Title of the Sermon: The Law of Attraction: A Superstition of the Weak
Elements of the Sermon:
1. The Reality of the Law of Attraction
2. Belief in Predestination: Faith and Strength
3. The Two Types of Causes
4. The Contradiction of the Law of Attraction with Correct Belief
5. Seek Help from Allah and Do Not Despair
All praise be to Allah, who created and fashioned, who ordained and guided. To Him belongs the creation and the command; He rules alone, and none can alter His judgment. He is the Mighty, the Wise. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah exalt and send peace to him, his family, and his companions in abundance.
To proceed:
Fear Allah, O servants of Allah, as He should be feared, and be conscious of Him in private and public:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
"O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims" (Al-Imran: 102).
O servants of Allah:
Allah said,
فَأَعِينُونِي بِقُوَّةٍ
"So help me with strength" (Al-Kahf: 95).
Thus spoke Dhul-Qarnayn, the Muslim king whom Allah empowered on earth and granted knowledge and strength to conquer the world and spread the religion of Allah to the people. During his journey and struggle, he reached a people afflicted by the corruption of Gog and Magog. They asked him to build a barrier between them and these corruptors, offering him goods and money.
But Dhul-Qarnayn, by the grace of his Lord, refused their wealth but asked for their assistance, saying:
مَا مَكَّنِّي فِيهِ رَبِّي خَيْرٌ فَأَعِينُونِي بِقُوَّةٍ أَجْعَلْ بَيْنَكُمْ وَبَيْنَهُمْ رَدْمًا * آتُونِي زُبَرَ الْحَدِيدِ حَتَّى إِذَا سَاوَى بَيْنَ الصَّدَفَيْنِ قَالَ انْفُخُوا حَتَّى إِذَا جَعَلَهُ نَارًا قَالَ آتُونِي أُفْرِغْ عَلَيْهِ قِطْرًا * فَمَا اسْطَاعُوا أَنْ يَظْهَرُوهُ وَمَا اسْتَطَاعُوا لَهُ نَقْبًا
"That in which my Lord has established me is better [than what you offer], but assist me with strength; I will make between you and them a dam. Bring me sheets of iron" (Al-Kahf: 95-96).
Thus, knowledge and strength, iron and fire, and molten copper were combined to build the dam with the help of the Almighty.
O servants of Allah:
Allah created the means for us to use them as a way to achieve our goals, along with reliance on Him. The wise person is the one who takes the means and seeks their benefits, without relying on illusions and corrupt imaginations. There is nothing worse than the weakness and frailty caused by superstition.
Man is naturally inclined to love the world, and the earth has been adorned for him with its desires, but nothing fills his insides except dust. Man is created weak, but his hopes are endless, and his desires are never-ending. Some people strive to achieve what they want by any means, whether right or wrong, lawful or unlawful. Others, unable to reach their goals, cling to superstition, escaping from reality and holding onto a mirage.
In our time, some superstitious beliefs of pagans from the East have been transferred to the lands of the Muslims. One of the most dangerous of these is what is called the Law of Attraction and Energy Vibrations.
What is this superstition?
The superstition claims that there is immense energy in man, and that by merely concentrating his thoughts on something he desires, and acting in light of this thought, he will attract that thing to him with this latent energy. The claim is that man is capable of creating his fate and bringing about his wishes with his spiritual energy.
The corrupters of beliefs, the poisoners of minds, and the thieves of wealth have embraced these superstitions and brought them to the gullible, who have failed to achieve what they want, raising slogans such as "Create your destiny" and "Attract what you love." Weak-minded and weak-hearted people have flocked to them in droves.
This poor person seeks wealth, that one has lost a husband or lover and wants to bring back his love, another is sick and has despaired of healing, and another chases after status and fame hoping for false glory. They cling to illusion and mirage, selling them ruin and destruction.
O servants of Allah:
If these lies and superstitions have deceived the worshippers of Buddha and the atheists of the East, how could they deceive those who worship Allah, the Most Generous, and who have received monotheism from the hand of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?
The believer believes that Allah alone is the Creator of everything; He manages the affairs, whatever He wills happens, and what He does not will does not happen. He rules alone, and none can alter His judgment. The entire earth will be in His grip on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens will be folded in His right hand. To Him belongs all dominion, might, majesty, and greatness. Allah the Exalted says:
قُلْ مَنْ يَرْزُقُكُمْ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ أَمَّنْ يَمْلِكُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَمَنْ يُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَيُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتَ مِنَ الْحَيِّ وَمَنْ يُدَبِّرُ الْأَمْرَ فَسَيَقُولُونَ اللَّهُ فَقُلْ أَفَلَا تَتَّقُونَ
"Say, 'Who provides for you from the heaven and the earth? Or who owns hearing and sight? And who brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living, and who arranges [every] matter?' They will say, 'Allah,' so say, 'Then will you not fear Him?'" (Yunus: 31).
And the Almighty says:
وَمَا تَشَاءُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ
"And you do not will except that Allah wills - Lord of the worlds" (At-Takwir: 29).
And He says:
وَاللَّهُ يَحْكُمُ لَا مُعَقِّبَ لِحُكْمِهِ
"And Allah judges; there is no adjuster of His judgment" (Ar-Ra'd: 41).
And He, the Exalted, says:
أَلَا لَهُ الْخَلْقُ وَالْأَمْرُ تَبَارَكَ اللَّهُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ
"Unquestionably, His is the creation and the command; blessed is Allah, Lord of the worlds" (Al-A'raf: 54).
Everything in the universe is by the decree of Allah; by His knowledge and will, He wrote it, created it, decreed it, and determined it. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Allah wrote the decrees of creation fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth" (Muslim).
He ﷺ also said: "Indeed, Allah is the Creator of every craftsman and his craft" (Al-Hakim).
The life of a believer is characterized by the supplication of the Prophet ﷺ, which dispels worries and sorrows: "O Allah, I am Your servant, the son of Your servant, the son of Your maidservant. My forelock is in Your hand; Your command over me is forever executed and Your decree over me is just" (Ahmad).
This is an acknowledgment of servitude to Allah alone, who holds the forelocks of His creation in His hand. His judgment prevails among them between His justice and mercy.
Allah has connected things with their causes. He made water a cause for the growth of plants, marriage a cause for children, poison a cause for death, medicine a cause for healing, and supplication a cause for the good of this world and the hereafter.
The causes that Allah has linked to the occurrence of events are of two types:
1. Legal causes: These are causes established by revelation - from the Qur'an and authentic Sunnah - as reasons for events, such as Zamzam water for healing.
2. Natural causes: These are causes established by sensory perception and experience among rational people as effective causes, such as the manufactured medicines discovered by doctors.
In both cases, believers believe that all of these are merely causes and that Allah is the Creator and Originator of the action if He wills. Thus, the cause may be used, but Allah may not decree the occurrence of the event for a wisdom He knows.
For example, magic is an effective cause and they can separate a man from his wife by it, but it does not go beyond Allah’s saying:
وَمَا هُمْ بِضَارِّينَ بِهِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ
"But they do not harm anyone through it except by permission of Allah" (Al-Baqarah: 102).
Here, our Prophet ﷺ advises Abdullah ibn Abbas, and the nation after him, saying: "When you ask, ask Allah; and when you seek help, seek help from Allah. And know that if the nation were to gather to benefit you with something, they would not benefit you except with what Allah has written for you. And if they were to gather to harm you with something, they would not harm you except with what Allah has written against you. The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried" (At-Tirmidhi).
As for believing that something is a cause for events and changes in conditions, without any evidence from Sharia or sensory perception and reason among the rational, such as the claim of the proponents of this corrupt philosophy that thinking about something attracts it and makes it happen, this is shirk, ignorance, and superstition.
The devil has long played with the minds of the ignorant, deceiving them into believing that hanging amulets or beads of stones might bring them lovers, luck, and good fate. Their religion was lost and their worldly affairs were ruined.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Incantations, amulets, and love spells are shirk" (Abu Dawood).
These unknown incantations, charms, and talismans that were hung to attract love and fortune, the Prophet ﷺ made them shirk, and their end is to be left to misguidance. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever hangs something, he will be entrusted to it" (At-Tirmidhi).
The same applies to the superstition of the Law of Attraction; it is nothing but shirk and superstition, ruin and destruction, and clinging to a mirage. One is entrusted to it, and when he comes to it, he finds it to be nothing and finds Allah with him, who will pay him in full. And Allah is swift in account.
May Allah bless me and you with the Great Qur'an, and benefit us with what is in it of the verses and wise remembrance. I ask Allah for forgiveness for me and you; indeed, He is the Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.
The Second Sermon
All praise is due to Allah, and may Allah exalt and send peace to the messenger of Allah, his family, his companions, and those who follow him. To proceed:
Servants of Allah:
The believer does not surrender to superstitions, but seeks what benefits him in this world and the Hereafter, then acts by Allah and for Allah, relying on Him, seeking refuge in Allah from incapacity and laziness, having a good opinion of his Lord and Master, hoping for His grace and goodness. If Allah helps him achieve a benefit, he praises his Lord and attributes the favor to Him, and if He withholds what he desires, he is content with His decree, believes in His destiny, and knows that Allah did not withhold it out of stinginess but out of mercy and kindness.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, while there is good in both. Be keen on what benefits you, seek help from Allah, and do not feel helpless. If something befalls you, do not say, 'If only I had done such and such,' but say, 'Allah has decreed and whatever He wills, He does,' for 'if' opens the door to the deeds of Satan" (Muslim).
The believer seeks guidance from his Lord before acting, disavowing his own power and strength, saying as our Prophet ﷺ taught us, "O Allah, I seek Your guidance by Your knowledge and I seek Your power by Your power, and I ask You of Your great bounty. For You are capable and I am not, You know and I do not, and You are the Knower of the unseen" (Bukhari).
Brothers in Islam:
Our religion is a religion of seriousness and work, not a religion of superstition and laziness. Our Prophet ﷺ commanded us to plant the small date palm, and upon Allah is the fruit and the result.
The Prophet ﷺ said, "If the Hour is about to be established and one of you has a sapling in his hand, let him plant it" (Ahmad).
O Allah, help us and do not help against us, support us and do not support against us.
O Allah, we seek refuge in You from incapacity and laziness, and make every decree You have made for us good.
O Allah, keep us steadfast on monotheism and the Sunnah, and protect us from the misleading trials and the whispers of Satan.
O Allah, deal with the enemies of Islam from among the Jews, Christians, and hypocrites, O Allah, thwart their plots, and protect us from their evil.
O Allah, guide our leader to what You love and are pleased with, and take hold of his forelock towards piety and righteousness.
Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.
