We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for Him. And we bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi 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 in his blessed path until the Day of Judgment. We ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen.
Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to imagine the moment that Ibrahim alayhi salam faced rejection from his father.
And it's a powerful moment because the rejection of the father of Ibrahim alayhi salam comes to him after he gives us a masterclass
in how to speak to your parents and how to do da'wah to someone with kindness. It's in that section of Surah Maryam, verse 41 onwards, where Allah 'azza wa jal tells us about Ibrahim alayhi salam:
وَاذْكُرْ فِي الْكِتَابِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ إِنَّهُ كَانَ صِدِّيقًا نَبِيًّا "Make mention in the Book of Ibrahim alayhi salam. Verily, he was a man of truth and a prophet." And Allah says, إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ
When he said to his father—now, "when he said to his father" here could be an independent sentence,
or where his sidq, his truthfulness, is particularly emphasized as he's speaking to his father. إِنَّهُ كَانَ صِدِّيقًا نَبِيًّا
Because you have to be a man who lives by the truth, who abides by the truth, who holds himself accountable to the truth if you're going to be able to endure the test that is to come with the sincerity and grace that you do.
So وَاذْكُرْ فِي الْكِتَابِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ Remember when Ibrahim alayhi salam spoke to his father. And he called his father to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the most beautiful of ways, profound of ways.
You can't get better at respecting a person and acknowledging their right upon you and giving them your best behavior while still delivering the message. And his father responds to him and says,
أَرَاغِبٌ أَنْتَ عَنْ آلِهَتِي يَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ لَئِنْ لَمْ تَنْتَهِ لَأَرْجُمَنَّكَ وَاهْجُرْنِي مَلِيًّا "Are you finding something more befitting other than our gods, O Ibrahim?
Have you turned your back on our gods, O Ibrahim? If you don't stop, I'm going to stone you, وَاهْجُرْنِي and get away from me, get out of my face, because if you're not out of my face, then I'm going to kill you."
At that point, Ibrahim alayhi salam could have said, "That's it, old man. I gave you the da'wah. I did it in the best way, and this is how you responded to me, and how dare you speak to me this way, and now I'm going to move on." But Allah 'azza wa jal says he says, سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكَ
سَأَسْتَغْفِرُ لَكَ رَبِّي "Peace be unto you. I will seek forgiveness from my Lord for you." And here is where I really want to come to: إِنَّهُ كَانَ بِي حَفِيًّا
"Allah is always so attentive, loving in how He receives me." Hafiyya refers to the quality of how you receive someone when they come to you,
and that often shows the level of love and reverence that someone has for someone else just based on the reception. I'll give you an example, by the way. When a head of state travels to another country,
they often assess the greeting in micro detail. What type of red carpet was out there? Did the president himself go out to receive his counterpart, or did he send a minister or someone else?
Did he walk up to the stairs, or did he wait for the person to come down the stairs and walk the carpet? Did he walk with him all the way? Was it a hug initially? Were there some words that were exchanged?
The reception is analyzed in micro detail because the reception says a lot about how you feel about that person. Now, in the case of diplomats, about what you want from that person,
but usually when it comes to normal human relations, the way you receive someone says a lot to someone that's watching from the outside. And Ibrahim alayhi salam does not say that "My Lord will receive me with kindness."
إِنَّهُ كَانَ بِي حَفِيًّا "My Lord always celebrates me." And he's saying that to his father, who should have such a love and compassion for him, but he doesn't, because he's blinded by his own idolatry
and his own ego. He's saying that to his father that if you reject me, my Lord never rejects me. إِنَّهُ كَانَ بِي حَفِيًّا He celebrates my return. He pays such close attention to me. He's so loving
every time I turn back to Him. Now fast forward from that conversation in Iraq to Mecca, where Ibrahim alayhi salam is now building the Ka'bah with his son.
وَإِذْ يَرْفَعُ إِبْرَاهِيمُ الْقَوَاعِدَ مِنَ الْبَيْتِ وَإِسْمَاعِيلُ And as they're putting the bricks one by one, one by one, one by one, and raising the foundations all alone in the hot desert,
and they raise their hands to make du'a to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, what does Ibrahim alayhi salam say to Allah 'azza wa jal? رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّا Isma'il alayhi salam stands next to him and says,
"Ameen, ameen, ameen" to his du'as. "Our Lord, accept this from us. Accept this deed from us." And subhanAllah, as the 'ulama of tafsir mention,
how incredible of a request for that to be the first thing that comes out of his mouth— عَبْدٌ مَخْصُوصٌ فِي مَكَانٍ مَخْصُوصٍ لِأَمْرٍ مَخْصُوصٍ A special servant in a special place
who's been given a special command, and with all of that, he asks Allah 'azza wa jal for what? Qabul. Just accept it, O my Lord. With humility, with this sense of vulnerability
that if You don't accept it, O Allah, it doesn't matter how tired I got, it doesn't matter how hot it was, it doesn't matter if anyone else saw it— if You don't accept it, then it doesn't matter if billions of people come later on to this house
in a sign of acceptance for my act. I want You to accept it, O Allah. And this shows you the type of relationship between Ar-Rahman and Khalil Ar-Rahman,
the Most Merciful and His khalil, His chosen friend Ibrahim alayhi salam— not just a servant, not just a prophet, His friend alayhi salam—
that this relationship is dual, that Allah 'azza wa jal receives Ibrahim alayhi salam in a beautiful and special way, and Ibrahim alayhi salam tries to perform deeds
for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to go to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the most beautiful and special way. And that's why his concern is, "Ya Allah, did You like it? Ya Allah, did You accept it?
Ya Allah, is this good enough for You?" And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala responds with praise of Ibrahim alayhi salam, right? That وَمَنْ يَرْغَبُ عَنْ مِلَّةِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ إِلَّا مَنْ سَفِهَ نَفْسَهُ
وَلَقَدِ اصْطَفَيْنَاهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَإِنَّهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ لَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ The same word is used, by the way. Ar-raaghibun. Ibrahim alayhi salam's father said, "Do you desire something other than our gods?" And Allah 'azza wa jal says,
"Whoever desires a way other than Ibrahim alayhi salam has soiled themselves, has ruined themselves. And We chose him in this dunya, وَإِنَّهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ لَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ and in the Hereafter, he is certainly from the righteous."
What a beautiful relationship— a friend to his Lord, trying to please Him constantly. "Did You like it, Ya Allah? This was my best, Ya Allah. I tried my best."
Which brings me to the question that each and every single one of us should always ask themselves did I give Allah my best? did I give Allah my best prayer? did I give Allah my best charity?
we just came out of Ramadan and the greeting that we would give to each other is تَقَبَّلَ اللَّهُ مِنَّا وَمِنْكُمْ may Allah accept from you and I did I give Allah my best Ramadan? did I give Allah my best fast? did I give Allah my best energy?
did I give Allah my best character? when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was watching me and other people were not did I give Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala my best performance? was that the best that I could do for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam says إِنَّ اللَّهَ طَيِّبٌ لَا يَقْبَلُ إِلَّا طَيِّبًا Allah is pure and He only accepts that which is pure Allah is good and He accepts that which is good
but if you notice the way Allah talks about qabul in the Qur'an acceptance in the Qur'an He doesn't talk about the deed per se He talks about the type of person that performs that deed
whether they emulate Ibrahim alayhi salaam in the performance of that deed and so He says for example subhanahu wa ta'ala إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِينَ verily Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accepts
from the people of taqwa the people of God consciousness those people that are so concerned because taqwa yields a sense of concern to not disobey me to not fall into a sin that would disqualify them
from my mercy and my grace if it goes unrepented for they're so concerned who does Allah accept from? He accepts from those type of people إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِينَ and that's why Sayyiduna Ali radiyallahu anhu said
do not concern yourself so much with just the performance of the deed but the acceptance of the deed because إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِينَ Allah accepts from the muttaqin اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمُتَّقِينَ اللَّهُمَّ آمِينَ
may Allah make us amongst those people اللَّهُمَّ آمِينَ and there's something very beautiful about what Allah accepts and how Allah accepts you see the way we do math with each other yesterday Shaykh Dawood was talking about this
and we were reflecting on this idea of what the imagination can capture now we can't comprehend Allah's mercy because of the limits of our own mercy we can't comprehend Allah's grace because of the limits of our own grace
we can't comprehend Allah's forgiveness because of the limits of our own forgiveness and so when you do the math of good deeds and bad deeds none of us would treat each other that way to where when someone does good for you you reward it by 10 to 700 up to infinity
and when they commit a mistake then you only treat that mistake as one and if they apologize for it then it's as if they never committed the mistake can you imagine how amazing our marriages would be
our relationships would be with our children with our parents with our friends with our communities if that's how we treated each other but that type of math doesn't work for us as human beings it's only with Allah azza wa jal
it's a math that is beyond the capacity of our mercy and so what does that have to do with the concept of qabul
one of the most beautiful ayat of qabul in the Qur'an of acceptance in the Qur'an is an ayah that has a powerful context to it Ibn Abbas radiyallahu anhuma he narrates from
عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ الْأَمِينِ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ Ibn Abbas, Ibn Abi Hatim records that Ibn Abbas narrates from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam
who narrates from ar-Ruh al-Amin Jibril alayhi salaam that Jibril alayhi salaam said that on the Day of Judgment when Allah azza wa jal weighs the good deeds and the bad deeds then He will settle the good deeds and the bad deeds amongst each other
meaning what you have some sins that you committed that cancel out some of your good deeds you have some good deeds that cancel out some of your sins and then ultimately you also have the way that those good deeds and sins become currency
for all the wrongdoings that you did towards other people or that were done towards you and so people come and they take your good deeds or they put their sins on you or if you're fortunate enough you're on the other side of that equation you're receiving someone else's good deeds
and you're putting your sins on someone else who wronged you in this world but the point is there's a whole process here with the good deeds and the bad deeds
and then he says فَإِنْ بَقِيَتْ لَهُ حَسَنَةً وَسَّعَ اللَّهُ لَهُ فِي الْجَنَّةِ if he just has one good deed left at the end of that Allah will make space for him in Paradise
and he recited the ayah أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ نَتَقَبَّلُ عَنْهُمْ أَحْسَنَ مَا عَمِلُوا أُولَٰئِكَ
Allah azza wa jal mentioned in Surat al-Ahqaf that they are the ones that we accept the best of what they do وَنَتَجَاوَزُ عَنْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ فِي أَصْحَابِ الْجَنَّةِ وَعْدَ الصِّدْقِ الَّذِي كَانُوا يُوعَدُونَ
that they are the ones who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accepts نَتَقَبَّلُ عَنْهُمْ أَحْسَنَ مَا عَمِلُوا we accept the best of what they did وَنَتَجَاوَزُ عَنْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ فِي أَصْحَابِ الْجَنَّةِ
وَعْدَ الصِّدْقِ الَّذِي كَانُوا يُوعَدُونَ and we overlook their sins they will be entered into Paradise and this is the promise of truth that they were given the promise that they were given we talked about wa'dullah yesterday
and all the implications of wa'dullah the promise of Allah, the promise of Allah what does this ayah mean? on the Day of Judgment dear brothers and sisters when Allah azza wa jal analyzes your salah and He analyzes your siyam
and He analyzes your sadaqah and He analyzes all of your different things it's not like He takes the average and then judges it based on the average al-Hafidh Ibn Kathir rahimahullah ta'ala he says
that يَتَجَاوَزُ عَنِ الْكَثِيرِ مِنَ الزَّلَلِ Allah overlooks so many of your slips, your sins those little sins over and over and over and over again at-tajawuz Allah azza wa jal just overlooks them the sins between Jumu'ah and Jumu'ah
the sin from salah to salah the sins from Ramadan to Ramadan يَتَجَاوَزُ عَنِ الْكَثِيرِ مِنَ الزَّلَلِ and he says وَيَتَقَبَّلُ الْيَسِيرَ مِنَ الْعَمَلِ الصَّالِحِ and He accepts the smallest good deed that you do
and He magnifies it subhanahu wa ta'ala and He elevates a single good deed to where it's accepted meaning what?
Allah finds the most sincere salah that you did the most sincere fast that you had the most sincere moments that you had and Allah azza wa jal elevates that captures that moment for you
and rewards you in accordance with it it's one of the most hopeful ayat in the Qur'an Allah capturing that for you and يَتَجَاوَزُ Allah azza wa jal overlooking so many of the sins and the shortcomings in the process
and Allah says that's the promise of Allah وَعْدَ الصِّدْقِ الَّذِي كَانُوا يُوعَدُونَ that's His promise to you now here's the question that I want us to ask ourselves insha'Allah ta'ala
and I want you to really really really assess yourself are you giving Allah your best? are you giving Allah your best salah? you know when you come to your prayer
if you are detaching from something immediately before your salah delaying it to its very end if you're even performing it on time and by the time you get to it you're thinking about all types of other stuff and you were deep in something else and then you get into your salah
and you never even focused in your prayer and then as soon as your salah was over you went deep in khushu' into whatever else you were doing who are you giving your best to? and if so who means more to you?
because you are receiving Allah 'azza wa jall when you go to salah and giving to Allah 'azza wa jall when you go to salah there is a relationship that is being established here that's meant to be established here
who do you give the best of your time to? who do you give the best of your energy to? you know subhanAllah one of the things that destroys families is when a person gives the best of themselves only to the outside of their homes
and what they bring back home is a tired, angry, agitated, beat-up version of themselves the worst version of themselves that's what they bring home the best version of themselves they store up that energy for work they store up that energy for what they have to give to the outside
is that what you give to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Al-Hafidh Ibn Rajab rahimahullah ta'ala he has a beautiful page where he collects narrations of the salaf
of how you perform your good deeds in secret with Allah 'azza wa jall and he narrates from Abu Jandal إِن كُنتُمْ تَرَوْنَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَرَاكُمْ if you see that Allah doesn't see you in the first place then you've disbelieved in Him effectively
if you don't believe Allah sees you anyway then you don't actually believe in Him وَإِن كُنتُمْ تَرَوْنَ أَنَّهُ يَرَاكُمْ فَلِمَ جَعَلْتُمُ اللَّهَ أَهْوَنَ النَّاظِرِينَ إِلَيْكُمْ if you see that He sees you
why are you reducing Allah to the lowest of your observers? why are you reducing Allah as it's just like oh it's just Allah watching me right now I don't have to be the best version of myself I don't have to give the best of myself when it comes to your sadaqah and what you give
لَن تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ حَتَّىٰ تُنفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ you will not achieve righteousness until you give of what you love and that's why Abu Talha radiAllahu 'anhu when he heard that from the Prophet ﷺ he said I thought about the thing I love most
and he gave the Prophet ﷺ that garden in front of Medina this is the best of what I can give to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّا not with arrogance not like Ya Rasulullah I'm donating this no Ya Rasulullah this is the best لَن تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ I heard the verse
this is the best of what I can give this is the most precious of my possessions that's why the Prophet ﷺ said that one dirham of charity surpasses a hundred thousand dirhams of charity because the person that gave that one
that was the best they could do and they meant it that was their best effort and they meant it and Allah 'azza wa jall accepted it give Allah the best of yourself give Allah the best of your salah
give Allah the best of your sadaqah let it be tayyib let it be something that's pure something that's good and the real question that you ask yourself is if I'm not giving Allah my best energy then who am I giving it to?
and if I'm not giving Allah my best effort then who am I giving it to? and if I'm not giving Allah the best of my health and the best of my time who am I giving it to? what am I giving it to? then you take a step back and you say where is the attachment of the heart?
and what is it that the heart actually worships? may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to give the best version of ourselves to Him and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala judge us only in accordance with the best of our deeds and may Allah 'azza wa jall overlook our sins
and not judge us by our lowest moments and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala embrace us with His mercy and not with our performance
رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَإِلَّا تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا إِنَّكَ أَنتَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لِوَالِدَيْنَا وَارْحَمْهُمَا كَمَا رَبَّيَانَا صِغَارًا رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَاجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّاتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍ
وَاجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا اللَّهُمَّ انْصُرْ إِخْوَانَنَا الْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ فِي الْمَشَارِقِ وَالْمَغَارِبِ اللَّهُمَّ انْصُرْهُمْ فِي فِلَسْطِينَ وَالسُّودَانِ وَلُبْنَانَ وَسُورِيَّا وَالْيَمَنِ وَفِي كُلِّ مَكَانٍ اللَّهُمَّ كُنْ لَهُمْ وَلَا تَكُنْ عَلَيْهِمْ أَعْدَاءَ الدِّينِ اللَّهُمَّ أَرِنَا فِي الظَّالِمِينَ
عَجَائِبَ قُدْرَتِكَ اللَّهُمَّ أَهْلِكِ الظَّالِمِينَ بِالظَّالِمِينَ وَأَخْرِجْنَا وَإِخْوَانَنَا مِنْ بَيْنِهِمْ سَالِمِينَ عِبَادَ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ
وَاشْكُرُوهُ عَلَىٰ نِعَمِهِ يَزِدْكُمْ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ This video contains references to the Qur'an and sunnah.