Opening

Respected elders and brothers, dear friends — السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

Let us all thank Allah for allowing us to be here in this early morning and in this weather. SubhanAllah, Allah has brought you and I to the house of Allah to sit for a few minutes to remember Him and to speak about Him. We thank Him, and number two, we ask Allah to inspire us to share those words which would be of most benefit to all of us. So we should all make this intention and du'a:

Ya Allah, I've come here from a distance to attend this majlis and this gathering in the masjid. Oh Allah, allow such things to be shared and said that are of most pertinence to me in my life at this moment, and that will be a benefit in rejuvenating my iman and connecting me with You, and become a source of answering many difficult questions and things in my life. So if we are all sincere in this du'a, inshallah Allah will accept this du'a on our behalf.

The Love of Allah for His Servants

Respected brothers and listeners and mothers and sisters, Allah mentions in the Quran that Allah loves those who attain external and internal purity, Allah loves those who place their reliance upon Allah, and many other verses in which Allah speaks about His love for His servants. So there are certain attributes which, if a person has them, these are a result of Allah's love for an individual. This is what I would like to share today — when we have the love of Allah, what are the things we are going to find within ourselves?

Sign One: Allah Makes You Beloved in the Eyes of People

The first thing: when Allah loves an individual, He puts His love and muhabbah in the hearts of the people. This is a gift of Allah, as He mentioned in the Quran: indeed those who have iman and who do righteous deeds, Allah will place their love for them — meaning Allah will make people love them. As it comes in a very famous hadith:

When Allah loves someone, He calls Jibreel and says, "Oh Jibreel, I love so-and-so, and I want you to love him." And Jibreel says, "Okay, I will love him, ya Allah." Then Jibreel goes to the dwellers of the seventh heaven and says, "Oh dwellers of the seventh heaven, Allah loves this person. He told me to love him, so I love him. I want you all to love him." So the dwellers of the seventh heaven also begin to express their love for him. SubhanAllah — billions of angels. And then they come down to the sixth heaven and say that we love this person, Jibreel loves this person, and due to Allah loving this person we need all of you to love this person. So sky by sky, heaven by heaven, every single group and tabaqa of angels begins to love this person. We're speaking about billions and trillions and Allah alone knows how many countless angels loving this person — until it all trickles down to the first heaven, and then from the first heaven onto the earth. The Prophet said that when everyone in the heavens begins to love him, the love for him is placed on the earth, so people on earth now begin to love this individual.

This is the gift of Allah upon a person. You see people who don't know someone but they genuinely, from their heart, love the people of Allah — the awliya. They don't buy material gifts for them. People don't know them, they are not on television, they're not on a show, but they are awliya. And subhanAllah people are just rushing to go see them, rushing to get a glimpse of them, rushing to be a part of anywhere where they are. And when they pass away, how many people rush toward their janazah? How many people cry at their passing? How many people are making du'a for them? It is truly amazing how much love there is from the heart for such awliya and such people. This is the sign of Allah's love for a person. That is why another good sign is that after a person passes away, people are speaking good of him, speaking highly of him — this is a sign that this person was beloved to Allah.

Sign Two: Allah Grants Wisdom (Hikmah)

Number two: when Allah loves someone, He grants them wisdom. Allah says in the Quran:

"Whoever has been given wisdom has been given great goodness." Wisdom is such a special trait that if someone is blessed with it, they have achieved not just one attribute but many, many attributes — to be able to say the most appropriate thing at the most appropriate time, to the person you are speaking to, whatever is most appropriate to them at the most appropriate time and place. That is hikmah. A person knows exactly when, where, and how to act. The same thing can be said in so many different ways, but to actually know how to say it is a gift of Allah — that's not found in the books. This is something that is given to you as a gift.

As someone was just recently telling me — as an educationalist he was saying — the gift of education and teaching is also a God-given gift. No matter how many degrees a person has, if a person doesn't have that gift, they may have the degree but they simply don't have the knack of teaching. They don't have the knack of delivering what Allah has put in their heart to the person in front of them. There are people who may not have the degree in education, but Allah has given them the internal ability — the God-given gift of being able to communicate beautifully whatever Allah has placed in their heart. So we should ask Allah for the ability to convey our message properly. We should ask Allah for wisdom.

The Quran mentions the du'a of Ibrahim — that ya Allah, send such a prophet in this ummah who will teach the people the Book of Allah and teach people wisdom. The scholars say that from amongst the many meanings, wisdom here means the Sunnah — the actions, the lifestyle of Rasulullah is hikmah. Every aspect of Rasulullah — when, where, how he did what he did, how he handled his spouses, his children and grandchildren, his community, his friends, his foes — all of it is filled with wisdom. So Rasulullah's Sunnah equals wisdom. If a person were to bring the Sunnah of Rasulullah into his life, this is a great way of bringing wisdom into his life. Teaching the ummah wisdom — meaning teaching them the Sunnah — was one of the obligations of Rasulullah.

You've seen extremely successful businessmen, extremely successful imams, extremely successful teachers. You sit down with each of them across many professions, and one common thread you will see is that these people are blessed with wisdom. Even in business, the business acumen coupled with hikmah is something so amazing that it makes a person reach levels of success in that field that others will not reach. You wonder: how come this person has it while others don't? How come he doesn't have the background or credentials that others do, yet he is far ahead? That is because of the wisdom of how to handle the affairs of business — how to talk to people, who to make friends with, how to make partnerships, how to make alliances, and when and where not to do so. Those things are called wisdom, and this is something that you and I should be asking Allah for and making du'a for.

Sign Three: Allah Grants Peace and Contentment (Sakinah)

The third thing is that when Allah loves someone, He grants them peace and contentment. This is a peace such that even if you have everything in the world but you don't have this, you have lost out on everything. And if you have nothing but you have this sakinah, you will be enjoying life. As they say, those people living in the cave had nothing, but they had sakinah. Allah allowed them to enjoy life, sleeping for three hundred and more years in the cave with nothing, because they had sakinah. They knew they were on the right path.

Allah speaks in Surah Al-Imran about the Battle of Badr and says that you were lined up, about to enter the battle, and what happened? The Sahabah began falling asleep. How can you fall asleep when you are facing an enemy you have never faced before, so ill-equipped — Muslims against fully armed non-Muslims, 300 or so versus a thousand? How could you possibly fall asleep? But the Quran says drowsiness overcame you as a source of peace, as a source of protection from Allah. And Allah sent down rain pouring upon you to purify you. This is sakinah — that you can fall asleep right before the battle begins, in the thick of the battlefield. That is sakinah.

Allah also speaks about the people of Hudaybiyyah in Surah Al-Fath:

He is the one who sent down sakinah in the hearts of the believers so that their iman would increase along with the iman they already had. How were the people at Hudaybiyyah so content and relaxed? Why were they not giving up — we are not armed, we came to perform Umrah, and now the Meccans are not allowing us? On top of that, they possibly killed our ambassador — which was false news — and now they want to come and talk to us, and we have been told to take the Bay'at al-Ridwan, to pledge allegiance to defend the honor of the one who was reportedly killed. And they had nothing — no weapons. How were they able to remain so calm? Allah says He sent down sakinah. So sakinah is that thing that, no matter what your odds are or what life difficulty you are going through, you are able to remain focused and calm. May Allah grant us this.

Sayyiduna Yunus, in the midst of layers of darkness — in the dark night, in the ocean, in the stomach of a great fish — what did he do? He began to read the du'a:

"None worthy of worship besides You. Glory be to You, Allah. Indeed I am from amongst the oppressors." What is that — that sakinah in that midst, that he is able to remember Allah?

And likewise the Prophet with Abu Bakr in the cave on the night of the Hijrah — so much difficulty, yet he was calm. I've shared with you the story of Ali, may Allah be pleased with him. On the night of the Hijrah, Rasulullah told Ali to take his spot in the house and said, "I and Abu Bakr are leaving. You stay here, and in the morning you go about your work." Ali asked, "Ya Rasulullah, when will I see you?" He said, "I'll see you in Medina."

That very same night, the Quraysh had plotted to kill Rasulullah. Fifteen to twenty men, representatives from various tribes, armed and surrounding Rasulullah's house, waiting for him to leave for Tahajjud or Fajr time to attack him together. Allah says in the Quran:

"Remember, oh Rasulullah, when the disbelievers in Mecca sat together and plotted — to either imprison you, to kill you, or to exile you. They are plotting, and Allah is plotting. And Allah is the best of plotters." Now, the word makar — Allah of course does not need to plot in the way humans do. This is what is called in Arabic mushakala — where a word is used for the sake of matching with another word. The conniving plotting of the disbelievers is expressed with the same word, but Allah's response to them is entirely different. Similarly, the Quran says: "They are trying to deceive Allah, and Allah is deceiving them" — meaning they are hypocrites, and Allah is not punishing them immediately, making them erroneously think they have escaped Allah's knowledge, while Allah has it all planned out at the end.

So when Ali got up in the morning and left the house, the Quraysh were waiting there with swords in hand, ready to attack. They were about to strike when they saw this young man coming out. They said, "Where is Muhammad?" "Inside — he is not here." "Where did he go? It is a small, one-room home." He was gone. And Rasulullah had left in the night, throwing sand in the eyes of these people — Allah had placed a barrier before them and behind them and made them blind so they could not see.

Later, someone asked Ali, may Allah be pleased with him: "How did you spend that night? How challenging and difficult that night must have been — knowing that everyone outside is waiting to kill you. How did you sleep?" He said, "I slept very well." "How could you possibly sleep so well knowing what was going on outside?" He said, "Because I had nothing to worry about. When I asked Rasulullah — or rather, when Rasulullah told me himself — 'I'm going to be waiting for you, I'm going to be meeting you in Medina,' that means I'm going to meet him in Medina. There is no way I can die. If he said it, that means I'm definitely going to get out of this place safe and sound." The level of conviction he had in the statement of Rasulullah was so strong that he was gifted with sakinah. Even though it was such a difficult night, he said, "I slept peacefully, because I knew that Rasulullah said he would see me in Medina, and that is exactly what was going to happen." This is what you call sakinah.

Sign Four: Allah Grants Happiness and Contentment (Rida)

And lastly, number four: when Allah loves you, He grants you happiness. You are happy with your existence. You are happy where you are in life. You are happy with your income, your family, your children, your job — whatever it is. Because the fact that Allah is giving it to you, you say, "Whatever Allah gives me, I am happy with it." As a poet says — using worldly love as a metaphor — they are my beloved friends even if they are oppressive against me or just. There is no way I have anywhere to turn away from them. Whether they are good or bad, even if they were to tear apart my kidney or my liver, I would still remain just and remain with their love no matter what they do. When someone falls in love with Allah truly, he is seriously pleased with whatever situation Allah has placed him in.

Allah says:

"Indeed, salah prohibits a person from falling into lewdness and sin, and indeed the remembrance of Allah is the greatest." If you are remembering Allah in salah — which is itself dhikr — that means Allah is definitely remembering you. And if Allah is remembering you, then you have nothing to worry about. The more we are blessed to remember Allah throughout the day and the night, we can be assured that Allah is remembering us at every single juncture and at every single time. When you have Allah remembering you, what else is left?

"Verily, it is only through the remembrance of Allah that the hearts become content." That is why it is mentioned regarding Abu Bakr al-Siddiq that he said: "Nothing do I feel discontent or unhappy about except for any moment spent without the remembrance of Allah, because on the Day of Judgment a person is going to feel sad and guilty about it — how did I allow so many hours, so many days, so many weeks to go by without remembering Allah?" SubhanAllah.

And so you'll see the Companions — why each one of them was far superior to thousands of us — it was simply because they had reached such high levels of ma'rifa and muhabbah of Allah and dhikr of Allah, that Allah gave them a special protection. There are obviously many incidents and stories about that.

Turning to Allah in Difficulty

What we need to focus on — may Allah give me tawfiq and all of us here — is seriously this last point: to see what level of happiness do I have with my Lord in my situations? How am I content or discontent? Am I complaining about my situation? We cannot be complaining to people. We complain only to Allah. As Ya'qub, peace be upon him, said:

"Indeed I complain about my pain and my grief only to Allah." So difficulties in life should push us closer to Allah, not further away from Him. They should encourage us to raise our hands, encourage us to bow down, go down, and put our heads on the ground and beg Allah.

One of our teachers was reminding me to say: every single time you go into salah and you pray, make sure your ruku is long and your sajda is long. Today, if you go into a whole masjid full of people, how many people are extending their salah? How many people have a proper, nice length for ruku and a nice length for sajda? How many are going through the arkan and the postures of salah very slowly, very nicely, with full concentration, with devotion and love?

He said: every single time we go into sajda, we should have full focus and the realization — I am nobody. I am the worst of all. I am the most sinful, the most ungrateful. I am absolutely not worthy of being given the gift of even standing in front of Allah. And as you go into sajda you say: oh Allah, with all my humbleness and humility, and filth and dirt, and weakness and meekness, I am putting my head in Your court, realizing that You are the absolute sublime God, the most powerful being, the most loving, most caring, most merciful, most knowledgeable, most hearing, most seeing — and there is no one besides You who can take care of my situation. Every single sajda should be embodied with this level of humility — you are in need of Allah, and Allah is free of all want, worthy of all praise.

When we do sajda — four to six to eight sajdas per sitting — and every time we come to the masjid, how many sajdas are we making, with our sunnah prayers and nawafil, ten, fifteen, sixteen, eighteen however many — if each sajda is filled with such reverence and belief in Allah's greatness and belief in our own weakness, we will be different people. Every sajda will give us such beauty, such love for Allah, such amazing traits — such that one visit to the masjid will be sufficient to get us through the most difficult challenges we're going through in life. This is what I need to work on. This is what you and I need to work on. SubhanAllah.

Summary of the Four Signs of Allah's Love

To become the beloved of Allah — this is what we are working toward — through our salah, as we said. The signs that have been mentioned:

• First: When Allah loves you, He makes you beloved in the eyes of the people and in the eyes of the angels.
• Second: When Allah loves you, He blesses you with wisdom and hikmah.
• Third: When Allah loves you, He grants you sakinah — peace of heart and peace of mind — no matter how the situation may be.
• Fourth: When Allah loves you, He grants you the ability to be content with whatever Allah has given you in life — be it family, children, job, situation — you are always happy with whatever Allah has decided. And if things are not going well for you, you resort to du'a and righteous action, making sure we are not complaining about Allah.

We ask Allah to grant us these qualities, make us worthy of His love, make us love Him, and make us amongst those who revive the love of Allah in the hearts of others.

Questions & Answers

Question: There are verses of the Quran in which sakinah is mentioned. Is it recommended to recite those verses when one is seeking sakinah?

Answer: To my knowledge, reciting the sakinah verses specifically is not a sunnah of the Prophet. However, the Quran is revealed for all situations. So if a person does not have sakinah, just as we read the six ayat al-shifa when someone is sick — similarly, for someone seeking sakinah, to read the ayat al-sakinah is using a verse of the Quran to ask Allah for that quality. We are hopeful from Allah that He will grant it. There is nothing wrong with that, inshallah.

Announcements

I just wanted to remind everyone that from this coming Monday — the day after tomorrow — the three-week Arabic Essentials program will begin. Alhamdulillah, we already have students arriving from different parts of the country. Many will be coming in by Sunday. So if you are a local person who is listening to this message, please encourage your son and daughter — or yourself, if you can take some time off — to join the three-week program. It starts Monday the 8th, 7:40am to 4:15pm, five days a week for the next three weeks. Come for the tarbiyah environment, come for the holistic environment, come for the ability to kickstart your journey to the Quran's language and to learn how to get the keys to the Quran — the language of the Quran. It is a very intense three weeks, but inshallah you will walk away with a much greater appreciation for the Arabic language, and inshallah also benefit from the beautiful environment of the seminary. This is an opportunity — before students get back to university, college, and high school — for boys and girls to benefit from this program. Alhamdulillah, our Deen Intensive just ended on Tuesday, and now this new program is starting this Monday.

Additionally, those who are listening online and on site here as well — we have an amazing program coming up in two weeks. I am very excited about this. It is called The Divine Reality, which is the go-to book when I travel. I tell people who are suffering with children who are about to leave Islam, or who are scared their children are going to leave Islam, to read this book and discuss it at home. It is a very nicely written book in English, translated into multiple languages, addressing some of the main issues that are leading people to leave Islam. Alhamdulillah, we will have Ustadh Fahad Taslim — who was here during the winter intensive — coming here to teach the entire book. It will be Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday, two weeks from now. This program will be on site here. Obviously, being on site is something different, and I encourage everyone to be here. But those who are listening online from out of state who cannot come — you can register for the class online and it will be offered online as well, live.

If you can make it here, if you can travel with your family, if you know anyone who is struggling with their kids or just worried — man, I don't know what's going to happen, they're in 6th or 7th grade and already asking tough questions — please, take the vaccine before you get affected. There is no point in trying to get the vaccine after someone is already infected. Similarly, come and take this course that is being offered here at Dar al-Salam — for the first time in the city of Chicago, and to my knowledge for the first time in Illinois — by the Sapiens Institute with Ustadh Fahad Taslim. That is two weeks from now inshallah — Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday, the August 7th weekend inshallah.

Inshallah, the breakfast is ready in the lobby. The brothers can perform ishraq and then head out for breakfast.