Is that, as we send abundant blessings (salawat) on prophet (pbuh),
Allah prays upon us, the angels pray upon us,
the prophet (pbuh) prays upon us.
How does Allah send prayer Rasulullah (Pbuh)?
What does it mean to say Allah sends Salah?
I want to address actually something that personally gave me some pause,
and that is that sometimes we take for granted when Allah responds to us
with how He is going to reward us, what exactly that means.
Now, if I was to tell you an ayah or
Hadith from the prophet (pbuh), where the reward of such
an act is, everything that you have done before is forgiven.
It is understood what that means.
If I was to tell you that whoever sends salam (peace) on prophet (pbuh),
Allah and His angels send their prayers upon
the messenger (pbuh), where Allah commands you,
Oh you! who believe send your prayers upon him and send your salam to him.
If I was to tell you that the prophet (pbuh) responds
with Salaam, as we know, from the Hadith of the prophet (pbuh)
what that precisely means,
that every single time you send Salah and Salam upon peace be upon him,
an angel informs him and he responds to you by name.
It is very clear. It is very explicit.
If I was to tell you, as we get into the last 10 nights of Ramadan,
when we remind ourselves of a dua that should be
made throughout the year
Oh Allah! You are, the one who forgives, who pardons, You love to pardon.
So pardon me, forgive me.
It's very clear what that means.
But if I was to ask you,
what does it mean when Allah sends Salah upon you, what does that even mean?
Would anyone be able to answer except with something that is abstract or
ambiguous because it just sounds so different?
How does Allah sends salah upon me?
In fact, how does Allah send salah upon Rasulullah (pbuh)
what does it mean to say Allah sends salah,
sends His prayers upon someone and that's what I want to stick with,
so that the next time you hear the reward of Allah sending Salah upon you,
you know exactly what that means and how to connect it
and in sha Allah, long for it and aspire towards it.
Last week we spoke about
inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un.
The beautiful words to Allah,
Verily we belong to Allah and verily to Him do we return.
The reward of which is that verily those people who say to Allah
we belong, To Allah we return as soon as a tragedy strikes them,
upon them is the prayer of their Lord, and it should not be lost upon us.
The way that Allah has personalized this
as this is a form of making the recipient of this reward more noble
of honoring that person upon them is the prayer of their Lord and His mercy.
And they are the ones who are rightly guided.
Umar (ra) Since we've been in his biography, it's only befitting that we mentioned his
his explanation of this verse, when he would read this verse,
he would say that how blessed is the compensation
for the first two and how blessed is the prize, the extra form of elevation
that comes at the end of this verse, he says, as for ...
the two forms of compensation that Allah mentions here for a person
that says Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un, he said, then it is a Salah and Rahmah.
Allah's prayer upon the person and Allah's mercy upon the person.
He says ask for... he said,
But the gold here, the prize,
the extra form of elevation, he says,
That is the guidance that Allah promises.
Why?
Because if Allah guides you, then that means Allah will enter you into paradise.
Right?
So in very, you know, in many places in the Quran
where Allah mentions ... we have guided them to the two paths.
As Ibn Abbas (Ra) mentions that
the path of guidance and the destination of guidance, which is paradise.
It carries a double meaning when Allah speaks about guidance as a form of reward,
it carries a double meaning that you are blessed to have guidance in this life
because you live a life of meaning and purpose.
And the greater blessing is that the destination of guidance is paradise.
May Allah (swt) make us from the inhabitants of Jannatul firdaus- ameen.
Now, in this specific context,
Salaah means something very specific, and that is and that is His forgiveness.
And we actually take this from a hadith
where the prophet (pbuh) was
receiving the charity of various people and
Abdullah ibn Abi Aufa (Ra), he says that when people would come
to the prophet (pbuh),
he would say to them as they brought their chairty to him,
he would say....
how amazing would it be to hear that from the prophet (Pubh)!
Prophet (pbuh) would say, may Allah send salaah upon you.
That was the way that he would receive
people when they would bring their charity to him (pbuh).
We can't hear him say it to us,
but that is a reward as well, that Allah sends his salah upon us
and the prophet (pbuh) says, I send salah upon that person as well.
So here, Abdullah ibn Abi Aufa (Ra), he says that when
my father came to the prophet (pbuh),
I remember him saying... oh Allah! send Your prayers upon the family of Abi Aufa
And so the particular meaning here is
forgiveness, the forgiveness from Allah (swt)
Likewise, when we recite in the end of the night the last two verses of surah baqarah
If you think about it, the order of it is actually what
Rahman is mercy, forgiveness is that everything
And as a result of Allah is casting His mercy upon you,
forgiveness means that the sins no longer exist.
is that you are fully pardoned,
that you now enjoyed the reward;l post forgiveness.
So there is a degree here between forgiveness and mercy.
And so here in this verse,
That verily Allah gives you
His forgiveness and His mercy is the response to
Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun.
Now, that's the specific meaning in this verse.
However, when it comes to as salah in general, when Allah sends salah upon you,
it carries multiple meanings that also encapsulate this.
One of the things that we learn is that as we send salah on the prophet (pbuh),
Allah prays upon us,
The angels pray upon us, the prophet (pbuh) prays upon us.
So we already established what that means for the prophet (pbuh).
As for the angels, Allah (swt), says
That the heavens almost creak above them and the angels
exalt Allah with praise and they ask forgiveness for those on Earth.
And of course, Allah says that the angels
What did they do as they roam around the throne of God;
SubahAllah! What an amazing creation.
They roam around the throne of God,
seeking forgiveness for those who believe. they're saying...
Oh Allah! Forgive that person.
And so that's the salah of the Angels is
specifically one of forgiveness, one of the angels seeking forgiveness for us.
So that's understood.
When it comes to Allah, Allah is praying upon you is unlike
any other creation praying upon you, sending Salah upon you.
It's completely different because
ultimately when the prophet (pbuh) prays, Who does he pray to?
Allah.
When the angels seek forgiveness, who are they seeking forgiveness from?
Allah.
They're seeking forgiveness for us from Allah, but they're praying to Allah.
But when the Allah (swt) himself
has this attribute of Salah, there's something very special about that.
And it actually combines all of the meanings in the most beautiful of ways.
Number 1, how amazing is it to have Allah even
mention your name to the inhabitants of the heavens!
So the most general meaning of the Salah of Allah upon His creation is
that Allah mentions you in the highest heavens.
Your name in a conversation between Allah and Jebreel (A.S).
How incredible is that!
Allah is telling Jabril (A.S), by the way, I want you to know Jibril,
I love that person.
I just want you to know I love that person.
How much do you want to be the name
that Allah is mentioning to Jibril (A.s) and then Jibril shouting out
to all of the angels in the heavens.
Allah Loves this person.
Just the thought of it, right?
The thought that my name is being mentioned up there.
People want to see their names on plaques.
People want to see their names engraved in certain places.
to have your name being mentioned by Allah to Jebreel (a.s)
and Jibril (A.S) is mentioning it to
Mikail, Israfil and all of the angels and all of the prophets because
the inhabitants of the heavens includes all of those who have ascended thus far.
Isa (A.s), Musa (A.s)
They're all hearing your name being praised through the heavens.
How amazing is that! Right?
And Ubayy ibn Kab (Ra), the famous incident where
the prophet (pbuh) told Ubayy (Ra)
Allah has commanded me to recite Al-Bayyina to you.
And Ubayy (ra) started to cry.
And he said, Ya rasulullah, You mean Ubayy,
Did Allah Just tell you recite to the next person that walks in?
Did Allah tell you recite to one of your companions
Or did Allah say, read to Ubaay?
Because Allah mentioning my name is special, He mentioned me?
Yes, he mentioned you
and Ubayy (Ra) as if he forgot everything.
So that's the special thing, Right?
Allah is mentioning you in a praiseworthy way among the inhabitants of the heavens.
May Allah connect all together, in sha Allah,
as we go into the first 10 days of the Dhul-Hijjah.
and the prize of the first 10 days of the Dhul-Hijjah being Arafah,
the greatest way that Allah can mention you in the presence
of the inhabitants of the heaven is in the capacity of forgiveness.
When Allah announces to the heavens I have forgiven this person,
there is nothing greater than that because Allah praises you.
It could be that the praise is limited to a praiseworthy deed that you did, right?
It's beautiful,
but there is still something limited about it in terms of the what it covers.
But when Allah announces to the heavens
that He has forgiven you, that means that you are forgiven.
Imam An-Nawawi (Rah) explains there is nothing after that
Like when the prophet (pbuh), said that
Allah looked at the veterans of Badr and Allah says it may be that I have forgiven them
for everything that they've done before and everything after that.
When Allah announces your amnesty, your forgiveness to the heavens, that's it.
And if you think about the day
of judgment, what is the moment that you long for?
You know, there's the moment of meeting
Allah and Allah (swt) putting you at ease.
May Allah (swt) make us among them,
for example, Allah (swt) is saying to us
as some of those secret sins that we struggled with, we didn't boast about,
we weren't proud of them, but we struggled and we were trying.
But ultimately, we fell short.
And Allah puts a hijab / a veil
between you and everyone else and says, come here, come close,
and starts to mention some of those sins to you.
And then Allah says, I want you to know that I concealed them
for you in the Duniya / in this life and I'm forgiving you for them now.
They're done. Don't worry about them.
No one's ever going to hear about these sins, nor will you be confronted with them.
Amazing.
Allah (swt) is reminding you of your good deeds on the day of judgment.
Can you imagine Allah telling you about your good deeds on the day of judgment?
That's amazing. It's very comforting.
It's very beautiful.
the secret conversations between you and Allah. that's what
Abdullah ibn omar (Ra) mentioned when as everyone is standing there and they're
being called from the creation to stand in front of Allah and you're speaking
to Allah, to the exclusion of everyone else, that's special.
It's beautiful. When Allah (swt) gives you
your book in your right hands, that's the real celebration, Right?
Because that means I made it.
That means I'm not going to be held accountable for my sins at this point.
That's when the person takes the book and goes around running to everyone
and saying, everyone go ahead and read my book.
Here's my book of good deeds. Here's my prayer.
Here's my charity.
Here is that time that I showed honesty and it was not returned.
Here is that time I showed Ihsan / excellence to Allah's creation.
Here is that time that I did this secret good deed, in this secret good deed.
Here it is. Here it is everyone.
You're celebrating at that point.
That's the moment of celebration,
because up until that point, I don't know, there is there still an anxiety of sorts.
But that is the point where you celebrate.
Now, as we get into Arafah, what does Salah of Allah mean upon you?
Read this hadith differently,
Jabber (ra) says that on the day of Arafah,
Allah descends to the lowest heaven in a way that befits Him.
And Allah boasts to the angels about His creation.
Look at these people. Look at these people.
Look at them making dua.
Look at their struggles, subhanAllah, like
Allah is attributing the servants to Himself, which is again
the greatest form of honoring them. Look at them
Are not the angels Ibad / slaves of Allah (swt)?
Of course, they are.
But look at these slaves: dusty, disheveled,
tired, exhausted, but they are making dua consistently.
And what is the ultimate prize?
Oh, my angels, I want you all to bear witness that I've forgiven them.
That's Allah's salah upon you.
I want all of you angels to bear witness that these people, they're forgiven them.
I've given them amnesty.
Now, what are the angels do in general?
They seek forgiveness for those who believe.
But even then, the angels say, Ya Allah,
but this person, this person did this and this person did that.
Just like when you come to the places of remembrance.
oh Allah! that person was insincere.
They just came because their friend was coming to the halaqa / Islamic circle.
They just did this and You're going to forgive them?
And Allah (swt) says, case closed.
I forgave them because they're in a righteous gathering.
There's something about them that's enough for Me to forgive them.
And so the next time you hear..
The next time you say peace be upon him
and you imagine the prophet (pbuh) is returning salam to you
and you imagine the angels seeking forgiveness for you as a result of that.
The great prize is when Allah mentions
your name to the angels and the highest heaven and particularly mentions your name
in the capacity of forgiveness, the loss of Hannah Montana.
May Allah (swt) Forgive us for all of our sins,
those which we have done in the past
and those in the present and those which we will undoubtedly commit in the future.
May Allah forgive us for what we conceal and what we make public.
May Allah forgive us for that which is
minor and that which is major.
May Allah (swt) not allow us to sustain ourselves
with insistence upon that which is displeasing to Him.
May Allah (swt) remove all of that, which makes us not praiseworthy in His sights
elevate us- Allahuma Ameen.