 As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh Bismillahir rahmanir raheem, alhamdulillah wa as-salatu wa as-salamu ala Rasulillah wa ala alihi wa as-Habihi wa man wa alaah We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam His household, all his companions, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless them all and to bless every single one of us My brothers and sisters, the days and the nights are not equal when it comes to spirituality, when it comes to the power of the dua that you and I make Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has kept certain days and nights better than others For example, we are all aware that the night of Laylatul Qadr, the most powerful night from amongst the nights of the year And this is towards the end of Ramadan Similarly, when it comes to the days, these 10 days that we are in right now, the first 10 days of Dhul-Hijjah are the most noble, the highest, the loftiest of days And the confusion that some have, they forget that there is a difference between night and day Some people say, well, if these days are very powerful, what about Laylatul Qadr? Well, if you were to pause for a moment, Laylatul Qadr is an evening, it's a night, it's not a day, so that's the difference Regarding the days, these are the most powerful days of the year Regarding the nights, it is definitely Laylatul Qadr closely followed by the eaves of the two eads that we do have May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bestow upon us His mercy and His blessings Similarly, if we take a look at the plan of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala He has kept its such through His divine wisdom that every single one of us has needs These needs, yes, He has granted us the physical capacity sometimes to fulfill some of them But if you were to look at a lot of these needs, we are incapable of fulfilling these needs Except by the help of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala In fact, every single need is such that if it was not for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala His mercy and His gifts that He has bestowed upon us, we would never be able to achieve anything It is He who gave us the brains we have, the energy we have, the physical ability, the capacity we have The sustenance, the families and so on It is Allah alone, so none of us should ever think that it is because of a goodness of our own that we have achieved Rather, it is definitely only and solely by the blessing and fuddle of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala His virtue Similarly, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants to be worshipped in a specific way One of the ways He wants to be worshipped and He has sent messengers to teach us how He wants to be worshipped For this reason it is wrong for us to engage in acts of worship that were not delivered by the messengers who came With the message from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala So, one of them is Salah Salah is the five daily prayers that we have I cannot fulfill this Salah as per my own whims and fancies I need to make sure I fulfill it as per the instruction of the one who brought it to us from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Hence, the number of units, what I should read in every unit What I should say when I bow down, when I prostrate All this is governed and determined by Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam who was given it by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala So ultimately it comes from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Similarly, regarding some aspects there is a leeway Regarding some aspects there is no leeway I give you an example When it comes to reading, you have to read the Qur'an in Salah When you are standing, you have to What exactly to read? You read Surah al-Fatiha and after that you have a choice There is a leeway What should you read? The hadith says Faqra matayas saramaaka min al-Quran Read whatever is easy for you from the Qur'an You read one long verse, three short verses as a minimum So there is a leeway regarding what to read But I need to read from the Qur'an Similarly, when I am changing positions I am taught to say Allahu Akbar And I am taught to say, for example, This is quite specific When it comes, for example, to sacrificing the animal There is a specific way of doing it I cannot just begin by injuring the animal And waiting for it to die And claim that I said the name of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala That's not good enough If it is a sacrificial animal And not an animal that is hunted There is a specific way of doing it And if it is a hunted animal The way might change slightly But the core remains the same May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless us Similarly, one of the ways Allah wants to be worshipped Is that He creates needs within us That we will have to call out to Him regarding I have no option but to call out to Allah To make dua to Him I need to call out to Him to say O Allah grant me goodness, grant me happiness Grant me sustenance, protect my children Grant me offspring, grant me a blessed home Grant me jannah, grant me paradise I need to ask Allah And Allah gets happy when you ask Him So much so that one narration says Ad dua'u hua al ibadah Worship in actual fact is To call out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Or the other way around By calling out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala You are in actual fact worshipping Allah Because when I ask Him for something I am acknowledging He is the greatest I am acknowledging He has what I want And this is why when we associate Or when someone associates partners With Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala He becomes very angry because It is an insult to Allah To ask from someone else what Allah owns May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us From all forms of shirk and polytheism Amin So it is important for us to call out For our needs Some of these needs we find ourselves Quite helpless when it comes to Certain matters For example and I am just going to give you an example If the economy begins to For example slide And we start calling out to Allah Nothing seems to be happening People are struggling financially And they call out to Allah Never lose hope in the mercy of Allah Not at all Don't think I have got a brain I have got a mind Don't worry I will make a plan No matter what you have Yes you may make a plan But ask Allah Continue asking Allah Not just for yourself But even for others So we are taught that When you ask for others Then the angels say Amin to the dua Saying Walaka mitluhu And may you have similar To what you are asking for your brother So if I were to say O Allah that man is ill Grant him good health I am automatically making a dua for myself If I were to say O Allah that man is poor Grant him wealth I am automatically Making dua for myself This is why I do not be selfish When it comes to dua You don't know The more powerful dua Even for yourself Is when you supplicate For others May Allah make it easy for us to do that We become selfish sometimes Only asking for ourselves May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Protect us all Similarly when it comes to Calling out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala It is very very important To go through the blessed words Of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam He was the best of creation He is the best of creation The most noble of all the Messengers of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala To say his name Without saying Sallallahu alaihi wasallam May blessings and salutations be upon him May the blessings of Allah be upon him That would be an insult If one were to leave that out intentionally So such a noble man Such a great person Such a great creature of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala It is important for us to go through The words that he has uttered When he called out And something very interesting We will find is When we look at these words Some of it We will be wondering Why did he have to call out for this He did not have bad qualities Bad habits But we find him saying O Allah protect me from laziness O Allah protect me for example From being miserly From cowardice for example Let's take a look at Some of these narrations There is a narration of Aisha radiAllahu anha A very important narration Which teaches us How to call out to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala And the reason I make mention Of this is this Is the season of dua At the moment we are In the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah It is a season of calling out Call out to Allah And continue repeating your dua In our language We would say Like a mad man A mad man meaning You just keep on repeating The same thing Imagine if I were talking to you And I kept repeating The same thing You would be irritated But when it comes to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala It's an act of worship To repeat things sometimes The reason is You are acknowledging Your desperation O Allah grant me O Allah grant me Two minutes later And you're saying the same thing By the time you repeat it A million times Do you really think That the mercy of Allah Would dictate That you're not supposed to have it Subhanallah A million is not actually a figure It's just something I mentioned So Aisha radiAllahu anha Says one day I was in prayer And the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Wanted something So he called out to me He realized she's in prayer And he said O Aisha Let your dua Meaning the supplication Be the dua Which is very broad in meaning Yet it is short in words So Aisha radiAllahu anha Says when I completed my prayer I turned to him And I asked him Can you tell me Which is it of the prayers Or how should I Supplicate in a way That the wording will be concise And at the same time The meaning will be broad So he gives an example Let's listen to these words He says O Aisha Say O Allah I ask you all goodness I ask you all goodness That which is immediate And that which is to follow later I want the goodness now And later on as well That which I know And that which I don't know Amazing look at this So you're asking for all goodness Sometimes I don't know That this is good for me But because of this dua Allah will give it to me It's amazing And then he continues to say O Allah I seek refuge in you O Allah From all evil That which is immediate And that which is to come later on That which I know And that which I don't know So look at how the balance is struck On one hand She is taught to ask for all goodness Now and later Whether I know it or don't And on the other hand She is taught to seek protection From all evil Because my brothers and sisters All of us As much as we would love goodness We would also love To be protected from harm Amazing What's the point of earning A million dollars And then suffering a loss Of two million May Allah SWT Not do that to us Then he continues to say And I ask you Paradise Now Al-Jannah is Paradise This shows us that You don't only ask for the dunya You're going to be living here For a few more years People have left already Younger than you People have left wealthier And healthier than you and I So we need to make sure We ask regarding What is to follow as well So he says Say O Allah I ask you Jannah And any deed Or statement That will draw me closer To Paradise Make it easy for me To say things And do things That will make it easy For me to gain Paradise What a beautiful wording And then he says Wa A'udubika min annari Wa Maqarraba ilayha min qawlin Awamal And O Allah I seek your protection From hellfire And any statement or deed That will bring me close To hellfire Look at the balance First goodness And then protection from evil Then Paradise And then protection from hellfire And then he continues to say Say I ask you all the goodness In one narration Al Khair Meaning all the goodness That Muhammad peace be upon him Asked of you I'm asking the same SubhanAllah A powerful wording And then he says And I seek protection Or I seek refuge in you From all the evil That Muhammad peace be upon him Sort protection from Throughout his life obviously Then he caps it He ends it by saying Whatever you have decreed For me O Allah Let the end of it be goodness I might not understand Why I'm going through difficulty right now I might not understand The situation I'm in right now Grant me the patience Ya Allah Ensure that the end of all of this Is something really good A person who is sick and ill It is reported when they see The reward that is in store For them in the hereafter They will be so impressed So happy So glad That they may even say Why didn't you keep me sick and ill For long O Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala So that I could achieve such a great reward Through the sabr and the endurance So Allah knows Why you are going through The matters that you may be going through Remember it is Allah Who knows this Therefore continue asking Allah O Allah Whatever you have decreed for me Make the end of it Filled with goodness O Allah This narration is reported by Al-Bukhari In a compilation Known as Al-Adab Al-Mufrad That he has compiled Another hadith of Anas Ibn Malik He says These are beautiful words again Of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam The reason I mentioned them Let's try and call out Using the same blessed words These are powerful words They are not my words, your words They are the words of the most noble Of all prophets The greatest of all creatures of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala He asked using these words And he was granted using the same words So it would be considered a sunnah Or a practice of following The example of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam If we were to use the same words He says the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Used to say I seek refuge in you From Incapacity Inability Disability Al-Adz When someone is unable Incapable Say for example A disabled person They are totally disabled O Allah protect me from that And protect me from laziness Now Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Was not disabled in any way He was never unable To do something in any way But at the same time He asks for this So that we Can follow these beautiful words Then he says O Allah protect me from kassal Meaning laziness Subhanallah Something we desperately need With the new generation O Allah protect us from laziness Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Was the most energetic He had the power of Between 30 and 300 men Depending on generations Meaning a lot of men But he is still saying O Allah protect me from laziness Amazing Every day he used to call out Using these words And then Wa-l-Jubni Wa-l-Haram O Allah protect me from stinginess Miserliness Let me be generous O Allah And protect me from old age You know in old age When you become dependent on someone else O Allah protect me from that And O Allah I seek your protection Wa-a'udu beka min fitnatil mahiya wal mamat From the tests of life and death And I seek your protection From the tests of the grave We are going to be asked questions in the grave There is going to be Torment in the grave For those who deserve it There is going to be goodness in the grave For those who deserve it We are seeking protection from the evil And asking Allah for the goodness Another narration Of Anas ibn Malik radiallahu an Something really beautiful He says I heard the messenger saying And I heard him saying this more than once Allahumma inni a'udu beka min alhammi wal huzzin O Allah I seek protection in you From worries Imagine worrying Something that overtakes your mind I am worried He was not worried at all But the reason why he uttered these words Is so that we could not only get a reward For uttering the same words But so that we are taught how to ask Allah Whatever my worry is you know Help me I seek refuge in you from the evil Known as alhamm worries And he says alhammi wal hazan O al huzzin There are both narrations If you say al huzzin it refers to sadness And if you say al hazan it refers to difficulty Hardship Hazan is something hard And huzzin is something sad So Allah protect me from sadness Protect me from worry You know make me happy A person who is happy And you handle all my affairs Basically that's what it is When you are asking Allah protection from worry Then he says Wal ajzi Inability Protect me from inability Once again Wal kasal Once again Protect me from laziness Wal jubni Wal bukhil He says O Allah protect me From being miserly Protect me from cowardice And being miserly Wal ghalab ad-daini wa qahrir wijal O Allah Protect me from debts Overtaking me You know a person incurs a debt And that debt overtakes them They cannot pay back So now there is a disaster Because when a person is overtaken by debt It affects everything Their health Their mind Their happiness And their surroundings completely So this is a powerful dua That needs to be repeated every single day O Allah protect us from debt overtaking us And from the men overpowering us Which means the enemy in the case of war Or in any other case Those who intend harm O Allah Never let them overpower us What a beautiful dua And the last dua that I want to mention for today Is in the hadith of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud Where he says The prophet used to make a dua And he used to say Which means he used to supplicate And he used to say O Allah I am asking you What do you think he was asking him He says I asked you to guide me Subhanallah The one who brought the guidance to us Is saying O Allah grant me guidance Amazing It definitely proves that these words were more for us Than anything else He is saying O Allah I ask you Al-Huda Which means to guide me Guidance What tuqaa Tuqaa means I ask you piety The most pious of the lot Is saying O Allah I ask you piety And from this we learn My brothers and sisters Something very important Don't think that because you have something You should not be asking Allah for that same item Thank Allah for it O Allah you've blessed me with eyesight I thank you for eyesight O Allah strengthen my eyesight Grant me good eyesight Even though your eyesight is the best Let's continue asking Allah We learn it from this narration And similar narrations The same applies you have wealth Well when it comes to wealth No matter how much you have You still say O Allah grant me more So that's fine May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bestow upon us goodness But you have every form of goodness And it's important for us to acknowledge it To thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala So he used to say I ask you chastity The most chaste from the whole lot Is asking O Allah I ask you chastity Protect me, safeguard me Don't tempt me O Allah Meaning don't allow temptations To overtake me O Allah That's a proper wording Then O Allah I ask you independence Meaning independence from others From the creatures Don't let me depend on anyone My dependence must be only and solely upon you So these are some of the powerful du'as It's important for us to go through them To listen to them To call out whether it is in the Arabic language Preferably or in any language that you understand There is no restriction when it comes to language When you are supplicating Calling out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala But remember this is the season of du'a Do good deeds Seek a lot of forgiveness For those who seek forgiveness There is a greater likelihood That their supplications are answered Because they clear their slate With Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Before asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Something that is far more deserving Of the response Than a person who is sinning Morning evening Or throughout the day and night And they continue asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Through his mercy He may still give them But it is only correct for us To ask Allah's forgiveness May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Forgive us all Peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad