Yahya Rhodus – Filling Our Hearts with Light
AI: Summary ©
The importance of having the heart filled with light to achieve spiritual well-being is emphasized in Islam. Different types of darkness are discussed, including the need for guidance and physical presence in order to achieve success in worship. Consciousness of the Prophet's words and seeking forgiveness from the Lord are also emphasized. The importance of strong spiritual connections to one's Lord is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
As Salaamu Alaa Sayyidina Muhammadin Ashrafil Anbiyaa Yurimil
Sareen Wa Alaa Alihi Tayyibin Wa Tahirin Wa
Sahabatiil Akrameen Wa Tabi'ina Naum Bi Ihsan
Ila Yaumi Deen Wa Alayna Ma'umu Fihim
Bi Rahmatika Ya Arhamil Rahimeen Alhamdulillah, all praises
be to our Lord Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
for the blessing of the light of this
Deen and the light of Sayyidina Muhammad Sallallahu
Alayhi Wa Alihi Wa Sahbihi Wa Sallam and
nothing is better and more pleasurable for the
human being than to have the heart filled
with light.
And there are many things that transpire when
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala blesses a heart
to be filled with light.
Not only does it then illuminate from within
the human being and illuminate that out in
all of the other limbs and thus everything
is that we say and do with any
of those limbs if the heart is filled
with light but also there is an impact
that this has upon people that are around
us.
And from the blessing of our Prophet Muhammad
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam who was the greatest manifestation
of the mercy of Allah and his blessing,
there are so many different ways that we
have to be able to bring light into
our lives and to bring light into our
hearts and then to be conduits of this
blessed light to those that are around us.
And in fact this is what our Lord
Jalla Jalaluhu says is one of the fundamental
duties of his blessed Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
in his book.
In the very beginning of Surah Ibrahim after
Alif Lam Ra Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says, Kitab Anzalnaahu Ilayk This is a book
that we have sent down to you.
We have revealed to you, O Prophet, and
then as a result of receiving this book,
what then is your duty?
Litukhrijal nasa minal zulumati ilal nur In order
that you may take people, lead them out
of darkness and into light.
And this is not happening by you and
of yourself Bi'ithni Rabbihim By the permission
and leave of their Lord Ila Siratil Azizil
Hameed To the way of the almighty and
the praiseworthy Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala So Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is saying here that
it is the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that
he is the one, Litukhrijal nasa that is
leading people out of light leading people out
of darkness and leading people into the light
And how is he doing this?
He is doing this through his blessed way
He is the one that taught us how
to do everything that it is that we
do from purifying ourselves to prayer to fasting,
to giving zakat and all of the other
forms of worship to all of the diverse
ways that you and I interact with other
individuals and have proper dealings dealings that are
rooted in ihsan how it is that we
need to be in relation to our hearts
and all of the things that need to
be removed in gathering after gathering form of
worship after form of worship act of goodness
after act of goodness every single one of
the aforementioned has a strong impact upon the
heart what we see happening is that that
darkness is then drained out of the heart
and covered with blessed light from him Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala and that light is what
enables us to feel close that light is
what enables us to experience the beauty of
what human beings have been made to experience
but this has come from the blessed Prophet
Muhammad ﷺ he is the one that Allah
Ta'ala is ascribing this action to in
his book even though the reality is from
him and we see this in his book
we see also in relation to guidance on
one hand Allah Ta'ala tells him that
you do not guide the one that you
do not guide those whom you will but
then Allah Ta'ala says in another verse
indeed that you guide to his path and
so that we know the reality is everything
is from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala but
our Prophet ﷺ is the greatest means for
this so he is the one ﷺ that
is taking us out of darkness and leading
us into the light by the permission of
Allah Ta'ala i.e. by his Tawfiq
by his enabling grace, by his Hidayah and
by his guidance to Allah Ta'ala and
what is our Prophet taking us to?
to the Sirat, to the way and this
is not just any way this is a
way that has a destination that is not
a physical place but rather that destination is
for the heart to come to know Allah
Ta'ala but it is a Sirat, it
is a path and that we know that
guidance has a beginning and that guidance ends
in the heart being close to Allah Ta
'ala because it is a path of the
Aziz the Mighty Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and
the Hameed the one who is deserving of
being praised Tabarakahu Wa Ta'ala, the Praiseworthy
and so this leads to the Divine Presence
our Prophet ﷺ when you follow his way
it will take you to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala but then if we look at
what the scholars have said about this all
of the different manifestations of this and there
are many they say our Prophet ﷺ has
taken his ummah from many different types of
darkness because in reality although we translated the
word in the singular it actually is in
the plural there are many different types of
darkness and the light is one and the
first is from the dhulmat al-kufr from
the darkness of disbelief and everything that goes
along with that the constriction in the heart
of not believing properly of not having true
and correct belief in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta
'ala the Prophet takes people out of this
darkness and brings them to the light of
Iman and then he takes us out of
the darkness ﷺ of Jahal, of ignorance and
he takes us to the light of knowledge
and then after this that he takes us
ﷺ out of the darkness of sin to
the light of repentance and uprightness and then
he ﷺ takes us out of the darkness
of heedlessness to the light of wakefulness and
spiritual struggle and then he ﷺ takes us
out of the darkness of being exclusively focused
on the realm of the sensory the realm
of desires to the light of that zuhud
and detaching from the things of this world
and then he goes on to take us
out of noticing even the means in this
world to completely witnessing the one who is
the cause of all means and then he
takes us out ﷺ of the darkness of
noticing our actions to the light of the
sweetness of worship of seeing everything as being
from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and then
on and on and on until there is
no darkness that remains in the heart whatsoever
and someone is perpetually beholding their Lord with
the eye of the heart this is what
they say is possible and we believe it
and what we hope is is that we've
begun the process is that we are people
that are true followers of the Messenger of
Allah ﷺ so that everything that it is
that we do every time that we do
it that we do it with correct intention
and presence of heart so that it can
do its job this very gathering that we're
in does its job the very prayers the
prayers that we prayed before today the prayer
that we were just about to pray will
do its job all of these blessed acts
of worship will do their job and fulfill
their function if you and I do them
in a way that our Prophet ﷺ taught
us to do them and then we know
that he has inheritors that came after him
that helped fulfill this fundamental duty and some
of these types of darkness and then being
led in the light can be done on
some of the hands of his inheritors but
not all there remains those that are exclusively
for him ﷺ and then there's degrees to
which the great people of this religion reflect
him in their duty in taking people from
these various depths of darkness to the ascending
ranks of light and as was previously mentioned
by Ustadh Amjad there's something very special about
gatherings in which Allah ﷻ is remembered it's
something that stood out in a gathering similar
to the one like we are in that
took place earlier in the day because it
is in the eastern part of the Muslim
world one of the things that our teacher
said in that gathering and what we hope
is from our connection to him and the
hope that this physical space and the hearts
of people in this gathering is that that
connection is also strengthened as that he said
that moments moments he's speaking about his gathering
moments in gatherings like this someone can attain
from the realities of connection to the Prophet
ﷺ that which they would be unable to
attain even were they to worship Allah ﷻ
in the corners of the earth from east
to west he said moments in gatherings like
this now I'm not saying this gathering we're
not making that claim we're talking about his
gathering the hope is that we're connected to
that though is that he said that moments
in a gathering like the one that he
was in and that doesn't just apply to
those who were physically there it also applies
to those that are tuning in and those
whose hearts are present even if they be
on the other side of the world is
that he said that you can attain from
the haqqaiq from the realities of connection to
who?
to the best of creation ﷺ that which
you would not be able to attain even
were you to worship Allah ﷻ in the
corners of the earth from east to the
west and then he posed the question why
is this the case?
because he said that the gaze upon those
gatherings is from above it is from Allah
ﷻ and as a result of that blessed
gaze by means of these select inheritors of
them everybody there is present this is what
they've always said this is why it's so
important to connect to the people of Allah
because when you are doing worship that is
at-ta'arif what that means is you
are through that worship trying to become trying
to know your lord as a result of
that worship you hope that Allah ﷻ will
give you a greater knowledge of him but
when you are in the presence of the
righteous of these select individuals that Allah ﷻ
through them distributes his bounty Allah ﷻ is
making himself known to you and there is
a huge difference between someone trying to become
known to Allah and to know him which
is a great thing and between Allah ﷻ
making himself known to you this is why
we must have a connection to the great
people of Allah why we must have a
connection to the awliya of Allah and there's
something that happens when we recognize who the
best of creation is just in that recognition
knowing who he is knowing how beloved he
is to Allah ﷻ knowing his rank with
Allah knowing his noble character knowing the greatness
of his religion just knowing that in and
of itself opens up internal channels that are
hidden to the physical eye for us to
benefit in immense ways for the heart to
be able to receive an immense amount of
light an immense amount of mercy and to
be able to receive the bounty of our
Lord ﷻ just in knowing that and this
is why people that are focused on always
being practical and pragmatic not recognizing that talking
about the best of creation pointing to these
meanings like the ones we just heard from
Ustadh Amjad this opens up the heart to
be able to receive just acknowledging how beloved
he is to Allah acknowledging that he is
the best of creation and that no one
was singled out with great ranks of closest
to Allah like him ﷺ just that in
and of itself opens up the heart wherever
someone might be on any part of the
earth in whatever time in which they live
and think about that how Allah will honor
a heart coming 1400 plus years after his
time ﷺ in the hinterlands of the wild
wild west where people are coming together from
different backgrounds and ethnicities and different tribes and
families and from different backgrounds coming together to
worship him ﷺ by remembering him and seeking
his forgiveness and by sending salawats upon his
Prophet ﷺ how could this not be great
with Allah how could Allah not shower mercy
upon these hearts that come together and how
could he not fill their hearts with light
subaraka wa ta'ala when this happens and
this is the hope is that when Allah
ta'ala fills your heart with love that
of him first and foremost subhana wa ta
'ala and then for his sake no one
is more deserving of our love as we
heard in the poem not any of our
parents or children or any other soul than
the best of creation ﷺ and then we
love those that are close to him we
love the scholars and we love the pious
and we love his family and we love
the companions and we love all of those
people that he loves ﷺ and hopes that
you and I can attain a divine gaze
from Allah subhana wa ta'ala Allah ya
Allah bi nazra lil ayn al rahima tu
dawi kulli ma bi min amradin saqima and
inshaAllah in gatherings like this is that our
portion will be great and that we'll attain
a close connection to the Prophet ﷺ that
which we'll not be able to attain our
own and may Allah fill our hearts with
the love of him and the love of
those whom he loves especially the Prophet Muhammad
ﷺ and his family and the companions and
all of the righteous of his ummah ya
arhama rahmeen bless us to be with them
in this world and when we die and
in the hereafter and eternally in the highest
levels of paradise ya arhama rahmeen wa sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa
sahbihil salam walhamdulillahi rabbil alameen