Blind Hearts

There are many people who see what is haram as halal. Not because their eyes can't see the difference. The eyes can see everything within existence but it's because the hearts are blind. And it is not Allah ('azzawajal) who blinds the heart. It's the person himself who blinds his own heart after putting himself in a state of denial after rejecting the truth. So he sees what is halal...and he doesn't like it. But he sees what is haram...and he loves it.

Allah ('azzawajal) says in the Qur'an...

'Have they never journeyed through the land so that they have hearts to understand or ears to hear with? Verily, it is not the eyes but it's the hearts behind the chest that are blind.'

One day I saw a person, who cheats, lies, listens to music and does many bad things. Things that don't please Allah. So I asked this person, 'when you plan to be straight?' When you plan to be straight? The person said, 'when Allah guides me.' When Allah guides me. Ya Salaam!

You know, the problem with these people is that they don't think about death and how could you not think about death? I mean...I could picture it right now, some of us are gonna be lying on the death bed one day, crying on the death bed, hoping that we could have one more day to live, fearing that we may not even have one more hour. And those are the moments that we will remember the times that we committed all these bad actions, those are the moments. You know Al Imam Al-Shafee? Al Imam Al-Shafee (rahimuhullah) when he was dying, when he got really sick, his friend came to visit him, and he said...

'How are you Imam?'

The Imam said... 

'I'm waken up leaving this duniya.' I mean I woke up today leaving this duniya. 

'I'm also leaving my brothers. My friends and my brothers.'

'I'm going to see my bad actions. My evil actions.'

Al Imam Al-Shafee is saying, 'I'm going to see my bad actions in the aakhirah.'

'And I don't know, is my soul going to Jannah so I give it good news, or is it going to the hell fire so I give it bad news.' 

Those are the moments that you will remember these times when you used to commit all these bad actions, and there will be no doctor to increase your life span, there will be no surgeon, there will be no electrician, there will be no nothing, that's it! 

When death comes, all reasons go and nobody could help you at that moment but Allah. But, when I sit down right here, I am starting to ask myself, why would Allah be there for us when we are weak, whereas He there for us when we were strong but we didn't want Him. 'Allah? Now? No! Maybe when I'm forty. Maybe when I'm sixty.'

I now come to conclusion and I say, do you remember the last time you parked your car and you went to the grocery store, or to the school or wherever you work and you walked out going back home, you left your office, or wherever you were, and you were walking back to your car to go back home. If somebody came to you from behind you and did like this...and shut your eyes so that you can't see where you'regoing, would you be able to find your car? 

No! 

Same thing with Allah's guidance. If you close your eyes to the truth and say, 'I'm going to live my life until Allah guides me' then you will never be guided. The only time you will be guided is if you search for the truth yourself. That is when Allah will guide you. When you want to be guided. I ask Allah ('azzawajal) to guide you and I, and I ask Allah ('azzawajal) to have mercy on us, and to raise our ranks high amongst the rightly guided. 

Jazakumullahu Khairan 

Wassalaamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakaathuhu

Commentary by Ustadh Rayan Arab 

A Story Of True Repentance

During the time of Bani Israel, there was a great drought, a major drought in the area. And so the people approached Prophet Musa (alayhi salaam) and they said, 'O Musa! Children are starving, the elders are suffering, the animals are dying, the vegetation is all shriveled up. Supplicate to Allah (subahaanahu wa ta'ala) that he will send down rain to us.' 

And so Prophet Musa (alayhi salaam) gathered Bani Israel in an open area in a desert...and he supplicated to Allah (subahaanahu wa ta'ala) saying, 'Ya Allah, the children are starving and the elders are suffering, the animals are dying and the vegetation is all shriveled up, dried up, send rain down upon us, ya Allah.' 

Allah (subahaanahu wa ta'ala) answered him with a statement, 'O Musa, there is a servant amongst you. There is a servant amongst you who has been disobedient to me for forty years. Tell him to leave the congregation and I shall send down rain.' 

And so Prophet Musa (alayhi salaam) looked towards the congregation, and he said, 'O so and so, whoever this person is, have mercy upon the congregation and the people and leave so that Allah may send down rain to us.'

So that person, he knew who he was. He looked to the right, he looked towards the left, nobody was leaving and he knew it was him. Nobody else except him. So he went...he covered himself with his shirt and he started to cry because people were suffering and the rain isn't coming down. If he doesn't leave, but if he leaves, everybody will know that this person has been disobedient to Allah for 40 years. 

So what is he going to do? 

He was so remorseful, so saddened. He didn't know what to do, he just asked Allah, 'Ya Allah, forgive me.'

In tears of sincerity and repentance, mercy in his heart for the people, in repentance. That remorsefulness in his heart caused the tears to come down and as soon as the tears hit the ground, the rain also came down with it. 

So Prophet Musa (alayhi salaam) looked, and he said, 'Ya Allah, nobody left the congregation, why did You send down the rain?'

And so Allah (subahaanahu wa ta'ala) responded, 'I sent down the rain because of that same person, because of his sincere repentance, and his remorsefulness. I sent down the rain because of that same person.'

And so Prophet Musa (alayhi salaam) said, 'Ya Allah, Ya Allah, show us that repenting servant of yours so that we may be thankful.' 

So Allah (subahaanahu wa ta'ala) said, 'O Musa, for forty years he disobeyed me and I covered up his sins...and now that he has repented, you think I am gonna show you who he is?'

All of us when you look down at the problem and around us, we always start blaming other people, but its no one else except for us. Everyone of us right now, we have to realize Allah has covered up our sins and its time to change. Lets realize that we have to repent and there is a time when you make that conviction that you change. You don’t just say it with your mouth. Istigfar is what you say with your mouth, repentance is the conviction and showing it in action. That’s what we need to do. Not just say it, but to put it in action. And thus, all of us, we have to realize that repentance entails that we make the conviction to be the best that we can be.

commentary by Sheikh AbdulBary Yahya 

Fatima Bint Muhammad (ﷺ)

Take the example of this beautiful woman by the name of Fatima (radiyAllahu Anha), the daughter of Rasullullah (ﷺ). One of those who also had perfected her imaan or her faith as well, as Rasullullah (ﷺ) had said. The Prophet (ﷺ) also said that Fatima would be the first to follow him from his family to the Hereafter, meaning that she'll be the first to pass away. In one amazing amazing couple of verses, Allah says....Allah revealed a couple of verses in the Quran which I came across, when I was reading the tafseer of...of Ibn al Jawzih. I came across his explanation of a couple of verses of the Quran and the verses of the Quran go like this....Allah (subahaanahu wa ta'ala) says...

'They feed out of the love of Allah, a poor man, an orphan and a POW (prisoner of war).'

And they say, 'Verily, we feed you for the face of Allah. We do not ask you for any reward in return, nor even a word of thanks.'

'Verily, we fear a day; we do this because we are afraid for ourselves on a day in which the hearts will turn inside out from fear, on that Day.'

Which is the day of judgement...right? 

And these verses, by the agreement of all the scholars of Islam, was revealed regarding Fatima (radiyAllahu Anha). They were revealed regarding who? Fatima (radiyAllahu Anha) Why? 

Because Ali (radiyAllahu Anhu) was the son-in-law of Rasullullah (ﷺ). He used to carry things on his head and ferry water and ferry things from people's house to other houses, and then get some wheat and barley as payment. He would take the wheat and barley home, Fatima (radiyAllahu Anha) would then use that wheat and barley to cook bread with it. So one day Ali (radiyAllahu Anhu) did some other ferry, came home, after a hard days of work, in the 55 degree Celsius heat of Medina, which I am telling you is far hotter than Malaysia.. (cut this) brought that Barley back home, she made bread with it. She made three loafs of bread. One for her, one for him and one for Hassan and Hussain. But before the food could be served to Ali & Hassan (and) Hussain, a prisoner of war walked by, so she looked at him....saw that he'd just been freed and he's hungry, so she gave him a piece of bread. Two more to go and an orphan passed by, she rubbed her hand over his head, felt sorry, pity and gave him a piece of bread...not thinking of anything, not thinking where they going to eat. And then, thereafter, a poor person walked by and she gave another piece of bread, so the blessed family went to bed hungry that night, the whole family! And so Allah revealed this verse. Do you know what's amazing about this verse? 

Do you know what's amazing about this verse? 

Is that...thereafter, after these verses, God describes Paradise, in no less than fifteen verses and extensive description of Jannah, extensive description of Paradise. Now whenever you go to any extensive description of Paradise in the Quran, you will find that God talks about the beautiful women of Jannah as well, which are the wives created for husbands. God talks about them except for these places, this part in the Quran. In this extensive description of Jannah, God does not talk about the Hoor-ul-Ayn or the women of Jannah. The beautiful women of Jannah...Why? 

Ibn-ul-Jawzih (may Allah have mercy upon him) said, 'Allah (subahaanahu wa ta'ala) loved the action of Fatima (radiyAllahu Anha) so much and knew her jealousy of other women because she didn't want Ali (radiyAllahu Anhu) to take another wife....knew her jealousy so much so, that He revealed verses about Jannah and did not mention the Hoor-ul-Ain at all. Because He (Allah) did not want to offend Fatima (radiyAllahu Anha).'

Allahu Akbar!