Imam al‑Tabari (Rah) may Allah have mercy on him,
He is one of the greatest Scholars of the quranic sciences.
al‑Tabari (rah) said High aspirations has died today.
one beautiful Hadith from the prophet sallallahu alehiwassallaam, today
on the topic of high aspirations how the prophet (SAW) spoke
about it from a spiritual perspective.
So the hadith is found in sahih al-Bukari, the prophet (SAW) says that paradise
Is made up of 100 Levels. Between each level
There is a distance of the sky and Earth. Pause here, thinking
about now the vastness of paradise. how...huge it must be and
the fact that there's 100 levels and also each level; the
distance between that and the next one is like the universe
and the universe is so big.
That, with all the technological advancements
that we have, are unable to to explore the universe in its
entirety. In fact, we don't even know how big and vast universe is.
we have estimations:
We know the observable universe is of certain Dimensions,
but even the speaking about what we know of, it boggles the
mind as to how many planets there are, how many solar systems
there are, how many moons there are, and the black holes and everything else
out there In outer space is just beyond our imagination, especially
when you think about how tiny the Earth is in comparison.
so, the prophet (SAW) is saying that in between each level
of paradise, there is that much distance and then he said
the highest level in Paradise is called Al Ferdous and
he said.. it is beneath the Throne of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
So, the Arsh of Allah, the most magnificent
of his creation resting right beneath
It is the highest spot and level in Paradise called Al Ferdous
and you may be thinking, well, that level is probably
reserved for the most elite of all people, perhaps, just the prophets,
perhaps, maybe the companions of the prophet (SAW) and
other extremely righteous people.
It's not something that You and I would ever get an entry into.
the Hadith ends and the prophet (SAW) says, when
you ask Allah, ask Him for Al Ferdous,
asking for the highest spot in paradise.
And that is very encouraging.
The prophet (SAW) wouldn't tell us to do something unless it had
a benefit, unless it was a realistic thing to do and here
he saying, you know what?
You should aim high in life.
You should aim for the highest spot in paradise.
And when you ask Allah don't ask him for the second best.
definitely, don't asking for just the bare minimum,
ask Allah for the highest, why?
because Allah is the most generous but also, because as
a Muslim, you should strive for the best version of yourself
and part of that is being the best Muslim, the best slave
of Allah You can be and that is an idea that is foreign to
a lot of Muslims.
Usually, when it comes to speaking about faith and religion
people would like to know what is the minimum they have to do,
like how many times I have to pray in a day? well, brother,
you know, pray your fard and then pray your sunnah and then pray Tahajjud.
what is the minimum I need to do?
Do I need to pray sunnah? Do i need to do this?
You know, can I skip that out?
Can I just do, what is the bare minimum? and that mentality
is not a good mentality to have. Because think about this,
if you're doing an exam and the pass Mark was 60%.
if you aimed just for 60%, what happens if you fell short?
well, if get fifty nine percent and you failed. now think about that
in terms of paradise and hellfire.
if you aimed for Minimum required to go to paradise
and you failed as a consequence
you go to the Hell Fire and that is not an option.
That is something that no one can tolerate.
So, what are the benefits of Aiming High especially when it
comes to your Islam is that you remove yourself from the
possibility of ending up in Hell Fire. Because if you had
shortcomings, we, all will have shortcomings;
if we aimed for the highest spot in paradise, and we just fell short,
we would land in the second best place or the tenth best
place or the 99th best place but in sha Allah not, you know,
in the Hellfire, but also another benefit of Aiming High is
that you think more positively of Allah, as if you feel like
even though I'm not that great a Muslim.
I don't have that many sacrifices.
I don't know that much Quran. Allah is generous, in Sha Allah
he will treat me as though I do know all of those things
and I am that good in my prayers, Etc.
and you know what? the prophet (SAW) said that
Allah said I am as my servant perceives me to be.
So, what does that mean?
It means that you might not be the greatest Muslim but you
assume Allah to be generous enough to reward you
as if you are a great Muslim, that was going to happen,
Allah is going to do that, Subhanallahil Azeem.
Yes, and if you look at the prophet, they are an embodiment
of having high aspirations In both this life and in the Hereafter.
So for example, if you look at the prophet Solomon/ Suleiman (A.S),
we find a beautiful dua that he makes,
found Surah Saad, Verse 35 where he says
Dua is given in the vlog (the link is in the video description)
oh my Master! forgive me and grant me a kingdom the likes of which
will not be rivaled by any after me.
indeed, You are the one who sends down gifts repeatedly.
This is sulaiman (A.S), look at what he asked for:
forgiveness; I need to be freed from my sins.
But also I would like a kingdom, a huge one, a Monumental one.
the likes of which will be so great that no one who comes
after me; not Napoleon, not even a prophet could outdo the
kingdom that I have. why? why did he want the greatest of all kingdoms?
well, because He was teaching us, when you try to
do something great in this world for the sake of Allah,
aim high, actually aim to be the highest and through that Kingdom,
He didn't enjoy the riches of the world.
But rather he enjoyed having a position to help people worship Allah (swt),
to create systems and infrastructures that would allow
Humanity to worship Allah better and on top of that,
Any other kingdoms out there he was able to use his power
to bring them round to the worship of Allah (swt)
like Bilquis, the Queen of Sheba who had a great queendom
in Sanaa in Yemen, and when he learned about her queendom,
he sent messages, he wrote a letter and he eventually
managed through great scheming
and great planning great strategic thinking to
Bring her into the fold of Islam and thereby, all of her
subjects as well. so this is sulaiman (A.s) striving
to be the best when it came to having a kingdom.
Look at Yusuf (A.S), another example of having high aspirations.
when he was languishing in prison, falsely accused of being
indecent with the wife of Azeez.
He didn't think about, you know what, when I get out of prison,
I want to lay low.
I want to just go on holiday.
I just want to get away from people.
I want to get over all this heartache and this pain that
I have suffered.
I just want to live a quiet life and to be honest, he would
have every reason to want that. wouldn't you want that after
having to spend time in prison and having your reputation
damaged and all the rest of it?
Well, the thing is Yusuf (A.S) when he got out of prison,
He went to the king and he said to the king, O King! make me
or appoint me as the caretaker.
Of the store houses.
Now, what does that mean?
It means make me the state treasurer, I want to seat of power
and influence over the economy of Egypt. basically, he wanted the job.
not just any job, a very difficult job,
The economy of any country could be going to be difficult,
But Egypt at that time was about was on the brink of famine.
So, the economy is going to go through recession and yusuf (A.S),
I want that job because I can help people from that position.
because of the dream Interpretation that he was
gifted with and the King gave him that, and through that position
did he deliver benefit to the country and did he acquire
many great good deeds and also influence the people to worshipping
Allah subhanaw taala alone.
Of course, he was a prophet. he would have done that.
again, it all stems from what? having that high aspiration and a
final story I'll leave you with is of a
Scholar who passed away 310 Hijri.
His name is Imam Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, may Allah have mercy on him.
he is one of the greatest Scholars of qur'anic Sciences.
He wrote probably the greatest book of tafseer/ commentary on
the Quran that is ever been written even up to our times.
He said I've written a book in tafseer
Okay, and who would like to read it, who would like to study it?
And their (students) first question I had, hang on a minute,
How long is this book?
And he was like, he said that hundred thousand meaning hundred
thousand pages and the expression on their faces (students) suggested
that they were a little bit disappointed or its bit overwhelmed.
Imam said al-Tabari (Rah) said High aspirations has died today,
and he rewrote his work in a more summarized form, which
is the form that we have today, which is the 21 volume one
and subhanallah,
It just goes to show what aspirations meant to the early
Muslims and how they used to push themselves and exert
themselves and really aim for the stars, subhanallah.
And this is something that we need to do as 2021..
and to think about the year in a very positive way and
we know that there's a lot of struggles and hardships
and because the pandemic and the financial worries, etc.
but that shouldn't stop us from being positive
and wanting to Make the best of every situation. we take inspiration
from the Hadith where the prophet (SAW) told us when you ask Allah,
ask Him for Al Ferdous, the highest. in the same way when you
plan for 2021, plan for a great year. plan to deliver a lot
of good deeds, Deeds that will raise your position in the Hereafter.
Deeds that will help leave a legacy behind you.
So think like, you know, 2021 when it comes to my salah
what should I aim for; should I... if I'm praying my daily obligatory
prayers, how can I improve that? maybe I should aim to pray
all the sunnah with it as well.
I'm already doing that.
Okay, maybe I should aim to pray tahajjud once a week, twice a week, etc.
When it comes to my Quran, I should really set a target, maybe
to read the entire Quran cover to cover once every three
months that comes down to four pages a day.
I can do that, takes about 10 minutes, 20 minutes.
Let me build That into my schedule and everything like this,
you plan, you plan, your plan, when that arrives, you deliver and
if you fall short, sometimes it doesn't matter. Because
of the fact you have a plan you Aiming High, you end up
doing more even despite not doing what you planned more than
what you would have done with no plan and no high aspirations.
So let us be people who aspire to achieve success in greatness
in every area of Of life that pleases Allah, but in particular
our spiritual relationship with Allah subhanaw taala, and
and our Good Deeds that we wish to, you know,
to to produce and to perform throughout our lives.
may Allah subhanaw Taala give us determination and steadfastness,
Keep us on the straight path and keep us positive and optimistic
no matter what the circumstance, Allahhumma ameen.