We have now finished our discussion on adhan. Now we're about to begin the salah. All of what you had was a preparation for this moment when you raise your hands and you say Allahu Akbar and you enter into this sacred space that is only shared between yourself and your Lord Jalla Jalal. Here I say to you, my brother, my sister, Change your perspective about Salah.
The last couple of messages I share with you before you begin your Salah here, and as you stand and the Iqamah has been delivered, and you're about to raise your hands, create a shift in the mindset and see how this will help you with Khushu'ah. Don't come to Salah for the purpose of ticking another one of the boxes of Islam's obligations. The same way you take your car to the garage to get an MOT test.
This is something that I've got to do to be legal on the road. And similarly, I've got to go to the masjid and pray in order to be a legal Muslim in the eyes of the sharia. Don't do that. Come to salah and it... It's sad that we have to use these analogies, but as if you are approaching a restaurant, the language of food is a universal language which we all understand and enjoy.
As if you're coming to a restaurant. Have you seen a person who comes to a restaurant with the intention of surviving? You say, yeah, I'm going to stakeout or I'm going to Sarai or one of these shops on City Road. How come, brother, to survive, to live?
Well, if you're fearing for your life, go and get a meal deal from Tesco. Three pound. Why are you going to a restaurant to survive? No, the reason why we go to restaurants is to enjoy the experience of food.
Come to the Salah with the same mentality. So that's why people in restaurants are very particular about the way they eat and what they eat and with who they eat and what place they eat. Because it's an experience that they want to relish and enjoy.
Right? So they're very careful about the status they choose and the main course that they call for and the desserts are very specific. about it and the way they arrange their forks and their spoons.
Some eat with chopsticks, some eat with their hands. Everyone has a preference that suits their appetite. And then you salt and you pepper and you mix the condiments in different ways.
Why? Because it's an experience that you relish. Likewise, come to salah.
With the idea that this is my enjoyment, this is not just my obligation, it is. And this is not just my falah, my success, it is that of course. But this is also my sakinah, this is my peace, this is my happiness.
It's my joy. I'm coming to enjoy every moment of the Salah as I stand before Allah, my beloved And each community each nation has its way how they diffuse stress how they manage their problems in life how they relax. So if you go to Finland, for example, they jump into saunas.
That's their idea of decompressing and relaxing. If you go up north towards Sweden, they've got this therapy technique called... Flotation.
And the idea of flotation are just tubs of warm salt water that they fill. You sit inside of it and it's sealed completely from any outside light or sound. That's their idea of decompressing, finding peace.
If you go to Thailand, you've got your traditional trademark Thai massage. Other people in Japan, for example, they will sit in hot springs. That's their idea of peace.
If you go towards France, their idea of... of relaxation is to drink a cup of wine after work and to have a light snack. That gives them the peace.
We are a different breed of creation, sarahat, and to be honest. And our peace, our comfort, no problem with the hot bath and no problem with the sauna. But our peace is found in something that transcends all of this, that rises above it.
That's insolute, your prostration to Allah, to stand before Him, to complain to Him and weep to Him, to find that joy and that happiness, a heart that is inflamed with hope and fear and love. That's where our joy is. That's why the Prophet ﷺ, he would say, يَا بِلَالْ آقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ أَرِحْنَ بِهَا O Bilal, go and make the adhan for the prayer. Give us peace through the salah. Give us comfort through the salah.
And he would say, وَجُعِلَتْ قُلْبًا The comfort of my eye has been placed in Salah. He said, from Dunya, two things that I enjoy, two things that Allah has made me love, perfume and women. He said, however, the enjoyment of my eye, the coolness of my eye.
greatest of them all, that pleasure is found in Salah. So come to Salah with that experience. But of course, all of this is predicated on what?
On Khushu'ah. Because a Salah with Khushu'ah is like a fish in water, it doesn't want to leave. And Salah without Khushu'ah is like a bird in a cage, it is desperate to leave and finish the Salah.
So the first thing I say to you here before you begin your salah, shift the perspective. And everything we have said so far is a preparation for what we are about to discuss now. The grand opening of salah is about to start. And this is Takbiratul Ihram, the moment you say Allahu Akbar and you enter that space with your Lord.
So let us speak about that. At-Takbir. The Salah, it begins with Takbir.
Takbir, meaning to say Allahu Akbar. And you will find that this statement of Allahu Akbar features a lot in our Islamic worship. Whether it is entry into salah, or moving from position to position in salah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. Whether it is when you are throwing the pebbles on hajj, you are saying Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. Whether it is the takbir after Eid al-Fitr, or during Eid al-Fitr, after the Eid of Ramadan, you are saying Allahu Akbar.
And after the Eid al-Adha, or during Eid al-Fitr. You are saying Allahu Akbar. So Takbir features a lot. You begin your prayer by saying Allahu Akbar. So beware of beginning your salah with a lie.
You have just told Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that you are the greatest in my heart. And as one of our Egyptian brothers, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless him and increase him in khushu'ah. Once he began his salah, the moment he said Allahu Akbar, he started to cry. He broke down into heavy crying.
And the brothers, they said to him, how come? What happened? Are you okay? He said, I'm just afraid of beginning my salah with a lie.
The brothers, they said to him, what do you mean? He said, I've just told Allah He is the greatest. And I fear that there is something in my heart that I deem greater than Allah Jalla Jalaluhu.
Allahu Akbar. I say Allahu Akbar means Meaning my heart has to stay where it is thinking about my Lord to the best of my ability. He's greater than my trade and greater than my business.
He's greater than the tyrants and the sultans and the governments of the world. Any injustice, any harm, Allah is greater than it all. So beware of beginning your salah with a lie. You say Allahu Akbar and you begin your salah.
Now, the fact that you have started your salah. Realize that there are several messages and realizations that you need to load in your mind. I'm going to share with you four.
In other words, the moment you say Allahu Akbar, several things have changed. The first of them. Take note of this. You have now just entered into a sacred space with Allah Jalla Jalaluhu, which means that all of a sudden by you saying Allahu Akbar, there is a host of things that used to be permissible for you.
Now they are completely haram. The rules have just changed the moment you said Allahu Akbar. Everything has changed. Before you said Allahu Akbar, it was completely permissible for you to eat, to drink, to laugh, to talk, to use the bathroom, right?
It was fine to do all of that. All of a sudden, there is a very strict prohibition on it. all of those things. You stand, you don't move, you drop your head, you stay still and you try your best to position your heart on your Lord. Subhanallah, something has changed.
The Ahkam now, how have altered, the rulings have changed. And that is why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said about salah, he said miftah salat al-tuhur. The key to the prayer is the wudu, the washing.
Listen. وَتَحْرِيمُهَا and what makes things haram is the takbir, Allahu Akbar. That's what brings you into salah. He said, and what makes things permissible again, what brings you out of salah is taslim, to say salamu alaykum. So he said, what makes...
The space sacred and what makes things that were permissible now haram is your statement of Allahu Akbar. Everything has changed. That's the first thing to realize.
You've said Allahu Akbar, the rules that govern your life have now altered. Clearly something has happened. The second thing to realize is that the... The moment you say, Allahu Akbar, all of the sins that you have committed are brought together and they are placed on your head and on your shoulders. Haji, for what purpose?
Al-Tabarani narrates, and Al-Bayhaqi and others on the authority of... Abdullah ibn Abbas, the Prophet ﷺ, he said, إِنَّ الْعَبْدَ إِذَا قَامَ يُصَلِّي When a person stands up to pray, أُتِيَ بِذُنُوبِهِ كُلِّهَا All of his sins are gathered together. فَوُضِعَتْ عَلَى رَأْسِهِ وَعَاتِقَيْهِ And they are...
placed on his head and on his shoulders. How come, كلما سجد أو ركعت ساقطت عنه and every time he bows and prostrates, those sins, they fall off him. Did you know this?
Hajiib. So Allah has been very kind to you and I. There is an opportunity at least five times a day for those sins to come rolling off your body as you bow and prostrate. So foolish is the one of us. Foolish is he who chooses to pick up those sins and reintroduce them into his life after Allah Almighty has removed them.
The idea of salah is transformation. This is the second thing to realize. We said the first thing was what?
What was the first thing we mentioned? Takbeer, Allahu Akbar, Tayyib. What happens when you enter Salah? The rulings have changed. Secondly we said, all of your sins are falling off your shoulder, on your head as you bow and prostrate.
The third thing, realize that the moment you say Allahu Akbar, Allah positions His majestic face in the direction of the Prophet. direction of yours in a manner that befits his majesty and glory. Subhanallah. Think about that. Al-Harith al-Ash'ari narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said, فَإِذَا صَلَّيْتُمْ فَلَا تَلْتَفِتُوا When you pray, He said, don't look around.
Don't look around when you pray. Why? He said, فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَنصِبُ وَاجِهَهُ لِوَجْهِ عَبْدِهِ فِي صَلَاتِهِ Because Allah establishes His divine face towards the face of His slave when He is praying. Subhanallah. Imagine.
Those of us who are recording in studios for whatever purpose, may Allah forgive us if we are making mistakes. They know very well that the moment the producer or the cameraman says, you're live, there is a different sense of fear. There is a different aura in the room.
It's nervousness, it's trepidation. What? You're live now. Whenever you see that red button now flashing, right? Your palms begin to sweat and your voice begins to quiver and your throat goes dry.
How come? What's changed? There's no one else in the room. It's just you and the cameraman.
Nothing's changed. Oh, what's changed is that you now know there's an audience watching you. That's what's changed.
So Allah is always watching. But the moment you say Allahu Akbar, He positions His majestic face in the direction of yours. Imagine that.
So how then could I allow myself to look left and right? And the moment we do that, Allah Almighty changes that situation. Never allow yourself to look at something believing that it can be greater than the face of Allah that has been positioned. towards yours. Subhanallah.
Subhanallah. That's number three. Number four, the moment you say Allahu Akbar, my brother, my sister, you have made such an effort to find the qibla, you've positioned your body in the direction of the qibla, the direction for salah, ensure that your heart is facing the same way. Doesn't make sense, does it?
That you make such an effort with your phone, with your apps, Google, with the big compass, trying to find which way Mecca is, and you're calibrating your phone, and figure of eight motion. You've seen people do that, right? That's what we do.
And then you try to, this way, no, this way, this way, and then you agree which way the salah is. And then you position your body for salah. And then you say, Allahu Akbar, and then your heart goes north.
Your heart turns east. How? What's more important?
The positioning of the body for the qibla? Condition of salah undoubtedly. And the heart?
And if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will move his face in a different direction of a person, when he moves his face away from the salah, what then about when this person moves his heart away from the salah? Look, I know it's difficult. Let's be real here. I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I have somebody who's mastered this art. No, it's a work in progress.
There are so many things out there that are competing for our attention. And in the 21st century, it's very difficult to be focused. Let's be honest, whether it's the rise in the cost of living, or whether it is the Islamophobic industry, or whether it is financial burden, or issues with family, or struggles at work, or health issues, or depression, or anxiety, or fear of an enemy, whether it's social media that has absolutely shredded our ability to focus to absolute bits, social media that has fragmented our minds, and destroyed our strength to focus on one task.
Whatever it may be, keeping your mind and your heart and soul in check during Salah is difficult. But nevertheless, we have to work around it and work to the ideal of Khushu'ah. And one of the ways of doing this was captured in the words of Hatim al-Assam, one of our pious predecessors from Balkh. who died in the year 194 after the Hijrah. Hatim al-Asam, he said, when I begin my salah, they asked him, how do you focus?
Tell us about your khushu'ah. He said to them, when I begin my salah, I imagine that the Ka'bah is in front of me. And I imagine that death is waiting for me behind me.
And I imagine that the Sirat, the bridge that will be established over hell, is beneath me. And I picture paradise to my right, and I imagine Jahannam, oblivion, to my left. And I know that Allah Jalla Jalaluhu is above me, watching me. He says, and I try to perfect my bowing and prostration, and then after that I leave my salah, not knowing whether Allah has accepted it or rejected it. So these are four points to bear in mind the moment you say Allahu Akbar.
Things have changed. You've entered into a different space. The rules have changed.
Number two, your sins begin to fall off your head and your shoulder every time you bow and prostrate. Don't collect those sins after Salah. Number three, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala establishes His divine face towards yours.
And number four, we said the same way you focus your body towards the Qibla, ensure that your heart is in the same direction. You now say Allahu Akbar And what you do here is that you raise your hands And here what the Prophet ﷺ would do is that he would raise his hands Opening up his fingers away from one another Not in an exaggerated way but he wouldn't keep his fingers together There would be a slight gap between them And he would raise them parallel to his earlobes at times or his shoulders at times. These are two examples of what he did when he raised his hands and he would say Allahu Akbar.
Either he would say Allahu Akbar before the motion. So he would say or he would go Allahu Akbar and then he would engage in the motion or he would do it simultaneously with the motion. This is another way of doing it.
Allahu Akbar. Or the Takbir will come after the motion. So you will go like this.
Then you will say Allahu Akbar. Change it around. These are all Sunnah and authentic ways of the Prophet Muhammad. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So move it around.
Change it about. And apply a variety of Sunnah in your Salah. Just to keep it interesting.
To ensure that your heart is still engaged. And to revive different acts of Sunnah in your Salah. He would raise his hands.
to his earlobes. And then after that, I mean, what is the wisdom behind this? What is the wisdom behind this particular movement?
It's a form of what? Surrendering. It's Islam, which is the core of our religion, Islam. They say Islam means peace. Okay, Islam can bring you peace, but at the core of the word Islam is ist-Islam.
It is to surrender to Allah. towards Allah, so surrender to Him. This idea of raising your hands as a symbol of surrendering is a universally understood action to denote surrendering.
Whether it's an armed robber who is threatening a victim, Surrender, and he raises his hands. Whether it's the policeman saying to the armed robber, Surrender, and he raises his hands. It's understood across culture and across time. So you raise your hands as if to say, I have surrendered to Allah Jalla Jalaluhu.
There's no egos here. There's no arrogance here. There's no kings.
There's no businessmen. There's no social media influencer, followers, money. None of that matters now. Surrender to Allah Jalla Jalaluhu.
And also, The back of the hand is something that you use usually to dismiss something that is insignificant. You swat away a fly like this. I give you an opportunity, what do you think of it?
You say, nah, doesn't sound good. However, when there is something valuable, you use the palms of your hand, the bottom part of your hand. So if I say to you... Alhamdulillah, I have a newborn son. Carry him.
You go like this. You don't want to drop him. Because if you drop him, you know that the dad's going to drop you.
Right? So you do this. But if there's something you're not interested in, you go, no.
So when you say Allahu Akbar, it's as if you are saying that this dunya, everything within it, its temptations and its money and its careers and its ambitions, all of it is behind my back. It doesn't mean anything. He's above it.
Allahu Akbar. It's behind my back. Then after that, what would the Prophet do?
He would place his right hand over his left hand. Allahu Akbar! And either he would place his hand, يَضَعُهَا, upon the back of his left hand, or he will grab the wrist of the left arm.
And there are other ways as well. And then he would place them both somewhere on his torso, عليه الصلاة والسلام. The details of this can be found in the books of fiqh.
He would place his right hand over his left hand. How come? Because the Prophet ﷺ said, إِنَّ مَعَاشِرَ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ أُمِرْنَا بِتَعْجِيلِ الْإِفْطَارِ وَبِتَأْخِيرِ السُّحُورِ وَأَنَّضْرِمَ بِأَيْمَانِنَا عَلَى شَمَائِلِنَا فِي الصَّلَاةِ He said, we the prophets were commanded by Allah. So subhanAllah, it seems to be an instruction to not just our prophet and us, but all of the prophets throughout the ages. This was how their salah was in terms of the hand positioning.
He said, we the prophets, we were commanded by Allah. To hasten with the Iftar, meaning to quickly break our fast, not to delay it. When we finish fasting in Ramadan, to quickly break our fast, number one. Number two, to delay the pre-dawn meal, the suhoor, to delay it as close to Fajr as possible. And number three, he said, and we were instructed to place our right hands over our left hands in Salah.
SubhanAllah. And with this the salah has begun. Allahu Akbar.
And the moment he does this, what would be his next priority? It would be to drop his head to the ground. To stare at the ground beneath him. And that is the stance and the position of a humble slave before his master and lord. He looks at the ground.
This is the behavior of the created when standing before the creator. Imam Ahmad was asked, why is it that we are to place our right hands over our left hands and to stand like this? And Imam Ahmad, he said, It is a...
humble stance before a mighty Lord. It is a humble stance before a mighty Lord. If you were to enter a particular room and you see a group of men standing like this, having placed their right hands over their left hands.
and arching their backs perhaps and looking towards the ground. And there is one man standing in the middle who perhaps has his hands to his sides and his head is up high. You know just from looking at them what's what and who's who.
You know who is the big boss, right? The top G. You know who the king is there and you know who the pauper is.
Straight away you know the king from the servant just from looking at them. So the moment you put your right hand over your left hand and you drop your head to the ground and you stare you are humbling yourself before Allah Jalla Jalaluhu. That is the appropriate position and hay'ah of the mortal when he stands before the immortal one, Allah Jalla Jalaluhu.
كان النبي عائشة She said, كان النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم إذا صلى When the Prophet would pray, she said, He would drop his head. And he would fixate his glance on the ground. He would keep it here.
Humble. La ilaha illallah. And that is why Imam al-Muqayyim, he says that the idea of lowering the gaze is one of the signs of love.
In his book, Rawdat al-Muhibbin, he speaks about the alamat and the shawahid, the signs and indications of love. And one of them he says, One of the signs of true love is that when you know that the beloved is looking at you, you lower your gaze. Because of fear, he says, because of glorification and humbleness and shyness before the object of love. One of the signs of love is that when you are being looked at by the one you love, You can't help but lower your gaze to the ground.
And that's why our Prophet ﷺ when he was taken to the heavens, how did Allah praise him? Allah praised his gaze. He said, مَا زَاغَ الْبَصَرُ وَمَا طَغَى That his vision did not transgress, it didn't wander. Even his eyes, Allah praised him for that.
When he was taken to see the kingdoms of the heavens, and to meet the prophets, and taking beyond that, to meet Allah, and to speak with Him, and to hear His divine voice, Allah said, مَا زَاغَ الْبَصَرُ وَمَا طَغَى His glance did not wander off. Nor did it transgress any limits. Humble before his Lord. And Amr ibn al-As, he was unable to look at the face of the Prophet ﷺ. He found it too tough.
Companion, Sahabi. And he was an arch enemy of the religion. He hated the Prophet ﷺ.
But alhamdulillah, later on in life, Allah guided him to the religion. And when he was dying, after years of service to Islam, when he was dying, what did he say? He said, مَا كَانَ رَجُلٌ أَحَبَّ إِلَيَّ مِنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ وَلَا أَجَلَّ فِي عَيْنِي مِنْهُ He said, I swear there was no human being who I loved more than the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and there was no human being who was more sublime in my eyes than him. He said, وَمَا كُنْتُمْ أَحَبَّ إِلَيَّ مِنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمْ and I was never able to pluck the courage to catch a full glimpse of his face because of the honor that I had for him.
He said, and if you were to ask me now to give you an accurate description of how he looked, I would be unable to do it because I was unable to fill my eyes from his sublime face. Yeah? So this is a sign of love.
So you stand before Allah Jalla Jalaluhu and you lower your gaze. You're humble. And you put your right hand over your left.
And you fix your eyes onto the ground. I feel that some of us are a little bit restless. So there were a few other things I wanted to mention, but I think we will stop here inshallah so as to not make it over bad.
We're going to speak about some of the introductions. du'a that we say when we begin our salah, subhanakallahumma wa bihamdik wa tabarakasmuk wa ta'ala jadduk wa la ilaha ghayruk, and a few others as well and then we will look into the istia'atha, a'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim, and the basmala bismillahirrahmanirrahim, and then we will take a tour around the fragrant gardens of Surat al-Fatiha as well, since we recited several times a day but all of this will be inshallah in the weeks to come wa salallahu alayhi wa sallam