Perfect Your Deeds: The Archer's Path to Excellence

Alhamdulillah.

[Silence]

A very important message from our prophet Sam a statement of his that I think most of us have heard but this evening we'd to try to see this statement from a different angle, kind of hold it under a different light and see if we can almost in that sense see it for the first time. And the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam told his companions.

[Silence]

In this narration, our prophet sallall.aii Wasallam tells us. He says means to try our best to perfect everything that we can as closely to the way that the prophet sallall.aii wasallam did it. that anything that we are commanded by Allah, anything that we are encouraged to do by Allah in any of our worship of Allah, then that we are to try our hardest, our best to do it as perfectly and as correctly as possible. He says, now the second part is that we are to do these things as frequently as we possibly can. So here we have two things. Imagine for a moment and these words that the prophet is using in this particular narration saiam they are terms used by archers. you know, every field, every sport, every trade, every field, if you will, they have their own way of speaking, right? They have their own terminologies. So, in the medical field, they have a certain terminology. In in military circles, they have a certain terminology. In architect circles, they have a certain terminology. And when you use these kinds of words, right, for instance, if I use the word cardiac, what is cardiac? What what field does that kind of wording come from? Medical field, right? Do I say I feel cardiac good today? Is that something that is that how we speak? Right? That's not how we talk. Cardiac is something that is almost specific to the medical field. Right? These words that he's using, they are used in the field of archery. That's how they used to speak when they would train and practice and when they would step onto the training field or the battlefield. These words they bring to mind archery. Now when we speak about which is a huge a huge blessing from Allah. The prophet sallall.aii said,".

[Silence]

He said, "Whoever learns to shoot, whoever learns to , you know, archery and then leaves it to fall into, you know, a lack of training, just never picks it up again and this is a huge blessing from Allah that he has been ungrateful to Allah for that he has proved ungrateful for. So when we use these terms they are terms that are most usually bring to mind archery. Now, in archery, in shooting in general, as human beings fight with one another with projectiles, there are two main things. Number one, accuracy. Number two, volume of fire. I want to put as many projectiles down range as accurately as possible, as much as possible. And so he uses these two terms, meaning do everything in your pursuit of paradise as accurately and as frequently as you can, just an archer needs to be accurate and he needs to be quick. He needs to have hands of lightning, but not too fast. Not so fast that you're shooting willy-nilly. No, only go as fast as you can be. What? Accurate. These are the terms our prophet is using in this narration. So he is telling us to be as accurate. Accuracy here means what? In accordance with what Allah has commanded. emulating the prophet as much as we can to do everything that we do as accurately as possible. Number two, which is volume as much as possible, as frequently as possible. And this is one of the terms that the prophet uses, which is rebot. Rebel is one of those terms that can be used for different things. Usually a rebat means jihad but also a comes from when you tie things together. And so he is saying in the statement of Allah in verse number 200 of Alan means jihad and it means to do good deeds no matter how small they are as frequently as possible almost as if the one is tied to the tail of the next to where they do not cease. They do not stop for a moment. Then he said, so he says, so accuracy and volume. Then he says, "And have in your heart the become elated, become overjoyed with expectance of good news from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Expect nothing but good from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as a result of that hard work." So here we have what? One of our two wings. One wing is hope. Have to have hope. But if we have only hope, what happens? We don't have fear. But if we have too much fear, what happens then? We fall into despair. So Allah teaches us in the Quran that we can only fly, we can only arrive to Allah just a a bird can only fly with both both its wings. Hope and fear. What does Allah always tell us that paradise is prepared for? He says, he says all through the Quran, those who believe work righteous deeds. Those who believe in Allah and the last day when I say the word Allah, what's the first attribute of Allah that comes to mind? well, you know, of his dealings with his creation, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Mercy. Allah, mercy. And when I say the day of judgment, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Fear, right? Damnation. Being held accountable. We have hope and fear. We have to have those two. He says, "And expect only good from Allah, but know and be sure that none of you will enter paradise based solely on his actions." In another wording of this same narration, he said, "And be certain that your actions alone will not admit you into paradise." They won't. So of course the question is not even you oh messenger of Allah. Even you haven't earned paradise. Even you haven't earned paradise from your own sweat. I earned it. I earned it. Just when I go to work and I work a full day's work and I do my job. I have earned my pay. Right? Is that our agreement with Allah? I earn paradise from Allah. I earn it. Give me what's mine. I can speak that to my employer, right? If I've done the work, I can say, "Give me what's mine, and you're not doing me a favor by paying me. This is what belongs to me." Is that our agreement with Allah? Pay me what's mine. You didn't do me any favors. I did this on my own. Is that how it works? No, not even you, oh messenger of Allah. How many children did the prophet have? Sallallah.aii wasallam. Come. Someone said five. Someone said six. Seven. Any more? Huh? tells us in his book he had eight children. You know how many of them died in his lifetime? Seven. And you know what? The last one, the last child to die was which of his children? Fatima. who was also the first to what to die right after he died. As a matter of fact, she died six months after his death. She died so soon after him that he was told of her death before he died. Why is that important for him to know? So that he can so that he can be rewarded for being patient for her future death. Just like Ibraim when he went to butcher is why did he tell him? Think about it. Why did he tell him? Why? His son was a child. Was he old enough to be held accountable? No. Right. Just barely. So why did he wait? Why did he tell? Why? Why didn't he just take him and do it? Isn't that more merciful? Isn't that better to just no pain? Just no pain, my son. Right? Because we learn to conceptualize death through the eyes of disbelievers. You've you have the Muslim, he's in the hospital, he's on the machines, and they come to you and they say, "What?" You know, he's in pain. Put him out of his pain. How do you know he's in pain? And second of all, is pain something that goes unrewarded by Allah? Is the human being created to have fun on earth? What's our purpose? So we don't make decisions of life and death based on pain or lack thereof. That's not what drives our decision making. And so why did he tell us why? Who's him? Yes. So that he would be rewarded by Allah for his patience. That's why he told his son. And so the point here is that when it comes to our actions, our deeds, if any of us was to earn paradise just by way of tragedy alone, seven children die in your lifetime. Not only that, but the eighth one dies right behind you. Look at just by tragedy alone. His mother died while he was a kid. His father died while he never met his father. His grandfather died before he was even of age. Abu Talib died and not only died but died a karadijah died while he was in the thick of it and in the most difficult and egregious time in his life that's when she died right Hamza died in the battle of for something silly something that a few men decided they were more worried about a sword and a shield and as a result his uncle died, right? Just by tragedy alone, who would have earned paradise? Muhammad sallallah.aii wasallam. It's a good question. He said, "And know that none of you will enter paradise based solely on his actions. None of you will earn paradise truly in the complete sense." They said, "Not even you, oh messenger of Allah." He said, He said, "Not even me. I will only be admitted into paradise only after Allah has enveloped me in his mercy and grace." So if we understand that what is keeping us back from receiving that highness from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because a lot of us we shoot ourselves in the foot. We sabotage ourselves out the gates. You know what we say to ourselves? We have a whisper in the back of our mind telling us, "Oh, you're not one of them. You'll be you'll be lucky if you get into paradise on your hands and knees. Just, you know, you might as well just enjoy, didn't you? Because, you know, the hereafter, you have no chance. You just have no chance. Just, you know, how many of us here are certain in your heart's heart. You don't have to tell me. in your heart's heart. If you really sit down and think and really allow yourself to be honest, how many of us truly believe that we are going to hell for sure? A lot of us a lot of us feel we don't we don't deserve paradise. But see, that's the trick there, isn't it? Who of us deserves paradise? Tell me one human in history that deserves paradise, that has earned it. I get to paradise. I don't need any favors from anyone. I earned it. Who is this? None of us earn paradise. So, we sabotage ourselves. Shaitan whispers, "You're not good enough. You're not one of them. you'll be all the way in the back and you're definitely going to get punished. There's no way for you to get away. So, you might as well just, you know, focus on your dunya and, you know, let's just get it over with. Who's to say? Just a shaitan whispers that the day you die is the worst day, why isn't it the best day? What's stopping it from being the best day of your existence since you came to and obtained consciousness? What is to say that that will not be your finest hour? Do we enter paradise by our own deeds? We enter paradise by Allah's what? By Allah's grace. So why are you saying Allah will not give you that grace? He will not give me that grace. Okay? Because the prophet tells us that Allah said, "I am what my servant thinks of me." If he thinks good and expects good, then that is for him. And if he thinks bad and expects bad, then that's for him. So you limit yourself. That's not for me. As if you are the one who is going to earn paradise. You're not. You are a recipient of Allah's grace. Do not shut that off and deprive yourself of Allah's grace. Rather, your attitude is the attitude of the prophets is, "Oh Allah, I need anything that you have for me." And you expect a lot. You expect a lot from Allah. You expect everything from Allah. Everything. But it's not because of you. You didn't earn it. You're expecting it because that is who Allah is. And you're hoping to be one of those people. Why can't it be you? Why not? Why not? Why can't one of us be of the best of all of humankind today here from now in this entire generation? Maybe one of us, two of us, all of us is the best people in the entire world. Why is that not possible? So, we sabotage ourselves. And we'll end with this. When it comes to self- sabotage, you remember the story of Misam with you know told him don't ask me about anything and so he asked the first time and then the second time he asked and what did he say when told him the second time paraphrase.

[Arabic recitation]

Did Al tell him that? Who put that on himself? MS put it on himself. He's the one that did that. Why not? Just I'll keep making mistakes, but I'll learn eventually. Please be patient with me. Couldn't it have been that? No. But he said, "If I ask you again, okay, shake on it. That's your rules. You made those rules for yourself." Didn't place those rules on him. He made that rule on himself. And so when he failed what he agreed to, what happened? He was deprived to the point that Muhammad sallallah.aii wasallam said, "If only MS would have been a little bit more patient, we could have learned more." That narration is in Bkari. And so we don't limit ourselves. We are the ones that limit ourselves. The Shaitan cannot limit you. He can only convince you to limit yourself. And this whole shenanigans about believe in yourself with tell me one time when is that is that a part of wisdom? Have have believe in yourself. Is that wise? Most of us live our lives that. It sounds so poetic. Yes. Yes. Believe in myself. Tell me where is that in the Quran. We don't have that in the Quran. We don't have that in the Sunnah. Believe in yourself. You know we have in the Sunnah. Don't ever place me in charge of my own affairs for the blink of an eye. Always keep me in your grasp and in your protection. We don't believe in ourselves. We believe in who? Allah. When we repent, who are we relying on to carry us through that repentance? Allah. You know why most repentance fails? Because we believe in ourselves. We expect that we're going to do it. Where are you going to do it? Where are you going to save yourself? Oh, human being, how can you save yourself? You don't even know what's around the corner. It's only Allah can save you. That is when a person repents, they believe in themselves, they fall on their face every single time. Every time. And that's a blessing from Allah because if they don't, they'll become arrogant. They'll think that they earned paradise. And that's even worse. Instead, a person believes in Allah, doesn't believe in himself. What happens? He is carried through. But we are afraid. We are afraid that if I let myself go into Allah's grace that he's going to let me down. That's what we are afraid of. And that's where the rubber meets the road. That is why our the companions of our prophet were so great because they never allowed themselves to give in to those fears.

[Arabic recitation]