Advice from The Quran Audio Lecture published by the Pulpit of Tawheed & Jihad http://www.tawhed.ws/ By His Eminence, the Imam, Abu Mohammad Al Maqdisi, May Allah preserve him Edited and published as PDF by http://muwahhidmedia.wordpress.com/
All Praise is for Allah, the Lord of Everything that exists, and the Peace and Blessings upon the seal of the Prophets and Messengers We Will discuss together some of the verses from the book of Allah that were sent down to the Prophet peace be upon him during the Meccan stage [of his life and Da'wah] the stage of weakness [for the muslims] and these verses have advice that aid with steadfastness in times of weakness, we are in dire need for these advices, so we should reflect upon them, and adhere to acting upon them because they will assist us upon steadfastness in this era that the enemies have piled upon the Ummah and especially the people of this group [Tawheed & Jihad]. Allah says, I seek Refuge in Allah the one who hears and sees everything, from the accursed satan: "And recite, [O Muhammad], what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord. There is no changer of His words, and never will you find in other than Him a refuge. And keep yourself patient [by being] with those who call upon their Lord in the morning and the evening, seeking His Face. And let not your eyes pass beyond them, desiring adornments of the worldly life, and do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows his desire and whose affair is ever [in] neglect. And say, "The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills - let him believe; and whoever wills - let him disbelieve.." [Quran 18:27-29] These verses informed the Prophet peace be upon him and more importantly his followers to 3 important advices that aid them on steadfastness and remaining strong and firm in speaking the Truth, Before Allah said: "And say, the Truth is from your Lord" He gave these 3 advices that assist in steadfastness in times of weakness and on the path of remaining strong and firm upon this Da wah and speaking the truth. The First Advice is "And recite, what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord There is no changer of His words, and never will you find in other than Him a refuge." So this is an order to recite the book of Allah, and the word Tilaawah [recitation] has two meanings, the first is to read. Reading with contemplation, and submission, humility, and reflection upon the verses of the book, and the advices of our Lord in it.
It also has the meaning of following, and both meanings are what is meant in the verse when advices to recite the book of Allah. So from the things that help in proclaiming this Da'wah and being steadfast upon it, is reciting the book of Allah and following it, reading it, contemplating it, reflecting upon it, understanding it, and following it, and there is no doubt that the book of Allah is the greatest of sciences, and the greatest of provisions that protect a person in times of tribulations, and it is the light of the path, and it is the straight path, and Allah's Strong Rope. And that is why the Prophet peace be upon him was ordered in the beginning of the Da'wah to pray the night prayers, and recite the book of Allah, the verses were revealed to him: "O you who wraps himself [in clothing], Arise [to pray] the night, except for a little -, Half of it - or subtract from it a little, Or add to it, and recite the Qur'an with measured recitation. Indeed, We will cast upon you a heavy word." [Quran 73, 1-5] Allah described this Qur'an and this Da wah that it is a "heavy word" It's orders are great, many things are made up from it, so in order for us to be able to perform, and be qualified to go through with these great orders we have to we have to give our souls its rights of provisions, just like the body needs food and rest, the soul also needs aiding provision from the remembrance of Allah, and the recitation of his book, contemplating on its verses, this provision without it, the soul will extinguish and its light will leave, and its determination and resolution will weaken, and that is why this is the first advice that Allah advised the Prophet peace be upon him. So we should cling to the recitation of the book of Allah and contemplating it's meanings, and following it, because with the obedience to the book of Allah, and following the book of Allah, comes Guidance, Guidance to Success, firmness, the special guidance that Allah has promised to his believing slaves, Allah says: "And if you obey him, you will be [rightly] guided..." [Qur'an 24:54] The Second Advice that Allah Advised the Prophet peace be upon him and more importantly his Ummah, is to: "Keep yourself patient [by being] with those who call upon their Lord in the morning and the evening." The description of calling upon their lord morning and evening.
They remember him in the morning and evening, their concern in the morning and evening, and all times of theirs lives, is what? Is ALLAH. And the Religion of Allah, and the Laws of Allah, and the book of Allah, there concern is this religion which the people have let down. They wake up and go to sleep thinking about how they can give victory to the religion of Allah, This group and these people are who deserve to be patient with them, "And keep yourself patient [by being] with those who call upon their Lord in the morning and the evening," those whose concern is the sublimity of this religion and the victory of this religion, morning and evening, and all their lives, that is who you are patient with, you accompany them, make friends with them, and keep away from being their enemies, and be in their ranks, aid them, and increase them in number and this is something else that aids in firmness. The Prophet peace be upon him said: "A Person is on the religion of his friend, so watch whom you take as friends" and from the widespread sayings "A friend Pulls you" So having good friends, friends of Faith and who Fear Allah, is something that aids in steadfastness, and gives a person patience upon the path of Da wah in the shade of times of tribulations and weakness and the piling of the enemies on this Ummah, and there is no doubt that this is also from giving victory to the truth by increasing its people from the loyalty to the believers is to take their sides and group, increase their numbers, be of them, and to be of this group, and make it apparent, and announcing it, all of this is from aiding the truth and being loyal to the believers, and increasing the number of the believers.. And then after that is the third advice, which is the other side of the second advice: "And do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, and who follows his desire and whose affair is ever [in] neglect." So just like you are friends with the believers, you leave the disbelievers, you don't accompany them, nor take them as friends, nor love, nor be in the ranks of other then the believers, rather, accompany the believers and leave the disbelievers, and this is in reality from the conditions of "La illaha Illa Allah"
Loyalty to the believers, and enmity towards the disbelievers, just how the scholars mentioned the two sides of negation and affirmation in La illaha Illa Allah they Say To worship Allah Alone and to support the believers, and the side of negation is to not commit shirk with Allah, to hate shirk, to free yourself from shirk and to have enmity towards those who commit shirk, to keep away from them and to combat them it has these meanings, to be with the believers and keep away from the disbelievers, Whoever Allah has made their heart heedless of his remembrance meaning, making it heedless of the Qur'an, and the Laws of Allah, and if you actually watch and look at his situation you'll see he is of the people who love the Dunya the most, heedless and keeps away from the remembrance of Allah, and the religion of Allah, he doesn't care about giving victory to this religion, and raising its flags, he doesn't care about it's flags suffering a setback, he doesn't care about the enemies of Allah ruling over the religion, this type of person don't waste your time with him, don't be an ally to him, don't rely on him, and don't obey him, "And do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance," that's one characteristic, the other one is: "And who follows his desire.." You'll find that the scale for judging things with him is his desires, whatever he desires, what benefits him and his Dunya, that's his main concern so this type of person is not fit to be a friend, or someone close to a Muwahid and a supporter of this religion, "...and who follows his desire and whose affair is ever [in] neglect." and that's why some scholars say if you want to know if someone is worthy of friendship or not, then look at him when the order of Allah comes, if it goes against his desires does he follow it? Or does he follow his desires? Does he neglect it? Or does he take this religion and the orders of this religion with strength, takes the book with strength, or does he neglect it? If he has these characteristics, such as following his desires most of the time and neglecting a lot of the religion, then don't take him as a friend. So these three advices, that Allah advised his Prophet peace be upon him in his time of weakness, we are more in need of contemplating them, acting upon them, and adhering to them, reciting and contemplating the book of Allah day and night, follow his orders, taking the righteous as friends, and joining the supporters of this religion and increasing their numbers, being under their flag, and staying away from the enemies of this religion, and whoever
worships his desires and whose affair is ever [in] neglect, we stay away from them, take as enemies, and get closer to Allah by hating them, when they do that Allah aids them in saying the truth: "The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills - let him believe; and whoever wills - let him disbelieve, Indeed, We have prepared for the wrongdoers a fire whose walls will surround them." So these advices Allah advised his Prophet, we should cling to contemplating and applying them, and we ask Allah that he keeps us firm upon the firm word in the life of this world and the next, and uses us to aid his religion. Edited from an audio lecture given by Sheikh Abu Muhammad al- Maqdisi may Allah hasten his release, and published by the Pulpit of Tawheed & Jihad. See link: http://www.tawhed.ws/