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IWDM Study Library
The Will of Allah

By Imam W. Deen Muhammad
Audhu billahi min al-shaitan ir-rajim 
Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem
Alhamdu lillaahi Rabbil 'aalameen
Ar-Rahmaanir-Raheem
Maaliki Yawmid-Deen
Iyyaaka na'budu wa lyyaaka nasta'een
Ihdinas-Siraatal-Mustaqeem
Siraatal-lazeena an'amta 'alaihim ghayril-maghdoobi 'alaihim wa lad-daaalleen.
Praise be to Allah, the Guardian Evolver the Cherished of all the world. May his peace and his blessings that will be upon prophet Muhammad, upon his descendants, upon his companions, upon the righteous servants, all of them and upon us oh Muslims. Now, Allah, bless us with the guidance, the true guidance. May Allah bless his love and devotion so that we follow and obey the instructions in the Quran, so that we take prophet Muhammad and his life as an example for us.
Human beings need a human example, and there's no better human example than prophet Muhammad, to whom the Quran was revealed. May we remain steadfast and keep moving onward and onward until we fulfill what Allah ask of us as Muslims. If we do that, we will attract all people to Al-Islam because this is their way, this is their nature. G-d has given us a religion that appeals to our very nature, a religion that is really based on our very nature.
I would like to begin with a reading from Quran, the verse called "The Kingdom", the Al-Mulk. The chapter, pardon me, is called Al-Mulk. We're just going to read the beginning verse. [Arabic language] That is, "I seek refuge with Allah from the rejected Satan, called the enemy." [Arabic language] "With the name Allah, most gracious, most compassionate." [Arabic language] These verses are translated by Maulana Yusuf Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
I read two verses. The first verse reads, "Blessed be He in who's hands," which means in who's power. You know Allah doesn't have hands like we have. "In who's power and who's control is the dominion or the kingdom." The world powers, the world's power, the power over the universe and everything therein. "He, over all things, has power. [Arabic language] "He is powerful over all things," or, "Over all things has power."
Second verse reads, "He who created death and life that he may try which of you is best in deed, and he is exalted in might and oft forgiving. [Arabic language] Allah is telling us here-- Look how divinely these verses come. Men don't think this way. It is Allah who corrects our thinking. "Who created the death and the life." We always think to say He created life and the death because, if we know anything, we are alive, so we think of life first. You see? Where does life come from? From dead matter.
Science tells us that life didn't come first. The universe, the inanimate world came first. Then the Bible and Quran tells us too, but we get confused because we've just strayed from the knowledge, that then G-d out of the inanimate world, He brings forth the life. [Arabic language] "-- who created the death and the life." Here, the verse that will say that death comes before life. There is a hint here, an eye-opening hint, to let us know that death comes first and then life. All through the Quran, death is treated in such a way to remove the superstitions, the fear and superstitions from the Muslims regarding death.
We have had a lot of fear and superstitions. Even some scriptures have-- not the Quran, those scriptures, that came, that were misread and misprinted after they were revealed to the prophets and given to us as Jewish scriptures or Christian scriptures. Those scriptures, some of them, present death as though death is the workings of a separate power, as, sort of, a Satan, an evil Satan or something who has created death and darkness. The G-d, the good G-d, has created light and life. This is incorrect.
The Quran makes it very clear that Allah is the creator of darkness and light, and he's the creator of death and life, and death is a necessity. Death is a part of our growth. If we don't have death, how can we grow? We grow by death. G-d has created death to aid our growth. He says, "-- who created the death, almawta." Death is first, then life. Allah says in the Quran, "Die, that you may live."
And scriptures before bear witness to that, that we must die to our ignorance before we can live in good senses. He said, "Die, that you may live." Die to your corruption. Die to your wicked ways. Die to your lies. Die to your ignorance. That's the only way to come to real life. Not only does the physical world exist as what we call inanimate, or lifeless matter, before it becomes animate, or life matter, living matter. Also, we in our religions, we exist as dead people to our religions until G-d wakes us up and set us onto life. He puts us onto the path of life. With his prophets, with the guidance, he sets us on the path of life.
"Who created the death and the life." For what reason? G-d tells us. We want to know. This is a big question. This question, I think, bothered men in mind more than any other question. Why has G-d created the extremes, death and life, and all the other extremes that we associate with death and life? Allah tells us here, "-- to show you all, to make you know, come to know which one among you is best in his behavior, best in his works, who performs the best work."
If everything was just one way, there would be no opportunity for the individual to prove by his own efforts his worth. We would just be a world of robots or automatons. There would be no freedom, no opportunity to prove by our own efforts our worth. There would be no reward, no human dignity. Does G-d say He’s going to reward the angels? Does G-d promise the angels rewards? No. G-d promised human beings rewards. Human beings are the only one that can earn rewards. The angels can't earn any rewards. Their nature is fixed. Their life is fixed. Their nature's fixed. They live one way. They cannot earn rewards.
If you earn rewards, it means that you can suffer bad consequences. Is that right? We have to be put in the life of extremes. We have to face the forces of death and life. These forces wake up in us, in our intelligence. Living with them constantly, they begin to send messages to our intelligence, and we begin to know that G-d hasn't done all this in vain. This is the way the human begins begin to come to G-d. Is that right?
No prophet ever came to G-d by G-d just (unclear) him in his works. He said, "Hey, Moses, what are you doing? Come, let me get you started on something." No, the man is searching. The man himself began searching. Abraham was searching. Muhammad the prophet, the last prophet, was searching. He used to go and visit the cave Hira. There in that cave, at the top of the mountain, he would meditate and think on G-d, and think on the world condition, and plead to G-d for guidance so that he could solve the problems of his people and the problems of the world. That was Prophet Muhammad. Prophet Muhammad was searching. It's that kind of searching, that kind of searching mind and searching soul, that G-d rewards with guidance.
Where do we get this impulse, this move, this push to search? G-d has designed reality, has designed our world so that this world awakens in us certain senses, certain awareness, and we say, “Gee, G-d hasn’t done this for nothing. This is not an accident. This is something done on purpose.” We begin to see life as it should be seen, and we begin to turn our hearts to the Originator, the Maker of all these things, and He turns to us. As He says, “If you turn to Me, I will turn to you.”
What is the Muslim? A Muslim is one who yields his will to the will of almighty G-d. We must not forever not forget this. We must keep this in mind forever, that G-d’s will is the salvation of the people, not our will. Our will can’t save us. Jesus, he said, “Your will be done,” according to the language of the Christians. Jesus said, “Your will be done. Not my will, Your will,” speaking to G-d. The Muslim is the one who yields his will to the will of G-d.
G-d has made us with a will. We all have a will, but G-d has given us that will so that we can earn something for ourselves, so that we can earn dignity for ourselves. He has also given us hints in his creations, and has sent prophets to us to back up those hints. He has guided us and taught us that our will cannot save us. Only the will of G-d can save us. And the human being's will, from the time it’s created, the human being's will is searching for something to guide it. This is nature. The baby is looking for something to guide it. The woman, the man, they grow up and they become adults, but they are looking for something to guide them.
They go to the institutions of learning. They go to the churches, to the houses of worship, looking for something to guide their will, something to shape their will, to give meaning to their life in the world. Many of them give up. They run into so many problems. They can’t find answers that they think they should get. They give up. What do they do then? They give their will to the forces of destruction. They give their will to lies, corruption, confusion, and they go down. They go down and they're destroyed by the corruptible things of the world.
This will in man is naturally designed and naturally made to seek G-d. The human will seeks G-d. When we find G-d, we find our peace. We don’t know G-d and all of His divine names and all of His attributes when we start out searching. G-d has to show us these things through His prophets, through guidance. Is that right?
Yes, but we do know that there is something in me that needs to be reunited, or united, with something that is missing. We don’t always know what it is but it’s truth. The human being comes into the world and the world teaches the human being some truth and some lies. The lies separates us from the reality that we should naturally be united with, so G-d sends his messengers to teach us that we are one creation, not two, one creation, and that the Creator of this creation is one, not two, not three, one G-d, one Allah, one creator for everything.
This oneness brings to us peace. Two or three bosses over us running our lives brings confusion as the Quran says. Many don’t stop at two or three bosses. They go and worship saints, prophets, and saints and apostles. Is that right?
And give their lives to many directions. What has this resulted in? To absence of the worship of G-d. These people who have given their lives to many G-ds, to two and three G-ds, and to many saints for guidance, look at their society now. They are writing, their leaders are writing, G-d is dead. Another word I just got from the New York Times about two, three weeks ago, it says, “If G-d is alive, why is religion in so much pain?” Why is religion in so much pain for whom? Not in so much pain for us. Religion is free of pain for us, and it’s relieving us of the pain.
The religion is not in pain for us. G-d is alive and has always been alive for the Muslims. It is those people who have gone astray, who have left the straight way, who have left the worship of one G-d alone, one G-d only. It is those people that think maybe G-d is sleeping. Even their scripture says, “Wake up, G-d. Wake up, Lord. Arise from your sleep.”
They have been given ideas of a G-d that takes naps. I’m quoting you the Bible, word for word. “Arise, Oh Lord, out of your sleep.” Allahu Akbar.
The Muslim life is a clear life. It’s not a life of confusion. The way that is shown to us is a clear way. The Quran itself is called the clear book. Al-Bayan, very clear evidence of guidance. It's not something that you have to guess at. It establishes itself. It doesn’t leave us to interpret and establish it. There’s a lot in the Quran that needs interpretation, but that’s not the basis of the book.
Allah says in the Quran, he says that these verses, the verses of the Quran, are allegorical and basic. Allegorical means that it needs some understanding, needs interpretation. He says, “Those in whose hearts is crookedness are perversity." They prefer the allegorical over the basis. They like to get into the mysteries and avoid clear teaching. It says the basics or the clear teachings, the clear verses or the basics of the book. They are the basics of the book. That is where we stand. We stand on those clear teachings. We can all discuss and maybe make some contributions to understanding the allegorical teachings, but that’s not what we stand upon.
We stand upon the clear teachings. What are those clear teachings? One G-d, who is not creation, who is Creator, who has no image, no likeness in creation, and He’s not like creation. Holy Quran says he’s not like creation. He made creation but He’s not like creation. It says that creation must exist by two, by two forces, male and female, negative and positive. He says, “-- but I am the one who exists alone, Allah, without any forces to aid me.” Allah says again in his attributes that he is G-d whose very being will not permit any contributions.
We want to contribute something to G-d? We want to give him a little help? No, his very being refuse any contributions. It is our being that wants something, “Come help me. Give me something.” G-d says to us in the Quran, "Slumber nor sleep touches Him. He does not need food or anything." He say He’s the one who feeds and is not fed. He needs nothing from us. And the attribute Allahu Samad, Qul: hu Allahu Ahad, Say Allah, he’s one G-d, alone. Allahu Samad. Allah is the eternal, whose very being rejects contributions. 
You don’t make no contributions to G-d. Make contributions to righteousness. Make contributions to yourself. Make contributions to your life. Send G-d some charity, or give G-d some help to save sinners? He doesn’t need any help to save sinners. We need help to save ourselves, and G-d gives us that help in our intelligence. He gives us that help in our nature, in the sentiments of our hearts. He also gives us that help through inspired people, the prophets. Is that right?
He needs no help. Isn't that the G-d that the human nature is looking for? The human nature is looking for the G-d that is perfect, the G-d that is whole, needs nothing, and is perfect. He has no need for anything, no flaw, a perfect being. We’re looking for the cause, for the effects that we find in life. Is that right?
We're not looking for the effects that human beings make to look for the cause. If we say G-d is something that needs like we need, our G-d is something that is imperfect like creation, then we're saying that G-d is not cause, but G-d is effect. Allahu Akbar.
This is the Muslim way. The Muslim life has been given five clear principles. Is that right?
Ash-hadu alla ilaha illallah [Arabic language] I bear witness openly that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah alone. Is that right?
La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah. There is no G-d except the G-d Allah. Muhammad is not G-d. Muhammad is the messenger of G-d. Now when we say Muhammadur Rasulullah, it doesn't say Muhammad is not G-d, but that's the purpose. The purpose is to keep that kalima together. It's one kalima. La ilaha illallah Nothing is worthy of worship except Allah. Muhammadur Rasulullah. Muhammad is the messenger of G-d. Muhammad is not G-d. Muhammad is not an angel. Muhammad is a messenger of G-d.
Who is this Muhammad that's the messenger? He is a mortal being that needs food, shelter, clothing, wife, love, compassion. He needs his society. He's lonely without G-d, and he's lonely without his human companions. That is the man that we need to lead the whole world, and that is the man Allah gave to us, Prophet Muhammad. Allah says in the Quran that if this earth had been populated with angels, he would have sent us an angel as a messenger, but since this earth was populated with human beings, he sent us a mortal flesh and blood human being to be our messenger. Allahu Akbar.
Secondly, we have to pray. No one has to teach the human being to pray. G-d has put it in human nature to cry out, to say, "Oh, help me. I am not a creature born perfect. I am not a creature born without needs. Mommy, help me. Daddy, help me. Police, help me. Judge and justice, help me." Is that right?
"Mayor, Governor, help me. President, help me. People, help me. My countrymen, help me. I find no help anywhere. G-d, help me, please." Is that right?
The human being's soul reaches out for help from a little child, from a little baby. The soul is asking for help because we know we are not able to make it alone. We plead to everything in existence for help, and finally, we say, "Nothing in this creation can help me. Where is the one that made this? Help me, oh G-d." Is that right.
This is human nature. We are taught to pray five times daily. The Muslim prays five times daily. He has five senses. He needs help for those five senses. Is that right?
Yes, so he prays five times daily. "Oh G-d, keep me alive. Keep my five senses alive, alive to you. It says, "Hear ye the word of the lord. If my senses of hearing is to stay alive, G-d, I must hear you. If my vision is to stay alive, I must see your way. If my life is to feel the right way, I must give my feelings to your way." Is that right?
Give your feelings to almighty G-d's truth, and to his blessings. Is that right?
Yes. The sense of smell, we smell what is in the air, but how can we know how to judge all the time? We may smell a thing and put it in our mouth and be killed by that thing. These senses need help. We're speaking of this senses in a kind of elementary way. These senses evolve to high level. Is that right?
Taste become discernment, taste become rational discernment. Is that right?
Smell becomes a kind of intuitive ability to sense what is out there. Is that right?
Vision become a vision not only to see the physical but to see into, so we need help so that these things grow and continue to grow. Allah says in his Quran that he has created us that we may grow. G-d does not want us standing still. He does not want us fixed in any inferior form. He want us to grow, and grow, and grow forever until he decides when we should stop growing. Is that right? Allahu Akbar.
To get this, we must stay alive. G-d has revealed to Prophet Muhammad the five fundamental principles of our religions. They're the correct worship of G-d, and the correct way to view his prophets. Not that he's a G-d or a partner with G-d. He's a messenger of G-d. In that prayer, the man should pray. It's written in nature.
No matter how strong we get, we can become strong like Muhammad Ali, or strong like Atlas, the great Atlas and lift up the whole world on our backs, but we never become so strong that we don't have a cry in our nature. There's a crying in human beings' nature. He's born crying and he can cry all of his life. He goes out crying because he knows he needs help from his G-d. Is that right?
The Muslim prays five times a day. If he wake up with Allah on his mind-- A Muslims shouldn't wake up with foolishness on his mind. A Muslim shouldn't wake up with his business on his mind to make more dollars. A Muslim should wake up from his bed and say Alhamdulillah [Arabic language] who gave me life. As soon as he open his eyes, he should say, "All praises due to Allah, who gave me life after I was dead."
[00:28:26] [END OF AUDIO]

