A Temporary Body, Dropping Business On Friday, Why Pray In Arabic

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