Preserve Allah and Allah Will Preserve You - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

This recording was produced by Green Lane Mustard. For more information on the activities and services the mosque provides, please visit www.greenlanemustard.org. One of the miracles that I will profit, is something that we know. One of the miracles that I will profit, is something that we know. One of the greatest evidences of the comprehensive speech is the books of Ahadith that we have. The thousands and thousands of narrations that we have of the words of our Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. In those words you will often find, that his words, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, were brief and concise in terms of number of words used. But the meaning was great and it was comprehensive. And there are numerous examples of this. But it is one such example that I want to put before us in this Friday Khutbah. And that is the Hadith that is collected in the tiramidhi of the companion Abdullah Nuh Abbas, radiallahu anhu maa. That is said that I was once riding behind the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, meaning on the same mount. And the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and he would be on his camel, run a horse. At times he would have another companion riding behind him. And on some occasions when the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would return from a jani, he would take the youngsters from amongst his family, from Banu Hashim and Banu Muttalib. And he would make them ride either in front of him or behind him, or sometimes have two youngsters. One in front of one behind. Like his grandsons, Al-Hassan Al-Hussain. Like this companion, Ibn Abbas, that was his cousin. Like Abdullah Nuh Jaafar, radiallahu anhu maa others. And sometimes those companions would be older, more senior companions. Like Abu Bakr, Nuh Amr, and Mu'ad, radiallahu anhu. It was an honor to be told or asked by the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to ride behind him. But at the same time, the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would use these moments as teaching and learning experiences. The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam on this occasion said to Ibn Abbas, what the time of this narration was probably no more older than about 10, 11 years old. A young boy yet to hit his teenage years. And he gives to him words and he says to him, Ya Ghulam, O young boy, Inni wa al-limuqa kelimat. I want to teach to you some important words. And these words, they're a methodology for life. Even though these words are given to a young boy so that he can understand how he should live his life, how he should measure and traverse the rest of his remaining days upon this earth. It's also a lesson, a principle, a methodology for the rest of us. He said to him that I'm going to teach you some important words. And that preface of telling him that this is something important, made Ibn Abbas listen intently, made him concentrate, made him become attentive. He said, Ihfaz-i-llaha yahfalq. Ihfaz-i-llaha tajidhu tujahak. Preserve Allah and Allah will preserve you. Preserve Allah and you will find him wherever you may be. What does he mean to preserve Allah? The Prophet ﷺ is telling him here to preserve Allah. But what he means in this context is to preserve that which Allah commanded you with. Preserve Allah's commandments. And preserve the prohibitions that Allah placed upon you by staying away from them. Preserve the many laws that Allah has given to you in the Quran. Or that the Prophet ﷺ told us in the Sunnah. Preserve Allah and the great to your level of preservation of your commandments, of your religious obligations, of your duties that Allah is the One who placed upon you, the greater the level of protection and preservation that Allah ﷺ will send upon you. And that's why the believers differ. They are of differing levels. No one is the same as everyone else. Every person has a differing level of iman from the person that is next to them or around them. Depending on the level that they do, how much of that worship of Allah is the One who they perform, how many of those obligations they fulfill, how many of those prohibitions they stay away from, and the greater your level of that, it increases from the fara'il to the nawaafil, to the obligations from the obligations to the optional and voluntary actions. So you start to become from those people who are mindful of Allah ﷺ, constantly, wherever you are. When you wake up, the first thing that comes to your mind is to thank Allah and praise Him. And as you go about your day in every single situation and scenario, at home, outside of home, in work, outside of work, when you sneeze, when you meet another Muslim, whatever it may be, the name of Allah ﷺ and the remembrance of Allah ﷺ is never far from your mind. And Allah ﷺ praises those people in the Qur'an, the people of the remembrance of Allah, الذين يذكرون الله قيام وقعود وعلى جنوبهم. Those who remember Allah ﷺ, they stand and as they sit and as they lie upon their sides. And Allah ﷺ says, وذاكرين الله كثير وذاكيرات أعقد الله لهم مغفراته وأجر عظيمة. The men and the women who remember Allah much and often, Allah ﷺ has prepared for them forgiveness and a great reward. So the remembrance of Allah, the greatest form of it, is that which Allah made obligatory upon you. Staying away from the haram, the major sins, the minor sins. The more that you do of that, the greater the level of protection. So imagine now that that's the methodology that you have in your life. Allah ﷺ sends upon you his protection, his divine care. Allah ﷺ will send down upon you angels that will protect you. As he tells us in the Quran, لهم عقبات من بين يديه ومن خلفه يحفظونهم من أمر الله. Allah sends upon you angels by day and by night. And Allah sends angels ahead of you and behind you that they will protect you by the command of Allah ﷺ. You live and you survive and you exist under the protection of Allah ﷺ. إحفظ الله, please serve Allah wherever you may be. And Allah will preserve you wherever you may be. Because some people or some of us were good when it comes to our obligations when we are at home and we are in private. But as soon as we are in a setting or a gathering of these people around us who are in public, then we are not so good in terms of fulfilling those obligations. We are not so good in terms of warning against harm or the haram of staying away from it when there are others around us. But when you are a person who preserves Allah's religion wherever you may be, in whichever context or scenario, whichever situation you find yourself, then the greater that Allah's love and care and protection for you is also. And the Prophet told him, صلى الله عليه وسلم بن عباس إذا سألت فسأل الله وإذا ستعمت فستعم بالله. So if you are going to ask, ask of Allah alone. And if you are going to seek help, seek it from Allah ﷺ alone. Imagine at the age of 9, 10, 11 being told. You don't need anyone else. Not even your parents. Not even your mother or your father. Not even your siblings. No one. You don't need anyone or anything. All you need is Allah ﷻ. And the greatest way to attain Allah's help and His protection is what the Prophet ﷺ began the hadith with by the preservation of Allah's commands. If you do that as you make dua and as you seek help and as you seek assistance and as you seek protection and refuge, Allah ﷻ will grant it to you. You have no need for anyone else. When you ask, ask of Allah alone. Even though we know in our religion it's permissible to ask help from others if it's something that they can do. You go to your parents, you go to your spouse, you go to your children, you go to the people around you. You go, it's fine. It's completely permissible. But the highest level of iman and taqwa is that you don't ask from anyone anything. And those people, Allah ﷻ will put them in your service anyway. Even if you don't ask them, Allah ﷻ will bring them to you as opposed to you having to go to them. And that is why it's reported that the Prophet ﷺ when he took the pledge of allegiance from a number of the companions from the conditions that he would place upon them because different companions sometimes used to have different conditions after Tauheed. From some of those conditions that he placed upon some of them is that they would never ask anyone anything to the extent that if one of them was on their animal, their animal, their riding camel or their horse and the whip or the stick that they held fell down, they would get off themselves and they would pick it up. They wouldn't even say to someone, pass me it. Take it for me, give it to me. Not even that much would they request from anyone. And that's extremely difficult to live that way. That you don't need anyone. Don't think of anyone. But if you can from a beginning starting point, train yourself and learn to depend less upon others, then not only do you not become disappointed when they fail you, when they cheat you, when they do things that will harm you, but you also need, know that these people mean you, everyone else around us. All of us are the creation of Allah ﷻ. All of us are under the command of Allah ﷻ. All of us, none of us have the ability to do anything except with Allah ﷻ's permission. Look at how the Prophet ﷺ is teaching this young boy a level of tawheed and iman and tawakul in Allah ﷻ the most of us in our 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s have yet reached to know from a young age that you only need Allah ﷻ. So when you seek help and you seek assistance and there's some pressing need or there's some calamity that has befallen you or some hardship that you need relieved, turn to Allah ﷻ. Ask of Allah ﷻ, seek from Allah ﷻ, show your poverty and your need before Allah ﷻ. If you ask Allah ﷻ, or if you ask Allah ﷻ, ask of Allah ﷻ alone, seek from Allah ﷻ alone. And then the Prophet ﷺ concluded this hadith by giving to him an important principle by which he would know the difference between the Muslim and the non-Muslim, the difference between the person of high iman and the one that is of low iman. And know that the Ummah, if they gathered to benefit you in something, they would not benefit you except in something that Allah ﷻ has written for you. And they gathered to benefit you in something that Allah ﷻ has written for you. And know that if all of the people were to gather and unite in order to benefit you with something they could only benefit you with that which Allah ﷻ had already written and decreed for you. And if they were to all gather and unite in order to harm you with something they could only harm you with that which Allah ﷻ had already decreed against you. ʻUrūf yāt il-lāqlām wajafat is ṣuḥf for the pens have been lifted and the scrolls have dried, meaning that the qadr, the predecree of Allah ﷻ it has been written and it is final. So therefore you don't need anyone. You don't need to ask of anyone. You don't need the help of others. Allah ﷻ will bring them to you because Allah ﷻ decreed for you. If Allah ﷻ decreed for you poverty or decreed for you sickness or decreed for you some other hardship or problem no matter who they are, what they are or how many they are they can do nothing to help you. And at the same time if Allah ﷻ decreed for you blessing Allah ﷻ decreed for you ease Allah ﷻ decreed for you some other type of felicity then nothing that anyone can do no matter who they are, how they are, how many they are nothing that they can do will ever take that away from you. So the trust that you have should be in Allah ﷻ and it should be complete. And the tawakkur that you have the iman that you have the level of tawheed that you show in your ibadah, in your dua'ah in your asking and pleading and istighfar it should all be for Allah ﷻ. Because everything else it's a creation of Allah. And everything else is under the command of Allah ﷻ. It only does that which Allah ﷻ allows it to do. وَمَا تَشَاءُونَ إِلَّا إِلَّا إِنَّ يَشَاءُ اللَّهُ رَبُّ العَلَمِينَ You can only will that which Allah ﷻ allows in the first instance to be well. بارك الله ليولكم في القرآن مصنة ونفعني ويكم ما فيهما من الآيات والحكمة أقول قولي هذا وستغفر الله ليولكم وليجمع المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروا إنه هو الغفور الرحيم الحمد لله يا لاحسانه والشكرو له وعلا توفيقه ومتنانه وشدوا الله إلا الله وحده ولا شركته وتعظيما لشأنه وشدوا أن محمد عبده ورسوله الداعي لا رضوانه صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وصحبه وإخوانه وستلمة استيمة كثيرة أما بعد And some of the wordings of this hadith the Prophet ﷺ also said to Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما تعرف على الله في الريخاء يعرفك في الشدة وعلى عزة وجن in times of ease and Allah ﷻ will remember you in times of difficulty It was the way of the mushrikīn of the Arabs in the times of priests now that they would worship their idols and they would worship all of their false gods besides Allah ﷻ but then if one of them was for example on the sea on the ship and there was a storm and it was about to capsize they would turn to Allah ﷻ in that time of difficulty alone sincerely knowing that nothing would bring them aid except Allah فَإِذَا رَكِبُوا فِيَلْفُلْكِ دَعَوُوا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُدِّينَ فَلَمْ مَا نَجَّاهُمْ إِلَا الْبِرْلِ إِذَاهُمْ مِشْرِكُونَ They would seek Allah's help alone in that time of distress and dire need and then if Allah saved them and when He saved them and they would come back to dry land they would go back to their shirk and they would be fitting for the believer that He only remembers Allah in times of calamity only remembers Allah in times of hardship only remembers Allah when there is a dire pressing need and then when Allah ﷻ gives to Him from His blessings, gives to Him from His favor and His bounties and His grace relieves from Him His distresses and His hardships He doesn't remember Allah, doesn't pray doesn't give zakah, doesn't fast doesn't do all of the other obligations but when there's a hardship He's like where's the closest mystery where's my Qur'an? that type of attitude only in times of need isn't be fitting for the believer the believer is the one who worships Allah in all cases and in all instances in all situations knowing that Allah ﷻ His grace and His bounty is something which is endless and has no limit and Allah ﷻ gives to that person the more that He knows Him in times of ease and the more that He gets closer to Him in those times when Allah ﷻ gives Him blessings for those times that He readyes Himself for those times that Allah ﷻ send upon Him some calamity or some distress this hadith is an amazing hadith contains very important principles but from the greatest principles that we can take away from it is reaching that level of iman and tawakul in Allah ﷻ when we know that we as servants of Allah ﷻ have a Lord that is all powerful all capable we need nothing or no one besides Him ﷻ so to turn to Allah ﷻ in Salah, in dua'a in obligations and leaving Allah ﷻ is prohibiting is from the greatest acts that a Muslim can perform it's one of the greatest acts of worship that you can achieve we ask Allah ﷻ that He grants and bestows upon us iman and taqwa and that Allah ﷻ gives us the highest level of iman in tawakul and Allah ﷻ allows us to actualize and realize the highest levels of tawheed we ask Allah ﷻ that He sends upon us His mercy and His blessings and His showers and forgiveness upon us and our families and that Allah ﷻ makes our affairs easy and the affairs of our brothers and sisters across the world we ask Allah ﷻ that He protects their blood and their waath and their families and that Allah ﷻ brings relief to their heart ships and their distresses Subh'ana rabbiq rabbi'l-izzati'a amma yasifoon wa s-salamun al-mursaneen wa-alhamdulillahi rabbi'l-a'ala bi-l-a'ala bi-l-a'ala This recording was produced by Green Lane Mushed For more information on the activities and services the mosque provides please visit www.greenlanemushed.org