Guarding Our Faith Until the Finish Line - Sayed Saleh Qazwini

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[0:00]Oh, a shadow.

[0:11][Music] A [Music] shadow one.

[0:36][Music] I don't Hey,ch.

[0:57][Music] [Laughter] [Music] Amen.

[1:35]Allahbarill [Music] Allah.

[2:00]Oh, alhamdulillah.

[2:23]Alhamdulillah.

[2:25]Ambassador [Music] Ali Muhammad Muhammad Aliham.

[3:09]Mhammed.

[3:15][Music] Respected brothers and sisters, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you

[3:51]all on this beautiful Friday.

[3:55]One of the most important realities that every believer needs to recognize

[4:05]is that iman And having faith is not something that one can

[4:15]hold on to permanently.

[4:18]Holding on to iman sometimes it could become stronger, it could increase

[4:27]and sometimes a person's iman can decrease.

[4:32]And sometimes if someone is not careful then their whole iman will

[4:41]go away.

[4:40]It's not something that is guaranteed to remain forever in someone's life

[4:47]and in someone's heart.

[4:48]And this is something that makes holding on to faith and having

[4:55]that iman, it makes it something that is difficult because every day

[5:00]it might be fluctuating.

[5:01]It might go up, it might go less, it might become very

[5:07]high one day and it might totally go away.

[5:10]They mention an example of two individuals, two men that walk into

[5:18]the masjid.

[5:18]One walks in as a mman and ends up leaving as a

[5:27]fas and the other enters the door as a and ends up

[5:32]leaving as a mu.

[5:35]How?

[5:34]It all depends on your attitude towards im your attitude towards Allah

[5:40]subhana wa ta'ala.

[5:41]Maybe the one that walked in as a believer had that feeling

[5:46]of I have done so much.

[5:48]I have done so much worship.

[5:50]I have given so much charity.

[5:54]I have done so much.

[5:54]And they have that arrogant attitude towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

[5:59]They end up leaving the masjid as a one that enters as

[6:06]a sinner.

[6:08]Someone that maybe my life was not perfect.

[6:09]Maybe my life did not go in the way that I wanted

[6:13]it to go.

[6:15]But I feel ashamed of myself.

[6:15]I feel guilty.

[6:17]I will take on the responsibility and you end up leaving the

[6:23]masjid as a mu.

[6:24]So this is what happens with iman.

[6:29]It is constantly fluctuating and this is why the Quran reminds us

[6:34]of this very important dua.

[6:40]Oh Allah, do not deviate our hearts after you have guided us.

[6:48]This is a dua that we have to repeat every day because

[6:53]having iman, yes, I'm a mman.

[6:55]I'm a follower of the I pray.

[6:59]I do this and I do that.

[7:00]But there's no guarantee that this is going to remain forever if

[7:02]I don't work hard on it.

[7:05]If I don't protect my iman, just like your health, just like

[7:08]anything that you have, if you don't take care of it, if

[7:10]you don't maintain it, it could go away.

[7:13]And if you preserve it, it can become stronger.

[7:16]So this is something that is very important for us to be

[7:23]very careful of where sometimes someone's iman can increase and at other

[7:29]times someone's iman can decrease.

[7:32]And what's important is the ending.

[7:34]And this is why the of he says meaning Allah subhanahu wa

[7:43]ta'ala don't look at yourself right now.

[7:46]Allah subhana wa ta'ala is going to look at what you turn

[7:49]in at the end finish line what happens at that day.

[7:55]And this is why it's very important for us to preserve our

[7:59]faith until the last moment until the last step.

[8:04]Maybe someone 80 years of their life they were living as a

[8:06]mman but maybe the last year they deviated.

[8:09]Is that a possibility?

[8:12]Yes, it is a possibility.

[8:13]Are there examples of this?

[8:13]There are real examples of this.

[8:15]And maybe at times someone for 80 years of their life they're

[8:21]living a life that is far from God.

[8:24]But then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guides this person and this person

[8:29]changes their course in their life and they end up becoming more

[8:32]pious and a greater believer than the the others.

[8:36]This is something that is very possible.

[8:38]And the finish line my dear brothers and sisters is until the

[8:42]moment of death.

[8:44]And who knows what happens until the moment of death.

[8:48]Who knows what's going to happen to a person?

[8:49]And Allah subhana wa ta'ala says this in the Quran.

[8:58]You are struggling and striving to get closer and closer to your

[9:04]Lord until you meet Allah.

[9:05]That is the finish line.

[9:06]That is where we have to be careful.

[9:08]Maybe right now I look at myself.

[9:10]Alhamdulillah, I prayed.

[9:12]I gave charity.

[9:12]I did this.

[9:14]I did that.

[9:16]I become too proud of myself and that pride it ends up

[9:19]damaging me.

[9:20]That pride ends up hurting me.

[9:22]That pride ends up bringing me further away from Allah subhanahu wa

[9:26]ta'ala.

[9:28]And from the most clearest of realities of the human being is

[9:37]that the human being is constantly shifting.

[9:38]where some people are constantly maybe getting closer to God or some

[9:45]people are losing.

[9:44]We're not always stagnant.

[9:47]We're not always staying the same.

[9:49]And the same could be said about communities.

[9:50]Allah subhana wa ta'ala gives us examples of whole communities that deviated.

[9:56]Whole communities that were blessed that were honored by Allah subhanahu wa

[10:01]ta'ala yet they were deviated.

[10:03]One example Allah subhana wa ta'ala mentions this in the Quran is

[10:11]the Israelites how they were the chosen beings of God where Allah

[10:15]subhanana wa ta'ala blessed them with miracle after miracle countless blessings from

[10:20]Allah subhanana wa ta'ala they crossed the sea with prophet Musa alisam

[10:24]where Allah subhana wa t'ala split the ocean for them Allah gave

[10:28]them food from the heavens and then as soon as they were

[10:32]safe from they come and they tell MS.

[10:35]They passed by groups of people that were worshiping idols.

[10:39]They come and they tell MS we want to see our God.

[10:47]Basically going back to idol worship and MS tells them you saw

[10:52]all of the miracles from Allah subhana wa ta'ala.

[10:53]Now you come and you want to see an idol.

[10:57]But they kept that in them.

[11:01]Ma leaves them for 40 days.

[11:03]He leaves them for 40 days to go to the mikat and

[11:08]he comes back and he sees that they are worshiping a golden

[11:12]calf.

[11:13]They came and they put all of their gold and their jewelry.

[11:15]They came with a samur he fooled them.

[11:19]He comes and he made a sound that comes out of this

[11:25]golden calf and they began to worship it.

[11:28]They began to worship a golden calf.

[11:30]So this is why just two days ago the Jews were celebrating

[11:34]and commemorating Yom Kapur.

[11:36]What does Yom Kapoor mean?

[11:38]It means the day of the day of asking for forgiveness.

[11:41]Asking for forgiveness from what?

[11:43]From that first crime and that first sin that was committed.

[11:49]Now when the Quran mentions these stories and the Quran mentions other

[11:52]stories, it's not to come and mock a community or speak about

[11:55]a community.

[11:56]The Quran is saying you Muslims you must be careful as well

[11:58]because you the same problems the same tests you could fall in

[12:04]as well.

[12:05]And this is what happened.

[12:06]You see one nation came the J the Jews and then came

[12:08]after them the Christians.

[12:11]Allah sent to them a prophet a prophet that was a great

[12:14]prophet.

[12:15]A prophet that would have miracles daily miracles in front of them.

[12:20]Prophet Isaam.

[12:22]As soon as Isa was raised, then they made Isa the object

[12:28]of worship and they began to worship Isa.

[12:36]They took their priests and their leaders as lords other than Allah

[12:42]subhana wa t'ala.

[12:45]And there's another example and that example strikes closer to home and

[12:49]that is the example of the Muslims after was the Muslim community

[12:55]immune.

[12:56]Was the Muslim community perfect?

[12:57]Today there are some Muslims they'll read the Quran.

[12:59]Yes, Benny is this and the Christians this.

[13:02]But don't talk about the Muslims.

[13:03]The Muslims were perfect.

[13:06]No.

[13:07]Go and read the history.

[13:08]Go and read the wars.

[13:09]Go and read the suffering that took place and the very family

[13:13]of the prophet they were the ones who paid the first price.

[13:15]We're these coming days are going to be the days of Fatya

[13:24]Fatam according to narrations either 45 days or 75 days or 95

[13:30]days she lived after.

[13:31]These are the narrations.

[13:34]So what does that mean?

[13:35]That means that the the um turned against the family of the

[13:41]prophet just as other nations deviated.

[13:43]You find some within the Muslim community that also deviated.

[13:46]So this is why my dear brothers and sisters, the Quran constantly

[13:50]reminds us to always ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala for haya.

[13:58]Always ask Allah for guidance.

[13:59]And there are several things that could take away a person's iman,

[14:03]that could take away a person's guidance.

[14:06]But one of the most dangerous is to have that level of

[14:10]arrogance, that level of pride.

[14:14]When a person reaches the level of iman and they come and

[14:18]they say, "That's it.

[14:19]I already did this.

[14:19]I already I don't need that guidance anymore." But that's not true.

[14:23]We are in constant need of haya and guidance from Allah subhanahu

[14:30]wa ta'ala.

[14:29]And this is why the prophets teach us to perform this dua.

[14:37]Oh Allah, do not allow us to deviate after we have been

[14:44]guided after you have guided us.

[14:45]And the ha comes from Allah subhana wa ta'ala.

[14:51]Don't ever falsely assume that you are responsible for your own guidance.

[14:56]So today sometimes the pride takes over us and if I do

[15:02]one good deed, if I do something that people clap for me

[15:04]and they reward me, I come and I say I did this

[15:07]myself.

[15:08]No, this is this is a fatal error that the insan could

[15:10]fall in when we start attributing credit for ourselves and we start

[15:19]saying I am the one that guided myself.

[15:21]No.

[15:24]Also in another verse alhamdulillah [Music] it is God that guided me.

[15:36]Anything good that I do comes from Allah subhana wa t'ala and

[15:39]if it were not for God then I would not have been

[15:44]guided [Music] Alhamdulillah.

[16:11]Alhamdulillah.

[16:25]forham.

[16:42]Ali Muhammaduhammed Ali Muhammad Ali Muhammad Forej Hussein Muhammad Mushammed.

[17:48]My dear brothers and sisters, continuing the topic of haya and guidance

[17:56]and how haya is something that is not stable.

[17:58]Sometimes it goes up iman sometimes goes up, sometimes comes down and

[18:06]if I don't take care of it, it could go just like

[18:12]a person's health.

[18:10]If I am not being consistent in my eating behavior, in my

[18:15]diet, in my exercise, slowly I will find myself.

[18:20]You don't see it immediately, but if you look at yourself, for

[18:23]example, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years down the line,

[18:28]you see that there's a shift.

[18:30]You see that there's a change.

[18:31]And this is how a person's iman, how a person's faith can

[18:38]either go up and improve as a result of the lifestyle or

[18:41]it could decrease.

[18:43]And this is why I should not be one who says, "Alhamdulillah,

[18:46]I'm M.

[18:47]I was born in a Muslim family.

[18:49]I'm a believer.

[18:52]We we are practicing and that's it.

[18:55]Alhamdulillah, I don't need to do anything else." No, it's something that

[18:59]needs constant maintenance.

[19:00]It needs constant care.

[19:03]And this is why we see in the Quran every day we

[19:06]recite this verse.

[19:09]Guide me to the straight path.

[19:12]Now, someone might come and say, "But I'm already guided.

[19:14]Why do I need to be guided again?

[19:16]Allah subhana wa ta'ala, I know, I believe in God.

[19:20]I believe in the prophets.

[19:21]I believe in the imams.

[19:23]I believe in the day of judgment.

[19:25]I pray.

[19:24]I do everything.

[19:25]Why should I ask Allah for guidance every day?" But you see

[19:28]this is a dua that we repeat every day.

[19:31]Multiple times in every salah we repeat this.

[19:35]Why?

[19:36]Because we are in constant need of guidance.

[19:40]We are in constant need of that protection from Allah subhana wa

[19:45]ta'ala.

[19:46]And without it we would fell immediately.

[19:49]Sall who's the greatest of God's creation.

[19:53]His wife says I would see him.

[19:56]He would get up in the middle of the night and he

[20:00]performs and in his he is crying and he is saying, "Oh

[20:10]Allah, do not leave me on my own.

[20:13]Not even for a blink of an eye.

[20:17]Not even for that split moment.

[20:19]Do not leave me on my own." And this is true.

[20:21]We are in constant need of Allah subhana wa ta'ala.

[20:24]The moment I start saying well I am good I don't need

[20:29]God I've done the guidance myself I've done this I did this

[20:32]this I that a lot of us have this is what destroys

[20:36]us this is what destroyed shaitan this is what destroyed and this

[20:40]is what destroys many people many good people that you thought they

[20:43]were good but because of that arrogance because of that pride because

[20:49]of that I me me they end up destroying everything that they

[20:52]have because in the They come and they look at their books

[20:55]of deeds.

[20:56]Allah subhana wa tala is going to tell this person, you did

[21:00]not do this, you did this for me.

[21:04]You did this for yourself and for yourself.

[21:06]You already told people, give me the credit and people gave you

[21:09]the credit.

[21:09]You announced that you deserve the credit for it.

[21:11]Therefore, you already you didn't do it for God.

[21:16]You did it for yourself.

[21:15]You're not going to find it in your book of deeds.

[21:19]This is why my dear brothers and sisters, we need to preserve

[21:22]our iman.

[21:23]We need to take care of it.

[21:25]Just like a baby, just like you have a baby, you need

[21:29]to nurture that baby.

[21:29]You need to take care of that baby.

[21:30]You need to allow it to grow.

[21:35]You need to give it steps, slow steps so that it increases

[21:38]and it becomes better.

[21:38]Some of us I come, you see the whole year I don't

[21:42]show up, I want to come and pull a allnighter.

[21:47]Doesn't work like that.

[21:47]It needs consistency.

[21:51]It needs a good flow.

[21:52]It needs nurturing.

[21:55]Just like a doctor would tell you for your health, just like

[21:57]in your business, just like in your work, just like in your

[22:02]school, you need to maintain and slowly grow your iman.

[22:04]Now, what are some ways that we could grow our iman?

[22:08]One is to live a practicing religious life.

[22:13]That's it.

[22:14]When you are practicing your faith, when you're praying five times a

[22:19]day, when you're fasting during the month of Ramadan, when you make

[22:25]an effort to attend the masjid on Fridays, to go to duat,

[22:28]listen to dua on Thursday nights, when you live that routine lifestyle,

[22:32]you might see it that this is a boring life.

[22:36]This is something that's not even doing anything to me.

[22:40]But that is having a huge impact in preserving your iman and

[22:44]preserving that haya and preserving that guidance because that is the consistency

[22:49]that you need and Allah this is why Allah subhana ta has

[22:54]made salah obligatory upon us five times a day this is why

[22:56]Allah subhana wa ta'ala tells me to give charity this is why

[22:58]Allah subhana wa ta'ala tells me to be consistent in my faith

[23:04]because consistency is key Allah subhana wa ta'ala says Allah says as

[23:18]long as you pray, you carry on that routine schedule of praying

[23:22]your five daily prayers and Allah mentions here as long as you

[23:31]do that then you are actually protecting yourself from the harms.

[23:35]It's slowly clearing and and purifying yourself and it removes any harm

[23:42]that you have.

[23:44]These good deeds, you might look at it as a very routine,

[23:50]very boring schedule, but actually that boring schedule, that's what's protecting you

[23:54]from the hellfire.

[23:55]That's what's protecting you from being and falling astray because that's the

[24:01]way of purifying yourself.

[24:01]One day, a man came to the prophet.

[24:03]I've mentioned this before.

[24:06]He comes to and he tells him I committed a sin.

[24:10]Allah tells him, "Do you pray your your prayers in the masjid?

[24:14]Do you are you consistent in your salah?" The man said, "Yes,

[24:16]I come to the masjid every day." Allah tells him, "Then that's

[24:22]fine.

[24:20]That's your way of just by doing that, just by being consistent

[24:27]in that, Allah subhana wa ta'ala will forgive you." This is number

[24:32]one.

[24:33]Number two, after having that righteous lifestyle, number two, we need to

[24:40]make it a habit to doar, we need to make it a

[24:45]habit to repent to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

[24:47]Sometimes some people they say why should I do?

[24:50]I should only doar when I know I have committed a sin.

[24:55]But no, we have to make it a habit to doar every

[24:57]day because how many times have I committed wrong?

[25:00]Have I said something wrong?

[25:02]Have I listened to the wrong?

[25:03]Have I participated in something that might be wrong and I forgot

[25:09]to repent for?

[25:08]This is why we have to make it a habit to always

[25:13]ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for forgiveness.

[25:16]And when we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when we do toba,

[25:20]that is one of the ways of purifying the heart and it

[25:26]humbles a person.

[25:26]I don't become arrogant.

[25:29]I don't become arrogant over the sin and o with Allah subhanahu

[25:32]wa ta'ala.

[25:34]So this is why we should not do aar just once a

[25:36]year or just once a month or once a week.

[25:39]No, do it every day.

[25:42]the the the greatest of God's creation he used to do at

[25:48]least 70 times a day because if you pray in it in

[25:53]the it has at least 70ar used to do that every day

[25:59]this is other than the other that people do and when we

[26:05]do that we are teaching ourselves that I need to constantly repent

[26:09]to Allah subhanana wa ta'ala I to constantly ask Allah for forgiveness.

[26:14]And by doing, I'm fixing the dynamics of that relationship.

[26:21]You know, just two days ago or yesterday, I saw a tweet

[26:24]from one of these rabbis.

[26:25]He's a famous rabbi here in America.

[26:27]He's always on TV.

[26:30]He said, "As we repent, this Yam Kapoor from our sins, will

[26:35]God repent from his sins against the Jewish people?" He's saying, "We're

[26:42]repenting.

[26:43]Is God going to repent as well?" And this shows you the

[26:49]arrogant mentality, arrogant I arrogant view that they have towards the world,

[26:56]even towards God.

[26:55]And he comes and he says this.

[26:57]So here this is why when a person does when you do,

[27:04]you are actually teaching yourself where it needs to be.

[27:08]I even if I have not done something that is so clearly

[27:10]wrong, I need to always do aar because that is my way

[27:16]of bringing myself back where it needs to be.

[27:19]This is number two.

[27:19]And number three, my dear brothers and sisters, one of the best

[27:22]ways to keep the hay and keep the guidance in our lives

[27:29]and keep that level of iman consistent is by surrounding ourselves with

[27:35]righteous people.

[27:36]surrounding ourselves with people that will remind me of my faith.

[27:39]People that will remind me when it's salah time, remind me when

[27:44]I have done something wrong.

[27:45]And stay away from individuals that encourage you to do the wrong

[27:49]that encourage you to fall in the haram, that encourage you to

[27:55]disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

[27:57]Because the most dangerous thing that could happen to a person is

[28:01]when they have a bad friend that will mislead them, that will

[28:04]bring them away from everything that their parents raised them on.

[28:10]Anything that they believe is the right thing to do, one bad

[28:12]friend could come and delete all of that.

[28:15]So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to preserve our iman and

[28:20]increase our faith and bring us closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

[28:28]And by asking Allah by asking Allah to increase our iman that

[28:32]is one of the ways that a person's iman could remain strong

[28:38]and consistent.

[28:47]Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will giveat Allah subhana wa ta'ala will give

[28:52]strength to those who are believers and they proclaim their faith and

[28:59]they're very proud of their faith and they live that faithful ri

[29:02]lifestyle.

[29:03]Allah subhana wa ta'ala will give them that tabat and give them

[29:06]that strength.

[29:08]And my dear brothers and sisters, we are in need of doing

[29:11]dua today.

[29:12]We are living in very difficult times.

[29:14]We're living in times where we see people's faith and our faith

[29:18]is being tested every day.

[29:22]The is tested every day in terms of principles and values tested

[29:27]every day.

[29:26]So we are in need of constant guidance and haya from Allah

[29:34]subhanahu wa ta'ala.

[29:35]We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless you all to increase

[29:42]our iman to bring us closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and

[29:46]to give us that lifestyle that strengthens our faith.

[29:51]And I wanted to also be very clear that if you care

[29:55]about your faith, you have to care about your children's faith as

[29:59]well.

[30:00]And this week, inshallah, this Saturday and Sunday, we are beginning our

[30:06]Saturday and Sunday schools.

[30:06]If you have not registered your children yet, there's still time.

[30:10]You could come and register them for either the Saturday Arabic school

[30:14]or the Sunday Islamic school.

[30:17]And this is one of the ways that we could nourish and

[30:20]nurture our children to have that Islamic upbringing and that Islamic lifestyle.

[30:24]My dear brothers and sisters, we ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to

[30:28]protect you all to remove this suffering and this oppression that is

[30:36]going on across the world today.

[30:38]Today, this last week um a church was attacked, a synagogue was

[30:43]attacked, and mosques were threatened to be attacked here.

[30:47]And this is something that is unacceptable.

[30:51]Any god-fearing person does not accept any attack on places of worship.

[30:55]This is something that is wrong.

[30:57]And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala teaches us to preserve the places of

[31:01]worship and we have to defend the right for others to go

[31:04]and practice what they want.

[31:06]Yes, if they have something that you don't agree with, you call

[31:08]them out on on the wrong.

[31:09]But we don't come and discriminate against full communities and communities and

[31:15]religions.

[31:16]This is something that our religion definitely does not call upon us

[31:20]to do.

[31:21]My dear brothers and sisters, there are some ill people that are

[31:24]in need of dua that have asked for dua.

[31:26]We will um I ask you all to recite this uh verse

[31:31]three times.

[31:43]We ask Allah subhana tala to bless you all.

[32:04]Muhammad Muhammad Allahbar.

[32:18]Allahbar.

[32:30][Music] Shuhammed.

[32:36][Music] Minion.

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