The Treasure We Often Overlook | Hidden Treasures Episode 06 | Shaykh Abdullah Oduro

The Treasure We Often Overlook

There's a beautiful treasure that many of us know and we say it all the time, but I don't know if we understand really the reality of this treasure and how deep and profound it is in our lives and for our Iman especially, our connection with Allah. It is a statement:

Or it could be:

The first one that was mentioned is what we say in every prayer, at least five times a day within our prayer, when we say it within these prayers that are throughout the span of a day. But if we say "I bear witness," that's usually for the one that embraces the faith, the belief, the Aqeedah of Islam.

They understand this creed. They understand who Allah is and who Allah said that he is not. And that's exactly what we want to focus on here.

This beautiful treasure that we can encounter, benefit from, and allow it to enrich our lives through education of this statement. It is: no one worthy of worship except Allah. I bear witness. I attest. I understand. I accept. And I hope to implement لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — there's no one worthy of worship except Allah.

The Treasure of Focus

This is a statement that is so profound. And I want to touch on one treasure from the many treasures of this beautiful statement — that which brings someone into the fold of Islam — and it is the aspect of focus.

When we understand what focus is, some may say, okay, it's concentrating on something. It's allowing someone to be consistent and not to give up until they finish that project. True. But when we look at focus, it's also the aspect of saying no to everything in order to say yes to that one thing. To really put your undivided attention on that one thing.

The ultimate example of focus for the Muslim is this creed. It's saying that there's no one worthy of worship — that there's nothing worthy of worship, nothing has the right to be worshipped, deserves my ultimate fear, honor, respect, love, all forms of reverence and worship — and ultimate servitude is for the creator of the heavens and the earth.

When you look at it from that aspect, you also understand the negation in the beginning. Some of the scholars call it that you're negating all forms of that thing mentioned after that. There's no one worthy of worship — there's nothing that has the attributes or characteristics similar or close to God — except Allah. So you're negating everything in order to focus on that.

Focus Versus Distraction

What's beautiful here is that focus is the opposite of distractions. And Allah uses this verb — distraction — in numerous places in the Quran in different types. When he says:

"You have been distracted by gathering things in abundance."

Traction, distraction — to take you away from that which you should stay firm and have traction and hold on to in order to move appropriately. When he talks about the men that the transactions, the commerce does not distract them from the remembrance of Allah:

Understanding that all of these things that Allah has blessed you with can distract you and take you away from your focus — whether it's distracting you by diverting and compromising the intensity of your love and your relationship to Allah by pleasing that which Allah has created, which serves as a compromise in your love of Allah and the intensity of your love of Allah.

Ramadan: The Formula for Focus

This is important in Ramadan. Because Allah puts you in a situation to where he says, "You know what? You're not going to eat nor drink during the day because I want to put you in a better position to focus. I want to give you the formula for focus after the shahada. I want to put in your life at least one time — one month of the year — to where you give it 110%. Exhaust all of your efforts, to where you will not eat and you will not drink, and you will focus on Allah."

You will be deprived — spiritual deprivation, voluntary deprivation — for spiritual conditioning. When you deprive yourself and relinquish certain things in order to focus, that's what we understand from the shahada: focusing on Allah. And that's what we understand from Ramadan — that which assists you in manifesting and living out this focus of Allah in this blessed month.

Ramadan as a Catalyst, Not a Season

What's important for us is to allow this month to serve as a catalyst for a new action that complements that focus. For a new action, for example, Salat al-Witr — praying odd numbers of rakat after Salat al-Isha — in order to focus on Allah at night when you're about to go to sleep.

To make du'a before you go to sleep, reading Ayatul Kursi before you go to sleep. When you wake up, remember the du'a — and the Prophet, peace be upon him, used to wipe his face with his left hand and say:

"All praise is due to Allah, the one that has given us life after he has caused us to die temporarily, and to him is the final gathering."

You wake up alive, thinking about when you will die and you will go in front of Allah. One thing that you can focus on that will allow you to become closer to Allah. Ramadan should be a catalyst and not merely a season for good deeds. It should be something that we stack good deeds on every single year to enhance that ultimate focus of servitude.