Why Believing in Allah Isn't Enough

Alhamdulillah.

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Picking up and continuing on where we left off last week with regards to the of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and learning the purpose of our existence. And notice the wording that is used here, learning the purpose of our existence because this is something that has to be learned. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks to the prophet Muhammad Sam and he says, He says to him that prior to the revelation of this book, you oh Muhammad did not know what the book was, what revelation was, nor what faith and eman and belief is. It's something that has to be learned. It is something that a person has to go out of his way and he has to seek out knowledge from its proper sources in order to learn the purpose of his existence to get the answers to those questions that will inevitably catch up with us sooner or later. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says to the prophet sallall.aii He says, "Before the revelation of this book to you, you were unaware. You were amongst the unaware from mankind with regards to the generalities and specificities of the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alone without any partners. And so we mentioned last week what the real point of contention was between the prophet sallall.aii wasam and his antagonists. When we look at it from this angle, why did the Arabs ofQures, some of them even his own family members, why at the beginning of his message and through the majority of his message did the majority of his people fight against and reject what he came with. We understand that already the people of Quraysh viewed themselves as the envoys, if you will, of Allah to the house of Allah, the Kaa. And they viewed themselves as the caretakers of the Kaa. And they referred to this as Al Hamasa. And they referred to it as being people who were chosen by Allah to be caretakers of his house because the Arabs in the entire Arab Peninsula would migrate and would come for pilgrimage every year for Hajj to the house of Allah. It was incredibly lucrative for them and they believed that they were essentially chosen by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and cut from a different cloth. And so then we have our prophet Muhammad sallall.aii to top it off from amongst and revelation comes to him. You would think that they would be accepting to this message. You would think that they have every incentive to accept this message and to bolster his claims to prophethood. However, we find that the majority of them fought against him especially at the beginning. Why is that? What was the real point of contention? the real issue. And this is important for us to understand because we are trying to learn what was it about the statement that the prophet came with that was so offensive to them. Why did they find this so offensive? Why did they fight against it so vehemently? And the answer to that question is because it invalidates the worship of other than Allah. This statement invalidates the worship of the idols of their forefathers. This statement invalidates the idea that we worship Allah through the worship of others or that we worship Allah and we worship others along with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This was the point of contention. So when he said.

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They understood because of the language that they spoke, because of the Arabic tongue that the message of Islam came to them In they understood that upon conceding they now have to forfeit the quote unquote legacy of idol worship that they were upon they and their forefathers. This is why they fought against him. And you see really what the difference between Islam and other than Islam is. Because a lot of times we imagine that the oneness of Allah is epitomized in believing that there is only one creator. Belief that there is only one creator is not particularly unique to Islam. Most of humanity believes that. Most of humanity who believes in a creator believes that that creator is one. Even religions built and based on the worship of idols Hinduism for instance, they still concede that there is one what they call God head. Some call him Brahman, some call him Krishna, some call him different names for him. And this supreme god head is the one creator of all that exists. Even the Persians at the time, the fire worshippers, the ma magians al- Majus that the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam encountered as well. They believed in two creators, the creator of light and the creator of darkness. And that the creator of light, you know, they said there's two creators, creator of light, creator of darkness. This has been iterated throughout eastern religions the yin and yang, destruction and construction or the chaos and the harmony, these two sides, dark and light. But even they concede that these are not two equal gods. They say there's the creator of light, the creator of darkness. But the creator of light is better than the creator of darkness because from light comes good and from darkness comes evil. Therefore, they are not equal gods. The human being is not going to logically arrive at a conclusion that there is more than one creator who has created the heavens and the earth with such harmony. Two independent creators with their own independent agency and free will. It's impossible. It's a logical fallacy. And so the majority of mankind conceds that there is one creator. Even in the time of the prophet Sam when they would come for and what would they say? This is what they would say. They would say this first portion we still say today. It was affirmed by Islam. Then they would continue to say at your service, oh Allah, you have no partners. You have no partners except for some partners that you have but you own them and they own nothing. So when Islam came it stopped this part. It cut off the bad that addition at the end and affirmed what was correct from the religion of Ibraimis that they were taught from is This is where we stop. That addition is from the innovation of the human mind introduced into the pure religion and of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so the issue was never believe that there's only one creator. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says throughout the Quran If you were to ask them who has created the heavens and the earth, if you were to ask them, who's them? The themm here Abuahab Abu Jah Abu Sufyan at the time. Uhbayf, right? If you were to ask them who has created the heavens and the earth, they will surely reply to you, Allah. Allah is the creator of the heavens and the earth. And so the argument that the Quran taught the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam that Allah taught the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam was. Ask them who has created them, has created everything, has raised the heavens, has set up the mountains, has made the earth hospitable enough to live in for your benefit, who has protected you, who has allowed you to reproduce, who has created you, who has done all of this, they will say Allah. Then reply to them, if Allah is the only one who gave you this and did this, then why do you worship other than Allah? Worship only Allah. This is the point of contention here. This part of worship only Allah. This is where the point of contention between our prophet sallall.aii wasallam and his antagonist. As a matter of fact, this is the point of contention between the majority of the people and their prophets and messengers that come to them. The point of contention is worship Allah alone. They say we worship Allah but we worship others along with him because the idea is all rooted in intercession. What is intercession? A she Allah talks about intercession often through the Quran and he tells us intercession belongs to Allah alone. There will be no intercession on the day of judgment except for whom Allah allows to intercede. Why are these things repeated? Because this goes back to the root of their belief system. This is the logical conclusion that they allegedly arrived at. Here it is. They say Allah is grand and awesome. Subhanahu wa ta'ala and he is too awesome and too grand and too majestic for us with our lowly sins to go directly to him. and he is very unlikely to listen to us when we call. However, he has other men from amongst mankind whom he has chosen to be as saints, right? He has chosen them to be as saints. They're very close to him. They don't have any sins. They are close servants of Allah whom he has chosen whether they be angels or prophets or righteous men, right? And so if we go and we appease these saints and we get on their good side, they will intercede on our behalf with Allah. Just every king has cordiers and you can't go directly to the king, you have to go to the courier. You get to know him. the ambassadors, the courters, the ministers. You go and you speak to them and you get on their good side and you give them gifts, right? And then you ask them for favors and they put in the good word for you with the king. And so Allah refutes this idea throughout the Quran and he tells us that this is the root of their belief system. These idols that they worshiped and who are mentioned in the Quran also the idols of the people of NIM that are mentioned in the Quran. These are fashioned after righteous men who passed away but they believe these men were very righteous men. And so they constructed either monuments or you know either either monuments or idols or statues in their image or in their memory that marked and signified these righteous saints. And so they would worship these idols hoping that these, you know, this idol represents this particular saint that this saint will accept from me and he will then intercede on my behalf with Allah. He will intercede on behalf of his constituents with Allah in this life. This was the idea. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says regarding their belief system, he says that they say we only worship these idols so that they may draw us nearer to Allah. And 99.9% of all idolatry, all idol worship, all polytheism in human history and on the earth today is predicated on this idea of intercession. It is predicated on this idea of intercession. And it has even seeped its way into what are referred to as the you know the the three religions or the the the divine religions or the Abrahamic religions. Catholicism for instance modern Catholicism is basically idolatry. it is the worship of pretty much everyone except for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The saints and St. Peter and St. Paul and saint this and you say a rosary for this one and you you wear a pendant for this saint and they you know and they will intercede on your behalf. When you chant, your chants are not for Allah. They are for Mary, right? Mother Mary and Jesus and so forth in order that they can draw us nearer to God and draw us nearer to Allah. This is the point of contention. The people of Hud summed it up. They said to They said to their prophet, the people of they said to their messenger Houd, they said, "Have you come to tell us to worship Allah alone and leave off the worship of the idols of our forefathers?" This was their argument. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ends their story by saying and they were not believers. Why? Because when you hear this worship Allah alone they used to worship Allah. They did they worshiped Allah but they worshiped others along with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so h came and said you worship Allah and these others yet Allah is the one who does everything you have to be thankful for. Why would you worship others along with Allah? Worship Allah alone without any partners. This was the point of contention. This was the point of contention between the prophets and messengers and their people. They're antagonists. This is why people fought against them. And so when we speak about the purpose of our existence, it is not just to believe in the creator. Belief in the creator is not particularly unique. However, it is that we worship only that one creator and that we worship that one creator only in the way that our messenger has taught us. That's the meaning ofahill those two conditions worship Allah alone without any partners. only in the way that the messenger wasallam has taught you. And this these are the two conditions for deeds to be accepted. When a deed is done for Allah, those are the two conditions. It has to be for Allah alone and it has to be in accordance with the sunnah of Muhammad sallall.aii And you look for those two conditions, you find them all through the Quran. Most notably the final verse of that we are to read every week. Whoever wishes to meet Allah and have that meeting go positively, then he is to do righteous deeds and not associate in the worship of his lord anyone. We will continue this inshall next week. Alhamdulillah.

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Allah Allahb. Oh,.

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Hallelujah.

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Alhamdulillah.

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Are Bethch.

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Muhammed.

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In this verse in Allah subhanahua says to the prophet sallall.aii Wasam teaching him to convey to convey to men and women from all walks of life with every imaginable sin with every imaginable past to say to them, "Do you not then repent to Allah?" And Allah indeed is offforgiving, most merciful. This verse came after a number of verses in which Allah subhanahua speaks about how the people who were entrusted with his revelation the followers of the prophets and messengers from amongst the people of the book whom Allah entrusted with his revelations. to preserve them, to not add or take away from them, to convey them to the people as they were taught them. And they did not fulfill this entrustment and they introduced new things into the religion of Allah. They introduced new ideas such as the worship of his prophets and messengers of them. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says indeed they have disbelieved those who claim that Allah is the Messiah son of Mary. Indeed, they have disbelieved those who claim that Allah is the third of three, etc. These new things that were introduced into the religion of Allah. However, after all of that, after such treachery from their scholars, after the misguidance of mankind, and what could be a greater slander and claim than to claim that the creator of the heavens and the earth has taken a son or is one of his messengers or one of his creations, The mountains themselves wish to crumble from the majesty of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. How could we claim that a human being, a man with all of his faults and deficiencies and weaknesses could be Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or be a part of Allah or be the son of the creator. This is a great slander and a great lie against Allah. However, Allah Subhanahu Waaala says after all of that, but do they not repent to Allah? He is still opening the door of repentance even for those who have committed such atrocities against the messengers of Allah. He says subhanahu he says subhanahu wa ta'ala indeed those who have burned the believing men and women burned burned this is regarding a story of a king who took it upon upon himself to have his army dig ditches and everyone who saidahillahill be burned alive in these ditches. Yet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says after relating this story indeed those who have burned the believing men and women and have not repented for doing so then for them is the hellfire. Even such an egregious act of rebellion against Allah the door of repentance is still open. the hope of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And what is the Quran if not a book of hope? Imagine humanity grappling with all of its insecurities and weaknesses, its oppressive nature. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala pierces the heavens with a beam of light. He sends down his most majestic of angels Giblam and he comes to the messenger of Allah. Wasam with such verses as say Allah is one and only and unique. And so this book of hope, which is the Quran, has not closed the door of hope upon anyone as long as breath is in his breast. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has been described by the prophet sallall.aii as.

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And Muslimb Omar narrates that the prophet sallall.aii Wasam said, "Indeed Allah does extend his hand in the night so that the sinner of the day may repent to him. And he does extend his day his hand in the day so that the sinner of the night may repent to him. And he will continue to do so until the sun rises from the west." Omar narrates that the prophet Sam said in he said indeed Allah and all of his majesty and might does accept the repentance of any servants of Allah of any of his servants. servants. As long as his soul is not being taken out of his body actively by the angel of death, a person has hope up until that moment, up until the angel of death is there extracting his soul. Why is it that that door of repentance slams shut in the face of a person when their soul is being taken out of their body because that is not unique. Every human being will repent at that moment. Everyone, every human being will repent at the moment when he or she sees the angel of death taking his soul out of his body. At that moment, everyone repents. Even Fon, even Fun himself repented at that critical moment. However, up until that last final fleeting second, a person who repents to Allah, Allah will accept his repentance until the sun rises from the west marking the commencement of the day of judgment. Allah will accept the repentance of his servants because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not want to punish his servants unless they have chosen that punishment. He says, "Subhan, what does Allah desire or want with your punishment? As long as you believe and are thankful and indeed Allah is ever thankful all knowing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is describing himself to us as being one of gratitude subala that when we do good in his name he thanks us he thanks us for that good and he rewards us subhanahua and he forgives us and he puts a little more light on our path and he gives us a little bit more speed on that path to redemption. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us every opportunity to repent and to make our final moments even if it is just a moment of our life the best. and that which will turn around the entirety of our past. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us about the most egregious of sins. He tells us subhanahua of the worship of idols, the murder of our fellow man, the fornication and adultery that human beings engage in. And he mentions to us in the closing verses of surah the great punishment for such sins. But then he bookends this by giving us hope and telling us subhanahua.

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He says subhanahu wa ta'ala except for those who repent to Allah and work righteous deeds for indeed Allah will exchange their sins for good deeds. This statement here that when a person repents to Allah, Allah will exchange their sins for good deeds. What does that mean? It's a very curious sentence and it's a very curious idea that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will exchange their sins for good deeds because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not just judge you on something that you have done but when you meet Allah subhanahuaaala he judges your past based on who stands before him. And so when a person comes before Allah having repented, this person can't change his past, no matter what he does, he cannot change it. It's in the past. It's unreachable. But if he could, he would. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala takes this into account in his judgment. And when a person comes before him repentant, when a person comes before Allah having changed his ways, all of those moments of sin that he committed in his time of ignorance, Allah will exchange those sins for good deeds. Why? Because the person who is standing before him in that moment on that day of judgment if he could go back this is what he would have done and so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala exchanges those sins for good. This is what our prophet sallall.aii Wasam tells us Allah will do with those who repent to him on the day of judgment in Muslim in the book of im in the book of belief narrates that the prophet Sam said on the day of judgment a man will be brought before Allah for judgment and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will say to his angels, "Hide away his bigger sins from his scrolls and only bring forth his minor sins." And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will then proceed to remind this man about those minor sins that he committed. Do you remember on this day, at this time, in this place you did such and such? The man will say yes. Do you remember at this time, on this day, in this place, you as well did such and such and you continued upon this and such and such. And the man at this point will believe that he has no hope left, that he must go to the hellfire because he's meeting with Allah and Allah is only bringing up the bad that this person has done. But this man will realize that there are other more egregious sins that are not being mentioned. But he's not going to mention them. He's already in a world of hurt. Why would he bring that up? And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will then say to his angels, "Exchange all of the aformentioned sins for good deeds." And so the man will then say and proclaim to Allah. He will then say, "Allah, but I have other sins still that you didn't mention." He will say this because he sees that now Allah has exchanged his sin for good because he repented to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he met Allah repentant and he met Allah having changed those ways and so Allah accepted from him. This is one of the three most major warships that are the hallmarks of our of our bliss and admittance into paradise on the day of judgment. Three things the human being at every moment in his life is in one of three moments. He is either in a time of ease and blessing in which he is required to be thankful or he is in a time of hardship and difficulty in which he is to be patient or he is in a time of sinfulness in which he is to be repentant. These three traits are the hallmark of the people of paradise. They are those whom when they are blessed and given, they are thankful. When they are tested and tried, they are patient. When they are sinful and make mistakes, they are repentant. These three, the more intensely and more and the more pronounced they are in your person, in your life, in your in your nature, the more likely and the more elevated you will be in the paradise and reward of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Repentance. The prophet sallall.aii Wasam said in Muslim,.

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He said, "I swear by Allah, I swear by Allah that if you all were free from sin, Allah would do away with you and replace you with a people that would sin and then ask for forgiveness and he would then forgive them. What does this narration mean? Many of us have heard it. Some think that well isn't this a a u isn't this something that will cause a person to sin more? No, this is not an encouragement to sin and it is not because of our sin that we remain here. What is meant by the narration is one of the purposes of your existence, one of the reasons Allah has created you, one of the dynamics of your worship of Allah is repentance. And you find your perfection in your imperfections. And part of our relationship with Allah is built and based upon needing Allah's forgiveness, upon needing to be forgiven by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so we sin. But the best of us are those who repent constantly for said sin. And indeed those who turn to Allah, Allah will not turn away.

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Alhamdulillah.

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Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has said in his book that indeed Allah does love those who are in constant repentance. Notice the wording here. The wording here is not Allah loves those who repent. It is more than that. Allah loves those who are constantly repenting. Constantly in constant repentance. Why? Because our sins are constant. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala teaches us that it is repentance that it is that is repeated and consistent which helps to solidify our repentance. A lot of times people become discouraged. They feel guilty for something that they're doing or many things that they're doing. All of us feel guilty. Every one of us. There is not one innocent man here amongst us or woman. Every one of us is guilty. And so what is the difference between us? The difference between us is in our repentance to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But we get discouraged because we feel guilty and we repent. And then we find after a day or two or 10 or a year or two, we start to slide back into our old habits. And then we try to repent again. But this time it's not as fervent as the first. And with each repentance, it becomes more and more weak as we are overtaken by this sin or this habit. And this is exactly what a shan is looking to do. It is not an issue of a person repents once and all of their life is perfect after that. That doesn't exist. That's not how it works. Our repentance is an issue of winning each individual battle at a time against our enemy as shan. You will repent as shan will whisper. Then you will repent and a shaitan will whisper. Can he get you to become hopeless? Can he wear you down until you can't look at yourself anymore in the mirror? Can he whisper to you, "What do you think this salah that you're making is going to do when you've done such and such? You are so and so. You're just fooling yourself. You're just wasting your time. You know what you're doing. You know what you're going to do as soon as you leave from here. Why are you trying to trick yourself and fool yourself into this? These are the whispers that we deal with. And what is your estimate of Allah Subhanahu Wa'ta'ala? Is your sin greater than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Is that what you will concede to? Imagine the arrogance, the hubris that a person has to have to believe that his sin is so special and he is so unique that Allah will not forgive him. That is not that is not a depression or that is not alone that comes because a person really believes that Allah won't forgive him. These are the kinds of whispers from a shaitan to make us think that my sin is special. Everyone else could be forgiven but not me. I'm special through my sin. Your sin is not special. My mistakes are not special. Countless men and women on this earth have come before us and have committed acts far more serious than we. Yet our repentance is what makes us special. Our repentance to Allah is what makes us unique with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so you continue with that fight. You make a mistake, you repent. You make the same mistake, you repent again. And this time even more. And you continue upon that path until a shan tries to look for some other way to break you. Because he is not going to continue to try to urge you to repent. If that's what's happening, he'll stop and he'll find some other avenue. And 10 good deeds will always beat out one evil deed. And w and and goodness will always prevail.

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All thatch. for.

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Genetic. for.

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Muhammad. for.

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Mother,.

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Allah Stand shouldertosh shoulder. Close all of the gaps. Align your shoulders and your feet with the shoulders and feet of your two neighbors on either side of you. Please double check your phones. Make sure that they are silent. Do not join or begin a new line until the one before you is completed. Alhamdulillah.

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Amen. for Allahb.

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Allahbar.

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Allah.

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Alhamdulillah. for.

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Him. Amen.

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Allah.

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Allahbel Allah, Allahbel.

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Take this over.