# A Temporary Body, Dropping Business On Friday, Why Pray In Arabic {% embed url="" %} Transcript: (0:00) We bear witness that there is no God except the one God, there is no other (0:06) God or idols besides Him. In the last khutba, we reached the conclusion that (0:16) you do not really believe in God unless you know that He is doing everything. (0:24) You make the initial decision, this is our role, we make a decision to be (0:29) with God or not, and not means you be with Satan, because there's no other (0:35) choice, you're either with God or with Satan, and this is the decision where (0:40) we have absolute freedom of choice. After that you're either guided by God or (0:48) messed up by Satan. But the ultimate doer of everything is God, and everything is (0:55) happening in accordance with God's will. I want today to compare our priorities. (1:17) I just remembered an idea, I have to write it down, so I don't forget. I want to use the board (1:23) here to illustrate something about priorities. Most people do not know who (1:38) they are, we recognize now the human being as consisting of two entities, just (1:45) to make it very simple, the body and the soul. The body goes on for, let's be (1:57) optimistic, about a hundred years, and then it dies, becomes nothing. The soul is the (2:08) real person, the real you, this is the real person right here, and it goes on for (2:16) eternity. The body has requirements and the soul has requirements. The body... now what (2:28) I want to compare here is what we do for this entity, and what we do for this (2:34) entity. For this entity people start with the infant, the infant is given milk and (2:43) nourished, given shots, painful shots, and growing pains, and teething, and then they (2:56) go to school, the body goes to school, you know you have to go to school, right? (3:01) If you want to be... there's a commercial on the radio and TV now by... what is the (3:06) name of that comic cat? Garfield, he said if you want to be a fat cat, go to school, (3:15) go to college I think he said. So you go to school and you take tests and go (3:23) through the homeworks, and the absence reports, and chastising from the parents (3:31) and the teachers, and working very hard studying, you know school is not popular (3:37) with most of us, you go through grade school, junior high school, then you go to (3:46) high school and all the hard work involved in it, and you're so glad to (3:50) graduate only to go into college, then you're a freshman and you study very (3:57) hard and work, and you're very busy, you know devoting a lot of effort and time (4:03) and money to go to school, because why? because this body you want it to dress (4:08) nicely, you have good clothes, and you want to buy a house, preferably in the (4:14) foothill, with so many rooms and luxuries and carpets and drapes, this (4:22) body wants that, and you work hard for that. You graduate from college and you (4:28) apply for a job, you go to the placement office and you stand in line for the (4:35) interviewer and the people who interview you, and you are very polite to be (4:41) interviewed, you want to be bright, you want to pretend to be bright, and you want to put (4:47) on your best appearance, and some sense of humor, and intelligence, abilities, you (4:54) know you pretend to be perfect for the interview, and you get the job, and then (5:00) you do a lousy job and you're fired, then you apply for other jobs and you're (5:04) miserable, you know all this is this for the body, because the body wants clothes, (5:10) housing, food, and we do all this work for the body. Now what are they doing for the (5:20) soul? The average person, now this is the real person, now after all this the body (5:29) dies, goes to dust, becomes nothing. There was a person, this body would belong to a (5:38) person called Rock Hudson, remember that name? Rock Hudson, okay he died recently, (5:43) that's why you still remember him. And Rock Hudson was a very successful person, (5:49) lots of money, fame, covers, magazine covers, on the front cover, TV, movies, (5:59) wealth, Beverly Hills mansion, this body, his body had a lot of fun, and he also (6:06) broke God's law as we know, and he died in humiliation. Now the real (6:13) person, Rock Hudson does exist, the real person, what did he do for this body and (6:18) what did he do for this? What did the fame and money bring him? What was (6:25) the value of the fame and the money that he accumulated? Remember George (6:32) Liberati? The glitter, the suits that he was wearing, and the showmanship, and the (6:40) clapping, the people clapping for him, the performances he gave, and how many (6:45) millions of dollars he made. But how much does he, the real person, have? At the end (6:52) the mortician is afraid to touch him, because of the virus, AIDS virus. (7:00) Rockefeller, any of them. So the body, people worked very hard for this entity (7:07) here. What do they do for the soul? This is the question. What I'm trying to bring (7:14) out is rearranging our priorities, or putting our priorities in perspective. (7:22) What are we doing for the soul? What does the soul need? The soul needs (7:27) watching God alone, this is the first step, because the soul is part of God, in (7:37) any way you want to look at it, because God said I blew into Adam from my spirit. (7:42) So the soul needs to worship God alone, and then it needs food, nutrition, the (7:49) five daily meals, the five prayers are needed, you need the fasting, people like (8:03) Rock Hudson, for example, he put himself in the service of this body, he (8:10) was serving this body, whatever the body wants he gave it, but he neglected (8:17) himself. And if the soul was this size when he started, it is still this size (8:24) now, didn't grow, he didn't feed his soul, his priorities were mixed up. I'm using a (8:31) real person as an example, because he is a person who attained fame and fortune, the (8:41) conclusion from this is that anything that we do that is not developing our (8:51) soul is a waste of time, if you do anything that has nothing to do with God (8:54) is a waste of time. So when you wake up in the morning, until the end of the day (8:59) you ask yourself am I doing this for God, which is another word for (9:07) feeding your soul, because anything you do for God causes your soul to grow and (9:11) develop, it is actually for yourself, for the real entity. So we have to rearrange (9:18) our priorities, put them in perspective. How much of the day are you doing for (9:27) the body and how much are you doing for you? You went to school and suffered (9:33) through examinations, you have a good job, what did you do for you? By the way the (9:48) hundred years compared to infinity is zero, so this is the proportion that you (9:56) should do for yourself and for your body, you should do zero for your body, and you (10:03) should do 100% for you, it is not intelligent otherwise, because this is (10:10) zero, it is going to be nothing. So you have to put this in the service of you, and not (10:17) the other way around. Almost everybody out there has their priorities reversed, they put (10:22) this in the service of a vanishing garment. (11:12) From this diagram, I want to move on to comparing the believer, a Muslim, to a non-Muslim, and (11:23) one who submitted to God, and a regular person. (11:31) I was looking out the window the other day, I prayed my morning prayer, and about an hour (11:39) later, one of my neighbors, I was looking out the window, and I saw the neighbor coming (11:44) out, and he was obviously very sleepy. (11:52) His hair was all messed up, and you can imagine if he just got up, you know, he's walking (11:57) like this, he can hardly walk, he is young, he is not old, his clothes are a mess, and (12:05) he was out to get the newspaper. (12:08) Now a Muslim wakes up in the morning, the first thing he says, or she says, (12:13) Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, la ilaha illallah, wahdahu la sharika lah. (12:16) The first thing a person says, remember we pledged this in one of the khutbah, the first (12:21) thing, I hope you didn't forget, we do forget once in a while, but the first thing when you (12:27) get up in the morning, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, in the name of God, la ilaha illallah, wahdahu (12:33) la sharika lah. (12:34) Because this is what you will say when you get up on the day of resurrection, whatever (12:38) you say every morning. (12:42) And I have to repeat what most people say when they get up in the morning and they look (12:45) in the clock, and it is osh, and this is what they will say, this is exactly what they will (12:51) say on the day of judgment, when they get up in the morning, osh, because usually they (12:59) are up late, they get up, turn the alarm off, and go back to sleep. (13:05) And then when they get up next time, it is too late, and they utter the four letter words. (13:12) So the Muslim gets up in the morning, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, la ilaha illallah, wahdahu la sharika lah. (13:17) When you get up on the day of resurrection, if this is a habit here, it is going to be (13:20) a habit also on the day of judgment, God will see to it, God will help you. (13:26) And there is no place to go to when you get up on the day of resurrection saying Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, (13:31) la ilaha illallah, wahdahu la sharika lah, there is only one God, there is no place to (13:36) go but heaven on the day of resurrection. (13:39) So this is what the Muslim does. (13:40) Now what did my neighbor do when he got up in the morning, looking for the paper? (13:45) God is not on his mind, just like the average person, I hope God was on his mind, but it (13:49) did not look like it. (13:51) And then the Muslim goes to do his ablution, or her ablution. (13:57) You go and do ablution in the morning, and you pray in the morning, this is the first (14:00) thing you do. (14:01) And this act of ablution and the morning prayer is very refreshing, you are alert, you look (14:07) nice, you washed your face, you combed your hair, you do not look like this guy, I mean (14:14) you really look terrible. (14:17) You only see that in the movies, somebody just got up out of bed. (14:22) The Muslim commemorates God in every chance he or she gets. (14:29) The Muslim sees the sun rise and says subhanallah. (14:33) All these are nutrition for the soul, for you, the real person, and your soul goes and (14:41) says subhanallah, glory be to God, as you see the sun rising. (14:45) Because you are always conscious of God, the sun is rising exactly at the precise second, (14:52) and from the same spot that it is supposed to, without delay. (14:57) And God committed that sun in your service, and you say subhanallah. (15:05) You look at the flower and you do the same thing. (15:08) Then you make a telephone call to one of your friends or associates and you say tomorrow (15:13) I am going to do this and that insha'Allah, God willing. (15:18) There is a certain behavior of the person who has submitted to God, because you know (15:23) that God is doing everything, and you know that you will do this and that tomorrow, only (15:28) because God wills, but God will do that. (15:34) And the Quran gives you this very clear commandment. (15:39) And then your kids get up and you admire them and you say mashallah, this is God's giving (15:46) to you, this is God's will that you have these children, and you thank God. (15:52) Now the non-Muslim is unaware, God is not in his or her mind at all, and they are neglecting (16:01) the real person, neglecting themselves. (16:04) They will be very careful to have breakfast, but they will not give breakfast to their soul. (16:13) So you are living 24 hours a day, you are commemorating your creator. (16:18) And your creator does not need that, God does not need any of our praise or our worship, (16:25) we do. (16:26) So you are being prepared for the eternal life, which is coming. (16:31) You don't see anybody around who is 200 years old, do you? (16:36) You haven't heard of anyone, it is coming, the day of resurrection. (16:40) And then you will be assigned that eternal rank, depending on the spot where you qualify, (16:47) how much growth you did. (16:55) So far I talked about rearranging the priorities, or putting the priorities in perspective, (17:00) and how much time we devote to your soul, the real person, and how much time you give (17:08) to your job, and your boss, and your family, and so on. (17:12) Strictly, you can give time to your family in the cause of God. (17:17) Your priorities must be in perspective. (17:24) This is why you are here for the Friday prayer, you dropped all business and you are here (17:28) for the Friday prayer, this is the correct priority. (17:33) Anytime you are not here on Friday, you are out of God's grace, it is a commandment for (17:40) every Friday, you drop all business and you go to the Friday prayer. (17:44) And God associates this with business and profit, and God said it is better for you (17:51) to drop business, because God runs the world, God is doing everything, and when you drop (17:56) your business and go to the Friday prayer as God commands you to, God will see to it (18:01) that you make more money, more profit, and you don't care, but it will come. (18:10) Rearranging, or putting our priorities in perspective. (18:16) I am going to read a couple of verses from the Quran that deal with this subject of priorities. (18:26) In surah 18, starting at verse 45, it says, (18:32) Sight for them, I seek refuge in God from Satan, (18:39) Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, in the name of God, it says sight for them, the example (18:44) of this world, like sending water from the sky that causes plants to grow on the earth, (18:53) and then turns to hay, blown away by the wind, this is this world, this is the example of (19:00) this world, in verse 45 of surah 18. (19:06) The plant grows, it is strong, you see all those flowers out there, they are very light, (19:11) watch them, they are going to turn into dry, something like hay, and they will blow away. (19:17) In fact the time will come and you will say, I want to remove this stuff from here, it (19:22) is going to be dry and shriveled, and this is how this world is. (19:27) The next verse, it says that money and children are the beauty of this life, or the adornments (19:41) of this life. (19:42) This is what are the good things of this life, money and children. (19:47) In Arabic, al-mal wa al-banuna zeenatul hayati al-dunya, and I have heard many people say (19:51) God says that money and children are the adornments of this life, I have lots of children, where (19:56) is the money? (19:59) But generally, money and children are the beauties or the adornments of this life, and (20:11) then the rest of the verse says, however the eternal righteous works, al-baqiyat al-salihaat (20:16) in Arabic, the righteous works that last forever, we are talking about the real person here, (20:24) are far better for you. (20:28) So money and children and properties in this world, they are the good things in this life. (20:37) And God tells us what is better than that. (20:40) Like I mentioned in the last khutbah, worshipping God alone and nourishing your real person, (20:47) the Quran says it is much better than owning everything on this earth and twice as much. (20:56) All the real estate in Vancouver and New York, all the real estate in the whole world, all (21:07) the oil, the gold, the diamonds, believing in God alone and feeding, nourishing your (21:15) real person is much better, when you have the right perspective, is much better than (21:20) owning everything on earth and twice as much. (21:23) So this verse 46 of surah 18 says, money and children are the beauties or the good things (21:29) of this world, but the righteous works that last forever are far better and provide better (21:36) hope, wa khayrun amalah, the end of the verse is khayrun amalah, there is better hope in (21:41) them. (21:42) There is no hope in the properties, Rock Hudson was very famous and very rich. (21:47) George Liberty's mansion, still you can go as a tourist and look at it, but he is not (21:51) there, because there is something better that he could have acquired, that is righteous works (21:59) and developing his soul in order to withstand life next to God in the hereafter. (22:07) If he did not develop his soul he would not stand being close to God. (22:11) And the verse 47 says, because the day will come when we remove the mountains, and you (22:18) see the earth barren, everything will go, and then we will gather every single one. (22:27) The Arabic says, falam nughadir minhum ahada, we will not leave a single person. (22:33) God says we are going to gather everybody for this reckoning. (22:40) How much do you do for this vanishing garment, how much do you do for yourself? (22:46) The reckoning is going to be automatic, but every single one will come to account. (22:55) The next verses go on and describe why the righteous works and feeding your soul is the (23:02) number one priority, that when you do anything else it is a waste of time, anything else (23:08) that does not develop your soul is a waste of time. (23:12) And missing a Friday prayer, you are missing this because you are all here, when you miss (23:15) a Friday prayer for any reason, it is a terrible, terrible loss, because being once a week a (23:23) congregational prayer in which you meet your brothers and sisters, and it is a commandment (23:28) from God to do this, when you miss it, you miss a lot. (23:32) I mean I cannot put it in billions of dollars, we have to have, we always remember the right (23:39) perspective, and the advice in Quran is to commemorate God 24 hours a day, every chance (23:46) you get, you can turn your work into worship. (23:52) You can take the mail from the fellow, open it, he has an express mail for you, and I (24:03) need it, bring it, these are papers that I need. (24:10) It is one o'clock, so I am going to read some material, and some kind of a quiz. (24:16) I want you to find out or think where it is from, okay? (24:24) Every addition or omission of a word or even of a single letter from the sacred text of (24:32) the prayer, destroys the religious meaning of the prayer as a whole, and is to be regarded (24:39) as a grave sin, a sin which could result in eternal exile for those who commit it. (24:47) Remember there are certain statements of Quran, it says wailoon lilmusaleen, woe to those who (24:52) are doing their prayer, I mean those are people who are doing their prayer, but they end up (24:58) in the negative, because they are heedless of their prayer, or because there are other (25:03) reasons. (25:04) So you must make sure that your prayer is perfect, your contact, I am not talking about (25:10) supplications, I am talking about your contact prayer. (25:14) It is a recognized statement of Quran, wailoon lilmusaleen, woe to those who are doing their (25:19) prayer, allatheen hum a'an salateehum sahoon, who are heedless of their prayer, they are (25:24) not aware, or they are neglecting something. (25:26) Let me read this again, and I want to apply it to our contact prayer here, see Barry is (25:33) visiting us for the first time, and you will wonder why do we do the prayer in Arabic, (25:36) and why this particular prayer, for example. (25:39) And all of us ask this question, in fact it is going to come up, so let me read this again. (25:45) Every addition, or omission, of a word, or even a single letter, now we in this mosque (25:55) fully appreciate the mathematical composition of everything that is connected with our (26:01) worship, the Quran, and even the bones in our body, and everything else, so we should (26:06) appreciate what is written here. (26:10) Every addition, or omission, of a word, or even of a single letter, from the sacred text, (26:16) and Fatiha is the sacred text that God gave us, the first surah of Quran. (26:23) We cannot add anything to it, as you know Satan succeeded everywhere in the Muslim world, (26:28) they had the word ameen. (26:31) And our people in Washington DC have a radio program, and I have one of the tapes here (26:36) talking about this ameen, and they got it from the dictionary, some recognized dictionary, (26:42) and they read what ameen is, it turned out to be an old Hebrew, Greek, something, word (26:48) that has nothing to do with Arabic, it is not in the Quran. (26:50) But here, this is why Satan tricked the people into adding it. (26:56) Every addition, or omission, of a word, or even a single letter, from the sacred text (27:00) of the prayers, destroys the religious meaning of the prayer as a whole, and is to be regarded (27:05) as a grave sin. (27:06) So here is a person doing the prayer, committing a grave sin. (27:11) Okay, let me go to another section, as I go you will guess what I am reading from. (27:19) He and his disciples evolved a mystical theory, according to which the words and letters of (27:26) the various prayers are not accidental, nor are they only vehicles for their literal meaning. (27:37) I mean, ehdina al-sirata al-mustaqeem, guide us in the right path, it is wonderful. (27:41) But we are not saying the contact prayer for this literal meaning, there is much more to it. (27:46) So listen to this, nor are they only vehicles for their literal meaning, their order and (27:54) especially their numbers, we certainly appreciate that, reflect a mystical harmony, a sacred (28:00) divine rhythm. (28:04) Next, no change can be tolerated in the text of the prayers, not even a minute one, because (28:14) every change, even of one letter, would destroy the numerical harmony inherent in the text. (28:22) So every letter of God composed in the first surah of Quran al-Fatiha is numerically controlled. (28:30) The sounds, when you say alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, this is composed by God for a specific (28:35) reason, a combination that causes your contact with your creator. (28:40) Oh listen, it is coming up. (28:44) It does not matter therefore whether the change is beneficial from the point of view of meaning (28:49) and content. (28:50) You may think of composing a Shakespearean excellent literary marvel that praises God, (28:58) it does not mean a thing, forget it, it is not the meaning we are after, it is the numerical (29:03) composition and the sound. (29:07) For this level of meaning is not the most important one in the prayer. (29:14) The text was formed by God, I am adding this by God, to reflect mystical harmony, and any (29:20) change would destroy it. (29:23) The second point here is the liturgy, this is the contact prayers al-Fatiha, the liturgy (29:28) received new importance and new meaning within the framework of religious practice, after (29:34) discovering the numerical importance of it. (29:37) A completely new dimension was added in this way, with a daily prayer service, it stopped (29:43) being just a reciting of requests and praises of God in ancient formulas, Arabic for example. (29:51) And became a vehicle for becoming a participant in a mystical divine harmony. (29:57) The prayers suddenly received a new depth of meaning and importance, which was undreamed (30:03) of in the thousand years that had passed since they were formulated. (30:09) Next, okay this will really tell you where this is coming from, the quiz becomes easier (30:21) and easier. (30:22) The fierce polemical tone of rabbi Judah's criticism of the changes introduced by the (30:27) Frenchman in the prayers can therefore be explained as a result of his fear that the (30:33) prayers may be regarded as completely human in origin and meaning, making them secular (30:38) and meaningless in religious and mystical practices. (30:42) A lot of people accuse me of being harsh with some people who are making changes in the (30:48) prayers or in the Quran, or in the practices of religion, but there is a precedent, it (30:56) is fear for these people, and it is concern for them. (31:02) According to him, even if the content and meaning of the prayer is religious, expressing (31:07) love and devotion to God, it still will be just, quote, a secular song, like that of (31:14) the non-Jews. (31:15) If it does not have the added mystical dimension of hidden truth, which cannot be revealed (31:22) by the literal meaning of the words alone. (31:25) In his polemic, rabbi Judah does not defend only the specific tradition of prayer which (31:30) he received from his parents and teachers, he also defends prayer as an elevating force, (31:37) forming a connection between man and God, a connection that no mere word can achieve. (31:45) So it is not just the words, there is a numerical mysticism in it. (31:50) And the last section, all God-fearing people, when they pray, have to direct their prayers (32:00) when they say, blessed is God, alhamdulillah, when they say, quote unquote, blessed is God, (32:07) and when they kneel before him and thank him and direct their prayers in their hearts, (32:11) only to his holiness alone, within which is his glory, and which has neither form nor image. (32:21) We direct it to God alone. (32:24) Atom of Salah. (32:41) Malik yawm al-deen, iyyaka na'budu wa iyyaka nasta'een, ihdina al-sirata al-mustaqeem, (32:49) sirata al-lazeena an'amta alayhim, ghayri al-maghdoobi alayhim, walad dhalim. (32:56) Allahu akbar, shami'Allahu liman hamidah, Allahu akbar. (33:12) Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar. (33:27) Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, (34:08) alhamdulillah --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://rashad-khalifa-audios-and-videos.gitbook.io/rashad-khalifa-audios-and-videos/videos/a-temporary-body-dropping-business-on-friday-why-pray-in-arabic.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.