Connecting with Allah سبحانه و تعالى (with Sign Language) - Shaykh Abu Abdillah Yunus

Connecting with Allah — Khutbah

In the name of Allah, we praise Him, seek His help and seek His forgiveness, believe in Him and rely on Him. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, no one can misguide. Whom He misguides, no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, no partner. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

The Tightness in the Chest

My dear brothers and sisters, many of us as we go into this world and we spend our time in our lives, many of us have a good life. We have a family, we have a job, we earn enough money that keeps us satisfied. But yet many of us complain of a tightness in the chest, of lack of peace, lack of satisfaction and contentment.

I remember one of the Imams of the Haram — Haram meaning the Imams of the Ka'bah — he mentioned that when he was studying about 20 years ago, he was in the masjid reciting Qur'an to his teacher. This was after Isha. It so happened that that day he was the last one left. All of the rest of the students had completed their recitation and they left the masjid. The only one that was left was this person — the one who is now the Imam of the Haram.

He said that as he was reciting to the Sheikh, a man entered into the masjid. You could see that he looked like he was in some depression. It looked like there was a lot of difficulty going on in his life. He came to the Sheikh and he didn't recognise the Sheikh. So he asked, "Can you recite on me?" The Sheikh said, "Yeah, no problem. But as you can see, this young man is reciting to me. So what I want you to do is go to the front of the masjid, go perform two raka'ahs — two units of prayer — and then recite some Qur'an."

The one who is now the Imam of the Haram said: I was reciting to my Sheikh, and I noticed normally I only recite for a short period of time. This time he's telling me to continue. So I said, "Should I stop?" He said, "Continue." Until I recited for about half an hour. I could tell that the Sheikh was making me elongate my recitation deliberately. After about half an hour, the Sheikh said, "That's enough." Then he called the man from the front and said, "Now let's get on with the recitation."

The Imam of the Haram said: When I saw that man, Wallahi, I noticed his face looked calm. When he had entered the masjid, he had looked like he was in depression — now he looked like he had changed completely. It looked like things were going well in his life. So the man said, "O Sheikh, may Allah reward you —

I don't need you to recite. I don't need any recitation anymore." The Sheikh said, "What do you mean? You've waited for the last half an hour." He said, "I don't know what happened. When I entered into the masjid, I felt in a state of hardship. But when I went to the front of the masjid, it's as if I was relieved during that time."

Then the Sheikh said: "O my son, when you entered into the masjid, I could see that your soul was starving. You have starved your soul. Your soul was in a state of starvation, and I could see you're not going to feel content until you feed that soul some food. O my son, your body was created from this earth and it can only be nourished from food from this earth. And your soul was created in the sky and it can only be nourished from food and nourishment from the sky."

This is a very important point for many of us who may have entered into this khutbah, or who are watching this. Many of us go through difficulty in our life, we smile, and the person who spends time with us thinks we're going through a very good time. But our heart is struggling, and what's inside the chest doesn't really feel the same — the face is not reflecting how the heart is currently feeling.

So if this is how you are, my dear brothers and sisters — if any of us is feeling like this — after today's khutbah, after we perform the prayer, maybe take some time out, go to the side of the masjid, start reciting some Qur'an and perform your sunnah prayers.

When Prayer and Qur'an Are Not Enough — The Missing Connection

However, some brothers and sisters may say or may feel that they've gone past that stage. Alhamdulillah, they have a daily portion of the Qur'an that they recite for half an hour, 20 minutes, maybe even longer, maybe an hour. And we find brothers and sisters who do this. Some perform the obligatory prayer on time, the five daily prayers. They also perform their sunnah prayers on time. They give charity. But yet, my dear brothers and sisters, we find something else that's still missing.

The Example of Sufyan al-Thawri

I remember when I was in Medina in the month of Ramadan, a friend of mine had just witnessed a person crying whilst the imam was reciting Surah al-Fatiha during the Tarawih prayer. He was shocked. He said, "I saw a person who was crying whilst the imam was reciting al-Fatiha." I myself found that quite strange — reciting al-Fatiha, and a person gets affected? Until I came across the narration of Muzahim, who is from the people of the past.

He said: Sufyan al-Thawri led us in the Maghrib prayer. He started the prayer, started reciting Surah al-Fatiha — and this is where he stopped. He started crying until he could no longer recite. When he composed himself again, he restarted al-Fatiha, and then he was able to complete the prayer.

Now, just for those of us who are unaware, Sufyan al-Thawri is a person from the great scholars of the past. Another narration: Sufyan al-Thawri was in sajdah — next to the Ka'bah, facing Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. A companion of his said: I noticed Sufyan was in sajdah, so I started to perform Tawaf around the Ka'bah. We know that Tawaf is seven circuits. After seven circuits, you perform two raka'ahs. He said he did this seven times in total. Seven times seven is 49 circuits. He said: After all of that — Sufyan al-Thawri was still in sajdah.

Ibn Wahab says: I saw Sufyan when I was in Mecca, around Masjid al-Haram. He said: After the Maghrib prayer, Sufyan started to perform sunnah. He went into sajdah. I did not see him raise his head until the Adhan for Isha prayer. Meaning he was in sajdah for that entire time. Just for those who are unaware — clearly, he was not merely saying سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَى once and waiting. He was deeply immersed in his connection with Allah.

The Example of Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr

Let us give one more example. Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam — the great-grandson of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq. As we know, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq had more than one daughter. There is the famous daughter Aisha, the Prophet's wife, ﷺ. And his other daughter was Asma. Asma's son is Abdullah, and Abdullah's son is Amir. So this is Abu Bakr's great-grandson.

He is in Medina. He performs the Isha prayer with the imam in Masjid al-Nabawi, the Prophet's Masjid. After he leaves the masjid, he decides he wants to make du'a. He faces the Qibla and raises his hands. He doesn't realise that he has immersed himself so deeply in the du'a — he doesn't realise what has happened until the Adhan goes for Fajr. He had been in du'a all of that time, from Isha until Fajr.

What is the point I am making, my dear brothers and sisters? Many of us find this very strange. And I deliberately did not begin by mentioning the Prophet ﷺ, because someone would say, "This is the Prophet — all of his sins are forgiven, he is on another level." There is no doubt he is on his own level. I did not even give the example of a Sahabi. I gave the example of Sufyan al-Thawri, who came from the fourth or fifth generation of Muslims. When we see a sajdah for that long, a person thinks: how are you going to do a sajdah for that long?

Some of us may have done a sajdah for that long — because maybe we were going through some really, really difficult time in our life. But as for regularly — that is unheard of for many of us who pray salah and perform sunnah regularly. That is unheard of.

The Analogy of the Best Friend

Let us do an analogy to put this into context. Most human beings have best friends — maybe one best friend, maybe a few, maybe three or four. Now, imagine you have a day off. No work, no university, no school. You have money, and no restrictions on what time you come back home. Go with your friend, go have some fun — as long as you don't do anything haram, go have fun for the day.

If a person was asked: how much time would you need to have fun with your best friend, to have a good time? Four hours? Six hours? Some people have told me: a day. And at the end of that long day of enjoyment with your best friend, what happens? Your eyes start to tear up as you're departing. You say, subhanAllah, when is the next time we're going to have this day? We're so busy with our families, busy with work, busy with education — we can't even spend time with each other. This was the most amazing day, and it went by so quickly.

Brothers and sisters, this is with your best friend. Now, remember the time before you knew this person — when you didn't know them yet. If a person asked you: can you spend a day with this person who is going to be your best friend, but right now you don't know them? You'd say, "I can spend five minutes maybe. One hour? That's asking too much — I don't really know this person." Why? Because you don't know them.

Likewise, because we have never connected to Allah like that, it seems strange to us. It's never happened. Like Ibn Taymiyyah, he used to say:

(Attributed to Ibn Taymiyyah — see Madārij al-Sālikīn by Ibn al-Qayyim)

"In this world there is a paradise. One who does not enter it will not be permitted entry into it in the next life."

And others would say:

"How unfortunate are the people of this world — they exited this world and never tasted the sweetest part of it."

And these scholars of the past — do not think they did this because they were going through depression or difficulty. This was their standard. This was a connection. Like Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir, from the Tabi'in, who would start the night prayer and at the end of the night feel so sad that the night had passed. He said, "My thirst hasn't been quenched." Why? Because the best times in your life — Eid day for some of us, or other joyful occasions — the day flies by so quickly when you're having a good time. Likewise, when a person makes that connection with Allah, they don't count it as one hour or two hours — they say, "subhanAllah, what an amazing connection I just made."

The Analogy of the Sick Person and the Dessert

Malik ibn Dinar makes a statement, but let me first give an explanation to make sense of it. Imagine, all of us — every single one of us — has a sweet food, a dessert, that we enjoy. When we taste it, we enjoy it, and it tastes sweet. But when you are sick and unwell, you eat that same favourite dessert — what happens? Does it taste sweet? It does not taste sweet. Is the problem with the dessert, or is the problem with your taste buds because you are sick? The problem is clearly with your taste buds.

Likewise — when you perform salah and you don't taste any sweetness, is the problem with the salah? For sure it is not. What is the problem? With the heart. When you recite Qur'an and don't taste sweetness — is the problem with the Qur'an? One hundred percent, it is not. What is the problem then? The problem is with the heart, my dear brothers and sisters.

That is why Malik ibn Dinar says:

(Attributed to Malik ibn Dinar — see Hilyat al-Awliya by Abu Nu'aym al-Asfahani)

"No slave has been struck with a punishment worse than a hard heart."

And as Ibn al-Jawzi likes to say:

(Attributed to Ibn al-Jawzi — see Sayd al-Khatir)

"A subtle type of punishment — one the person doesn't even realise — is lacking the ability to taste the sweetness of conversing intimately with Allah." The person doesn't even realise it is a punishment. The person doesn't even realise that when the Qur'an is recited, the heart doesn't get affected. The tears hardly ever roll down their cheek for the sake of Allah.

We are not talking about tears when someone passes away — everyone, even an animal, would react like that. But as for the human being experiencing that spiritual trembling and weeping — many of us, if we've experienced it, we experienced it when we first started making our connection. But just like you made that connection long ago, it is time, my dear brothers and sisters, that we make that connection again.

And when I give you these examples — that was just one person. The people of the past, anyone who goes through the biographies, will find tons of individuals like that. And you know what, my dear brothers and sisters — don't think this is far off. There are people among us, people who live in this country, people who live abroad, young people who were born and raised here, who are able to make long prostrations to Allah — this is how they connect with Him. This is regular for them. These are people who speak English like yourselves. Some of them were far from Allah, but Allah blessed them and brought them close to Him, and they've made that connection.

Three Steps to Build Your Connection with Allah

Now, I just want to mention three quick points, insha'Allah, to finish off the khutbah. Hopefully, these will help you build your connection. This isn't enough — all I wanted to do in this khutbah is introduce you to this topic. Nothing more than that. Just introduce you to this topic, so that at least you know that it does exist. Many of the time we don't realise it, and we continue living for years and years, and we've never witnessed any of this, brothers and sisters.

1. Tawbah — Sincere Repentance

The first one, my dear brothers and sisters, is to make tawbah. One of the reasons why we have a barrier on the heart is because sin after sin after sin — dot after dot after dot — is placed on our heart, until there is a complete barrier preventing it. So you make tawbah. You go to a place — whether you want to do it in the masjid, or outside, wherever you find seclusion — you make tawbah, and insha'Allah, Allah will forgive you. You will see sweetness slowly entering.

2. Abundant Dhikr — Remembrance of Allah

But the second thing — that's not enough on its own. The second very important thing is dhikr. Dhikr of Allah allows the heart to remain alive. But dhikr has to be met with two conditions in order for it to benefit the heart.

Allah does not just talk about remembrance generically — in the Qur'an, remembrance is described in two ways: qalīlan and kathīran. Qalīlan meaning the person who hardly does dhikr — and He says this is the characteristic of the hypocrites, the munafiqeen. And as for kathīran:

"O you who believe, remember Allah with abundant remembrance." Whenever dhikr is mentioned in the Qur'an for the believers, it is not mentioned as a little bit — it talks about kathīr: abundant remembrance. If you want it to affect the heart, it has to be abundant. When a person is driving, on public transport, walking — subhanAllah, alhamdulillah, la ilaha illallah, Allahu Akbar — a person recites dhikr. The Qur'an, by far, is the most beneficial. But alongside the Qur'an, a person needs to do dhikr.

And it is not just about abundant dhikr — you have to focus. Some of us, when we're doing dhikr, we're not thinking about the dhikr itself — we're thinking about other things. In order for it to be beneficial and to really impact the heart, it needs to be abundant, and number two, we need to focus. That means we try to learn what the words mean. And most importantly, when you are reciting, you are reciting with the heart. If you do that, you will notice the heart beaming with light, insha'Allah. The barrier will be completely obliterated and removed.

3. Avoiding Excess in Permissible Matters

And the last thing, my dear brothers and sisters, is to avoid excess in things that may be permissible, but which we do too much of. Such as? Too much speaking. A person calms down their speaking. Ibn al-Qayyim says: the limbs are like awāni — vessels, containers. If you put water in a container and it reaches the brim, can you still put more water in? You cannot, because it is full. Likewise, when you keep doing dhikr of Allah, you cannot do ghibah — you cannot backbite anymore, you cannot badmouth, you cannot talk rubbish. You don't have an unpleasant tongue. Why? Because your tongue is busy doing remembrance. So you keep it busy with remembrance, and it will stop doing any of the foolish things we may have been doing.

Another example: lots of laughing. Laughing is fine — but when it is done in abundance constantly, that is when it becomes a problem. Take Sufyan al-Thawri — he had those amazing long prostrations and abundant prayer. But if you check his biography in Siyar A'lam al-Nubala by Imam al-Dhahabi, you will find that he laughed too. In fact, one of his students said: when I look at him laughing, I feel as if I am put under a spell. It shows that he had a balanced personality. A person may think he was like a monk who only did dhikr and salah — no, he was a balanced person. The Prophet ﷺ would laugh too. The problem is when it is done all the time — that is when it makes the heart hard.

And a third example to finish off: lots of eating. Imam Ahmad, when he was asked, "Can a person whose stomach is full have a soft heart?" he said, "I am unaware of that being possible." A person needs to make some sacrifices. And if there are doubts or question marks about the food — if it is haram — that makes it ten times worse.

Summary and Du'a

So my dear brothers and sisters, the three points: a person tries their best to make tawbah — and that in itself will help enormously. The second thing is lots of dhikr in abundance, paying attention to the dhikr we are doing. And the third is to avoid the permissible things that we do in excess — whether it is eating, whether it is speaking, or whether it is laughing.

We ask Allah to allow us to enter the jannah of this dunya before we enter into the next life, insha'Allah. And to allow us to taste the sweetness of worship before we exit from this world. And to allow us to try our best to make that connection.

Wa aqīmu al-salāh. Barakallahu feekum.