Being Truthful With Allah

Opening: Praise and Testimony

However things are going, we say alhamdulillah. Bad news you heard last night, today, alhamdulillah. Great news, promotion, wonderful things, alhamdulillah.

And we say alhamdulillah, thumma alhamdulillah, thumma alhamdulillah. Nihmaduhu — we praise Allah, He is deserving of all praise. We trust Allah's judgment, we trust Allah's wisdom; everything He puts in your life and my life is the best way.

We seek Allah's help. Without Allah, all of us are helpless. We seek Allah's forgiveness — the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful. And I testify there is no deity worthy of worship. I testify there is no one to give up our lives completely for. There is no one worthy for your forehead to be on the floor for other than Allah. And I testify that Muhammad ﷺ, our beloved — the one that we are commanded to love more than our mothers and fathers, sons, daughters, and our own selves — is Allah's messenger, is Allah's servant, salallahu alayhi wasalam.

The Taqwa Verse

Allah says:

O you who believe, be conscious of Allah, fear Allah's anger, be wary of Allah's punishment, respect Allah — to what level, how much? حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ — as much as Allah deserves to be respected. May Allah forgive us for our shortcomings.

Then Allah ends the ayah, which you hear in almost every khutbah: وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ — and do everything under the sun, so that when the angel of death comes to you, it finds you as a Muslim. That is your ultimate goal. That is your absolute ultimate goal. Someone asks you, what is your dream? What is it that you wish to achieve? Number one: to die with لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ. Nothing beats that. Absolutely nothing beats that. May Allah grant it to all of us.

And what makes the communities in Dallas very special — and we do not praise on Allah's behalf, and we do not know your hearts — but the reputation of many of you, if not all of you, is that you came for لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ. Some of you gave up beautiful places and houses and other cities and states. That's the people of Dallas. May Allah make your reputation even better than what others think of you. And may Allah keep your intention sincere when you came, and may your intention stay sincere as you leave and exit this world.

There is a du'a in the Quran: Ya Allah, make me enter sincerely, move for Your sake, and make me move out of this dunya also for Your sake.

The Topic: Truthful Speech and Action

Allah says, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — O you who believe — one more time: اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ, be conscious of Allah, have Allah in your mind. Then Allah says:

And that is the topic: وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا — say the truth, be sincere, walk the talk. Truthfulness in your intention, truthfulness in your speech, and the peak — the grand truthfulness — in your actions. May Allah make us truthful.

Then Allah says: if you do the قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا, what happens? Two things — the best of both worlds. يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ — meaning He accepts your good deeds. تُقُبِّلَ مِنَّا — you will get it. يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ — and He will forgive your sins and shortcomings. Then Allah ends the ayah beautifully by saying: وَمَن يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ — and whoever obeys Allah and the Prophet of Allah, may Allah make us of them — فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا — then congratulations, you have achieved ultimate success. May Allah make us of those who are successful. Ameen, ya Rabb al-'alamin.

The Story of Anas ibn al-Nadr

Have you ever made a wish? Do you currently have a dream that you wish to come true? Are you, for example, like someone who says, I wish to memorize the Quran? Without a doubt, there are people among us like that. Some say, I wish I can master the Arabic language. Some of you may say, I wish to memorize Sahih al-Bukhari. I wish to go to Hajj. All of us in this masjid have wishes and dreams, and we even make promises. "If this happens, if our Shaykh establishes a Hifadh program, I'll be the first to register." We make a lot of promises and claims — but how truthful are we when we do it?

Are we like Anas ibn al-Nadr? Who is Anas ibn al-Nadr? Anas ibn al-Nadr is a relative of one of the grand Sahaba, Anas ibn Malik. He did not participate in the Battle of Badr — he missed it for a justifiable reason. So he told the Prophet ﷺ, "Ya Rasulullah, I will show you, and I will show Allah, if another battle comes, what I will do."

Sounds familiar? You say that, I say that. Time passed — a week, a month, six months, about a year — and the Battle of Uhud came. Who is in the army? Anas ibn al-Nadr. So far, so good. Allahumma barik. That's enough of an accomplishment. But he goes further.

As many of you perhaps know, the Battle of Uhud — the Muslims were doing a phenomenal job. MashaAllah, TabarakAllah. They were about 600 against 3,000, and they were winning — until a handful of men, no more than 14, disobeyed the command of Allah, disobeyed the command of Rasulullah ﷺ. As a result of disobeying the Prophet's command ﷺ, the tables turned. The Muslims started to lose after they were super victorious. Some of the grand Sahaba — Allah already said He forgave them, it is in the Quran — but they retreated. They gave their backs and went back to Medina.

But as everybody was leaving, there was one man going in the opposite direction. One. Who was that? Anas ibn al-Nadr.

Sa'd ibn Mu'adh — one of the grandest companions that ever walked on earth, the one whom the Prophet said, "This is the Sayyid of your people, come show him respect" — was heading back. He sees Anas ibn al-Nadr. He says, "What are you doing?" He says, "I'm going to continue with the war." Sa'd said, "Have you not heard the Prophet ﷺ has passed away?" He said, "Then let me die upon what he died upon." So Sa'd said — Allahu Akbar — "I was not able to do what Anas ibn al-Nadr did."

Then Anas, before he left — seeing the Sahaba leaving, and even Uthman ibn Affan, may Allah be pleased with him, had also left — he said, "Ya Allah, I am sorry for what my ummah is doing. And ya Allah, I am free from what the enemy, the mushrikeen, are doing." Then right before he left, he told Sa'd: "Sa'd, wallahi, I smell the fragrance of Jannah by the mountain of Uhud. Wallahi, I smell it."

The battle was fought, time passed. Now it was time to count and to bury those who had passed away. As they were passing, they saw a body — they could not recognize it. Why not? Over 80 wounds: in the face, in the eye, in the nose, in the neck, in the ears, in the shoulder — over 80. They could not tell who it was. Until a sister walked by and said, "Oh, that is my brother." How did she know him? From his finger. And who was that man? Anas ibn al-Nadr.

Allah revealed Quran — an ayah that you and I read in Dallas, in Houston, in Texas. Allah says:

There are true, real believers — men and women. What is their quality? Why did Allah call them the real ones? They fulfilled a promise they gave to Allah. How are you with your promises to Allah? Allah says these real believing men and women made a promise to Allah — and they fulfilled it. May Allah make us fulfill the promises that we make.

The Story of the New Convert Who Wished for Martyrdom

Consider another man — a new convert. He sees the Rasulullah ﷺ and he joins the Prophet in one of the battles. At the end of that battle, the Prophet ﷺ divides the war gains — the enemy dropped their swords, dropped their shields, and they were collected. So the soldiers each get a share. This new Muslim did not know much, so someone comes and knocks on the door of his house. They say, "This is your share of the war." He said, "What is that? What share? What money? What weapons?" They said, "The Prophet told us to give it to you." He said, "No, I need to talk to the Prophet. I'm not comfortable." — Not that it was haram; the Prophet gave it to him.

So he went to the Prophet ﷺ and said, "Ya Rasulullah, what is this?" He said, "This is your share from the battle that we won." The man said, "Ya Rasulullah — no disrespect — I did not accept Islam for this. I have a dream. I have an ultimate wish." He was an Arab, a Bedouin, a new Muslim. He said, "My wish is to be a shaheed — a martyr. My wish is to get shot right here" — and he pointed to his chest — "and show Allah I gave up my life for You."

True love for Allah:

"I want to give up my life for Allah." So the Prophet ﷺ — seeing that — said, "If you are truthful with your promise, if you really mean it, Allah will make your dream come true."

The next battle came. The battle concluded. They looked at the casualties, and the Sahaba — not the Prophet ﷺ but the Sahaba — carried the body of that man. He had passed away as a shaheed. They were shaken by the scene and went to the Prophet and said, "Ya Rasulullah, this is the man." The Prophet said, "Is this the same brother that came not too long ago and said, 'I want to get shot right here'?" Yes — and he was shot right there. That was the arrow that came, and he passed away.

So the Prophet ﷺ — look at the honor, may Allah honor you all, ya Rabb al-'alamin — took off his own clothing, and that was the shroud, the kafan, of that man — a new Muslim. Then he said, "Ya Allah, this man was truthful with You. Ya Allah, fulfill the promise of Jannah, fulfill the reward of shahada to this man." And the Prophet ﷺ said, "Ya Allah, I bear witness that this man is sincere," and he buried him.

May Allah make us sincere. The words have value — but have we walked the talk? That is the question.

I say what has been said, and I ask Allah to forgive you, and I ask Allah to forgive me. Seek His forgiveness. Allah is the Most Forgiving.

Second Part: Walking Towards Your Dreams

Bismillah, wassalatu wassalamu 'ala Rasulillah.

May Allah accept the du'a that you just made, and may Allah not make any one of us leave this masjid except that all our sins are forgiven, ya Rabb al-'alamin. Make these wishes, make these dreams — but you have to walk towards them, and you have to truly believe. If you and I were sincere, Allah will make you reach the destination.

If your goal is Z — the last letter in the alphabet — and you are at A, you say, "Ya Allah, take me to Z." That is your wish. The question to you and to me: how far can you go? Wallahi, with the capacity I have, with my capability, I can go to D. You go to D — Allah will take you to Z. You go as far as you humanly possibly can, and Allah will take you the rest of the way.

The Du'a of Umar ibn al-Khattab

Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him — in an authentic narration — he used to make du'a to Allah:

"Ya Allah, grant me martyrdom in Your path, and make me die in the city of Your Prophet ﷺ."

Context is important. Context is critical. Umar is the khalifa. There is not a single risk in Medina. So how can you die as a shaheed — as a martyr in the path of Allah — in the city of Rasulullah? Who asked that question? Not you and I — his own daughter, Hafsa. Hafsa tells her father, "Oh father, how can you ask for that? How can that happen — that you die as a shaheed in Medina? There are no battles here."

Look what he says. He says, "يَأْتِينِي بِهِ اللَّهُ إِن شَاءَ — If Allah wants it to happen, it happens." He said, "I will work towards it. I will settle in Medina. I'll make sure my house is in Medina. I'll make sure that if I have a trip to do for business or so, I don't stay an extra day to risk the chances of not dying in Medina. I'll be present in the masjid and do everything I possibly can."

And as many of you know, he prays Salatul Fajr on the 23rd year after Hijrah, and he gets stabbed and dies as a shaheed — in Medina.

How Do I Know If I Am Sincere?

The key question here: how do I know if I am sincere? We all make wishes. We all have dreams. How do I know if I'm there or not? The question is: what have you done towards that dream?

Rasulullah ﷺ — we have a perfect example that answers this question. The Battle of Tabuk. The Prophet has a fundraiser: "Who can help us? Who can help us with your donations?" This was the biggest Muslim army in the history of the prophethood of Muhammad — preparing 30,000 soldiers, the biggest number. So he needed a lot of funding. Who can give?

Sisters gave their jewelry. Sadaq — truthfulness — Allahu Akbar. Uthman ibn Affan gave 940 camels — roughly over five million dollars today. And he added 60 horses — another several million dollars today. Abu Bakr as-Siddiq gave all his money.

But the question is: what about the people who did not have? The people like you and I who watch the video and say, "Wallahi, if I could help, I would help" — and you genuinely cannot help much. You are very limited. Wallahi, when I see the rubble — that sister, that man — I wish to pick up those rocks and help them, cure them in any way, shape, or form. The man who has been burnt — may Allah grant him shahada. Wallahi, if I had a blanket, I would throw it and do whatever I can. But you are in Dallas. You cannot do any of that. But you can wish and you can dream.

But will Allah reward you for that? The key thing is: how do you feel? Does it cause you pain that you cannot lift that rubble? Does it cause you pain that you cannot feed the poor? Does it cause you pain to the point that you cry?

And these are not my words — these are the words of Allah in the Quran. Because in that battle, when there was a fundraiser, there were poor people who could not donate — not even a date. You know how poor you have to be that you cannot even give a date? They could not participate in any way. So what happened to them? They went back home crying. Men crying. Women crying. "I can't give jewelry. I'm not as rich as her. I cannot give money. I don't have the business he has." They went and they cried. Maybe no one saw them. But who saw them? Allah.

So Allah puts it in the Quran:

They want to participate, but they could not. They turned away crying because they could not participate. That is a sign that you are truthful, inshallah.

The Hadith of Those Left Behind

The Prophet ﷺ, in that same battle, told the Sahaba:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2839)

"You do not go through a single valley, you do not climb a single mountain, except that there are people in Medina who take the same reward." Allahu Akbar. Some of us may go to help with the landscaping at Valley Ranch — not in this beautiful weather, summer in Dallas, drenching in sweat. And it is possible that there is a sister somewhere in Dallas, a brother somewhere there, who will take the same reward as you — because they had an excuse and could not make it. They were coming and had a flat tire. They were sick. But Allah would reward them as if they were participating.

Closing: Go as Far as You Can

So may Allah reward us as if we are in Gaza. And may Allah reward you as if you funded all the medication necessary, and the food, and the sponsoring of the orphans. But the question is: how far are you able to go? Go that far, and Allah will make you fulfill your dream.

How far can you go? What can you do? It says a lot about you. Go as far as you humanly possibly can — and Allah will take you the rest of the way.