Standing Before Allah: What Will Your Deeds Reveal?

This is our fourth installment and our final installment for this ramadan an ayah a deeper understanding here we are the fourth week of ramadan has passed we're in the finishing stretch now this is a time for us to really buckle down and really really work hard if what has passed you have not if you haven't been able to express what's in your heart as much as you wanted to at the beginning of ramadan it's still not over it's not over until the adhan of maghrib of the final day and the first night of show leila very possibly could be coming up very soon insha'allah and so we are to work as hard as we can to try to capitalize on this time of the year because there were many people with us last year that aren't with us this year and one day your number is going to be called your card is going to be pulled and it will be your final ramadan one day will be your final day and so we have to make the best of every single day anytime we fall we stumble we fall down we get up we dust ourselves off and we keep on marching marching on our way to allah this afternoon or this evening i would to speak about the 255th verse of surat al-baqarah this cha this verse of the quran is called by the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam the most virtuous greatest verse of all of the verses of the quran and the reason for that is that this verse is all about allah subhanahu wa and it has in it and is comprised of 10 sentences that are only found singularly in any verse in any of the quran all about allah subhanahu wa it is the prophet said that the only thing preventing a person from entering paradise who recites ayatollahkursi after every obligatory prayer is death so after every obligatory prayer a person is to recite ayatul kursi likewise before a person goes to sleep at night the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam encouraged that a person recite ayatul kursi and he mentioned that a person who recites ayatul kursi before he sleeps allah subhanahu will send a guardian to guard him until he wakes up until the morning so ayatul kurasi is comprised of ten sentences we're not going to go through every single one of them in detail it's a very long verse but there are three main sentences that kind of sum up the three main concepts of this verse this greatest verse of the quran the first one is the first two sentences and he follows that up and says and then he describes himself so allah is actually the main name of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala it is the name after which all other names of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala follow and are derived from and this is why it is referred to as it is the greatest of the names of allah subhanahu wa it is the most exclusive name of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala across all of the different religions and different idols and different philosophies of all of the arab speaking world of ancient and current allah refers only to the one creator who has created the heavens and the earth subhana and so allah what does it mean i mean but what does it really mean it translates to the one who was worshipped out of love and exaltation the one who was exclusively worshipped out of love and exaltation the only one who has the right to be worshipped now when we look at the following sentence what allah describes himself he says allah a phrase that every muslim has memorized the phrase that you have to know and have to say and have to acknowledge and have to proclaim in order for your islam to be valid even this is the call of the messenger.

[Arabic recitation]

Actually this is the call of all of the prophets and the messengers allah that he has never sent a messenger except that his message revolved around the statement of.

[Arabic recitation]

And the prophet salallahu that if the seven heavens and the seven earths were placed in one side of a scale.

[Arabic recitation]

Would outweigh them all what does that mean that means that is more significant than all of the creation why what does it sounds a pretty fundamental question a pretty elementary question some people might even think you know we're all muslim here why would you even ask such a question and you would be amazed and you would be surprised at how many muslims if asked directly what does they will not be able to give you a very direct answer you would be amazed and as imam ahmed even mention him he said what a terrible people whom abu jahel knows more about the meaning of allah than they do even though they claim they're muslim we don't want to be of those people and what is he speaking about ignorance of the most elemental most fundamental principles of islam and that is what is the meaning of if you ask most people what does mean many people give you answers such as there is no god but god there is no creator but one creator allah is the only creator and these all kind of dance around the premise it is not the meaning of allah the idolaters those who worshipped other than allah the most bitter enemies of the prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam they all agreed that there is no creator but allah subhanahu wa very few in history actually have any qualms with that concept that there is only one creator rather means that none is rightfully worshipped but that one creator subhana so what does none is rightfully worship but allah none is rightfully worshipped but the one and only creator and maintainer of the heavens and the earth subhanna this is the most prominent of his descriptions subhanahu ta'ala that he is allah none is rightfully worshipped but he and that is why the narration states that if the seven heavens if the creation were in one side of a scale.

[Arabic recitation]

Outweigh the creation why because we have all been created for the purpose of to worship allah alone without any partners we draw our worth the more you embody the more value you have with allah subhanahu wa even the prophets and messengers the less you embody the less status and value you have with allah subhanahu wa ta'ala therefore all of the creation is worthless without la illah we draw our worth and our value with allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and our status even the prophets and messengers allah subhanahu he says that which translates to in surat and we have articulated to you through revelation o muhammad you and those prophets that have preceded you that if you were to associate anyone in your worship of allah along with him all of your deeds would be nullified and voided and you would be of the losers and so we draw our value from allah from our worship of allah how much we embody allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then describes himself with his greatest name and he says the that allah has a name that if he is called upon using this name he will surely respond and the scholars of islam differ on what that name is however there is a narration that points out that this name is contained in three chapters of the quran and the only thing that these three chapters have in common of the names of allah is these two names put together infused in one chapter are only found in these three chapters of the quran the 255th verse of surat al-baqarah the second verse of surat al-imran and also a verse in surah.

[Silence]

The one who is established and he establishes everything else subhana huatada so he affirms for himself perfection in himself and he affirms for himself perfection in his actions towards his creation this is what the scholars mention with regards to this this name that allah is perfect in his names and attributes and he is as well perfect in his actions subhana everything that he does everything he creates everything that he allows every action of allah revolves around this name of allah al-qaeda the one who maintains himself the one who maintains everything that is in creation everything that is in existence another part of this chapter of this verse rather that we'd to discuss is the statement of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala yes he says rhetorically who is this who will intercede on anyone's behalf with allah except by his permission subhana intercession is the main root cause of most polytheism most idolatry most worship of other than allah is actually worship in order to attain intercession those who worship the let us and even even in hinduism there are more than 20 million documented gods in this if you want to call it a religion right and most of it revolves around the worship of saints modern catholicism is all worship of saints saint peter and saint joseph and saint this and saying that we worship them and then we worship and the they worship mary and they worship other than allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala why in order that they will intercede on their behalf with allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala but allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that this will not occur the only intercession that is affirmed is by the will of allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and it will only be acceptable for those who are worshipped allah alone without any partners if a person worships other than allah he is automatically exempt from being interceded on his behalf another part of this verse is where the verse gets its name from and it's because this is the only place in the quran where the corsi of allah is mentioned that his course has encompassed all of the heavens and the earth what does that mean what is the courtesy well ibn abbas he says he says is the place and the footstool of the feet of allah subhanahu wa'ta'ad now when we describe allah when he describes himself in the quran when he describes himself as having a face or having hands or having as in this narration feet or he is described as having eyes or he is described subhana with these descriptions it's important that you understand something and that is that we affirm the description allah has affirmed it for himself i'm not going to say allah has no hands he affirmed it in the quran but i say his hands are befitting to his majesty subhanahu wa the only thing i am sure of is that they are completely unlike the hands or the descriptions of anything that i may conjure up or any of the creation clearly says nothing is unto him and he is the all-hearing he is the all-hearing all-seeing subhanahu without this footstool of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the correct opinion is placed in front of the throne of allah the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was narrated by with an authentic chain of narration to have said fifa he said the seven heavens and the seven earths are a ring in a vast desert that's what they are in comparison to the footstool the courtesy of allah subhanahu wa he said and likewise to the throne of allah is that ring is to that desert this is something that is absolutely unfathomable something that is totally beyond what we can imagine the size of the creation of allah is the kursi this is the place of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala this is the footstool of allah subhanahu.

[Arabic recitation]

Let alone the throne of allah which is carried by eight angels as allah mentions in the quran and that he subhanahu in all of his majesty and glory will arrive on the day of resurrection the earth will be illuminated by his light to judge and this is the one who we are going to stand in front of naked barefoot without any wealth without any status the only thing for us is our relationship with allah this is the one we are going to stand in front of in such a vulnerable position and we are going to be judged by him subhanahu wa this is something that is frightening say the least this is something that is frightening but it should frighten you not in a way that that takes the wind out of your sails it should frighten you in a way that motivates you that is healthy fright and that is what the quran instills in us it doesn't instill in us hopelessness fright that is unreasonable it should instill in us fright that is reasonable and directed it propels us and that is why allah subhanahu wa ta'ala essentially describes himself to us subhanahu with such descriptions to end i will share one narration after having understood these things i want to mention one narration it's a narration in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says there is not one of you except that he will stand in front of allah and allah will speak to him directly without any intermediary or any translator he said and so when a person is in this position you i all of us will be in this position imagine yourself he says a person in this position he is there before the glory and the majesty of allah he is thinking back to the pettiness of the life of this world he's thinking about the sacrifices he foolishly made for the life of this transient world he will look to his right and he will only see his deeds the right represents the good deeds and he will look to his left which represents the bad deeds and he will only see what he has put forth for himself so you look to what you've done of good to appease this magnificent being allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and you will see such petty little things that you've done of good that you've been able to muster up you'll belittle it and you'll look to your left and you'll see the times when you ignored allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and you disobeyed him and you will see these sins as being very grave after comparing the two a person will look ahead and the only thing he will be able to see in his mind's eye is the fire licking at his face he says so protect yourselves from the fire even if you can only muster up half a date in charity and whoever can't even muster that much at least a good word that is spoken do something to protect yourself build some kind of relationship with allah if you are on the path and you stumble and you fall down you may have an excuse but if you are not on the path and you haven't tried at all you have no excuse with allah subhanahu wa ta'ala there is no excuse to not try and we may fail trying but we will never fail to try we ask allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to benefit us all from what we have heard to enlighten us with the quran to grant us success during this month and make us of those who are emancipated from the fire thank you for watching so.