Taking Guidance for Granted - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ تَعَالَى نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ، صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا.

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى، وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا، وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ، وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ، وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ.

The Greatest Blessing: Guidance

One of the greatest blessings and favors that Allah can bestow upon any individual is the blessing and the favor and the grace of guidance. That Allah plucks us from the depths of misguidance and darkness and He shows us the path and the way to the light of guidance. It is for that reason that each and every single Muslim, no less than 17 times a day and night, they make the du'a for guidance in Surah al-Fatihah.

When they say:

O Allah, guide us, keep us firm, keep us steadfast upon the straight path. But what we also know is that that guidance is the exclusive right of Allah. You can't earn it — in terms of earning it through any type of money that you pay. It's not something which someone asks and grants to you. It's not something which you can inherit by way of your lineage or your status or your position in a family. And that is why Allah also tells us concerning this guidance in the Quran:

You don't guide whomsoever you love, but it is Allah who guides whomsoever He chooses and wills.

Do Not Take Guidance for Granted

Al-Imam Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah, putting these two verses before him, gives the example of two individuals from the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ to show to you how guidance is something which is so precious and so important — something that none of us should ever take for granted.

We live in a time now where many of us were born Muslims, many of us who come from Muslim heritages, Muslim cultures. Many of us whose parents, grandparents, great-grandparents were Muslims as far as we know. We sometimes — and maybe even too often — take it for granted. And living in a time in which there are so many trials and tribulations that attack our aqidah and our belief and our sense of iman, it is extremely important to know that just because our parents may have been Muslim doesn't give us a guarantee of Islam.

And just because we are Muslim today doesn't mean that we will die upon Islam, or that even if we were to die upon Islam, that our children or our grandchildren or our offspring would necessarily live and die upon that Islam. It is something which is Allah's right to give, and He gives it to whomsoever He pleases. To understand that point is something which is extremely important, because when you do so, you fear for your iman. When you do so, you don't take it for granted. When you do so, you work hard to preserve the iman within your hearts.

The First Example: Abu Talib

Ibn al-Qayyim gives the example of two individuals by which we can see how this works. The first of them is the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Talib. And the second is the illustrious companion Salman al-Farisi radiyallahu anhu.

Abu Talib, as we know, was the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ. He knew the Prophet ﷺ from the moment he was born. And when the Prophet ﷺ became an orphan — his mother died, his father died, his grandfather died — it is Abu Talib who took him in and sponsored him. Abu Talib honored him. He loved him. He respected him. He treated him closer than any of his own sons. And when the Prophet ﷺ came with the message of Islam, it is Abu Talib, by Allah's permission, who stood in front of all of Quraysh. He protected the Prophet ﷺ and he defended him.

And when the Quraysh went to the extremes to which they went — when they tried to boycott the Prophet ﷺ socially, politically, economically, and they told him to go and stay in a place that would become known as the Shi'b of Abu Talib — Abu Talib joined him. Not because Abu Talib believed in Islam or accepted the message of the Prophet ﷺ, but because of the blood and the kinship that they had, because of how he would outwardly support him and defend his honor ﷺ. Abu Talib spent the remaining years of his life in defense of his nephew.

But on his deathbed, when the time came for his death, the Prophet ﷺ came — as is mentioned in the narration of Sahih al-Bukhari on the authority of al-Musayyib ibn Hazm radiyallahu anhu — when the Prophet ﷺ came to his uncle upon his deathbed and said to him:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3884)

O my uncle, say la ilaha illallah — a phrase, a sentence, a statement that you will say and I will use it to defend you in the sight of Allah. I will intercede on your behalf just by saying that one thing.

And Abu Jahl was standing there and Abdullah ibn Umayyah was standing there, and they said to him: "O Abu Talib, أَتَرْغَبُ عَنْ مِلَّةِ عَبْدِ الْمُطَّلِبِ؟ — Will you forsake the religion of your own father Abdul Muttalib?" And so Abu Talib refused to say la ilaha illallah. He would die upon the paganism of his father and his forefathers.

His closeness to the Prophet ﷺ didn't give him guidance. His love for the Prophet ﷺ, his defense for the Prophet ﷺ didn't grant him guidance. Everything that he offered, that he sacrificed for the Prophet ﷺ, didn't grant him guidance in the end.

The Second Example: Salman al-Farisi

The second example is the example of Salman al-Farisi radiyallahu anhu. A man who lived in the middle of the Persian Empire, thousands of miles away from Mecca and Medina. What is collected in Musnad Imam Ahmad on the authority of Abdullah ibn Abbas radiyallahu anhu — Salman al-Farisi narrated his story to Ibn Abbas. He said that he was living in the middle of the Persian Empire and he was a fire worshipper, a Magian. So devoted was he to his religion that he would be from amongst those people who would tend to the fires of his temple.

But one day as he was walking, he passed by a church. And he heard them worshipping in the church. He heard them reading from the Gospel in the church. And so he spent the whole day with them and he realized that their religion was better than the religion that he was upon. Because those people of that time — some of them — they still had their ability to hold on, to the best of their ability, to the teachings of the Torah and the Injil. Like Waraqa ibn Nawfal in Mecca, that the Prophet ﷺ would go to with Khadijah radiyallahu anha.

So Salman said to those people: "If I want to learn more about your religion, where do I need to go?" They said to him: "You must go to Asham (Greater Syria)." So when his father heard about this, he took Salman and he chained him to the house to stop him from leaving and changing his religion. But when Salman heard that a caravan of people from Asham had come and they were going to return, he escaped — left his father, left his family, left everything he knew — because he was seeking guidance.

A Long Journey in Search of Truth

He arrived in Asham and he met there a priest that he spent time with, and he was impressed by the way that this man was trying to come closer to Allah. But the priest was an old man, and before long he was nearly passing away. So before his death, Salman asked him: "Where do I go next? I want someone like you. Tell me someone else that I can go to." So he said to him: "Travel to another land — Mosul. There you will find another man similar to me."

So Salman, after that man's death, goes and finds another priest. He spends some time with him, but he is also old, and soon he is also about to die. So he asks him: "Where do I go next?" So he sends him to a third man in a third land — a place called Nisibin. So he goes there and spends some time with that third priest. But he is also old, and before long he is also about to die. So he asks him: "Where do I go next?" He sends him to a fourth land, a fourth place — Amuriyyah. So he goes there and he spends some time with the fourth man. But he is also old.

And before his death, he says to him: "I don't know of anyone else upon the way that I am upon. The way that I practice my religion — there is no one left like that now. But the time has come for a Prophet. And you will find him in a land where there are date palm trees. His signs will be three: Number one, that he doesn't eat from sadaqah. Number two, that he takes gifts if they are gifted to him. And number three, that he has the seal of prophethood between his shoulder blades."

Arriving in Medina

So Salman al-Farisi finds a group of people. He says to them: "I will sell to you all that I have. You can take all that I have, all that I possess. Take me to this land in which there are date palm trees." They agree. They take his wealth and they take him to Arabia. But instead of taking him to Medina — which is where he wants to go, but he doesn't know the place and its name — they sell him into slavery instead.

He becomes a slave for a Jewish man far away from Medina. But after some years, that Jewish man happens to have a cousin who lives in Medina from the Jewish tribes of Medina. And on one occasion when that man comes to visit the master of Salman, he buys Salman radiyallahu anhu from him, and he travels with him to Medina. So in this very long, convoluted way, Salman al-Farisi radiyallahu anhu has eventually entered into the city of the Prophet ﷺ.

And there he hears, before long, that the Prophet ﷺ has arrived — that he is in a place called Quba. So he comes to the Prophet ﷺ as a slave and says: "O Prophet of Allah, O Muhammad, I have heard that you have come with this religion, that your people and followers are poor. So this is some wealth that I have — it is very little, but I give it to you as charity. Take it." He is testing the Prophet ﷺ according to the three signs that were given to him.

The Prophet ﷺ accepted the charity and he gave it to his companions, but he did not eat from it. Salman said: "That is the first test." After some days and some time had passed, he came again — he is a slave, he doesn't have the luxury to come and go as he pleases — but on a second occasion he comes to the Prophet ﷺ and says: "This time I have brought for you a gift. Perhaps you will enjoy this gift because I saw that you did not eat from the charity." So the Prophet ﷺ took and he ate from the gift and he gave it to his companions. That is the second test.

On a third occasion, he came to the Prophet ﷺ whilst he was in the graveyard of al-Baqi', and he tried to come and see behind the Prophet ﷺ — his shoulder blades — to see the seal of prophethood. When the Prophet ﷺ realized what Salman was trying to do, he lowered his robe so that Salman radiyallahu anhu could see. When Salman saw the third of these signs, he accepted Islam. And eventually he would buy his way out of slavery and, as we know, he would become from the most senior of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ.

Lessons from These Two Stories

Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah gives us these two examples because they are extremely important. One — Abu Talib — his proximity, his closeness, his blood relations, his ability to have witnessed many of the early revelations and early incidents that occurred in the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ were not enough to grant him iman. And the second is a man who lived hundreds of miles away, didn't even know the name of the Prophet ﷺ, didn't know the name of the city that he was going to go to, had the vaguest of descriptions, had to sacrifice his wealth, had to sacrifice his family ties, had to be sold into slavery — so that eventually he could come and arrive in Medina and accept Islam. That is in itself a lesson for us to ponder upon and to contemplate upon.

Number one: we ask Allah for the blessing of guidance. We repeat that and ask for guidance each and every single day. But at the same time, we understand the reality that it is so precious — because if the Prophet ﷺ could not guide his own uncle, despite everything that he did for Islam and for the Prophet ﷺ, it shows to you that it is not something which is so easily bought, nor is it something which we should take for granted.

I ask Allah that He grants each and every single one of us, our families, our children, our offspring, the blessing of guidance. That Allah keeps us steadfast upon that in this life. That Allah azza wa jal allows us to die upon Islam and He resurrects us in the company of the people of iman.

Sincerity in Seeking Guidance

One of the greatest lessons that we take from the story of Salman radiyallahu anhu is that when a person is sincere in seeking guidance, has sincerity in wanting to come closer to Allah, Allah azza wa jal blesses that sincerity and He grants them the guidance that they wish for. But look at how much Salman had to sacrifice. He sacrificed his land, he sacrificed his family, he sacrificed traveling from place to place, living in abject poverty, until he was sold into slavery — just so that he could come and understand the meaning of la ilaha illallah Muhammadur rasulullah.

Every single one of us sitting here today is in a far, far easier position than the position of Salman radiyallahu anhu. But how we take iman for granted is something which we should think upon. If we don't spend time, we don't make the effort to learn our religion, to learn about Allah, to learn about the Prophet ﷺ, to learn about iman and what strengthens iman, to prepare for that standing on the Day of Judgment — then it is very possible, and none of us knows, that Allah — and may Allah save us from this — may snatch away that iman from us.

The Fragility of Iman

From the signs of Yawm al-Qiyamah, the Prophet ﷺ told us, is that a person wakes up upon Islam and by evening they have left Islam. Or they meet the evening upon Islam and by the next morning they have left this religion. That is how precious it is — but also how fragile it is.

And that is why when Umm Salamah radiyallahu anha was asked, "What is the most common du'a that you heard the Prophet ﷺ make?" she replied: "I would hear him say:

O Turner of the hearts, make my heart steadfast and firm, strong upon Your religion." If that is the du'a of the Prophet ﷺ, then it is something which we should all reflect upon today.

This is a topic that requires a lot of time and a lot of detail. But I wanted to put upon you this point just so that we can contemplate upon it. The stories of these two people — Abu Talib and Salman al-Farisi — and the different circumstances that they came from. And one, despite his closeness and proximity to the Prophet ﷺ, did not benefit from iman. And the other one, despite his distance and despite his strangeness, it is something which Allah gave him and blessed him with iman in spite of all of that.

Closing Du'a

Ask Allah on this blessed day of Jumu'ah that Allah azza wa jal bestows upon each and every single one of us guidance. That He keeps us firm and steadfast upon this religion. That Allah allows us to live and die and be resurrected upon iman. And that Allah resurrects us in the company of the Prophet ﷺ.

Ask Allah that He safeguards us and our families and our children from trials and tribulations — from the trials of doubts in our religion and from the trials of the desires that come and affect our iman. Ask Allah that He protects us from the traps of Shaytan, and that Allah azza wa jal safeguards us from his troops and from his many soldiers and his armies. Ask Allah that He keeps us firm upon this religion. And that Allah bestows upon us iman and bestows upon us love for Allah and the Prophet ﷺ.