Are You REALLY Submitting? The Truth About Allah's Commands | Ustadh Quran Hodge

All of you who claim to believe, have consciousness of me. Be aware of me and grant me my rights. Meaning, do what it is that I have commanded you to do and stay away from that which I have told you to abstain from. And he continues and says, "Do not die except for being in that state, in a state of submission to him and to him alone." Further Allah subhana wa tala tells us in the goyas Quran all of you Muslims who claim to believe have consciousness of me and grant me my routes and say words that hit the mark that are righteous that are good. He then says that when you say these good words then your limbs will follow the tongue. It will follow suit and you will do good actions with your limbs. And therefore that is how you will earn Allah's forgiveness. And whoever obeys Allah subhana wa ta'ala and his messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam has won the ultimate victory. And that is the love and the mercy, forgiveness and closeness to Allah subhana wa ta'ala which you and I are all striving for. Alhamdulillah. And so coming here we get that reminder and we're blessed because we are in Allah subhana tala's favor. today I'd like to recite and give us a reminder from now before going into I want to make you aware of some things because we have such a short time so there's only a few things that we be able to get into regarding this but I do want to give myself and you all a type of push that we need to have in order again so we can benefit ourselves in this month of shaan and May Allah subhana wa ta'ala allow us to reach the month of Ramadan to where it is accepted for us. But that we have this high himma himma is to have aspiration [snorts] to have this draw to have um something that compels you to strive to strive forward so that you can achieve the best and what we're trying to achieve is the best in the month of Ramadan. So is so beautiful. It is the what it means is the overwhelming or the inevitable event that is mentioned and Allah subhana wa ta'ala captures our attention. He captured the attention of his servant who was reading this surah first and foremost. And this is how he starts. Allah says when the inevitable event happens, meaning you and I are reminded of what the purpose of this life is and that is one day we are literally going to be standing before Allah subhana wa ta'ala in a different realm in which we'll be able to see the unseen and it will be apparent to us that this surely has been the ultimate reality all this time and I knew it. Allah tells his servant in his glorious Quran there is no denial that this event surely is going to happen. This will be a time where the servants of Allah subhana wa ta'ala will be either elevated or they will be dismantled and brought to a low position based off of how they live their lives inside of this world either. And there's going to come a point in time just as we feel even in this uh state that we live in in California when the earth becomes shaken. I want you to imagine anything that you've ever if you ever had a a glass or uh some type of container and you had like a small ball in that thing and you shook it violently. Allah tells us that this earth will be shaken violently and obviously we know after the horn is blown and whatn not these major events will start to happen the earth will throw up all of its contaminants and all of the deceased that was inside of it showing that this day of judgment is starting and all of the mountains that you and I see seen on this earth they will be turned into dust they will be turned into nothing. Just as the same way we're able to vacuum something inside of our house or to kick a pebble or a stone, how easy for Allah subhana wa ta'ala to do that with the things of this earth that are incomparable in size to him. And Allah says that this earth will be pretty much scattered dust and it will be made of plain in which there are a certain groups groups of people who will be standing before him on that day. Now before I get in and go further, I want you and I to think about anything it is that we do in life. Firstly, I want you to think about any regrets that you've ever had. There may have come a point in time in your life where you sit back and say, I can even tell you for today, right? We assess our lives and where we're at now and like sometimes I'll say to myself, man, I wish I had just got all straight A's in high school, right? Because then you think maybe you got you would have got into that college that you wanted and then obtained that job or that career that you wanted. We all do this. We reflect about things that we wish we would have done in the past. And so Allah gives us a taste of the and what we will actually feel on the day of judgment even in this life. Right? But they are really still incomparable to the actuality of the afterlife. Yet Allah stills allow still allows us to taste those things so that we can put ourselves and our situations into the proper perspective so that we prepare ourselves for that inevitable event. Right? So you and I can have many regrets in this life. But there are some things one thing that we can take advantage of and that's taking care of our a today. That's taking care of that our our state and our position on this this day of the inevitable event. How will we be on that day? And who and what group could we actually be a part of on that day if we are to take advantage of the now and not wait? Some of us think in our minds right now, mashallah, you know, Ramadan is coming up. I want to change my life around. So, may Allah bless me to reach it and then I'll start doing good. But I want you to ask yourself, who promised you that type of revelation or sure or assured you that you are going to meet the month of Ramadan? Everything that you and I do is based off of uh intentions. And if you really think about it, how many people do you know in your own life personally who have passed away this year and hadn't reached the month of Ramadan? So you and I can't assume and be tricked by the shaitan because sometimes we are pushed and put into a a space where we think that it's kind of like how people do on Americans uh or the western uh New Year's Day, right? They think that uh I'm going to go and I'm going to start working out on the first and I'm going to go and get me a gym membership at 24 hours and then I'm going to start eating better on the first and everything. But they didn't do anything to prepare in December or November or October right ahead of time so that they can actually flourish within the month of January and hit the ground road. Now you and I don't want to be like these uh January 1st type of newcomers when it comes to us entering into the month of Ramadan. Continuing, I want to also give us some drive about these people who we want to be in relation to speaking about um having regrets in this life. You can feel like you're a failure because you didn't ascertain the career that you wanted. You can feel like a failure because maybe you didn't please your parents the way that you felt that you wanted to do in this land. But what you and I can still do because we have air still inside of our lungs. We are still functional and capable human beings right now. We can become of what Allah starts to mention of these three roots. Allah continues and he says and on the day of judgment you will be of three groups. There's going to be categories in which the human beings who live their lives on this earth will go into. Allah says there's a group who are called the people of the left. And how terrible it was and it will be for these people of the left. These are the people who disbelieved and these are people who may have been aware even of Allah but they didn't do their due diligence in this life to ascertain the goodness of Allah or perhaps they felt that they were a Muslim in their heart but they threw the dean behind their backs and they focused on the duny and whatever Allah will forgive me may Allah subhana wa ta'ala protect us from being of his group. Allah continues and then he says, forgive me I skipped one. Uh the first group is the I'm sorry is the group of the right. Please forgive me. Um the first group is the these people who are of the right and that means that they will receive their book of deeds in their right hand. And how blessed are these people? Allah subhana wa ta'ala says the fact is they are going to be people who enter into paradise. Then Allah mentions the people of the left and how wretched and terrible and undesirable undesirable of a position that these people will be in on that day. But these are the people who you and I want to be. Allah then says Now Allah then starts to speak about the people who were first and foremost those Muslims. who did their absolute best and they took advantage of what their lord told them to do and what to stay away from and the same regarding his messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam. When I hear anything about the sunnah, am I a person who just says I'm okay with praying my five daily prayers and just doing the bare minimum? Well, you got to understand, although you may be of the people of the don't we want to strive to be further in in the more grandeur of Allah subhana wa tala? I want you to imagine like this. I think about this all the time. Like if you get on the plane traveling overseas, I've been blessed to abdra twice, right? And when you first walk in on that plane, it's amazing, isn't it? You see these groups of people while you whilst you're walking in, they have these luxury lounges in which they can recline in, right? They have even their the servants who's inside of that area, they're wearing a different type of clothing compared to those who will be serving towards the middle of the cabin or even in the back. You see them already, they're first to uh enter into the airplane and they're already relaxed. They're looking up at you as you walk by, you know, staring at you and whatnot and giving you a type of look like, h, you're not in first class, right? We all know this type of experience. And then as you keep on trotting while you're looking at these people who are all comfortable, you start to head to the middle of the bus of this plane, you see it's a little bit more spacious up there too in the middle of the plane. And then you keep on walking on back to econ and you see that the colors even on the wall start to change. It's just gray back there and it's so uncomfortable, right? The next person who recines their chair back, it's all in your face and you can't eat and be comfortable as you wish. And you say to yourself, "Man, I wonder what it's like to be in first class." And as you're sitting in your seat, you even see that curtain then closes. You wish that you understood what was happening with these people who are in first class. Right now in regards to paradise, the fact that you are on this plane, that you're on this bus, naturally you're going to have an experience and you're going to be taken care of. Right? When we ascertain paradise, we're not going to feel bad the fact that we're in paradise. Nor will we uh be upset or or say, "I wish I was in a better place than this." We're talking about the day of judgment and what we c could have ascertained when we reflect on our lives of what we could have done whilst we were living. Okay? But I want you to put that take that perspective and ask yourself what are you doing to be an Aclass Muslim? What are you doing to be a person who is of the uh a savvy wun? [clears throat] Are you fine and complacent at who you are and where you're at within your dean? Or do you solely only desire and say I wish that I was better? Or are you actually taking the means to improve yourself to go to lessons to learn and then implement implement that education that you have now received into your life because you really are striving for the afterlife because you understand this reality in which we're living living in right now that it's only temporal. So does it really really matter for us to put all of our effort and all of our energy into this dunya or to really exhaust ourselves in attempting to come closer to Allah subhana wa ta'ala and use this dunya as a means to achieve them. So how is it that I view my children and my and my family as worship of Allah subhana wa tala? How is it that I view my job as I in the way of Allah subhana wa ta'ala and call uh and uh calling towards others and doing some some good work that will benefit humanity? How is it that I am with my personal relationships with people and really how is my relationship with Allah and his messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam? Forgive me, I don't mean to uh go on. In the second, we'll explain a little bit about these luxuries that the people who are the first and foremost will receive and then we'll give some reminders about which we can take advantage of. I've said my first speech. So take the time right now to seek Allah's forgiveness and know and reorient your heart toward him and what it is that you're going to do to change yourself for the better right now. And know that Allah is the all forgiving, the most merciful. Alhamdulillah. Amen. Alhamdulillah. Now regarding some of just the luxuries in which the people who are first and foremost uh they will be this group on the day of judgment who are before all of Allah's creation just like uh being in the front su right these people are honored so they get to go into a station on the day of judgment where they are in a position of entering into paradise first there are some other luxuries that they receive which is to uh be removed from the of Allah subhana wa ta'ala right to not have to be judged even if we know that we were going to make it into paradise right there still is a punishment even of the people of the right it's a punishment not like the hellfire may Allah subhanaa tala protect us but to even be fully examined for everything it is that we have done and to have to answer for what it is that we did in our lives that's a punishment within itself and we should be extreme extremely fearful and aware of that because that's the day of exposure, right? And so there can be a veil between ourselves and all the wrongs that we did in our lives if we take on this type of mindset that you know what I may have not obtained the things that I wanted to obtain inside of this life. This life is finite but the isn't. So I need to invest in myself and in my soul by giving to myself for when that day comes. Now what are some things it is that we can do inside of this month that Allah uh and his messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam has told us about I want to quickly read off a hadith regarding and then we'll just give a few pointers of what it is that we can do if we don't have some ideas already about good deeds. The first thing that we can reflect on though is very plain and simple for those of us uh you know we we don't want to take too much onto our uh plate but the least that we can do is what the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says is that he says the best actions and deeds that are most beloved to Allah subhana wa ta'ala is to pray the salah on so getting in preparation for Ramadan even if there's no extra things that you are going to do start today say you know what I'mma pray all of my salawat my five daily prayers in their appropriate times right that pleases Allah subhana wa ta'ala and then he will give us anything else it is that we're trying to achieve the second is then he says uh is having a good and beautiful relationship with your parents and being respectful towards them right if my parents are still alive the prophet peace be upon him has has given me this instruction about what Allah loves loves and what is the wisdom in being good to my parents right so any gripes that you may hold and the prophet even said that about this month right there's and on the 15th of this month of shaan is when all of the deeds of what we have accumulated this year are raised to Allah subhana wa ta'ala right on the 15th of shaan and this is the point in time where Allah subhana wa ta'ala will delegate the risk of all of his believers on the 15th of shaan which is coming up in a few days okay That's why the prophet peace be upon him has said I like for that when my deeds are raised to Allah subhana wa ta'ala I like it to be accompanied with fasting and that's why he fasted the month in this month besides the month of Ramadan right and so when our deeds are raised to Allah subhana wa ta'ala our risk will be distributed meaning who will live beyond this next year that is coming after Ramadan who will receive what as far as the money that they will make what children will be born who will be taken to account and return to Allah subhana wa ta'ala. So there are things that we do on the night of the 15th in which the prophet peace be upon him has told us that Allah subhana wa ta'ala descends to the lowest heaven. Now this is without any anthropomorphism. This is metaphorical for us to understand that Allah is listening to all of dua that is being made specifically on this night. And Allah calls out and says, "Who of my servants is calling out to me so that I may forgive them? So that I may incline and give them what it is that they are asking for and to forgive them of what they have committed in the past." So again, the 15th of Shaan is coming up very very soon and we want to take advantage of this night and make it a night of prayerful worship to Allah subhana wa tala. The scholars have recommended uh a few things that we can do. A thing is like on the night of the 15th is to read three times. If you can't do it three times, do it once and then after you recite, ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala for a long obedient life in service of him and his messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Also ask Allah subhana wa tala for a beautiful risk inside of this life that you can donate in service whether it be your time, your money or your efforts to help the Muslim ummah. Okay? Uh, and make sure you just try to get yourself to a class on this night of the 15th and also send abundant salawat upon the prophet peace be upon him. Forgive me for oversp speakaking. Um, I didn't want to do that because there's so many things that we can benefit from and there's so many messages from the Quran that we could have used today, but um, our time is ending. May Allah subhana wa tala forgive us of all of our sins and our wrongdoings. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala incline our hearts to that which is actually most best for us and put this in his proper place for us. May Allah grant us the perspective of suddam and grant us his uh understanding and his desire his concern his that he had for the rest of humanity for our families and and for all of us in totality. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala allow us to have a a beautiful ending and returning to him. And we ask the same for our family members. We ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to guide us and our family members, all of our loved ones, our friends, this this nation, every human being that we know and don't know. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala gr uh uh guide them towards him and reorient their hearts and allow us to focus on the true reality. The fact is that there is an inevitable event that is coming, brothers and sisters, and we don't know when we're going to return to Allah. So, let us take advantage of the time that he has given us right now. Let us intend in our hearts to be the best that we possibly can be. Take it a little bit at a time, right? Don't take don't bite off too much more than you can. Be uh slow and methodical, but be gradual with that. And we also ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to remove the burdens of our brothers and sisters around the world who are experiencing turmoil and oppression in the lands of Sudan inside of Palestine. Uh our Kashmiri Muslims, the weaguer Muslims, all the Muslims that we know and are aware of and and not Allah. Alhamdulillah. Allah subhana wa ta'ala command you and I towards justice, doing good, and being generous to those who are close to us, our our communities, our relatives, our neighbors. And he forbids that which is shameful, blameworthy, and oppressive. And he teaches you and I so that we may take heed. Remember Allah subhana wa tala the brand much and surely he shall remember you and I and thank him much for what it is that he has given us and he will give us even more. Remember that the remembrance of Allah is the greatest of all things. >> [clears throat]