Loving To Meet Allah

Loving To Meet Allah

Amma ba'd — indeed the most truthful of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, and the worst of matters are those newly introduced, and every newly introduced matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.

Brothers and sisters in Islam, the title of our khutbah today is Loving to Meet Allah. And our hadith is mentioned in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, narrated by Aisha رضي الله عنها:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6507; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2683)

In this hadith, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: whoever loves to meet Allah, then in turn Allah loves to meet them; and whoever hates to meet Allah, then Allah hates to meet them.

Then Aisha رضي الله عنها said:

"Oh Prophet of Allah, is it hating death? Because all of us hate death."

The scholars commented that in this hadith, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم did not deny the idea that everyone hates death. He didn't tell her, "No, ya Aisha, some people love death." Because it means that everyone hates the idea of dying — that is natural. Parting with loved ones and with things — it is natural.

Allah's Dislike of Causing Distress to the Believer

Further proof of that — another hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari, a hadith qudsi, where Allah says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6502)

The beginning of the hadith is: whoever shows animosity to a wali — a close friend of Mine — then I will declare war against them. So the beginning of the hadith shows that Allah is talking about His close friends, the awliya. And even in that category, the ending of the hadith says: "And I have not hesitated in doing anything as I hesitate when taking the soul of the believer." Allah says He hates — or dislikes — to harm him or to cause him any distress or hurt. So again we see that people hate the idea of dying.

The Quranic Evidence

Likewise, in Surah an-Nisa, Allah is saying: if We had decreed upon them — kill yourselves, go out to fight that which will cause you to die, or leave your homes — they would not do it except for a few of them. So Allah is saying that no one would respond to His command except for a few, and it started with the mention of death, something that is hated to people. And likewise, leaving the homes — the scholars mention — is hated to someone. To leave their home that they have built up and the environment that they know very well. And that is why the scholars said when you see the excellence of the Muhajireen — the ones who left their homes in Mecca — leaving the home is not easy. And that is why the best of the believers were the ones who left their homes for the sake of Allah.

So basically, the hadith and the ayat do not deny that people hate death. And the hadith we started with is not saying that whoever hates dying, Allah hates to meet them. But the hadith continues with the explanation of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم — he says, "Not as you think, ya Aisha."

So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is saying: when the believer, at the time of death, is given glad tidings of the mercy of Allah, and Allah being pleased with them, and the jannah of Allah — then at that moment he would love to meet Allah, and Allah will in turn love to meet them. And then the disbeliever, when they are told of the punishment of Allah and the anger of Allah against them, they will hate to meet Allah, and in turn Allah will hate to meet them.

Why Do People Hate Death?

There is a narration often attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib, and sometimes to Al-Hasan al-Basri. We'll take the Ali ibn Abi Talib narration — someone asked Ali: "Why do people hate death?" So he says: "Because they have built up their dunya and they destroyed their akhirah. So they hate to move from that which they have built up to that which they have destroyed."

Two Hypothetical Stories

So how can we get to the point where, at the time of death, we are eager to meet Allah? Let's look at this through two hypothetical stories.

The first: a young man grew up here in Houston and all his family and friends are here in Houston. He graduated with a good degree and he got a well-paying job. He just graduated and he got this great job that pays well, and he purchased a new house and now he's making payments on that house, and he purchased a brand new car and now he's making payments on that car, and he has a fiancée, and he's got his savings together. And then the night before his wedding, there's a knock on his door at midnight. When he opens the door he's grabbed and shoved into a van and shoved into an airplane, and then he's dropped in Colorado in the middle of the street in a random neighborhood. And the only thing he is told is: "Now you have to spend the rest of your life here." So the question is — would this young man look forward to being in Colorado? Will he be happy to be in Colorado? For he has nothing, and everything that he has built up is back in Houston.

Now look at the other story. A man — pick any Muslim country you want — he is here illegally and he is working three jobs, and he is living in a tight area under the stairs with a whole bunch of other strangers, and he is eating the worst of food, and he is wearing the oldest of clothes, and he does not spend anything upon himself. But whatever he takes from his money he sends back home. And he keeps sending, and he has amassed now some savings. Then he calls his father and he says: "Buy me a plot of land." And his father buys him the plot of land. He keeps working and sending. Then he says to his father: "Build me a house on that plot of land." And his father builds him the house, and after a year it's complete. Then he keeps sending money. He says: "Purchase this brand of car and park it in front of the house." And now his brand new car is outside the house. He keeps sending money, and now he is just saving in his bank account. Then he calls his mother and he says: "Find me a wife." And she finds him a wife. And he keeps sending and saving. And then one day as he is on his way to work, ICE stops him in the middle of the road and they detain him, and they announce to him that they are going to deport him. How will he feel? "I am sick and tired of delivering pizza for you guys anyways and living under the stairs — and I have a house ready for me and a brand new car and land and a wife and money."

Look at the difference between the two. And what was the difference between the two? The difference was one made preparations for another area, so he was looking forward to going there. The other made all his preparations in one area, so he didn't look forward to leaving.

And most people spend their life preparing to live in this dunya. They spend their entire life preparing for retirement — where are they going to retire, are they going to have savings or not, what kind of home. I had a neighbor who bought a one-story house — he was young, but he bought a one-story house. He said: "So that when my wife and I get old we don't have stairs." So he is making sure that when he has weak knees he is going to be comfortable. He is preparing and planning to live in that locality.

The Answer in Surah al-Kahf

In short, brothers and sisters, the answer is in this verse in the Quran, in Surah al-Kahf, which we all read today:

Whoever is hoping to meet his Lord in a positive way and get reward with his Lord, then he should do righteous deeds, and he should not associate anything in worship with his Lord.

The Early Muslims and Their Eagerness to Meet Allah

If you look at some of the early Muslims, they said things that were contrary to what we were just establishing. Ammar ibn Yasir رضي الله عنه on the day of the Battle of Siffin said:

He says: "Tomorrow we shall meet our beloved ones — Muhammad and his companions."

Likewise, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman رضي الله عنه — when he was on his deathbed, he said:

He said: "This is a beloved one that came at a time of need" — I am in need of the mercy of Allah. He said:

"Whoever is regretful in a time like this will not be successful — he won't succeed if he's regretful at a time like this."

But the scholars said: the hatred of death is hating to leave your loved ones and leave your family to go to an uncertainty. But those righteous ones — they were preparing their entire life to go to the next place. So when that time came, despite regretting leaving family or what have you, they were looking forward to what they had prepared.

Ask Allah for His forgiveness. Indeed those who ask for His forgiveness shall prosper.

Second Khutbah

Building the Akhirah: A Practical Example

So look at the example of someone who lives his life normally — goes to work, has their hobbies and everything — but in the back of their mind they're always preparing for their akhirah. So he heard the hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that whoever prays 12 rakat between the night and day, Allah will build them a palace in al-jannah. So the 12 sunnah that you do after and before the salawat — for each one of those days, it builds you a palace in al-jannah. And the palaces in al-jannah are huge — 50 miles — and that's still inside of your own home. Huge palaces. So in his mind: "I built a palace today, yesterday I built a palace, tomorrow I'm going to build a palace." In his mind he's got this count of 183 gigantic palaces that he has built.

He knows that when you say:

— and the scholars say in any order — Allah builds you for each one of those that you say a tree in paradise. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said you will travel a distance of such and such and you're still under the shade of one tree. So he built a palace today and he planted 2,000 trees by that palace. Tomorrow he builds another palace and this time he had more time and he plants 5,000 trees. And every day of his life he's looking at what he has potentially prepared for himself in the next life: "Today I planted trees. Today I built another palace."

He knows that if you say:

100 times, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said there will be nobody on the Day of Judgment who has done anything better than you, except for the one who said it more. So he's filling his day with سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ — hundreds and thousands of times. Just one time I mentioned this in a class and this old man came to me and said: "My father, رحمه الله, used to say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ every single day 10,000 times." 10,000 times.

So he's preparing to meet Allah. He's preparing reward there, making istighfar constantly. Because what is one of the main reasons we don't like the idea of meeting Allah? We don't want our sins to be listed. But if I'm engaging in istighfar all the time and erasing these sins — then hopefully I don't have to meet Allah with these sins — I would not hate the idea of meeting Allah.

In short: someone who spent their life doing good and expecting the reward with Allah versus someone who spent his entire life preparing to live forever.

A Closing Story

And I'll close with this story that was recently told to me by someone who knew this individual. He said: this man came from overseas and he started trying to open a business, but he was selling tobacco and he was selling alcohol, and he was making a lot of money from that. But he said he needs to build up his future for himself and for his family. So he kept selling the haram — alcohol and tobacco — and sending the money overseas. He says he built a 7-story apartment building for himself with all this money, and now he wants to go back home and retire.

He said: after the apartment building was completely done and prepared, he gathered the rest of his wealth and his children and his wife and everything, and he moved back there. He says: "My mother tells me the story." He came and everyone is expecting his return. He went into that apartment building that he spent his life building — and disobeying Allah gathering the wealth for that. She said he slept one night, and when they came to wake him up in the morning, he was dead.

So that's the difference between someone who spends their entire life preparing to live in one place — and someone who takes care of his life in this dunya, but they're always making preparations for their life in the akhirah.