24 - Why Can't I Connect With God - Sayed Saleh Qazwini

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[0:00]foreign [Music] respected brothers and sisters may Allah accept all of your

[0:37]all of your worship throughout the holy month of Ramadan and there's

[0:42]not much left last night was many of you were worshiping and

[0:49]inshallah Allah accepts all of our duas and brings us closer to

[0:58]him one question that people often bring up especially you see this

[1:03]brought up within people that have religion on their mind people that

[1:08]are concerned about their faith and their spirituality one issue that is

[1:14]brought up is that some people say I pray I do to

[1:20]ah I supplicate but I don't feel that sense of spirituality I

[1:24]struggle with feeling that sense of being connected with Allah and this

[1:33]my dear brothers and sisters whoever asks me this I tell them

[1:38]that this is a very healthy question to have this is not

[1:40]a bad problem this is a good problem that you're concerned with

[1:47]your spirituality that you want to increase your spirituality you want to

[1:52]get closer to Allah and you feel that you're not really connected

[1:55]this is much better than a person who doesn't even care there

[1:59]are some people that don't have spirituality and they don't care they

[2:03]don't even care to try to fix it if you feel that

[2:07]struggle then that means you care and here there's a Hadith it

[2:11]differentiates between the men a Believer a god-conscious person and someone who's

[2:17]not the Hadith says that the men the believer when they sin

[2:23]when they have committed a sin or they have a shortcoming they

[2:28]feel like there's a huge Rock a boulder that's about to fall

[2:32]on their head however the munathak the person who is not God

[2:38]conscious this person for them a sin it bothers them but it's

[2:43]not that dangerous it's not that critical it's like a fly annoying

[2:49]them that's what it is so here if a person feels that

[2:51]they need to reach that sense of spirituality then this is a

[2:57]very good thing this is a a problem that means you're awake

[3:00]that means you're alert and you want to have a better and

[3:06]healthier relationship with Allah because the person who doesn't care about a

[3:11]relationship with God would not even ask this question they would not

[3:13]even be worried about this Allah describes the Hypocrites when they stand

[3:24]up for prayer they are lazy they're dragging their feet and then

[3:29]they do it for the sake of people if someone's watching me

[3:34]I'm going to pray my best prayer if no one's watching me

[3:36]then I'm going to pray like supersonic so this is this is

[3:43]one group of people but then there's another where Allah describes the

[3:49]meaning the real Believers Allah says in the Quran the Believers they

[4:02]are the Victorious successful ones who are they the first sign of

[4:06]Iman the first sign of faith and belief is to have in

[4:12]your prayer meaning you focus on your prayer you're invested in that

[4:16]prayer you try to make it be a prayer that brings you

[4:21]closer to Allah now when it comes to the lack of spirituality

[4:27]when it comes to the struggling and being connected in prayer this

[4:32]is a very normal problem to have in fact every single person

[4:39]has that problem every single person has that struggle because we have

[4:46]two enemies one is an exterior enemy an outside enemy and the

[4:51]second is the internal the first is Iblis shaytan shaytan he has

[4:57]made a vow with God that he will try to derail every

[5:04]single person that tries to pray every single person that tries to

[5:07]have a relationship with God shaytan will try to bring this person

[5:11]away Allah says in the Quran say on behalf of shaytan what

[5:17]shaytan said after he was expelled from the mercy of Allah when

[5:26]he refused to prostrate to Adam Allah kicked him out of his

[5:32]Mercy then he says by Your glory I'm going to mislead all

[5:36]of them he tries to mislead the children of Adam in another

[5:42]verse Allah says I'm going to bring them out of the Sarat

[5:52]the straight path shaytan tries to push us away and bring us

[5:59]further from Allah this is why when we pray that's the closest

[6:06]you have with God so when you're praying that's the time that

[6:09]shaytan is going to try to derail you this is why you

[6:15]find many people their mind is clear the whole day but as

[6:17]soon as they go and they say Allahu Akbar what happens all

[6:24]of the thoughts come I found where I lost my keys what

[6:30]should I have for dinner tomorrow what should I do oh this

[6:32]person they were looking at me this way they were saying this

[6:36]and all of these thoughts that come in our head as soon

[6:38]as we say Allahu Akbar when I'm sitting and watching my favorite

[6:41]show on TV I don't have these thoughts but as soon as

[6:46]I say Allah you know why you have that is trying to

[6:52]bring us away from Allah this is why the place of prayer

[6:57]is called why is it called because you're entering into you're entering

[7:04]into a battle with shaytan shaitaan is trying to bring you away

[7:08]shaitaan is trying to get you to not focus so this is

[7:13]why we have to try to work on increasing that focus in

[7:17]the prayer now of course it's really difficult he says that if

[7:23]a person prays two rakas just two rakas and only focuses on

[7:31]God and no other thought this person goes to Paradise if a

[7:36]person and another Hadith if a person prays to rakas at night

[7:42]and paying attention to Allah paying attention to their prayer this two

[7:48]three minute prayer this is better than praying the whole night with

[7:53]a disturbed mind with a mind that is not paying attention because

[7:56]when it comes to ibadah when it comes to spirituality it's all

[8:03]about quality don't focus on quantity some people they focus on quantity

[8:06]okay I have to do this and this and it's a checkoff

[8:10]list there's no meaning there's no understanding that's just I have to

[8:14]do this I have to do that what I tell them is

[8:18]focus on one thing there's a long Dua pick one page of

[8:22]that Dua focus on it read it try to understand it try

[8:25]to contemplate the meaning of it that is better for you than

[8:27]reading the whole Dua but you didn't understand anything it's all about

[8:32]quality so this is one don't allow shaytan to come the Second

[8:37]Battle that we have who are we battling we're battling shaytan and

[8:42]who's the other ourselves you're nuts Allah says in the Quran there's

[8:55]a dimension of the Soul there's three dimensions of the Soul there's

[8:59]the nafsa there's enough the dimension of the soul that is pushing

[9:07]us to disobey Allah pushing us to please our desires pushing us

[9:13]eat this drink this do this talk to this person it's a

[9:16]Haram relationship it's okay all of these this is shaytan this is

[9:23]shaytan you know a lot of times we do wrong and we

[9:27]say yeah shaytan fooled me but in reality it wasn't shaitaan it

[9:30]was me I didn't have control of myself shaytan comes and brings

[9:35]these thoughts shaytan tries to beautify the sin however sometimes it's us

[9:40]we have to be very careful and this is why we need

[9:47]to discipline the soul the soul requires discipline it requires it requires

[9:51]to be disciplined exercise of the Soul he could have lived a

[9:59]very comfortable extravagant life he could have eaten the best food lived

[10:04]the best life everything chose to live a simple life why they

[10:08]would ask him he would tell them he says my nafs I

[10:26]exercise it the same way if someone tells you in a month

[10:31]you have to run in a marathon you have to go and

[10:32]run for 10 miles you have to go and run for 15

[10:37]miles are you just going to say okay just wake me up

[10:40]the day before of course not you're going to start practicing some

[10:43]people a year in advance some people longer they start practicing getting

[10:48]themselves their body physically ready so that when it comes time to

[10:54]go in the marathon they're ready well what about our nafs what

[10:59]about our soul are we working on the soul are we exercising

[11:01]the soul the soul requires exercise the same way the body does

[11:07]and this is why the month of Ramadan it's a two-dimensional exercise

[11:10]you have the soul on one side the duas the spirituality and

[11:14]on the other side you have the body as well you teach

[11:20]your body to not eat to not go after the pleasures as

[11:22]soon as you want this makes you a stronger person this makes

[11:27]you a person who's able to overcome the desires and Allah says

[11:31]in the Quran if you are able to control your naps and

[11:34]overcome the desires then you will definitely go to paradise the one

[11:50]who didn't care and they transgressed their ending is Jaheim however foreign

[12:09]and stopped the soul from falling into the desires this person now

[12:20]my dear brothers and sisters the question that we are asking is

[12:28]why can't I connect with God many people ask this question why

[12:31]do I not feel that sense of connection when I do Dua

[12:34]when I pray comes and my mind is distracted I don't feel

[12:38]it sometimes some of us one tear is hard to come out

[12:43]and you know the power of that tear that tear will extinguish

[12:46]oceans of fire that tear could transform your life but my life

[12:53]has been too stuck I don't feel that spirituality I don't feel

[12:57]that sense of connection what is the solution of course there are

[13:06]many solutions but I wanted to take an excerpt from one of

[13:09]the most beautiful duas of imams that is recited on the nights

[13:17]during the Sahar hours of the holy month of Ramadan and that

[13:21]is this beautiful Dua in fact this is not a Dua this

[13:30]is more than a Dua this is called munajat what is or

[13:36]the whispered secret prayers between you and Allah because if it's at

[13:43]that time of the day that time of the night right before

[13:46]Fajr you're not going to be sitting with many people it's going

[13:50]to be something between you and Allah this is a dial this

[13:53]is an intimate conversation this is an intimate dialogue if I have

[13:59]a friend sometimes I talk to this person in public but if

[14:02]I have someone who's so close to me I have an intimate

[14:06]conversation with this person no one is hearing this is a this

[14:12]is the language of love this is directly Heart to Heart speaking

[14:15]and this is he narrates this Dua from Imam a very beautiful

[14:33]daughter I encourage you all to read this dog read the translation

[14:39]of this dot to try to read even a paragraph of this

[14:43]dog you don't have to read the whole thing one paragraph a

[14:47]day and try to contemplate the meanings of this beautiful Dua here

[14:52]in this beautiful supplication he addresses certain problems that we have he

[15:00]addresses certain problems and issues that we have one of them is

[15:06]the problem and the challenge of being spiritually disconnected with Allah this

[15:11]is a big problem that we have many people in society right

[15:16]now why do you see there's so much anxiety and stress and

[15:20]depression and and school shootings and all of these problems out there

[15:25]why one of them is that there's no connection with God there's

[15:29]no spirituality people their lives are void they go and they try

[15:34]to fill that void with money fill that void with cars with

[15:40]houses with PlayStation with all these things but then it doesn't fill

[15:45]it because there's a spot in all of our hearts and that

[15:48]is for Allah we have to leave room for spirituality if we

[15:54]don't then we will fall and we will suffer and we will

[15:56]face more and more challenges in life he says why is it

[16:08]that I feel spiritually disconnected of course the Imam is saying this

[16:12]for us of course the Imam is always connected he says [Music]

[16:48]it says why is it that every time I want to do

[16:54]Dua every time I want to supplicate every time I want to

[16:59]have a stronger relationship with with you I either get tired I

[17:03]get sleepy something comes in the way and it distracts me from

[17:07]that relationship with Allah I get close to the Toba what happens

[17:21]something comes in the way and it distracts me and it brings

[17:28]me further away from Allah he points out certain specific reasons some

[17:36]reasons why do we go through this disconnect first he says Maybe

[17:50]I am not worthy of the mercy of Allah and this is

[17:58]a big statement God is the most merciful god is the most

[18:02]compassionate but maybe I have done something that has kicked me out

[18:09]of the mercy of the most merciful what is that it's our

[18:14]lifestyles it's our habits it's the wrong doings that we do that

[18:21]kick us out of the mercy of Allah Allah does not kick

[18:24]people out of his Mercy easily you have to be doing something

[18:30]that is so great to be kicked out of the mercy of

[18:34]Allah and that's why we feel the disconnect I have been kicked

[18:42]out of the mercy of Allah another reason maybe you saw that

[18:59]I don't appreciate that relationship with you that means we don't prioritize

[19:08]God I prioritize this person if they call me I make sure

[19:11]I answer right away if I have an appointment with this person

[19:15]I make sure I I take care of that if I'm going

[19:17]to meet someone I make sure I'm dressed in my best clothing

[19:21]I put on my best cologne I want to go and talk

[19:25]to other people so that I could please them if my boss

[19:27]needs me if my friends need me if someone needs me I

[19:32]run to them but when Allah gives me an appointment five times

[19:36]a day Allah says come to me come to me and I

[19:40]will talk to you ask me whatever you need I reject that

[19:49]I belittle God you know how much it hurts if you have

[19:55]a friend and that friend you thought they were your friend but

[19:57]they belittle you they don't care about that relationship with you they

[20:01]go and they they'll take care of everyone else's needs but they'll

[20:05]neglect you and you're giving them everything it hurts we do that

[20:11]to Allah Allah gives us an appointment five times a day Allah

[20:16]gives us the whole month of Ramadan this is the gates of

[20:18]Mercy are open but we don't care we don't care about this

[20:23]relationship and then he says maybe I am doing meaning I'm rejecting

[20:43]that relationship with God and then I come and I say why

[20:49]do I feel disconnected because my whole life my whole lifestyle is

[20:53]disconnected with God and then I want to come one night out

[20:56]of the year and I want to say spirituality is not a

[20:59]light switch where you come and suddenly you have it you need

[21:02]to build on it you need to grow it you need to

[21:07]work on it but my whole life I'm doing I'm rejecting Allah

[21:11]therefore Allah says you are going to suffer the consequences of your

[21:16]own lifestyle otherwise the doors of God are always open the doors

[21:21]of Mercy are always open foreign Allah gives us the Quran but

[21:50]we reject the Quran we don't read the Quran we don't have

[21:56]a relationship with the words of God the Quran is the words

[22:00]of God the almighty the one who created the sun and the

[22:02]universe and the stars and everything that we want is in the

[22:07]hands of Allah he gave us this book this Manual of Life

[22:10]use it in your life use it let it build you let

[22:14]it help bring you closer let it build a better life for

[22:17]you not only with a better life the Quran is a book

[22:22]of success in this life and in the afterlife however we reject

[22:27]it and if we reject it we suffer the consequences in this

[22:31]life and in the afterlife Allah says in the Quran in another

[22:35]verse the one who rejects the thicker of the Rahman the thicker

[22:50]of Allah there's a shaytan that's going to be attached to this

[22:54]person why because I've rejected the protection of God I've rejected the

[22:59]protection of the Angels if those who are remembering God Allah will

[23:03]send angels to protect them Allah says those who are with God

[23:22]Allah will send the angels to protect them but those who don't

[23:25]have God shaytan will come and what will shaytan do and [Applause]

[23:37]he'll be your Kareen meaning we'll be with you wherever you go

[23:43]fooling you misleading you bringing you away from the truth so Allah

[23:49]we have to be very careful that we're not doing that we're

[23:54]not rejecting the signs of Allah and the Quran and the remembrance

[24:01]foreign maybe you saw that I'm a liar I lied to myself

[24:14]I lie to other people I lie to God I keep saying

[24:19]I'm going to become a better person I keep making false promises

[24:24]I keep saying this I will do this and I will do

[24:27]that and I don't at the end of the day if you

[24:32]have a friend who keeps making a promise once and then they

[24:35]fall back and then twice they fall back three times four times

[24:37]five times they keep breaking their promise what are you going to

[24:42]call that friend well to call that friend a liar you're not

[24:45]going to believe that friend anymore how is our relationship with God

[24:53]when we make promises with Allah are we fulfilling our end of

[24:57]the deal because God will fulfill his end of the deal Allah

[25:00]Allah does not deceitful Allah wants us to be guided so this

[25:08]is one and then he says why is it that I don't

[25:20]feel spiritually connected because I don't appreciate the blessings of God upon

[25:24]me I'm always complaining why do I have to have this why

[25:26]is this why is my house like this why is my car

[25:29]like this why is we're always complaining I'm not happy I'm not

[25:36]thankful because of the lifestyle that I choose to live and therefore

[25:39]that means I'm not even appreciating what God has given me if

[25:44]I'm not appreciating then how can I want to have more from

[25:49]Allah thank God for what he has given you say alhamdulillah thank

[25:54]the people in your life thanking and appreciation is not only with

[25:58]God it's also about the people in your life a husband should

[26:04]thank his wife a wife should thank her husband the children should

[26:07]thank their parents thank your neighbor thank your friends your community members

[26:13]show appreciation to other people if I show appreciation to another person

[26:18]to a friend this friendship will last forever but if I don't

[26:23]show appreciation to a friend this relationship is going to die if

[26:26]a husband and wife they show appreciation to one another then this

[26:30]relationship will be solid it will be strong but if they don't

[26:35]that relationship will die and the same goes with Allah because I

[26:45]didn't thank you so then you you took away the pleasure of

[26:52]having more and Allah says in the Quran meaning not thinking God

[27:11]is at the same level as kufur blasphemy and Allah is not

[27:16]always always in the tongue saying I don't believe in God sometimes

[27:20]it's through actions by not showing appreciation to Allah and one of

[27:27]the most important teachings of Islam is to appreciate you know here

[27:31]in America they celebrate Thanksgiving one day one day out of the

[27:36]Year Thanksgiving is celebrated in Islam every day should be Thanksgiving every

[27:39]day with the exception of the turkey of course we don't want

[27:44]you to clog your arteries but Thanksgiving meaning that you have to

[27:50]thank Allah thank people in your lives this is what we have

[27:52]to do this is why when we pray why do Muslims pray

[27:55]five times a day because we're thanking God because we're showing appreciation

[27:59]to God this is why we pray so Allah I'm not in

[28:18]the magialis in the sessions where God is remembered this means sitting

[28:25]in a session where God is remembered you see many people they

[28:31]would rather go and sit in a place where the cards are

[28:33]being played the music is on the argilas there and no just

[28:40]the having the fun but you come and you tell them come

[28:43]listen to a lecture come be reminded of God we don't want

[28:51]that that's boring I sit here do this do that this is

[28:52]halal this is macro no one wants that but yes if I

[28:57]don't have that and that means I'm not going to have that

[29:00]connection with God because my mind is going to be always thinking

[29:06]about other things I'm always going to be thinking about the stock

[29:09]market always thinking about business always thinking about entertainment I'm never thinking

[29:15]about the Akra I am from the neglectful I have rafala some

[29:34]some of us if I missed my federal prayer it's okay it's

[29:37]not a big deal I live my life sometimes oh I look

[29:42]at my watch I haven't prayed my Lord and has a prayer

[29:44]I haven't prayed my mother prayer I'm not aware because I have

[29:52]other priorities in my mind is [Music] that remind me of God

[30:08]but I would rather go and sit in these are the sessions

[30:16]of no remembrance of God the sessions where we're just laughing and

[30:19]enjoying it now I'm not saying don't ever do that no sometimes

[30:22]you want to have some fun you want to sit with friends

[30:26]but don't let that be your whole life some people the whole

[30:29]month of Ramadan every night Sahara every night sitting with friends and

[30:36]then you come and you tell them they start making up so

[30:42]many excuses right this is how some people are from meaning sitting

[30:50]in a session where nothing comes out of it you sit for

[30:54]four or five hours and then when you leave what did I

[30:57]benefit from this what came out of this session nothing and probably

[31:00]there was riba there was backbiting there was gossip there was talking

[31:07]about other people so this is why we have to make sure

[31:09]that we're in the right crowd make sure that you choose who

[31:14]or you're spending time with especially during the nights of the month

[31:18]of Ramadan now during any time of the year it's okay but

[31:21]during Ramadan this is an opportunity so now once we make these

[31:30]changes in our lives then we will feel the spirituality he mentions

[31:34]the problem and the solution this is the problem why can't I

[31:39]feel connect why do I not feel connected because I am living

[31:43]a lifestyle of Disconnect with Allah now of course change these lifestyle

[31:52]choices and you will see that your Salah and your spirituality will

[31:56]become like that it will be stronger it will be closer to

[32:03]Allah he used to wait for the time of prayer when it

[32:10]comes time to prayer he used to call Bilal and he used

[32:14]to tell him he used to say in Allah Allah made Salah

[32:26]the joy of my eyes and he brought it dear to my

[32:33]heart he used to say that a person a hungry person when

[32:36]they're hungry they eat and then they're not hungry anymore or if

[32:39]they're thirsty they drink they're not thirsty anymore but then he says

[32:45]but me I keep praying and praying and praying and I keep

[32:48]yearning for the Salah I keep yearning to have more prayer to

[32:56]spend more quality time my dear brothers and sisters this is just

[33:01]one short paragraph from Ali and look at the benefits that it

[33:08]has in us look at how if we truly analyze these duas

[33:11]look at how we start reassessing our lives try to take advantage

[33:18]of this beautiful duas of the imams of the Salam and try

[33:21]to increase that spirituality we ask Allah to bless you all and

[33:29]let us raise our hands on all of those who have sponsored

[34:43]and donated and supported these programs we ask Allah to bless them

[34:48]and we send Surat Al mubarakat for their souls

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