www.muslimcentral.com forward slash donate As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in. I'm delighted to be here. Wonderful ambience, beautiful place. La Lusia, mashallah. And at the same time, lovely people, beautiful faces. Some of whom I recognize and some I don't. But nonetheless, we make dua sincerely to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to gather us in Jannatul Firdaus.
in the companionship of none other than Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasalam. Today I wish to talk about relationships. And the reason I choose this topic is because we are created. And Allah Almighty has definitely a purpose that He made us. And with us, there are so many people. It's not just us alone. When you're created, the first thing is you have parents and you may have siblings and you are born into a community and society. So all these responsibilities we need to touch on.
But if I were to ask you which relationship is the most important relationship for you, what's the answer? Can you say something? Anyone? Say it. Relationship with Allah. Correct. So there is no doubt that the most important relationship you and I have and should be having. as believers is that with the one who made you the reason is we are in the company of others
But we were not with them prior to our birth. And we will not necessarily be with them after our death. In fact, when we die to a certain point, we will be alone, alone. To the degree that Allah Almighty says regarding the day of judgment. وَتَرَكْتُمَّا خَوَّلْنَاكُمْ وَرَاءَ ظُهُورِكُمْ وما نرى معكم شفعاءكم الذين زعمتم أنهم فيكم شركاء beautiful verse which has a lot of meaning and it's vivid in its description of that day Allah says you have come to us all alone
Here you are, you've come back to us all alone, similar to when we created you in the first place. All alone. Allah says, and we don't see with you others. you have left behind everything that was giving you company and companionship where are they you are here with us all alone
Like the time we first created you, you were alone. And Allah says, those whom you thought would intercede on your behalf, where are they? Obviously we believe in the intercession of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And I'm going to get to that because that's the second most important relationship you and I should be having. And the first relationship is not complete without the second one. But before I speak about that...
This verse Allah is telling us that everything else that gave you company on earth, you left it behind, you left it on earth, the people you left behind, everything you left behind, your wealth, your status.
Everything you left behind, today you are a single person in front of us. To do what? To give accounts. To give accounts. May Allah make it easy for us on that day. The hadith says, that as you leave this world one thing certain you will be asked about a few things number one your prayer your prayer You know, Allah Almighty speaks about so many things. Allah would never ever have made an issue out of prayer if it was not for our benefit. Remember this.
Allah says, I only make things compulsory. When I know they are beneficial for you, firstly. Do you really reckon Allah wants to benefit from us? He can't. He won't. He doesn't. His status is far higher. No matter how much we worship Him, He doesn't benefit. We benefit. No one can say, I did it so that Allah's status, na'udhu billah, can go higher. Allah has the highest status with you or without you, with the whole world or without it. His status is His status. There is no change to it.
It's like Nabi Muhammad ﷺ. Allah gave him a rank. That rank with you or without you is already there. But the rank Nabi Muhammad ﷺ accumulates more and more for the status that was already the highest to become even higher. through the worship that you and I engage in and the salawat that you and I engage in from his teachings. And that's why he says, have many children, because I want to be the Nabi.
who has the largest number on the day of qiyama already it's there already it's there but still he wants it to go even more The Prophet ﷺ, when you read your durood or you read your salawat ala al-Nabi ﷺ, today is a Friday, it should be happening more. There is a competition every Friday. Who has done more salawat on Nabi Muhammad ﷺ?
sallallahu alayhi wasalam, many of us don't. Many of us don't. And we don't give it importance. We are supposed to give it importance. But it gets to Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasalam in a manner known by Allah. And it benefits us tenfold. مَن صَلَّى عَلَيَّ وَاحِدَةً صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ بِهَا عَشْرًا Whoever sends blessings and salutations upon Muhammad ﷺ, once, Allah will bless him ten times. So, you are benefiting from this. Allah made...
Prayer five times a day at certain times compulsory because He knows how He made you and how He created you. He wants you to be leading a life. that will bring about maximum results for this world and the next. Uniformity is something without which you don't succeed.
you go to work they tell you eight to five i don't know durban might be nine to three or something or it might still be eight to five but you go to you try and get to work at nine o'clock ten o'clock every day an hour two hours late they'll fire you Uniformity. Why? That's how it is. Work, they give you a Saturday half day off, a Sunday full day off a lot of the times. For us as Muslimin, whenever there is some celebration, there is an extra act of worship. Allah says, don't forget me.
The day of Eid, there's an extra prayer, right? The day of Friday, there's an extra khutbah, a lecture, a sermon that is necessary for you to listen to attentively. The day that you're getting married, there is a khutbah, sunnah. for you to be able to listen to something extra. You see? So whenever there is a celebration, there's something more you've got to do. So Allah says, we give you a reason to celebrate. Don't transgress on this day. In fact,
Do something more for Allah. When Allah gives you a day of Eid, be careful how you tailor your clothes. Be careful where you're going to go. Be careful what you're going to do. You know what many people say? They tell their girlfriends, you know what, Ramadan is coming, I'll see you after 30 days. 30 days, we're not going to do anything wrong. Come on. Is that what you really think Allah wanted?
Allah wanted you to change your life and say, Ramadan is coming, change my life, let's make tawbah, we make this thing halal, otherwise nothing's gonna happen. That's the way you should talk. But some people, day of Eid, They phone again. Hey, guess what? They saw the moon. Really? May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us. Whenever I witness the moon fighting that happens, I always say, you know what?
actually for a lot of people it's better if they don't see the moon. One more day of worship. The minute they see it, we all know that shaitan also comes out, right? May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala keep us strong. That relationship with Allah is prime. The day you begin to enjoy, to please Allah is the day you're a true believer. Mark my words. The day you begin to enjoy your five daily prayers is the day you've hit the right spot. The day you enjoy reciting the Quran.
is the day you are connecting with Allah. The day you begin to enjoy doing dhikr, you are connecting with Allah. Up to that point, you're a Muslim, no doubt. but guess what your relationship is not on a level where it should be i attended recently a four-day workshop international workshop and the brothers were practicing brothers
We do fajr with jamaah, and immediately after that, there's a small reminder, five minutes, not more than five minutes, after that everyone sits with their Qur'an. And I was super impressed. And I came across an Islamic... organization where part of your contract is that they have 15 minutes Quran recitation everyone has to they pay you for it
So everyone, tea time, just before the tea break, everyone comes to a standstill, everything happens. Everyone has to pick the Quran and read. Even the boss and everybody else. Muslim business, he said, look, Quran we have to have. Amazing. And guess what? When I witnessed this, it was hair-raising. Because I checked everybody, like we would go out for tea, go out for lunch, everybody picking up a Quran.
The guy said, no, it's a policy we have in this business. You must read Quran. We pay you. 15 minutes, our time, you take it, Quran. I said, brother, include one quick thing. Have a small explanation of a verse or two also. Later on, they included something. They made it voluntary, but they included voluntary, but they're all going. Subhanallah. Because why? I want to tell you something about the relationship with Allah today that you may not know.
wallahi my beloved brothers my sisters i swear by allah when you make a small effort Allah's relationship has a magnetizing effect. It brings you through more than you can imagine. You won't be happy with a little. You're gonna have to go. When you start enjoying your farad, you're gonna have to pop in a few sunnah. and the nafil, and you'll have to enjoy it. And when you read,
One verse a day, you're gonna have to go to 2 and 5 and 10. When you give it 15 minutes, it's going to pull another 15 minutes of yours. That is how Allah works. He says, you come to me walking, I come to you rushing. You come to me a hand span, I come to you. whole foot that is Wallahi the truth Wallahi make a small effort see the result
Enjoy your prayer. It's not easy to get up early morning for Fajr when the timings are a little bit awkward. Trust me, in Southern Africa, we have it golden. In some countries, the timings are so awkward. There it's a jihad. Go to Northern Europe and see. Go to England. Listen to them. They'll tell you, you know what, sometimes the fast is 18, 19 hours. We barely made iftar and we're making suhoor.
and they have to do Taraweeh, and it's just a roller coaster. From Suhoor, Maghrib, sorry, from Iftar, Maghrib, short gap, they have Isha, Taraweeh, Suhoor, and you're closed. How is that? Imagine when there is no fasting, how they have to wake up for... Salah in the morning. Trust me, we have it easy. We have it very easy. Throughout the year, it's not so bad. No matter which month of the year it is. But here we are lazing around. We'll come for Jumu'ah, yes. We'll come for Jumu'ah, yes.
You know what? Make an effort. Today is the day. Promise Allah. Oh Allah, my relationship with you is going to improve from now. I'm going to read my adhkar after salah. I'm going to ensure that I spend these 15 minutes being spoken about. Others are doing it. Others are doing it. You know how I get encouraged to do things. I went to Nigeria. I see people, poverty.
But they're all reading Qur'an like husari, man. Like top reciters. The guys are standing in salah. Fajr, the masjid is packed. One day I went early. Before the Adhan, there was no space. It was more packed than what this masjid is for Jumu'ah. And I tell the guys, what's happening today in the masjid? He says, this is how it is every day. You know what I did?
From that day, I told myself, no chance. They can't be the only ones going to Jannah. We need to go. We look at the people and we think, what are these guys gonna achieve in life? They are achieving the akhirah because already in life... they are not into all these things that others are into. And so it motivates me when I see others doing it, I tell myself, it's true what Allah says.
You don't want to do it, no problem. We don't need you. We've got ten others doing it as a result. The Quran says, وَإِن تَتَوَلَّوْا If you are going to turn away, and the address is for all of us, if you are going to turn away, Here is Allah telling you and I. You're going to turn away, we will replace you with others who will not be like you. I see people removing their hijab, throwing it out, saying, you know this and that. Fair and good in their own way.
Exactly the same moment. There are ten to a hundred to a thousand others somewhere in the world, be it in the poorest part of Africa or somewhere in the Far East. as a direct result of your disobedience, Allah created others with your name tag on them.
as a result and he will show it to you on the day of judgment because he says in the quran when you go away i will replace you with someone you want to know who they are i don't know you might not know right now allah knows who they are he'll show it to you Say, you see, you remember when you disobeyed, yeah. Well, look at all of those as a result of that disobedience, they obeyed. Would you like that to happen to you? No.
As a result of you abandoning the Quran, there are so many others who took it in. There's no shortage of worshippers here. No shortage. The question is, are you in or are you out? That's what you've got to ask yourself. Are you eat? If you are, good news only to you. If you are out, bad news only to you. It's not like you have benefited Allah. Allah gives you encouragement. And then you later on start reading things more and more of the medical benefits of salah.
medical benefits of fasting, medical benefits of memorizing the Quran. Recently I was with an elderly man, very sharp, very intelligent, in his 90s. And I asked him, I said, hey, mashallah, tell us something. You know, you normally by this age, people have forgetfulness, memory loss, this, that, what? He says, you know what? Memorize the Quran and keep the Quran.
Every day on your lips, in your heart, in your mind, let someone listen to you and ensure that you're not making blunders. You see, one is to memorize the Quran and read it every day. Two is for someone to listen to you. why you have to put it into memory again remember this this this he says when you keep yourself fresh every day challenging your mind it remains fresh
I've heard other answers also from different people because I like to ask. If I see something outstanding, I say, please tell us, give us a bit of a word. What advice you have? We are still young. By the way, we're no longer young. We've kept saying young, young, young ever since. We are becoming older.
No one, no. People are passing away. I just want to be in that caravan when we pass away. The same caravan that Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam led. Let's be in it. Come. Let's join each other. And we go inside. The ending will be beautiful.
How long we're going to do whatever we want to do on earth? Let's do what Allah wants. I don't want to do what I want to do. I do what Allah wants. And Allah is so merciful, He's allowed me to do most of the things that my desires would like to do on condition that is regularized.
We can get married, mashallah. We can earn halal income, alhamdulillah. We can eat and drink, mashallah, for as long as it's halal. A few things that he's made haram, they're very few, you can count them. The rest of it is all okay. Good to go. but he wants you to connect with him. That relationship, trust me, my beloved brothers, my sisters, you will never regret the relationship you made an effort to build with Allah once the caravan is rolling. You will enjoy it.
You will feel like an orphan if you've missed one prayer. You will feel like an orphan if you haven't touched the Quran this day. You will feel like someone who really has lost a big deal when you're unwell and you can't do what you used to do. But I swear Allah will write. the reward for you that's allah why does allah write the reward of a person who has habitually engaged in worship when he missed it for a human reason you know what i mean
If you are always in the masjid for salah, you get a reward. The day something happened, you got delayed. Your name is written in that saf exactly as is. Why would Allah do that? To prove to you that, you know, you made the effort. The issue is that relationship is such, you get the reward for it. Relationship.
I quickly want to move past. I hope that we've been motivated to do something about our link with Allah. Like I say, for me the motivation is I see others whom you least expect to do things doing more than me. I say, no, no, no, no. I can't allow that to happen. I'm going to do more than them. That's a motivation for me. I hope it is for you too. May Allah make us strong. Small things, but it becomes a habit. I've seen the 40-day rule. 40-day rule is when you...
push yourself to do something for 40 days in a row, it becomes easy for you after that. But the first 40 days are tough. After that, Inshallah, you're good to go. Now, the second relationship is your relationship with Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. This evening we have a talk at the Masjid, Masjid as-Saliheen in Masgrave.
related to this, the seerah of Nabi Muhammad ﷺ. I just ask you a simple question, a few questions. Do you know his life history? Do you know the details of his biography? And what happened? Do you know his habits? Do you know his dress code? Do you know the way he did things? And do you realize that your relationship with Allah won't be fully?
If you don't even know the messenger he sent to you and I as the best of creation, the most noble of all prophets of Allah, and you don't even know the details of his life. So invest in reading the seerah. Invest in knowing who he is. Invest in trying to follow every detail. Invest in... So much more when your relationship with Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. is something that will earn you the intercession that we believe in on the day of judgment. Imagine...
And this is just one point. Imagine you arrive on the day of judgment and everyone's going to be worried. About whom? About themselves. Everybody is worried about themselves. And suddenly you are called. And suddenly there is recognition of your face by someone. And you notice this is Nabi Muhammad ﷺ. And imagine the feeling.
And He calls you through by name. Hey, you are from my ummah. Come here. I'm interceding. Don't worry. Intercede on your behalf. Oh Allah, this is our man. Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. May that happen to all of us. I believe it will happen. Inshallah. Make an effort. That shafa'ah and that intercession is haq. It is true. It will be.
But you have to have a relationship with him. I got no relationship, I won't be recognized. Nabi Muhammad ﷺ says that the members of my ummah will be recognized by the shining. of the places they used to wash when they made wudu before they prayed. How's your wudu? It's in order. When you make wudu, add one thought at the back of your mind with your intention. Say, inshallah, I'm going to be recognized with this.
day of judgment imagine the intercession increase your salawat your adhkar you need to know what he looked like Important. Read the Shamail. You know, a youngster came to me a few months ago. He tells me, I dreamt of the Prophet ﷺ, but I said, what did he look like? He described something out of... the scope of acceptance. I said, that was not the Prophet ﷺ. He says, no. I was told that if you dream of the Prophet ﷺ, it has to be him, because it can't be anyone else. I said, agreed.
If you read the conditions the ulama have written, they say if you dream of the Prophet ﷺ, shaitan cannot imitate him. But shaitan can lie to you that someone who's not the Prophet is the Prophet when you don't even know your Prophet because you can't have a guy, astaghfirullah, in jeans smoking with...
shaved face. And you're telling me that was the Prophet? No chance. It's not. That was shaitan. And he did not imitate the Prophet. He lied to you because you don't even know the Prophet that someone besides the Prophet was the Prophet. I hope you understand the difference here. Because the hadith says, shaitan cannot imitate the Prophet ﷺ. You saw him, you saw him. But he has to be with the qualities and saying the things that you know about him. You have no relationship, he wouldn't know.
May Allah Almighty grant us all success and ease. I spoke of two relationships, one more, and we keep it going. I could talk about brothers, I could talk about parents, probably the most important relationship. I could talk about some, but today I want to talk about a spouse. Spouse, very quickly. Why? It's one of the relationships you chose. You chose it. Allah has written it for you, decree. But the other ones, Allah didn't leave a choice for you. This one, He kept you in it.
He wants you to ensure that you fulfill each other's rights with a beautiful respect and a loving trust and facilitate each other's lives so that you can worship Allah nicely. So go easy on each other. That's what I want to say today. Respect each other. Solve your matters, your problems. And try your best to work and build each other in the obedience of Allah.
May Allah Almighty grant us happy homes. The reason why I touched on this towards the end is because many people are struggling. Many people come from broken homes. Many people have relationships that have broken or... sometimes they don't even know the importance of a relationship wallahi look we are human we go through these things learn to take it in your stride
Always remember Allah is watching. Convert it into a reward. No matter what it is, make it into something that will earn your paradise. No matter what it is. And Allah will grant you good. Are you a good person? Are you kind-hearted?
Do you have a good nature? Do you care for your relationship with Allah? Are you worried about the day of judgment? Then be careful how you talk to people. Be careful how you come across, no matter what. This morning someone was, we were talking about something and I said, you know what?
We want Jannah. If people have made a mistake, or they've said things about us, no problem, we still excuse them, we still forgive them, we still love them, but we will not say bad about them, because we are worried about getting into that caravan. we can all be in no problem there won't be any hatred in the heart or anything let's keep it going so imagine when we have a relationship choose for the right reasons you won't go wrong choose for the right reasons you want to get married
I joked with one youngster today. I won't tell you exactly what I told him. He knows what I said. I'm trying to look for where he is. I told him, you know, you must choose from that family. He said, how? I said, because they're good. They are religious. They are generally God conscious. They have the good, you know, the right attitude. I'm sure he was shocked because he wasn't expecting that. And I spoke about a big, quite a prominent sort of a name in Durban.
And subhanallah, one of the reasons is, I just wanted him to think, to say when you are selecting a spouse, don't just look for beauty, don't just look for what looks nice. Because not everything that glitters is gold, you know. look for something that is really going to make Allah happy. He tells you, look for deen, akhlaq. It doesn't mean that you don't look at what they look like. There has to be a spark. I mean, you know, that's why they got sparks wrote down there.
But the reality is make a lot of dua and choose for the right reasons. That's going to be the parent of your child. May Allah Almighty make it easy for all of us. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I've extended by two minutes, but inshallah we'll cover the time soon. And I really make dua for this beautiful masjid. I was telling Mawlana that, you know, earlier...
Because of this place and what it used to be, people used to call towards something totally different. The same pulpit is being used today to call towards Allah. Look at how Allah does it. The same pulpit.
The people who built it and established it had no clue that a day will come when mu'mineen will come and make sujood for the sake of Rabbul Alameen. May Allah bless everyone who made this facility into this beautiful... house of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and continue to bless every one of us I have a lot to say I need to come back to La Lucia inshallah but speaking alone is not
beneficial unless we digest it do something about it the minimum today is all of us myself included need to be motivated to build a better relationship with allah May Allah bless you all.