Certainty: A Precious Gift - Shaykh Zakaullah Saleem

Khutbah: Certainty — A Precious Gift

أَمَّا بَعْد

The Book of No Doubt

My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, when we study the book of Allah, Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram, we find at the beginning — after Suratul Fatiha, right at the beginning of Suratul Baqarah — Allah Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram has said:

"This is a book in which there is no doubt." And the reason that Allah has said this right at the beginning of the largest Surah of the Quran is that with doubts you cannot achieve anything — with doubts you cannot establish your iman. The opposite of doubts is certainty and yaqeen. In order for you to have belief and iman, you must have yaqeen.

As Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah said: yaqeen is like a ruh — a soul — for iman. Yaqeen is the actual spirit of iman. As the body without a soul is of no benefit, likewise iman without yaqeen is like a dead body. That is why Allah — right at the beginning of Suratul Baqarah — makes mention of some of the characteristics of the muttaqeen and the believers, and amongst them Allah says:

They are the ones who have yaqeen and certainty in the next life, in the aakhirah. So yaqeen is something that you must have along with your claim of having belief and iman. When you claim that you believe in Allah, you must have yaqeen, as Allah Dhul Jalal says in Surah Al-Hujurat:

"The true believers are those who believe in Allah and His Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and they have no doubt." And yaqeen is a knowledge that has no doubt whatsoever. So your iman must be based on yaqeen.

Yaqeen in Every Act of Worship

Likewise, the good deeds that you perform — with every single good deed, you must have yaqeen. When you stand before Allah Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram in salah, you must have yaqeen in the statement of Allah Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram:

That the prayer prevents from immoral activities and evil acts and sins. When you give in the way of Allah — when you give zakat or any sadaqah — you must have yaqeen that zakat is something that actually purifies your wealth, and that by giving in the way of Allah your wealth is not going to decrease. You must have yaqeen when you fast during the month of Ramadan; you must have yaqeen that Allah will reward you for this.

Likewise, when you make du'a to Allah Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram, you must have yaqeen. Without yaqeen, your du'a will not be answered by Allah Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram. That is why Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said: make du'a to Allah Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram — call upon Allah — while you have yaqeen that Allah will definitely answer your du'a. But if you do not have yaqeen — you are raising your hands, you are praising Allah, and you are also sending salutations upon Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam — and within your mind you do not have yaqeen, in your heart you do not have yaqeen — then such a du'a is not going to be answered by Allah Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram.

That is why yaqeen and certainty is one of the most precious gifts from Allah Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram. Those who have yaqeen truly find — they can taste the sweetness of iman. And those who do not have yaqeen do not find any kind of taste in their salah. Even when it comes to giving in the way of Allah, they do give, but because of not having yaqeen they feel that their wealth is going to decrease and they feel the zakat as a burden on them. Likewise, during the month of Ramadan when they fast, because of not having yaqeen they do not enjoy the fasting. When they go for Hajj and Umrah, they do not really enjoy because they do not have yaqeen.

Yaqeen in the Lives of the Prophets

Because of yaqeen — if you have certainty and yaqeen in the mercy of Allah Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram — Allah makes your life easy for you, so that no matter how great and big the calamity before you is, or however you are afflicted with any hardship, any musibah, Allah will make everything easy for you. And this is something that we find in the seerah of the prophets and the rusul of Allah Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram.

Sayyiduna Ibrahim Khaleelullah alayhis-salam — he was about to be thrown into the fire. Jibreel alayhis-salam came to him and said: "Do you need me? I am here to help you." But Ibrahim had yaqeen in Allah. He said: "As for you, I do not need you. As for my Lord, Allah — I have complete yaqeen in Him. So Allah is sufficient for me."

And this is what the companions, Ridwanullah alayhim, also said — as Allah has mentioned in the Quran in Surah Ali Imran — during the battle of Uhud, when initially the Muslims were defeated and then the munafiqeen and also the enemies of Islam started whispering and making the Muslims scared of the enemies. But Allah says: when people told those companions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that all the tribes of the Arabs have gathered against you and they are going to attack you and finish you off — as soon as they heard this statement, rather than being scared and having any kind of fear, this very statement increased them in their iman, and they said:

"Allah is sufficient for us." Why? Because they had yaqeen — they had yaqeen in Allah.

Sayyiduna Zakariya alayhis-salam — he did not have a child. He asked Allah for many, many years. Ibrahim alayhis-salam as well — he continued making du'a to Allah. Both of them reached very old age, but they had yaqeen in Allah when they were begging Allah Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram. And Allah made the mention of the words of Sayyiduna Zakariya alayhis-salam right at the beginning of Surah Maryam, when he made du'a to Allah and said: "O Allah, O my Lord, I have grown old and my bones have turned weak, but I am not hopeless of asking You. I still have hope, I still have yaqeen." And because of yaqeen, Allah granted them children. Allah saved Ibrahim alayhis-salam from the fire — because of yaqeen.

Yaqeen in Du'a: One Sincere Supplication Is Enough

That is why it is very important for us to have yaqeen in Allah — to have yaqeen in the mercy of Allah Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram. When you perform any good deed, you must have yaqeen in the statements of Allah, in the statements of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

When it comes to making du'a, many of us — when we are afflicted by calamities — we search for a du'a so that the calamity or hardship is removed from us. And honestly, we actually try these du'as: "Read this du'a for a few days — it didn't work. Now try this du'a — it didn't work. Now try the other one." We continue trying without having yaqeen. But if you were to have yaqeen, then one single du'a can be sufficient. As Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said: anyone who is afflicted by a calamity and he says:

He says three times: "Allah, Allah, Allah — my Lord — I do not associate any partner with Him." That is it. He does not even ask Allah to remove his hardship and difficulty. Just by saying this, he expresses his yaqeen in Allah. Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says: Allah will definitely remove his hardship and difficulty.

So the point is, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, that we must have yaqeen in the mercy of Allah — we must have yaqeen in the book of Allah Dhul Jalal Al-Ikram, in the hadith of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. May Allah grant us this yaqeen so that we can be successful in this dunya as well as in the next life.

How to Attain Yaqeen

My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, in order to attain yaqeen within the heart, there are certain things that we need to do.

1. Seek Knowledge

The first is to seek knowledge. Without knowledge you cannot have yaqeen. Those who have doubts about Allah — the core reason is that they did not study the book of Allah, they did not know Allah. Those who have doubts about the Quran did not study the Quran properly. Those who have doubts about the hadith of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam did not study the hadith of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So studying and seeking knowledge is very, very important to have yaqeen.

2. Stay Away from Sins

Another way of attaining yaqeen is to try your best to stay away from all kinds of sins. The farther you are from sins, the greater level of yaqeen you will have in your heart. If you continue committing sins and then you make du'a to Allah, then you will be of two minds — once you will be making du'a to Allah showing that you have yaqeen in the mercy of Allah, but on the other hand your sins and your evil acts and your bad deeds become a barrier between you and the acceptance of the du'a. So try your best to stay away from all kinds of sins and evil acts.

3. Keep Righteous Company

Another good deed that can help you to attain yaqeen is to try to be in the company of those who have the fear of Allah — those who have knowledge. Because your friends will have a great impact on you. If you are around those who are ignorant, if you are around those who themselves have doubts in the Quran, in the hadith, in Allah — they have no certainty, no yaqeen — they will cause those doubts in your mind as well. So try to be around those who have yaqeen, so that you can attain yaqeen as well.

4. Make Du'a to Allah for Yaqeen

And finally, never forget to make du'a to Allah that He grants you yaqeen. Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam used to make a du'a in his night prayer. It is a long du'a, and part of the du'a is:

"O Allah, grant me Your fear to the level that this fear becomes a barrier between me and Your disobedience. O Allah, grant me and allow me to be obedient to You, and by this obedience I can achieve Jannah. O Allah, grant me such a great level of yaqeen by which You can make the calamities of this dunya easy for me."

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam used to make this du'a. We need to learn and memorize this du'a and continuously ask Allah that He grants us yaqeen. May Allah grant us such a great level of yaqeen by which He makes the calamities of this dunya easy for us. Ameen.