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[Continued...] 

So the closest door, by which any person can enter to get closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is absolute poverty. You are nothing by yourself, you have nothing and  you do not possess any station. You haven’t made yourself a middle man, between other people and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, thinking that you are a guide. If Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wills, you say something to benefit someone else. But you are not in any other station except the lowest. As we said, the lower you become before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the higher your love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala intensifies for you.

So you don’t feel that you can create a path between you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You believe Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one who creates the path between yourself and Him. You work hard and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the creator of that path between you and him.

There is no path towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala except that poverty is the Ubudiyah. Again, that deep worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, in hardship and ease, revolve around two poles, absolute love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and absolute humility before Him.

Absolute love, as we mentioned before is based on witnessing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala’s goodness to you.

Absolute humility is based upon witnessing the faults of the self.

If a person does have these two poles, if every single person here thinks to himself, I am going to love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala more then anything, and be humble to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because I cannot guide myself, and if I look to myself I see sins, secondly things which I have not thanked Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala deserves thanks constantly, and thirdly, the good which I have done, how much effort and adoration for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was there in it. You know that by yourself you have not achieved anything. If Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blesses you, then he can pull you towards him.

If you do have those two principles then soon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will replenish you, and refresh you. You will fee that in any difficulty, there is a great chance, not only a great chance, but you feel that you have advanced more then you would have done had you not gone through that particular hardship.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"And the slaves of the the Most Beneficent are those who alk on the earth in humility and sedateness, and when the foolish address them (with bad words) they reply back with mild words of gentleness." [Surah Al Furqaan 63]

and Rasoolullah sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam said: 

"Never did a person humble himself before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, except that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala raised him."

If you were you give love to someone, just to an individual, without humility, then you would love and admire that person, but you would not obey them. If you are humble before someone but you don’t love them, then you may perform whatever they want you to do, but not with full enthusiasm. If that is for a person, then what about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?

How can a day go past and person hasn’t tried to increase his love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?

But those two things, absolute love and humility, can only become mature, if you hearts and your bodies become upright and righteous.  If your heart becomes righteous and your body becomes righteous then in that case, you will achieve love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But it is not just a wish that you have, or a thought. You have to rectify your heart.

Now, how do we make our hearts righteous?

The love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala should take precedence over and more importance then the love of anything else. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will test you on that. When you love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala more then anything, which is the meaning of la illaha illa Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that I will not love any one more then I love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when you achieve that, then your heart starts to become pure and righteous. Every time you prefer your own love over the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or something Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves, your heart will decrease in love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and humility, and increase in arrogance, pride and vanity. In other words you never gain anything if you sin. If you sin, you have immediately reduced your love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and given some of that love, which you had for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to something else. And you decrease in humility and grow in pride. That humility you had before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you have given some of it to Shaytaan. So a person can never gain from sin. That is why some of the Ulama mention, the pain involved in being patient and refraining from a sin, is far less then the pain after the sin. After the sin, the person thinks, I have lost the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and I have given it to something, which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has created. The humility I had before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, because of my sins, has decreased. I have increased in sin, and I have given some of my humility to Shaytaan. This will cause chaos and confusion in the heart of the person, and that is why a muslim, when he sins, he doesn’t feel at peace, as Rasoolullah sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam said:

Sin is whatever waivers in your soul.

It doesn’t give you peace, because you have given some humility, which is only for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to Shaytaan, you have given some Love, which is only for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to one of the creation.

The principle was to put the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala before anything, but isn’t that easy to say o people, isn’t that easy to claim. But when we are put to the test, we find that the true honour of Ubudiyah isn’t upon us. When we are put to the test, the true honour of being a real follower, a real believer, a real mumin isn’t confined. A person deserves, according to that, punishment and a prolonged stay on the Day of Judgement. May Allah save us from this.

So it is easy to claim, an talk about, but it can only benefit you, if you implement it. So if you truly want to love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and be intense in your humility before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you have to practically put the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala before everything. No matter how many talks are done on it, no matter how many discussions you have on it, it will never increase, it will always remain a theory. So many times a person does put his or her desires before the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. For example, there is an elder, someone you respect, a sheikh, or someone in your family, because of those things, a person puts the love of those things before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In other words, the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala isn’t the authority over the heart, isn’t the absolute kingdom which has been established in the heart. It is a kingdom of loving Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but allowing the enemy inside as well, and giving some authority to an enemy, who does not want any good for you and has never wanted any good for you. As soon as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala cursed him and took him outside Jannah, he hated Adam (as) for that. He, Iblees said, as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions;

"Iblees said: Because You have sent me astray, surely I will sit in wait against them (human beings) on Your straight Path. Then I will come from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them as thankful ones." [Surah Al Araf 16 and 17]

And straight away after this, and this clearly shows how much he hates and despises Adam (as), he puts on the face of piety, of friendship and says;

Then Satan whispered suggestions to them both in order to uncover that which was hidden from them of their private parts (before); he said: "Your Lord id not forbid you this tree save you should become Angels or become of the immortal. And he (satan) swore by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to them both saying: “Verily, I am one of the sincere well-wishers for you both." [Surah al-Ar'aaf 20 and 21]

And he swore to him that I am just an advisor to you. Your enemy will never come to you as an enemy. Iblees will never come to you as an  enemy, but as a friend. That is why some many people have allowed him into the kingdom, which is only meant for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He comes in as a friend, like he is benefiting you. But you should know, but you think that I will find a way out, or I will kick him out soon. The Shaytaan, when he finds a way in side the kingdom, doesn’t rest. Now he is inside, he works like a virus, continually attacking. Every second is vital to eliminate him, or remove him and his authority from your heart. And his authority over you is according to how much you have Ubudiyah and devotion to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You leave the devotion and he enters through that door.

So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has decreed a matter, which cannot be repelled, that “whoever loves something other then for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, or other then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala…”, (when we say “putting the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala before anything”, it means. Loving Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and loving for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala) “…then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will punish that person through that thing…” You will feel chastisement in the world, whether that is mental or physical chastisement. Love something other then for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and you will see that it will become your enemy, and soon you will not be able to harness it for your use. Initially Shaytaan says it is for your use, so use it for other then the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but soon it will work against you. It is up to the person who believes in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to use his faculties, which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given him, to realise this before hand, and not go to those things, which incur the anger of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You have nothing to win then, by sinning, because soon you are going to be punished by that sin. A person will continue to sin until he finds no joy in that sin anymore. Then they will start looking for greater sins. A person leaves obligations, until they leave greater obligations.

The decree continues, “…and whoever fears something, other then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then that thing will have authority over you eventually.” If you fear some thing other then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, or other then for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then thing will eventually achieve authority over you. Whoever preoccupies themselves with something other then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, (again other then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala includes other then the cause of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.) that thing will be cursed. The Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam said:

The world is cursed. Everything that is in it is cursed, except for the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and that which is similar to it, or whatever contains it, and the Scholar, and the one who is learning.

The whole world is cursed except the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, anything connected to the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the scholar, who spreads the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and the student, who is learning the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So whoever preoccupies him self with other then the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will be cursed. And we see this from experience, people find frustration and difficulty in doing things because they find that their heart has gone away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.  Their heart is not with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when they are doing those things. And whoever prefers something other then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will not put any blessing in that thing. Prefer something over the commands of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and there will be no blessing in that thing. There will be that quick enjoyment and then there will be dryness, like a barren land, devoid of any fruit and goodness. And whoever tries to please someone else by making Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala angry, then he will earn the anger or the hate of that person as well. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has decreed these things.

We mentioned that absolute love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and humility before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is founded upon the hearts and bodies becoming righteous. Righteousness of the heart depends on two things. One, that the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is given precedence over all things. It is easy to think that you have that, but in reality most people fall into preferring the love of other over the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and thus allowing Shaitan in to the kingdom reserved for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The second matter is magnifying the commands and the prohibitions. It is as if you can imagine the book above your head, and you never think of raising any command or any prohibition above the commands and prohibitions in the Quran and the Sunnah. It is according to your attitude to that, that you will be rewarded. Your respect, honour and magnification of the commands and prohibitions of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reflect your respect and awe of the one who has commanded and prohibited. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"What is the matter with you (that you fear not Allah, His punishment and you hope not for His reward)?" [Surah Nur 13]

That tafseer of this is, why is it that you do not fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, his magnificence? Nuh (as) is rebuking his people because they do not fear Allah's subhanahu wa ta'ala magnificence, of who He is and that magnificence of His commands. To truly magnify the commands and prohibitions you have to attain three things;

Firstly, whenever there is an exemption in the Shariah, like combing the prayer, tayumum, or delaying the zhuhr prayer because of the excessive heat, you do not become consistent in those exemptions. Otherwise you have not magnified the initial command.

Secondly, you should not go to excesses. If the Shariah says that in wudhu you have to wash each part of the body three times. Then don’t go and say I will wash it five times. That person is going to do wudhu before the paryer and I want to beat him, so I will do ghusl.

The third pillar is, whenever you submit to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, do not submit because of the wisdom behind the action. If you submit because you found out a benefit of the action, if you forget the wisdom, you are not going to submit and do the action. This is prohibited because it is bad for your health, if scientists prove that it is not bad for your health, you may fall in to that prohibition. These things can help you and strengthen you in your submission but the actual essence of the submission should never be based on that.