Why Your First Step Matters More Than You Think

Things that are a cause for a person's heart to become open to the Quran and Sunnah, right? This is what we started with. and the first thing that he mentioned was and so we took about four sessions speaking only about that subject of Tohit. Honestly, I took it as an opportunity. We learned about the types of Tahid. We learned about the types of Shirk. We learned about the types of hypocrisy. We learned about the types of prohibitions. And we learned how all of this plays in to a person's journey to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You guys remember all of that? We went through that for a few weeks. and now, we are going to continue the issues that cause a person's heart to become open. Now, here's the issue for you to become open to the Quran in Sunnah have to become open to the Quran in Sunnah. Do you understand? Very strange concept at first, okay? So, let's go back to the very beginning. To the very beginning of the Quran. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said that the Quran is a guidance for who? It is a guidance for the people who revere and fear and obey Allah. But isn't the Quran the source of reverence and of Allah? Al Allah. Quran. Quran.

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From a person's heart being open to the Quran in Sunnah. Do you understand? It is a circular thing. It's a cycle. Okay? Let's go back to the beginning of the Quran. Allah says that the Quran is a guidance for the people of Taqwa. The people of the people who obey Allah, right? So, the Quran is a guidance for the people who obey Allah. But isn't the Quran? The source of obedience to Allah? What's the answer? Yes, that's that's where we learn how to obey Allah. So, how are you obedient to Allah to be able to learn the Quran to become obedient to Allah. Where does it first start? It first starts with any little thing of good that you know Even as a non Muslim. Let's say a person who is not Muslim. This verse was revealed to non Muslims. I mean it was revealed to the prophet speaking to non Muslims, correct? He said, this is the Quran, a great Quran, a recitation. It is a guidance for those who are people who obey and revere Allah. These were people who worshiped idols But they had certain things that they are sure of are from Allah. what? telling the truth. For instance. Correct? Being truthful. Being brave. Being generous. These are parts of the truth that come in all of the religions of the prophets and messengers. Correct? So if a knows that truth and practices it, Allah will guarantee to guide him to another truth. And this process of doing doing good and then being guided to another good, and then doing that good and being guided to a greater good, and then doing that good, and being guided to a greater good. It's a, it's a process, it's a, it's a cycle that a person gets in. And that cycle guides you to Allah Just the opposite. If a person this is wrong and they do it, it will lead them to what? Their heart becoming more hard. The harder their heart becomes, the more evil they do. The more evil they do, the more hard their heart becomes. The more hard their heart becomes, the more evil they do. Until a person's way is clear. Either to paradise or hellfire. We understand this process. I want to summarize all of this and summarize this concept in a narration reported by on the authority of Ennis. And.

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There's an aeration collected by Imam Ahmed. In which said the prophet said to a man once, become Muslim, enter into Islam. The man's response, he said, feel I don't want to I feel my soul, my heart, it's something I don't wanna do So, the prophet said, become Muslim in spite of yourself. Right? Even if you don't want to. What do we understand from this hadith? This is an incredibly eye opening narration. What do we understand from this narration? We understand from this narration that this man that the prophet was speaking to, he didn't have a problem with whether Islam was true or false. He knew that it was the truth. You understand? He knew that it was correct. That it was the religion of Allah. He just found that he didn't like to do it. So, the prophet instructed him, do it in spite of yourself. If you know it's true, then, do it. Even if you find that you don't want to, even if you find that your body rebels against you, do it because when you do it, what will happen is you will lean into a cycle that will take you to step by step to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Every time you do something good it will soften and open your heart and the more your heart is soften and open, you will do more good and the more good you do, it will open and soften your heart more. And the more your heart is soften and open, the more good you will do. And you continue in this cycle. We understand? So the issue is any truth. What do we understand? What is the lesson to be taken here? The Nakuul the.

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Have we ever heard of the of the term and acquired taste? An acquired taste? What does that mean? What is an acquired taste? An acquired taste is when something tastes bad and you force yourself to expose you expose yourself to it enough until until you start to it. So, you until you start to delight in it. Still until you start to enjoy it, right? This is called an acquired taste. So, the human being can rewire himself. To enjoy something and to it. The point is not that you want to get up to pray. The point is that you know it's right. So, what do you do? You force yourself to get up and pray. And more you do this, the weaker your nephs becomes in rebelling against that action Until you come and you acquire this taste, you start to love to do this thing, right? It's we mentioned. I mean, when we, when we first started praying and we started praying it all the time. Which one of us was excited to get up at the best time of of, of, of sleep. And put cold water all over your face, and all over your head. And go and head to the Masjid. And who who enjoyed this? Nobody enjoys this. Right? It's the exact best time of sleep. It's the exact , opposite of what you want to do. You're nice, you're warm, you're comfortable, you're sleeping. Oh, it's time to get up and pray. But what, but what happens is you know that you need to. You know that it's the truth. So, what do you do? You force yourself to do it. Right? And when you force yourself to do it, you will begin, it will become easier and easier and easier until that part of your has changed. Now, if you don't do it, you feel bad. Right? So, this is the process that we're speaking about. When the prophet said to that man, become Muslim. He said, I don't want to. I feel I don't want to do it. He said, become Muslim even if you don't want to do it. That is across the board. Never leave off any part of the prophet even if you only do it once. If you know of something that is of the prophet never completely leave it off. If you can't do it 100 percent, do it fifty percent. If you can't do it fifty percent, do it ten percent. Never completely turn your back on the prophet and his sunnah. Never. Right? And the more you practice this discipline, the more you will be able to do this thing. And this is what we call an acquired taste. It's something amazing that the human being has. The ability to change his natural inclinations, right? A person may naturally dislike a particular food, naturally. But if you force yourself to expose if you're exposed to that food all of the time, there's nothing else to eat but that food and so on and so forth, you will eventually start to and have a taste and develop a liking to that food and that goes for everything, for any action, right? So, any part of the things that we're going to read, the things that we are going to read are the causes, the things that cause your heart to be open, to the Quran and sunnah. But the things that we're gonna read are part of being open to the Quran in Sunnah. So, what does that mean? That means that we force ourselves to do these things and if we do things, Allah will soften our hearts and the more Allah softens and opens our hearts, the more we will do these things and we keep on this until our path is clear to paradise. We understand this concept. This is a very important concept in the Quran. Right? and I'll give you an example of verses and narrations of this concept There's a narration on the authority of in which the prophet said yesterday Allah value in which a person's hand is cut off in Islamic law. Does anybody know? The It is one fourth of a dinar. Okay, one fourth of a gold coin. Agreed upon with all of the scholars that an egg is not war or not worth a fourth of a gold coin. So, if you have a gold coin, you're gonna buy four eggs. No way, right? So, a person's hand cannot be cut off legally unless the thing that he stole is worth more than a fourth of a dinner. Here's the question. Why did the prophet say, may Allah curse the thief, he steals an egg and gets his hand cut off. When your hand will never be cut off in Islamic law, for stealing an egg. What's the answer? He's speaking about the eventuality. He will steal an egg, then he'll start to steal two, then he'll start to steal the chickens, then he'll start to steal and and he'll continue on this path until finally hand is cut off. For something that is worth it. Do you understand? When did his hand really get cut off? When he stole the first egg? That's when his hand really got cut off. You guys understand? Yes. This is the meaning of this narration. So when you start on a path of evil, that first step you took is actually what lands you in hell. You understand and just good, that first step of good is what lands you into paradise. We know the narration of the man who killed ninety-nine people, right? And then he went and he asked about the most knowledgeable of people and he was sent to a person who was not knowledgeable but someone who was religious. and he said, I killed ninety-nine people. Can I repent? He said, how could you repent? No, no way. You're going straight to hell. He said, well, as long as I'm going to hell, let's make it a hundred. Because as humans, we even numbers, right? So, he made it a hundred. and then he asked again about the most knowledgeable of people and he was sent to a scholar this time. What did the scholar say? He said, what is standing between you and and repentance? Repent. No matter how many people you killed, you still can repent. He said, go to such and such a land where the people there worship Allah and be amongst them because this land is an evil land and if you stay here, you will go back to your old ways. Many of have heard this narration before, correct? Correct What did the man do? He started on his path towards that place, right? He died on the way. Did he do any good yet? He didn't do any good yet. All he did was start walking somewhere or riding or however it was. All he did was take the first step. But that first step would have eventually led him to what? To doing good. So Allah compensated him for that. Correct? And he compensated him by allowing the angels of mercy to take his soul. Even though he had not committed any good yet. He had not done anything good yet. We understand? So here we have an example of someone who starts on a path of evil and ends up getting his hand cut off and a man who starts on a path of good and ends up being in paradise without having done any good yet because that first step enters you into that cycle that we spoke about. The more good you do, the more your heart is open. The more your heart is open, the more good you do. The more good you do, the more your heart is open. And when we say your heart is open, meaning you learn more. And your heart is softer and more accepting. And the more discipline you become, the more you do. And the more you do, the more discipline you become. And it continues on until you find your path to Allah. And the opposite is true. You spiral into darkness. Okay? So now we're gonna read what Ibn wrote based on the explanation that I've just given. These are the things which will soften and open the heart to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Okay? He says the first thing that will open the heart and soften the heart and open the person's heart to the Quran in Sunnah is which we spoke about in the in depth. He said, and based on how complete a person's is and based on how intense a person's still heed is and how pure it is, that will dictate how much a person's heart will be opened by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He says, the next thing for who? Subhan Allah a star.

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Your heart will become open and embracing of the Quran in Sunnah. Likewise, if says, also light is a cause for the heart to become open and for the heart to become open to the Quran in Sunnah. What does that mean? Physical light? Are we supposed to sleep in the day and be awake at night or is it the opposite? It's the answer, guys. Come on. the opposite, correct? Unless you have some duty that is Islamically legal guard duty or something that has to take place at night you are to sleep in the day, you are to sleep in the night, and arise in the day. Right? The prophet said, the of my the blessings of my are found most in its early risings. The earlier you wake up, and experience the day from its beginning, the more Allah will place in your day. That's where the majority of the is. Right? What is the, what is the significance, the significance is that is when the day is most intense. Right? And that time of day, will help to open your heart to the Quran in Sunnah. Witnessing the break of dawn, witnessing the rising of the sun, etcetera. These things soften the heart. and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded us to seek refuge in him from the night. Correct? He said, I seek refuge in the one who breaks the dawn. From the evil of that which he's he has created. and I seek refuge in him from the evil of the night when it shrouds everything. Right? This is one of the dua that we make. That we seek refuge in Allah from from the night. Because evil things take place at night. Undercover. There's not a lot of good going on during the night time. If people are out all night and sleeping all day, do we think good of them or do we think that they're on some shadiness? We view them to be sketchy, correct? Unless they have something that they're doing that is legitimate guard duty or something that works, something that is legitimate. Otherwise, the prophet disliked and discouraged that a person Sleep before and that a person stay awake after Isha. I know I just ruined the of a lot of people, right? Huh?