AbdelRahman Murphy – Thirty & Up #23 Treasury Of Imam Al-Ghazāli
AI: Summary ©
The importance of affirmations and affirmations in Islam is highlighted, as it is a unique and forgiving language. The success of the coronavirus and the President's teachings are also highlighted, with affirmations and affirmations emphasizing the importance of understanding who is in control and what is in control. The negative impact of negative]] is also highlighted.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu alaykum.
I didn't just wake up.
I just have a cold.
The Umrah, the Umrah gift.
Masha'Allah.
Bismillah, bismillah walhamdulillah, wa salatu wa salam wa
a'la rasulullah, wa a'la alihi wa
ashabihi ajma'een.
As-salamu alaykum.
Welcome home everybody.
It's good to see you, alhamdulillah.
We're good, we're good.
It should be good, right?
You got it?
Jazakumullahu khair.
So alhamdulillah, welcome back.
I know it's been a couple weeks.
I just got back from Umrah yesterday.
So we had our group there, the Qalam
Winter Group, which we did, which we've been
doing now for many, many years, alhamdulillah.
And it was amazing, wonderful trip.
If you've ever been for Umrah, then you
probably know what I'm talking about.
If you've never gone, then now is a
good time to like make your intentions, start
kind of thinking about planning that, inshallah.
Whether you come with us, which is always
a pleasure, or if you go just solo,
I really, really recommend that everybody, everybody take
the journey, especially, especially in this age demographic,
I think it's really important for everybody to
kind of, you know, focus on what you
can do to kind of fill your cup
and what you can do to kind of
get yourself rejuvenated in a world that's constantly
taking from you, right?
Whether it's your work or personal, social, you
know, family, friend life, being able to go
to Umrah is something that just allows you
a chance to recharge in a very real
way.
And so if you ever find a chance
to go, don't think about it, just go.
And Allah Ta'ala will open the way,
inshallah, for you.
He will make everything easy, inshallah, inshallah.
Okay, let's go ahead and start with tonight.
So tonight's session, number 23, Dr. Mustafa Abu
Sway, he addresses it or he titles it
with the title that's a little bit more
academic.
It's a little bit like more technical, but
we're going to talk about it from a
more spiritual lens.
Okay, this conversation, this is something that a
lot of times people struggle with, and not
just Muslims, this is something that a lot
of people who adhere to religion struggle with,
because they have difficulty negotiating to what they
believe to be conflicting ideas.
Okay, so the first idea that we believe
is that God, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
is all knowledgeable.
He is all wise, that he is loving,
that he is generous and merciful.
We believe in all of these descriptions of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Okay, so if you look at his names
and attributes, you see these things.
At the same time, we believe that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is all powerful, that
he's in control, that he does deliver consequences,
that he does test and try people.
And the meeting of these two beliefs can
lead to a sort of like an oil
and water effect, right?
Which is, it's difficult for me to understand
how Allah, who is all wise and all
knowledgeable and all good, is giving me stuff
in my life that is not good.
It's like difficult for me to understand that.
Or he's testing me, or he's putting this
health issue, or this personal trial, or this
financial difficulty in my life, but he's supposed
to be the one that's all loving as
well.
And so that, that little fracture, mentally, it
causes like spiritual, you know, reverberations.
And this becomes like a difficult thing for
people to understand.
And subhanAllah, this has actually, this point has
led to like a deep conversation across every
religion regarding people from the philosophical background to
try to explain and to try to make
sense of what is ultimately a very difficult
conversation, okay?
So Imam Ghazali is no, you know, he's
not a stranger to tough conversations.
He's not shy.
He likes to kind of jump in and
put himself into this tough conversation because, of
course, he's well, you know, equipped and deserving
of being in those conversations.
And so he writes in one of his
texts, and the text is the Ihya, he
writes in his Ihya about this topic of
what Dr. Mustafa calls, you know, occasionalism, which
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the cause,
and is the one who is aware of
everything in your life, okay?
That would be the definition or the sort
of like extended title.
Let's go ahead and read what he writes.
He says, it will be unveiled to you,
right?
It will become known to you that there
is no one who allows for something to
happen except for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
It will become aware to you that there
is no one that allows for something to
happen except for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
and that everything that exists, whether that thing
is created, like a being like you or
I, whether that thing is sustenance, right, that
we receive from the heavens, our rizq, whether
that thing is life or death itself, wealth
or poverty, and everything else that can be
identified, ultimately, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
the one who made it and who created
it.
Okay, so he's just, you know, nothing but
facts here, right?
He's just putting out, mashallah, this beautiful statement.
Now, this statement can lead to like a
couple different responses.
So then he continues, and he wants to
give a little bit more direction.
But the two responses that we can feel
here is we can feel most people probably
start to have like this interesting question mark,
like, okay, this sounds good.
But then what about, for example, like, this
sickness, this cold that I have?
What about this issue?
What about this?
What about Gaza?
Like, what about the really tough stuff?
How do we negotiate that Allah is the
one who is the source of all of
this?
Okay.
And then he says, when this is unveiled
to you, you will not look to anyone
other than him.
It's a really interesting, it's a really interesting
effect.
When you are, when you realize that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one who
is in control, you will not look to
anyone other than Allah for the solution, or
in general, okay?
Rather, your fear will be of him only,
your hope will be in him only, your
trust and reliance will be in him only.
For he is the one who is unique.
And everyone else is the recipient from him.
Everyone else is subjected to his will.
And not a single person has true independence
to move one atom in the domains of
the heaven and the earth except by his
permission.
Okay, so this passage is a passage that
is meant to evoke a feeling of comfort
and tranquility.
Notice what he says, right?
Instead of the typical response that we have,
which is confusion or questioning, what he actually
says is this.
He says that, subhanallah, when you come to
realize that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
in control, you start to then defer the
illusion of control that you think you have
back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Right?
Notice, by the way, that he does a
few things.
By saying this, he does a few things.
Number one is that he reminds you to
know and understand kind of like your own
capability and capacity, right?
A lot of times the reason why we
as human beings become frustrated is not because
we're frustrated with Allah necessarily, of course, but
because we're frustrated with our own limitation, right?
We get upset if somebody gets hurt, for
example, like emotionally hurt, like heartbroken, okay?
It's okay, guys.
It's almost New Year's, inshallah.
New year, new you, right?
Okay, so somebody gets hurt, emotionally hurt, heartbroken,
devastated.
What happens?
You become upset and we frame it as
being upset with the other person, but then
actually we're upset that we can't get over
the other person.
That's actually what we're upset about because we've
all been upset with things and gotten over
it, right?
Let's say you applied for something, a program,
or a job, or proposal for marriage, and
it didn't go through.
And there have been times where you're upset,
and there have been times where you're like,
it's okay.
What's the difference?
The rejection was present in both situations, but
the difference is what?
You were just simply able to say, okay,
it's not that serious, right?
And you were able to process through it.
So the frustration that we feel is actually
in our own limitation, our own incapacity, and
we develop that delusion by thinking that, yeah,
we are in control.
I'm the one who can get whatever I
want.
You see this no more frequently than in
the customer service lines at airports, right, when
flights get canceled.
And every single person, you know, and this
happens.
I fly a lot, so a lot of
my stories have to do with airports, if
you're wondering.
I'm sitting in a line in the airport,
and well, I used to.
I don't do that anymore.
Now I just tweet, because that blue check
helps.
But you know, you're sitting in line at
the airport, and every person, every person is
extremely angry and frustrated because of something, but
they're directing all of that anger towards the
wrong thing.
Like that person, that individual, right, that young
customer service rep who's just sitting there taking
all of this heat, has actually nothing to
do with the reason why your plane didn't
take off.
They're not the mechanic or the pilot.
They just checked in.
They also hate the fact that your plane
didn't take off.
But the yelling and the screaming and the
none of that is actually the reason you're
upset.
But this person, unfortunately, miskeen now is getting
the brunt of it, right, taking the load.
So a lot of, subhanAllah, our frustration, our
anger, our own problems, our disappointment, comes from
a misunderstanding about what is actually the cause.
And this is why when a person becomes
faithful and believing in Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala,
one of the steps that they have to
take is they have to develop a sincere
understanding, a real belief that Allah subhanahu wa'ta
'ala is the cause of everything.
And what that does for you is it
always puts your heart in a state of
contentment.
It always puts you in a state of
contentment.
It doesn't mean that you necessarily like what's
happening.
Right?
You understand?
One of my teachers said something really powerful.
You know, sometimes really smart people, they can
say things so simply.
And you're like, Wow, why didn't I think
of that?
Well, it's because you're not smart.
I'm not smart.
That's why I sat there.
And I was like, Why didn't I think
of that?
And I'm like, Oh, it's because that's why
he's the teacher.
I'm the student.
He said, it's entirely possible for a person
to dislike a situation that they're in.
But to still love the one who put
them in the situation.
And I think of my own kids.
You know, when you're disciplining a child when
you're giving a child, you know, a timeout
or whatever, like, obviously, they don't like that.
You know, every night when I asked my
kids, like, what should we have for dinner?
You know, it's always burgers.
You know, burgers, this pizza, right?
And the crazy thing is, like, my kids
actually, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, are not picky eaters.
You know, my son will eat like carrots
and things like that.
He's down with the vegetables.
My daughter's, subhanAllah, she's like a bird.
She eats fruits, nuts.
That's all she wants.
She doesn't have anything like substance.
She ate three boiled eggs today and my
wife and I were like in tears, giving
sadaqa to Allah.
Like, that's the most substantive thing that she's
eaten.
So, you know, when I ask my kids,
like, what do you want?
And they always say the same thing.
Of course, when I say, no, we're going
to have this, we're going to have that.
They're like, oh.
But in no way does their frustration with
the menu that I'm giving them translate to
them hating their dad or their mom.
Does that make sense?
Now, if it did, if it did, if
they said, we want burgers.
And I said, no, we're going to have
pasta.
And they said, we hate you.
Then everyone in this room, if you witnessed
that conversation, including myself, would feel like that
was totally uncalled for.
Like, out of place.
You know, some of you even might step
in and say, hey, hey, hey, that's not
right.
Just because you're not having what you want
for dinner and now you hate your mom,
you hate your dad, that's not right.
And you would be correct in your analysis.
It's not right.
But now think of how the human being
responds to Allah.
Allah puts something on the menu of your
life.
And in the response that we, I hate
you.
It doesn't make sense.
Right?
It doesn't make sense.
So Imam Ghazali now is giving like a
more philosophical understanding of this.
Let's go ahead and look at some of
the explanations that Dr. Mustafa, he says, he
says that Ghazali's statement that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala the most high is the real
cause of every single action or every single
phenomenon in the universe is called occasionalism.
This is the philosophical term.
He is the creator and sustainer of the
universe, which he continues to sustain at every
single instant.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one
that maintains and sustains the entirety of the
cosmos every single instant.
Okay.
And I'm going to bring up one thing
in a little bit that I know is
itching, a question that we have, but I'll,
we'll share it in a second.
Okay.
This requires a unique relationship with Allah.
Right?
This requires a unique relationship with Allah.
What did the prophet Isa say?
Very well known hadith.
You may have heard it at a khutbah
or something where the translation is how wondrous
is the life of the believer?
Because this sounds familiar.
How amazing, how amazing is the life and
the occasions of the life of a believer.
And the prophet Isa says, if you look
at the hadith, he says, when something good
happens to them, they're grateful.
And when something bad happens to them, they
are patient.
Thus the prophet said, everything in their life
is good.
The believer, everything is good.
Why?
Because they are either experiencing one side of
two good things.
It's like a coin that's good on both
sides.
They're either grateful or they're patient, which is
actually both good.
But in the middle of that hadith, there's
a really important line that I think oftentimes
we overlook.
Because the hadith obviously is focusing on perspective.
It's focusing on being positive, good relationship with
Allah, you know, being able to take things
as they are.
If it's what you wanted, be grateful.
If it's what you didn't want, be patient.
Okay, good, good message, right?
But in the middle of that hadith, the
prophet Isa, he says, وَلَيْسَ لَهُ إِلَّا Right?
And it's not this way except for the
mu'min, the believer.
Meaning what?
This is something that you really will only
experience as a result of your Muslim-ness.
Like there might be people, if a person's
Islam, their faith is not yet mature or
ripe, they may not understand this.
And there might be people outside of even
the Islamic community, right?
Non-Muslims who might be really, really confused
as to how it could be the case
that you could be positive in a situation
that is, you know, visually nothing but bad.
How could you be patient?
How could you be positive?
I'm reminded of a story of one of
my friends who, you know, he's married, his
wife converted to Islam.
Okay, she converted to Islam, they got married.
And, you know, obviously she's learning as, you
know, many of our convert community, my dad
being one of them, like there's a journey,
it's a process, there's a learning process that
happens.
And so, subhanAllah, my friend was, it's a
really, really powerful story, but basically he was
at the deathbed of his mother and his
mother was passing away.
And, you know, he said, he told me
that basically in this moment he was able
to find like this the strength, you know,
didn't think he would have it.
I don't think anyone in this room thinks
that they'll have it.
But he said like, you know, Allah Ta
'ala gave me this patience, this strength that
I didn't even anticipate having.
And he said that, subhanAllah, my wife actually
looked and noticed and said, you know, I
want it, I want to have that.
I want to have the ability that when
something so devastating, so tragic in my life
happens, I want to have the reliance and
the trust upon Allah that even though I
don't know what's going on or why it's
happening, I know that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala is going to be there for me.
And she was reflecting about what she observed
about a son losing his mother, right, right
in front of his eyes.
She was saying like, wow, this is unique,
this is interesting.
That's exactly what the Prophet peace be upon
him said.
He said part of your mu'min-ness, part
of your believingness is that you are a
person that's able to see past what's happening
in front of you.
You're able to see the one, Allah, who
is actually bestowing or putting it in your
life.
And in that moment, when you look past
the moment in front of you and you
look at Allah, you feel what?
You feel a sense of comfort.
You say, okay, you know what?
I don't actually care what's happening in front
of me because I know that the one
who is bestowing it is Allah and because
of that, I feel comfortable.
I feel comfortable.
So let's go over a couple interesting statements,
okay?
Well, let's finish this inshallah.
He says the theological cornerstone of Islam is
Tawheed, which means believing in the unique oneness
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, taking no
other worthy object of worship that is worthy
except for him and no other individual creation
can share in any of his attributes.
You know, part of the reason, by the
way, why we misunderstand Allah is because we
project like human beings onto him.
So when we think of like Allah's love
and his mercy and his anger and all
of these traits, we're almost like projecting a
human example onto Allah.
So you hear the stories of like forgiveness,
like Allah's forgiveness.
Allah forgave the person who murdered 100 people.
And you think like, how is that possible?
And the reason why you're asking that question
is because you're thinking, what human being could
ever do that?
And the answer is no, none.
None.
But that's what makes Allah unique.
That's what makes Allah different is that Allah's
forgiveness is not like our forgiveness.
You know, we forgive somebody.
And then the next time we see them,
we're like, remember when I forgave you?
You know, Allah doesn't do that.
You know, we are, Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala is so, he's so gracious.
You know, one of the descriptions in the
names of Allah that I love is al
-shakur, right?
The one who is appreciative.
The one who appreciates you.
We don't often say that.
Allah appreciates you.
He's appreciative of your efforts.
No matter what you put forth before Allah,
if it was sincere, if you really tried,
it doesn't matter how imperfect it is.
It, all that matters is that you did
it.
And Allah appreciates that.
Like my daughter today came and drew these
drawings for me.
And I have, my office is filled with
like drawings.
There's like really, really beautiful art that I
have in my office, like calligraphy and all
that.
And then I have like my daughter's art,
you know, and you could tell which one's
which.
But her art's more valuable to me.
It's, it's more, it's priceless.
You know, the stuff that I have that's
beautiful, I paid for it.
But I would never give up my daughter's
art.
You know, if you, if you, every man
has his price.
If you walked into my office, you're like,
I want that.
I'm like, no, you're like a million dollars.
I'm like, take it, right?
But my daughter's art, I wouldn't do it.
I wouldn't do it.
Wallahi, because for me, if she came and
saw that it was gone, it would break
her heart.
The other stuff, like I don't care if
the artist comes, like, oh, you used to
have my piece here.
I'm like, yeah, but now I have a
million dollars, right?
So no offense, but like, you know, we're
not that close.
But my daughter, like, I would not sell
that because her heartbreak would never ever, I
would never be able to attach a dollar
amount to it, right?
Unless we took the million and like we
went on vacation.
I could like break it to her there.
But the point being is, subhanAllah, the effort
is what I appreciate.
It's not the actual technical skill.
Every parent whose kids grow up, you have
a bunch of artifacts and you have a
bunch of examples of really objectively incomplete, deficient,
and downright ugly things that they gave you.
But to you, those things are perfect.
Because the one who did that for you
was your beloved.
Allah Ta'ala loves us.
And so when you pray, when you pray
and your khushu is like up, down, up,
down, everywhere.
You forgot, do I have wudu?
What rakah is it?
What prayer is it?
But you, you really tried.
And then at the end you say, assalamualaikum
warahmatullah, Allah Ta'ala appreciates that.
You know, you don't have a lot of
money to give but you give whatever you
can in charity.
Allah Ta'ala appreciates that.
You can't read the Quran that well, but
you, you do.
You try.
And you get through one or two lines.
It took you 30 minutes, but you got
through them.
Allah appreciates that.
The Prophet ﷺ, he said that the person
who stutters through recitation of Quran, the one
who stutters, gets double the reward of the
one who reads fluidly.
The person who reads fluidly gets reward.
The one who stutters gets double the reward,
gets two rewards.
Why?
Because Allah appreciates the effort, you know.
And so when we think of Allah Ta
'ala, we think of his uniqueness.
There's no one like him.
If you do something for a friend or
an employer or whoever and it's less than
perfect, like they'll point it out.
They'll point it out.
You cook something for somebody.
How is it?
It's good.
Do you have salt?
All right.
I thought you said it was good.
Why are you asking for salt, you know?
Do you have any condiments?
Do you have any sauce?
You only need sauce because you didn't think
it tasted good, right?
That's the whole point.
So even in our moments of appreciation, we
like, we nitpick, right?
There's always feedback.
SubhanAllah.
With Allah Ta'ala, it's literally an open
door of appreciation.
As long as you try.
That's tawheed.
Tawheed is not just about the oneness of
Allah.
Tawheed is what?
Is that Allah is completely unique.
There's nobody like him.
And a lot of misunderstandings about Allah, they
happen because people project human emotions onto Allah.
Allah's anger is like this.
No, no, no.
That's a human form of anger.
Allah's anger is such that if a person
that he was angry with was to repent,
the anger would disappear immediately.
It would turn into mercy.
But humans can't do that.
We can't turn that switch that fast, right?
So he says, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
is different than everything that he created, okay?
There is no representation of him.
This is why we don't do paintings or
statues or any of that stuff.
Because all of this would be a shortcoming.
You know, I know that Christmas just passed.
You know what's crazy, by the way?
I have not been in America for Christmas
for a decade.
Isn't that crazy?
I just realized that yesterday.
I've either been at Umbra.
I was at Umbra for the last 10
years.
And then in 2020, I think we went
somewhere.
I don't know if Mexico.
But I have not been in America for
10 years, maybe even more for Christmas.
So for me, Christmas doesn't even exist anymore.
I don't even think about it, right?
Subhanallah.
So a lot of parents are struggling with
your kids, like, how do I get them
to stop asking for Christmas presents?
Just leave the country.
Just leave, okay?
It's a capitalist celebration anyways.
Also, unfollow Mohamed Salah for one month.
So, okay.
The soccer player.
It's a joke.
So, you know, when we think about, for
example, like, the idea that God has a
son, like, why is it so problematic?
Why is this an issue?
Like, why is Islam so particular about the
fact that God, you know, that He does
not beget, nor was He begotten?
He does not have children, nor was He
born to anybody.
Because this would mean that God is like
us, right?
Having a son, having a child, having a
daughter, it would be an indication that God
is not unique.
And if you take away God's uniqueness, He's
not God anymore, right?
So Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is completely
unique.
Completely, completely unique, okay?
And so when we understand Allah Subhanahu wa
ta'ala's wisdom, we also have to understand
that His wisdom is unique.
His knowledge is unique.
It's perfect.
Our knowledge, at best, at best, our knowledge
is a really good guess.
Like, there's nothing that we really know absolutely
with certainty.
Because everything could change.
Everything could change.
Subhanallah.
It actually happened, you know, flying back from
Jeddah, our initial flight, the flight that we
were originally on, had a one-hour layover.
And normally, I'm like really risky when I'm
flying.
I actually don't mind, like, the quick turnarounds.
But I prefer them to be on the
way there, not on the way back, because
the wrath of my children, if I were
a day late, if I come back a
day late after telling them, and this is
international, I'm in Qatar, so like, if I'm
like, it's like a long, I would be
gone for 36 more hours, basically, right?
And so, subhanallah, we were like talking to
the person and we said, okay, we want
to change our flight.
We just want to go a couple hours
earlier, just give us more time to make
that connection.
And the lady's like, no, no, no, it's
no problem.
No problem.
And she's like pulling out all these statistics.
She's like, we have like a 99.9
% on-time, you know, departure and don't
worry, everyone always makes their thing and da
-da-da and all this.
And I said, yeah, I'm with you, but
just put me on the earlier flight.
And she's like, no, no, no, you really
don't need to worry.
And I'm like, I'm not worried, just put
me on the earlier flight.
And even the person I was traveling with,
he was like, you know, you don't have
to be that worried, man, it's okay.
And I said, no, just trust me.
And wallah al-azim, wallah al-azim, our
flight from Jeddah to Doha was delayed by
40 minutes, 20 minutes, 35 minutes.
We would have missed it.
And he looked at me and I'm like,
you don't have to say anything.
You don't have to say anything.
I still love you just as you are,
right?
But we don't know anything for certainty.
We don't know anything, like we think, but
even our most certain thing is just a
good guess.
It's an educated, good guess, right?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the only
one who knows for certain.
His knowledge is perfect.
So when we understand that, our understanding of
his decisions, his provisions, what he gives, what
he takes, all of that, now we put
it in the context of this perfection.
And we see this in the story of
Ibrahim alayhi salam.
We see this in all the prophets, but
I want to highlight tonight specifically from Ibrahim
alayhi salam.
Ibrahim, and the reason I want to highlight
this is because there's a point where Ibrahim
alayhi salam is, you know, I know it's
popular now for people to have like affirmations,
to like wake up and to say things
in the mirror, or like to like remind
themselves of certain things.
And although we don't do this, we don't
believe that these things have like a spiritual
energy, like some might do, like manifesting or
whatever.
Manifesting is just dua for atheists, so just
make dua.
But what we do believe is in this
thing called dhikr.
So we don't have affirmations we have dhikr,
which is remembrance.
We remind ourselves, okay.
And what are we reminding ourselves of?
The affirmation is talking about you, the dhikr
is talking about Allah.
It's reminding you about Allah ta'ala.
You're affirming, but not about yourself, you're affirming
about Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
So Ibrahim alayhi salam went through a very,
very difficult process.
Like his story, subhanallah, we actually have a
hard work series that we did on it.
His story is incredible.
The amount of things he went through, the
ups, the downs, the challenges.
If you know, if anyone in history had
the right to ask the question like, why
me?
It would be the prophets.
It would be all the prophets.
Their lives were objectively very hard, very hard.
And the hadith says so, that Allah ta
'ala tested the prophets the most.
And so Ibrahim is one of those prophets
that was tested the most.
You know, his father kicked him out.
His father removed him, kicked him out of
his own house, his own city, his own
community.
His father orchestrated and tried to ultimately even,
you know, threatened to kill him because of
his belief in Allah, because of his commitment
to Islam, or you know, to his commitment
to monotheism, right?
And he was, you know, they tried to
execute him in his community.
Subhanallah, he was in a very difficult position,
tested by Allah numerous times, left in the
middle of the desert, left his family, subhanallah,
in the middle of the desert.
You know, it's so crazy because I was
just there.
But I'm thinking to myself like, if Ibrahim
can see what Mecca is now, if Hajar
can see what Mecca is now, you know
what I mean?
What an incredible story.
You know, Allah describes it, Allah ta'ala
says, it was a place that had no
vegetation.
You know what that means?
In Arabic, it means like you look out
and there's not a single speck of green.
But go to Google Maps and zoom in
on like Arabia, on the Middle East, and
look at how much brown there is.
It's just desert, it's just sand, right?
There's no green at all.
And then when you find green, you zoom
in, you're like, wow, I wonder what that
place is like.
So Allah was describing Mecca as completely barren,
not a single blade of grass would even
grow in that place.
And Allah ta'ala, He reveals and He
divinely inspires Prophet Ibrahim to go there and
to leave his family there.
There's no Kaaba, there's nothing.
There's just desert.
And subhanAllah, he goes and he takes his
family, and this is his wife and his
newborn child.
And this is after praying and being given
a child much later than he initially wanted,
right?
Much later than he wanted a child for
a long time.
And then finally, after a long time, Allah
subhanAllah gave him a child through his wife
Hajar alayhi salam.
And now that he's been given his child,
he has to go and leave them in
a place that does not grow a single
thing.
No water, no crops, nothing.
And as he leaves them, subhanAllah, he turns
and his wife calls out, where are you
going?
You know, imagine like he walks, he leaves
them, he turns and he turns around, where
are you going?
Where are you going?
And he doesn't respond.
And the scholars actually, when they talk about
why didn't he respond, they actually have a
couple different beautiful reflections on this.
Number one is they say that he wasn't
responding because like he didn't know the answer
necessarily as to like what was going on
fully.
He was just following the commandments of Allah
subhanAllah step by step.
So he wasn't able to like give the
full picture, which is his own lesson of
what?
Trust is not about knowing exactly all the
details.
Trusting Allah's plan is not about seeing the
whole thing A to Z.
Because then that's not trust.
If you have to see the plan A
to Z, you don't trust actually the planner.
Trust is when you actually don't have to
see the plan.
But you trust the planner to say, okay,
it's fine.
Let's go to eat.
Sure.
Now let's go to eat.
Where are you thinking?
Right?
Hey, you want to come over?
Who's there?
All right.
My question is, who's on the roster?
If that question comes out, there's a lack
of trust.
There's a lack of trust.
Right?
And sometimes a lack of trust is deserved,
right?
Because you picked a bad restaurant last time.
But if you really trusted somebody, Imam Ghazali
one time said, if you trusted your friend,
you know, he or she would put their
hand in your pocket to borrow some money.
They would pull something out.
And you wouldn't count what you had left.
Because you trust that they're going to pay
you back.
You wouldn't have to like see, okay, what
did they take?
You would say, whatever they took, I know
they're going to pay me back.
If I trust that friend, I don't have
to make hesab of what I have in
my pocket now.
I know they're good.
If they took a 20, they'll give me
20.
If they took 100, they'll give me 100
back.
Right?
So trust is about Ibrahim leaving his family.
And in the moment, not even responding because
the plan was not immediately known to him
in its full extent.
The other reason why the scholars say he
didn't respond was because he was, it was,
it was devastating.
It was like heartbreaking, which also gives us
a beautiful kind of dual experience here, which
means you can trust Allah and struggle.
Like it's okay to trust Allah, but to
struggle with the plan, as long as you
don't question it.
But you can feel the weight of not
knowing.
You can absolutely feel the weight of being
concerned.
But the more that you're able to stifle
that, the more that you're able to remind
yourself that I'm in good hands, the stronger
your faith will be.
And so Prophet Ibrahim he's leaving.
And then Hajar, she says like this beautiful
line.
She says, Did Allah tell you to do
this?
The first question was, where are you going?
Where are you going?
Where are you going?
Then she changes her question.
And she says, okay, forget it.
I don't want to know where you're going.
But whatever it is that you're doing, did
Allah tell you to do this?
He responds.
He says, yes.
And then she says, beautiful.
Allah will never ever abandon us.
That was her response.
Look, it's one thing to say that when
you're like sitting in like roots, and you
have like a coffee shop, and you have
like so much air conditioning that it's too
cold.
You know, it's one thing to say that
in the midst of prosperity.
Allah will never abandon us.
You know, it passed the ribeye, you know,
like, it's one thing.
Wallahi, it's one thing to say that it's
a completely different thing to say that in
the middle of what is virtually nowhere.
Like in the middle of this absolute deserted,
you know, place.
And then that's when Ibrahim, he walks far
enough away.
The scholars say that he walked far enough
away to where he couldn't see them, and
they couldn't see him.
And he finally turned around.
And that's when he made that du'a.
That, oh Allah, make this place a place
of worship.
Make this place a place, take care of
my children, my family, right?
And make them amongst those who are pious
in their leadership.
This is where he made that famous du
'a.
But the reason why he didn't make that
du'a in front of them was because,
again, that like emotional, like he could have
broken down, you know, he didn't want, subhanAllah,
he had to remove himself from that.
But Hajar, subhanAllah, her conviction, I mean, that's
what drove that, okay?
So Ibrahim has been through a lot.
He's been through a lot.
And that's a big event.
But he did this even like the small
events.
And there's a lesson from Surah Ash-Shu
'ara that I want to share with you.
And it's what he says, his affirmations, his
dhikr, his reminders of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
It's almost like you have to tell yourself
this every day.
He says, when he's talking about Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, and people are asking him
about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and who
is Allah?
You know, you can give like the mathematical
answer.
Who is Allah?
Allah is one.
He's the creator, the sustainer.
That's all accurate.
But he gives like the emotional answer.
And the reason why the emotional answer is
important is because it's directly connected to your
trust in Allah.
We trust because we're emotionally connected.
And when we trust, our emotions are even
further bonded.
He is the one who created me.
And he is the one who alone guides
me.
Like imagine in the moment of desperation, when
you're wondering about all the details of what's
going on, and what will happen, and how
are you going to resolve this, and da
-da-da-da-da.
Imagine the first thing you'd say to yourself
is what?
He's the one who created me.
Did you create yourself?
Did you have like any part of your
creation?
There are those memes that are so funny
where it's like the baby's sitting there, and
the baby's like, I didn't even ask to
be here.
You know, you had no part in your
creation.
So logically, let's walk through this.
In what world does a person who had
no part in their creation, and your body,
and your mind, and your spirit are like
this incredible divine harmony of orchestra of like
things that work together perfectly that you had
no part in designing.
You had no part in designing, nor do
you really even have a part in sustaining.
And we try to even sabotage this beautiful
body of ours, subhanallah, by doing really, really
dumb things like staying up late, and eating
Taco Bell, and like all this stuff.
We challenge this beautiful construction that Allah has
made of us.
But he's the one who created me.
And so why would I place all of
my trust in myself when I didn't even
make myself?
You don't take your car to your house
when there's a problem.
You take it to the dealership.
Why?
Because y'all made this.
Y'all made it, y'all fix it.
Right?
But then when it comes to Allah, when
there's a problem, we try to put all
the burden on ourselves.
No, take it back to Allah.
The one who made all of us, all
of you, all of us.
So he will guide me.
Guidance here meaning spiritual guidance, but also he
will guide my life.
He'll guide my choices, my decisions.
When I need to know like what is
the best choice, should I do this or
that?
Which direction should I go?
Allah is the one that will guide me.
And I'm not going to put the burden
of this decision solely upon myself.
He is the one who feeds me and
gives me something to drink.
And again, we've given this example before, right?
Any person on earth, you know, subhanAllah dude,
if you go to Instagram and you type
in food in the search bar, there's probably
over a billion responses or a trillion responses
because every person on earth who has a
phone with Instagram has probably posted at least
10 pictures of something that they ate, if
not more, right?
Phone eats first, right guys, right?
So and we've given this example before.
Every human being can appreciate food, but not
everybody can appreciate the giver of food.
Like everyone understands the food.
Everyone can be like, wow, that's delicious.
And a few people can appreciate like the
flavors.
Oh wow, is that truffle?
Oh wow, is that this?
Is that that?
And a few people can appreciate the chef.
Oh yeah, this place, man, this chef, he
knows what he's doing.
She knows what she's doing.
And then a few people are like, this
place is Michelin star.
And then the rest of us are like,
Michelin, like the tires, right?
Like that's about how far we go when
it comes to like knowing Michelin, which by
the way, they're the same company.
And then some people are like, oh yeah,
the ingredients are all locally sourced, right?
And it's just a nail that got somebody
right there.
Oh yeah, the carrots were grown 26 miles
from here, right?
Jeffrey's great, right?
I literally, wallahi, one time, like we opened,
okay.
So I have a friend who has a
coffee shop in Tennessee.
And you know, I was really happy, Mashallah,
we went to the opening and we were
like celebrating with him and this and that.
And then their milk, they have like really
high quality milk.
And it's like in the glass bottles, you
know, like that kind of stuff.
And I remember I was talking, he had
all of his vendors there.
So like the roaster, the coffee roaster, right?
And then he had like the baker, the
bakery.
They opened a bakery too, but like the
lead baker was there.
And then they had the dairy farmer.
And the dairy farmer is like talking and
he's like, yeah, you know, like we have
like this many cows and like, you know,
we really love Julian.
Like Julian's our favorite cow.
And I'm like, what?
And they're like, yeah, you know, like the
milk is like, they were like describing like
flavor notes of milk.
And they were like, the milk has this
note.
And I'm like, dude, get me to all
these, bro.
Like I will, you know, because each gallon
was like $15 or something crazy.
And I'm like, I haven't bought that life,
right?
So I was like, let me go to
Sam's Club and get my, you know, or
Costco.
But subhanAllah, there are people that can appreciate
that level.
But the Muslim is able to transcend all
of that and appreciate Allah.
Allah is the one who feeds me.
And this is like multiple dimensions, right?
Because there's the food, and then there's your
eating of the food.
Both of them are very delicate processes.
Like cooking the food, getting the food, serving
the food, but then eating the food.
And if you're sick, if you're not able
to appreciate it, or if your body struggles
with glucose, right?
Your body has insulin issues, your body has
cholesterol, your body has blood pressure.
There's so much at play.
So imagine now a person, subhanAllah, that's been
sick, that can't eat, that can't enjoy.
And then they're able to, after some level
of shifa or some level, then they have
a first bite.
They say what?
Alhamdulillah.
He's the one who feeds me and gives
me drink.
And when I become sick, he's the one
who gives me cure.
He's the one who cures me.
My mom, she used to, I get migraines
a lot when the temperature changes.
So I'm looking forward to next week.
So my mom used to actually, like, whether
it's like Excedrin or like Tylenol, I'd be
like, and I get really bad migraines.
Like I can't open my eyes, I get
nauseous, whatever.
And so I'd be like, mama, please, please
just like give me some Excedrin.
And she's like, you have to read the
verse.
And if anyone here has had a migraine
before, you know that like if someone even
asked you what your name was, you would
just throw up.
Like you can't function, you can't do anything.
So she's like, you have to read the
verse.
She's asking me to recite verse number 80
of Shurah in the midst of this like
drill in my brain.
I'm like, okay.
Because she, again, this is her way, Egyptian
mother, her way of teaching, reminding, and affirming
that this pill cannot do anything for you
if Allah does not put shifa in this.
One of the most beautiful duas that I
ever heard was actually my surgeon, before he
did my knee surgery, said may Allah put
shifa in my hands.
I thought that was so beautiful.
Like a surgeon who typically in the healthcare
world are known as like the egotistical arrogant
people who think of themselves as like godlike
figures, the surgeons, he's sitting there saying may
Allah put shifa in my hands, which means
what?
I actually can't do anything.
And he's very good, my fellow.
I can't do anything unless Allah puts this
shifa, this cure in my ability.
Otherwise like, you know, we're out of luck,
you know.
And then he finishes by saying, and
he will cause me to die and he
will then bring me back to life.
And he is the one who I put
all of my hopes in.
I place all of my hope that he
will forgive me for my mistakes on the
day of judgment.
This passage is a summary of what Ghazali
said.
Ibrahim A.S. in this passage is beautifully,
poetically demonstrating his knowledge that who is in
control, it's Allah.
Every single thing.
He hit the big ones, but you can
apply this kind of dhikr to your own
life.
When you're going through something, whether it be
something that's worth celebrating or something that's very
difficult for you, to remind yourself of how
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is
in control is the beginning, the middle, and
the end of the process of putting your
faith into that moment.
And SubhanAllah, what you notice is that in
life, everybody has tests, but not everyone responds
the same way.
Everybody has challenges.
Like if I asked everybody in this room
to raise your hand and name a big
challenge that you've gone through or are going
through, we all would probably start to shed
tears hearing the stories of each person in
this room.
So challenges and tests are not unique to
one individual, but how you respond is very
unique.
That's what changes you.
Ibrahim, after going through so many tests, he
is the one that does not let those
tests push him further from Allah.
He allows and he embraces those moments as
a way to remind him that what?
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is
the one who is in control.
I'll share with you one more, a couple
more lines that I think is important.
Ibn Ata'illah, he gives us a couple
thoughts.
Wow, SubhanAllah.
Okay, so I'll do two and then we'll
end, inshaAllah.
He says, He says, do not be surprised
at the existence of sorrow.
He says, as long as you live in
this world.
As long as you live here, don't be
upset that there is such a thing as
sadness.
Why?
Because he says, He
says, because this world being a place of
sorrow is simply this world doing exactly what
it is supposed to do.
Like this place being a place of difficulty
is just this world doing exactly what it's
supposed to do.
Remember we talked about in the beginning of
the session about like disappointment being, the disappointment
is the gap between us understanding who's in
control.
If we don't understand Allah is in control,
we think we're in control and we have
a big misunderstanding.
We're going to have a lot of disappointment
in life.
Part of that is leveling this concept.
Another area of disappointment is when I think
that this life is going to offer me
all happiness and all this and that and
then the moment I bump into something, I
get upset.
Like, you know, my dad used to say
like when I, this life, this isn't fair.
He's like, who told you life's fair?
You know, or if you play, I play
in a basketball league and I get fouled.
I'm like, ref and he goes, play ball.
He just screams at me.
I'm like, okay.
And he looks at me.
He's like, you're a big dude.
You're going to get fouled.
And I'm like, but you have to call
the foul.
He's like, play ball.
Part of it is just what?
Just keep going.
Like life is going to throw stuff at
you.
Play ball.
Just keep going.
And if you think that every foul is
going to get called, if you think that
every wrong is going to be noticed, if
you think that every person who cuts you
off, the moment they cut you off, their
car is going to explode.
Like, that's not how this works.
No matter how much do you make for
that.
That's not how this works.
You know, you are not going to get
every call.
No matter how much you whine, Luca, right?
It is what it is.
And the person who's happiest is the one
who doesn't expect it.
Right?
The person he says, don't be, means like,
don't be surprised.
That's interesting.
No, don't be surprised at the existence of
sorrow.
As long as you live in this place.
But now, the obvious question is going to
be, well then, what role does Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala play in all of this?
Right?
Are these trials a punishment?
What are they?
And he says, which
is, I want you guys to leave with
this.
It's a very powerful statement.
Just let this one kind of like marinate.
He says, whoever thinks that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala's loving kindness of you is separated
from the decisions and the provisions and the
fate he has ordained from you, they don't
have, they're short-sighted.
They don't see it.
And this is why any time that we
do a session and we talk about being
patient and being able to be, you know,
trust Allah's plan.
I always say this, wallahi, it's the older
people that are nodding their heads.
The people that I can tell are like
a little bit younger.
They're sitting here like, hmm, I don't, like,
I know what you're saying is accurate and
the Quran says that and the hadith say
that.
But I still don't buy into what you're
saying.
But it's the people that are older that
have like lived a little bit that are
not short-sighted.
Like, he says like, basically, it's like your
eyes are not working.
As long as a person sees that Allah's
love of you is separate from his, the
destiny he's ordained from you, you're always going
to be a person that can't see the
world properly.
But the moment that you're able to ask
the question like, how is Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala in this moment, through this trial,
bringing me closer to him, right?
In another line, I don't have it here
pulled up and I don't have it memorized,
but he says Allah will pull you either
through the rope of love or through the
chains of tribulation.
But he's still pulling you to him, right?
He will either pull you through the rope
of love or the chains of tribulation.
For us, I know chains is a bit
much, leash, right?
I saw in Mecca, there was a parent
with his kid on a leash.
It's scary, isn't it?
Like, you're in Mecca, you have a three
-year-old and three-year-olds are like,
if their attachment's strong, right, a little attachment
theory, if their attachment's strong, they're going to
go anywhere.
So this kid was on a leash.
And I saw this kid wandering off into
like the mataf and this dad just goes,
yoink, and the kid comes flying back, you
know.
You can either pull him back with a
yoink or you can like gently, you know,
and he says Allah will either gently pull
you back or he'll with a test.
But either way, you're going to end up
where?
Closer to Allah.
That's the goal.
That's the actual goal.
May Allah ta'ala give us the ability
to understand everything that he said.
May Allah ta'ala give us the ability
to come close to him in all situations.
May Allah ta'ala give us the ability
to appreciate the wisdom and to have trust
in him in all matters and all circumstances
and all affairs.
If I could just get some help in
putting some of the stuff away, the furniture
back, inshallah, and all that.
I do, I would love to see everybody
and say salam and answer questions.
There's a couple things.
Number one, I'm sick, so I don't want
to get you sick.
And then number two, my kids are actually,
they've been texting me.
I got my son a watch where he
can text me.
And so he's like, Baba, where are you?
Baba, where are you?
Baba, where are you?
Because they're waiting for me to eat dinner
because I just got back yesterday.
So inshallah, I'm going to ask for your
permission to take leave, inshallah.
I already prayed my isha beforehand.
And so I hope that everybody here has
a good evening.
Be safe.
Just go home early.
I don't want people on the roads when
people are not mentally well.
May Allah ta'ala give protection to everybody
here.