 state of salam and taslim and so submission it's no coincidence that the root of the word submission is also linked to the root of the word peace which is salam and also that that is something you and I say to each other to our families to people we speak to many many many times a day we send peace upon people we say assalamu alaikum which is not just a word we repeat not just a phrase we repeat but ideally a do I a state that we are wishing or hoping for someone to attain so the one who actualizes their Islam through properly practicing as a Muslim as the one who as someone who submits will now begin to have a door an actual route to attaining the state of salam the state of peace and then that links very much to the state of taslim which is a complete internal peace that comes when you submit so it's all alhamdulillah summarize there if only it were that easy if only we're as easy as the way in which the names have been set up but this is what a unique a unique component of our religion that is very difficult to find in other traditions and other religions today where someone can actually attain this state that many other people are searching for in a time that's riddled with stress riddled with anxiety riddled with worry riddled with depression many people are searching for this state of inner peace our religion already has all that to offer the problem is is that we only do things at the surface level we look at Islam as a very textbook black-and-white understanding we say these phrases without really contemplating the realities the haqiqa the haqa of what they actually mean the haqa of what they actually mean and then we just go through the motions but this religion this life is a lot about a lot more than going through the motions and Allah even in the prayer itself Allah is teaching us what it means to submit there is a reason why in every unit of the prayer you make sajda twice compared to every other action because sajda is at the essence of submitting at the essence of submitting to your Lord is telling him ya Allah only you only you can help me in whatever problems I'm going through that I am putting my head on the forehead to admit to you my incapacity my brokenness before you my weakness before you and there is a reason again why in the prayer we make the sajda so often why the masjid is the place of sajda it is the place of prostration there could have been many other names for Allah's house but he chose it as the masjid so all of this is linked but we have to think afala taqilun Allah asks us in the Quran do you not think do you not use your intellect as Muslims we have to begin to reuse our intellect we traditionally the Muslims were the most intellectually advanced civilization with no exaggeration even non-Muslim intellectuals will point this out with the most intellectually advanced civilization in the history of civilizations because when someone practices this religion properly they begin to unlock parts of themselves that they didn't even know that they had because the intellect actually lives in the heart it's it's part of your akal is part of your heart it's part of your khalb it's part of this understanding that you can get the more you practice properly the more your intellect your akal widens it's now in the modern days in the time in the last 100 to 200 years we've fallen a bit on hard times we've begun to become followers of Western traditions rather than the leaders which we were in the past which were we set the foundations for what subsequent civilizations including this civilization was built on top of because we had much more to offer we didn't need to go and look at every single new movement or new ideology or new shiny technology that was coming out we were the ones who were developing all of that and that's what happens when someone attains this state of actually submitting to Allah is now Allah begins to give them openings and begins to use them as a community and as an ummah to make major major contributions both to this world to improve someone's life here as Allah says he is made as a Khalifa in the earth as a steward of this earth but also to help people advance and reach higher stages beyond what they thought were even possible this is the role of the Muslim but it all begins with our individual submission there is no attaining this without our individual submission as Allah says Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves you have to begin we have to begin by working on ourselves so submission has multiple multiple components to it one of the ayahs that beautifully summarizes what submission is Allah says in the Quran perhaps you hate a thing and in it is much good for you and perhaps you love a thing and in it is much bad for you will not we are the moon Allah knows and you don't know this gets to the essence of submission in our religion that Allah has the information and we don't have all the information so we can certainly not have all the answers and certainly we cannot expect everything to go our way when we expect everything to go our way we won't be able to submit because submitting requires this is the way Allah has set things up it requires turning things over to him and Allah will test each and every single one of us at a macro level and at a micro level out of an a and throughout our life with big tests and then on the day today with small instances to see are we submitting to him or are we resisting and you'll know whether you're resisting or submitting because the inner the inner state that someone has the level of calmness and tranquility that they feel the level of Sakina that they feel is directly in correspondence with how much they submit to Allah in the level of trepidation and stress and anger and and intensity and trepidate and and and torpedoity that someone feels is directly linked to how much we don't submit to Allah because we don't actually achieve the state of being a Muslim so that's at the first level is perhaps you don't like certain things but it is much good for you many of us we go through parts of our life especially as someone begins to practice the religion more seriously there's parts that are hard perhaps someone does not like to wake up at 5 a.m. in the morning or at 4 30 in the morning to eat the the Sahur meal to eat the the pre-dawn meal during Ramadan or any other time they're fasting but in it is much good for you in it is good for you in this life from a level of learning patience and certainly in the next life from a level of the amount of reward that Allah has given to the human being but word up to the human being very few people would just do that themselves willingly just on their own come up with that and perhaps you love a thing and it is much bad for you many the majority of desires that human beings are caught up in or the majority of planning that we do ourselves that's not rooted in principled thinking that's not rooted in spiritual ideologies there's a lot of bad in that we might somebody might be wanting to fall into a certain sin they think oh I this this seems really appealing this is how this happens all the time now we something we might look at something we might want to eat we see everybody else eating certain types of food oh I want to eat that but it's not permissible to eat it's not halal Allah wants us to submit to to what he has ordained for us to do and it is much bad for you and then Allah says what Allah knows and you don't know this verse just reflecting on this verse and really actualizing it can solve the majority of the things we go through on a day-to-day week-to-week month-to-month in our life because we're constantly going through this thing happened why did it happen how come it happened like this who do I blame that today well hold on a second what about Allah where's Allah in the equation because Allah is the one who's behind everything Allah is the one who is testing us in every moment but that requires a awakened heart a heart that's alive in order to realize this and so this happens then at different levels at the first level of submission is when someone just submits to what Allah wants them to do and what Allah wants them to stay away from and this is the battle at that's defined in the early phases of spirituality known as the nafs al-amada the evil commanding soul that it does it inclines towards desires it inclines towards the haram it inclines towards looking at haram and eating haram and listening to haram and wasting time and not wanting to do anything that Allah has that person it doesn't want to pray it doesn't want to wake up to pray in the early morning most certainly it doesn't want to fast it doesn't want to give money away in charity doesn't want to do good for others it's all about me nafsiy nafsiy nafsiy me me me once the human being reaches adulthood they are not allowed to be about me me me anymore when we're young and we're children children have that natural sometimes they a little bit of hey no this is mine this is mine but that's not that's the station of the child not the station of the adult but some people are spiritual children trapped in the bodies of adults and we have to rather be spiritual adults in the bodies of adults this is the definition of the Rijal of the of the spiritual man or the spiritual woman and so that's at the first level is someone submitting to what Allah wants from this is not easy to do but once someone unlocks this now they really began the journey of spirituality now they really began the journey of actually how is my religion going to give me immense benefits in this life and the next it's a struggle Allah Allah knows it's a struggle that's why they're in our religion there's this concept of jihad a struggle it's not going to be easy the human the nuffs the ego of the human being desire is designed initially without actual purification to do what to fall pray to sin and to desire and Allah says have you seen the one who takes his Hawa his or her Hawa as their Lord their desire as their Lord because everybody everybody is in every moment a slave to something human beings are either Abdullah a slave to Allah by submitting to what Allah wants or we are slave to some desire so slave if we don't want to if we miss our prayers constantly because we're so busy with work work work we're slave to the dunya if we are constantly caught up in another desire or we're sleeping through all of our prayers we're slave to sleep whatever desire catches you in the moment that prevents somebody from doing what Allah wants them to do that's who they are slave to so there is no idea of independence in this world everybody is dependent on Allah Allah created us Allah is nurturing us Allah is sustaining us but whoever doesn't realize that in that moment is not a is not really achieving their state of servitude to Allah so the first hurdle to get through to achieve this state of submission and to actually begin to realize the realities of being a Muslim of being one who submits is to submit in the big things to submit in the big things and staying away from what's impermissible which we generally know and we learn growing up but we have to actually practice it and doing what Allah wants us to do to do in every moment not picking and choosing there's a difference between somebody who has the is working on themselves and is like you know I'm not there yet I'm not at the point where I can do all the things my religion has asked that's different from somebody who is just like yeah I just don't think that's the thing I have to do I don't think that's an obligation I don't and that's that happens in our times and we have to be very careful Shaitan he wants to make us think that we can define our religion ourselves I hear this often where someone says you know that's just I just that's not my set of belief that's not how I believe like our sets of belief are already defined for us we don't pick and choose what we believe in our religion that's there is no innovation in our religion it's a very very serious concept to reimagine what we believe no belief is very very clear it's not about I I can be a good person and give charity and so on but I'm never gonna pray but this is just my belief no no no no sorry that's not your decision to decide the creator of all beliefs the creator of human beings already decided that for us the goal for the human being is to submit and this is why the human being naturally the nuffs has a state of arrogance and a state of desiring independence this is the trait of Far'on where the Pharaoh said I'm a rabokumala Allah says this in the Quran that the Pharaoh says I am your Lord Most High no no no no he's not the Lord Most High he is a slave to Allah but he did not realize his servitude and so Allah taught him a lesson and now that lesson is being perpetuated and being taught to more and more and people and he was made an example of we don't want that to happen to us so that's where the submission at the first level comes in at once someone starts to submit to Allah in staying away from what's impermissible and starting to practice what is permissible at a especially at a daily level this is the goal to get to that what Allah wants us to do every single day for our own benefit it doesn't benefit him now you begin to graduate into the next step where someone is going to be able to more successfully submit to Allah in the big decisions that that you're grappling with in your life many times we might lose a job and now we're like why did this happen what's going on we're stressed we're confused natural human emotions but there's a big difference between the one who sees Allah in all of this as ar-razaq and the one who's going to take care of them and the one who's providing for them at the end of the day and the jobs was simply a means and the one who submits to Allah and someone who just completely in a state who's completely perturbed big big difference or any other calamity that someone might go through or someone is trying to get married and is unable to get married or trying to conceive children is unable to conceive children there's a big difference between someone trusting that I want to do this in this time and Allah saying well you try but it's Allah's timing that's going to work out and Allah knows and we don't know there's a big difference but to even start to grapple with these concepts to even start to internalize these concepts the first step that we just mentioned that first hurdle has to go through because all of the prayers that you do every day all of the acts that we do every day there to help us achieve this internal state of submission there's that there's a deep internal submission that comes with our religion which is why you'll see people and many times you'll see this and especially may Allah bless our elders in the older generation our grandparents that there is a certain state of teslim that just exists that Allah knows what he's doing that Allah is aware of this and they're not perturbed in the same way that when we're younger in life and we're going through certain situations we're frazzled very easily because the life experiences has to have taught those have taught them that you know what I'm not in control of this whole Nizam not in control of it he's in control of it and I have to submit to what he wants and that will happen in both tribulations and things you want to happen in planning that you and I do and then in planning where Allah teaches us no no no no that's my plan to do you try it but ultimately you have to submit to what I want it doesn't mean we don't try and we don't intend and we don't make our own plans or our own intentions rather we do that but we have to submit to what Allah wants so this is now at the second level and this is there's a whole spectrum here of work that needs to be done in the different type of decisions that a human being is making one of the ways in which this manifests in our religion is through the istikhara prayer where you admit in the istikhara prayer what is the istikhara it's for anyone who doesn't know it's that you pray to raka of additional prayer to ask a love for guidance in a certain situation you say yalla I don't know what the answer is you know what the answer is you know what's best for me so if it's good for me in my religion and in this life and the next then ordain it for me and if it's not then make then guide me away from it and ordain and ordain me contentment so submitting to Allah is somebody who does istikhara regularly that's a sign okay you're not just trusting yourself you're actually trusting your Lord because he has all the information this is the difference between the angels and shaitan in the first big the big incident that took place in the heavenly realm where Allah told shaitan shaitan keep in mind who is iblis he had worshipped for tens of thousands of years on the earth he wasn't just some big sinner who became shaitan no no he was a worshiper he was a person of a lot of worship it's mentioned in the books and he worshipped and worked till he was called to the divine assembly and he was called to the divine assembly and he is in this noble presence and then Allah issues a command to submit to to bow down to Adam and the angels do so and shaitan does not do so and once that arrogance that he had in that moment because when you don't submit you're being arrogant you're saying Allah I know better what's good to do in this moment versus what you think is good to do in this moment he did not submit and then for eternity now he is ruined through that act of not submitting to what Allah wanted the angels they admit that we don't know subhanaka we don't know glory be to you who has all the knowledge we don't have all the information you are the most knowledgeable in the most wise this reality of accepting this is going to transform your life transform our lives is accepting that you don't have all the information and so stop relying on yourself rely on the creator who knows all things he is al-alim and the hakeem so this is at the second level and then somebody goes beyond this and they began to submit in the big things and now Allah will start to want you to submit in every single little thing every moment he wants to see are you going to submit where is your subar at where is your shukr at and this will start to happen and it will happen throughout this path for everybody but there is there is there is a question now and that the test that will come and it's up to us are we going to get upset are we going to get perturbed are we going to lose our cool we're going to start yelling and blaming this person or are we going to say okay this is something coming to me from Allah like they're just just this morning was already did hadn't slept too much last night and then woke up this morning to my wife woke me up to a huge leak in our sink or in our kitchen because of some dishwasher issue and immediately I was like obviously getting upset someone saw the dishwasher they did it wrong big leak you know you have some flooding going on and then I had to like calm down a little bit and remember that okay hold on it's not it's not yes the person is at one level accountable and responsible however what is Allah trying to teach me in this moment and what does Allah want me to submit to and am I just going to lose my cool and start yelling and get angry and all these types of things or am I going to try to heed the lesson I'd probably give me you know give myself a B minus and how I responded and need to do better but that it was it was it was reflective I had to realize that hold on he's who's behind all of this what's the test in this moment why is this it's not about why is this happening to me oh my God my whole day is ruined and I have so many other things to do and that that that that no it's like hey Allah ordain for something to happen this is the decree this is what's called submitting to the decree so in your day in your life in your week and your month big things small things will happen you have to we have to learn to find a way to submit to Allah and when we have suburb through the small things Allah begins to teach us shukr in the small things that that Allah says that these are signs for every sabbadan shukr the patient one and then the one who is grateful because the suburb through certain things will allow you to reach a state where you are just grateful you know what it could have been much worse I could have had this problem happen and this problem happening someone will start to orient their mindset completely differently the two are very different then the person who complains about everything and does not see Allah and so submission is the key that is what our religion is literally the name of our religion that's what it means that's what a Muslim means and that is the state that we are trying to achieve and when we do so we will now begin to achieve a level of comfort in our life that every single other person on this earth is seeking and then we can be means to hopefully helping others attain that state. And so what is the process for attaining this state of submission? The first is to align yourself in as much as possible with the Sunnah of the Master of Submissions that he taught us in every moment what to do and so following the Sunnah is not just this outward action that we do just to go through the motions no no no no it's supposed to be a means of transforming your heart your heart goes through spiritual alchemy it goes through a transformative process the more and more the Sunnah of the Beloved sallallahu alayhi sallam is followed and the more and more someone realizes the meanings of the Sunnah the more and more the heart begins to transform because you can't do this just by these concepts intellectually you know you could understand them in like fifth or sixth grade but it's super difficult to implement because that's at the heart level but when the heart begins to transform and this alchemy happens and the traits of Subbar are attained in the heart and the traits of Shukr are attained in the heart and ultimately the heart attains the state of complete submission now it becomes way easier to actually do the things because the limbs the way you respond outwardly are simply responding to the state of your call respond based on or rather based on the state of your call based on the state of the heart and so what are these important Sunnah and of course we already know the Farah of the activities we're supposed to do but align yourself with the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam in every daily action that he did he had a do I he did when we woke up when we the praise be due to Allah for the one who has awakened us from our sleep and there's he had a do I when he put on his clothing he had a do I when he entered the restroom he had a do I when he exited the restroom all of these do I why did they exist it's not just to repeat on our head on our lips without having any idea what they mean no no no no that's in Sunday school we might learn that when we're young but the goal is to eventually learn the meanings and to actually begin to practice so align yourself with the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam at a deep level there's the as he did in the morning and the as he did in the evening to help at the body attain it or the soul attain a state of submission throughout that day and there's many compilations one that I would highly recommend if you are trying to start to inculcate the Sunnah in your life more is to do the where the Latif of the Mama Haddad I think they do it at MCC once a month or so on Sundays or so in the mornings but this is 10 minute compilation you can listen to it on YouTube follow along it's a do as from the Quran and from the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam compiled that he would do every morning and evening align yourself with the Sunnah in the daily actions of worship and then the actions of interacting with people and the state of submission begins the second is to begin to reflect at a regular level on why are certain things happening to you in life not questioning Allah but rather okay so some lesson I'm trying I'm supposed to learn in this rather than blaming other people all the time or getting angry or getting upset with our spouse or with our this person with our children hold up why is Allah testing us through those means because there's some trait he wants us to inculcate some people will be able to do it in a month other people might take 10 years because we don't learn what he's trying to teach us in that moment and so have that level of reflection especially when the same test comes over and over or the same category of test comes over and over again and third is for us to really elevate our spiritual aspiration when it comes to trying to travel this this spiritual path this is not something we want to just waste our lives doing everything that everybody else in society is doing and then we just follow a few of the aspects of Islam until we pass away we get one chance at this life one chance of this life and left and right these days we're hearing of people who may Allah have mercy on them who are young and young ages and then all of a sudden something happens and they begin to that life their life ends within a week or two weeks the way you live day to day is the way that you will pass away there is no magical moment of some notice that's given to people where it says now you have five months to transform your life before death comes if only it were that easy that does not it doesn't happen like that it's the way in which I live our day to day life the way in which we submit to Allah in the day to day is the way in which we will submit to him in those moments and there's various parts in the Quran various Dua's in the Quran where they ask Allah is telling us to ask him to let us die as what people who submit people who are in a state of submission because if you submit to Allah you are already in accordance with what Allah wants from you and then inshallah the journey through to the next life in the barzakh in the grave into the intermediary realm and then beyond that inshallah will be a lot smoother because the realities of submission will be attained and finally be on the lookout for certain types of examples that exist in the Quran that align with examples in your life Allah makes his messenger submit in very very big ways that don't make always make sense to the human mind he asked he said sacrifice your son he said told him sacrifice your son and he obeyed he was about to sacrifice his son and then we know what happens that it's replaced with the Ram and this signifies what we do on the Eid al-Adha but he submitted to that so that when Allah commands us to do something in the submission is the goodness when you submit Allah gives the way out from a yet to go out of mahraja whoever has talked about Allah Allah gives them a way out of every problem but that the submission has to happen first that Allah will give the way out of the problem but don't resist it so much don't fight it so much and when the nafs and shaitan want you to fight it ask Allah to assist you do do some abqar pray to Allah to Allah calm my heart down let my heart attain the state of submission and then you'll start to see either immediately after or soon after whatever thing we were struggling with the answer becomes clear the answer becomes clear and now Allah takes over the affair that's what we want ultimately Allah says in the Quran for us to say I resign my affair over to Allah this is the way of the messengers that sometimes so much was happening that they said Allah I resigned my affair over to you take over I can't do it I don't have all the knowledge I don't have all the information I'm just a weak human being but with your strength I can get help with your knowledge you can help my ignorance with your strength you can help my weakness with your ability you can help my incapacity that ultimately is the reality of this entire life that we have in the reality of the lessons that Allah wants to teach us in Allah Allah that you allow us to attain a state of submission or Salam and to attain a state of peace or Rahim in your own that you pour your mercy upon us and upon our loved ones and all of those who have passed away in our community very very recently and before this Allah that you grant them high stations of Jannah and that you make their graves illuminated with light and that you give their families patience and that you allow us to attain a state of submitting to your decree in every situation inwardly and outwardly in small things and in big things. Wa sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wa baraka ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahli wa sallam. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alamin wa aqeem as-salat.