Webinar Excerpt: 3 Reasons Why God is Worthy of Worship (2020-10-24) ​

0:00:05 we are here to
0:00:07 worship allah subhana wa
0:00:10 and we need to really
0:00:13 create a narrative in the dawah in
0:00:15 sharing islam
0:00:17 and not just focus on all the other the
0:00:19 other topics that we're talking about
0:00:20 which are very important of course
0:00:22 but to put a central focus on why allah
0:00:25 is worthy of worship because this was
0:00:27 the central focus
0:00:28 of the nbr of the best people have
0:00:31 walked this planet which are the
0:00:32 prophets of allah
0:00:34 so the first point
0:00:38 how we're going to answer the question
0:00:39 why worship god why is allah worthy of
0:00:41 worship
0:00:42 well let's begin with the first point
0:00:45 so we must worship allah by virtue of
0:00:48 who he is by virtue of his existence
0:00:50 which basically means
0:00:52 we must worship allah because of who
0:00:55 he is as allah makes it very clear in
0:00:58 the quran in chapter 20 verse 14
0:01:00 indeed i am god i am allah there is no
0:01:03 deity except me
0:01:04 so worship me and establish prayer for
0:01:07 my remembrance so there is no deity
0:01:09 worthy of worship except allah
0:01:12 so when we say allah is worthy of
0:01:15 worship
0:01:16 because of who he is allah is worthy of
0:01:18 worship by virtue of who he is
0:01:21 what does this really mean well let me
0:01:22 give you some thought experiments for
0:01:24 you to focus on
0:01:26 i want you to reflect on the concept of
0:01:29 praising other people
0:01:31 now we praise other people because of by
0:01:34 virtue of
0:01:35 their attributes okay take for example
0:01:39 if people like football or soccer they
0:01:42 may support a football team and they
0:01:45 might support the likes of
0:01:46 messi or ronaldo and if they're
0:01:50 fans of messi and ronaldo when they
0:01:54 when they see messier ronaldo score a
0:01:56 goal
0:01:57 they go crazy right like wow that's
0:01:59 amazing
0:02:00 that's what a great skill what a great
0:02:02 goal right
0:02:03 so what that is that's a form of praise
0:02:06 and the reason we're praising
0:02:08 messi and ronaldo is because of by
0:02:11 virtue of
0:02:12 their sporting skills their football
0:02:14 skills
0:02:15 their athletic attributes okay now
0:02:18 some of you might like mixed martial
0:02:20 arts you might like for example
0:02:22 the eagle khabib and when you when you
0:02:25 see
0:02:26 habib you know grounding and pounding
0:02:28 and you see khabib
0:02:30 getting people to tap out you go crazy
0:02:32 like wow you know when he basically
0:02:34 tapped out
0:02:35 the chicken mcgregor you see he
0:02:38 he tapped out and era went berserk and
0:02:41 you were like wow he's such an amazing
0:02:43 martial artist
0:02:45 why did you praise habib in that way you
0:02:47 praised him by virtue of because of
0:02:51 his his wrestling attributes
0:02:55 okay maybe this doesn't suit you maybe
0:02:57 you're more of a poet
0:02:58 maybe you like poetry so when you listen
0:03:00 to
0:03:01 the poet of the east iqbal and you hear
0:03:04 some of his poetry when he says
0:03:06 this one sajdah this one prostration
0:03:09 that you find so difficult
0:03:10 frees you from a thousand prostrations
0:03:13 when you hear that poem and you read
0:03:15 that poem you're like wow wow wow that's
0:03:16 so amazing and deep you give him praise
0:03:19 by virtue of because of his poetic skin
0:03:22 and attributes
0:03:23 now you might like nasheeds right maybe
0:03:26 i don't know who's a famous nasheed
0:03:27 singer
0:03:28 um i don't know just one should come to
0:03:32 mind
0:03:32 you might like you might like a
0:03:34 particular nasheed
0:03:36 uh whether it's sami yusuf or omar issa
0:03:39 or some spoken word artist like
0:03:43 muslim bilal ashley you know you hear
0:03:46 some of the words you're like wow that's
0:03:48 so deep
0:03:49 now the reason you praise them in that
0:03:51 way because you praise them because of
0:03:53 by virtue of
0:03:54 the poetic or singing attributes okay
0:03:58 you do this all the time now
0:04:02 isn't it interesting that we are
0:04:04 compelled to give
0:04:05 praise to these things and these people
0:04:08 because of their attributes
0:04:10 even though the attributes don't
0:04:12 directly benefit us in any way
0:04:14 and even those these attributes are
0:04:16 limited and flawed because nobody is
0:04:18 perfect
0:04:19 isn't it interesting that we give some
0:04:21 form of praise to these things
0:04:23 so by greater reason what kind of
0:04:26 extensive praise must we give allah
0:04:27 subhanahu wa
0:04:29 whose names and attributes are to the
0:04:31 highest degree possible
0:04:32 they are pure and perfect with no
0:04:34 deficiency and flow
0:04:36 and we give allah praise because of who
0:04:39 he is and not necessarily how he's
0:04:41 decided to express his names and
0:04:43 attributes in our lives
0:04:44 right so this shows that allah is worthy
0:04:49 of worship because of who he is or not
0:04:50 because of what he's given us
0:04:52 allah is worthy of worship because he is
0:04:54 worthy of worship allah is worthy of
0:04:56 worship because of who he is
0:04:57 allah is worthy of extensive praise by
0:05:00 virtue of because of his names and
0:05:02 attributes
0:05:03 that are perfect because if you can
0:05:05 praise other
0:05:09 limited and people and deficient
0:05:10 attributes and they don't directly
0:05:12 benefit us in any way then what does it
0:05:14 mean about praising allah
0:05:16 and praise brothers and sisters and
0:05:18 friends is a form of worship
0:05:20 as we know in um kitab the mother of the
0:05:23 quran
0:05:24 the mother of the book surah al-fatiha
0:05:26 which summarizes the quran which is a
0:05:28 summary of tawheed
0:05:29 the first verse says
0:05:33 all perfect praise and gratitude belongs
0:05:36 to allah so
0:05:38 you know this just makes so much sense
0:05:40 allah is worthy of worship because of
0:05:41 who he is and not necessarily how he's
0:05:43 decided
0:05:44 to manifest any of his bounties in our
0:05:46 life and this is why we need to move
0:05:48 away from a transactional
0:05:50 relation with allah many muslims have a
0:05:54 disgusting sorry for the use of heavy
0:05:57 language
0:05:58 but a disgraceful relationship with
0:06:01 allah subhanallah
0:06:02 ta'ala may not protect us from such i
0:06:05 would even say it's like a hidden form
0:06:06 of shirk
0:06:07 we have a peer-to-peer type of
0:06:11 transactional relation with allah as if
0:06:13 we're both
0:06:14 on the same level we're both business
0:06:16 partners now
0:06:18 for example he gives us a bit of life
0:06:20 and a bit of wife
0:06:21 and a bit of kids and a bit of wealth
0:06:24 and all of these things
0:06:26 and we give him some prayers in return
0:06:29 this is what you call a transactional
0:06:31 relationship
0:06:32 this is not the type of relationship a
0:06:34 muslim should have with allah subhanahu
0:06:35 wa ta'ala allah is worthy of worship
0:06:38 because of who he is and not how he's
0:06:40 decided to
0:06:41 give you any bounties yes allah is
0:06:44 worthy of gratitude which is
0:06:46 also a form of worship because of these
0:06:48 bounties
0:06:49 but primarily we shouldn't think it's
0:06:51 just a transactional relationship
0:06:53 you shouldn't think the only reason i
0:06:55 worship allah is because he's
0:06:57 given me some life and some some
0:07:00 wealth and a wife and kids in a car no
0:07:03 this is wrong in actual fact these are
0:07:05 bonuses which we're going to discuss a
0:07:07 little bit later
0:07:09 we should not have this transaction
0:07:10 relationship because a muslim must know
0:07:13 but allah is worthy of worship even if
0:07:15 they didn't exist
0:07:17 if the whole universe were to not exist
0:07:21 allah is still worthy of worship
0:07:22 if the whole universe were to disobey
0:07:24 allah and worship something else allah
0:07:26 is still worthy of worship it wouldn't
0:07:27 decrease in his bounty or majesty
0:07:29 if the whole universe were to worship
0:07:31 allah and everything within it
0:07:32 would worship allah it doesn't it
0:07:35 wouldn't increase his bounty or majesty
0:07:37 such as allah subhanahu wa so allah
0:07:40 is worthy of worship by virtue because
0:07:42 of who he is
0:07:44 second point allah is worthy of worship
0:07:47 because he is al-khaliq he is the
0:07:49 creator
0:07:50 he created us and sustains everything
0:07:52 allah makes us clear in the quran in
0:07:54 chapter 35 verse 3
0:07:56 allah says all mankind remember the
0:07:58 favor of allah upon you
0:08:00 is there any creator other than allah
0:08:03 who provides for you from the heaven and
0:08:04 the earth
0:08:05 there is no deity except him so how are
0:08:08 you
0:08:09 deluded now we have to understand and i
0:08:12 mentioned this yesterday
0:08:13 allah is the creator therefore he
0:08:17 gives us something in our lives that is
0:08:20 free
0:08:20 that is priceless that he gives to us at
0:08:23 every conscious moment
0:08:24 that we don't earn own or deserve and
0:08:27 what is this thing
0:08:28 it's every moment of our existence we
0:08:31 receive
0:08:31 every moment our existence and we know
0:08:33 it's priceless
0:08:34 because if i said that you had 10
0:08:36 minutes left to live
0:08:38 but in order to get another another 10
0:08:40 years you have to give me all of your
0:08:42 wealth you will throw all of
0:08:43 your wealth at me such as the priceless
0:08:45 nature of
0:08:47 life and allah gives it to us for free
0:08:50 and we don't necessarily earn own or
0:08:52 deserve it we can't
0:08:54 even create a fly even if we were to
0:08:56 come together to do so
0:08:57 so from this point of view if allah
0:08:59 gives us something priceless that is
0:09:01 free
0:09:02 at every moment of our existence how
0:09:04 should it make us feel
0:09:05 what should it evoke it should evoke
0:09:08 extreme ultimate gratitude
0:09:10 to allah and even if you don't have a
0:09:14 great life
0:09:14 you should be extremely grateful because
0:09:17 it's even the mere potential
0:09:19 of existing and this is why it's very
0:09:23 important that allah is worthy of
0:09:25 ultimate gratitude which is a form of
0:09:27 worship because allah created us and he
0:09:30 gives us
0:09:31 for free a priceless gift which is the
0:09:34 gift of life
0:09:35 every conscious moment of our existence
0:09:37 that we don't earn own or deserve
0:09:39 this is why we shouldn't be like those
0:09:41 people who receive a priceless gift
0:09:43 at every moment that we don't earn owner
0:09:47 deserve and then we end up
0:09:48 thinking the gift and not the one who
0:09:50 gave it to us
0:09:51 okay and this is why atheism and
0:09:54 and polytheism is absurd
0:09:56 it's existentially absurd because
0:09:58 there's so much to be grateful for
0:10:00 but they don't know who to be grateful
0:10:01 to right
0:10:03 it's it's an absurdity so allah is
0:10:06 worthy of worship
0:10:07 because he created us he deserves
0:10:09 ultimate gratitude because of the
0:10:11 reasons we just mentioned
0:10:12 number three allah is worthy of worship
0:10:15 because he provides us with innumerable
0:10:17 favors
0:10:18 favors that we cannot enumerate allah
0:10:20 says in the quran
0:10:21 in chapter 14 verse 34 and if you should
0:10:25 try to count the favors of allah
0:10:27 you could not enumerate them meaning you
0:10:29 cannot count them individually
0:10:30 indeed mankind is generally generally
0:10:33 most unjust and ungrateful
0:10:35 now this now i wanted to find an example
0:10:38 to
0:10:38 show that we can't count the blessings
0:10:42 of allah
0:10:42 and this is so true and we can't be
0:10:44 grateful for the blessings of allah in
0:10:46 actual fact in this particular verse i
0:10:48 believe
0:10:48 when allah mentions the favors of allah
0:10:50 it's in the singular the favor of allah
0:10:54 and this is like almost like a
0:10:55 linguistic strategy to humiliate us
0:10:57 not in in a nasty way but in a good way
0:11:00 to humble us to make us realize
0:11:02 forget blessings i can't even count one
0:11:04 blessing i can't even be grateful for
0:11:06 one blessing
0:11:06 so let me give you an example what is
0:11:08 this one blessing for instance
0:11:10 we're taking consideration a single
0:11:12 heartbeat we know if a heartbeat doesn't
0:11:15 if if a heartbeat stop then we don't
0:11:17 have any life anymore
0:11:18 so we mentioned the priceless nature of
0:11:20 life already previously
0:11:22 and our heartbeat is one of the physical
0:11:24 aspar the physical causes that allah
0:11:26 uses to keep us alive
0:11:28 now here's the challenge brothers and
0:11:29 sisters i want you to individually
0:11:30 enumerate and count each heartbeat
0:11:32 you've had in your lifetime
0:11:34 well it's practically impossible because
0:11:36 the for the first two or three years you
0:11:37 have a backlog
0:11:38 because you don't have to count right
0:11:41 when you're sleeping you can't count
0:11:42 so you have a huge backlog you
0:11:44 practically speaking you can never
0:11:46 individually count all the heartbeats
0:11:47 you're going to have in a lifetime
0:11:49 or all the heartbeats you've had thus
0:11:50 far
0:11:52 right now let's shift this a bit now be
0:11:55 individually grateful for each heartbeat
0:11:57 say thank you allah alhamdulillah for
0:12:00 each heart you've had in your lifetime
0:12:02 it's impossible you got too much of a
0:12:03 backlog and if you were able to be
0:12:05 grateful for every single heartbeat
0:12:07 you need to be grateful for the ability
0:12:09 of being grateful for every heartbeat
0:12:11 and therefore you have an infinite
0:12:12 regress of gratitude because you have to
0:12:14 be grateful for the ability to be
0:12:15 grateful
0:12:16 for the ability to be grateful for each
0:12:18 heartbeat and so on and so forth
0:12:20 so the point here is when we take one
0:12:22 small example like the heartbeat
0:12:24 we can't count them individually we
0:12:25 can't be grateful for every single
0:12:27 heartbeat individually
0:12:28 so this is an embarrassing state of
0:12:30 affairs for those people who moan and
0:12:31 groan
0:12:32 right we moan and groan sometimes don't
0:12:34 get me wrong some people you know have a
0:12:36 right to complain
0:12:37 but what i'm trying to say is generally
0:12:39 speaking especially
0:12:40 especially us folk in the in the west we
0:12:43 moan and grown
0:12:44 we're just like you know first world
0:12:46 problems isn't it my internet got down
0:12:48 on my facebook shut down or
0:12:50 you know i don't know uh you know i i
0:12:53 couldn't have three meals a day i only
0:12:54 could have two meals a day
0:12:56 right this is like ridiculous right and
0:12:58 it reminds me of a statement of a
0:13:00 scholar who said that those
0:13:01 he said what do you say about those
0:13:02 people who have one meal a day
0:13:05 he said there of the anbiya what about
0:13:07 those people have two meals a day
0:13:09 they're of the saliheen all right so the
0:13:11 first one is of the prophets the second
0:13:13 one is of the pious people
0:13:14 and then they ask what about those who
0:13:15 have three meals a day and then he
0:13:17 replied and said
0:13:18 build for them a trough because they're
0:13:21 animals yeah
0:13:23 too much food so and another scholar i
0:13:26 believe said
0:13:26 you know have mercy on yourselves you
0:13:28 know your stomach is not a food
0:13:30 plantation
0:13:32 but anyway the point i'm trying to say
0:13:33 is you know we're very ungrateful right
0:13:36 and because we think we should be
0:13:37 grateful for things like a car and a
0:13:39 house and a wife and children no
0:13:40 there are things that we're not awakened
0:13:43 to that we should be grateful for like
0:13:45 basic things like a single hobby that's
0:13:47 why i say to my family anything above a
0:13:49 heartbeat
0:13:50 is a bonus if you really internalize
0:13:52 that concept
0:13:54 really it's gonna be really it's gonna
0:13:55 be quite difficult for you to be upset
0:13:57 it's gonna be quite difficult for you to
0:13:59 uh feel sorry for yourself
0:14:01 it's going to be extremely difficult for
0:14:02 you to moan and groan like you know what
0:14:04 you know especially us born in the 80s
0:14:06 onwards you know we moan and groan about
0:14:09 everything for god's sake people
0:14:11 what's wrong with us i mean honestly
0:14:14 we're a community of
0:14:15 moanas we should be a community of
0:14:17 worshipers
0:14:18 not of moana's we moan about everything
0:14:21 subhanallah
0:14:23 and we we're supposed to be like you
0:14:24 know empowered people that are touched
0:14:27 moved and inspired by revelation
0:14:29 it's as if we haven't picked up the
0:14:30 quran before
0:14:32 well it's like we haven't read the book
0:14:34 of allah then when you read the book of
0:14:35 allah you're going to be happy
0:14:38 right as allah says that he didn't send
0:14:40 this book down to make you sad
0:14:42 talking to the prophet
0:14:45 of this is to make you happy right
0:14:48 and and one way of being happy is to
0:14:51 thank allah because what does allah say
0:14:53 in the quran
0:14:54 if if you if you if you're grateful
0:14:56 allah will give you more to be grateful
0:14:58 for
0:14:59 and you could mirror the meaning if you
0:15:00 moan allah will give you more to moan
0:15:02 about
0:15:03 right allah brothers and sisters we
0:15:05 mourn and you know and this moaning
0:15:07 has really prevented us from really
0:15:08 aspiring and reaching
0:15:10 great heights you know we're very very
0:15:12 petty look at our families sometimes
0:15:14 we're petty about inheritance where
0:15:16 petty about she said this he said that
0:15:19 fulan said this fulani said that we're
0:15:21 pity about
0:15:22 oh he's got better clothes than me we're
0:15:24 pity about oh you know
0:15:25 you know you know so many different
0:15:27 things in in our life
0:15:29 sabana focus on gratitude this this is
0:15:31 this is the approach and the state of
0:15:33 being
0:15:33 of the people of taqwa of the muttaqi
0:15:37 someone who's close to allah wa is god
0:15:40 conscious
0:15:40 they have internalized this aspect of
0:15:42 gratitude well
0:15:43 it will free you wallahi it will free
0:15:47 you
0:15:47 from this pettiness it will free you
0:15:49 from moaning and groaning
0:15:51 it will free you from sadness it would
0:15:53 free you from
0:15:54 pettiness it will free you from slumber
0:15:57 it will free you from all of these kind
0:15:59 of social diseases that prevent you from
0:16:01 becoming the person that you should
0:16:02 become
0:16:03 you know someone who calls to allah
0:16:05 someone who's an intellectual activist
0:16:07 someone who's an academic activist
0:16:08 someone who's proud of their tradition
0:16:11 and shows the light of islam in their
0:16:13 eyes in their face
0:16:15 in their soul in their actions yeah
0:16:17 enough penis wallahi brothers and
0:16:18 sisters you know it's
0:16:20 you know we need a collective
0:16:22 existential slap you know
0:16:24 uh just to wake up because if if we
0:16:26 really internalize the concept of
0:16:27 gratitude
0:16:28 and the fact that we can't be grateful
0:16:30 for even the basic favors
0:16:32 then this should make us extremely
0:16:33 extremely content
0:16:35 and free us from this pain as to move
0:16:37 forward in a very productive way as a
0:16:38 community