When Will Your Heart Truly Surrender?

And be had. and directed towards have as of yet not completely committed themselves. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala asks rhetorically.

[Silence]

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says asks rhetorically in this verse, is it not about time for the believer believers to truly accept and truly find and humility at the remembrance of Allah and what Allah has sent down of the truth. Has the time not come yet? This is an interesting and very curious verse. Why? Because it's directed to those who already believe. It's not directed towards the non-Muslims. It's not directed towards the mushri or the people of the book. It's directed towards the followers of the prophet sallall.aii Wasam and surah had is a chapter which was revealed in Medina. This is speaking to the companions of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam and speaking to every believer or every subsequent believer who is not yet completely submitted and accepted. It doesn't mean that these believers did not completely accept the message of Allah or the messenger of Allah sallall.aii wasallam. If that were the case, Allah would not begin the verse by saying those who believe. Has the time not come yet? Is it not yet time for those who believe to have for the remembrance of Allah and what Allah has sent down of the truth. So he's speaking to those who believe but it's a belief that is not yet it's it's a hesitant belief. This hesit hesitancy Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala addresses it elsewhere and says oh you who have believed enter into Islam and submission to Allah entirely. All of you. Every aspect of yourself. Not just some parts. Not just your body and not your heart. Not just your words and not your beliefs. Not just your words and not your actions. Not just some of your money and the rest of it goes elsewhere. Has the time not come for the believers to finally fully embrace what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has sent down of the truth. This is a very striking verse. He says subhanahua.

[Silence]

For for their hearts to find true and humility before the remembrance of Allah and what Allah has sent down. Notice the words here. He says for their hearts to reach that state of their heart of hearts, the essence of themselves, not just their body, not just some of their actions, but we only go so far with this following the prophet thing saiam. We don't want to take it to the extreme. We don't want to be extremists in our beliefs. We don't want to push the envelope too far. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam sunnah is all-encompassing of anything and everything that the human being could experience in his existence. Everything. Everything. To the point that the companions counted the amount of white hairs in the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam's head to the point that the companions watched his eyes and how they moved to the point that they watched his mood sai was to where it was almost like telepathy. If he disliked something they immediately picked up on it. They immediately submitted. They completely embraced. And a lot of times we are fooled by time. We say, "Well, too much time has gone by. How am I going to change everything now? I've already committed to whoever I am now. I'm already 40 years old or 50 years old or 60 years old or whatever it is. Most of the companions of the prophet sallall.aii was believed at at later ages. Many of them were over the age of 40. Most of them were over the age of 30 which at that time was essentially middle-aged because of the lifespans of people at that time. Salman as agreed upon amongst the scholars of Islam was over 70 years old when he became Muslim and followed the prophet sallall.aii wasallam. over 70 years old. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala asks, "Has the time not come for them to wake up for them to take this seriously?" Because what happens when we don't commit? What does hesitation do to us? It destroys everything. Hesitation is a disease. Why is that? Because when you hesitate, you're not doing something and you're not doing something else. You're neither here nor there. A person hesitates and so they miss out on the dunya because they haven't committed to it and they miss out on the hereafter because they haven't committed to it. They end up living this kind of mediocre middle ground which is a very depressing sight to see the human being in because the human being is a magnificent creature with incredible faculties. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, "Has the time not come for them to finally find themselves completely humble before the remembrance of Allah and what Allah has sent down of the truth? Has the time not come for them not to be," he continues, for them not to be those who were given the book before them? and time transpired and their hearts grew hard over time. The people of the book when they first would accept and we look at for instance a person when they have this kind of awakening this epiphany in their life. Most of us have had this this moment when we realized the h the delicate nature of our existence how serious things are that life and death is not a joking matter and so we turn to Allah subhanahu.

[Arabic recitation]

And our heart becomes very soft and we try to learn and we try to observe and we try to become become better. And then time goes by and our hearts become hard over time. And then when we look back, we see that that was actually 20 years ago. That was actually 30 years ago. And I only had about five, six months, a year when my heart was truly open. And then the rest is just going through the motions. They lost the spirits and they stagnated. They stopped there 20 years ago. They didn't get better. They didn't advance. Time went by and their hearts became hard. The excitement is gone. And they relinquish themselves to the drudgery and monotony of mediocrity. This is a killer. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said, "And that they not be those who were given the bat the book before them." And so when they first received the book, they were excited. Their hearts were soft. They were enthusiastic. But time went by and over time they stagnated and the excitement went away and they didn't work to keep that flame alive. And so their hearts became hard. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then gives us hope in the next verse. He says,.

[Silence]

He says in the next verse, "And that they not be those who were given the book before them. And time went by and their hearts fell into hardness. And many of them are sinful people now. The only thing that remains of that excitement that they had that day is a husk, a shell of what was once. He says in the next verse, "Know all of you that Allah brings the earth back to life after its death." You look at a piece of land, bitter, bitter cold of winter comes and bites it and the land dies. And you come upon this land, especially an area like this. If you go somewhere up north where there are brutal winters, you see the earth die. Not a single green anywhere. It's nothing but skeletons of trees. And then slowly it warms up. Slowly the rain comes. Slowly the cold recedes and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brings life back to that land and it is lush and green and pollinated. It's an it's incredible. It's a miracle. Likewise, Allah can bring the heart back to life even after its death just he brings that piece of land back to life after its death. But we have to try. What happens when the heart becomes hard? Here's what happens. Tell me if this story sounds familiar. A person will perhaps not really pay much mind to religion or their relationship with Allah. And then something happens in their life, a near-death experience, someone close to them dies, an illness, something. And they get shaken awake and suddenly their priorities shift and now they see that most of what humanity is is enveloped itself in is just and a waste of time and just busy work and that none of it really matters in the face of death. And so the person turns to Allah and now they find themselves in the masid. Now they want to learn. Now whenever they hear someone say Allah said their ear perks up. Whenever they hear someone say the messenger of Allah said their ear perks up and they fall still to listen to what this is. And during that time their heart is soft and open and they learn and their relationship with Allah grows and blossoms. But then they reach a plateau and the fear recedes and things settle back into normaly. And so they're still going through the motions that they learned, but they're not as enthusiastic anymore. And slowly over time as shan brings them one step at a time, one thing at a time, one decision at a time until the only thing that is left is the outward appearance. They still have the thobon. They still have the beard. They still have the lingo, right? They still talk. And they still know the the narrations in the verses, right? And they still know this is correct and this is incorrect and this is but it's not really as serious anymore. And if I change the way I am now, you know, I'm already worked into a habit. So you'll find the person they go to the masid out of habit inertia but the heart is now hard the heart is near dead this verse here one of the greatest scholars in the history of Islam he was a contemporary and appear of Malik Annis the Him and Malik, Im Malik, they were peers. They sought knowledge together. Only Alm Malik was more social than he was. And so he receded after after becoming a scholar. He receded and focused on worship in his home. and he disliked notoriety. Whereas Imam Malik, he was more social and he became a public figure and had many students. But he is if not more knowledgeable than I Malik, he's no less knowledgeable than I Malik. Many of us haven't even heard of him because of this. His name is was abandoned. That was his that was his his thing all through his youth growing up. He was abandoned. Meaning that they would wait in the shadows of paths on the outskirts of cities. People would come by, they would rob them. not at gunpoint at that time at sword point, right? And so people feared, everyone knew. They didn't know him as a scholar. Quite the opposite. They knew him as a ruthless bandit. Kill a man over pennies. and he had a relationship with a young girl that he was on his way to see one day. And he was jumping over a fence to go see his his f his his love interest. And as he was jumping over this fence, he heard someone know someone praying at night in his house reciding.

[Silence]

And for some reason at that moment this verse pierced his heart and he said, "Yes, oh Allah, the time has come." And so he retreated. He retreated to an old abandoned shack that he found at night because it was a stormy night and he found a group of Muslims there that didn't see him. They were shacked up there too and they were discussing with each other should we go now try to go home now or wait till morning and one of them said now if we go now we have a very good chance of popping out at us and robbing us let's stay here for the night he overheard them and he said to himself Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has brought me here to hear with my known years what I have done to the Muslim and so he turned to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he became one of the sharpest minds in the history of Islam and there's lots of stories that one of them is alabi alabi many of us have never heard of Abdullahb he was a drunkard. A drunkard. He liked to drink a nab in Iraq. It's something that is made from fermented dates. And alabi is the most prominent student of Alam Malik. Most of the narrations that Bkari Muslim narrate from Imam Malik they took from Alani. So he is the of Bkari Muslim. Alanabi what's the origin of his story? He was in Iraq and he saw he was with his friends and they were known as a nuisance. They were always drinking and sitting in the in the path and causing trouble with people. and he saw this huge crowd of people, a sea of people walking with this man who was riding on a donkey. And he was the only one riding and this sea of people all around him. And he's thinking, who is this guy? He's riding a donkey. So he's not royalty, but all these people. I wonder what the big fuss is about. So he made his way through the crowd and he took the reigns of the donkey. Very arrogant, very rude. And he said, "Who are you?" And so the people said this is this is referred to as he is referred to as the most memorized scholar of hadith in the history of Islam. There are less than 50 people in the history of hadith who have ever earned this title. Far less than that. You could probably count them on both your hands. And so he said, "Who's who's who is that? Who's he said? They said Muhamad." He was a scholar of hadith. a muhadith. He said, "Oh, being that you're a muhadith, tell me a hadith, you know, he's some kind of gesture in a court. Dance for me. Come on, front of all these people." How rude, how arrogant he was behaving. Oh, you're a muadi. Tell me a hadith. Let me hear. And it was actually him leaving this place in Iraq and he was going for traveling and all these people were escorting him to the gates of the city because the muadith he used to travel and gather hadith. And so he narrated a hadith to him. He said and the hadith is on the authority of who said that the messenger of Allah said the narration he chose for him was that the prophet said if you have no shame then do whatever you want as the narration. What's he saying? you have no shame. This is why you're doing what you're doing. This is why you're behaving this. And it was a hammer in his head. And he went back and sobered up and asked about the most knowledgeable man on earth. And so he was directed to Malik Annis in Medina. He left and stayed with Malik Annis until he died. memorized every narration that Malik Annis had to offer. Now he knows who Sha is. So now he wants to go back to Iraq to meet him again to narrate narrations directly from Sha because now he's taking narrations from Malik who took them from Sha. He wants to take them directly from Sha. He went back to Iraq and found that Sha had already passed away. And so that's the only narration we have from many stories. one of the seven reciters of the Quran. He has a recitation himself and he is the sole founder of the Kufi school of thought in the science of an as a matter of fact himself im himself said if you want to learn Arabic take it from Alisi never studied for the first 40 years of his life 40 years he was a shepherd. He was a shepherd with his flock and he doesn't have any, you know, anything to do with studying or memorizing or learning or anything that. And one day he was with his flock and he came by a woman who was talking to her son and her son was outside of their little hut or their little house. And she was fighting with her son, telling her son. And he was walking by, fighting with her son, go to the is the place where you go to memorize the Quran as a kid. Go and take your lessons and memorize the Quran so you can be somebody. Do you want to end up him? She pointed to just walking by. He got caught by a stray bullet there. Just walking by. You want to end up like him? Look at him. Go learn the Quran. 40 years old thought to himself, "My goodness, I have now become a a an analogy of ignorance at 40 years old. Something shameful." And so he went and he started to study. He has his own recitation. Seven recitations of the Quran. One of them are from Alisi. Number two, Elisi founded the whole school of thought of the Kufi Med. He there are only two schools of thought in Kufi. He is the leader of the Kufi and the founder and Alisi was so pronounced so renowned and esteemed that a im himself would tell his students if you want to learn true Arabic you go to Alis who was alis nobody he was that guy that's where he started but how do these things happen they happen when a person takes it seriously iously and submit seriously. But this kind of hesitating and halfstepping and I'm not sure and what will my wife think and what's my dad going to think? What will my co-workers think? I don't, you know, I don't want to be too religious. You don't want to be too, you know, Muslim. We just want just a certain level of Islam, but not too far the ones you see in the movies, right? You have a Spider-Man movie or you have a Hollywood movie and you have one Muslim girl in there thrown in there just to show us that hey, you know, we're all together. She has her hijab on. Not too Muslim. We don't we don't want very much Islam. Just just a just a dash of Islam. Not enough to really affect your civ your civic life. Right? This is one choice. Another choice is enter into Islam entirely.

[Silence]

All subhanahu.

[Silence]

Alhamdulillah.