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The Apparent and Unapparent Endowments of Allah

Friday Speech in Arabic text: نعم الله الظاهرة والباطنة
Speaker: Dr. Ali Ghazzawi

When: Friday November 25th, 2022
Language: English
Where: Masjid Omar, Upper Darby, PA

الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينه ونستغفره ونسترشده. ونعوذ به من شرور أنفسنا وسيئات أعمالنا. مَن يهدِ اللهُ فلا مُضِلَّ له، وَمَن يُضْلِلْ فلا هادِىَ له. اللهم صلِّ وسلِّم على سيِّدِنا محمد وعلى ءاله وصحبه الطيبين الطاهرين ومَن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين. أما بعدُ عبادَ الله، فأُوَصِّى نفسِىَ وإيَّاكم بتقوَى الله العظيم القائلِ فى كتابه الكريم: ﴿وَإِن تَعُدُّواْ نِعۡمَةَ ٱللَّهِ لَا تُحۡصُوهَآۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَغَفُورٞ رَّحِيمٞ ١٨﴾ النحل

Allah revealed (an-Nahl 18) that means: “And if you should count the endowments of Allah, you could not enumerate them. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

Allah also revealed (Luqman 20): وَأَسۡبَغَ عَلَيۡكُمۡ نِعَمَهُۥ ظَٰهِرَةٗ وَبَاطِنَةٗۗ ... ٢٠﴾ لقمان﴿

It means: “[Allah] amply/plentifully bestowed upon you His endowments, [both] apparent and unapparent…

Hence, some of God’s endowments are apparent, i.e., they are seen/visible, such as having good health, children, money, beauty, high social status, rain, plants, cold water, hearing, sight, among other things.

Other endowments are unapparent, such as having the correct belief in Allah and His Messenger, having good certitude in Allah, loving the pious people, and revering the religious knowledge. The first of these is the greatest endowment that one may have. If one was granted many worldly endowments, but one was not granted the proper belief in Allah and His Messenger, then such a person is like one who did not have anything, and if one had that proper belief and did not have worldly endowments, then one is a like someone who was not deprived of anything. The Prophet ﷺ said:

"إنَّ اللهَ عزَّ وجَلَّ يُعْطِى الدُّنْيَا مَن يُحِبُّ ومَن لا يُحِبُّ، ولا يُعْطِى الدِّينَ إلَّا لِمَنْ أَحَبَّ"

This means: “Allah grants worldly endowments to people whom He accepts and people whom He does not accept. However, Allah does not grant the proper belief except to those whom He accepts.” Hence, it behooves us/obligatory upon us as accountable people to be thankful to Him for all of those uncountable endowments. This is achieved by not using them in disobedience, the worst of which is committing blasphemy. The one who avoids using the endowments in sinning is a thankful Fslave. The mere saying with one’s tongue “I thank Allah” or the like even one thousand times, while using the endowments of Allah in sinning, does not fulfill the obligatory thanking of Allah.

As you already know fellow Muslims, having the correct belief in Allah and His Messenger is a condition without which Allah does not accept one’s good deeds. Lady ^A'ishah once asked the Prophet ﷺ if the feeding of the poor and maintaining good ties with the kin that a relative of hers used to do in the Era of Ignorance would benefit him on the Judgement Day. The Prophet ﷺ replied: “This will not benefit him. Indeed, he did not say once: O Lord, forgive my sins on the Judgement Day.” It means that he will not have any rewards on the Judgement Day because he did not believe properly in Allah and the Judgement Day.

As for the Muslims who committed enormous sins and died without repenting from them, then they are under the Will of Allah, either they will be forgiven, or they will be tortured for a period of time for the sins they committed, then they will eventually come out of Hellfire and enter Paradise because they fulfilled the most important obligation, namely believing in Allah and His Messenger.

Dear fellow Muslims, the Prophet ﷺ said that on Judgement Day, after one gets out of the grave, one will not move forward unless one is asked about four matters:
(1) How one spent one’s life,
(2) what one did with the religious knowledge that one learned,
(3) from where one obtained and how one spent one’s money, and
(4) how one used one’s body.
In another hadith, it is mentioned that the first things the person will be asked about on the Judgement Day are his body and the cold water that Allah granted him.

So, fellow Muslims obey Allah and judge yourselves. Check whether or not you are fulfilling the obligatory thanking of Allah. أقول قولىَ هذا وأستغفر اللهَ لى ولكم

الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله. وبعدُ، عبادَ الله اتقوا الله.

The Muslims who performed the obligations, avoided sinning, and used the endowments that Allah granted them in obeying Allah, hence, they were thankful to Allah, will experience the unending enjoyment, as Allah revealed (al-Bayyinah 7-8):

﴿إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ أُوْلَٰٓئِكَ هُمۡ خَيۡرُ ٱلۡبَرِيَّةِ ٧ جَزَآؤُهُمۡ عِندَ رَبِّهِمۡ جَنَّٰتُ عَدۡنٖ تَجۡرِي مِن تَحۡتِهَا ٱلۡأَنۡهَٰرُ خَٰلِدِينَ فِيهَآ أَبَدٗاۖ رَّضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنۡهُمۡ وَرَضُواْ عَنۡهُۚ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَنۡ خَشِيَ رَبَّهُۥ ٨﴾ البيّنة

These verses mean: “Indeed, those who believed and performed the good deeds, those are the best of the creation• Their reward with Allah will be gardens of perpetual residence beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever, Allah accepted them and they accepted Him (believed in Allah, surrendered to the His Will, and did not object to Him). This is for whoever has feared his Lord•”.

Such believers are the happiest of the creations. They were patient in this life in performing the obligations and staying away from sins, and they avoided using the endowments of Allah in disobeying Him; this resulted in them getting accepted by Allah and receiving the great rewards and everlasting enjoyment in the Hereafter. Blessedness is their state. Blessedness is their state.

اللهم اغفِرْ للمؤمنين والمؤمنات

الجمعة مسجد عمر

٣٠ ربيعٌ الآخِر ١٤٤٤ هـ ٢٥ ت٢ ٢٠٢٢ر

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