Allah is ever bountiful to all people, but most people do not even give thanks. Meaning, part of being your Rabb — you need time to rest. He created a whole section of the 24-hour day for you to rest, because He cares about you, He loves you. And there is a section of that night for rest, and a section of that night to gain sukoon through du'a — the sukoon and the itma'naan you get with tahajjud. There is literally nothing like that in the world. Nothing will give you that high and nothing will give you that calmness that tahajjud gives.

Before you go to bed — if you have a hard time waking up — two rak'aat of salah at night when no one's watching, and just speak to Allah. My beloved brothers, I want you to try something: try speaking to Allah from your heart without even moving your lips. Today, raise your hand and let your tears speak to Allah. Raise your hand and let your heart speak to Allah. You will see it will be beautiful. That requires concentration. You don't need to know all the Arabic duas — inshAllah you can read from Hizbul A'dham, Munajat Maqbul — these beautiful du'a books. We should learn how to speak to Allah.

So when we start speaking to Allah at night — and you can speak from your heart — you're sitting next to your spouse; he or she doesn't need to know what du'a you're making, no problem. The lights are dim, you don't need to turn them on. While you're lying down going to sleep, share with Allah: "Ya Allah, this is how my day was. What a tough day." Share it with Allah. That's all it is. You don't have to be in a state of wudu, you don't have to be facing the qibla, you don't have to be in a state of tahara, you don't have to be in a masjid. Wherever you are, while you're even going to sleep, be making this supplication. So there is sukoon in the night — not only through sleeping, but also through spending some time in tahajjud.

Difficulty as a Doorway to Allah

Allah is the creator of everything — including yourself, including your problems, and including the solution to your problems. All of that, Allah is the creator. Your problems and your solution — if it weren't for our problems, how many of us would not be sitting here? If it weren't for some problem that brought us to the masjid — how many students of knowledge would never have become students of knowledge if something hadn't happened in their life? How many start coming to the masjid for salah because of a problem? How many start coming to a dars of tafsir because of some problem?

Alhamdulillah — if it weren't for that problem. When someone has an issue, some pain, goes to a doctor, gets a blood test, and they find a bigger problem — "Alhamdulillah, I had a back pain, I got checked out, we found a big problem, we were able to do a surgery, and alhamdulillah Allah saved me." What happened? Allah brought you difficulty, and behind that difficulty was so much khair — so much goodness. Similarly, Allah sends difficulties towards us to push us towards His house, to push us towards khair.

Our coming into existence from non-existence is a ni'mah of Allah. For Allah to give us countless blessings — then for Allah to make us human beings who are mukallaf — those who are expected to follow the Shari'ah — this is also a blessing. Wouldn't it be nice if you don't have to pray? Yes. But you know who doesn't have to pray? The animals, the plants. But they're not going to Jannah. It is through the barakah of us being mukallaf, ordained by Allah to follow the deen, that inshAllah through that barakah and blessing we get to Paradise. So even becoming mukallaf is a blessing of Allah.

Allah says:

"O mankind, what has deceived you from your most generous Lord?"

I want to feel this — Allah has no emotion of pain, Allah doesn't need me — but I want you to feel this: Allah is saying, "I've done so much for you. Where are you headed? Who out there is more merciful than Me? Who out there is more caring for you? Who out there loves you more than Me?" And in another place He says: where are you being turned away? Where are you being snatched away? May Allah allow you and me to understand the power of this verse.

Why are you choosing to stand in line for six hours and humble yourself in front of creation — "Please, sir, please, just do it for me"? We've all done that. We're begging at the counter, begging in line for our kids, for ourselves, begging on the phone. But a tenth of that begging in front of Allah doesn't happen. That's why Allah says: it's shocking — why are you turning to someone else? What has that person done for you? He cannot even blink an eye without My permission.

The German Shepherd: A Parable of Turning to the Owner

There is one of our elders — one of our scholars — who would give this example. He said: a person has a big bulldog, a German shepherd. He's walking it in the morning and he's distracted. The dog sees you and lunges toward you — a huge, powerful 200-pound attack dog. You have two options: one is you pick a fight with the dog, "Come on, bring it on!" and you start swinging your shoe at his head. Do you think that's going to work? Or — the other option — you attract the attention of the owner and say, "Hey, please pull your dog back!" And he just has to say one word and the dog stops — or gives it an electric shock. That's it.

SubhanAllah — this is the example given. All the creation attacking and harming us today — at the end of the day, they are the dogs of Allah. When a person can sit there — the dog could be at work, on the street, at an international level — but we put so much emphasis on throwing slippers at the dog, which only enrages him further. More important than that is to attract the attention of the Owner — the Creator of those dogs. And while you're attracting the attention of the Owner, of course you also do self-defense. But if you say, "I'm going to take on this 200-pound German shepherd" — how are we going to take on the massive armies of creation?

What a beautiful example — turn ourselves toward du'a and ask Allah: Ya Allah, pull Your dogs back. That's it. As soon as Allah gives a command, everything will freeze — whatever any creation of the dunya is doing, it's only doing it because Allah is enabling it.

Closing Du'a and Announcements

May Allah grant us protection from all of the creation that is harming us and harming the ummah — the young and the old, the men and the women, in any shape or form. And from amongst the creation of Allah is of course Iblis — the biggest — may Allah protect us from his evil and the evil of our own nafs that he instigates. May Allah make all of us amongst those who make du'a with yaqeen every single day. Ameen ya Rabb al-'alamin.

May Allah accept all these programs, accept our coming here, and grant us istiqamah and steadfastness.

وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ