blessings and salutations upon muhammad

may allah bless all his companions and

may

he bless all of those who have struggled

and strived

to preserve the deen and to convey it in

a way that it has come to us today

and may we be also from amongst those

who learn it

put it into practice and convey to

others such that our children be the

torchbearers as well up to the final day

amid

my beloved brothers and sisters in islam

we are indeed very fortunate to be here

in the city of doha

which is a beautiful city in the muslim

world

and where we have so many masajid

that it would be difficult for one who

did not know the exact figure to

actually just count them

and we are so fortunate to be from

amongst those who can fulfill our salah

at the time of salah

without discrimination and without any

hindrance

for indeed there are some people

in other countries of the globe

who find it so difficult to fulfill

their duty of prayer and salah because

of the workplace and because of them

living in countries where they are in

minority

and with that hindrance they still read

their salah why is it that with us

without the hindrance

we still find ourselves lacking in salah

sometimes it's just a point that i

decided to start with seeing mashallah

the large number of brothers and sisters

who are here this evening

so

it's important for us to know

that if we think it's difficult for us

to fulfill salah for some reason you

should know that there are others who

are fulfilling it with real difficulty

they are fulfilling it in a way that you

know

the surrounding does not actually assist

in a lot of ways or facilitate the fact

that they

should be fulfilling this salah may

allah

make us from amongst those who realize

the gift now

i started off by making mention of salah

one of the prime reasons is the topic

this evening as you and i know is

regarding suratul fatiha

the opening surah of the quran

al-fatiha

which means the opening surah as it is

and we

commence our salah with that surah to

the degree

that salah is not correct for the one

who does not read

suratul fatiha

i'm sure

we would be well aware with this hadith

of rasulullah

wherein he states that your salah is not

valid if you haven't read surat

al-fatiha in it that is how important

the surah is

so why is it that we find ourselves

knowing the surah of by heart

but we pay lip service to it in salah

and this happens to a lot of us if not

all at some stage the concentration

levels on the meaning of surat al-fatiha

is at times so low that it becomes a

minimum

it becomes bare so we all would know

suratul fatiha including the young

children that are sitting here in front

of me
but if i were to ask you when you

fulfill the surah in salah do you

actually concentrate on its meaning

do you actually know what you are saying

do you know

the connotation the implication or do

you know how serious asura it is if it

was not so serious

and it was not such an important surah

do you really think we would be asked to

repeat it in every unit of our salah in

every raqqa of salah

it has in it the core message of the

entire deen and religion that we follow

it has in it

the different types of tawheed when we

say tawheed we are talking of the

oneness of allah islam is based on the

oneness of allah we believe in one

supreme deity that we worship and there

is none worthy of worship besides him we

all utter this

i bear witness that there is none worthy

of worship besides allah

and we reiterate that

so many times by tongue

it's important that we follow through

with our hearts and our actions

because we need to know that

to enter the fold of islam one requires

three main aspects the utterance or the

declaration of the shahada to bear

witness that there is none worthy of

worship besides allah

by tongue

and thereafter to believe it in the

heart

and thereafter

to practice upon whatever it leads us to

once i believe that allah is

the one whom there is none worthy of

worship besides i need to make sure

that everything i do is in the pleasure

of allah he sent me a book he sent me a

messenger and he sent me a guide

and this is why it's important for me

to follow that guide what's the point of

saying i bear witness that there is none

worthy of worship besides allah

subhanahu wa

and then i don't follow and what's the

point of bearing witness that muhammad

may peace be upon him is the final

messenger the messenger whom we are the

ummah or the nation of and yet we don't

follow

so this evening inshallah i'd like to

take a look or a stroll through the

surah and i'd like to start off by

making mention

of one of the names of the surah

we all know it as surat al-fatiha

it is also known as asala

that is one of the names of the surah

perhaps after the fact that it is read

in salah

so many times and it is repeated

and this is why

if you look at the hadith of rasulullah

connected to suratul

and this is known as hadith

which means it's a hadith which is

relating what allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

has said but obviously there is a

difference between hadith kudzi and

quran in the sense that quran we read in

salah we cannot change the even a single

wording of it and so on but when it

comes to hadith putsi we don't read

hadith in salah and at the same time it

comes from allah

sometimes if you have a small wording

which does not change the meaning

instead of you know a little wow you

might

perhaps mistakenly say something which

is slightly different for as long as the

meaning is complete you will not be as

sinful as if you were as you were had

you changed the word of the quran may

allah grant us a deeper understanding

so the hadith says

between myself and my worshiper into two

and this is very interesting because if

you want to take a literal meaning of

the term salah and you say the prayer

then that surah which is read in prayer

all the time allah says i've divided it

into two parts between myself and my

worship

when my worshiper declares alhamdulillah

when he says all praise and i'm sure we

all know the meaning of surat al-fatiha

as well in sha allah

is that correct i see all the smiles

which means yes inshallah it's correct

we know the meaning of suratul fatiha in

the english language today we want to go

deeper into it and we want to currentize

it currentizing means how does it affect

me today that's what it means so we want

to bring it inshaallah to the current

time

so

if we say alhamdulillah

all praise is due to allah

that's a simple translation

but there is a response

my worshipper has declared my praise

so when you say alhamdulillah

take a moment to think of what you said

and ponder for a moment that as you have

said that allah has responded to say my

worshiper has praised me

look at how we are praised allah

subhanahu wa now

sometimes when we are in a rush and we

start our salah there is a certain way

that we started if i have a moment i'll

show you in a few minutes inshallah

that would not be fair we are actually

plugging in with our maker i am praising

him and he is saying for myself and

yourselves my worship has declared my

praise

then we continue to say

most beneficent most merciful

and he says my worship has declared my

majesty or my greatness

and then we say

malik

and again allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when

we say owner of the day of judgment

owner of the day of judgment he says my

worship has declared my greatness or my

majesty amazing so three responses we

got one with every verse

and there are seven verses of the surah

that is why the one of the names of the

surah is also asaba ulmathani which

means those seven verses that are

constantly repeated

the reason why it is called that is

because we repeat the surah so often it

has so much blessing in it so it is also

called the seven verses that are

repeated often

now there is a difference of opinion

amongst the scholars as to whether the

bismillah

raheem at the beginning is a part of the

surah or not mainly two opinions and the

opinion that says it is the first verse

they

they would start counting from

alhamdulillah

six verses down with the last portion

as one

and those who say it is not a part of

the surah itself they still read it

obviously they would still read it

and they would say the last portion is

one verse

the last portion instead of being one

verse is divided into two so it still

makes seven verses

the only reason i'm making mention of

this if you notice sometimes if you

enter a masjid sometimes the imam says

perhaps he is from those who believes in

the opinion that that bismillah is a

part of the surah so we need to read it

aloud there is nothing wrong with that

and we don't want to debate on that

subject

we it all comes down to the same thing

because even those who say it is not a

part of the surah they will still tell

you

that

you should read it may allah

so if we have got the answers from allah

subhanahu wa thrice

there is now a verse

where we are saying

has revealed to us this

you alone we worship and you alone we

seek help from

when this verse is said

allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says this is

between myself and my worshipper and now

i will give my worshipper whatever he

asks for

he is saying now i will give my

worshiper whatever he asks for

so
we start making a dua we've already been

praising allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and

he has been making mention of how we

have been praising him

and after we have read the three verses

the fourth one

which is the middle verse allah says

this is now between myself and my

worshipper

and for him is whatever he will ask for

so what is the most important prayer we

have what is it that we will ask for

thereafter we ask for guidance and

steadfastness on the straight path

because that is the most important gift

we can all have

so this is why we say

guide us to the straight path

guide us to the path of steadfastness

you know

which means steadfastness we want to be

guided to the straight path that dua we

make it so many times a day that if i

were to ask you how many times did you

pray for guidance brother or sister

today you would have to count

you would have to say this salah this

many units this is how many times i

repeated it and this is what i said the

problem is a lot of us pay lip service

to it and we don't even think for a

moment that after declaring so much

praise to allah i am asking him for

guidance as soon as we walk out of the

point of salah we begin to do things

that are well within misguidance instead

of guidance

so we come for salah we have fulfilled

our salah and as soon as we walk out of

the masjid we already our eyes are in

places they are not supposed to be our

feet are walking towards the direction

it's not supposed to be walking they are

not supposed to be walking towards our

ears are listening to that which they

are not supposed to be listening to the

way we speak to one another is the way

we are not supposed to be speaking to

one another so why is it that we say

guide us to the straight path

hypocritically let's not be hypocrites

after allah is telling us this is

between myself and my worshipper

we say

guide us to the straight path we need to

be saying it with a genuine heart and

this is why

the rest of the surah is only connected

to the deeper meaning of guide us to the

straight path if i if you were to say

show me the path from here

to

say for example the airport

and someone showed you a path you would

perhaps want to describe to say look i

want to know the shortest quickest path

which has the least traffic or which

would get me to the airport as soon as i

can and so on so all that is part of the

description of the type of the road you

want guidance upon in order to get to

that airport

so if we look at suratul fatiha we are

asking for guidance

and after asking for guidance we are

telling allah subhanahu wa ta'ala what

type of the path we would like to follow

and this is why we say

allah

the path of those whom you have favored

whom you have granted a gift upon

the gift upon the path of those whom you

have favored not the path of those who

have earned your anger nor the path of

those who have gone astray

so if we say not the path of those who

have earned your anger

nor of those who have gone astray

we are talking of those

the first category those who knew the

truth but they rejected it they did not

follow it

and the second category

those who were astray

neither did they know it nor were they

bothered to know it may allah grant us

protection

now if we take a look at these three

categories of people the first those

whom allah has favored who are they in

another place in the quran allah

subhanahu wa'ta'ala says

speaking about those whom he has granted

favor upon

allah is making mention of a type of

people who will be with those whom allah

has favored and then allah says those

whom we have favored

from amongst the messengers so the

messengers are the ones whom allah has

favored so every salah i am asking allah

guide me to the path of the messengers

and god guide me to the path of the

truthful those who have accepted those

who are truthful meaning when they say

they believe they follow through that

belief because it would be hypocritical

to say i believe and then we don't

follow this is why whenever we say i

believe allah says i will test you to

see if you are telling the truth or you

are just a liar

if you look at suratul and kabut at the

beginning allah says

foreign

does men think that we are

going to allow them

to say that we are believers and then

they will have a happy life do you think

oh man that it is enough for you to say

i'm a believer and then you will not be

tested allah says we have indeed tested

those before you in order

that we distinguish between who is

truthful in their claim of belief

and who is actually false

so every one of us we claim to believe

we need to be truthful in that and

before we die we will be tested by allah

sometimes we are tested every day in

fact to be honest with you every moment

of our lives is a test to see if we lead

it in the obedience of our maker or if

we obey the devil shaytan

may allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us

from the devil and may he grant us

easy treading on that path the path of

the truthful the path of the messengers

the path of those who have sacrificed

their lives for the cause

when we say sacrifice their lives take a

look at the sahabara

the companions of the prophet may peace

be upon him

there was a time when there were so few

in number

and they were facing

such difficulty so much challenge

they were facing facing

people who wanted to exterminate them at

a time when had it not been for the help

of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala they would

have probably been exterminated as is

narrated in the hadith of the prophet

sallallahu alaihi wasallam at the time

of badr when he says ya allah these are

the people taking part in the battle of

badr

if you grant us victory we will be

victorious and if you are not to be

worshipped again after today we will

lose

which means

a small number of people

by the help of allah they dedicated and

sacrificed their lives those were the

truthful
you know if you have a company for

example

and this is a an example which we are

just a current example seeing that

people like

examples that fit within their brains

so if you have a company and people tell

you you know brother i've opened a new

company and i'd like you to join me and

you start thinking you know what yeah

okay you know your plan sounds very good

everything seems very very rosy and it

seems like workable but you know what

it's just you and then it's gonna be me

the two of us what if this thing flops

if it flops well then let me tell you

we lose don't we and if it doesn't we

gain

so i had an sms

a few days ago

telling me that

if you invested 12 in microsoft many

many years ago today you would have 12

million dollars

and this when we say many many we're not

talking of more than a decade or two not

even

more than a decade i think i can't

recall exactly but

those who invested at that time good

luck to them they are big

big big wealthy people who have a big

say microsoft don't they

why am i giving you this

example to show you that the virtue of

the sahaba of the allahu akum is far

greater than any example we can give you

today

when the deed

had come and it was something new in

that part of the world those who

sacrificed their lives

their investment multiplied far greater

than the investment of those who

followed later on

for us it's laid on the table

we are spoon fed with the deen and still

we find it difficult for us to follow

those people who sacrificed and

struggled

today you have certain people in the

west whose families are against islam

and they

have accepted the faith may allah grant

us guidance

for them sometimes

the reward they will get for

steadfastness on the path may be far

greater than the reward we will get

because of their

sacrifice and because of the condition

allah has kept them upon whereas with us

we sometimes have so much facility to

follow the religion with nobody

hindering us but we still don't want to

dress properly we still don't want to

fulfill our prayer what are we waiting

for there are countries on the globe

where they won't want you to dress

properly and still our sisters may allah

grant them strength they are dressing so

appropriately facing all forms of flack

and all forms of challenge and

difficulty what a great sacrifice they

have yet we sitting in a country where

it is open market free for you to dress

properly it's difficult for you not to

dress properly and still we find

ourselves one thing allah protect us

this is why we say

those whom allah has favored upon me

allah make us also from amongst those

whom he has favored he has indeed

favored us by giving us the deen by

making us people who are following the

example of muhammad sallallahu alaihi

wasallam we are very fortunate the

biggest gift that we have is the gift of

iman the gift of faith sometimes we take

it for granted and sometimes we allow

the glamour and the glitter of the dunya

to overtake our hearts and minds

and we become people who get so

engrossed

in the dunya that we begin to drown in

it

safeguard us

i i'm not saying at all that we should

divorce ourselves from

you know that which is material but the

limits are set by allah we should know

them

our indulgence in that which is material

should never be at the at the cost

of

our link with our own maker

we should never ever want to do

something

that would compromise our link with

allah subhanahu wa never

may allah grant

let's get back to this

we said those who have sacrificed their

lives

and the pious the good

asahim

those who are

good and pious if you say a a person who

is good

a person who has piety in him so we are

asking allah so many times a day allah

make me follow the path of those who

whom you have befriended those whom you

have favored upon

the path of the messengers the path of

those who sacrificed their lives for

your cause

and with us it's not like we have to

sacrifice a life for the cause of allah

we can't even sacrifice ten minutes for

allah five a day sometimes

so where is the gap between us and them

one is people who have sacrificed the

entire life and one is for us to

sacrifice ten minutes five times a day

not even sometimes

and sometimes you have a talk of this

nature or you have perhaps a program

which might appear on television or a

program that might be on the radio or a

cassette a cd that you can just put into

your vehicle whilst you're driving and

as you know going to work and coming

back from work you make use of that time

and still we don't do that we cannot

find ourselves sitting in front of you

know a screen that has a program in it

which is beneficial to us from a scholar

of your choice you choose him you will

find him

who do you want to listen to tell

yourself ask yourself today we have no

excuse

you have technology at your fingertips

you can pick on youtube the topic you

want from the scholar you want and

listen to it still we are not doing that

but if i were to tell you brother there

is one hundred thousand qatari reals

just out there being given i think we

would all go perhaps i might even follow

allah protect us

allah safeguard us

so this is how man has become believe me

my brothers and sisters the reason i

raised this i am encouraging myself and

yourselves to make use of your time to

make use of technology and remember as

good as technology is it is also

destructive if you do not use it

correctly so who you want to listen to

find out from those you trust i want to

listen to this person

how is it to listen to him or what they

are saying is it based on that which is

authentic or is it just fairy tale if it

is fairy tale we want to stay away from

it if it is authentic we would like to

listen to it because fairy tale

everybody is able

everybody is able and capable to give

you fairy tale but not everybody is able

and capable to give you that which is

authentic

sometimes it might not

be

you know

something that you

would like to hear in the sense that

people don't like to be told bluntly

brother this is astray

you know if someone were to tell you

brother this is astray it would be

difficult to digest

but sometimes if that is the truth we

need to surrender to it just like the

sahabara allahu akum did and this is

where surah al-fatiha comes in when we

say allah guide us to that path of those

who whom you have favored upon

those were the ones whom when they heard

a verse of the quran being recited to

them they immediately surrendered it

trembled their hearts

their skin

had goosebumps on it because of the

instruction of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

take a look at the

gullies and alleys of madinatul nawara

at the time when alcohol was made

prohibited it is reported that everybody

poured out the alcohol completely

because it became haram and the

announcers were announcing that alcohol

has been made prohibited this day nobody

said no man come on where did you get

that from

nobody said that

it was made prohibited they dropped it

they spat it out they poured it out and

it was gone and that was it history it's

over

they had the power of surrendering to

the decree of the maker may allah grant

us that power today we are told sister

your dress code we say no i'm still

young you know i'm still young you know

brother you know what this bad company

no what will the company do so what

these are just young youngsters hanging

about you know if they have bad habits

it's bad company when allah and his

messenger have warned you about your

company

the broader interpretation of that verse

oh you who believe be conscious of your

maker be conscious of allah subhanahu wa

ta'ala and ensure that you are in the

company of us

those who are truthful the righteous

make sure your company is correct be

with them that is the broader meaning of

this

verse so if allah is warning us about

that how can i not want to change the my

companionship who wastes my time every

day sitting up to so long at night and

doing absolutely nothing

may allah grant us true benefit of our

time

when we are sitting together even if you

are talking about business let one

statement in that meeting be something

religious

it's not difficult when you are sitting

in your own meetings you have met your

brothers or whoever it is sisters

meeting each other

or even a family gathering before you

get up from that meeting from that

gathering let one statement at least be

a direct encouragement of something

spiritual something religious

you will add a new flavor to that whole

meeting and we don't want to we don't

want to convey a message in a manner

that you try to make them feel you know

what you people are not even proper

muslims man

it happens sometimes where people look

at us and the way they look at us like

you know what i'm not even fit to be a

muslim the way the brother is carrying

on you know no chance for you you're you

can't you feel the heat of jahannam

already

allah safeguard us allah protect us

if that is the type of behavior we have

we are not going to call people towards

islam

brother let me tell you what i have

found very effective

when you make a sinful muslim

feel like a muslim at least he will

inshallah eradicate that sin because he

begins to feel the identity so when

someone is sinful and i come from a

country where we are in a minority the

freedom is such that nobody is going to

ask you a question if you did not come

to the masjid besides those who care for

you

so if we were to make people feel like

they are not muslim just because they

are sinful muslims they might

go further into the sin

because of the freedom around them but

if we are to make them feel brother you

know what my sister masha'allah you are

doing so well you might even be a better

person than me let me remind myself and

yourselves about something very small

you know let's never ever tell a lie

one thing you said

whatever we say and i'm not saying it

because you've told a lie or because i

have told a lie it's just a reminder of

the good word of the messenger

and the word of allah subhanahu wa

ta'ala and then we go away

we made it so simple and we greeted the

the brother or the sister we made them

feel like muslims and tomorrow what will

happen by the will of allah

they will feel an identity they will

identify themselves as muslims whereas

as i said moments ago the minute we draw

such a big line and we say no these

people are out of the fold may allah

safeguard us we will actually chisel

deeper and we minimize the chances of

bringing them onto what is right may

allah grant us steadfastness and

goodness

so every day we make this dua so many

times in suratul fatiha

we need to think about it on a daily

basis oh allah i am asking you to guide

me to such a powerful path i'm asking

you to guide me to the path of those

whom you have favored i am asking you to

protect me from

the path of those who have earned your

anger

they are the ones who knew the truth and

they left it

sometimes we know the truth and we leave

it we might not be from amongst the same

category as in what is mentioned in the

surah but some of our qualities begin to

appear like those

sometimes we know what is right and

wrong but we couldn't be bothered to

follow it you find brother what's

happening it's time for jummah nah don't

worry the imam speaks very long so i

will sleep until i hear

then i will get up

if that's the case we're losers

brother you know what is right the

jummah is our eid it's our day of

happiness today we want to celebrate

those parties that islam does not even

allow us to celebrate and we make a big

issue of it whereas on a friday it's not

like it's a party but it's a day of joy

and happiness you should take pride in

the fact that you are coming to listen

to the

to listen to the khutbah and you should

be here early there is so much

encouragement for it in what the

messenger may peace be upon him has said

and still we find brothers they're

arriving late after the khutba starts

that's when they get up they say no

today is a holiday

it's a holiday from work but it's not a

holiday from dean

and this is why whenever there is a good

day of happiness and joy there is an

extra ibadah as muslims to show us that

you know what you don't ever have a

holiday from religion one day we had a

young man

young boy actually he came up and he

said you know what

my father always tells me to pray every

day can't we have a break

he's telling me can't we have a break

now something came to my mind quite

immediately at that moment and

alhamdulillah we thank allah for that i

said son you can have a break he said

when

i said when you stop breathing so if you

have a break breathing you can have a

break pray

so he said so if i hold my breath i

don't need to pray

young boy

i told him we'll try it let's see how

long you're going to hold your breath

for he held it for less than a minute he

said okay okay i understand now which

means we have to pray for the one who

gave us this life

we cannot say that today is a break look

at the day of eid there is an extra

salah and a khutbah look at the day of

jumaa there is an extra salah

or in fact the salah there is an extra

khutbah not the salah is not actually

extra but

there is a khutba that we come to listen

to it's a day where we are going to

listen to a message

and if we cannot take back

some new islamic knowledge on a weekly

basis at least once

why do we call ourselves muslims what's

the point

i do i want to live my life without

knowing more about my religion wallahi

go and look at the churches around you

will find them more dedicated sometimes

than us

from where i come

they sit in the evenings hours on end

studying the bible and studying various

other books

and they sit

doing their own thing and they come from

far and wide and when it comes to us

and you find just a few people there by

the way some of them are yawning we've

got to obviously encourage them still so

even if you're yawning still come

inshallah and then inshallah we'll

tackle the yawning a little bit later on

but sometimes we find nobody's

interested you know

no one brother told me from the uk a few

days ago he says you know here in the uk

we can read maghrib aisha and fajr one

time

i said but how

he says because you see

the sun

it sets before it goes really down it's

up again

so i said look i it's the first time i'm

hearing this i do know of some

scandinavian countries that do have a

problem but to come to me and tell me

that three salah must be read together

it sounds

very un-islamic

may allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us

and grant us goodness obviously we'd

have to study

the sun and how how it sets and so on

and i'm sure the ulama in that region

have gone into it and what have you but

the point here is out of laziness

sometimes we want to just join up

salawat

and join them up where it is permissible

it's okay but join them up where it is

not permissible to join

we ask allah subhanahu wa ta'ala an

opening and this is why we say sometimes

you know if you look at surat al-fatiha

and you look at the simple tafsir of it

it will say immediately

those are the ones who knew the truth

and they left it they rejected it they

denied it because it didn't suit them

and the people of the book and the

jewish people are made mention of

however what we need to know

is making this dua is very important you

know people are quick to say let's make

a dua make dua for me but brother you

make a dua every day in every raqqa of

salah why don't you take that so

seriously as you do to say make a dua

come let's make a dua rather we don't

make it it's not a pot or something that

you've got to make something and pour it

you need to know you are calling out to

allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala add meaning to

it and i want to add an open word of

encouragement for all of us here

if you have lived in the arab world

for more than a year

and you do not know the arabic language

shame upon you

did you hear what i said

everyone's looking at me as though they

want to beat me up i'm being honest

if you have lived in the arab world for

more than a year and you don't know the

arabic language you are at a loss

because all those who have gone to

britain and america who have lived there

for a few months

or a year have come back with a lot of

the english

you follow what i've said

those who go

believe me learn the english language

because they want to get on with the

dunya we need to learn the arabic

language because we want to get on with

the akhirah

we want to get on with the life after

death

your level of iman is compromised if you

don't know the arabic language period

and i'm telling you it's it might sound

harsh but i'm being honest with you your

level of iman is compromised if you

don't taste

the sweetness of that message in its

language

and this is why if you look at

the bible and the old testament and so

on what did they do the language spoken

by the prophet jesus may peace be upon

him was aramaic

today where is the aramaic scripture

they will tell you we don't have it

and if they tell you here is the hebrew

scripture they have so many different

versions of it some versions have more

books than others

so where did it go

how did it get lost let me quickly

explain

in a different way
they adjusted the book of god for them

to understand it

we have to adjust ourselves to

understand the book of our god the book

of allah subhanahu wa

that is why when you find the

translation of the quran and i see quite

a few here masha'allah

when you open it on one side you find

the word of allah in the arabic language

the other side the attempt of man to try

and explain to you what it means there

you are

so that is why sometimes you have people

who might explain something slightly

differently

but the word of allah remains the same

so we will adjust ourselves to

understand the word of allah we will not

adjust the word of allah for us to

understand because then what happened to

the previous books they lost

and this is why i say and i'm going back

to the arabic language

when we say alhamdulillah

and you know what it means and you know

exactly

the interpretation of it and you have it

in your mind

then you know mashallah this salah is

going to be beneficial for me more than

if i don't know what it means i'm just

paying lip service to it and sometimes

as i said and i told you i'll show you

when we are in a rush we don't even

realize that allah subhanahu wa responds

with the verses

so you find a brother or a sister

what is that

it's happening the only thing you can

hear is daleem do you know what nalin

means

it means those who are astray

it means those who are astray so why is

it that we rush our salah

and we rush such a powerful surah in in

the quran

that is a surah where

tawheed of all its three categories is

reiterated

if you look at allah's names you will

find them there

if you look at allah's qualities you

will find them there

if you look at the the worship of allah

that

the fact that he is the deity

and the fact that he is the only one

worthy of worship you find it there we

say

you alone we worship

we are declaring what is known as

the fact that the deity is allah alone

none is worthy of worship besides him we

are saying you alone we worship you

alone we ask for help amazing we are

asking him from his mercy we say

most beneficent most merciful if you

were to ask me what's the difference

between the two

when they are both extracted from the

same root word of the arabic language i

will tell you one has a broader meaning

than the other one is a specialized

mercy for those who have believed and

the other is a mercy for all creatures

of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala which

includes those who have disbelieved as

well

this is why allah says in the quran

it is allah one of his qualities towards

the believers is he has what is known as

or he is

meaning a specific type of mercy

especially allocated for those who have

believed

and we are asking this to allah now

come you know people say this guy

worships his wife have you ever heard

that statement this guy worships his

wife i see a lot of brothers saying yes

you know

that is not

the meaning of it is not worship as in

rendering an act of worship for no all

it means is he obeys his wife's

instructions that's what it means

and i can give you on a lighter note and

i really like this because it plugs in

we're all human beings and we like a

little bit of you know humor sometimes

they say there was a king and he called

all his subjects the males and he says

anyone

who is ruled by his wife

come

in this line

and whoever ruled his wife

where you know the instructions are

not obeyed so to speak or they come from

you as a man and you stand in this line

so the whole community stood in the

wrong line

they all stood in a line saying no if my

wife sees me in the other line i'm dead

meat you see

so what happened is

they all got one egg each an egg they

were given one egg and there was one man

who stood in the line i'm the man you

know in the house i'm the man

so the king was so happy at least

amongst my subjects there is one man who

has such greatness you know meaning he

has the quality of

you know he's a man you know

so now the king gave him a horse brown

horse and in fact the king told him

choose from the horses you want so he

chose the brown one and left the black

one and he rode home galloping away

everyone else went home with one egg

so when he got home his wife he looked

at her and says do you know what she

says what

today i got a horse because i am the

boss you see

i got a horse because i'm the boss she

says okay that's good excellent so

you're the boss

so he says you know i

was told to choose from three horses

there was a white one a black one and

this brown one that i've actually come

with this was the best one she says wow

you look great in it you look great in

this horse but you'd look greater in the

black one
he says well not a problem i had a

choice i can go back and get the black

one so he goes back galloping to the

castle

and he says oh king the king says yes

what's happening he says i just want to

swap my horse he says why when i went

home my wife told me that you'd look

better in the black horse the king says

no problem he took the horse

and gave him one egg

so the moral of the story is obedience

we're talking of obedience people say

you worship someone when you obey them

you know people say this man worships

his wife because he obeys wallahi we

don't even understand that

the example of allah is higher we can

never ever equate allah with any human

being

but we need to know that ibadah of allah

subhanahu

connected to obeying his instructions

and allah will not tell you to do

something that is detrimental for you he

won't

whatever allah has instructed you to do

and whatever he has asked you to abstain

from
all of that is for your benefit oh man

why is it that we want to look at it and

think that this is very difficult when

if someone were to tell us to do

something that is not beneficial for us

because we love them we might end up

doing it why is it that we don't show

higher love for allah

may allah open our doors and may he

really make us from those who realize

this we call upon his mercy we say all

praise is due to allah you know that

al-hamdu when we say al-hamdu we are

talking of all praise because the alif

and the lamb in the arabic language is

not always for one meaning it actually

sometimes comes in order to to cover

every single aspect of the item that is

connected to it so when we say al-hamdu

we are saying all praise is due unto

allah no matter how much we praise allah

it's not enough and this is why we make

a dua that o allah for you is praise for

as long as much praise as would make you

happy

as much praise as

would make you pleased up to when you

are pleased and even beyond the point

that pleases you you still own all the

praise may allah really be pleased with

us and may he accept the statement from

us

and when we say

what are we confirming we are confirming

you see the term rabbun it's a very

simple arabic term its meaning will fill

a whole booklet in the english language

believe me when we say rabbun it

includes the one who nourishes cherishes

sustains provides for protects you know

the the cure sustainer the one who is in

absolute control of every aspect of the

existence of myself is my rubber that is

the meaning of the term rabbun just to

start off with

so when i say

which means the one who is in absolute

control of every aspect of all the

worlds all the worlds means you know you

could say mankind jin kind all the

creatures you can also go beyond that

and say this world and if there is any

other galaxy or milky way besides this

allah knows best he is still the rub of

everything that is in creation all

creatures are absolutely depend up

dependent upon the creator himself

we're declaring such great greatness in

in salah in surat al-fatiha

and this is why it is also known as

one of the names of the surah you know

we say the mother of the quran in the

arabic language the term mother of is

used in order to portray how serious an

item is you know the mother of of all

for example

some things you might want to say the

mother of this or that meaning something

very important something very big

and here we say this is one of the most

important surahs of the whole quran

because it is called um quran

it is so rich in meaning that we would

not be doing justice to it

if we just spoke for half an hour or one

hour

but this is only a synopsis

this is why allah subhanahu wa

immediately after that makes mention of

the qualities obvious

so you find

which means allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is

the nourisher cherisher sustain a

provider protected he is the rabba

and then you find the names of allah

subhanahu wa in the same surah no body

is to be associated with allah subhanahu

wa'ta'ala as a partner

in worship that is ulu here

nor in any of his names or qualities

that is known as

the names and the qualities of allah he

is unique in them he is singular in them

he is the only one who has those

qualities and names of that level

and we will never associate a partner

with him in that and we will not

associate partnership in worship because

we worship allah alone

you alone

we worship and you alone we seek help

from today when we make a dua if we were

in the corner of our

our homes in the darkest hours of the

night to call out to our maker

we would only be allowed to call out to

him and none else no tree

no stick

no stone

no grave

no saint no creature at all we don't

call out to any prophet and we don't

render any act of worship for anybody

besides the one who made me for your

information that is what makes islam so

palatable that is what makes islam so

acceptable amongst those who are

non-muslims today if you ask the

non-muslims who turn to islam

what is it that drove you to islam the

majority will answer you and say

the concept of godhood in islam

i plug into my maker i don't need to go

and confess to a pastor

i don't need to go and confess to an

archbishop because to be honest that

pastor and that archbishop might be

worse than me secretly behind closed

doors

and wallahi it has happened

i know of an incident where they had

hidden cameras

that

exposed a certain pastor of a church who

used to say i forgive you my child to

everybody else and himself he was a

bigger criminal than what was happening

so he was forgiving people of a sin

that he was guilty of

an even greater one then may allah

subhanahu wa safe

imagine with us if you have committed a

sin

your sin is your secret between you and

your maker he will forgive it

who have transgressed against themselves

never lose hope in the mercy of your

maker for indeed allah will forgive all

your sins

he is most forgiving most merciful who

will forgive your sins

a tree a grave another man no allah

he is most forgiving most merciful so

you confess your sin to allah meaning

you admit it to allah subhanahu wa

ta'ala

and you feel the remorse the regret

and you ask allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's

forgiveness and you promise not to do it

again with those conditions your sin is

wiped out

your sin is wiped out

we believe very firmly that the one who

has sought forgiveness from allah

subhanahu wa ta'ala

is completely sinless if allah has

accepted the tawbah

and the signs of acceptance of tawba of

allah subhanahu wa

if he accepts the tawba one of the signs

of acceptance of repentance is our lives

have changed

your life changes you can't say you know

what i

went to the nightclub so o allah forgive

me and tomorrow already you have planned

to go there tomorrow night

what type of foolish behavior is that if

you were dealing with a human being some

people can do that because the human

being doesn't know but you cannot cheat

allah you cannot cheat allah so may

allah grant us forgiveness

this is why we have

the discussion of all three aspects of

tawheed in the same surah because we

don't associate partners with allah

subhanahu wa'ta'ala in any of his names

or qualities in rendering any act of

worship

we don't associate partnership with

allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

in any of

his names or qualities as we said in

rendering any act of worship

and in confirming the fact that he is

the maker the creator the nourisher the

cherisher the sustainer the provider the

protector what someone gives you if they

if allah has given them the power to

give it to you they have given it to you

because allah has given them the power

to do so for example if i were to ask

you brother can i please have that water

if allah doesn't want that to happen it

won't happen it won't happen

but within visible means when when i say

visible means here we talk about visibly

i can see that it's very near to him he

has a hand and he can pass it to me very

easily

then i can ask him for that knowing

that ultimately allah can either allow

it or disallow it

but for me to render any act of worship

any act of worship for anyone besides

allah what makes me different from the

christians

what makes me different from those who

have worshipped a messenger in fact

perhaps they have rendered an act of

worship for someone better than the one

that others have ended and rendered an

act of worship for but it makes it

unacceptable it is still unacceptable

so may allah protect us indeed this

issue of the oneness of allah subhanahu

wa ta'ala is driven home in surat

al-fatiha and this is why sometimes you

have people saying you know it's a surah

that i haven't understood and you think

to yourself how can you not have

understood surah fatiha when it has the

core of belief

it guides you the way

it will lead you to the path

and it will ensure that you do not

render an act of worship for anyone but

allah

i wish to end by saying

that there is a very fine line between

respect and worship

some people respect another human being

and they cross the line to worship

without really sometimes pondering over

it so remember no matter how

knowledgeable i may be or anyone else

may be

we respect them but we don't worship

them there is a difference

very big difference but it's a fine line

at the same time

so sometimes you find people they treat

a knowledgeable person as though he is a

god it happens and it happens in a lot

of societies and communities

we would say if you are rendering an act

of worship or if you have superstitious

beliefs that this man knows the unseen

or this man has this and that then we

are heading in the wrong direction

it is allah alone whom we render acts of

worship for and the reason i chose to

end in that way is because no matter

how advanced a person can have got in

this world
we will not render an act of worship for

anyone but allah subhanahu wa ta'ala may

he open our doors and may he grant us

really ease of learning the arabic

language we have to reiterate that make

an intention now that i will do my best

to learn people are paying to do courses

to learn you know diploma in this

subject and that subject why don't we do

an online course of the arabic language

even if you have to pay why don't we

visit our arabic friends and tell them

listen brother do not speak to me in any

other language but arabic

sometimes you have friends arab friends

who will tell you i speak to you in

english because you are my friend tell

them when you visit my country you can

speak in my language today i am in this

country i will speak in yours

and the idea is only only to understand

the revelation better and to develop our

own iman may allah open our doors until

we meet again we say

subhanallah