Can you build your house during the storm?

Alhamdulillah.

[Silence]

Continuing in alwaj in the opening chapters of salah the book of salah. Yesterday we discussed what the author took us to which was the importance of salah and Salah's position in Islam. The author then mentions the dangers of an individual abandoning salah. We've got a few scenarios here. We've got someone who prays regularly on time properly misses a prayer here and there. Another scenario, someone who prays off and on. They have starts and stops. Another scenario of someone who prays occasionally but usually does not pray. And then finally someone who does not pray at all. We say they don't pray at all. meaning in general they are not someone that makes salah unless there's some occasion and they happen to be at the right place the right time this is a very dangerous thing a Muslim playing with his or her salah is one of the most dangerous things for any human being because salah is so incredibly important and so integral that the prophet sallall.aii Wasam referred to it as in the narration of Muad in in others. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam referred to prayer as the centermost pillar of a tent. If you imagine Islam as a tent, the you know the pillar that is set up in the very middle that keeps the entire canopy up. This is the example that he gave and the analogy of salah with respect to its relationship to the rest of a person's Islam with Allah. You know when the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam gives us gives us imagery in the way that he speaks to us. So he says for instance Islam has been built upon five pillars. What is the imagery we get in our mind? Imagery of a building. Correct. That's very intentional because when a person begins his journey and his path to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, from the moment that he steps onto the path, he is now actively building a proverbial house of worship. He is actively building a proverbial house of worship between himself and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He is essentially building his relationship no differently than a person builds a physical building. And there are things which are extras in any building, right? paint, like fixtures in the walls, electricity and indoor plumbing and all of these fancy things. I mean, these are kind of important now, but you know, they used to be fancy. these things are of various positions. All of them are of course necessary. All of them, of course, important, but having nice paint on the walls or nice carpet is not the same level of importance as having a foundation to the actual building and not just building it plopped on top of the ground, right? is not the same having, you know, nice trim trimming around the walls and you know decorations and furniture is not the same as the pillars that keep up the literal ceiling over a person's head. These are very different things with respect to how necessary they are, how important they are, how integral they are. Some of these things you remove them, it makes the house or the building ugly. Some of these things you remove them it makes them it makes the building that you're attempting to build that is your relationship with Allah it makes it you know unsightly distasteful some of them makes it inhospitable and uncomfortable and some of these things if they're missing they are downright dangerous. Why are they dangerous? They're dangerous to the person. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala cannot be hurt by any of his creation. He says subhanahua regarding the disobedience of benel. He says subhanahu wa ta'ala that their disobedience, their rebellion, their outright disbelief, they did not oppress us. Rather, they oppressed their own selves with these actions.

[Silence]

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is far too great than to be harmed by any of his creation. harmed. Subhanahu wa ta'ala be him.

[Silence]

It's different. Harm is very different than annoyance. Annoyance, yes. The human being can become a pest, a nuisance to his creator as Allah has affirmed in the Quran. But harm, no, we could never harm Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. We can deal with Allah in a harmful way, but ultimately that harm comes back on who? On us. Now, why is some of these things so lethal? If I were to build a house and when I build this house, you know, I say, you know, foundations, they're overrated, right? pillars. They're overblown. Who needs them? Plus, they're very expensive. They take a lot of effort. Let's go ahead and nicks on the foundation, right? Or let's go ahead and instead of digging deep to set our foundation, let's just dig six, seven inches, right? And if we hit any hard spot, just skip it, right? Or if I need at least five pillars to keep this ceiling above me, then you know, we could do with three. We could do with two. What will happen? And I want to go and live there as soon as any storm comes through. Soon as any inclement weather comes through, this will fall right on top of my head, the occupant's head. When a person builds a flimsy relationship relationship, a flimsy house of worship between himself and Allah, he is in danger. And the danger is that it looks formidable, but there's no foundations. There's not enough pillars. And so any tragedy, crisis, difficulty comes through or worse, death. The time when I really need this desperately more than anything. I didn't spend my time building that building. I spend my time, you know, doing other things and looking at it and saying, "Well, look how big it is. It'll be fine." And then when there's no time left, it falls on a person's head. You cannot build your house during the storm. That's not how it works. If we saw a man outside building during a a tornado ripping through, said, "What are you doing? Get inside." See, I'm building a house real quick so I can get inside from the storm. We would call this person insane. We call this person either extremely silly or something is wrong with him. However, go to the hospital. You will see rows as far as the eye can see of white beds with bodies strewn about on these beds, moaning and groaning, twisting and turning at the threshold of death, scrambling to build their house while the storm is hitting. That's exactly what you'll see. There is no difference. You cannot you cannot prepare for the test while the test is happening. You cannot build your house while the storm is hitting. You had all this time to build it. What were you doing? And so it becomes so important for us to focus when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or when the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam uses words and analogies that elicit a particular set of images in your mind. That is very that is very that is very deliberate. When he says Islam has been built upon five pillars, the images that you get in your mind with the word pillars and built and Islam, these are very deliberate images that this is what you're going to occupy for the rest of eternity. This house that you build. So these are the pillars. You can get by without some carpet. You can get by without fancy paint. You can get by. It doesn't mean you'll be comfortable. Notice the words I'm using. You can get by meaning you won't die during the storm if you don't have carpet or wallpaper. But you cannot get by without a pillar. You cannot get by without foundations. And this is exactly the preaching that people are that some Muslims are carrying or propagating when they say things is very easy. Everyone knows. All Muslims knowhed. There's nothing difficult about it. Right? You can learn it in five minutes. That's saying I only need about three inches for my foundations. Or you know, Allah is most forgiving. Allah, yeah, sure, I don't pray. I don't fast, but Allah knows my heart. That's like saying this building is going to keep be held up by duct tape and prayer without the pillars being set. This is very dangerous. And so perfecting our prayer is extremely serious. And these narrations that the author mentions are the narrations of that same prophet sallall.aii wasallam. The one who taught us that Allah is forgiving. The one that taught us that Allah is merciful. The one that taught us that Allah will overlook and pardon. The one that taught us that Islam is built upon five pillars. He said other things about this subject as well. And these narrations to come are what he said regarding those who fail to secure these foundations or fail to build these pillars properly before putting a roof over their head. We will begin these tomorrow inshallah.

[Arabic recitation]