 إن الحمد لله نحمده ونستعلم ونستأخذه ونعود بالله من شروع الفوسنا ومن سيئة عمالنا ما يهدئ الله فلا مدلله وما يدل الفلا هادئ له واشلوا الله إلاها إلا الله وحده لا شريك له واشلوا أننا سيدنا وحبيبنا مولانا سيدنا محمل عبده ورسوله خير نبي اجتبه ودل العالمين أرسله أرسله الله بديل حقه ليونر عديني كل ولوكرها الكافيون اللهم صلي وسلم وبارك على سيدنا وحبيبنا مولانا سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وأزواجه وغورية وصحابه واتابعين واتابعين بإحسان إلى يوم الدين أما بعباد الله وذكركم الله بتاقوا الله سبحانه وتعالى وذكرهم بقوله سبحانه وتعالى في القرآن الكريم حيث يقول يا أيها الذين آمروا تاقوا الله حقه دقاته ولا تموتون إلا وانتوا مسلمون وذكركم إياية الحفن القرآن الكريم في سنة دي سيدنا محمد صلى الله عليه وعليه وصحبه وسلم تسليمك كثيرا السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته الحمد لله نرى الله سبحانه وتعالى لأخر بلسم الحمد لله أنه يخلص لنا this blessing of life الحمد لله أنه يجعلنا لنا another opportunity to worship him to repent to him to make good deeds إن شاء الله that will be heavy on our scales on يوم القيام الحمد لله نرى الله for this opportunity of life أبو is happy أنه ي spanning when he was born in 100 Hijri and he died in 165 and he is one of the earliest scholars of the what we would call of the internal sciences spiritual purification If you will now the interesting story about him is that he was actually like a king هو actually a king of what is Balch which is modern day Afghanistan and what he did was he renounced his throne in search for a spiritual kingdom if you will and he wanted to live a complete life of simplicity and he did this by traveling to Syria where he served bread, making bread but he became a well-known as I said scholar of the internal sciences so he would come to ask him for advice and they came to him asking him advice of ayah 16 from Surah Al-Ghafi they asked him about the verse where Allah says in the Qur'an they asked him about this verse where Allah says and your lord says call on me and I will answer you and they asked why are we making this dua we're praying to Allah and our prayers are not being answered and he said to them I will explain to you in these 10 points and he said number 1 you know Allah yet you do not obey him number 2 you recite the Qur'an yet you do not act according to it number 3 you know Sheykh Khan yet you have agreed with him number 4 you say you love the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم yet you have abandoned his sunnah number 5 you say you love Jannah yet you do not act to gain it number 6 you say you fear the fire of hell yet you do not prevent yourself from it number 8 or number 7 it said that you believe that death is true yet you have not prepared for it number 8 you find faults in others and you do not look at your own faults and number 9 he said you eat that which Allah has provided for you but you are not grateful for it and 10 you bury your dead and you do not take a lesson from it so this is the advice that he gave when they asked about why supplications are not being answered I didn't want to read these to bring a hardship and to show that you know all of these things that we are not doing the only reason why I want to mention this is for it to be a means for us to reflect for each and every single one of us to ask hearing this right now of where do I fall on this list we have all kinds of lists that work that we need to take care of and self-assessments and other things such as this that will ensure that we are having the most efficient and the most effective application of our skills that's why we were hired to do what we do so here is a checklist for us which will enable you to have the ability to call upon وزم تعالى looking at these things and understanding what it is to enhance your relationship and create greater efficiency between yourself and Allah سبحانه وتعالى may Allah make us from those people now what I want to talk about here first we'll just look at this in that the word رب is used in the ayah Allah سبحانه وتعالى says وَقَالَ رَفْبُكُمْ says you're a lord he didn't say إِلاَ he didn't say وَقَالَ اللَّهُ he didn't say he used رب now the important thing that we should understand here is that the word رب the scholar is saying is that the word in of itself implies mercy when the word رب is used رض الأسفحان he says that to use the word رب in of itself that it implies mercy from Allah سبحانه وتعالى and he says that it doesn't imply meanings of hardship and that that the one who was a مربي right in our societies in tradition the مربي was normally the teacher the one right who will take you through the stages of development the one who raises the children if you will right and how is that raising to be done is to be done with mercy it's to be done with mercy so that's one of the a little tefsir where the scholar says why رب was used and not another name of Allah سبحانه وتعالى or an attribute of Allah سبحانه وتعالى specifically in this verse and he says that the wisdom of it is that if your relationship with a person is such that you only know than giving you good you only know hair from this person then you are going to be more inclined to ask that person for something than someone else وقال ربكم أصد جدكم and one of the things that they say here in asking is that you will understand the generosity of that person and that's our relationship with Allah سبحانه وتعالى so we have to think about that and think about it is something that I looked at and really caught my attention and the reason why I was thinking about this is because as a convert this is Christmas time and maybe think about all of the things that I would ask for as a convert before I was Muslim around this time of year so it just made me reflect about this and it may reflect and then I got a contemporary scholar who gave a commentary on this verse which I thought to me was incredible and that's what I want to share with you and we'll build off of this so a contemporary scholar was asked the same question why do we make du'a to Allah and the du'as are not answered not accepted we could say the question said that we frequently offer supplications but they are not accepted but the verses general it states that every supplication is answered and this is how he answered the question he said to answer is one thing to accept it is something quite different every supplication is answered however as for what we ask for being accepted and exactly what we are seeking and being given to us is dependent on the wisdom of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and I thought to myself سبحانه وتعالى think about that الحكيم because he uses the word wisdom يام غزالي in his 99 names commentary when he gives the commentary of the name of Allah سبحانه وتعالى the all wise he says the one who possesses wisdom wisdom is the equivalent to knowledge of superior things through the highest modes of knowing through the highest modes of knowing so now for a moment take that that you are making dua to Allah سبحانه وتعالى who is el hakeem the all wise but he is also what he is el aleem and nothing in creation no created thing can be el aleem except for Allah سبحانه وتعالى we can have an alem and what they say with the definition of an alem is that ignorance preceded him meaning that you didn't know something you became informed of this name you learned this thing and now you know it so that makes you alem it doesn't make you el aleem el aleem سبحانه وتعالى is that you will understand Allah سبحانه وتعالى ما كان وما يكون وما لن يكون لو كان سبحانه وتعالى سبحانه وتعالى سبحانه وتعالى الله سبحانه وتعالى knows what was what is what will be and what was not worried to be سبحانه وتعالى that's your lord Allah knows what was not worried to be so when we ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى understand that he we have to ask ourselves are we certain in our own nuffs are we certain with 100% certainty that every single thing that I ask for is beneficial for me that's the question that we have to ask ourselves think about this my child is sick child is running a fever, child has upset stomach child says I want an ice cream sundae bananas and whipped cream chocolate and vanilla and strawberry and all of this, what are you going to say what are you going to say I'm going to say no, why because you have a knowledge that the child doesn't have that that's going to be detrimental to them correct or incorrect so the fact that we would think that every single supplication that we would ask for is something that is beneficial to us and when it doesn't get manifested that Allah is not interested in our dua is a wrong understanding of our relationship with Allah سبحانه وتعالى سبحانه وتعالى because if that were the case then also the verse in surat al-Baqarah would not make sense عسى أن تكره شيء وهو خير لكم وعسى أن تحبوا شيء وهو شر لكم الله يعلموا وانتوا لا تعلمون الله says in surat al-Baqarah perhaps it is that you detest something but it is good for you and perhaps it is that you love something and it is and it is detrimental to you الله يعلموا وانتوا لا تعلمون that Allah knows and you know not so this is the point that we want to get المجي the one who answers the dua is one of the 99 names of Allah سبحانه وتعالى المجي the answer of prayers the one who responds to the request of those who ask by assisting them to the call of those who call upon him by answering them so in the response to those who are poor again Imam Ghazali says that he will fulfill all of their needs in fact he blesses before the request and grants the favors before our appeal but that belongs to Allah سبحانه وتعالى alone for he knows the needs of the needy before they even ask we are not informing Allah سبحانه وتعالى because we are making you a'ab he would not be a'alim if that were the case and if that's who you think you are calling on then you are not calling on Allah سبحانه وتعالى you are calling on something else for he knows the needs of the needy before they even ask because he already knew them in eternity سبحانه وتعالى and he has arranged for sources sufficient to their needs by creating food and nourishment and by facilitating both of these causes and the needs of fulfilling all of these needs سبحانه وتعالى so therefore Allah سبحانه وتعالى the all present the all seeing the all hearing the all wise the all just that he responds to all of our supplications to all of our servants as he said and through his presence سبحانه وتعالى and his response he transforms the emptiness meaning closeness to Allah سبحانه وتعالى why? because Allah سبحانه وتعالى never distances himself from us it is us that did to himself from Allah سبحانه وتعالى and that's why he says and that's why he says that he is more close to you than your jugular vein if there is absence of the jugular vein what happens? there is no life there is no life and that then brings us to the understanding of of impoverishment to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and that's how they understood it when the scholars would use the term الفقير الفقير is what? it's the one who understands their impoverishment to Allah سبحانه وتعالى because what they understand is that by losing connection with سبحانه وتعالى the rich if you will but غني is what? غينا in Arabic language that means free of all need so the one who is free of all need سبحانه وتعالى also translated as wealth because if you have no needs then you are wealthy describes our relationship with him such as this in the Quran where he says والله حليل غني that you are old mankind you are impoverished to Allah سبحانه وتعالى you are impoverished to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and that impoverishment is what? that if we lose our relationship because of our acts of disobedience then we have absolutely nothing although materially we may look like we have all of these things but we have nothing so الحمد لله سبحانه وتعالى الحمد لله again we have to think about this idea we are talking about dua we are talking about this reality is that we have to make sure as I said that all of these things that we are asking for that we understand that Allah سبحانه وتعالى is answering our dua but he is answering in a manner and in time when Allah سبحانه وتعالى sees fit if you think about this this idea again that I don't trust myself I know myself 26 years before my Islam and I know myself now for 22 years after my Islam I don't trust myself I don't even believe that I know what is best for me but Allah سبحانه وتعالى does know what is best for me and to that I submit that's the reality of it because here when Allah سبحانه وتعالى says in the Quran that you don't see the one who is taken as his lord as his إله now here's the difference we talked about Ram now we talk about إله إله is what إله is that thing that you take as معبود the thing which is worshipped has taken that thing and here has taken as his Rob he said here as إله so you have to look also linguistically of what's happening here when the nafs, when the Hawa becomes this thing which is constantly if you would say worship if you will fulfilling all of its needs if you will have you not seen the one who has taken as his إله his nafs so think about this when the Prophet ﷺ says that إله إلا في جسد مدغة إذا صلحا صلحا جسد كلو كلو إلا وإن حل when the Prophet ﷺ says that in the body is a muscle of flesh if it is pure the entire body is pure and if it is impure the entire body is corrupt now think about that connect him to when the Prophet ﷺ is asked a question about making a decision and what does he tell one of the companions he tells him he says take a fatwa from your heart how can I take a fatwa from a heart that is corrupted how can I take a fatwa from a heart whose إله is its Hawa whose law that which is is the thing of its own desires do you see where I am getting at now how can we trust ourselves to ask Allah ﷺ for the things that we think are good for us if we haven't done the work to purify this heart right here to even know what is good to ask for us for ourselves but yet we don't want to trust Allah ﷺ and you hear people saying things such as that it's as if somehow they're going to get back out of law because Allah didn't give them what they want, when they want how they want, where they want which sounds like what there's no child right now that's the nas and then somehow if this happens and they don't understand and process it somehow they want to get back out of law well I'm just going to stop making du'a because Allah is not giving me Allah is not answering my prayers to sad state to be in it's like drinking poison hoping it affects the person that you want to harm that's the reality so may Allah give us so fit may Allah give us understandings may Allah make us people that will call upon Him ليلة نهار يقوم يصبح الله إنه هو وفور الرحيد إنه الحمد لله الحمد لله كثير كما أمر واشر الله إله إلا أنه أم لسيدنا محمد العبد ورسول الله وذكركم يقوله سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وذكركم بشرف مكان مصطفة صلى الله عليه وعاله صحفه هيف يقول في القرآن الكريم إن الله وملائكته يصلون على النبي يا أجوها الذين أاملوا يصلوا عليه وسلم وتسنيمة الله مصلي وسلم وبالك على سيد محمد وعلى آل سيد محمد كما برقت وصليت على سيد إبراهيم وعلى آل سيد إبراهيم إنك أنتها بيدون وجيد الحمد لله just in closing here that the death of the body is not the true death it's only a movement from one one realm to another and there are people whose bodies are well nourished and alive but whose souls are blind, weak, sick and almost dead and that Allah says that in the Quran there is not the eyes that go blind but it is the heart so perhaps we need to look at this reality of where we are and connect it to all aspects of our lives of our business practices our relationship with our spouse our children, our work ethic all of these things and find out if the Fattwas that are coming from our heart are coming from a heart that is pure or if not and perhaps that is a reason a place that we can start and perhaps that is a reason that we can start a place that we can start of whether our affairs are in order or not الحمد لله as we said that this standard of richness and poverty comes from society but the standard given to us by Allah's messenger is very different because he said richness is not in the quantity of possessions that one has rather true richness is the richness of contentment so may Allah make us people who are content may Allah make us people who have شكرا على الموجودي وصورة على المفقودي that Allah makes us people that have gratitude for everything that is present and الحمد لله that we are patient for the things that he has not granted us perhaps the things that we ask for so الحمد لله I want to just mention here that the Prophet ﷺ has said in the hadith that that دعاء is answered in three ways دعاء is answered in three ways he said the first one is that what you are asking for is given to you in this world the second one is that Allah ﷻ because of the دعاء that you made الحمد لله will ward off some sort of affliction or tribulation or hardship or harm that would come to you and then the third one is that what you ask for in dunya will be given to you in أخرى and when we read this commentary with our teachers in Damascus they said that when the human being sees what they ask for manifested in أخرى and then that they never receive anything in dunya because why? that Allah ﷻ has prepared for my righteous servants And I have never seen which no ear has ever heard which has not even come on the understanding فهذا هو ما ينتهي. لذا إظهروا أن هذا هو رقم. أفهم أن الله سبحانه وتعالى يتبقى كل دعاء. وأنه يتبقى. كيف يتبقى؟ هذا من الوزدم من الله سبحانه وتعالى أنه أكثر من جميع of our pay grades بحسب how smart we think we are and how rational our mind is and how deserving that we think that we are. الله سبحانه وتعالى is the most generous and that generosity is being poured out to us in ways that we can't even comprehend or understand. So may Allah سبحانه وتعالى allow us and inspire us to make dua that we understand his hikmah. And may Allah سبحانه وتعالى make us inspire us to have dua that we are people that will continue to ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى knowing that he will give us what we are asking for and the way that he sees fit. One of the ways that I think about here in this second category of something being warded off is think about this I'm leaving my house and I can't find my keys and I'm asking my wife have you seen my keys I put them on the counter right here I'm sure we know this scenario I can't find my keys she reminds me have you read Surat al-Duha we should read Surat al-Duha for things that we have lost Alhamdulillah I read Surat al-Duha I checked a few other places Alhamdulillah I find my keys and now I leave my house as I drive down to stop signs I see that the police are there and there's a flare on the ground and there's an accident where apparently it looks like one car has crossed through a stop sign and broadsided another car think for a moment that the delay that you had and not being able to find your keys is your dua being accepted by Allah سبحانه وتعالى so that was not your car that was broadsided at that stop sign Allah سبحانه وتعالى is answering your dua Allah سبحانه وتعالى is accepting your dua because He promised you that He would سبحانه وتعالى اللهم رحب المؤمنين والمنافق الإسلامين والمسلمات اللهم رحب المؤمنين والمنافق اللهم رحب المؤمنين اللهم افتع علينا فتوه هالفين مفتوح فيك الصالحين مفاعل من القرآن وذلك الحكومة اللهم جعل القرآن ربيع قلوبنا وشفاق صدورنا يا رب العالمين ونورا في قبورنا يا رب العالمين اللهم باكرمنا ردنا لدينك ردا جميلا يا رب العالمين واخذ عوانا الحمد لله يا رب العالمين أقيم الصلاة يا رحمك