The Worldly Life

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Respected brothers and sisters, elders and dear young students in Islam, as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

Allah mentions one of the most universally accepted truths and realities of our existence in the Qur'an, by saying, every soul that enters this world, every life, shall taste from the cup of death.

Must take a drink from the cup of death, must taste death. Allah says in Surah Ar-Rahman, everything in this world is temporary in its nature.

The only thing, the only being that will continue to remain in existence is Allah. The one possessor of all majesty and honor. Allah is the One who is alive and eternally alive, the one who is a source of life, and everyone besides Allah is temporary, has a definite beginning and will end.

When the trumpet is blown, Allah says:

Everything in the heavens and the earth will be destroyed. And the entire universe, all of the heavens, all of the earth, will be destroyed, will be turned into dust. Even the angel of death, Allah will directly cause the angel of death himself to be taken by Allah. Allah will take the life of the angel of death himself, and then Allah will call out. There will be a period of fatrah, a period of a break, and a time between the blowing of the trumpet the first time and the second time.

And in that period, Allah will make this proclamation and call out, "To whom belongs any authority today?" Let them come forward and assert their authority, their power. There will be no one left alive to respond.

There will be utter silence. Then Allah himself will respond:

The authority lies solely with one Allah who is all powerful, who is overpowering over all of his creation. He was always powerful, he is powerful today, he was powerful in the past, but he has hidden his power, and on that day he will make it manifest.

So these are realities, that we are temporal in our beings, we came here for a temporary period of time, and we will have to leave this world. Allah says:

After that he says:

And you will get the full reward or punishment. The ajar is what you deserve, the compensation, whether good or bad. You will get the full reward or punishment on the day of judgment. And the final verdict and bottom line, Allah says:

Whoever is able to save himself from the eternal fire of Jahannam, and is granted admittance into Jannah. It is not that he enters Jannah on his own accord, with the active verb. But rather he is granted admittance, as a passive verb. Meaning a person will not be able to enter Jannah on their own accord. It is not that I enter Jannah with my own right. Or you will enter Jannah on your own right, that you deserved it and you earned it. Rather, you are made to enter Jannah.

One is to enter Jannah on your own, and one is to be allowed entrance into Jannah. So Allah, in Arabic, it is called fi'l ma'roof and fi'l majroor. In English, it is called the active verb and the passive verb. Active verb is, you yourself are the subject of the verb. You enter Jannah on your own accord. And one is a passive verb, meaning you are not the subject. You are not entering on your own, Allah is allowing you to enter. You are the object, you are receiving the verb. Allah is allowing you entrance and taking you into Jannah.

So this is how Allah uses the word here, you are granted entrance into Jannah. Whoever is granted entrance into Jannah. This is the person who is truly successful.

And what about this earthly life, this worldly life that we have? Allah says at the end of the ayah:

And this worldly life is nothing but a means of deception. It is a deception. It is something that we are chasing after, that has no reality, no permanence, no true existence. It is a figment of our imagination. It is not real, it is not permanent. It is very very attractive, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, it is sweet and green and attractive. And the creator of this world himself is saying, this worldly life is a means of deception.

What we are chasing after, and what we are all so much in love with, this material dunya, Allah, our creator himself, says:

And that you love wealth, an extreme desire that you have for wealth. You have strong attachment to these material things. This is a test for us. To see whether the love of this material dunya blinds us from the reality of the purpose of our existence, the knowledge and recognition of Allah, true servitude and submitting to the will of Allah, fulfilling the rights of Allah, fulfilling the rights of the fellow human beings, being loyal to Allah, fulfilling His commands, abstaining from His prohibitions, leading a life pleasing to Him, and following the Sunnah of our beloved Master the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), or do we follow our whims, our desires, our passions, our lusts, and work hard just to fulfill that, like the animals.

They are like animals, nay, they are worse than the animals. This is the test of life that we are all going through.

Allah says:

That this worldly life is just play and amusement, and the hereafter, that is the actual eternal real life. If they but knew. If they but realized. Everything that they are chasing after, that we are chasing after, we have to leave behind.

And furthermore, Allah says, wake up from this slumber, wake up from this blindness of material world, and repent to Allah, a true sincere repentance.

O those who believe, repent to Allah, a sincere repentance. Know that your time that you have to return back to me is appointed. And when is that time coming? It is unknown. But one thing for sure is that it will not change. Allah says:

For every person, for every nation, there is a term appointed. There is a time period appointed by Allah.

And when that time appointed arise, then you must return to Allah, you cannot escape. You cannot change it one second either way. You cannot advance it, you cannot postpone it. This is our belief. These are the words of Allah.

So Allah, if He blesses an individual, then He gives them an opportunity to reflect on this reality and prepare for death before it comes. And the one who does so, the Prophet (peace be upon him) has said, that this is the most intelligent person. The Prophet (peace be upon him) has said:

(At-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2499)

The true intelligent person is the one who takes stock of his nafs, makes muhasabah. Muhasabah means a person who looks into his nafs and his life and takes an account, a self-account. Takes stock of himself. What are his good deeds, what are his sins? What are his positives, what are his negatives? What are the good habits that he must continue? What are the bad habits and sins he is involved in that he must repent from and learn to overcome? This is called muhasabah nafs. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, the intelligent one is the one who does muhasabah nafs, takes stock of himself.

As it is mentioned, take stock of yourself and take your account today before your account will be taken by Allah Himself. Weigh your deeds today, your good deeds and your sins. Weigh them right now. Voluntarily weigh them and see where you stand. Before they are weighed by Allah in the scales of justice on the Day of Judgment. And prepare yourself to be presented in the court of Allah on the great Day of Judgment.

On that day you will be presented in front of Allah on the Day of Judgment. And nothing at all will remain hidden from Allah. There is no place to hide.

This earth will be destroyed and Allah will establish a new plane on the Day of Judgment. And the nature of that plane of the Day of Judgment is:

You will find there will be no depression in that earth, no valleys and no mountains, no hills. No hills to hide behind and no valleys to hide inside. It will be completely flat plane.

So Allah says that prepare yourself before that day. Weigh your deeds today before they will be weighed on the Day of Judgment. And take stock of yourself. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said this is an intelligent person.

What is noteworthy here in this hadith is that the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not necessarily say that this is the most beloved person to Allah. Nor did the Prophet (peace be upon him) say that this is the most righteous person. This is the most pious person. This is the one who fears Allah the most. The one who is most beloved to people and everyone. This is the best people. He may be all of the above but this is not what is mentioned. What is mentioned is that this is the most intelligent person.

Meaning this is a function of the person's intelligence. Who does not want to be classified as an intelligent person? We all want to be considered intelligent. We want to be intelligent ourselves. We want our children to be intelligent. And we want others to regard us as to be intelligent. So the genuinely intelligent person per the classification of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is the one who takes stock of his good deeds and bad deeds. And he prepares for the day after death. Meaning his eye is on the hereafter. His goal is the hereafter. And he is preparing for the long term. He is not all about instant gratification and fulfillment of passions and desires right away. But rather he sees long term.

And what is a little bit beautiful and significant is if you think about this slightly deep, a little bit deeper, we will realize that even from a worldly perspective, from a very short sighted sense of dunya, in material, if you look at people and you say who is an intelligent investor? Who is intelligent with respect to their finances? Is not the person that on Friday they get their paycheck and then they spend their whole paycheck at the bar or in fulfilling their desires. Rather the one who invests long term. And he considers whatever the financial advisors say, ten percent or twenty percent of his income as if it doesn't exist, depending on how much he is making. He saves. This person is intelligent.

The one who spends all his money right away, as soon as it comes in, he spends it on whatever, on weddings, on home improvements, on this and that, different things. Different expenses come up and we fulfill our desires. Sometimes we spend all the money that we have and sometimes people, they actually beyond spending what they have, they take loans to fulfill their desires for name and fame and for show. This person we will say is not a wise person. The person who is a wise investor, who is wise with his money, who is intelligent, who is smart, he saves for the rainy day.

He saves long term for the future. He is thinking later on. He has a very good retirement plan set up. He has 401k, he has other pension plans, he has other long term investments. He is not looking just for short term, but he is looking for long term growth. He has college funds for his children's education to protect them from interest if possible. So this is a wise person. And the person who manages his books and he goes through his accounts, these are the two things, right? The same two things, the same concept the Prophet (peace be upon him) is taking it to the next level in this hadith.

He says, the intelligent person is the one who takes stock of himself not only with regards to worldly matters and worldly dealings, but with respect to the actual purpose of our existence, with respect to his ultimate goal, ultimate destination in the hereafter. And he is not among those people that Allah says, you are preferring this worldly life and you are a slave of this dunya. Whereas the hereafter is far better in the eyes of your Lord. It is the eternal hereafter.

This same concept over and over, Allah keeps on reminding us in the Quran. Allah says, that which is going to remain with you are your good deeds. This is better in the eyes of your Lord as a reward. It's better as something you can look forward to and have hope in.

And the opposite, the Prophet (peace be upon him) says, who is a weak person? Powerless person. The one who has no power, has no strength is weak. We have heard the word miracle as a supernatural event. A miracle is called a supernatural feat. That miracle is that supernatural event or feat that happens at the hand of a Prophet that renders the opposition powerless. They are weak. They are powerless from reproducing that.

If the Prophet (peace be upon him) took his finger and he split the moon in half and one half went down and sat on the east and the other on the west and completely split and everyone saw that and then it came back together again. And this is a miracle of the Prophet (peace be upon him). So if the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked the Quraish, okay, now all of you leaders of Quraish, can you also do the same? So they will say, we are now powerless. We are weak. The only thing they can say is:

This is magic. You have done magic on our eyes. Allah says:

If we open up for them a door in the sky. And not only they have one trip and one visitation and one tour, but rather:

They continue to have, whenever they want to, it's not just a one trip. Whenever they want to, they have an option of going up. You can go up and see first sky, second sky, third sky. You can do your own journey. The same word of journey is used. Journey is a great honor for the Prophet (peace be upon him). But Allah says, if I give journey opportunity to all these leaders. They continue to have their own journey. Will they believe then? Because they saw the first sky, they saw the second sky, they saw the third sky, fourth sky, fifth sky, they saw the House of Frequented Ones. They see everything. Allah says:

They will say, oh, you have cast a spell on our eyes and you have bewitched us. Why will they say that? Because they are not denying based on doubt. They are denying based on pride and arrogance. True arrogance is, genuine arrogance is when a person denies the truth despite knowing it. Like when you know you're wrong but you don't want to accept it, that's arrogance. Likewise, they know the Prophet is right but they don't want to accept it, that's arrogance.

If you send down a physical copy, Allah says, on special parchment from Paradise, this is the word of Allah revealed by Allah. And then Allah further says, so beautiful, He says, then they touch it with their own hands. You touch it with your own hands, you feel it with your fingers. This is actually real from Paradise.

The disbelievers will say, this is all magic. Because they don't want to believe. So this is a supernatural feat. That which renders opposition, renders them powerless to come up with any rational answer. So weak means powerless.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) says, a truly weak and powerless person is:

(At-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2459)

Who allows his nafs to become a slave to his passions and desires. Wherever his desires take him, he follows them.

Do not follow your passions and desires, they will take you astray. He follows his desires. He allows his nafs to become a slave of his desires. And then on top of that, he continues to have hopes that Allah is merciful, will forgive me. Since Allah is merciful, therefore He is mandated to forgive me. He will forgive me for sure, no matter how much I disobey Allah. This is a weak powerless person.

The Example of Brother Junaid

One, as we conclude, the time is up, that Allah gives us different opportunities for us to reflect on this reality. And one such opportunity Allah has provided for us this week, as most of us by now are aware, that one of the greatest pop singers who was fulfilling his passions and desires, and had all the material pleasures, wealth, and honor in society, and fame, and women, and whatever a person, a young man would ever desire, he had all of that.

But Allah blessed this individual, brother Junaid, that He gave him the ability to make repentance.

And the one who repents from a sin is like the one who never committed a sin.

We sometimes complain, how can I leave whatever sin I am involved in, my environment is holding me back, what are my friends going to say, I have the desire to make my face look like the face of the Prophet, and grow a beard, but my wife will not allow me, my wife doesn't like it. I have the intention to wear the Islamic veil, and follow the order of Allah in the Quran, but my husband does not allow it. My husband says that you have to meet my friends, and you have to behave like this at parties and social events, I don't want you to come to parties wearing Islamic dress.

What is so and so going to say? Imagine this person, how much pressure he had from his environment, what are his fans going to say? What is his family going to say? He also had a wife, he also had children, he also had siblings and parents, and how much worldly income he was making per song that he was singing, and how many contracts he had, that he had to break with different recording companies, but when he realized that this is all temporary, this is perishable, and he realized that the true comfort, and the true peace of the heart, it lies only in the remembrance of Allah, as Allah says:

It is in the remembrance of Allah that the heart finds contentment. Then Allah gave him the ability to make repentance from that.

Mawlana Tariq Jameel recently as he mentioned, and he mentioned before as well, that back in 1996 one time, he was sitting somewhere, and the volume was turned off, but on the screen there was a picture of a man dancing on a stage, surrounded by women who were dancing and screaming his name, and the random thought just crossed his mind, this person is so lost in the material dunya, and is so far away from the right path, I wonder how it will ever be possible to reach him, and give him repentance towards Allah, and speak about Allah. Is it ever possible for this person to come onto the right track, when we have small challenges that are difficult for us to overcome, this person is completely on the wrong path.

And after that in 1997, in the Karachi gathering some friends told him that, we want to take you to meet one important influential person, would you be willing to go visit? And he said, okay sure. And when he went to go visit him, as soon as he saw his face, his breath was taken away for a moment, because look and behold it was the same person he had seen on the screen.

So he asked him, what is your name? He said, my name is Junaid Jamshid. And what do you do? He said, I am involved in music. I am a musician. He said, oh do you play an instrument, or do you sing? He said, no I am a singer. Subhan Allah. Then after that he talked to him, gave him repentance towards Allah, and brother Junaid he mentioned that, it feels like even though I am at the height of fame and glory, in the pinnacle of worldly accomplishments, that a person would ever hope to aspire to achieve in this dunya, I have no comfort, I have no peace of mind and heart, and I have a very troubled soul, and what you are saying in these beautiful talks of the religion that you are giving, this is as if you are applying healing ointment to my wounds of my heart.

That means you are healing my wounds. And that is how the relationship began. Allah gave him repentance, and he came, and wherever, as when he came here, praise be to Allah, this mosque, that we are all praying the Friday prayer here today, and we have been praying and will continue inshallah, we benefit from the programs here, praise be to Allah he has a share in the reward here, as he was involved in our fundraising dinner, for raising funds for this mosque, the biggest one event that we had, not only in Chicago, but also in St. Louis.

When he came to St. Louis where I was imam, he arrived and he looked around and he said, Did I come here before? It seems kind of familiar, the city. So it was very embarrassing for me, but I did mention, Yes, back in the 90s you did a concert here. You have come here before. Then he said, praise be to Allah, praise be to Allah, I had made the pledge to Allah, that every single place and city and every venue I went, to go and commit sin, and invite people towards immorality, that I had made a pledge to Allah, I will visit that same town and spread your word, and invite towards you, O Allah. So if I had come here, praise be to Allah, another city knocked out of the way, that I have now come back to give the Islamic call towards Allah.

In the same place I had committed the sin, I wanted to go and invite towards Allah. And with this, what a beautiful inspiration, in the path of Allah, with his wife, we know that he recently received martyrdom from Allah, accepted his martyrdom in the airplane crash. So we make du'a that Allah gives repentance to his family members, and allow us to also make repentance before it is too late.

And come to this reality that our lives are temporary.

(Ibn Majah, Hadith 4259)

There is no need to give further advice or give a speech. Death itself is sufficient means of advice, for the one who wants to take advice. Death itself is a sufficient reminder. You don't need to give a reminder, you don't have to give a sermon. When you see the person dying, then this should awaken you to the reality that one day you will die as well. One day you will leave everything behind.

Closing Du'a

May Allah make us amongst the intelligent ones who prepare for the death before it comes, and take stock of ourselves today before Allah takes stock of us on the Day of Resurrection. Protect us from being among the weak ones who become slaves to their passions and desires and continue to have hopes in Allah while disobeying Him.

And our last call is praise be to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.