The core theme is the importance of "smart worship" over mere quantity, emphasizing the internal state and spiritual quality of our religious practices, particularly in contrast to the superficiality that can arise from modern distractions.
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Respected brothers and sisters, it's a
pleasure to be with you all. uh maybe
it's less appropriate for myself to
speak here when we have the likes of
and sheh Mustafa Muhammad Ali
it's not about the person speaking it's
about what is being said and if we're
here to remind each other of the verses
of Allah and the son of the prophet
wasallam we never know who we might
benefit from
before beginning I want to share with
you first a few obstacles
you know if you've learned to drive in a
in a wrong way. Driving more and more
and more and more is not going to fix
the problem. You have to fix and learn
to drive properly and then you can go.
If you have learned to swim in an
incorrect way, swimming more and more
and more is just going to keep making
you swim in the wrong way. You have to
go and fix up your theory, learn how to
do it properly, and then go ahead. We've
all been taught practice makes perfect.
However, this is actually incorrect.
If your practice is wrong to begin with,
then the more you practice, the more
you've learned it wrong. Imagine you've learned
and you practice and practice.
The more you practice, the more you will
learn it wrong. It's
so it's perfect practice that makes
perfect. And so sometimes we have to go
back to the drawing board and find out
how do we worship in a smart way? How do
we fix our worship? How do we learn to
worship properly? And then we can do
more and more and more and then more
Quran is better. Then more salah is
better. Then more fasting is better. But
we have to first of all learn and most
people their problem is not with the
external dimension of worship. Most most
people their salah the form of their
salah the form of their the form of
their fasting is actually incorrect
generally speaking maybe a few mistakes
but what we need to focus on correcting
more than anything is the internal state
of our iada. The first barrier
and I'll begin this with a question.
Imagine you had lived 100 Ramadans of
your life and there is a sahhabi who had
only lived one Ramadan of his life. Who
100. So if I if I live through 100
Ramadan, 100 months worth of fasting,
100 months worth of doing Quran, I am
better than a sahhabi who lived only one
month of Ramadan. No, you're saying no. Why
>> is better? But I've I've prayed more
than him.
>> It depends on effort.
>> Okay, that's the clever answer. But we
want to come back down to earth. If I
had lived for a 100 years as a Muslim,
the best Muslim ever, I may have more in
that even if he lived for one day of his
He his his virtue will be higher than me
forever and ever. I might have more
reward. Yes. The prophet mentions in the
reward you know the man holding on to
his religion like holding on to a
burning coal and
he has 50 rewards of one sahabi
he has the rewards of 50 of the so yes
you can have more rewards but the virtue
who is better who is superior we can we
don't have anything on the sahaba what
is it then
what did they have that we don't haveity
>> the quality I'll rephrase it who did
they have that we prophet
>> they had the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam barrier number one is without
the love of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam
without the love of the prophetam you
can worship and worship and worship but
you will never unlock the true love of
Allah subhana wa ta'ala he is after him
there are no more doors to Allah he is
the door to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so
we can't just read the sunnah as it's a
hadith do and don't do this no we need
to genuinely read the sunnah read the in
order to acquire love of the prophet wasallam
wasallam
if I am reading the Quran I of the Quran
and leading salah and and I've led so
many times still the most ignorant of
the Sahabah he is more virtuous than myself
myself
why proximity to the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam and so we are
not physically in the same time frame as
him but we can try to make up for him by
the love of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam this is not a mechanical
thing that we apply in our lives doing
this and looking in a certain way it is
primarily on the emotional level. Some
of the highest sunnas are not sunnas
that we see physically emotional intelligence
intelligence
is the purpose of the
if not then what is it and if Ramadan
and salah if all of this is not making
me a person of better what's the point
we could even argue Islam came not for
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
the purpose of Islam is to connect you
to Allah and re make you the best
version of yourself the best the
prophetam was already having the best
before Islam so Islam came for him to
spread it to me and you so that we can
reach that level. So the love of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is
probably the single biggest thing that
we lack today as an ummah. The thing
that is missing in dawa, it is not more
debates. It is not more knowledge and
information and you're spitting the the
verses or the bars and you're convinced.
It is actually applying the sunnah on
the deepest level and having humility to
people. So this is the first thing we
the second one is this is a part B now
it's the same point but just another
aspect to it it is the aspect of humility
humility
if I am in Ramadan sheh Malikh mash so
many mash and Quran students that we
have if we are praying in Ramadan and
fasting in Ramadan and we look as
mentioned in the reminder previously if
we look at someone and we think look at
him he's not praying and we might not
say anything. We might not change our
facial expression but inside our hearts
we have a feeling. It could be it could
be a momentary feeling that we are
better than him. Brothers be aware you
may have destroyed your entire months of
worship. So humility not thinking you're
better than anyone else. And if you are
in fact better it's not because you're
inherently better because of you. Allah
chose to make you better. Allah chose to
Don't attribute guidance to yourself
because shanan worshiped more than you.
He did not live for 60 years and seven
no probably lived for thousands and
thousands of years. So many acts of
worship not just in the in the in the on
the earth but in the heaven as well. We
don't worship in the heaven unless our
is so sincere that it it it reaches the
heaven and it's heard in the heaven. And
yet this did not help him.
We need to attribute our guidance to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We need to
know that we are here today because
Allah is the one who chose to bestow
favor on us. We could have been that
person who is drinking alcohol. We could
have been the person who does not know
what means. We could have been the
person who is stabbing and but Allah
from his rah purely from his rah not
because of me or my parents or my purely
from his rah he chose to come and make
us here present in the masjid today. You
know there is a just as a as a side
tangent there is a a famous poet. He was
known as
the poet of alcohol. You know you have
to be really bad to be given the title
of the poet of the alcoholic poets. Subh
all his poetry is onraham.
And he became imagine some people they
love Quran so much they become oh he's
the Quran guy he's the charity guy
mashallah he's the he's the smiley guy.
Mashallah. This person is now [laughter]
associated with alcohol.
He doesn't just drink alcohol. Would
have been bad enough. He is now
propagating alcohol. He's marketing
alcohol. He's his love in life is
alcohol. This is his he's addicted to
this. And subhan Allah, he was after he
had passed away, he was seen in a dream.
And the person of the dream, a pious man
spoke to him and said, "What has Allah?
What has Allah done with you?" He said,
"Allah forgave me."
How did he forgive you? Because the last
thing I wrote, the last line of poetry I
"I know that my sins are so great, but I
If only the pious, the righteous is able
to call to you."
Where does a criminal run to? He runs to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So we might
the best action we do in Ramadan might
not be the actual act of worship or the
fasting. It might be the humility to
know that Allah could have misguided us
but he chose to come and invite us in
the masjid. So humility is the second
point. Some people try to reach Allah
through their which is amazing. But you
can only walk so much with one foot,
right foot, right foot, right foot or
fly with one wing. You need to then
balance it with a with another step from
your other leg. So yes, but if there's
no feeling dependent on Allah subhana wa
ta'ala, maybe the balance needs needs
some work. So maybe the greatest way we
can get to Allah subh is not through
more and more it is through the knowing
that Allah if he had not guided me to
this to this mid to praying to praying
fasting waking up if Allah did not guide
me then I would not be here today. So
don't attribute guidance to yourselves.
It is purely
purely purely the the favor of Allah
subhana wa ta'ala. The next one is they
say a very famous quote they say when
the wise point to the stars the fools
look at the finger not at the stars. So
we very often get obsessed with the
signs but we forget who they're pointing
to. You know we have a culture today we
have mashallah this and this and this
mid mashallah.
Yeah, of course he's special, but he's
special not because of his voice. He's
special because of what he's reading,
the words of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And so we need to try to start making
our acts of worship not external, not be
obsessed with the people, not be
obsessed with the acts of worship. Even
when I raise my hands in dua, a common
mistake is that my is on my dua, not on
Allah subhana wa ta'ala. We need to fully
fully
we need to be free completely of
attachment to anything except Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. The extent to which
the im helps me to get to Allah then
he's useful to me. But I should never
attribute you know my success to people
or to this is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And so we need to move on now to a
second level which is we move out of the
forms and achieve substance and or allow
substance to to to to enter these forms.
Now we mentioned a few things. This was
just the introduction. The next part of
the reminder which is related to this is
yes Ramadan is often advertised to be a
a time of rewards. There are so many
people that will be promoted in Ramadan.
You know how you have a promotion at
work? You were earning £30,000 and now
your manager is so happy with you.
You're going to be earning £40,000. Yes,
there are many promotions. Some people
are freed from jannam.
Allah has people who he has unconditionally
unconditionally
unconditionally freed them from jannam.
Meaning whatever this person does late
in he's already guaranteed to be free
from jannam. We don't know who these
people are. But Allah every single
night, not on the 27th night, not on the
last night, every single night from the
first night of Ramadan, Allah has people
who he is feeding from from Jannam.
So yes, there are rewards that we should
look up to. But many of us, let's admit
it, you getting rewarded for doing our
homework is not enough. You know, your
Quran teacher rewarding you for for
learning your page is not enough. You
need a punishment. You need an enemy.
And this is part of human nature. Your
biggest enemy this month is
I will use different language. Your
biggest enemy is something very
dangerous and deadly.
now from the students who knows what is. No.
No. Ahmed.
Ahmed.
Okay, let's open it up to everyone. What is
is >> helessness?
>> helessness?
It is an attribute that Allah negates
from himself
mentioned at least five times. Allah is
negating heism. But
it is an attribute that is necessary. We
all have some of it but to varying
degrees. the the extent to which we can
escape this, the extent to which we can
take this poison out of our lives, out
of our hearts in Ramadan is going to
determine how successful our Ramadan is,
how much we've used this opportunity. So
If you know the opposite, you know what
the concept is and what the word is. The
opposite of is or the opposite of is two
opposites. One is remembrance, the
mention of Allah, conscious of Allah,
being aware of Allah. Another one is the
state of being awake, alert. You know,
if you're sleeping at night time, you
have you are heedless. You don't know.
There could be a fire in the room, but
you don't know. You're enjoying your sleep.
sleep.
But the first step to escaping as before
mentioned is to you have to first wake
up and then you can start to tread the
path to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And
so al is something very very deep. Many
people will be praying for long hours in
Ramadan. Many people will be fasting for
long hours again the physical form of
the action. But if you go to their minds
and their hearts it is drenched in. So
what is how do we escape this? We will
mention maybe three or four places in
the Quran. And I invite you to undertake
this exercise. Go you know we all have
this Quran up on our phones. Search in Arabic
Arabic
and find all the places where is
mentioned and then you will find places
where Allah is giving you tips on how to
overcome it or the people who have this
what are their attributes. Why is this
important? Because if we know what the
failed version of the exam paper is we
know then to do the opposite right you
need the example of the good student and
the bad student as well
is not enough. We need to know
also. So the first place is Allah
a very strange ayah. Allah negates
knowledge from these people and then he
affirms it. Imagine I say you know
Muhammad he doesn't know he knows. What
a what a contradiction at the surface
but Allah explains it. There is no
contradiction in the Quran at all.
If I write something, if I make a
speech, there might be contradiction.
But Allah reveals the Quran, no
contradiction whatsoever. This is basic
belief that we have. Allah says most
people do not know regarding the promise
of Allah. And then he says they know.
They know about the
know about, you know, getting money.
They know about the best food places,
the best smashburg. They know the best
dessert shop. They know how to make
quick money. Where's the side hustles
are? Which is the best city to live?
Where is the best place to invest in
property? These things are very good.
They might even bring you to close to
Allah if you do them with the right intention.
intention.
However, this category of people in the
context of the Romans and you could say
western civilization, people obsessed
with science, people obsessed with the
But Allah is saying they don't know
because they only know affirming
knowledge to them. They only know the
external reality. They know how to make
money, how to have good food, how to
have a good dessert, how to make their
country strong, how to try to be happy
in a materialistic sense. But
this knowledge did not benefit them
because they are still heedless of the
so this is one type of Allah mentions
where a person he does not even know
about the to begin with. So we need to
be people who know about the and then we
need to yearn for it. We need to yearn
If you look forward to meeting Allah,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala above seven heavens
heavens
looks forward to meeting this small
slave. This tiny slave called or Malik.
Why? Because this small small slave who
has a very short life. He's born and
then he dies a few years later.
But because he looked forward to meeting
Allah, Allah is looking forward to
meeting him. Subhan Allah.
Whoever does not look forward to meeting
Allah, Allah does not look forward to
meeting him. How do we know? What is a
small litmus test that we can use to
measure whether we are eager to meet
Allah subhana tala?
Are you eager to come to salah?
Are you eager to come? Do you come to
salah with the same motivation that you
have when you go to meet your children
after not seeing them for a long time?
or with the same motivation that you
come to forar you know you spent a whole
day no food and now there are dates and
there's milk juice pizza
Allah many many foods delicious foods so
we need to actually reach we try to
reach a level by we crave meeting Allah
right now coming to salah to meet Allah
the same way we crave going to meet you
know our food if someone's newly married
the excitement he has to go and meet his
wife someone has for example a new car
the excitement he has to go and try out
his car so we can this is not it's it
needs work but it's not difficult people
have achieved this in the past
very powerful dua when we read it we
should not read it heedlessly heedlessly
we should read it mindfully
you know many times when the im is
reading the salah subconsciously we have
what we call in psychology a cognitive
script we we all
our brain is used to it yeah I've been
there I've heard that I've done that
let's move
fat is actually the most important part of
of
if you have had
you are more likely to then have clarity
why because fat is the opening it opens
for you your Quran so really try to make
an effort this is actually the most
important part of what the im is going
to be reading loudly this is the first
case of inah and surah the context is
about these people that are obsessed
with the world the materialism but they
have completely secularized or detached
religion and God and the from any
meaningful uh effect or impact in their
lives. The next mention of of that I
this is inah this category of people
they do not they are not ignorant of the
they know the exists they know they are
Muslims they've been taught Islam but
something dangerous possibly worse than
the first example they have given
preference they have preferred the over
the so they know the exists
They are a Muslim basically but they
have given preference over preference to
the Tik Tok doom scrolling whatever
there is over coming to meet Allah and
build your relation with Allah subhana
wa ta'ala. Allah says
they are the losers. Why? Because they
are complete losers. They knew what to
do but they still failed.
There is one more place I will share
with you
or two more but in the same surah very
close to each other towards the end of
now is very important because it mentions
they were they had a prophet just like
us. They had a book just like us. They
had their version of Ramadan or and
they had all the same forms that we do.
they had the same forms you know maybe
growing beds and sacrificing being very
Jews the are actually more strict than
than Muslims when it comes to the
sacrifice so people who are more
excessive and more harsher in their
forms and if I say no don't do this do
this they'll be even more extreme
so the context is
we have allowed we have allowed many
people to fall into jannam we've given
permission for to consume
What is the reason now?
They have hearts.
They can comprehend. They can they have
the faculty. They have the intellect to
comprehend the Quran and comprehend
reminders, but
they don't comprehend with them. They
They have eyes. They could have seen the
signs, but they've chosen to not see the signs.
signs.
They have ears. They were hearing the
Quran, but they chose to not pay
attention. And in the end of the surah,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, and I
will leave you respected and beloved
brothers and sisters with this verse,
and when the Quran is read, recited. Now
this is going to be applied to us now on
steroids. Why? Because in Ramadan, you
hear more Quran than you hear outside of
Ramadan. You will be standing for 1
hour, 2 hours, maybe more behind the im
you will be listening to the Quran so
much. But Allah says when it is read
recited what do you do not hear it
listen to it
is that enough no Allah has said
listen and pay attention Allah's
is like the highest form I'll give you
an example just for the brothers and
sisters imagine let's say you let's say
you walk to walk into Asda
and you know usually there is a song
playing in Asda or there some music some
tunes playing imagine you walk in and
you are not your ears can hear it but
you're not paying attention you're just
completely going this is just semi okay
this is the basic verb of just hearing
you can hear the noises of the cars but
you're not paying attention to them is
to stop maybe not physically but in your
mind okay I recognize this song this
song they was playing it on uh in the
school yesterday or whatever. This is
insult is no. You're going to stop and
try to listen to every single word the
meanings and everything. So it is the
deepest level whereby you are not just
multitasking trying to pay attention
whilst doing something else. No, you
have dropped everything else and you are
only paying attention to it now. So just
pay attention to the Quran. Why? What
will happen?
mentioned the rah that maybe I'm a
sinner, maybe I have addictions, maybe I
am drugs, maybe there is a problem with
me, maybe I am just right now in my
salah in the message showing off so
people can see me. But if I actually
Allah says maybe now is the minute where
There are many places in the Quran where
Allah mentions the guidance is there you
know it is like the mercy of Allah subh
is always falling like rain like
opportunities whether for money business
for seeking knowledge there's always
opportunities the problem is not with
the sender the rain is always falling
Allah is always sending the mercy but if
the rain is falling this way and I'm
holding my bucket this way am I going to
pick up anything
so the rain is falling this way and I'm
aiming my bucket to receive it that way.
No. So the problem is not with the rain.
It's with me the receiver. I need to
synchronize my book and align it so that
the rain starts filling the same thing
with the mercy of Allah subhana wa tala.
It is always there. It is always there.
It's never far. It's always there. It's
just we're not receiving it in the right
way. Again, smart worship over more
worship. Sometimes less is more as the
title is. And then the next ayah and I
promise I will finish with this
inshallah. Quran. When the Quran is not
if the Quran when because Allah has
designed Islam to be a system wherein
you are always always always exposed to
Quran. You come to pray there's Quran
Quran privately secretly. You'll
probably come to masjid and hear Quran.
Today we have Quran everywhere on our
phones in the car. We are exposed to
Quran every would have heard less Quran
than us but it would have been more
impactful. And today we're hearing more
Quran but it's less impactful. So we
need to fix up the way we do.
Then Allah mentions the fruit, the real
fruit. What how does this look like?
This is the last ayah. Now not of the
surah. The last ayah I will share with
you. The surah ends with the sudjud. It
is a very powerful way of getting close
to Allahha both internally and
externally in form and also in
and remember and mention who your lord
in yourself you're not saying Allah no
quiet in your not even with your with
your heart you are mentioning Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala this is a very
powerful skill called
accommodating for Allah or relating to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And if our
salah is done correctly, we will be
conscious of Allah outside of the salah.
In fact, every single day, all the
things that happen to us, we learn from
Allah. Oh, I'm late for the bus. Ya
Allah, make me catch it. Oh, I missed
the bus. Alhamdulillah, why am I
complaining? Allah's given me legs. I'd
rather miss the bus every day of my
life, but have legs that I can walk
with. Oh, this exam was difficult. Ya
Allah, make it easy. Everything that
happens to you in life, the the first
person you're sharing it with is not
your social media account. It is not
your friends. The first person you're
running to to share it and you don't
even need to run or take out your phone.
In your heart, you're thinking, "Ya
Allah, this was a difficult day. Ya
Allah, this was an amazing day. Ya
Allah, please forgive me. I said
something that was bad." You're always
going back to Allah. This is the state
of being present, being in the moment.
And the biggest culprit for making us
not do this is this. He looks very
innocent, but he is far from innocent.
This is the number one reason why we
have today. It is draining our attention
away. And this attention could have
otherwise been used for Allah. In the
past, the Sahabah and the
salah was so pure it had an effect on
their life outside of their salah. It
fixed up their lives outside of the
salah. Today we our salah is filled with
mistakes, internal mistakes. Again, it's
worshiping smart, not worshiping God.
such that what we do outside of the
salah the we have the phones and the Tik
Tok videos and the doom scrolling and
the kitten videos and the pranks
whatever we watch this is now coming and
finding its way and seeping into our
salah so we need to actually take the
fight to the enemy and the enemy is
heedlessness this is the biggest enemy
bigger than any external enemy who wants
to kill you if he kills you he is
pushing you away from the to Allah
subhana wa ta'ala yes it's it's a loss
but it's not the end of the world but is
pushing me away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
ta'ala
mention your Lord remember your Lord in
yourself doesn't need to be with anyone
two qualitative states now
out of need desperation
and also quietly now it's outside your
heart it's left your heart and now it's
you saying it quietly subhan Allah
subhanah alhamdulillah not just
not that
You're mentioning it with your mouth
now. So the external world, the internal
world has seeped into the external world
and it's having a positive feedback
loop. But you're doing it and you're
mentioning Allahh in an optimal state.
Then Allah says
this is the jackpot. This is the
solution. You know in Arabic this is a
technique even in English. If I say you know
know
do go to the gym and don't be lazy.
Meaning how do I not be lazy? By going
to the gym. Noam says, "Oh my child, my
son, ride with us. Embark the ship
and don't be with the disbelievers."
Meaning if you embark the ship, you are
no longer a disbeliever. So you do of
means you are not from the it means you
have escaped. It means when you are in
this state right now, two raas that you
do might be better than 20 raas that you
do just daydreaming in your salah. I
have spoken a lot but I hope Allahh
allows us to benefit from some of what
has been mentioned. May Allah forgive
us. May Allah allow us to escape this.
May Allah allow us to overcome our
greatest enemy this Ramadan which is May
Allah allow us to be from those and may
Allah allow us to join us with the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam just
as he had joined us here today with each
other to join us in his company the
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