How To Increase Your Emaan
Date:
Channel: Bilal Philips
File Size: 22.48MB
Episode Notes
2017-06-17
AI Generated Summary ©
The importance of praise for leaders and actions is highlighted in the discussion of fasting, reducing bad deeds, and increasing good deeds. The importance of reading the Quran and learning the meaning of "good dedits" is emphasized, along with the need for practice learning and practicing Islam to achieve goals. The importance of reading the Quran daily and weekly to understand the meaning of the message is emphasized, as well as protecting the Quran and making changes to children to avoid violence.AI Generated Transcript ©
In Alhamdulillah
nama doing a stain on the stove a federal
when I was a bit let him in Sheree I'm fusina woman say it I'm Elena
Mayor de la Fernando de la la or my little fella had Yella was shadow in a long walk the hula sharika was shadow Anna Mohammedan Abdul rasuluh
indeed All praise is due to a law and as such we should praise Him, seek his help, seek His forgiveness, and seek refuge in a law from the evil which is within ourselves, and the evil which results from our deeds. For whom so ever law has guided, none can misguide. And whomsoever a law has allowed to go astray, none can guide
and I bear witness that there's no God worthy of worship beq Allah who is alone and without partner,
and I bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is the last messenger of Allah.
In nostoc, Allah de forgettable la vida Haji Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
was Sharon O'Meara, Masada akula Masha desert in beta wakulla. Attend Allah Allah, Allah, Allah Allah Tim for now.
Indeed, the most truthful form of speech is the book of Allah. And the best source of guidance was the guidance wrought by Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
And the worst of all affairs are the innovations in religion.
For every innovation in religion is cursed.
It is a source of misguidance and it leads ultimately to the hellfire.
Brothers and sisters.
As we reach the middle of Ramadan,
we need to reflect on what has passed and what is to come.
We need to renew our intentions.
As the province our Salah man told us, whoever doesn't set his intention prior to the fast has no fast.
So the intentions remain
the most important and the most basic element of fasting as it is for any righteous deed
whose reward we seek from a law
and this month
among
others of the Quran,
a month of righteous deeds
a month of
controlling our appetites, our desires
controlling
our thoughts
and our behavior
in this month,
there still remains a question in the minds of many of us
how to increase our Eman?
The most common question
I receive from Muslims
from all around the world
My Eman is low.
It's going down
how to increase my Eman
and it is of course a question which should be important to each and every one of us.
Because for us to die in a state
of low Eman
is very dangerous. That is a very bad sign for what is to come.
Ideally, the best way to die is to die in a state of high a man
when the mind is at its peak.
This is the state we want to be able to leave this world in.
We should be striving to leave this world in that state
and for many of us
This issue of increasing a man
seems so complex,
so difficult.
So philosophical,
so
complicated, that we can't find the means ourselves.
When in fact, the prophet SAW Selim said, I didn't use your
religion is easy.
It's not complicated.
Our concept of God is simple.
It's not like Christianity where, you know, God has a father, he had a son, Holy Ghost,
three gods in one.
God, the Father is God, the Son
of God, the Holy Spirit.
Yet, God, the son was praying to Him, and sits beside him in the heavens now, but he's the same.
This is mind boggling. This is weird philosophy.
So to figure out anything after that, if you don't know who God is, if God is so complicated to you, then how do you figure out anything after that? What do you do with the rest of your religion?
So it boils down to just salvation, you believe you are saved?
Otherwise, it's just too complicated.
Whereas in Islam, Alhamdulillah
we believe in the same God
of Jesus,
the same God of Moses, Abraham, of Adam, one God,
simple,
no relatives,
just one God.
And he is the only one that we worship. Simple. No intermediaries. No special friends will do favors for you
know, you have to go to him directly.
That's the simplicity. A Dino user.
It is simple to understand.
Its principles are made simple by last month Allah because it is the truth. The truth is simple. The truth is self evident, is not complicated.
So when we go back and look at the issue of
how to increase my Eman
especially in these times, where we have so many challenges, whether political or social, ideological,
economical,
whatever, so many challenges.
This solution remains the same. It doesn't change what it took to increase imagine in the time of Prophet Muhammad salah and the time of a Salah Salam and the time of Musa and the MBR la masala is the same thing it takes to increase Eman. Now, I times are not special.
No more special than they were in the time of this haba or the time of Prophet Isa itself etc.
The formula is a very simple formula.
Increase good deeds, increase the man
decrease bad deeds increase a man simple.
You want to increase the man
do more good.
Give up evil.
Simple.
And this is the month which is supposed to help us achieve that goal.
To help strengthen that awareness and consciousness that we live in an environment where there is plenty of opportunity to do good, where there's plenty of opportunity to give up evil it is there.
Wherever we are
that opportunity is there for us. simple formula.
do more good.
So how do we turn that into practical terms? Very simple.
When we get up in the morning, or at the time of service,
we think about some good we can do today.
What happens is that we just make this a hoarder, we eat, we go pray, and we go to sleep, and then we go to work. And we don't stop to think,
what good can we do today? Now we say it's automatic, you know, there should be good somewhere, somehow we should be out. But you know, as I say, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Simple.
If you fail to make a plan about doing some good, then the likelihood is you become so busy with all of the requirements of your job situation, you're out there, and all the things that are going on around you forget it, then comes the authorities didn't do any good today.
days gone.
A day, which we can't bring back.
It's gone. We missed the chance.
So it's very simple. And even if you missed it at Soho, it doesn't mean it's gone all day. As long as we haven't hit a star, we still have the chance.
So
that is something we should take away
from today.
On our way back home, when we get back home,
think reflect what good Can I do today? What good deed for deeds Can I do today.
And a good deed of course, is not necessarily a deed which is good for us.
Because we don't judge things simply by whether it's good for us or not good for us.
Right? We judge things according to what is pleasing to Allah. Simple criteria. That's what the real good is real good is whatever is pleasing to Allah.
So we just have to reflect on something we can do today. Maybe even plan for the days to come.
To start something that you can do regularly every day, that's wonderful. That's the best kind of good deed not one everyday you have to sit and think thrower, but one which you have thought out, you put it in place and every day you're there doing it
good deeds, very simple.
And of course,
among the good deeds of Ramadan is the reading of the Quran.
So one of the good deeds. Now Prophet Mohammed Salim didn't say to us, you need to read Quran in Ramadan.
He didn't say to us, if you read the whole Quran in Ramadan, you will get this reward that reward a house in general etc.
No Hadith like that. If you heard it, you know it's false. Fake, no such idea.
He revised the Quran in Ramadan with jabril.
But Allah connected to
Shaolin Ramadan and Lady Zilla feel
the month of Ramadan in which Allah revealed the Quran, Allah linked the two together.
And the essence the foundation of our Deen
is the word of Allah.
Nothing more basic than that, that is the essence of Islam. What Allah
said to us,
the Quran is a law speaking to us.
And we need to understand the Quran that way.
It's not a storybook. A lot of non Muslims.
When they pick up the Quran, they start reading in it.
They find it going here, there and everywhere.
This book is confusing.
As it's translated, obviously, it's confusing.
It's not a real book
because they're using
Reading the Bible, which is a bunch of stories is a storybook story after story after story, with great details about these stories, and
that's what they used to say when they pick up the CRAN. And most books when you get it if it's a, you know, a book with some kind of a message, not a science book, but a book with some kind of a message. It's a story. It's coming in some kind of story form. We're used to stories from where children, where do we like, that time story?
as what kind of books do we like to read books with stories in it?
That we were raised on that we are inclined to stories.
So when they pick the book up, it's not following the story pattern is confusion. I'm expecting a story. I'm looking for a story. I mean, yes, there is the story of Prophet Yusuf. Is there one story, but is there another chapter that we can say that whole chapter is a story? One story?
Okay.
So then what?
This is the point that is lost on many, that the Quran is talking to us. It is a law speaking to us.
He is communicating with us. And just as when you sit down and communicate, if you listen to people talking, do they talk in stories?
They sit down for half an hour, and they just tell one big long story. No,
they will start something, then something else comes up and this one adds this one. And
that's how we speak. We don't speak in stories. But this is the Quran talking to us. So Allah talks to us and to all of our needs, whether it's psychological, whether it's emotional, whether it's spiritual, whether material, Allah talks to us, through the Quran.
This is the word of Allah.
So what better foundation
for our faith?
Then Allah, God Almighty, speaking to us directly.
That is the Quran.
But unfortunately,
for most of us, we haven't grasped that.
The Quran is a book of Baraka.
It's about like a book.
You read it, for the 10 has an art you get for every letter.
It's not about communication. You're not thinking in those terms. You're just thinking about hash and art. And it's a good thing to think about. Not Not bad. But if thinking about has an ad, causes you to miss out on the real message of the Quran, then that's very dangerous.
That's very dangerous, we have misplaced our connection with the Quran,
it's become misplaced.
We are focusing on the wrong things.
And that's why for most of us to go on remains for 11 months on the top of the shelf.
We keep it the highest point. Above all the other books we put it on the top of the shelf. That's where the dust collects.
At the end of the 11 months, when Ramadan comes around, we take it off, we blow off the dust.
We sit down we start reading it for the astronaut.
We read the whole Quran in Ramadan. If we can do it two times we feel even better.
The more the merrier.
But what a law had to say to us.
We didn't grasp.
It went over our heads.
For most of us who don't understand Arabic, we don't even understand what is being said there. We've learned how to parrot the Arabic alphabet and its letters read it.
But we have no idea what Allah is saying. And even for Arabs, you might think oh, but they are observed. So fortunately, you know, they understand. But actually, they're just reading it. They're not even thinking about it either.
They're just reading reading the DVD
Because the goal of reading Quran in Ramadan has become completing Quran in Ramadan
it's the completion. Why for those who are not the 10 for every letter you add up how many letters are there in the crime? It's a big number. Multiply that by 10 Mashallah, that's a huge number.
But that's not what the Quran was for. When the prophet SAW Selim said to the Sahaba Yes.
There are 10 good deeds for every letter you read. And I don't mean I left la meme is the letter but Alif is a letter lamb is a letter meme is a letter. He was saying it
to people who understood
that the purpose of reading the Quran
was guidance couldn't live.
There it is, right there. Very simple.
not complicated. Again, a dino user, why we read the Quran couldn't guidance, guidance for those who fear a lot.
So what we need to do, we want to increase the man.
Let's get back to the Koran the way it was supposed to be read.
It's not important to complete the Quran in Ramadan.
It's not important. What is important is to read the Quran and receive the message of guidance from Allah subhanaw taala. And to implement that guidance in our lives, that is what is important.
Even if all we get through in the whole of Ramadan is Sumatra.
komamura Kama Sutra Biafra.
If that's all we get through.
Know that if we have gotten through Surah Al Baqarah.
Understanding what the law has said in it, trying to apply what we understand of it. We have achieved a great goal.
A great goal. so great that of the library Massoud said that the one who had learned Surah Al Baqarah.
Among Us among the Sahaba 60 odd 1080 odd 1000 when the prophet SAW Selim died,
he was called half if
he was called half if
today, if you call somebody who learns who Al Baqarah half people say
that's sacrilege. The half is the one who has memorized the whole Koran from fatty happiness that is happy. Don't call anybody else happy.
That is the attitude people have today. But that wasn't the understanding of Sahaba.
The one who had learned Surah Al Baqarah, was called half
because
he
didn't mean simply memorizing
f didn't mean memorizing
the wrong slide. Selim said what Cairo comenta allemaal. Khurana alhama the best of you are those who learn the Quran and teach it to others.
We turn that into another statement Kaito Coleman hafeez al Khurana waha follow.
The best of you are those who memorize the Quran and make other people memorize it.
These are two different things.
Learning the Quran V and got involved memorizing also. But memorizing the Quran doesn't necessarily involve learning it. The message of the prophet SAW Selim was to learn the Quran
memorizing was a way to help you to learn it, not a ritual
of just memorizing the text.
where for example, in Pakistan, the common practice and this is nothing against Pakistan is one of my wife was Pakistani
Children were half Pakistanis. So
don't take this out of context we've talked about Pakistan is Why? Because this is something I've experienced in Pakistani culture
that
parents will choose out of their children, one male, they'll say, listen, your job is to memorize.
The rest of us we'll go and we'll deal with the dunya we do whatever you know, takes etc. Don't worry about anything we will take care of you just memorize grant just you. Why? Because they believe that if one memorizes crime, he can take so many family members along with him into Jenna.
So we ensure that we are going to generally have that one. It given the job of just memorizing the Quran.
A couple of months ago,
one Pakistani family contacted me from
Canada.
And they asked me what should we do?
Our son,
who memorize the Quran, dutifully
practiced Islam,
fasted, prayed everything.
15 years old, he came home and told us, I don't believe in God.
I don't believe in God, this was just so shocking. I don't believe in God, I don't believe in Islam. I'm not a Muslim.
He memorized the Quran. How can you say that?
This is should we kick him out the house? Because he would, you know, affect the other children?
In fact, them
passes disease on to them, what should we do? Should we keep him in the house or kick him out?
This
big trial, a huge trial, what do you do?
But the lesson
the lesson in it.
He memorized the Quran. And he left this lab.
Now, there may be many factors involved. And you know, that's a whole lecture and discussion in and of itself.
all by itself.
But enough to know that the memorizing of Quran did not protect him.
It didn't protect him
because he didn't know what the Quran was actually saying.
That's the reality.
So we need
in this month,
to get back to the Quran, as it was intended to be read.
To read the Koran with understanding, as I'm delighted Mr. Old had said, we used to learn the Quran 10 verses at a time. And we did not move on to the next 10 until we learned and understood everything which was in those 10 we tried to practice it, then we went on.
That's how they learned.
And I asked her last month Allah to bring us back to the car
and to read it in this month, as it deserves to be read. And I asked the last one to Allah to give us the reality of that message, the message of the Quran, a reality which should transform our lives
into lives, pleasing to Allah subhanho wa Taala akula Holly had never stopped for the lolly welcome. minimalism festival in Oahu, Allah for seek forgiveness from Allah, as he is the only one who can forgive our sins.
hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah Kadeem while it was hobby woman is standing obscenity Naomi Deen all praises you to alarm Eli's Peace and Blessings to you and the last prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and an all those who follow the path of righteousness until the last day
so
The beginning point
for increasing Eman
is to read the Quran
to read the Quran
as much as we can,
if we can do it daily,
if we can do it weekly,
however much we are able, we should try our best to read it.
But to read it with that
consciousness, not to read it like parents
to read it without consciousness,
where we are seeking to understand the message that Allah is communicating to us with.
If we are able to do that,
then the Koran will change us.
We cannot help it
without us even deciding and thinking, yes, I want to change with the Quran, it will change us.
That is the power
of the Word of God, Allah subhana wa tada
it will change cause change.
But we need to read it with understanding that is the key.
So though I don't say to my non Arab brothers and sisters, don't read the Arabic grammar No.
read the Arabic.
But whatever you read, read along with it. The translation
read along with it, the translation to my Arab brothers and sisters, I say, read the Koran with Tafseer Yes, you understand the Arabic words and maybe some of them you don't.
But to understand what is being conveyed, we have Tafseer we have no end of tuffs ears that see ribnica theory is one of the best.
So this is the key that we should focus on to read the Quran.
With tafsir
the English that we're reading is tafsir some of you might say Oh, we don't have Tafseer in English, maybe not so easy to get in. No no, the English is tafsir
know that the Quran cannot be translated.
We say translation of the crowd, we call it that, but it's not a translation
it is an explanation of the meanings of the Quran as understood by the translator. That's what it is.
The best thing is to be able to read the plan
understand the words of a law
and
understand the message with the help of the Tafseer etc that is best. So that's why I say still keep reading the Arabic don't lose track of the Arabic because the Quran
is an Arabic Quran.
And this is not because some people say well you know the language in general is Arabic. This is why you should learn Arabic. No, there's no authentic had the food says that the language in general is Arabic. Or some people say what a lot is going to speak to you on your judgment, you know, he's gonna talk to you in Arabic
and the angels in the tomb.
Mancha and Akira, they're gonna speak to you in Arabic Mandarin book, they're gonna ask you, who is your God? They'll say Mandarin book. Now, this is a misunderstanding.
You will be communicated with and you will understand.
At that time, you will understand everyone will understand and the grave everyone will know. Those questions will be clear. We don't need any translators. In this life, we need translators helpers, so we make the best of it here.
We try to read
about
Understand
and our practice here in Ramadan where we have found time to read the Quran.
Outside of Ramadan, we should keep going. Don't put it on that top of the shelf.
Keep it close at hand. Don't think that it is a form of disrespect to the Quran to put the Quran on your desk because somebody will say, on your desk, put it on the top.
That's where the ground is supposed to be on top of everything.
So the physical core iron becomes the focus. If the Quran falls, they pick it up.
Where did we ever hear of Rasulullah Salim doing that. The Sahaba told anybody to kiss the Quran if it fell on the ground? No. We made it up because we lost track of what's going on inside the crime. We now focus everything on the outside of the crime.
It should be in a leather binding It should be wrapped up with some countries you see it's very fancy.
So everything is focused. You leave in the masjid. Don't turn your back when you walk out of the masjid, because the crowds are kept here. You don't turn your back on the Koran brother. You walk out the masjid this way.
We have no end of practices. We have added if you're reading Quran sitting in the masjid, you know you have the Quran in your lap. You're out you're putting the Khurana top of your out of the law.
But this is ignorance.
This is just plain ignorance.
Because we don't have the connect with what Allah is saying. We have found a substitute rites, rituals customs that we have made up around the Quran. So we respect the Quran by doing all of these things. But in fact with disrespect the Quran, when we don't understand its meaning and apply it. This is where the real disrespect lies.
And that's why last month Allah said
I find it ironic Quran Will they not reflect on the meaning of the Quran?
Allah Lubin of Allah? Or are their hearts locked up? That's our state. today.
Our hearts are locked up.
And that's why we are where we are.
We have been disconnected from the Quran.
So how can we succeed?
How can we progress?
How can our Eman grow
when the spring
the spring waters of a man are the Quran
and we are disconnected from it.
This is a very sad state
that we are in the oma and it's not just here.
It is across the oma from one end to the other.
And
to make matters worse,
to make matters worse,
we have inherited a tradition
of child abuse
around the
child abuse. We call it memorization of
fees schools. But these to a large degree
are schools of abuse.
Child Abuse.
I know some of you might say this is terrible. Why is he saying that?
This is reality.
And we have to correct it.
The stories of the those who went to these taffy schools they will tell you
the torture that they went through.
And I am personally I have five kids who memorize the Quran in the school so I'm not just talking from hearsay
These were the best of the schools.
torture.
I went into the school, one of the best
in the Gulf.
And I saw the staff sitting with the students around him, they're starting to cry and rocking and rolling. And beside him I saw an array of one look like weapons.
Stick hose chain.
What is what are these things for?
I asked your status? What are these?
So these are for the children, you know, if they get out of line, etc.
I asked my son What's going on? He said, You know, he tells us to choose the stick, we want to be hit by
you choose the
chain or the cause whatever, whichever you think is going to be the lightest study, which is you choose it, and he whacks you with it.
What is this?
Is this how the prophet SAW Selim taught the Sahaba or add?
This is how the Sahaba taught, the type of aid cried
surely not.
And if this child is student, you know, his little unruly whatever, then they have them do all kinds of contortions, which we really it's, it's a form another form form of abuse. The child is asked to stoop, put his hands under his legs and hold his ears. They call it the chicken. Because you're, you're crouched up like a chicken holding your ears. In that position, you have to stay in that position.
This is abuse.
This is physical abuse.
No less
and worse. I'm just talking about some of the common ones, which many of my friends they say, yeah, we went through it, you know, because I'm the ally. I accepted Islam. I was ready. I don't. So I didn't experience this at all. But so many of I would say, hey, yeah, we know it. Yes, yes. We remember those days. You know, some of them tell me you know, I ran away from the school.
My parents couldn't get me back into that school I just ran.
So many of the students that say well look at so and so is happier than so and so. But how many to get that one out of 25 or 50, the other 49 or 24, who now hate the Koran.
They hate the Quran because they associate the Quran with abuse,
physical abuse.
And if you read, you go to the website apostates from islam.com,
Mata Deen, mineral islami.com
you will find in their stories, these things we used to be tortured in the Koran schools, they used to do this to start as the brick our feet.
And I remember, in one of the countries we gathered the whole file together, who are teaching crime, and presented to them that they needed to learn
how to teach without violence.
There are other ways to get the kids to be quiet, to settle, etc, without inflicting on them violence.
unanimously they said no.
You cannot teach the Quran without the stick.
This is the book of Allah.
This is the book of Allah.
Which we have reached this stage that we are forcing this thing down the throats of our children with violence.
And then we wonder why young people are rejecting moving away from unwilling to practice the way and we wonder why.
Of course a lot of the oma are just silent.
But I see when I mentioned this torture so many of you smile you
All
right, most of you have experienced it. But we need to stop it.
We need to protect the Quran.
This is the health of the Quran, protecting it, putting it in its proper place, ensuring that it is taught in a way which is going to touch the hearts of the children
that it would change them and make them among those who will change the oma. That's what we need to be producing.
So as a good deed,
a good deed this Ramadan.
Those of us
who are connected, most of us have some connections with grant schools etc.
We should strive to make
a change. To stop this to develop core an schools where the teachers have on our train educators.
They know classroom management, they know how to handle children child psychology.
They're not going to blame everything on the gin.
The child just won't listen to I say these covered in the gym, the gym has taken me with me to beat it out of him.
This No, there is child psychology. certain ages, children display certain behavior, it's common all around the world.
They need to know child psychology dealing with children, you are a teacher, you have a responsibility
to convey the message of the Quran in the best way.
So let this be a resolution
for those here today.
To use your influence, to put a stop to this travesty
to this disrespect of the Quran, this misuse of the Quran
and change for generations to come. Let us be the ones to step up and say yes, we need to stop it now.
And I asked her last month Allah to forgive our sins.
And this month of fasting and prayer
to increase our Eman
to give us true inspiration, righteous deeds that we can make a part of our lives from today onwards
as the last month Allah to forgive our parents, those who have passed away to give them gardens from Paradise instead of pits from hell as a grave.
And I asked last fundada to make our last words before leaving this world in law