Glad Tidings to Those Who Give | Ml Usman Akhtar | SirahConference2026

We begin in the name of Allah the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, our Lord, our Creator, our Sustainer, our Nourisher. And we bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. There's a very beautiful du'a in the collection of Imam Tirmidhi's book of hadith in which he mentions a du'a of Dawud a.s. In this du'a, Dawud a.s. of course a prophet of Allah, he asks Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for his love. اللهم إني أسألك حبك O Allah, I ask you for your love. But then Dawood a.s. continues and asks, وَحُبَّ مَن يُحِبُّكُ And O Allah, I ask you for the love of those people who love you. And then he continues and asks, وَالْعَمَلَ الَّذِي يُبَلِّغُنِي حُبَّكَ And O Allah, I ask you for the love of those actions or the tawfiq for those actions that will bring us closer to your love. Commentators write on this hadith very beautiful thoughts on this dua of Dawud a.s. That primarily the thing that Dawud a.s. is asking for is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's love. And there's almost a sense of desperation. That, O Allah, I'm asking You for Your love. And if for whatever chance I may be deprived of that, at least give me the love of those that love You. Because eventually, by being in the love of those who love You, they will also carry me to Your love. So the maqsad and the main objective is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's love. For if we have Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's love, then all of our issues, all of the problems that we are going through would be solved. A person thinks about my deficiency in giving, my deficiency in tawakkul, my deficiency in sabr, my deficiency in ikhlas. All of that resolved through the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Kind of like the very famous story of the king who had a very close relationship young man that would be with him all the time. And he was in the internal meetings and he was always with him. So the other senior ministers and viziers became very jealous of this young man. Why is he always with the king? And so the king then heard of this, heard of the murmurs, the whispers, the jealousy of the other ministers and the other viziers who were a bit senior to him. And he wanted to settle it once and for all. So he called all of them. And he said, today I'm in a good mood and something great has happened. In any case, I want to share this happiness with you. So I will give you all, all the ministers, whatever you ask for. And so all of the ministers, they asked for certain things. They made requests, whether it's wealth or land or whatever it may be, more power. And the king granted everyone what they wanted. And eventually he got to the one young person who was always in his company and asked him in front of everyone, what is it that you want so I may grant it? And the young person then responded and said, O king, I do not have any other wish besides you. All I want is you, O king. Because if I have you, then I have everything." And so then the ministers and the rest of the people that were jealous understood that the loyalty and devotion that that young man had, had gained him the trust and love of the king. In the same way, if we have Allah subhanahu wa