(soft sound) - What is your name here? And what do they call you on the other side? We spend so much of our lives trying to build a name for ourselves.
From a young age, there's this desire to be remembered, to make sure that when people mention us, it's with admiration. Psychology even tells us that your name is actually your strongest stimulant. Everyone wants to hear their name.
Think about how excited people get to see their names get honorable mentioned by their favorite star or on their favorite show or on some sort of plaque or certificate, but have you ever thought, "What's my name with Allah? What's my reputation amongst all the angels all around me and the souls that have gone before me? Is it possible to actually have a different name there than the one we have here?
Do I have a title in front of my first name? Or maybe a quality in place of my last name that they call me by? And when do I find this all out?
" (gentle sound continues) (vocalizing) (dramatic sound) (chimes tinkling) In one of the du'as of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he says about Allah's names. as'aluka bikullis'min huwa lak sammayta bihi nafsak aw anzaltahu fī kitābik, aw `allamtahu aḥadan min khalqik, aw'ista'tharta bihi fī `ilmil-ghaybi `indak, "I ask You, O Allah, by every name that You have named Yourself, or every name that You have revealed in your book, or every name that You have taught to any one of Your creation, or every name that You have kept onto Yourself in the knowledge of the unseen that is with You alone. " Meaning there are names that Allah has that perhaps He has taught to another creation other than us.
Maybe His angels know Him by other names beyond. And there are names that Allah has kept in the unseen that He has called upon that we still don't even have access to. So, we know Ar-Rahmaan, Ar-Raheem, but imagine the many beautiful names that we haven't even heard yet.
Our Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam also had many names. He said, inna li asmaa. "I have several names.
I am Muhammad. I am Ahmad. I am al-Maahi.
" The eraser by whom Allah erases disbelief. And "I am al-Haashir, the gatherer. " At whose feet the people will be gathered on the Day of Judgment.
And, "I am al-Aaqib, the last. " After whom there will be no other Prophet. And in another narration, he said SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam wa nabiyyu tauba, wa nabiyyu rahmah "I am the Prophet of repentance.
And I am the Prophet of mercy. " Now, some of these names were given directly to him by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, like Muhammad and Ahmed but other names like as-Saadiq, the truthful one, or al-Amin, the trustworthy one. These were earned throughout his remarkable life SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam with his blessed character.
Allah says about Yahya, the son of Zachariah 'Alayhi Salaam ismuhoo Yahyaa lam naj'al lahoo min qablu samiyyaa "I have named him Yahya, and that name was not given to anyone before him. " This was a glad tiding, both of Yahya's character, which would be defined by Haya, modesty, as well as a glad tiding that he was going to be a Shaheed since Yahya means life. And the Shohada are Ahyaat The martyrs are alive.
But those are prophets. What about the rest of us? The Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said.
Ma min abdin illa walahoo seetun fis'samaa "There is not a servant of Allah except that they have a "seet," which means a name or a reputation, in the heavens. Now, the first manifestation of that hadith is definitely referring to the reputation you have because the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam went on to say that, "If you have a good reputation in the heavens, it descends to those on Earth. And if you have a bad one in the heavens, it also descends to those on Earth.
" But what if that reputation doesn't just come with the name your parents gave you, but the name your deeds earned you? There's a beautiful story about Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz Rahimullah that gives us some incredible insight into this. Umar radiAllahu Anhu says that, "One night I saw the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam in a dream in a green meadow, and he said to me, 'You're going to take charge of my ummah's affairs, and when that time comes, do not spill the blood of the people.
'" Fainna ismaka fin naasi Umar, wasmuka indhAllahi jaabir "For your name among the people is Umar, but your name with Allah is Jaabir, which means one who mends together and brings comfort. And SubhanAllah as far as human names are concerned, being jaabir, which is one who brings comfort as a leader is the opposite of being a jabbar, which is a tyrant. But think about the implications of this dream for us.
Umar was already named Umar after his grandfather in hopes that he would be like him, and he was, but then Allah puts him in a situation to where he could unlock another name. And sometimes, Allah will put you in a place to where you can unlock a new level or a new name for yourself as well, but you have to earn it. As for the name your parents gave you, it's only as good or bad as what you actually do with it.
How many Muhammads in the world today act like the complete opposite of the man they were named after SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam? You could be named Abdullah, the slave of Allah, but actually be known as what the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said, Abdul-dirham or Abdul-dinar, the slave of wealth. There was once a tyrant who wreaked havoc on Medina in the past, and his name was Muslim ibn Uqba, but you know the people actually called him Mujrim instead of Muslim, which means criminal.
Abu al-Hakm, the father of wisdom, was the original name of the man who became known by his rejection as Abu Jahl, the father of ignorance instead. On the other hand, you have Abu Bakr As Siddeeq radiAllhu ta'ala anhu who earned the title As-Siddeeq, the Man of Truth, because of Islam. But you have to put yourself in the school of sidq, the school of truthfulness, in order to earn that name yourself.
So, the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said, "A person continues to manifest truth Ya taharas sidq until he's written with Allah as a siddeeq. " Think how long you work on Earth to earn a PhD or an MD, or some sort of other title. It takes time and effort to earn a name or title in the heavens as well.
And how beautiful to even have your name mentioned so frequently with praise in the heavens. And that's why the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said, "Mention Allah often. " "Do dhikr often.
" He said, "Verily, among what you remember Allah by is His tasbeeh, His glorification, His tahleel, the declaration of His Oneness, and His tahmeed, which is praise. " And those athkar then go and circle around the throne, buzzing like bees with the mention of the one who said them. Would one of you not like to constantly be remembered this way?
You see, the more good you do, the more mention you get by Allah with all of His perfect, beautiful names calling you by your most beautiful names. Allah says 'Fadhkuruni `Adhkurkum'. "Remember Me and I will remember you.
" And if you make mention of Him to yourself, He makes mention of you to Himself. And if you make mention of Him in a gathering, He makes mention of you in a greater gathering. And if Allah mentions your name with praise there, it really doesn't matter how much your haters mention your name with disdain here.
No matter how much they called him mudham'am, he was always Muhammad Sallallhu Alaihi Wasallam. Always praised, no matter what. And just like there's envy on Earth, there's envy in the heavens as well.
Iblis became jealous of Ayyub Alayhi Salaam. Why? Because his name kept getting mentioned in the heavens because of how righteous he was on Earth.
But that doesn't always have to be a prophet or someone well known. Kam min mashhur fi al'ard wamajhul fi asamaa' wa kam min majhul fi al'ard maroof fi asamaa? "How many famous people on Earth are nobodies in the heavens.
And how many unknown people on Earth are celebrities in the heavens? " But what if you're not spoken about here? What if you're a, quote, unquote, nobody?
Know that it doesn't matter who knows you here if you're known there. As Umar radiAllhu anhu said to a man who returned from a battle and started to list the names of the casualties, the man says, "After all these well-known names, and there are a bunch of people that Ameer al-Mu'mineen doesn't know. " And Umar radiAllhu anhu wept and he said, "And what does it matter if Ameer al-Mu'mineen doesn't know them so long as Allah knows them?
" So, what's your name in the heavens? And how much are you spoken about right now in that world? What if your name is Farooq, the one who distinguishes between truth and falsehood, because you're ushering in truth in an age of propaganda?
What if your name is Adil, a man of justice, because you're striving for justice in a world of oppression? Or what if they call you Tahira, which means pure, because you refuse to be stained by the sins of indecency and oppression. What did the headlines about you read in the Barzakh?
It's not impossible to find out. Look at every good and evil quality in the Qur'an and ask yourself which one describes you best. Okay, but beyond our own introspection, when will we know what our name and reputation is over there?
Well, first, you find out as you live. It was said to the Prophet Sallallhu Alaihi Wasallam, "What do you think of a man who does good deeds and people praise him for those good deeds? " He said Sallallhu Alaihi Wasallam, Tilka ajiloo bushral mu'min "They're early glad tidings for a believer.
" And then your Janazah comes, where the witnesses of the Earth testify to who you were here. If today was the date of your funeral and people were speaking about you, what quality would everyone mention of you that's actually true of you? Because the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, "You are the witnesses of Allah on Earth.
" Antum shohada'ollahi fil ardh Then after your Janazah, your soul gets to hear it for itself. When we die, we will be called by those nicknames based upon what Allah knew of us and informed the heavens about us, and then the witnesses of the heavens, being the angels, will speak with those names. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said about the good soul as it ascends, that they will not pass by a group of angels except that the angels would say.
Ma ha'dhaa ar-roohi tayyib? "what is that sweet-smelling soul? And the angel carrying you will say, "So-and-so, the child of so-and-so.
" And they will call you by ahabil'asmaai' ilayk, the most beloved of nicknames to you. On the flip side, if it's evil, the Prophet Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said that they will say, "What is that filthy scent? " And the angel will say, "So-and-so, the child of so-and-so.
" And they will call it by all of the worst nicknames. So, who are you really? When you were born, you had a spiritual birth certificate.
And instead of male or female, it said you would be sa'eed or shaqi, blessed or wretched. And now, you have a spiritual death certificate, and it says tayyibah or khabeethah, pure or filthy, based upon all that your soul accumulated during its time on Earth. And that's the name that matters most at that moment, not the name on your tombstone, but the reservation under your name on the other side of that stone.
But before your soul fully enters your grave, is there a way to get a preview into what that reservation holds for you on the other side? La'alleee a'malu saalihan feemaa tarakt; kallaa innahaa kalimatun huwa qaaa'iluhaa wa minw waraaa'ihim barzakhun ilaa Yawmi yub'asoon (Quran 23:100) Closed captioning provided by MUHSEN (www. muhsen.
