MY LIFE PROJECT – WHO IS MY RABB?

The “MY LIFE PROJECT” encompasses five things we need to reach Allah!!

1. Al Insaan – Who am I?

2. Man Rabuuka? Who is my Rabb?

3. Who are my enemies?

4. What is my goal?

5. What must I do? Man Rabbuka...

Who is your lord? Subhanallah, this is one of the questions a dead person will be asked in the grave. He will be asked whether during his lifetime, he had believed that Allah is the Reformer, Nurturer and the One who disposes all the affairs. This is why we go through the ayats in the Quran to know man rabbuka - Ar Rubbubiyaat!!! Surah baqarah Ayat 126

This ayat is a dua which Ebrahim AS made to Allah subhana wa ta’ala. The

previous ayat of the rubbubiyat Surah Baqarah ayat 124 was- wa id kala

rabbuhu bi kalimati was when:

Allah subhana wa ta’ala tried and tested Ebrahim AS with kalimat - certain

words/commands, Ebrahim AS fulfilled them and then Allah gave imama –

Leadership in Islam to Ebrahim AS. Ebrahim AS then asked Allah for wa

min duriyati - what about my offspring and Allah replied that the imama -

leader of the Muslims cannot be those who are dwalimeen – the

wrongdoers, only people who are not ad dwalimeen can be imama fi din

and then after this we are told about the Duas of ebrahim AS. In this ayat –Surah Baqarah 126:

And (remember) when Ibrahim (Abraham) said, "My Lord, make this city

(Makkah) a place of security and provide its people with fruits, such of them

as believe in Allah and the Last Day." He (Allah) answered: "As for him who

disbelieves, I shall leave him in contentment for a while, then I shall compel

him to the torment of the Fire, and worst indeed is that destination!"

In this ayat Allah tells us Wa I'd kala ebrahima Rabbi – remember when

Ebrahim AS said: What did Ebrahim AS say?

He is asking Allah subhana wa ta’ala by His name Rabbi.

Rabbi (with a kasra) - Oh my Lord

Kala meaning the dua which he said, i.e., Dua of Ebrahim AS to his Rabb. Rabbi

When Ebrahim AS made a dua he asked Allah with the name Rabb - Rabbi

meaning my Rabb, my Nurturer, my Reformer, my Creator, and my

Owner. All the attributes of the dua are in this. The etiquette of dua

The etiquette of the Dua is that we have to praise Allah subhana wa ta’ala

by His beautiful names and attributes. The names of Allah are praise in

themselves. Ebrahim AS and the other messengers praised Allah using the

name Rabbi. Ya Rabbi in this dua encompasses all these attributes:

Ya Muslah – The Reformer

Ya mudabbir- The Disposer of Affairs

Ya murabii – The Nurturer

When we make dua, the Rabbi means this is my Rabb, He is the one who

can respond to me, can nurture me, can reform me, who is in charge of all

my affairs.

Ebrahim AS called Allah by His name Rabb because this is where he is doing

dua and he is asking from the One who can give, the only One who can

respond. Saying Rabb in itself is a dua.

The Dua of Ebrahim AS

wa I'd kala ebrahima rabbi – When ebrahim AS did dua to his Rabb; the Dua

consisted of two parts: Part 1 - Balada amaana

1) ij al hada balada amiina - He asked his Lord to make...

Ij al - to make (fael Dua - asking Allah, requesting things from ja ala)

Ja ala - requesting Allah to make

Hada – this is an ism ishara for addressing - pointing at something,

Ism ishara kareeb – meaning a near ism ishara – pointing at something

close, here hada is referring to Mecca because Ebrahim AS was in Mecca (is

near) and he is asking Allah to make Mecca baladan amiina.

Baladan –place and Amiina from amn - make safe, make it a place of

security, Amn means security.

Recall that when Ebrahim as came to Mecca with his wife and son, Mecca

was a barren and isolated deserted place with no one there. He asked Allah

to make it a place of security -Rabbi id jad allah baladan amiina. If you look

at Mecca now, truly it is a place of security, any time of the day you can find

people, it is very lively, and a person feels very secure with his life, his

money in Mecca. All of this is from Rabb!!!

Who is the one making the place secure?

Ar Rabb because He is the disposer of affairs, the Reformer - He is the one

who can make any place a place is security. We should make dua that Allah

makes the place where we dwell a place of security ameen ya Rabb because

only Allah can make any place a place of security. Part 2 - Ar Rizq

2) wa ar zukh ahlahu min at thamarath- The second thing he asked his

Rabb was for the provision.

War zuk -provide. He asked Allah to make the land secure and to provide

the dwellers with the sustenance, again it is fael Dua, ur zukh from razaqa –

to provide.

Ahlahu- to the ones who dwell.

At thamarath - with rizq - all the fruits/provision.

Provide whom with the rizq?

Ahlu Makkah - the people of Mecca

He said you are the Rabb, you provide the people of Mecca with

thamarath - meaning at-thimaar – fruits. He didn’t ask for essentials but

more for the fruits and subhanallah we can see that we can get all kinds of

fruits throughout the year from different places in Mecca, the house of

Allah. He asked Allah to provide from the fruits - the sustenance for the

people of Mecca. We can see that no one ever goes hungry in Mecca because

Ebrahim AS asked Allah to provide the people of Mecca with provisions

from the fruit. After he said this he made a restriction in the dua because he

was feeling very humble towards Allah. What is the restriction?

Man amana minhum billahi wal youm il akhiraat - After he said to provide

the people with thamarath, he made a restriction - not to provide the

thamarath to everyone but only to the one who is a believer, who believes

in the day of judgement.

Why did he make this dua?

In the ayat before (124) when Allah made him an imama, Ebrahim AS

asked about dhuriyatihi -his offspring because he wanted them to be

leaders too but Allah placed a restriction that not everyone can attain this,

the dwalimeen cannot be imama –leaders in Islam. Here, in this ayat,

Ebrahim AS made a dua and first asked for Mecca to be a place of security.

When he asked for the provisions, he placed a restriction that Ar zuk fii

makatii lil muumineena -this is provided to the believers among ahlul

Mecca, ar zuk fa fakt al muumineen billahi wa youm il akhir - provide to the

believers who believe Allah and in the day of judgement - meaning not to

provide to anyone else, i.e., only the ones who believe deserve this. In the

previous ayat he made a general dua but here he made a specific dua. Why did he do this?

Ta ad dub min Allah –He is behaving with Allah, saying only provide to the

believers, because previously he had asked Allah to give everyone the

imama.

How did Allah respond?

Allah subhana wa ta’ala responds with Kala wa man kaafar.

Kala is Allah subhana wa ta’ala. This tells us about the Rabb!!!

Wa man kaafar – the one that disbelieves, When Allah says wa man kaafar

it means Subhanallah the provision is general for everyone, for muslim and

kaafir, for the one who believes and disbelieves in Allah, there is no

restriction on that but for imama fi din –the leadership in Islam there is a

restriction. For the believer, of course Allah will provide but for them the

disbeliever, what about him.

And then Allah tells him:

Fa umatii uhum qalilan thuma adhtaruhu ila adaabi naar wa bis al masir.

Keeping the Rubbubbiyaat in mind, the One who reforms we can see that

when Ebrahim AS made a dua to provide for the believers, Allah responds

saying that for the believer He will provide, if they believe and they are

mutaqiin Allah will bring them the provision easily without them knowing,

with minimum effort on their part.

What about the disbelievers?

Allah says for those who disbelieve:

Fa umatii uhu qalilan – Allah will still provide them with the provision in

this short time (qalilan). That provision is only for the duniya. The kaafir

doesn’t know why Allah has created him and he will use the provision to

disobey Allah and to enjoy in the duniya.

Allah will provide for both the believers and disbelievers but the difference

is that for the disbelievers, the provision is a temporary enjoyment because

Allah says fa umatii uhu qalilan –He will let them enjoy for a short while,

because this life is very minimum compared to the akhiraat. Allah is saying

He will not restrict the provision because Hua ar Razzaq – He will provide

to everybody in different ways. Ar Razzaq is the Provider and we need to

realise this, sometimes we misbehave with Allah by trying to distribute the

rizq in our minds or questioning why someone has something or not.

Temporary Enjoyment in the duniya...

Allah will provide any worldly provision to whomever He wishes according

to His infinite wisdom. This is the Rubbubiyat!!! For the disbelievers it will

be mata qalilan – a little enjoyment

Umatii – make him enjoy from mataa – meaning enjoyment

Al mataa duniya qalilan wa zaiil – qalilan – a little mataa -enjoyment in the

duniya and it will zaiil –perish. Therefore when Allah makes the

disbelievers enjoy in this life we should not feel anything because this is

very little, temporary and nothing compared to the akhiraat where they

will have thuma adhtaruhu ila adaabi naar wa bis al masir.

The Akhiraat for the disbeliever...

Later he will have thuma adhtaruhu ila adaabi naar wa bis al masir.

Thuma – then adhtarhu – he will be driven by force from Idh tara – means

by force, urgently. The disbeliever will enjoy with the provision of Allah but

it is temporary, so why should we feel or question this even if Allah gives

them the world here, it is worth nothing. Allah will drive him by force and

he will leave this life and enjoyment by force. He does not want to leave this

duniya as he will leave the enjoyment and go to something worse than

nothing. A believer even if he enjoys in this life, when he dies he always

goes to something better, so alhamdulilah he is always a winner –he enjoys

in this life and in the akhiraat!!!

Then Allah will drive him (disbeliever) to ila adaabi naar –to the

punishment of hellfire wa bis al masir –what an evil end/destination.

What is important is the destination!!!!

The destination is important!!!

The destination is important. This duniya is not a measure of how we

should weigh Allah’s love. Allah will give the worldly matters to everyone.

For the believer, the enjoyment in the duniya is nothing compared to what

Allah has kept for them in the hereafter. It is better than what they have in

this life.

For the disbeliever even if they enjoy to the maximum the destination is Ila

adaabi naar – punishment of hell and what is the description of this

punishment? It is wa bis al masir –an evil end – the worst destination!!!

One of the swaliheen removed the jealousy from his heart. He said “He

would never feel jealous of anyone for the worldly matters because if the

person is a believer, he will go to something better and if he is a disbeliever

he will go to something worse.”

The mataa duniya will not last so why should we feel jealousy!!!

How Allah reformed Ebrahim AS

This is how Allah reformed EbrahimAS. Ebrahim AS made a dua to Allah to

make this land (Mecca) a land of security and provide the believers with

tamarath -provisions and Allah subhana wa ta’ala said that Allah, Ar Rabb

provides for everyone.

Ar Rizq a duniywi aamun lil muumin waal kaafir alaswi wal muutii – the

worldly provision is general for the believers and the disbelievers because

Li ana hum mataaun qaalil – it is temporary and will perish.

Think About Man Rabbuka...

Allah Taala hua Rabb. Ar rabb hua:

Al Maalik – the Owner,

Al Khaliq – the Creator,

Al Mudabir – the disposer of Affairs,

Al Musliih - the Reformer and

Al Murabbi – The Nurturer

Ar Rizq li jamia dunyawi– worldly provision for everyone but the difference

is:

Ar Rizq for the Mumim

For the mumin –believers, the rizq –worldly provision is easy and from

unexpected places because it is:

wadh min Allah - a promise from Allah,

he has tawaakul – reliance in Allah, he believes in Allah, is close to

Allah, takes care of his religion & Allah will take care of him and

provide for him with the least effort and unexpected places.

Allah will provide for him in the duniya with least effort and from where he

will not expect. This is wadh Allah – The promise of Allah and this is min

gairi hisaab – without account, beyond his expectations and juhdan kalil –

little effort. There are various ayats about how Allah provides for the

muttaqeen.

Ar rizq for the kaafir

He will enjoy only in the life, maata un qaalil wa zail – temporary

enjoyment which will perish.

The Imama

There is no restriction in the general provision. However to be imama fi din

-a leader in religion is not for everyone, this is a special provision and La

yathi yallah illah lil muimineen - only for the miumineen.

– The muimineen will get both the duniya and akhiraat because their

concern is submission to Allah. Duniya is not how they will balance or

weigh things. It is not al maqiyas -important as to how much money we

have, what we possess but are we obeying Allah, how close we are to Allah.

The mumim insaan gives from what he has for the sake of Allah because he

wants to do everything to make himself close to Allah.

From this ayat

In this ayat it is very clear that Allah will give the provision of the duniya to

everyone – the money, intelligence and beauty to everyone but the religion,

faith, imama fi din, tranquillity of mind, peace, and beneficial knowledge

will only be given to those Allah loves, only the believer.

The muimineen will get both the general & special provision; they will get

the duniya and the akhiraaat.

The duniya laisa maqiyaas – the duniya is not important, it has no value,

wala kin al maqiyaas antakuna takiaan lillah - and what is important is that

are we obeying Allah or not.

With death, all the delights and enjoyment of the duniya stop, the richness

of the rich, the power of the strong, the beauty of the beautiful person, the

weakness of the weak ends but what remains is al imaan wal aman saleh –

how much we believe in Allah, how much we obey Allah.

This should make us focus to be amaanu wa amaanu salihas in this life.

May Allah make us the muimineen, ameen ya Rabb!!!