Why is dua not accepted – 2

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
Wa Salatu wa Salamu Ala Ashrafil Anbiya wal Mursaleen.
Muhammad wa Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Ala Alihi wa Sahbihi Salam.
Tasliman Kaseeran Kaseera.
Homma Baadu.
My brothers and sisters, we are looking at the list of reasons that Ibrahim Adhem,
Rahmatullah Ali, gave to the people of Basra,
the reasons why their duas were not being accepted.
As I mentioned to you, the reason I am mentioning this to you
and wish to remind myself and you that this does not only refer to the people of Basra,
but it refers to us today.
Why is our dua not being accepted?
Maybe for one or more of these reasons.
And the first of those reasons is,
you have known Allah, but you have not fulfilled His rights.
You have known Allah, but you have not fulfilled His rights.
Now the rights of Allah SWT, what are they?
In the right of Allah SWT, the first and foremost right of Allah SWT
is the reason He created us.
He said,
I have not created the jinn and the insan, the human beings,
for anything other than to worship Me.
So the right of Allah SWT is that we worship only Him and obey only Him.
We stand in Salah and we say,
We don't say,
We worship only you and we obey only you.
Exclusivity in worship and obedience is the condition of acceptance of that worship.
Not only worship and obedience, but both only for Allah.
This means that when there is a temptation or a suggestion or even compulsion
to include anyone or anything else in the worship and obedience of Allah SWT,
this must be done.
This is the definition of Shirk.
Shirk is to include something or someone other than Allah
in the worship of Allah or in asking help from Allah SWT.
Now we must remember that obedience is worship.
Obedience is worship.
Itaat is Ibadah.
We have the story of Uday bin Hatim RA,
before he became Muslim,
who came to Allah SWT and said,
I came to visit Rasulullah SAW and was wearing a cross on a chain around his neck.
Rasulullah SAW saw him and he recited this ayat of Surah Tawbah,
where Allah said,
Ittaqadhu ahbarahum waruhbanahum arbaban min doonillah
walmasihabna maryam
wama amiru illa liya'budu ilahan wahida
la ilaha illahu subhanahu amma yudhahum
wa ila ilayhi shrikoon.
Allah SWT said, which means,
they have taken, Allah said,
they have taken their rabbis and their monks
as arbab min doonillah,
as objects of worship,
as deities,
instead of Allah SWT,
as well as Masihah,
son of Maryam,
Jesus, the son of Mary,
as lords, as arbab,
as gods to be worshipped,
besides Allah,
even though they were commanded to worship
none but one ilahum wahid,
one Allah, one God.
There is no God worthy of worship except Him.
Glorified is He above what they associate with Him.
Now, when Rasulullah SAW recited this ayah,
Uday bin Hatim,
before he became Muslim,
he politely dissented and he said,
Ya Rasulullah, we don't worship our priests.
Rasulullah SAW asked him,
is it not true that your priests have made some things
which Allah SWT has prohibited halal for you?
Meaning, is it not true that your priests
have permitted something which Allah has prohibited?
And that they have prohibited some things
which Allah has permitted.
Uday bin Hatim said, yes, that is true.
And if you look in the Bible,
you will see that both pork as well as alcohol
are prohibited.
But we see the Christians
use both of them quite freely
and so forth also with other people of the book.
So he said, yes, that is true.
Rasulullah SAW said, that is worship.
So what is worship?
To obey someone
in opposition to Allah SWT.
To obey Allah SWT.
To obey Allah SWT.
To obey Allah SWT.
To obey Allah SWT.
To obey Allah SWT.
To obey Allah SWT.
To obey Allah SWT.
To obey Allah SWT.
To follow a rule or a law
in opposition to a rule or law
of Allah SWT
is worship of that thing
or that rule maker
instead of Allah.
So let us see what we do
with what Allah SWT
permitted and prohibited
starting with Salah.
Let us see who we obey