Friday Sermon by dr Rashad Khalifa Remember GOD Constantly Submitter vs Objector 1989 01 13
Transcript
0:07 La Elaha Ella Allah (There is no god except the one God)
0:24 La Elaha Ella Allah
0:44 La Elaha Ella Allah
1:05 Alhamdu Lillah, We praise God.
1:10 Wa Ash-hadu Alla Elaha Ella Allah Wahdahu La Shareeka Lah.
1:14 And we bear witness that there is no god except the one God.
1:19 I started the machine here and all it said was "La Elaha Ella Allah."
1:22 It was not planned this way.
1:24 But La Elaha Ella Allah is the greatest statement.
1:27 It is the statement that will redeem us and will take us back to God's kingdom.
1:32 God will accept us back if we believe the statement, La Elaha Ella Allah.
1:38 In words and in deeds.
1:41 And yesterday, Mahmood made a discovery,
1:43 I hope I'm not stealing his Khutba next week, but
1:47 La Elaha Ella Allah, you know in Arabic looks like this: لا إلهَ إلاَّ اللَّه
1:55 What Mahmood did, he put the gematrical value of these...
1:59 L is 30, Alif is 1, 1, 30, 5, these are the numerical values of these letters next to each other
2:10 30 1 1 30 5 1 30 1 1 30 30 5 = (19 X 1,584,897,436,901,595)
2:22 This is La Elaha Ella Allah next to each other,
2:26 expressed in numbers.
2:27 And this is a multiple of 19.
2:29 It's quite a discovery.
2:33 Cause as you know, God's stamp on everything is the number 19.
2:40 On you, the number of bones in your body is 19 x 14 = 266.
2:48 Excuse me, number of bones is 209 = 19 x 11
2:52 and you were in your mother's womb, if you were a full-term baby, 266 days.
3:00 This is what we have in the science books.
3:03 The embryology textbook at the school of medicine right here.
3:07 266 days for a full-term baby.
3:10 and La Elaha Ella Allah, the gematrical value is 19 multiple.
3:16 I want to reflect together with you, myself and you on the question "who was your god last week?"
3:31 Who was your god last week?
3:33 Don't answer me. Don't even shake your head. This is between you and yourself.
3:37 We're gonna, together, reflect on it, me and you.
3:40 Let's start last Saturday.
3:42 Who was your god on Saturday?
3:47 Did you think about God the majority of the time on Saturday?
3:53 When you got up in the morning, did you say Bism Allah Arrahman Arraheem on Saturday?
4:02 Lydia, I said "do not shake your head."
4:04 Now, I know you did. Ok.
4:06 It's between you and yourself.
4:10 Did you do the morning prayer on time on Saturday before Sunrise?
4:18 Who was your god on Saturday?
4:23 You got up in the morning, you mentioned the name of God, Bism Allah Arrahman Arraheem, the first thing when you got up?
4:29 Did you make Wudu (ablution)? And prayed the morning before sunrise?
4:34 This is what God wants you to do. If He is your god, you did that.
4:42 Then, you put on your clothes, you had breakfast. Did you think about the milk? It came from blood.
4:50 There is those glands in the cow that go to the blood as the source and takes out the protein, a whole bunch of vitamin, the right percentage of fat.
5:04 You know you cannot have vitamin A without fat.
5:08 The word fat has a bad meaning these days, but really you cannot have vitamin A without fat.
5:15 It is bound in the fat.
5:17 So, you have to have a percentage of it.
5:20 And those glands of the cow, God created them so they will go and get the right proportion.
5:28 This is why they supplement the milk with vitamins A and D
5:31 because the fat has to have those two vitamins, connected, bound in the fat.
5:37 Did you think about the milk?
5:39 How white it is.
5:41 The standard white is milk.
5:43 We use it as a standard for the color white.
5:46 And it came out of what? Red blood.
5:50 Did you think about this and praise God?
5:53 Was God your god?
5:55 How about the cereal where you put the milk on?
5:58 Where did it come from?
6:00 Did you think about God for the grain go in the ground, germinating,
6:05 giving you seven hundred grains or whatever of wheat or barley or oats or corn or whatever your cereal was or rice?
6:15 Did you praise God for that?
6:21 Maybe, you put some strawberries or bananas on top of the cereal or peaches.
6:27 Do you think about God's creation of the flavor, the texture, the smell, the taste?
6:32 God made those.
6:35 You finished your breakfast. Did you say Bism Allah Arrahman Arraheem before you started to eat?
6:40 There is a commandment in the Quran that says "do not eat from that upon which God's name was not mentioned."
6:46 It's a commandment.
6:48 And if God was your god on Saturday, last Saturday,
6:53 you said Bism Allah Arrahman Arraheem before you ate.
6:58 You see, God is helping you to grow and to develop
7:04 You finished eating. You changed your clothes.
7:10 Did you think about the textiles that make up your clothes, the cotton or the wool or the plastic?
7:17 Whatever it is. God made it all.
7:21 As you dress.
7:25 I bet you forgot to thank God for the heater.
7:30 You got up and it was very cold outside. You take it for granted, you get up
7:34 you take your shower, and you do your prayers and you eat. You're not thinking that the environment in your house is perfect.
7:41 It's not too cold, not too hot.
7:43 You take it for granted, but God, God provided that.
7:49 And then you got in your car to go to work,
7:52 Did you say Bism Allah Arrahman Arraheem before you started the engine?
7:57 Was God your god on Saturday?
8:02 When you came to that traffic light, you said "please God keep it green, as you approached."
8:09 When you crossed on red and you saw that policeman waiting right there, did you say "please God make him blind"?
8:24 I mean you have to think of God the whole time. If God was your god, you'll do that.
8:31 And if God was your god, that policeman was blind. He didn't see you cross on red.
8:35 You become invisible to the police. It's true.
8:44 And during work, did you think about God?
8:48 Very important.
8:49 Because there is too much at stake.
8:55 Your happiness here now and forever depends on that.
9:00 Remember Luke 12: 29-31,
9:03 says "seek God's kingship over you and everything else follows."
9:07 Everything else is fixed for you.
9:11 We are now in an era of distinction between Satan's kingdom and God's kingdom.
9:17 There's a distinction. God's kingdom is perfect.
9:21 If you want to have perfect health, perfect wealth, perfect peace of mind and happiness, you have to be in God's side.
9:34 God is running everything. It's not even funny.
9:39 He left for us just one issue to deal with: whether to be in God's kingdom or in Satan's kingdom. That's it.
9:47 The rest is not even funny. The things, the words we say.
9:52 And we are speaking from experience.
9:55 I just don't know how to express it to you that God is doing everything.
9:58 It's a very difficult concept to understand.
10:01 But first you have to believe it, then God will show you.
10:04 First, you believe. Then, God will show you and prove it to you in a very practical way, in a way that you cannot miss.
10:24 Was God your god on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday?
10:32 There's a system that you have to follow in the Quran.
10:35 Did you tell somebody, I'm gonna do something tomorrow or in two hours, without saying IN SHAA ALLAH (God willing)?
10:41 Or did you say IN SHAA ALLAH?
10:43 God willing.
10:48 Were you afraid that people may laugh at you?
10:50 Or did you say, God willing?
10:57 Did you see something you liked and you said Subhan Allah (Glory be to God)?
11:00 A flower, or the sunrise or the clouds.
11:06 You say Subhan Allah. God be glorified.
11:09 You don't have to say it in Arabic. You can say it in your language. God be glorified.
11:18 Anything that you like, your health, you're eating something and you taste how delicious it is and you enjoy it.
11:26 You thank God for the taste.
11:33 Taste, we take it for granted.
11:35 But when you taste anything, a piece of candy or a piece of meat, you thank God for it.
11:42 Jim Brady, Reagan's press secretary, when he was shot, one of the things he lost was the sense of taste.
11:53 He cannot tell fish from apple.
11:59 This is a blessing that we have and we take for granted.
12:02 When you taste anything, did you say "thank you, God?"
12:05 God be praised.
12:08 This is what it means, God is your god.
12:11 This is why the Quran repeats all those people who do know that God is the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth,
12:17 the one who created them, provides for them,
12:20 but God is not their god. They're going to Hell.
12:22 Why does the Quran repeat that?
12:29 You know, it's gonna take us two, or three or four months to really get into this act and really have God as our god.
12:36 And I'm counting myself for you.
12:39 This is why we have to keep reminding ourselves.
12:42 Don't feel bad that you forget
12:45 or that God was not your god in the last week.
12:48 We're gonna work on it. It's gonna take us a few months
12:56 because Satan is after us.
13:00 So, if you went through this with me and you. found that God was not your god in the last week, don't feel bad about it.
13:08 Just work on it next week.
13:12 To do that, let us repent.
13:13 Tooboo Ela Allah. (Repent)
13:27 Alhamdu Lillah, (Praise be to God)
13:29 IN SHAA ALLAH, (God willing)
13:33 There are two kinds of people in this world
13:36 and no third.
13:40 A submitter and an objector.
13:42 Every human being you look at is either a submitter or an objector.
13:47 There is no in-between.
13:48 The submitter accepts everything that God does and is happy with it.
13:52 He tells "God, if this is what you want, I accept it cheerfully."
13:56 And he or she means it. They are cheerful.
13:59 They're very happy.
14:00 Remember the sign: Happiness in Submission to God.
14:03 Sometimes, I feel like putting it back, Submission instead of devotion.
14:09 Submission: accepting everything that God is doing.
14:12 The objector objects. He or she doesn't like what God is doing.
14:18 So, the rule is really very simple:
14:22 There are two kinds of people: a submitter who's always happy.
14:26 And an objector who's always miserable.
14:30 And there's no in-between.
14:32 You can also put it the other way around.
14:34 There are two kinds of people:
14:37 A continuously happy person who is a submitter
14:39 or a continuously miserable person who's an objector.
14:43 It's interchangeable. It's the same.
14:47 A submitter is always happy because he or she accepts whatever God is doing.
14:52 Whatever is happening, he or she understands that God has a good reason for it.
15:02 The objector doesn't like what God is doing
15:05 and that's too bad for the objector.
15:06 So, remember that and remember to be a submitter.
15:10 I don't know which comes first, the egg or the chicken,
15:15 but a submitter is always happy.
15:18 And the happy person is a submitter.
15:22 Now, I have a question for you.
15:24 And you can answer me. What is the longest Sura in the Quran?
15:28 Sura number 2.
15:31 And what is the name of it?
15:33 Al-Baqarah, the cow,
15:37 literally in Arabic, the cow.
15:39 Now, Sura number 2, the longest Sura in the Quran, it is full of laws,
15:44 the laws of marriage, divorce, Hajj, prayer, fasting, war, prayers.
15:53 It is full of rules and laws, but what is the name?
15:56 You know who gave the names to the Suras?
15:59 God did.
16:02 So, why did God pick out the cow?
16:04 Of all these subjects in the longest Sura in the Quran, why did God pick out this name, which is rather outlandish, the cow?
16:14 You know, the Heifer in English sounds nice... nicer,
16:18 But Al-Baqarah, it's in Arabic, the cow.
16:20 And in some translations, you've seen the cow.
16:23 Why? We have to think about it together.
16:29 Because it reflects or it teaches us total and absolute submission to God.
16:34 God told the Israelites "sacrifice a cow."
16:40 They didn't say "yes, Sir." They argued. "What kind of cow?"
16:51 And the answer came back "it's a cow that is not too old, not too young."
16:56 And they said "what color?"
17:00 They argued back and forth.
17:04 So, it became more and more difficult for them.
17:12 But do you understand the point
17:14 why did God pick out that name for the longest Sura?
17:21 You tell the Arabs, there's not a single one here. You tell the Arabs "the Wudu (ablution) is 4 steps."
17:27 They say "what's wrong with 9?"
17:30 You tell them God says "do not make distinctions among the messengers."
17:35 They say "what kind of distinction? Distinction on what?"
17:39 This is why God told, the name of the cow, gave the name of the Sura as the cow.
17:47 There's a great lesson there.
17:50 When God says "the Wudu is 4 steps"
17:52 That's it. The Wudu is 4 steps. "Yes, Sir."
17:56 And out of all the commandments in the Quran,
17:59 after the Commandment "Do not make distinctions among the messengers."
18:03 God says "the believers will say we hear and we obey."
18:09 They don't argue back.
18:11 They don't say "distinction in what?"
18:13 They all say that "distinction is what?"
18:19 They're insisting on going to hell.
18:24 So, God is teaching us very early in the Quran,
18:26 that whatever He says, we say "yes, Sir."
18:29 And we do it.
18:31 Without argument.