The Importance of Servitude to Allah - Yousaf Jahangir

The Importance of Servitude to Allah

I seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whosoever He leads astray, none can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims. O you who have believed, fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul, and from it He created His wife, and He spread among them many men and women. O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

Why Servitude to Allah is the Purpose of Our Existence

The topic of today's Jumu'ah Khutbah is one of great importance. And that is because it affects every single one of us here today. And it also affects every aspect of our lives. And that is fulfilling the servitude of Allah, dedicating our life to His worship, and dedicating our life to strengthening our relationship with Him. It's the reason why Allah has placed us into existence. It's the reason why Allah sent the Prophets and Messengers to us. It's the reason why Allah created paradise and the fire of hell.

From the practical benefits of knowing about the importance of fulfilling Allah's servitude and worshipping Him, is that سبحان الله, any tests and trials that we face, any difficulties and hardships that we go through — once we understand the importance of our servitude to Allah, everything becomes easier for us to deal with. When we understand the role it plays in our lives, every fitna, every test and trial becomes easier for us to deal with. Because we find that we are here to worship Allah through times of ease and as well as times of difficulty.

We worship Allah through the actions of our limbs, like salah for an example. And we worship Allah with the actions of our hearts, like having patience. And part of the worship that we are here to perform is to be patient in the times of difficulty. سبحان الله, this is why you find that it is from the way of Allah, from the sunnah of Allah, to test every single one of us — starting off with the best of us, the Prophets and Messengers. And one of the reasons why we go through these tests and trials and tribulations is to ascertain and determine our ranks in the next life, in the paths of paradise.

And one of the greatest acts of worship that we can perform is to hope and anticipate for the reward of Allah. When we are being tried and tested, by saying: O Allah, you know I am going through a difficult time, I am going through a stressful time — give me strength and guidance to do that which is right and pleasing to you. And this is part of our servitude in the times of difficulty.

Our Religion Covers Every Aspect of Life

From the importance and practical benefits of knowing about the servitude of Allah, is that we come to understand our religion is not restricted just to the prayer mat or to the masjid. But rather we know that our religion and our relationship with Allah affects every aspect of our lives — whether that's at the masjid, or whether that's at home, in how we deal with our parents and our spouses and our children, or if that's in our local communities, working hard to make sure they are safe and that they are clean. Or whether that's at the places and institutes of learning — at schools, colleges, universities — by giving our best effort and making the most of the opportunities that we have. Or whether that's at the workplace, by having good work ethics, taking our responsibilities seriously, and understanding the importance of letting our iman flourish and grow through financial stability.

Where we come and we give our religion and our deen and our relationship with Allah life through our dealings with one another. And we use the gifts that Allah has given us to get closer to Him. An example — the gift of speech that many of us are heedless and neglectful of. We say that which is pleasing to Allah. We bring about righteousness and piety through our speech. We do not use the gifts of Allah to cause fasad, by lying, cheating, backbiting, slandering. But rather we use these gifts that Allah has given us to draw closer to Him.

As we know, the most important relationship that we have in our lives is our relationship with Allah. And if that is correct, and if that is where it needs to be, then we find everything else fits in place — everything else follows that. And it is through our relationship with Allah that we attain happiness and peace.

Because the reality is, my brothers and sisters, from the way that Allah has created us, it is from our fitrah to fulfill His servitude. Just the way we need air and water to exist — similar to this, we need to worship Allah. And we need to fulfill His servitude and make an active effort to strengthen our relationship with Him. No matter our backgrounds, our cultures, our races, our languages, whatever differences we may have — when it comes to fulfilling Allah's servitude, this takes priority over everything.

And when we turn away from this, we find we have fallen into the traps of the shaytan. And it doesn't just stop there — you'll find the shaytan will come and replace the worship of Allah with the worship of something else. And this is not restricted just to idols and crosses. But rather you'll find the shaytan will make some of us worship their own desires and their own whims, and start worshipping different aspects of this dunya.

سبحان الله, we find from Allah's miracles is that He has created us in diversity. We are different with regards to nearly every aspect of our lives. We just look around today and we look at one of the miracles of our religion — that we are united with all these different backgrounds that we have, different colors, different languages from different parts of the world. So Allah has created us different and only Islam can unite us like this.

Allah has created us different with regards to nearly every aspect of our lives — except for the most important aspect, and that is: if we want happiness and we want peace and tranquility in our lives, we have to fulfill His worship. We have to turn to Him and strengthen our relationship with Him. And fulfilling Allah's servitude and prioritizing His relationship is a goal that we should all be working towards. And it is not something which any one of us can be heedless of.

The Message of Every Prophet: Worship Allah Alone

سبحان الله, if you look at the Quran, we find Allah sent many different prophets and many different messengers to their people. And you find that the shaytan had sent the people astray in many different ways. So the prophets and messengers were sent to take the people out of this perpetual darkness that they had fallen into. And you find no matter what evil and whatever vice those prophets and messengers were dealing with, the first thing they would prioritize their message with was to fulfill Allah's servitude. As Allah says:

O Muhammad, we have not sent before you a prophet nor a messenger, except that the first thing We revealed to him was: worship Allah — nothing deserves to be worshipped except for Allah, so fulfill His servitude.

And سبحان الله, we find when we go against worshipping Allah, and we go against fulfilling His servitude, and we do not make an active effort to strengthen our relationship with Him, we are going against the sole purpose of our creation. As Allah says:

And I have not created jinn and mankind except to worship Me alone.

So when we are negligent of this fact, and when we have shortcomings, we find that we feel this. When our relationship with Allah is not where it needs to be, you find we feel this. We feel a lack of happiness. We feel more stressed and depressed. We feel overwhelmed and anxious. Because when we turn to Allah and worship Him, He blesses us with the spiritual fulfillment that we cannot find in anything else in this dunya. And Allah blesses us with peace and tranquility in our lives. When we come to know that everything belongs to Him, and the best that we can do is turn to Him and seek His guidance and ask for forgiveness.

The Salah: A Practical Act of Worship

The next part of the khutbah — I'd like to take one practical act of worship which we perform day and night, and that is our salah, and just focus on different aspects pertaining to it.

The Impact of Salah on the Life of the Prophet ﷺ

The first thing that I'd like for us to look at is the impact that the salah had upon the life of the Prophet ﷺ. We find that the Messenger of Allah would find peace and tranquility and solace in his salah, in speaking to Allah directly and calling upon Him. And he ﷺ tells us about the impact that the salah had upon his life:

(Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 3939; also reported by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad)

The Prophet ﷺ said: "From this dunya, from these worldly things, I love my wives and I love perfume. However, the coolness of my eyes and the tranquility of my soul is in the prayer."

And سبحان الله, anytime the Prophet ﷺ would find any difficulty, anytime he was overwhelmed or something was troubling him, he would say to his mu'adhin Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him:

"O Bilal, call the adhan so we can pray and take a break from our problems."

سبحان الله, from this we learn: any problems that we face, any difficulties that we are going through, we need to turn to Allah and call upon Him and establish the prayer. Not just pray once or twice, but we need to make it a regular part of our lives until we taste the sweetness of faith.

سبحان الله, you find the Prophet ﷺ would pray for so long that his feet would begin to swell. And when he was asked, "Why do you do this? When your previous sins and your future sins have been forgiven, you are the most perfect and most complete human being?" He said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4837; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2820)

"Should I not love to be a grateful servant and slave of Allah?"

The Prophet's ﷺ Final Days and the Salah

سبحان الله, if you want to know about the impact the salah had upon the Prophet's ﷺ life, we just look at his final few days in this dunya. The last time he led the salah in congregation — the last time he led the sahaba in congregation in his masjid — was Thursday at Dhuhr time. That was the last time he led the sahaba. And then after that, he fell ill for three days. So for the Friday, the Saturday and the Sunday, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq would lead the sahaba in his masjid.

And it was on the Fajr of that Monday that the Prophet ﷺ walked into the masjid from his house and moved the curtain back to bid his sahaba farewell — to say goodbye to them — because he knew he was going to pass away momentarily.

The noble companion, Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, tells us of this incident. He says: whilst we were praying, we saw the Prophet ﷺ lift the curtain from his house, like he was about to walk forward to us and lead us in prayer, and this brought us great happiness. He said the Prophet's ﷺ face was like a glittering page of the Quran. And he said the Prophet ﷺ saw us united in salah and he began to smile. And Abu Bakr as-Siddiq moved back, because he thought the Prophet ﷺ was going to come and lead the salah. The Prophet ﷺ pointed at him: "No, stay where you are. You lead the prayers."

سبحان الله, from this we learn: just the way the salah was the coolness of the eyes of the Prophet ﷺ in this dunya — now he sees that the salah has become the coolness of the eyes of his sahaba. Whenever they have a difficulty, they are busy in their salah. Allah gives him this gift. And this is why he ﷺ smiled at them — a smile of approval. Because he knew momentarily he was going to pass away, and the sahaba were going to be tested to their core. They were going to go through the greatest test and trial anybody can face — living with the Prophet ﷺ and then him passing away. But he understood: as long as they had their connection to their salah and they were united in their prayer, then Allah will give them strength and guidance to get through any test.

Similar to this: if we have our connection to our prayer, then Allah too will give us strength and guidance to get through any test that we are facing. And as long as the sahaba had this connection to the salah, then they would carry on the legacy and the message of the Prophet ﷺ. Similar to this, if we have a strong connection to our salah, then we too will be able to carry on his legacy and his message — especially to the next generation of our children, who are going to be going through some very big tests.

And as Anas ibn Malik said, the last piece of advice the Prophet ﷺ gave to him whilst he was on his deathbed was:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 5156; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 2698)

"Be aware of the prayer, take care of the prayer, and take care of that which you are responsible for."

Strengthening Our Salah: Practical Tips

سبحان الله, you find that the case with many of us is that our salah is not where it needs to be, and that's a sad reality. And if we feel like our salah is not where it needs to be and we do not have peace and tranquility, then we need to ask ourselves: why is this the case and how can I bring a solution to this? If somebody had a headache, they would ask: how do I fix this? If you start your car and it's making a noise that it doesn't normally make, you ask: how do I fix this? Then how is it possible, my brothers and sisters, that we have a poor connection with our salah and we do not ask: how am I going to fix this?

I share some tips with you that inshallah can be a starting point for myself and everybody here, that will help us strengthen our prayer inshallah.

1. Understand What You Are Saying

The first one is we need to understand what it is we're actually saying. If we just recite the Arabic and don't understand its meanings, then of course we are not going to benefit from that — it's not going to have the impact that it should have. The first thing we need to do is understand the words of our salah. What does Fatiha mean? What are the different adhkar and the different dhikr and the different du'as that we make — what do they actually mean? If it is something that we haven't done, this is something we should be starting today, and it can easily be done as a family with your children, with your wives.

2. Understand What You Are Doing

Another thing that's really important when it comes to the salah is understanding what we're actually doing. The salah, as the Prophet ﷺ described, is a direct conversation with Allah. We learn in the hadith of Qudsi that Allah says:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 395)

"I have made the salah into two halves — half is for Me and half is for My slave, and My slave will have whatever he asks." This shows us the importance of our salah — that you are having a direct conversation with Allah five times a day.

We also need to understand that the closest we ever can be to Allah is whilst we are in our salah, as the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 482)

"The closest a slave can be to his Lord is when he is in sajda — when he is prostrating. So make a lot of du'a whilst you are in your sajda."

3. Ponder and Reflect Over What You Are Doing

Another important point is pondering and reflecting over that which we're doing. سبحان الله, we find pondering is such an important act of worship. In fact, Allah tells us one of the reasons why the Quran was revealed was for us to reflect over it and to ponder over its meanings — and only then can we truly act upon it and unlock its blessings.

Similar to this is the salah. We need to ponder over what we're actually doing even before the salah comes in. We look at the fact that you have to make wudu before you pray, for example, and we ponder over this for a minute. Not only does this teach us about the importance of cleanliness in our religion, but it also helps us prepare for our salah. If you're going for a job interview or you're going to meet somebody really important, you would wash up the best that you can and you would dress the best that you can. Similar to this is our salah — before we speak to Allah, we show Him this ultimate amount of respect that we cleanse ourselves, because we're going to speak to Him directly and ask Him for His guidance and His blessings and His mercy.

We look at when it comes to one of the preconditions of salah — that the time has to come in. We can't just pray Dhuhr as we please; the time has to start before we start praying. From this we learn the importance of punctuality. Five times a day we pray on time and we prepare for our salah. But we also understand the importance of sacrifice — because throughout the day and throughout the night we sacrifice whatever we're doing for that meeting with Allah. Whether that's our sleep at Fajr time, or our rest at lunch time for Dhuhr for example, or our rest in the evening when we come back from work for Asr and Maghrib — we are sacrificing whatever it is that we're doing for this meeting with Allah.

From the wisdoms that we learn from salah is that we face the qibla when we pray. سبحان الله, from this we learn about organization and unity — where 1.2 billion people are going to be praying in this same direction, organized and structured in straight rows. What else can unite people like this? At the same time we learn about the importance of unity and brotherhood, and that you are part of a family whether that's internationally or locally. If there are any struggles and difficulties that you face, the masjid is one of the first places you should come to, because you have a family here regardless of your background, regardless of what you're going through. There will always be services there that cater for the congregation — whether that's social services, food banks, soup kitchens, even spiritual guidance. The masjid is the first place that we should refer our affairs back to.

From the wisdom of salah is that before we pray, we cover our awra. We can't just pray in any clothes that we like, but we make an effort to wear decent clothes and cover our bodies — and this shows us the importance of shyness and humility, not just in the way that we dress but in the way that we behave. And when we do fall victim to sin, we don't become proud and arrogant, but we have the same shyness, we acknowledge that we have done something wrong, and we turn back to Allah in repentance and seek His guidance and His forgiveness.

4. Pray Every Prayer as If It Is Your Last

From the tips that I can share with you here today — and we end with this — is a very important piece of advice that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ gave to us all. And if we just lived in accordance with this piece of advice, we would see that we are a lot more happy and a lot more blessed in our lives. And that is why he ﷺ said:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4171; classified as Hasan)

"Pray every prayer as if it's your last prayer" — because nobody is promised another moment in this dunya. Pray every prayer like it's your last prayer.

"And do not say something which is going to cause you regret tomorrow" — have control over your speech and how you speak to your wives and how you speak to your children and how you speak to others. Do not embarrass yourself at a later stage.

"And do not wish for anything that which other people have, but rather ask Allah, because to Him belongs everything." And do not have jealousy.

This is what I wanted to share with you here today, and surely Allah knows best.

Du'a

In ending, we turn to Allah to make our du'a:

O Allah, give us goodness in this life and the next life, and protect us from the fire of hell. O Allah, guide us to Your straight path and forgive us for our sins. O Allah, cure our sick and have mercy upon our deceased. O Allah, make easy the affairs of the oppressed Muslims across the world — including the people of Kashmir and the Uyghur Muslims and all those who are being oppressed. O Allah, forgive our parents and have mercy upon those who have passed away, and give long lives to those who remain upon Your righteousness and piety. And O Allah, establish our hearts firm upon Your religion.

O Allah, bless Muhammad and his family as You have blessed Ibrahim and his family. O Allah, bless Muhammad and his family as You have blessed Ibrahim and his family.