Hidden Causes of Disconnect from Allah Khutbah by Dr Omar Suleiman

We begin by praising Allah subhana wa ta'ala by bearing witness that none has the right to be worshiped or unconditionally obeyed except for him. And we bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam is his final messenger. We ask Allah to send his peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him and those that follow on his blessed path until the day of judgment. And we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Dear brothers and sisters, want to start with scene from Hajj that all of us would love to represent our ending. There was man in our group Dr. Sub who after finishing on the day of Eid and Haj is of course with all of its rituals two pillars. is the day of and then and as he finished his and he came outside of the haram, he saw an elderly man from Philstine from Palestine actually from Palestine who was making Hajj from Philstine who collapsed right in front of him. And so he got down and he put him in his lap. He tried his best to resuscitate him. He tried his best to keep him alive. And as he realized that the man was escaping, that his soul was leaving his body, he repeats to him as the prophet sallallaihi wasallam taught us to do the shahada. And you can imagine, subhan Allah, this man leaving this world in his less than 24 hours after performing just shaving his head saying Your entire life is for this one moment. And subhan Allah, how badly would you want that to be your ending? That Allah subhana wa ta'ala takes you from this world literally as you are purified from your sins like the day that your mother gave birth to you sayingahill staring or looking at thea still in your going back to Allah subhana wa ta'ala pure. Now was this man some special wi of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala some special friend of Allah his entire life we don't know did he make toba perhaps day before or year before or was it in the hours that preceded that that he expressed desire to Allah subhana wa ta'ala maybe even internally that his life would end there we don't know was he someone that suffered under the brutal Israeli occupation most likely What is it that leads to the culmination of those events and to that moment? Now want to walk you back saying at the time of death is special gift from Allah subhana wa ta'ala and it represents connection that person has with Allah subhana wa ta'ala that allows them the ability to express that in their last moments. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala grant us grant us firmness with As we live, as we leave this world, as we enter into our graves, when the angels come to us and as we rise up on the day of judgment, it's that connection to Allah subhana wa ta'ala. It doesn't come automatically. It doesn't come that easy. Now, want you to leave that to the side for moment and then come back to question that many people ask themselves. How come I'm not feeling that connection to Allah subhana wa ta'ala? Or maybe even if am feeling that connection to Allah subhana wa ta'ala, may not be considered amongst those who are connected to Allah subhana wa tala because there is as well. There is deception and delusion. You could be crying in your salah. You could be reading the Quran. You could be fasting Mondays and Thursdays. But there are sins that are distancing you from Allah subhana wa ta'ala at the exact same rate. and they don't come to you until the moment of your death and then they confront you at that moment or they confront you when you rise up on the day of judgment. But where is that connection with Allah subhana wa ta'ala? And the mistake that we make with our major acts of worship and with our daily lives is that we only try to remedy our deficiency in worship with worship. that we see things in an isolated way and they are the entire package and as Hajj is actually the culmination of your entire life and it connects the dots between your relationship with Allah subhana wa ta'ala your relationship with the people around you the things that you have to disconnect from in order to connect to Allah subhana wa ta'ala because you can't do unless you enter into your at the unless you change out of your state and When you come into that state ofam, there's mindset before you go to thea and you make inra or inj it connects it all so beautifully. And for so many of us, we treat our deficiency in worship in isolation of one another. Why is it that can't connect when read the Quran? Well, maybe just need to give it more time. True, you do need to give it more time. Why is it that can't pray more? Why is it that feel blockage of in my night prayer? Why is it that feel that I'm not able to to to immerse myself in dua? Why this? Why that? And we try to treat it and remedy it within and say that's where the connection is failing. But our beings are all interconnected in this regard. And subhan Allah, just like with Ramadan, major act of worship, one of your pillars of Islam, your accepted Ramadan is about whoever does not leave off false speech and acting upon that false speech, then Allah has no need of their fasting. Your fasting is sal is preserved by your entering and exiting your fast without the intake of haram at the spiritual level and at the physical level. Not about how much you prayed, not about how much Quran you read. You could have an accepted Ramadan and maybe read few pages of Quran. I'm saying that that is possible. It's not ideal, but you could go through technically speaking from the halal of Ramadan to the hilal of Sha and not read the Quran at all on your own. And you could still have an accepted Ramadan so long as you preserved yourself from those things. It's not going to be good Ramadan, but it could be an accepted Ramadan. Likewise, what is what is an accepted? It's about you not doing those other things. It's about you not arguing. It's about about you not fighting. It's about you not cursing. It's about you not sinning. It's about what you're not doing as much as it is about what you are doing. And subhan Allah, just as you have the scene of that man that gave you, there is another scene that is seared in my mind. And ask Allah to forgive the brother you know who subhan Allah you're saying and then someone comes into tent seeking refuge from the heat and in the middle of your shake and thought to myself subhan Allah what happened here where's the disconnect may Allahh forgive us all it's also scene it's also reality but Maybe in his mind it was need to focus on my right now. need to read my Quran. need to do my dua. This is distraction for me. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala puts all of this as package for us in way that represents our lives. And as wonderful as it might seem, you know, someone actually had brought this proposition up. Imagine if Hajj was like ticket system where you know everyone goes in and has the whole haram to themselves. Mashallah and then they kind of check out and then another person comes in puts the ticket in. Mashallah no bothering whatsoever. But the reality is that Hajj is like life. You're going to have people elbow you, people push you around, people cut you off, people that are going to disturb you. That's how life is. And Hajj is supposed to be simulation of life. It's not when it's just quiet and peaceful and no one bother me and no one get in my way. That's how life is. Now what does this have to do with the barriers that we might face between us and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Many of us have heard the hadith of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam who says man complained to the prophet that man complained to the prophet about the hardness of his heart. The prophet told him to caress the head of an orphan. That what will soften your heart is to treat an orphan with kindness. That's what's going to be the remedy for your heart. That man might have been thinking, why is it that can't connect to the Quran? Why is it that can't cry? Why is it that can't do this? Why is it that can't do that? And the prophet brought in dimension that was otherwise foreign to that person. What does the opposite of that look like? And the mention two broad categories. Two broad categories. And before say these two broad categories, want you to understand that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not unjust to catch you on sin that you did not know about or to take you by surprise when you were sincerely striving without informing you why you failed. Allah subhana ta is not unfair. Allah is not unjust. that person does everything they know they're supposed to do and avoids everything they're told they're supposed to avoid and then finds themselves suddenly having iman snatched away from them. It's the opposite. You're striving, Allah guides you. Allah opens your eyes wider. Allah opens your heart more. Allah subh lets your tongue loose in dua. Lets your tongue loose in your striving opens doors. Doesn't close doors for you. So I'll start with that two broad categories. Number one is the belittling of sins. It is the thing that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam described as man who goes and who keeps putting small branches into fire until the fire grows and consumes him. Right? He ends up setting himself ablaze by throwing these small branches. The small sins. Why? Because the small sins by nature go without incident in your life. Minor sins don't cause major ruptures in your life. And so it becomes easier to engage them on consistent and regular basis. And Allah subhana says right that over time the heart stains stains stains stains stains stains until the heart becomes completely poisoned locked and unable to benefit from the Quran unable to benefit from the salah unable to connect in dua completely disconnected from worship so it is mentions of the belittling of sins imagine taking stone and dropping little drop of water on the same place over and over and over again, right? And what ends up happening eventually the stone will completely be destroyed. And that is the likeness of the small sins, the habitual sins, the ones that you do on regular basis. And so that is the first broad category that person has to look with deep introspection because minor sins are also rarely going to be called out by someone else. That's on you to look to yourself and say what are the invisible barriers between me and Allah subhana wa ta'ala that even other people are really not going to note for me. The things that regularly watch, the things that regularly say, the things that regularly do. What are those invisible shackles and barriers? That's something that's going to come through your introspection, not through anybody else. You have to diagnose that for yourself. And with every age and every circumstance and every time, the nature of those sins is going to change. But Shaitan knows what he's doing. He doesn't just give you, you know, your steps and your rope when you're younger and then he suddenly abandons you and doesn't pivot. Shaitan pivots to your weaknesses. He pivots to your weaknesses and gives you another rope, another trail, another way away from Allah subhanaa tala to disconnect you from Allah subhana wa ta'ala. The second one that the scholars mention as broad category which is significant one subhan Allah especially in this day and age is doesn't really connect with people most of the time the honor of your fellow brother or sister violating the honor of your fellow brother and sister is the quickest way to distance yourself from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala altogether together. Why do you think the prophet sallallaihi wasallam in Hajj was talking to the Sahaba and saying you see this Kaa you see this place that you're in this day that you're in you see this Kaa what's more sacred than this your brother's blood money honor is more sacred than thisa to you could you ever imagine yourself doing something to this Kaa it's second category where do we take that from and especially when you combine it with the first category of the quote unquote minor sins the zalat the the slips of the tongue. Number one, the prophet sallallah.aihi wasallam when he mentions that that verily slave will say one word, one narration, he doesn't really consider it. Meaning it's just something that slips. Why? Because it became habit. always talk like this. This is just how talk. don't even recognize how talk anymore. So, He doesn't see an issue with it. The not mentioned the intricacy between the two is that in the first case it's just it's so habitual like you're not even thinking about it. You always talk like that. You talk about people, you talk in this way, you talk that way, you type this way. You just have long tongue and you got long fingers. Always always talking talking. The second situation is that he doesn't think it's that big of deal in that he's justified it or she's justified it in her mind that it's okay to talk this way and that's not really going to have an effect on my spirituality or my standing with Allah subhana wa ta'ala and the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam mentioned that that causes person to fall into the fire the distance between the east and the west causes you to go face first into the fire. You just talk talk talk type talk talk type. Think about what you're doing. That's going to come with you holding yourself. When the prophet sallallaihi wasallam talked about the severity of ribba of interest and usery with all of its branches, the least of it being compared to zena and incest, adultery. The last thing the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam says the worst form of ribba the essence of ribba of usery is the honor of your brother and sister your tongue being long with your brother and your sister and so remember that told you about in the very beginning person who's looking at thea who can flow withah that whoever lets their tongue loose on the honor of their brothers and sisters. Allah will hold his tongue from being able to say shahad at the time of death. May Allah protect us. Let me tell you one of the most horrifying things to see and anyone who's been around dying people will tell you that they've seen it is person who's dying and who's still fully conscious and someone's telling them to sayah and they're going and it's as if you can see someone holding their tongue and saying you're not going to be able to say it. No, no, you don't get this gift today. You don't get this gift right now. That tongue was too loose with the honor of your brothers and sisters. Allahel holds back that tongue from saying the shahad at the time of death. Yes, person dying and someone saying to him, say, and he says, can't say what you're telling me to say. It's happened where person feels held back. Why did Allah catch that person by surprise? No. Your tongue was too loose. Fingers were too loose talking about other people when it came to the honor of the believers. And by the way, this is true. Subhan Allah. Allah says about this disease of backbiting. Every single age, every single social class is purged with this disease. There's the of the 16-year-old and the of the 60-year-old. There is the of the backbiting and the gossip of the poor person, the backbiting of the rich person, but it is disease that plagues every single class of people. And that's why it is so warned against. don't care if you come to the mazjid all the time. don't care if you read Quran all the time and you pray all the time and mashallah you do so many other things. your tongue is loose with the behavior and with with the honor of people it might come back to grab you on the day of judgment and that's that's jail that's prison that comes down at that time so fear Allah subhana with that tongue fear Allah with that tongue subhan allah talks about the disconnect in this life that he felt from one of his he said was forbidden from for 6 months Once saw man crying in the mazjid and said to myself, he's not crying for Allah. That's person who spoke to themselves. What about person who speaks to others? you see that brother, mashallah, making announcements. You see that brother doing this. You see that sister, don't they always love to do that? You know how they are. Always find their way there. Always do this. always do that. Can you imagine if Safana the righteous man is saying was forbidden for 6 months for something said inside then what is the crime of person who actually speaks that to someone else? That's barrier that you're putting between you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Dear brothers and sisters, is this meant to scare us in way? Yes. Because we need to be afraid of these sins. Otherwise, we fall into we fall into the belittling of these sins. But the only thing want to put across to each and every single one of us is that these are things that are dealt with through introspection. Allah subhana wa ta'ala has made some of the causes of disconnect from him more subtle but he has not made them invisible to sincere striving introspective Muslim. And don't care how old you are. can tell you subhan Allah that the best that had this year and Allah knows the state of the was man who learned to do salah the day before he boarded his plane Hajj. Can you imagine that? And may Allah accept the Hajj of him and the Hajj of everyone else. But subhan Allah you it it's this is the the flip side of that. Ya Allah seek your forgiveness. Help me remove the barriers. that which know about and that which don't know about so that can flow withahill with in this life and at the time of death sayahillahill with ease and then in my grave sayahillah with ease and be raised up on the day of judgmental may Allah remove all of the barriers between us and him may Allah subhanaa tala remove all of the stains from our hearts may Allah subhana wa ta'ala give our souls their tuska their purification ification. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala forgive us for our shortcomings. May Allah forgive us for the sins that we know of and the sins that we don't know of. May Allah subhana protect us from deluding ourselves and deceiving ourselves. May Allah subhana allow us to be amongst those who live and die and are raised upon. for Allah. Allah.