Cultivating Dua with Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed | Session 3

Cultivating Du'a — Session 3

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Hope everyone is doing well, insha'Allah.

Alhamdulillah. If you have not watched the last two sessions, please do go ahead and view them, because we won't be repeating the du'as that we have already completed. I would definitely encourage all of you who have not viewed them to go ahead and do so.

Review of Previous Sessions

So before we jump into today's session — which genre of du'as did we cover last week? Seeking protection, right? We went through the du'as that the Prophet ﷺ used to seek protection, and each and every one of those had something different the Prophet ﷺ sought protection from.

One of them was about anxiety — الهَمِّ وَالحَزَنِ — right? And we spoke about the difference between hamm and hazan: grief in the past is hazan, and anxiety for the future is hamm.

The First Du'a from Last Week — Four Things Sought Protection From

(Sahih Muslim, Book 48, Hadith 2722)

The Prophet ﷺ sought protection from four things:

1. مِنْ عِلْمٍ لَا يَنْفَعُ — From knowledge that does not benefit. We spoke about how one of the people who will have the most regret on the Day of Judgment is an individual who taught someone else something that benefited them, but did not act upon it themselves.

2. مِنْ قَلْبٍ لَا يَخْشَعُ — From a heart which is not humble in front of Allah. We spoke about five cures of the heart that can allow our heart to become soft towards Allah. Those five things were mentioned last class — if you recall them, write them down.

3. مِنْ نَفْسٍ لَا تَشْبَعُ — From a soul, a desire, a craving that is never satisfied — that is ever demanding and always wants more. Do not give me such a nafs that I cannot control, but rather it controls me.

4. مِنْ دُعَاءٍ لَا يُسْمَعُ — From du'as that are not answered. We spoke about a few reasons why du'as are not answered: haram income, and having hatred in your heart for someone else — both of which can become a barrier between us and our du'as being answered.

The Second Du'a from Last Week — Eight Things Sought Protection From

The Prophet ﷺ was extremely present-minded in understanding that people do have anxiety, that they get overwhelmed by sorrow and grief. To such an extent that the Prophet ﷺ was himself overwhelmed with these things in his life. Where Allah says to him in Surah al-Hijr:

"Now O Prophet of Allah, we know that you feel some way — you feel sad, you feel overwhelmed by grief, and you feel humiliated in a sense by the things that they're saying." The mushrikun of Makkah, the taunts, the mockery they threw his way — it bothered him.

So hamm and hazan are real. But the du'a the Prophet ﷺ is making is: do not let me become so overwhelmed by this hamm and hazan that it becomes a barrier for me worshipping Allah. Rather, a huzn or sadness or a hamm — a form of grief — should be a reason for me to get closer to Allah.

I mentioned in the background of that hadith that a Sahabi was sitting in the masjid with his head in his hands. The Prophet ﷺ came to him and said, "Why do you look sad? Why is it that I don't see you in the masjid as often as I used to?" He said, "O Prophet of Allah, the grief and the worries of this world have overwhelmed me." And that is when the Prophet ﷺ taught him this du'a — make this du'a and you won't be overwhelmed by your anxiety.

Everyone goes through different types of feelings — loneliness, anxiety, sadness, grief. That is innate within a human. But we do not allow that to dictate how we worship Allah. If we're having a bad morning, it doesn't mean we don't go to work — we still go. Similarly, if we feel sad or overwhelmed, it doesn't mean we don't have to meet Allah five times a day. We still have to do that.

The du'a also seeks protection from laziness — which is a sickness that has destroyed our youth in so many ways. Everything has become so convenient now, and naturally a person becomes lazy. Once you become lazy, doing something difficult is not within your portfolio. That is what the munafiqoon would do — the only time they would step out and do something is when people were watching, because being watched encouraged them. And that is the opposite of ikhlas.

And the du'a also seeks protection from being a miser, from a tyrant having power over us, and from being overwhelmed by debts. That is where we stopped last week.

Completing Last Week's Du'a: Seeking Refuge from Loss of Blessings

I did not get a chance to go over this du'a last week, so I will complete it now before moving to the third genre.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 48, Hadith 2739)

1. Zawal al-ni'mah — "Oh Allah, I seek refuge from any blessing of yours that I am deprived of." Allah, you have blessed me — don't make it so that this blessing leaves me. Don't let my negligence or ignorance towards the blessing cause you to take it away from me.

The Prophet ﷺ said that two of the greatest blessings that we have are the two most ignored: health and free time. The blessing of children, wealth, family, eyes, ears — don't take them away from me. And the Prophet ﷺ would say: Oh Allah, don't hold us accountable for that which we have forgotten. If we did something wrong with these blessings, don't hold us accountable — rather, allow us to continue using them in a manner that brings your pleasure.

2. Tahawwul al-'afiyah — "Oh Allah, I seek refuge that you remove or alter the ease that you have given me." How many people have we seen where everything was perfectly fine in their life, and then one day, boom — that ease is gone. The job is gone, the child becomes sick, a car accident takes their sight. I was able to enjoy the blessing of eating food, but now I have tubes inside of me. Don't take that away from me.

The Prophet ﷺ was walking into the masjid and saw a man. He asked him, "Are you going through difficulty right now?" The man replied, "No, I am not." The Prophet ﷺ said, "Then make du'a for 'afiyah. Ask Allah for ease in your life, because sabr is only for those going through difficulty. Oh Allah, don't test our sabr, because we are not at that level that we can be tested — rather, give us ease in our life."

3. Fuja'at al-niqmah — "Oh Allah, I seek refuge from a sudden infliction, a sudden hardship, a sudden calamity."

It is such a blessing that as we get old, we notice our legs getting weaker or that we get more tired — this is not fuja'at al-niqmah. This is normal. This is why in the past, the sign of a blessed death was that a person would go through what is called marad al-wafat — the sickness of death — which was also recognized as a blessing, because the person was able to seek Allah's forgiveness in those days.

What fuja'at al-niqmah means is sudden death. Oh Allah, I seek refuge from a sudden death, because if it comes to us suddenly, we don't have the chance to seek tawbah. Of course, Allah can still forgive us, but we don't have that blessing of actually invoking His mercy and forgiveness.

This is why one of the most profound narrations in reference to this du'a is when the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2346)

"Whosoever wakes up in the morning with these three things — it is as if the entire dunya has come to his or her feet. It is as if they are the king of the world."

Number one: آمِنًا فِي سِرْبِهِ — They are at peace with their honor. No one has tainted their honor, no one has spoken badly about them. They are at peace in their own life, with their own family, with their own job, with what they have.

Number two: مُعَافًى فِي بَدَنِهِ — Their body parts and limbs are working. Their hand is still working, the eyes are still being used, the ears can still hear, the tongue can still speak. The way we slept, we woke up with the same limbs working.

Number three: عِنْدَهُ قُوتُ يَوْمِهِ — He or she has enough food for that day. Not for the next ten years — enough food to get through that one day.

The first of these — that your respect and honor is protected, that Allah has not exposed your sins — is in itself a great blessing. How Imam al-Shafi'i rahimahullah would say that one of the greatest blessings Allah has given us is that He has hidden our sins. He would say:

"Up to a point that wherever I go, people praise me and people say salam to me — O Allah, that is because you have hidden my sins." That is a blessing in itself.

Or the Prophet ﷺ would teach this du'a to the Sahabas:

(al-Bayhaqi, Shu'ab al-Iman, Hadith 775)

"Oh Allah, make me better than that which they think of me. Oh Allah, make my hidden moments better than the moments that are exposed to people." The moments that are exposed — everyone likes them. But the moments that are hidden — Allah, make them good as well.

Abu al-Darda radiyaAllahu anhu has a beautiful statement: "Whosoever thinks that Allah's blessings are only in food and drink and in family has very insufficient knowledge. But rather, a person who has true understanding of Allah's blessing is able to recognize that even the difficulties that come towards them can be a blessing if they take them closer to Allah." That is the epitome of acceptance of Allah's qadr for us.

There was a young man — a friend of ours — who was perfectly healthy, strong build, used to work out daily, play basketball. We went to visit him in the hospital and found him as a skinny stick with tubes going through his body. We asked what happened, and they told us that Allah decided to take one blessing away from him — the blessing of producing saliva. The mouth was no longer able to self-create its saliva. Because of that, he couldn't chew, couldn't eat, his body became weak. When he would try to speak, his jaw would drop and he couldn't say a few words. One blessing — just one blessing taken away.

A great scholar, Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah, would say: there is no benefit in a person who goes through a calamity and comes out of it without increasing in goodness. Because if they come out without increasing in goodness, that calamity was an 'adhab for them. But if they increase in goodness — if they started praying salat, reading Qur'an, or crying in front of Allah from there — then that calamity was the greatest blessing for them.

4. Jami' sakhatak — "Oh Allah, I seek refuge from all forms of your wrath." What benefit is ease and blessings if it brings your wrath? Anything that can bring your wrath — I seek refuge from it. This is: Oh Allah, do not make me comfortable using these blessings of mine to earn your displeasure. If I commit a sin, allow me to instantly follow it up with a good deed. Don't make me a person who gets comfortable sinning.

Allah's wrath is not earned upon sinners per se — Allah's wrath is earned upon those sinners who are unapologetic to Allah. Everyone is a sinner — but Allah's anger is not for those who commit sins and then seek forgiveness. It is for those who commit sins and don't seek forgiveness from it.

Remaining Du'as of Seeking Refuge

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1551; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3492)

"Oh Allah, I seek refuge from the evil of my ears, my tongue, my eyes, my heart." Meaning: Oh Allah, I seek refuge from using any of these things to earn your displeasure.

Third Genre: "Oh Allah, I Ask You For…"

Now we come to the third genre of du'as — things that the Prophet ﷺ asked Allah for. If the Prophet asked for something, that means it must have been extremely important — that's why he asked for it.

First Du'a — Asking for Guidance, Taqwa, and Sufficiency

(Sahih Muslim, Book 48, Hadith 2721; narrated by Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiyaAllahu anhu)

This is a very powerful du'a narrated by Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiyaAllahu anhu and other Sahabas in Sahih Muslim, where the Prophet ﷺ taught them to ask Allah for these four things.

First, the way to ask Allah is اللَّهُمَّ — Allahumma. Or you can also say Ya Allah, Ya Rahman, Ya Rahim — calling upon Allah through His names is also acceptable. But in Arabic du'as, you generally start with Allahumma.

1. Al-Huda — Guidance

"Oh Allah, I ask for guidance." It amazes me that the Prophet ﷺ was the mountaintop of guidance — there could not have been a person who had more guidance than him. But he is saying, "Oh Allah, I ask you for guidance."

There is not a single thing in our life which is more important than hidayah. Being Muslim right now does not mean I will be Muslim one year from now — may Allah protect us. This is why one of the most powerful du'as in Surah Ali 'Imran is:

"Oh Allah, do not deviate our hearts from guidance after you have given us guidance. Keep us in that guidance."

Even though we're already guided, we're asking Allah for guidance. There is nothing we ask Allah for more in our life than hidayah. And that is why in the best and most virtuous surah of the Qur'an — which is itself a du'a, the first surah of the Qur'an — we ask:

"Oh Allah, please keep us guided." Seventeen times a day, we continuously ask Allah for guidance — because at any moment we can slip, at any moment shaitan can overtake us.

Only Allah can grant someone steadfastness and consistency upon this beautiful path of Islam.

"Whosoever Allah has guided, no one can misguide." So guidance is what we seek — not in the sense that we are not already guided, but we are asking Allah to increase that guidance. When a person already has money but asks for more money, it doesn't mean they're poor. They want more so they can buy more from it. Similarly, when we ask Allah for guidance, we're saying: Oh Allah, I want more guidance because with more guidance, I can do more a'mal.

Bilal ibn Rabah radiyaAllahu anhu would often be seen crying after his fardh prayers. One day the Prophet ﷺ asked him, "O Bilal, what makes you cry so much? Is it difficulty? Is it hardship?" And Bilal said, "O Prophet of Allah, I am not crying out of hardship. I am actually crying out of gratitude."

He said: "I am praising Allah and thanking Allah that He kept the keys of hidayah in His own hands. Because if He had given them to anyone else — even yourself — they would not think of a person like me. They would think of the leaders of Quraysh. Why would they think of a slave living in Makkah? So Allah had guidance in His own hands and He gave it to me. So I am grateful to Allah."

This is also why the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Quran 28:56 — revelation addressing the Prophet ﷺ)

"There is no one that can give guidance except for Allah."

2. Al-Tuqa — Taqwa (God-Consciousness)

Ibn Hajar and other great scholars interpret al-huda here as 'ilm nafi' — beneficial knowledge. And taqwa means asking for the ability to take that knowledge and display it into actions — that the knowledge manifests in good deeds.

Taqwa comes from the root word al-wiqaya — meaning a barrier, a wall. To put a wall between me and the acts of disobedience of Allah. To put a barrier between me and the things that are haram. That is wiqaya.

Once a person came to Umar r.a. and asked: "What is taqwa?" He did not give a dictionary definition. He said: Taqwa is when you are walking on a pathway that is thorny and your clothes might get pricked and ripped. So you wrap yourself in those clothes and walk through that pathway being very cautious and observant of those thorns so they do not harm you. That is taqwa in our life — we are aware at every moment that the thorns are around us, that haram things can prick us and catch us. So as we live in this world, we are aware of the maharim so we do not fall into them. The opposite of taqwa is ghafla — negligence and unawareness.

Ali r.a. was also asked: "What is taqwa?" He defined it through four things:

1. الخَوْفُ مِنَ الجَلِيل — Having fear of Allah.

2. العَمَلُ بِالتَّنْزِيل — Acting upon the Qur'an.

3. الرِّضَا بِالقَلِيل — Being content with less. Taqwa includes contentment because if we are not content, we will always look for holes and ways to earn more — and many times those avenues will be through haram.

4. الاسْتِعْدَادُ لِيَوْمِ الرَّحِيل — Preparing for the Day of Judgment.

Allah also defines taqwa in the Qur'an:

Allah gives four qualities of the people of taqwa — the muttaqeen: Number one, they spend in the path of Allah at times of ease and at times of difficulty. Number two, they swallow their anger — getting angry is normal, but they don't allow it to overtake them. Number three, when they do become angry, they learn to forgive. Number four, they excel and do that which is beyond the necessary. To swallow anger is good, but to forgive is going one step beyond. And all four of these qualities have to do with how we act in front of each other — our mu'amalat.

Allah asks for guidance and taqwa together because in this second ayah of Surah al-Baqarah, Allah says that this book is a means of guidance for those that have God-consciousness — those who know that Allah is watching them. And of course we slip at times, but that slip should not be unapologetic and we should not get comfortable in those sins. The moment we become comfortable in our sins, our heart has lost the light of Allah.

3. Al-'Afaf — Self-Sufficiency from Haram

'Afaf means: Oh Allah, make me self-sufficient in the sense that I do not need anything haram in my life. I am happy with my family, with my wife, my husband, my children — I am okay, I do not need anything else.

4. Al-Ghina — Richness of the Heart

Ghina literally refers to self-sufficiency — that whatever you've given me, make that enough for me. The Prophet ﷺ said:

"Richness is not by excessive commodities and wealth and luxuries. Rather, ghina is the richness of the heart — where a person feels content and fulfilled." This does not happen because we have a lot or have less. It happens when whatever less we have becomes a means of still obeying Allah. If we have a lot and that allows us to obey Allah, that is ghina. If we have less and that still allows us to worship Allah, that is still ghina.

Shaykh Sulaiman Moola said very eloquently once that we are not sad because we don't have — we are sad because we see others that have. Especially living in a social media frenzied society where everyone puts their blessings online. Make me happy with what I have, right?

Allah also told the Prophet ﷺ:

"O Prophet, do not look at what We have given the non-Muslims, hoping that you will also get it. What they have is their dunya, and what we have is the akhira."

The difference between 'afaf and ghina: ghina generally refers to wealth and material sufficiency, while 'afaf means I am happy with my family, my wife, my husband, my children. The Prophet ﷺ said that if the son of Adam was given one valley of gold, he would want a second. But what we are asking for here is: make me happy with what I have and I will continue obeying you.

Barakah is not that I get more. Barakah means I was earning five for three children and that five is enough for five children. I was earning a little, but I am also giving in charity and it is still enough. That is barakah — not increase, but that same amount is enough. That is ghina and that is barakah for us.

Second Du'a — Asking for the Love of Allah

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3490; classed as hasan)

SubhanAllah. The Prophet ﷺ says: "Oh Allah, I ask for your love. I want to enjoy your love." This du'a is also referenced to Dawud alayhi salam in different narrations. When Dawud alayhi salam was blessed with prophethood and blessed with his voice and kingdom, Allah sent an angel and said: "Ask Dawud what he desires." And Dawud alayhi salam said: "Oh Allah, أَسْأَلُكَ حُبَّكَ. I desire your love. If I have your love, I am happy."

Having the love of Allah in our life means that Allah is loving us and we also love Allah. It is the greatest degree of obedience, because now nothing can divert us from that which grows our love for Allah. The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 15; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 70)

"We cannot become true believers until we love the Prophet — and by extension love Allah — more than we love anything else." For example: if my son, na'udhu billah, curses the Prophet, I love my son — but I love the Prophet more and I will never accept that. If my son throws the Qur'an on the floor, I love my son — but I love the Qur'an more and I will never accept that. It is a rational love — if my spouse will be happy if I do something but it does not make Allah happy, I will always choose that which makes Allah happy.

And the hadith mentions: when Allah decides to love someone — Hadith Qudsi — Allah calls Jibril alayhi salam and says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3209; Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Hadith 2637)

"I love so-and-so individual, so love him also." Then Jibril descends through the heavens and says to all the angels: "Allah has declared His love for so-and-so individual in this world, so you also must love him." And all the angels of every sky begin to love this person — until the love of that person enters into the hearts of the people of this world.

Why does my child not seem to like me? If Allah decides to love me, everyone else will also fall in love with me. وَحُبَّ مَن يُحِبُّكَ — bless me with the love of those that love you.

Also:

"Those who believe have intense love for Allah."

Five Ways to Earn the Love of Allah

How do we earn the love of Allah? Here are five things we can do, extracted from Qur'an and hadith:

1. Reciting the Qur'an — Communication with Allah. The Prophet ﷺ said:

"Whosoever desires that Allah and the Prophet love them and that they love Allah and the Prophet — let them recite the Qur'an." By reciting the Qur'an, they are earning that love from Allah because it is communication with Allah. There is another beautiful narration:

"There is nothing that can take us closer to Allah's love than connecting with that which came from Allah directly" — and that which came from Allah directly is the Qur'an.

2. Counting and Remembering the Blessings of Allah. If Allah has given us this, that means He loves me and I should love Him. Count the blessings of Allah. Yes, we know that even if we try, we physically cannot enumerate them — but the idea is to think about the blessings of Allah. One of the best ways that people in this world express love for one another is through gifts. Allah gave us all these gifts that we did not earn — that is a sign that we should love Allah. Osama Kanan, when diagnosed with ALS, said: "Today I understood how to be grateful for the normal things in life." Eyes, hands, hearing — they are signs of Allah's love for me within myself.

3. Teaching Others about Allah. The Prophet ﷺ said:

"Teach people about the greatness of Allah — Allah will love you and your heart will be filled with Allah's love." We don't need an audience of hundreds and thousands. The Prophet ﷺ would speak about the greatness of Allah to a child — to Ali r.a. who was ten years old, to Ibn Abbas r.a. who was nine years old.

There is a beautiful narration where Dawud alayhi salam asked Allah: "How do I earn your love?" And Allah responded:

"Make my creation love me — I will love you." Dawud asked: "How can I make your creation love you?" And Allah responded:

"Remind them about My blessings. Once you remind them about My blessings, they will love Me — because they will know where all of this is coming from. It is coming from Me. They will love Me. And if they love Me, I love you because you put My love in their hearts."

There is also a narration where Ka'ab ibn Ahbar says that Allah revealed to Musa alayhi salam: "Do you want that humans, jinn, and angels all love you?" Musa said: "Of course, O my Lord." Allah said:

"Make My creation love Me — that will make everyone else love you."

Today we are often found talking to our children about the importance of school, grades, this career, that college. And they start loving it. You nurture the child to love medicine so much from the age of 6, 7, 8, 9 that when he reaches 18, he loves it. We should nurture children from the ages of 2, 3, 4, 5 to know the greatness of Allah — they will love Allah, and Allah's love will come into our hearts as well.

4. Loving Allah through Fardh Prayers. Allah says in a Hadith Qudsi:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6502)

"There is nothing that will bring My slave closer to Me and bring My love into his heart faster than that which I have made fardh upon him." What has He made fardh? Salat — five times salat. If a person continues to pray those five times salat, My love will be there for that person. And if he adds nawafil, that love will continue to increase. But to have a foundation of love, that person must pray fardh salat.

5. Loving People for the Sake of Allah. We love even those we don't necessarily like — because it is a sunnah of Allah, and we forgive them because Allah wants us to forgive. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4681; classed as hasan)

"Whosoever loves for the sake of Allah, dislikes for the sake of Allah, gives for the sake of Allah, and holds back because of Allah — his Iman is complete." This is also why in the hadith of the seven given the shade of Allah on the Day of Judgment: two people who love each other for no secondary incentive except for Allah were given the shade of the arsh of Allah.

One day the Prophet ﷺ walked upon a group of Sahabas making dhikr. He asked, "Why are you sitting here?" They said: "We are making dhikr of Allah." He asked again: "Is there nothing else that made you sit here?" They said: "We make qasam, ya Rasulullah, that there is nothing else that makes us sit here except for Allah's remembrance." Then the Prophet ﷺ said: "Wallahi, I did not ask you to make qasam because I doubted you. I asked because Jibril just came down and told me: يَتَبَاهَى بِهِمُ المَلَائِكَةُ — Allah is taking honor and pride of you in front of the angels. He is telling the angels: 'Look, that person is speaking about Me, that person is remembering Me.'" Imagine the fulfillment of knowing that Allah is taking pride over me — not in front of aunties and uncles, but in front of the angels.

The end of this du'a continues that theme:

"Oh Allah, make your love more beloved to me than myself. Make your love more beloved to me than my family. And make your love more beloved to me than cold water." Why cold water? Because there is nothing more beloved to a person in a hot day in a desert land than cold water. One of the Sahabas was asked about his love for the Prophet ﷺ, and he said: "Our love for the Prophet was more than the love that people in a desert on a hot day have for cold water." That was the entire goal of the Prophet's life — to make Allah happy. And the Sahabas took from that.

Third Du'a — The Comprehensive Du'a

One of the tabi'un came to a group of Sahabas and said: "The Prophet ﷺ taught you all these du'as — but we don't know all of them. How should we make du'a to Allah?" And the Sahabi replied: "Let me teach you something that will suffice for you in all those du'as."

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3521; classed as hasan)

"Oh Allah, I ask you for all the good things that the Prophet asked from you — whatever he asked. And I seek refuge from all those things that the Prophet sought refuge from. And you are the one we seek help from. And it is our responsibility to convey the truth about you to people. And there is no power, no strength except for Allah."

This is like the kapa of du'as — the ultimate du'a. Personally, whenever I make du'a, I try to end with this du'a. I have made it a practice since I was 12 or 13 years old. At the end of your du'a, make this du'a. Memorize this du'a. It is as if you are saying: Oh Allah, all the good things the Prophet asked for — I am asking you for those things too, even though I am not saying each one of them. And all the things he sought refuge from — I also seek refuge from them.

Summary of Five Ways to Earn Allah's Love

Let me summarize them again:

1. Reciting the Qur'an — communication with Allah.
2. Understanding and counting the blessings of Allah in our life.
3. Teaching others about Allah and reminding them about His blessings and greatness.
4. Through fardh prayers — through fardh salat.
5. Through loving people for the sake of Allah and no other sake.

Questions & Answers

How can we show gratitude to Allah while carrying sadness in our heart?

Sadness and gratitude do not contradict each other. Rather, kufr and shukr are opposites. A person can be sad and still say alhamdulillah. They can be grateful — "Oh Allah, despite this hardship you have given me, I understand that you still love me and I am thankful to you." Sadness does not take away gratitude. In fact, sadness is a form of us creating a conversation with Allah — a lot of people only start making du'a when they become sad or when something difficult happens. So at that time, start creating that link of communication.

How do we talk to Allah? Does it have to be verbal? No:

"We are closer to you than your jugular vein." Allah knows what is happening in the heart. The tongue does not have to say it. Me reading Qur'an is me speaking to Allah. Me praying Salat is me showing gratitude to Allah. Imam al-Ghazali says the greatest form of gratitude is to use our limbs in a way that pleases Allah. So it does not have to be verbal — it can be through action, or through our thoughts and our heart.

When guidance is increased, how does that manifest?

It manifests in the sense that my wanting to do a good deed becomes easier — my desiring that good deed becomes easier. Scholars say that one of the greatest signs of an act of goodness being accepted is that Allah allows that person to perform that act again. I pray Dhuhr Salat today — Allah blesses me with the ability to pray Asr. That is Allah loving me, that is Allah increasing guidance. Through every a'mal, if I am able to continue that a'mal, that is Allah's guidance in my life increasing.

Doubts do not mean that Allah's guidance is less in my life — everyone goes through ups and downs. But the guidance of Allah is that I am still able to do the acts that I have to do. That is what istiqamah is — despite change in circumstances, my relationship with Allah does not change. Hidayah is having enough strength in your heart that regardless of what is happening around you, you are still able to worship Allah. If you have that, then the difficulties that come will still make you sad, but they will not stop you from worshipping Allah.

The munafiqoon were such that — as the Qur'an says:

They are like planks of wood — any wind that blows, any hardship that comes, boom, they stop worshipping Allah. They are worshipping Allah on a cliff — any wind can blow them off. But true believers, because they worship Allah for the sake of Allah's pleasure and ask for continual guidance, even when difficulty comes, that guidance manifests and displays itself by allowing them to continue worshipping Allah.

How do you get your heart to stop being greedy for dunya — you know it's wrong but the desire is there?

Make the du'as. That is what the du'as are for. We make those du'as and ask Allah that through them we are able to allow our hearts to feel fulfilled. مِن نَّفسٍ لَا تَشبَعُ — Oh Allah, don't give me a soul that is always wanting things. And secondly, look at people who have less than us. The Prophet ﷺ said that a person who has the quality of looking at those who have less than them will always be grateful to Allah. So: A, continue making the du'a; and B, look at people that have less than us in this world. The Prophet ﷺ taught us that looking at those who have less tells us how much we are blessed. If we are always looking at people who have more, it will be difficult for us to feel blessed.

Closing Remarks

JazakAllah khair, everyone. May Allah bless you all. Make sure to memorize these du'as — there are only a few that I chose, and I think everyone has the ability in Ramadan to memorize them and to create the practice of making these du'as. May Allah bless you and accept the a'mal that we are doing in Ramadan. Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.