In our religion, one of the biggest misunderstandings is that Islam is all about what to do. What prayer should we pray? What days should we fast? What du'as should we make? What amount of money should we give for sadaqah? But rather Islam plays just as big of a role in the question of how. How well should one observe their salah? How well should one behave when they're fasting during the day of Ramadan? What should the mentality and how should the quality be of a person who is giving sadaqah? How well can we worship Allah is a question that goes very, very seldom asked in our religion.

And a lot of us are seeking that spiritual moment. Yeah, I want to pray and I want to hit that spiritual realization. When I fast, I want to build that connection with Allah.

But the real question we as believers need to ask ourselves is how well and what is the quality of our worship that we engage in? Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He says in the Quran very beautifully:

He says, seek help — وَاسْتَعِينُوا — it's a word or a phrase that you can actually find in Surat al-Fatihah:

Allah commands us: seek help through patience and through prayer. But He says this is difficult. This is difficult for people — إِلَّا عَلَى الْخَاشِعِينَ — except for those who are described as khashi'in. As people who have khushu'. People who have concentration. People who have that mentality of quality in worship.

So in our religion, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that you can pray, you can make du'a, you can give sadaqah, but the moment that you'll feel that connection with Allah is the moment that you really get into that mentality of quality. When I step up on a prayer rug, am I just doing it to get it over with? Or am I doing it because I sincerely want to create a relationship with God? It's a huge question to ask ourselves as believers.

The Concept of Iḥsān

One of the concepts in our religion that this entire principle is covered in is the concept of iḥsān. The concept of iḥsān, which roughly translates as excellence, beauty. And in one of the most major narrations from the life of the Prophet ﷺ — this is a hadith known as Hadith Jibril — a companion by the name of Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu 'anhu narrates this beautiful tradition from the life of the Prophet ﷺ.

He says that we were sitting in the company of the Prophet ﷺ when a man walked in — إِذْ طَلَعَ عَلَيْنَا رَجُلٌ شَدِيدُ بَيَاضِ الثِّيَابِ — that this was a man who walked in and he was dressed in completely white. He was very clean looking and his hair was very dark, very black. And he says — لَا يُرَى عَلَيْهِ أَثَرُ السَّفَرِ — that we didn't notice any sort of evidence of travel on this man.

And I digress here — we're talking about quality and iḥsān. Look at the description of Umar ibn al-Khattab about this man. This man came into the presence of the Prophet ﷺ and he looked beautiful. He didn't look tattered and disheveled with his clothes torn apart. He looked very good. He was dressed very well. When you come into the presence of the Prophet ﷺ and you want to talk to the Prophet ﷺ, you look the part. This is iḥsān.

And Umar says he came and he sat with the Prophet ﷺ — فَأَسْنَدَ رُكْبَتَيْهِ إِلَى رُكْبَتَيْهِ — he sat with his knee upon the knee of the Messenger ﷺ. He sat very respectfully. And he put his hands on the thighs of the blessed Messenger ﷺ. And he says: يَا مُحَمَّدُ أَخْبِرْنِي عَنِ الْإِسْلَامِ — O Muhammad ﷺ, tell me about Islam.

And the Prophet ﷺ goes on to answer this man. He says: Islam is based upon the five pillars. Islam is — أَنْ تَشْهَدَ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — it is testifying that there is only one God worthy of worship — وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ — and that he is His final Messenger. And that you should pray five times a day. That you should give zakah. That you should fast in Ramadan. And you should perform the hajj if you are able to.

And that man, he says — قَالَ صَدَقْتَ — he says, you're right. And Umar ibn al-Khattab was astounded. Absolutely astounded. He actually says in the narration — فَعَجِبْنَا لَهُ — we were shocked, we were perplexed — يَسْأَلُهُ وَيُصَدِّقُهُ — we were shocked that the one who was asking was then confirming the truth of the answer. This had never happened before. Usually when you ask somebody a question, they give you the answer and you say, oh really, I'm learning. This man says صَدَقْتَ — you're right. So he already knew the answer to this question.

And so he continues to ask the Prophet ﷺ, he says — فَأَخْبِرْنِي عَنِ الْإِيمَانِ — tell me about iman. And the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 1 — Hadith Jibril)

He says, iman is believing in God. Believing in the angels. Believing in the books. Believing in the messengers. Belief in the final day. And believing in qadr, in destiny — both in what you deem is good and what you deem is bad. And that person says صَدَقْتَ — you're right.

The Definition of Iḥsān

And then finally, this man asked the Prophet ﷺ — فَأَخْبِرْنِي عَنِ الْإِحْسَانِ — he says, tell me about iḥsān. And this is where I want everyone to take something home today.

The Prophet ﷺ defines iḥsān. He says:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 1 — Hadith Jibril)

He says that iḥsān is worshipping God as though you can see Him. Worshipping Allah as though you can see Him. And I want everyone to imagine right now — what would your acts of worship be like if you could literally see Allah in front of you right now? Imagine what your prayers would be like if you saw Allah in front of you right now.

The First Level: Mushāhadah

This is what the scholars describe as mushāhadah — mushāhadah which means personal witnessing. Performing your acts of worship as though you can literally see God in front of you.

There is a very beautiful narration in Bukhari where it says Allah has some angels who look for those who celebrate the praises of Allah on the roads and the paths — that some angels are literally dedicated for people who are remembering Allah anywhere on this earth. And when they find people doing dhikr of Allah, they stop and they tell all the other angels: come listen, come listen, this person is singing the praises of God, he is remembering Allah.

And so Allah will tell these angels: O angels, what do My servants do? And the angels respond to Allah and they say: Ya Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, they are remembering You with their tongues, they are saying سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will ask them: do they see Me? And the angels say: Ya Allah, they cannot see You. And Allah asks the angels: how would it have been if they saw Me? SubhanAllah. And the angels respond: Ya Allah, if they saw You, they would worship You even more devoutly, they would glorify You more beautifully, they would testify to Your oneness even more beautifully.

Ya Allah — this is mushāhadah. That when you worship God, it is literally as though He is in front of you. Imagine this in your life right now. We have people of all ages here. When you drive down a highway, what would your driving be like if you saw police officers spaced out on every single exit? Hands would be at 10 and 2. Phone? What phone? I don't even have a phone. I am going to stop exactly where I should stop. I am going to stop 75 feet before the stoplight, just as they taught me when I took my driving exam.

Imagine a school. Look at students — what do students behave like when their teacher is walking around the classroom as they take an exam? Everyone has eyes on their own paper. Not one eye will dart across the room because they know that the teacher is in front of them. That mentality is mushāhadah. When I pray to Allah, I pray as though Allah is in front of me. When I fast in Ramadan, I fast as though Allah is in front of me. When I give sadaqah, I give sadaqah as though Allah is right there with me.

And this is an example that the Prophet ﷺ perfected in his life. When he was on his journey to Medina with Abu Bakr al-Siddiq radiyallahu 'anhu and they were in this mountain called Jabal Thawr, Abu Bakr was terrified that the Quraysh would find them in this cave. And he looks at Abu Bakr and says: Ya Abu Bakr, what would you say about these two people — the company of these two, the third of which is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?

Abu Bakr, don't be afraid — إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَنَا — Allah is with us. Allah is here with us. That is the first step of iḥsān: worshipping Allah as though you can see Him.

The Second Level: Murāqabah

The second level of iḥsān is: although you cannot see Allah, know that Allah can see you. This is the second level of iḥsān. And the scholars call this level of iḥsān the idea of knowing that Allah is watching you even though you cannot see Him — this is what is called murāqabah.

Even though you may not see the police officers yourself, you know they are there — especially if you pass through George Bush Turnpike, they are there somewhere. Even if your teacher steps out of the room, you know that the cameras are there. Even if you know that your boss is not right in front of you watching you work, you know that there is a sense of accountability. This is murāqabah.

And one of the most beautiful examples of this was from the life of Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu 'anhu. Umar ibn al-Khattab one time went on a journey — he was traveling, and he was a companion of the Prophet ﷺ who really loved to test people in terms of their faith. He wanted to see what level of faith you had — let's see what you're made of, you call yourself a Muslim, let's see.

And so he was on this journey and he came by a young boy, a young man who was in charge of a flock of sheep. And Umar ibn al-Khattab goes up to this young man and he says: Ya Ghulam, hey you — I want one of those sheep right there. And this young man looks at Umar ibn al-Khattab and says: look, I am not the owner of these animals. I can't sell them to you. I can't even sell you one — I don't own them, it's not my right.

And Umar ibn al-Khattab says: why don't you just tell your master that a wolf ate one of them? No harm, no foul, right? You get the money, your master thinks a wolf just ate one of his animals — everyone's cool.

And you know what this young man told Umar ibn al-Khattab at that moment? He says: فَأَيْنَ اللَّهُ — what about God? What about God? I can fool my master. I can fool a random person on the street. I can even fool myself to a certain extent. فَأَيْنَ اللَّهُ — Ya Umar, what about God? You can't fool Allah.

And at that moment Umar ibn al-Khattab stopped in his tracks and began to weep. And the narration says that when he went back to Medina al-Munawwarah, he sent a letter to the master of this slave and paid him whatever it was to free this young boy. And the boy came to Medina to meet Umar ibn al-Khattab and he says: Ya Amir al-Mu'minin, why did you free me? What happened? What did I do that gained this love from you?

And Umar ibn al-Khattab said: those words that you spoke — what about Allah? — those words freed you in this life. And may they free you in the hereafter. Allahu Akbar.

This is iḥsān. Your awareness of God is so great that whatever you do, you know that you are not alone. And subhanAllah — think about the way that we treat people. We walk into a person's house and we are rude to them. Imagine if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was there and He witnessed you being rude to somebody in their own home. Would you ever be invited back to that home ever again?

This is what iḥsān really is — that awareness that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is constantly around you. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to be the best of muḥsinīn. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to be the people who really hold high this principle of iḥsān and really understand that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is constantly around us.

Three Practical Tips to Improve Your Iḥsān

Just to finish this short reminder today, I wanted to leave everybody with a couple of tangible tips that we can take home with us to improve our level of iḥsān.

Tip #1: Beautify Your Private Deeds More Than Your Public Deeds

As human beings who are constantly in the eye of other people — how well can you do certain deeds in private? When we are at Jumu'ah prayer at Valley Ranch Islamic Center, our Jumu'ah may be beautiful because we are surrounded by hundreds of our brothers and sisters worshipping Allah together in congregation. But what about that Dhuhr salah that you prayed at the office? What about that Maghrib salah that you prayed in your room? Do we have that same level of beauty in those private deeds as we do when we are in the public eye?

And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala warns us about this — about those who are heedless of their prayers and those who do it because of the eye of other people. May Allah protect us and make our private deeds even more beautiful than our public deeds. That is number one.

Tip #2: Do Things Consistently

When it comes to building a relationship with our faith, it is not a one-hit wonder. A lot of us think: if I give that big donation, if I just go one day to Jumu'ah, or if I do the best Ramadan ever, then I'll be good. But you know what is not there? The rest of the 11 months out of the year, where Fajr, Dhuhr, 'Asr, Maghrib, and 'Isha are still there.

Consistency is the key when it comes to building this level of excellence in your deeds. So that no longer is prayer a burden upon you, but rather prayer is the coolness of your eyes. That worship around the clock is the coolness of your eyes. You no longer are dreading praying at night — you are looking forward to it because that is the way you end your day now. SubhanAllah, may Allah allow us to reach that level of consistency.

Tip #3: Ask Allah to Purify Your Intentions

Ask Allah to purify your intentions, because intentions are something that are constantly changing. And in Arabic we believe in this concept called istimrār — meaning ongoing, continuous. Intentions are ongoing. It is something that needs to be consistently improved because an intention can start in the right place at the beginning and be lost halfway through. And this is why intentions are so important to refine every single hour of the day. Why am I doing this? Let's clarify the beauty behind my deeds. Ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to purify our intentions for us.

Closing Du'ā

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow us to be the best of people when it comes to this religion. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow us to worship Him in the highest of quality. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive us for any of our mistakes and shortcomings. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to consistently and constantly forgive us for all of our mistakes and shortcomings. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless our loved ones and our families. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to constantly have love around us and give us His love and His rahmah. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow us to be the best of believers, the best of muḥsinīn, and the best of Muslims.

أَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ