Today’s talk is about a Hadith of Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam that as usual would draw us closer to Allah azza wa jal. Every Hadith of Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam has a certain fragrance and taste to it and each word counts because he does not utter these words out of his own whims or desires; he utters them as a revelation from Allah azza wa jal. The hadith that we are discussing today is reported in Imam Ahmad, Sunnan Abi Da’wud and Nisaee. Mu’adh Ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam took his hand one day and said, “O Mu’adh, by Allah I love you, by Allah I love you {he repeated it twice.} I advice you O Mu’adh, do not forget at the end of every prayer to say ‘Allahumma a’ainni ala dhirkika wa shukrika wa husni ibadatik!”{O Allah, help me to remember You, to give thanks to You and worship You in the best way!} Everyone knows this Hadith and I would not be exaggerating if I say that everyone says this Du’aa at the end of every Fard Salah. However, let us remind ourselves of some of the benefits in this Hadith so that it would emphasize and encourage us to say it and we should learn from the Hadiths of Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam.
Firstly, the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam swore by saying, “By Allah, I love you!” and we know that he is the honest and a trustworthy person, who never lies; so why did he swear? First, to indicate to us that swearing is permissible, it is permissible for you to swear whenever you need to do so. Yet Allah azza wa jal instructs us not to overdo it by saying, “And protect your oaths.” That is do not swear much, however if you need to swear, you may swear. Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam often used to say, “I swear by Whom in Whose Hand my soul is!” {That is Allah} Therefore, you may swear if you have a reason or a genuine purpose, however, do not overdo it. Do not swear for every single thing and do not teach your children this; whenever you ask for something, do not say, “Swear by Allah you are telling the truth!” this is one of the biggest mistakes. Do not force them to lie and this is not our topic but this hadith requires many lectures, this is just the tip of an iceberg but in sha Allah, we should try our level best to benefit from it.
The second benefit of this hadith is in his salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam’s statement, “I love you!” usually, when we teach our students English as a second language, we tell them, do not tell someone else, ‘I love you!’ they will think you are a gay or a homosexual. So we tell them to say, I like this man, if you are a man but if it is a woman, that is your wife, of course, you say, ‘I love this woman!’ In Arabic language, loving is a cordial thing, a cordial feeling that is something natural, does not have to do with desires and all just what these non-Muslims think of. Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam was portraying a prophetic etiquette, an Islamic feature which is spreading the love among the masses. Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, “if someone loves his brother, he should let him know it.” In sha Allah, I would not be lying when I say ‘I love you all for the sake of Allah’ though I do not know you. We all must love Muslims, so we love them for the sake of Allah and I am notifying you all about my love. Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam told in a hadith narrated by Anas Ibn Malik, “A man was with the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam and another man walked by. The man who was sitting with the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, ‘By Allah, I love this man!’ the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said ‘did you notify him about this?’ He said, ‘No.’ Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam asked him to go and tell him so the man rushed to that brother of his and said ‘By Allah, I love you for the sake of Allah!’ and the man replied, ‘May Allah love you, for Whose sake you love me!’” This etiquette has diminished, has disappeared in our material world because it has become like, “I love you; depending on your bank account, the car that you ride, the dirty jokes that you make me laugh with. I love you because you make my work easy with the passport, with the Jawazat, with the Air ticket bookings etc!” but this is not what Islam preaches. The Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam described Islam as being knots. You know a knot, a rope when you tie it into a knot; so a number of knots make a rope really strong and tough. The Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam tells us that the toughest and strongest knot of E’iman is to have allegiance for the sake of Allah and to have enmity for the sake of Allah; to love for the sake of Allah and to hate for the sake of Allah. Therefore, this is something that we have to spread and the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam told that ‘you will not be able to enter Paradise until you spread peace, until you love one another’ and should I tell you how to love one another? ‘Spread Assalam Bainakum’ so whenever you see someone walking down the street, don’t look from top of his to his toes and back again, measuring him up, weighing him out, No, regardless of his race, regardless of his color, regardless of his nationality, if he is a Muslim, immediately say, “Assalamualaikum!” You get the upper hand and you will gain the highest reward of all.
Was Mu’adh the only one among his companions that the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam loved? ‘No’ the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam was filled with emotions; positive emotions and he would not hide or conceal it like we men do. Men, generally speaking, have hearts of stones. They never express their gratitude, especially to their wives, especially to their children. It would be difficult for a man to go and hug one his children or to kiss them or to cuddle them, maybe this is not us, maybe once in a blue moon men would do that. However, the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam wasn’t like that at all. He was full of emotions and was not hesitant to express these emotions, so he would go out of his way to express this to his companions like to Mu’adh and he would go out of his way to express his love to the whole tribe of the Ansaar, who are made of different tribes. He, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam once saw children and families from the Ansaar coming back from a wedding and he addressed them by saying, “Wallahi, you are among the most beloved people to my heart!” He, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam would not conceal or hide it. Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam used to declare that ‘Al Hasan and Al Husain are among the loved ones to my heart!’ He used to say ‘Zaid Ibn Harisa and his son Osama are the most beloved to my heart!’ When Amr Ibn A’as asked the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, “Who do you love the most among the people?” He salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, “Ayesha.” Amr Ibn A’as said, “No, I meant among the men?” Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, “Abu Bakr,” he asked, “Then who?” he said, “Omar.” Amr was expecting that the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam would say, “You!” because he had embraced Islam just recently, on the 8th year of Hijra and also because of the good reception that he received from the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam whenever he came in. Therefore, he thought that he had this level of love in the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam’s heart so he wanted to hear it and the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam kept on giving names of his companions and he did not mention his name. This meant that he met everyone with a smiling face and with a good reception to the extent that everyone who had met him, would think that he is the most favored and close to his heart.
What is so special about Mu’adh Ibn Jabal for the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam to hold his hand and to repeat twice, swearing, “I love you”? Now, just a small footnote: You are all intelligent and mature people here, I do not want you to go to the malls on the weekend’ and when you see a beautiful female, go and say, ‘I love you for the sake of Allah!’ Because Sheikh told us to convey the message that if you love someone go and tell that person, therefore I am notifying!” No! This is for the same gender: men say this to the men and women say it to women otherwise, it would not be Islamic, it would be a different religion probably. So, what is so special about Mu’adh Ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him? Everything about him is special. Time does not allow us but it is sufficient for us to know that Mu’adh was among the first ones to accept Islam from the Ansaar. He came with the convoy of the second Aqaba and was just 16 or 18 years old. At this early age, he travelled all the way to the danger zone, to be in enemy territory and to have a relationship with someone who is considered enemy number 1 of the state and to come here was dangerous! However, Mu’adh {may Allah be pleased with him} had no fear because he was a Muslim, he was doing that for the sake of Allah azza wa jal. So he was among so many who embraced Islam, what is the big deal? No, he was not among so many! Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, indicated in many Hadiths Mu’adh’s scientific abilities, his scholarly traits and characteristics. He was among the handful at the time of Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam who was allowed to give Fatwa! Imagine the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam is here and you call me on ‘Ask Huda,’ are you crazy! The Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam is here, yet Mu’adh was among the very few who were permitted to give Fatwa. Not only that the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam instructed the whole Ummah to learn the Qur’an from 4 people: Ubayy Ibn Kab, Mu’adh Ibn Jabal, Salim Mawla Abu Hudhayfa and Abdullah Ibn Mas’ood. These were the ones who were of the highest ranking in the knowledge of the Qur’an. Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam told that on the Day of Judgement, he will come, a throw of a stone ahead of all scholars so it means he will be ahead of them. In a long Hadith, where he salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam described to us the characteristics of the companions: Abu Bakr is so and so, Umar is so and so, Uthman is so and so, when he came to Mu’adh Ibn Jabal, he said, “Mu’adh Ibn Jabal is the most knowledgeable among all in Halal and Haram.” This is something out of the ordinary. Not only that, the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam did not send to Yemen, a nomad to teach them. He chose for them a judge, a teacher and a ruler who was knowledgeable. That is why he salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam sent Mu’adh Ibn Jabal to the people of Yemen, which indicates that the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam {as you say in the management courses} was ‘empowering him.’ He was delegating to him powers that are not similar to any other person. Umar Ibn Khattab used to say, “Whoever wants to learn Fiqh must come to Mu’adh Ibn Jabal.” What an honor this is! To receive such wonderful comments from the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, from Umar, from different companions and if we start to list their names, it would take us a long-long time.
What is it that the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam taught Mu’adh Ibn Jabal to say? He salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam taught him a simple statement: ‘Allahumma a’ainni ala dhikrika wa shukrika wa husni ibatatik’ {so, you calling Allah by His beautiful name and attribute, this is the best way to call Allah azza wa jal. The more you praise Allah, the quicker the answer would be for your prayer.} So you want A’ainni {support} which means you are asking Allah azza wa jal for assistance, asking Allah for support and for help because without Allah’s help, we are helpless. This morning I received an email from a questioner saying that I am a Muslim but I cannot believe that Allah controls everything! What a sad situation, SubhanAllah! He said, “If I study good I would get good grades, if I work hard I will get good salary so where does Allah come in all of this? SubhanAllah if you are very strong and macho, can you prevent illness coming to you? NO. If you get sick, can you get yourself cured? NO. How many people do you know who really work hard for 14 or 16 hours a day and they are jobless now or they are not paid enough or just pennies. How many people you know, work only 5 or 10 minutes a day and they get a very heavy or in fact get paid a very fat salary. How many you know who spend hours studying and fails in their exams. And some do not see that Allah created everything and created the means to take you there and He told you that you have to ‘follow the means but you have to depend on Me’. Therefore, if you depend on Allah without taking the means then you will fail, like someone wanting a child and he sits home, closes the door and says, “Oh Allah grant me a healthy child.” For you to have a child you need to get married and your wife has to conceive, it’s not you. If he says, “No, no, no, I am asking Allah azza wa jal and I am depending on Him!” it will never happen because Allah made roads for you to walk on and through. So you need Allah in every step you take, every breath you take, everything you do, you need Allah azza wa jal to help you and support you. Without Allah’s help, you have nothing. That is why one of the treasures of Jannah is ‘La haula wa la quwwata illah billah’ as described by Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam. What does it mean? ‘There is no strength, no might or power except by Allah azza wa jal,’ no matter how strong you think you are! That is why when Allah is with you, no one can defeat you. How many among those very little, who manage to overtake and beat, so many big and huge armies by the grace of Allah azza wa jal. The Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam used to always command his companions to seek help and assistance from Allah. In the Hadith of Ibn Abbas, Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, “If you ask, ask only Allah and if you seek the help of someone, seek the help of Allah.” Therefore, ‘asking’ {Du’a} and ‘seeking the help.’ Du’a in the Hadith is described as an Ibadah {invoking Allah azza wa jal is an act of worship} and the second part of the equation: and if you seek the guidance and assistance, seek that from Allah azza wa jal. Therefore, worship and seeking assistance is exactly what we recite every single time we pray, when we say, “Iyyaka nabudu wa iyyaka nasta’een.” We cannot worship any other than Allah azza wa jal, ‘You alone we worship and You alone we seek for help.’ The Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam used to often make Du’a, “Oh, Allah help me and do not help others against me!” He salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam used to open his speeches by saying, “All praise is due to Allah azza wa jal, we praise Him and we seek His help.” Without Allah’s help you are nothing and this is why A’ainni on what? On Dhirk {remembering You} If Allah azza wa jal helps you, if Allah azza wa jal loves you, you will find yourself among those whom Allah has chosen. Those who remember Him during the day and night, those who recite the Qur’an during the day and the night, those who wake up and say their morning supplications, when going out they say their Du’a of leaving the house. When they drive their car, they recite the Du’a of travelling, when they eat, when they enter the loo, when they finish their Salah, when they go to bed, they observe all these Adhkars, who has given them this ability to follow all this? It is Allah azza wa jal, because Allah loves you and that is why you will find these people always as if are in a fortress, Shaitan comes to attack but they always have these defense lines. If Satan manages to penetrate one line, he could not penetrate the second and the third and the fourth; so they are always protected, {not against viruses, this is not an anti virus program,} this is the biggest protection program you can acquire and it does not require any money, it requires connecting your heart to Allah azza wa jal. That is why it is extremely difficult, if not impossible for them to get an evil eye, to get possessed by a Jinn, to be a target of a spell or black magic, to be envied etc; why? because it always comes and crashes against this thick walls of the fortress of all the Adhkars and Dhikr. On the contrary, those who fail to read a portion of the Qur’an every single day, let it be as small as a Juz, every Muslim should at least finish the Qur’an once a month. I know people who finish the Qur’an twice a month from their memory. I know a friend of mine who by memory {not looking at it} revises two Juz of the Qur’an everyday and he does night prayers as well. This is the least you could do; those who are unable to do this, those who are unable to make Dhikr {just try to recall when driving here, did you say, “Bismillah hi tawakkal tu Allalah wa la hawla wala quwwata illah billah, Subhannal lazi sakkaralana haza wama kunna lahu mukhrineen wa inna ila rabbina la munqaliboon!} Many people would not even bother or maybe they remember at the end of the night, “Oops, I didn’t say that!” or “I didn’t say this!” Most of them complain all the time that they do not have enough time to say the Adkar or that they do not have anyone to remind them or they don’t have the willpower to maintain this every single day. What I fear most are not these excuses, what I fear most is that Allah azza wa jal does not want you to! Could it be that Allah azza wa jal is neglecting you, does not want you to do this? Allah mentions in chapter 9 {I love this Ayah and I am terrified and intimidated by it at the same time.} chapter 9 verse 46, Allah azza wa jal is addressing the hypocrites who refused and failed to go with the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam to the battle of Tabuk on the 9th year of Hijra. Allah says, “And if they had intended to march out, certainly they would have made some preparation for it!” {If they were sincere, they would have gotten their bags packed and they would have went with the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam} Allah says, “But Allah was averse to their being sent forth so He made them lag behind!” So who made them lag behind? ‘Allah azza wa jal.’ Who made you lag behind every single Fajar that you do not pray in the Masjid? Do you think that, “Wallahi, I overslept!” For how long? “For the past 10 years!” oversleeping for the past 10 years, MashaAllah how many days did you miss going to work on time? ‘Not a single day, they will deduct my salary, I will get a warning letter and they might terminate me!’ MashaAllh, what about Allah terminating you from Jannah? ‘Sheikh! Allah is Ghafoorur Rahim. You don’t know my boss.’ Ya Akhi, you do not know my Lord! This is your problem; you think that Allah azza wa jal is going to forgive all of your sins without any reckoning? It is in His hands, it is up to His will but you are playing a dangerous game, you think that ‘definitely I am going to win!’ Go to Las Vegas, play poker, and look what happens to your money! You are betting on the wrong chips. Do not ever take Allah azza wa jal’s Mercy for granted, though always be wishful and hopeful and never ever neglect Allah’s Wrath and punishment, though always seek refuge in Him from His anger. Whoever Allah azza wa jal helps and gives assistance, you will always find his heart, his tongue and deeds expressing gratitude. We finished ‘a’a inni ala dhikrik’ part, we could have spoken for a couple of hours about the virtues of Dhikr but this is not the time, this is just the tip of the iceberg, in sha Allah, you can do the Math!
Now the next part ‘wa Shukrik,’ how can Allah azza wa jal help us to thank Him? By guiding our heart, our tongue and our actions to do, so the heart is filled with gratitude to Allah azza wa jal. Wallahi, whenever I walk the streets and see one of the poor African women who are looking into the garbage and trying to get the soda cans to sell. You know the big bag they collect in 6 hours, how much they are paid for it! 10 riyals! Many of the times I just give 10 riyals to them, what is 10 riyals for us; we give 400 riyals to our children to spend an hour in the fun fairs! 10 riyals is nothing Alhamdulillah for most of us, some of us at least but anyways this is beside the point! So whenever I see this poor woman working in the hot sun, my heart is filled with gratitude to Allah because He did not make my mother like that and he made my mother sitting in the comfort of her home, Alhamdulillah, she doesn’t need to work, her children provide for her, this is a Nemah, a blessing from Allah. When you see someone who is underprivileged, less fortunate than you are, is your heart filled with gratitude to Allah or is it filled with arrogance? ‘Look at him, look at the car he drives, look at the clothes he is wearing, oh Gosh, the guy smells?’ What is this? SubhanAllah, is this your heart filled up with? Whoever Allah azza wa jal guides and helps, he will be able to thank Allah with his tongue so every time he sits among people, he says, “Wallahi Akhi, its hot, today it was so hot, we were sweating like a pig!” you call this hot, look at those who work 8 hours on construction sites. Today I walked for about 10 minutes from my home to the bank at 11.30 and I said, ‘I need vitamin D, I am fat, I am clumsy and I need to work out.’ I was sweating but I was grateful to Allah that these 10 minutes reminded me of Allah’s blessings upon me. Akhi, those who dig the cement for 8 hours, what do you think they are doing? How do you think they will manage in Ramadan? Therefore, gratitude is that you express through your deeds as well, because, Al Hamd {praising Allah} is by the tongue and by the heart while thanking Allah {Shukr} can be with the tongue, with your heart and with your organs, with your body. Allah says, “Work, you, O family of David, with thanks,” so when you act in showing and expressing your gratitude, you are a good servant of Allah azza wa jal. Those who obey Allah, they are expressing their gratitude to Allah by their actions, by their deeds, by their organs. and those who always complain, those who whine and say, “I don’t have enough provision, I am sick, I don’t have enough time, look at everyone else, they are getting raise, I am the only one who has been in the same post for 2 years, I always do the dirty work!” Those who do not protect their eyesight and their hearing from seeing and listening to Haram, those who enjoy watching’ movies and listening to music and looking at pictures of the opposite gender. Those who do not protect their tongues, whenever they sit, they backbite, they say, “This scholar has this and that, this da’ee has this and that, my neighbor is one eyed, my cousin is a pirate and he has a hooked hag!” what is this, what are you doing? They are backbiting, they are having fun and they are enjoying their time! Those who do not reach out to the poor and give them from what Allah has given them, those who do not offer with their limbs that Allah has blessed them with, by offering night prayers, those who do not fast voluntary fasts, they have not expressed their gratitude to Allah azza wa jal through their limbs and bodies.
Finally, the third part of the Hadith is: ‘and to worship You {Allah} in the best way’, “support me, help me, guide me, to worship You in the best way!” Why did He add the phrase ‘The best way’? Because worshiping Allah azza wa jal is something that everybody claims; if you go to the Hindus, do they worship Allah? They would say, “Yes.” If you go to the Buddhist, if you go to the Sikh, if you go to the Christians, the Jews, everyone claims that he is worshiping Allah and he is doing a good job. Yet, we know that Allah azza wa jal does not accept your worship unless it has two conditions to be fulfilled. 1) Sincerity. Whom are you worshiping? ‘Allah’, then ok, you are sincere. 2) Manner. How are you worshiping Him? In accordance to the Sunnah of the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, step by step, in this case these two conditions make your Ibadah, your worship accepted, other than that it is null and void. Allah says in the Qur’an, “It is He who has created death and life that He may test you which of you is best indeed.” So, this life would end, we are enjoying it, we are having a blast, everything we want is here but this is only a test and when you are my age, you understand what testing is, because we have lived so many years, having fun and playing around but now we are coming to an end. Now we look back and say, “Wallahi, I think we took the wrong turn, it should have been better than this, it should have been more beneficial and more prosperous and we regret but we should still think positive of Allah azza wa jal and we should have our full trust in Him.
This life is a test, some fail, some pass {may Allah azza wa jal make us among those who pass} Now look at the Hadith of the 73 sects in Islam, all will be in hell except 1. Among the 72, how many do you know? ‘Plenty,’ Do they worship Allah? AllahuAkbar, some of them worship Allah even more than we do, {on the surface} yet they are in hell. For example Khawarij, Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam told us that ‘when you see them, you would look down upon your own worship, upon your own Ibadah, upon your own Salat and Fasting.’ Your own Salah and your own Fasting sounds nothing compared to theirs, because they pray all night long and they Fast all day long and they do so many worthy things of Ibadah, like, they read the Qur’an a lot yet this did not stop the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam from describing them to us as we see them. He salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, “They are the worst of the dogs of hell!” with all these prayers and Fasting? ‘Yes,’ they are the worst of the dogs of hell and they are the worst of people killed under the Heavens. Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, “Whoever kills them has this and that and if I were to see them I would, annihilate them, I would kill them!” like the killing of A’ad and Samud. Why is that? They are worshiping Allah! ‘No, they are not.’ Their worship is not in accordance with the policy and procedure of Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, with his Sunnah and the Qur’an. They follow and obey their whims and desires and this is the decisive factor for all of us. We all may have big beards, short Thobes, when we see each other we may say, “JazakaAllahu Khairan!” when we play football, we may say, “Masha Allah, Tabarak Allah, he made a goal.” “Akhi, pass the ball, JazakAllahu Khairan!”{This is what the Muttawas say to each other when they play football,} when they make a goal, they all prostrate for thankfulness and for gratitude to Allah azza wa jal. However, is it in accordance to the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam? I always give this example, I am fascinated by it; most of us claim to be practicing and committed Muslims! Islam is a frame, {that you put your pictures in} your life is a picture. A proper Muslim brings Islam, puts it on the picture {which is his life} and cuts the extra edges, so anything in his life that does not fit Islam, he cuts it off and down the drain it goes. This is a real Muslim who submits his will to Allah azza wa jal. Unfortunately, nowadays we put the frame on our lives but we say, “Akhi, this frame is small, can we have extra large?” ‘No, this is the only size.’ “But it doesn’t fit.” So what do we do, we break one edge and put duct tape, we break another edge and put duct tape, at the end, you will find your life is intact but the frame you put is so crooked and uneven that this is not Islam that the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam brought. So everyone of us must ask himself this question, “Am I worshiping Allah azza wa jal as He instructed, as He directed, am I doing what the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam wants me to do? ‘How would I know this?’ by knowledge! You cannot go to the sea and start fishing some ‘knowledge’, and if you do, you will get sewer because the entire sewer goes into the beach shore. Unfortunately, you have to go like 12 miles out into the international waters to get fresh fish! Knowledge means, reading, learning, to go in knowledge circles, to ask Scholars, to be with them, to have a portion of the Qur’an that you contemplate on every day, you revise, memorize and so on. So in order to reach where Allah wants you to be, you have to acquire knowledge and then you would be able to attain the position of ‘Husnal Ibadah’ {of worshipping Allah azza wa jal as He directed} Alhamdulillah, we managed to squeeze the topic in the allotted time {hopefully}
Finally, when do I say this beautiful Du’a? ‘Allahumma inni ala Dhikrika, wa shukrika wa Husni Ibadatik.’ The Hadith says, “Do not leave this du’a at the end of the prayer.” Some scholars say, “You have to say it after salam,” and others say, “You say it before salam.” The most authentic opinion is that you say it before salam, why? Because it was the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam himself, when he taught us the Tashahhud, he told us, “and then choose whatever of Du’a you want to say.” Meaning that this position between {after you finish tashahhud and before salam is one of the places where Allah accepts your Du’a} so there are two most favored places or locations in salah for you to make Du’a. Are you in stress, do you have debts, you have problems at your work, do you have a nagging wife {who doesn’t?} so what to do? Ya Akhi, supplicate to Allah. ‘Where?’ whenever you are making Sujood and after Tashahhud and before making salam. ‘Even Fard salat?’ ‘Yes, even in Fard Salat.’ Anything worldly, like, “O, Allah pay off my debts?” ‘Yes, go ahead no problem.’ “What about in my native language?” ‘If you can’t make the Du’a in Arabic, it is permissible for you to make it in your own language.’ But if you can say Allahummaghfirli in Arabic then you cannot say, “O, Allah forgive me,” in your own language. Therefore, whatever you can say in Arabic, you have to say it in Arabic, otherwise you can make your Du’a in your own language, in Fard, Sunnah and Nafil Salat. I pray to Allah azza wa jal that the lecture was beneficial and that Allah azza wa jal makes our deeds sincere for His sake alone.
The Quotations from the Qur’an and Hadiths in this article are a rough translation of the meanings of the original text!