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Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center

Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center

By: Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center
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 We came to give, not to take. Islam Spirituality
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  • Ihsan – The Standard of Excellence

    Ihsan – The Standard of Excellence
    Dec 26 2025
    Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wasalatu wasalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahibu sallam. Tasliman kathiran kathira. Fama baadu. My brothers and sisters, to continue and expand on the theme of what we have been talking about for the last couple of days, which is the standard of excellence, al-ihsan. See the beauty of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's explanations and his answers. He was called Jamil Galim. The person who was in his speech and in whatever he said, he was so perfect and so complete. He did not say, he didn't speak for a long period of time. What he had to say? He said it in a short, you know, short speech or maybe sometimes a sentence, which was a wealth of meaning. So when in Hadith Jibreel, when Jibreel alayhi salam asked him, what is al-ihsan? What is excellence? His reply was so beautiful. He said, ! To worship Allah as if you can see him. And if you cannot see him, know that he sees you. Now think about this, that yesterday as I was saying, the thing to do is when you stand on the Musallah, is to specifically say, O Allah, this salah is for you. This salah is for you. I am praying for you. Because Allah says, Allah says, Personal. Establish the salah for my dhikr. So when we stand on the Musallah, we say, O Allah, this salah is for you. This dhikr is for you. And therefore, Prophet Muhammad is saying, that pray as if you can see Allah. So when you are standing there and saying, O Allah, this salah is for you, it is as if you are seeing Allah. And then obviously when you do that with concentration, you will find that all thoughts and distractions disappear. And you get concentration and you are able to focus on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Now that is the whole issue of Ihsan. Now, ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! This is to be extended and should be extended into every aspect of our lives. So we pray as if we can see Allah. We do business as if we can see Allah. We are with our families as if we can see Allah. We drive our car as if we can see Allah. Everything in life, right? Our transactions as if we can see Allah. Now if we do this as if we are seeing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and knowing that even though we don't see Allah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will make us see Allah. is seeing us if we work with this awareness in every aspect of our life believe me our life will become very beautiful because every action will be an action of ahsan no matter how small or big that action is it will be an action of ahsan if i am cleaning my room then i'm and if i'm doing it with this consciousness that allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is seeing me as i am working real time allah is seeing me then imagine how beautifully that room will be cleaned right this thing has there are two major benefits that come from this awareness the awareness that i am in the presence of allah and again this is we not only have the dalil of rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam hadith we also have the dalil of the quran where allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said he said he is with you wherever you might be right he is with you wherever you might be so now having this awareness there are two major benefits the first benefit is that it gives you uh it's a shield against all sin if i am for example if somebody is you know i i obviously i don't smoke but if somebody who's smoking uh once he has this awareness that my rabbi is watching me how will he even ever light a cigarette right think about that he's going to light a cigarette he says subhanallah allah is watching me what do you do throw away the packet because this is something we do not do we do not do this we do not do this we do not do this we do not do this which is which is prohibited so why would i do that same thing i'm about to for example i'm about to uh you know bad talk somebody backbite somebody do some ghibah uh carry some tail namima cast aspersions on people uh you know insinuate people cast insinuations on people and so on any of this kind of stuff the before you even begin if you have this awareness subhanallah allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is watching me allah is allah is here allah is with me he listens to me he hears me then any chance of doing that evil action completely disappears so this is a shield and a protection from everything which is evil and the other big benefit is that it's a sense it it's it's a source of enormous confidence uh that you get because you say alhamdulillah i am with allah allah is with me so how can anything harm me how can anything how can any anything uh you know cause me any pain any suffering anything negative nothing whatever i'm doing i'm doing it for the sake of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and i'm doing it knowing that allah is with me so therefore i will be supported therefore i will be protected uh therefore i have this enormous confidence in in what ...
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  • Khushoo is the soul of Salah

    Khushoo is the soul of Salah
    Dec 25 2025
    Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wasalatu wasalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahibus salam. Tasleeman kathiran kathira. My brothers and sisters, somebody much wiser than I am said this, and I'm only repeating. And he said, what if I told you the ummah's downfall didn't begin with politics or culture or society. It began on the prayer mat. It began on the prayer mat. What is the first thing lost from the ummah? It is not hijab. It is not honesty. It is not charity. It is something far more subtle and almost gone. Rasulullah, he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam warned us. And he said, the first thing to be lifted from my ummah is khusho. Not prayer itself, not fasting, not rituals. Khusho. The heart inside the prayer. The body stays Muslim. The soul slips away. Now think about that again. The prayer remains. The movements remain. The words remain. The masjid, the prayers remain. The presence, the huzur of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala disappears. The humility disappears. The trembling disappears. The softness disappears. We keep the shell. We lose the soul. Why is this terrifying? Because when khusho is lost, you still pray. But your prayer doesn't lift you. Doesn't soften you. Doesn't restrain you. Doesn't change you. You pray with your limbs, but not with your heart. This is how an ummah decays from within. The ummah lost khusho when we started rushing. We started multitasking. We started treating prayer like a chore. Something to be done and finished with. We started thinking about everything except sallam. We started thinking about everything except Allah. Think about what happens in the sallam. Our bodies enter sallam. Our minds stay in the dunya. This is how khusho dies. The painful reality. Today we know the motions of sallam better than their meaning. We perfect our tajweed, but not our attention. We memorize surahs, but not salanda. We inherited the ritual, not the reverence. Khusho is not crying. Khusho is not crying. Khusho is not crying. Khusho is not crying. It's not emotion. It's not drama. It's not fear. Khusho is being present. Being humble. Being aware. Being small before Allah. Being sincere. Being still. It is the heart kneeling in sajda before the body does. Khusho was the secret of the sahaba. They didn't pray long. They prayed deep. When they stood, their hearts trembled. When they bowed, their egos bent. When they prostrated, the dunya disappeared. They prayed like people who knew they would die tomorrow. How to revive khusho? How to revive khusho? In one sentence. Before you say Allahu Akbar, whisper in your heart, Ya Allah, this prayer is for you. Ya Allah, this prayer is for you. Ya Allah, this prayer is for you. Not for him. Not for habit. Not for routine. Not for people. Not for discipline. For him. For Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That intention alone changes the entire prayer. The truth no one tells you. The ummah won't be revived by more lectures, more institutes, more seminars. It will be revived the moment hearts bow the way bodies bow. Revive khusho and you revive your civilization. So ask yourself. When I pray, does Allah have my body or my heart? Because the first thing the ummah lost was khusho. And the ummah will rise again only when we find it. Inside ourselves, inside our prayer, inside our hearts. In the words of the great grammarian and great scholar of the Abbasi period, in the court of Harun Rashid, he said, I heard the Arab. The tribal Arabs, the Badu, praying to Allah. With words that opened the eyes of eloquence and opened the jewels of wisdom. And opened the jewels of wisdom. I heard him say, It is enough for me to be your slave. It is enough for me to be proud that you are my Rabb. You are as I love. So make me as you like. It is enough for me to be your slave. It is enough for me to be proud that you are my Rabb. You are as I love. So make me as you love. See how beautiful this is. It is enough for me to be your slave. It is enough for me to be proud. It is enough for me to be your slave. You are as I love. So make me as you love. SubhanAllah. It shows us that the actual thing which is important is this connection with Allah. The connection with Allah in our Salah. When we can do that, when we get that connection, Inshallah, that is where the secret of success is. The connection of with Allah SubhanAllah. I remind myself and you that SubhanAllah, we, we are not in the same place. Inshallah, we pray. At least those of us who pray, pray. But how many of us pray in a way where that prayer is beneficial for us? Where that prayer really does something for us? That is the issue. The issue is what is my Salah doing for me? And I remind myself and you that Allah SubhanAllah told us that the Salah is the tool to deal with this world. Right? To deal with this world. Because Allah SubhanAllah told us, Ya yuwa allazeena aamana usta'eenoo bisabri wa salah. O you who...
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  • Dua is Ibaadah

    Dua is Ibaadah
    Dec 24 2025
    Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Inna salatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sallam. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. My brothers and sisters, the fundamental belief of Islam is the Tawheed of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala jalla zillaluh. That there is no one worthy of worship except Allah. That there is no one who can help or harm. There is no one who can fulfill any of our needs or desires. There is no one who has any power or authority of any kind in any sphere of life. There is no one who can cure disease. Or alleviate suffering. Whether it's economic or health-wise. Or of any other kind. There is no one who has the power to decree that the converse of this has the power to decree that somebody should become sick. Somebody should have some difficulty. There is no one who can do any of these things. Illa Allah. Illa Allah. Except Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is the fundamental belief. And therefore, the fundamental belief also extends to the fact that when we have any need, we ask only Allah. Do not ask anyone other than Allah. We ask only Allah. And we ask only Allah without associating any partners with Him. And without going through this one or that one. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Himself commanded us and said Uda'uni astajib lakum. Allah said, ask Me and I will accept your ask. I will accept your dua and I will give you. Uda'uni astajib lakum. And Allah said the one who burns that and scorns that and does not ask, considers himself to be self sufficient and not in need of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said that He will put him fi Jahannam wa al-Dakhirin. And He will put him in the hellfire. And He will put him in the hellfire. You ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always to keep us among those who always ask Him and who keep asking Him. And when you ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, there are three kinds of duas, if I can say that. One are the duas of the Quran. Rabbana a'tina fi al-dunya hasanatan wa fi al-akhirati hasanatan wa ila azama na'ar. Wa Rabb, give us goodness in this life and give us goodness in the life of the Hereafter. And save us from the hellfire. Rabbana la tuzikqaluwana ba'dayzi hadaytina wahablana milladinkar rahma. Innaka anta al-wahaba. O Allah, do not allow our hearts to change after You have guided them. And many others. The distinction of the duas of the Quran is that they all begin with Rabbana. So all the Rabbana duas are from the Quran al-Karim. And then there are the duas of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And obviously nobody can make better duas than Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam himself. No one can make better duas than Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was connected to Allah more than him, more than he was. And so his duas are the most beautiful duas in the world. And his duas are so comprehensive, they cover every aspect of life. It's a very good thing to memorize some of those duas and to ask. And his duas all begin with Allahumma. Allahumma. Allahumma a'ini al-adhi. Allahumma a'ala adhikrika wa shukrika wa husni ibadatika. The dua that he taught to be recited after every Salam. Allahumma a'ini, oh Allah, help me. Ala adhikrika, in your remembrance, adhikrika wa shukrika. And to help me to become grateful to you. Wa husni ibadatika and to beautify my ibadat. So Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's duas are the beginning usually with, almost always with Allahumma. We know the famous story concerning Ramadan where, and Lailatul Qadr specifically where Aisha Siddiqua radiallahu anha, may Allah bless her and raise her darajat and fill her qabar with noor. Our mother and one of our greatest teachers, Aisha Siddiqua radiallahu anha asked Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, she said, Ya Rasulullah, if I were to get Lailatul Qadr, what must I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Which is the best dua to make? And he taught her the famous dua which we all know, alhamdulillah. Where she, where he said to her, ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and said, Allahumma inna ka'afu. Tuhibbul aafu fa aafu anni. Allah, you are the forgiver. You love to forgive. So forgive me. On a side note, I must caution myself and you that the best form of any dua is the, any dua of the Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the best form of that dua is exactly the way that he taught us to make. So don't, don't add to it. Don't try to improve it. Because there is no way that you can improve a dua of the Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So don't try to improve it. For example, this dua, Allahumma inna ka'afu. Tuhibbul aafu fa aafu anni. This is what Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught Sayyidina Aisha sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Sayyidina Qadr al-A'am, alhamdulillah, and it came to us. Now, usually people add Kareem. Kareem. Allahumma ...
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