AbdelRahman Murphy – Thirty & Up Treasury Of Imam Al-Ghazli Class 6
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Along or you can buy it and read
it and, you know, reread it insha'Allah and
have it as a benefit for a lot
longer than just, you know, 1 hour on
a Tuesday night.
But we're gonna go through insha'Allah the 6th
section now.
So
one thing that,
you
know, in doctor Mustafa Abu Suway, he starts
his he starts his analysis with this point,
so I'm borrowing it from him. But one
thing that is,
you know, as as old as time itself,
and this is the the journey that every
human being goes through, is to identify and
to try to figure out
what someone's purpose is. What is the purpose
of one's existence?
And so he actually writes here, and I'll
start by sharing. He says philosophers
and theologians have differed for 1000 of years
over the meaning of felicity.
And he says that they came up with
different definitions to try to solve for this
question. Like, what does it mean to be
happy? What does it mean to have a
life of felicity? A life of truly,
content,
you know, peacefulness and tranquility.
And he said that they came up with
different definitions.
And so many of us, you know, being
here in America,
we've heard,
you know, of the phrase,
you know, the pursuit of happiness, that this
is one of the rights, the inalienable rights
of an individual, of a human being, is
that every person
should have the ability to pursue
happiness. And that's a very, like, general statement.
And el Ghazali,
what he challenges in this passage
is while he may agree with that, he
challenges the idea of what is happiness.
So it's not that he's saying no, people
should not pursue happiness,
but what he's saying is that people have
mistaken
and have misplaced
what happiness is.
And that's why in the era that we
live in today and also in, you know,
for 100 of years, as you look back
in American history, you'll see that what is
defined as being the source of happiness has
changed.
And no matter what a person places in
that position of what's going to make them
happy,
the change in that status has led to
the different momentum
that society has taken. Right? So you're seeing
now in this era the idea that, you
know, quality of life, time at home with
family
is something that is secondary
to
material
wealth and gain. Right? People want to earn
as much as possible.
Because why? Because
wealth and material success
has been positioned and placed at a high
status
in the eyes of our society as being
the thing that will give a person happiness.
And so people will work really long hours,
and they'll work really long
days and even sometimes long weeks without days
off in order to obtain
the success or the
the chase of the promise of success so
that maybe they can attain this happiness. But
if you look at society
50 years ago, 60 years ago,
you would see that people would actually regularly
pass up
opportunities,
growth,
financial,
chances
so that they could spend time doing things
that they loved. Right? Fishing or spending time
with family or, you know, sleeping, whatever it
may have been. So the reality is that
as people change, as the the the goalposts
move,
you find that people's motivation, their momentum, their
energies
are in different places. And this has been
a challenge and a problem since the beginning
of time.
And this is why the prophet, alaihis salatu,
salam, when you look even at his life,
you see that one of the things that
he was sent to do was to redefine
what the purpose of life is.
Allah sent him
with the verse from the Quran, from Surat
Adariyat.
That Allah says very clearly
that we have not created
any human being or jinn except
to perform and to devote themselves
in worship and devotion to Allah
That's the ultimate goal. That's the realization
of a human being. So Imam Ghazali has
a very beautiful,
passage here that is picked. And we'll read
it insha'Allah, and we'll go through it kinda
line by line. So he says,
He starts off with a bang like a
Chris Nolan film.
He says
that the sweetness
and the felicity that people look for in
life is only found in one thing. And
he says it's knowing Allah. That's it.
That's it.
Every other thing
that gives you happiness
is always a lowercase h happiness. It's never
going to be the capital h happiness. It's
never going to give you that long lasting
fulfillment. It'll be short lived. It's like cotton
candy.
It's sweet. It's colorful.
It tastes good.
But when you eat it, it's in no
way, shape, or form is it filling you.
It's not satiating your
hunger at all. Okay? So he says,
true
sweetness,
pleasure,
and felicity,
is only found as a person comes to
know Allah
Now this this knowing of Allah
is a different kind of knowing.
Right? All of us are familiar with this
concept of God, of Allah. We're familiar with
the concept. Right?
But this word, ma'rifah,
it's not the lowercase
we're doing a lot of grammar today. It's
not the lowercase k knowing. Like, it's not
factual knowing. It's not information.
It's not informational knowing. No. This is experiential
knowing.
Right?
So, for example,
you know, what is
your favorite
all time favorite dish to eat?
What is your all time favorite food?
And you can't say matcha, sisters.
Okay. What's your favorite food to eat? Anybody?
I think I'm going with Nashville chicken. Nashville
hot chicken? Wow. Dallas is the place for
you.
Hot chicken. That is the place for you.
Okay. Anyone else? What's your favorite food? Guadalaju.
Guadalaju and kusa. Right? So grape leaves, kusa.
Right? Stuffed with zucchinis. Okay. Good. Anyone else?
We're gonna get hungry. Yeah?
Mensaf, Palestinian, mashallah.
Right? All of us are blooded Palestinian. Allahu'ala
give them liberation, You Rabbi.
Mensaf. Okay. Anyone else?
Couscous. Wow. Okay. Masha'Allah.
Anyone else? Dude, we'd have an amazing potluck,
by the way.
We would have an incredible potluck, this group.
Chicago deep dish. Chicago deep dish. Very good.
See, this is, masha'Allah,
the best.
Chicago is the 4th holiest city in the
world. The deep dish is its own
it's its own piece of beauty. Right? I
don't I don't hate on New York style
pizza, but it's just not the same. It's
not the same. Alright? Anyone else?
Chicken tikka masala. There we go. Some CTM.
Mix it with some pasta. Thank me later.
Okay?
Yes, Habibi. Yes.
Rice and beans?
Pasta and?
Beans?
Meat. Oh, pasta and meat. Sorry.
That sounds yummy. Some bolognese.
Very good. Okay? So, again,
all of that
is what we just did, the exercise that
we just did,
is two kinds of knowledge.
For the people that have had
the food that was mentioned,
did you start to taste it a little
bit?
Did you start to think of the experiences
that you've had? When someone, for example, said,
mensef, did you start to taste, like, the
salty rice
and the
lamb or the goat and the yogurt and
the did you taste it? When you said,
what a the white grape leaves, did you
start to feel the texture and the green
leaves and the rice stuffed inside of it?
The Nashville hot chicken, did you just imagine
the last time we went to Dave's, right,
or any of these places, hot chicken sandwiches?
You started to experience it. And the only
reason why the knowledge actually did that to
you is because you had that experience.
Otherwise,
if you've never had something before,
somebody could sit there in front of you,
and they could name it and describe it
and continue to describe it all they wanted.
But guess what?
You're not gonna be able to appreciate it.
They're gonna try to explain it through analog.
You know, have you ever had a really
good bun kebab?
And everyone's like, mhmm. And it's like, okay.
Okay. Look. It's kinda like a hamburger with
sweet chutney sauce and red onions. And everyone's
like, that sounds gross. You're like, no. No.
Trust me. And they put a fried egg
on it. It's delicious. And you're like, sign
me out. I don't want this.
But if a person has had it, it's
a very different experience. I mean, kushari.
Kushari by description
sounds like leftovers.
There's rice and then there's noodles. Both? Yes.
Both.
Then there's lentils and tomato sauce with garlic
and fried onions.
This person's like, this sounds like a fantasy.
Right? But if you've had kushari, there's something
really that hits the spot. Right? So the
point being is knowledge is always limited until
a person experiences that knowledge.
So ma'rifah, when he uses this word, he
used it very specifically.
He's not saying that the human being will
experience
pleasure
when they
learn more only.
He says the true pleasure
is not when a person learns about trusting
Allah, it's when they trust Allah.
It's not when they learn about being patient,
it's when they are patient. It's not when
they learn about being grateful, It's when they
truly experience gratitude.
And in those moments,
when they experience those things, they're experiencing what's
called, this
deep knowledge
of what it really means. You know, they
say that
everyone knows that fire is hot, but only
some people know not to touch it.
Right? Everyone knows.
People know certain things, but only the really,
really elect, the very smart people, understand what
the knowledge means and how it translates
into action.
So he says here to translate,
verily happiness and pleasure for the human being
is only found in experiencing
the knowledge of Allah
What does it mean?
The experience of when you put your head
on the prayer rug and no one is
around. The experience of when you're fasting Ramadan
and nobody on earth can justify
the hunger and the thirst that you're experiencing
except that they believe in Allah.
From the outside,
it's a crazy behavior.
From the
secular materialist lens, it is absolute absurdity
to not eat or drink
from dawn till sunset in the middle of
the summer
and to continue living your life. It is
completely absurd. But to the Muslim, there's nothing
sweeter.
And that's why Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he
says that for the faster,
for the person who fasted, lisawimi
for katan. There's 2
joys. The first is when they break their
fast at Maghrib, and the second is when
they go to paradise.
Because all of the information knowledge
that was limited in its scope became experiential
when the person fasted and they said, this
is actually
incredible.
This discipline, this god consciousness,
this strength. You know, Hakim Elajuwon
played for the Houston Rockets, this basketball player,
one of the legends of the NBA.
And he used to play while fasting. And
they used to actually ask him, like, how
are you doing this? And he would say
to them, I'm actually finding
layers of strength and focus that I don't
find during
the season outside of Ramadan. And the same
thing. You know, they called him Ramadan Kyrie
this year.
Kyrie Irving fasted in Ramadan, and he had
a series of, like, 6 games
where he went off.
And now and and the media, not not
Al Jazeera.
ESPN was, like, Ramadan Kyrie. They kept calling
him that. Because every you know, him and
Jaylen Brown and all these other players that
were fasting, out of them, they were performing
at a level that was not normal in
terms of how well they were doing. So
the point being
is it's not always
there's not always a calculus
that can be understood in arithmetic. Like, okay,
1 +1 equals 2. There's an alchemy of
the spirit that happens
and only the ones who live it can
understand it. May Allah give us that. So
then he says,
he says, He says,
now Allah created
every single thing
has
its own special sweetness
and its own special,
experience that gives it its own, like, micro
version of fulfillment.
Okay? And then he gives examples. So he
says,
and all of those pleasures
are found
naturally occurring in the fulfillment of those things.
So then he says, listen, he says,
He says, and the nature
of everything is found in the purpose that
it was made. So here's like a colon
here, he gives an example. He says,
He says, the sweetness in the eye
is in witnessing the most beautiful imagery.
When you witness something
with your eyes that is breathtaking,
it is stunning.
It is something that truly I mean, subhanallah,
they've done studies on, like, color theory and
symmetry
and all of these things. And and interior
designers
and architects and everybody,
they're just trying to recreate
the elements of perfection that is found in
the creation of Allah.
You know, I was inspired by what? A
waterfall. Oh, you mean the waterfall that didn't
have an architect a human architect?
Oh, yeah. We we tried to make this
color appear. Notice, by the way, go to
the go to the Home Depot or Lowe's.
Go to your home improvement store and look
at all the names of paint.
What are they named after?
Natural things.
Right?
Texas sunset.
You know?
It's like like Parisian linen. Like, they're naming
them after things that are naturally occurring that
we see, that we that Allah has put
on this earth. And and human beings are
trying to recreate what's Allah already created, and
they're trying to glean from the beauty of
that.
So in the eye, the pleasure of seeing
lies in witnessing beauty
in witnessing beauty. And all of us hopefully
have seen something beautiful,
whether it's something that's, like, naturally beautiful or
emotionally beautiful
or whether it's something that is the realization
after a long effort that you've put forth.
You know, speaking of all the food that
we were talking about, like, that's a beautiful
sight. Right? Taking that out of the oven.
You know, we we joked about seeing the
waiter come around the corner with your food
on the tray. All of that is its
own form of beauty, but the eye finds
pleasure in that moment. And then he says,
says that, and the ears
the ears find pleasure
in the beautiful voices and sounds
that they hear.
And this is
there's no further proof for this besides
I mean, there's so many evidences. But, like,
if you look at the joy that people
get
when they hear
beauty,
You know, whether it's through, like, the the
the the voices of people singing or reciting
poetry
or reciting Quran.
Right? Reciting Quran being the highest level of
of vocal beauty.
Or even somebody with a nice voice, When
a person has a nice voice or if
you've come to love that voice because that
voice means something to you. Like, think of
the voice of the person you love the
most.
Think of the voice of the person that
just means the most to you. And think
about how even hearing that voice, it brings
your ears joy and it fills your chest
with this energy of happiness.
Right? That's a beautiful voice to you. And
then he says after that,
He says that, and this is the way
for all of the limbs. You know, we
could keep going.
You know, you could describe that the feet
enjoy
soft,
you know,
earth to walk on. Right? The hands enjoy
to be used in ways that are beautiful
to the hands. Right? The hair enjoys to
be, you know, cut and washed. And after
you get a a nice haircut or a
nice hair treat, you feel great. The skin
enjoys to be cleaned. Then after you get
scrubbed down, you feel better. All of the
body has
its moments and its sort of axis of
enjoyment.
And they're different for each organ, each piece.
Okay?
And then he says,
What is
the pleasure of the heart?
Where does the heart find pleasure?
Because we've we've identified, we all agree that
everything has
its pleasure
trajectory.
Every piece of you.
But the heart, and not the physical heart,
not the one that's beating blood, but the
Kalb, the spiritual heart,
where does that thing find joy?
He says,
hasatun.
It is only and exclusively
Bima'alfitillahi
subhanahu wa ta'ala
li annahu makhluqunlaa
because that is why the heart was made.
The heart
can only find pleasure
in fulfilling its purpose.
Just like the ears don't appreciate sunsets,
and the eyes don't appreciate beautiful voices,
And the tongue doesn't appreciate the starry sky.
And the eyes can't appreciate
the seasoning
of the roasted meats.
Just like every part of you has a
specific pathway of pleasure, he says, The heart
also has its specific
purpose pathway
where it attains the pleasure that it was
created for. And that pleasure is
with Allah Subhanahu
Wa
Ta'ala. So doctor Mustafa, he writes here,
and I'll share with this because most of
all his analysis is incredible.
He says that, and I kind of referenced
this before, he says, people have been trying
for millennia
to identify what is the purpose of life.
And he
says, if you look at the survey of
what brings people happiness,
he says that it is loosely used. If
we were to take a survey and ask
everybody, what makes you happy?
It is loosely used as an indication of
what gives you a good time.
So some people would say, you know what?
I really, really enjoy what makes me happy
is vacation.
What really makes me happy is the day
that I get paid. What makes me happy
is when you know? And you name something
that brings you
a good time, that makes you feel like
you're in a good place. And he says
this is the lowest level of happiness.
Doctor Mostafa says this is reductionist.
Like, basically, he's saying you're selling yourself short.
You have such a high capacity
to experience happiness
at a level that is beyond.
And you and by the way, as Muslims,
even though we might say the first part
which is that, yeah,
what what brings me happiness is experiencing
joy, are times that bring me, you know,
ease and tranquility and joy. We also appreciate
hard work.
We appreciate hard work.
I mean, ask yourself, like, why do people
run?
Anyone here a
runner? Why?
It's actually, like it's it's why do people
lift weights?
Why? You're just lifting heavy objects.
The same person that doesn't wanna move furniture
in the house goes to the gym and
lifts weights.
It's the same action.
The same person that runs to train for
the 5 k doesn't wanna get off the
couch.
It's this you don't wanna walk in this
no. No. No. I don't wanna walk. Let's
drive. They're trying to find they're waiting for
30 minutes to find the closest parking spot.
They don't wanna walk across the parking lot,
but they'll run 26 miles
in another city, for god's sake.
It's 26. Right? The marathon?
No. We like to go. Okay. That's true.
This is not personal. Okay. But a a
Jeep. Right? And, by the way, I'm this
person. I'll go to the gym and exercise,
and then I'm, like, looking at my car
at the trunk, and I'm like, I really
should lift those groceries out.
But I don't want to. I'm like, no.
They're kinda heavy.
You just dead lifted.
You can't pick up a bag of rice.
I'm like, I might pull my back. What?
And and it's funny because, like,
the mind plays tricks on you.
Right? The mind plays tricks on you. So
we engage in certain things that are difficult
knowingly
because we realize that through the difficulty, through
the toil, through the hard work,
there is a different kind of joy.
See, joy doesn't always mean things that are
directly causing them happiness.
It's not that simple.
You know? When you're young,
you enjoy just, like, the sweetest of desserts.
You just want sweet, sweet, sweet.
Actually, the the chocolate chip cookies here, I
have a funny story.
My kids
don't like them or did not like them.
Then my son got a little bit older.
And the reason why they didn't like them
is because they put they put flaky salt
on the top.
Okay?
So, again, when you're a kid, you're like,
no. Dessert needs to be sweet.
And then as you get older,
there's kinda like this I don't know if
it's like we're all just submitting to the
monoculture. I don't know what it is. But
there's this move towards
diversifying your palate, right, and adding things like
salt and this and that. And be like,
yeah. I really appreciate that. Now my daughter,
who's 5, doesn't like it, but my son,
who's older, is like, I kinda like it.
And that maturation
is showing. The ability to detect nuance
is showing. It's not just the sugary sweets
that make him happy.
Right? Now there's a layer of difference there.
Like, I'm still there with fruit salad, my
desi people.
No spices in my fruit salad, please.
Right? Fruit chaat, not for me. All for
you, you enjoy.
Okay? For those of you who don't know,
fruit chaat is a very famous Ramadan,
you know, I would say delicacy.
But, it's something that desis make where they
take the most delicious of fruits,
grapes, bananas, strawberries, apples. They'll put some orange
juice and mango pulp in there. It's incredible.
And then they destroy it
by adding garam masala, which they also roast
their chicken with. Okay?
So I want you to or chaat masala.
I apologize. Not garam masala. Chaat masala. And
I'm sorry if I offended you, but chaat
masala offends me. So I have a right.
Okay?
Chaat fruit chaat offends me. No. I'm joking.
A little bit.
So
but all jokes aside,
it's my immaturity that's not able to appreciate
fruit shot.
Right? So as a person develops that, as
they get there, they start to open their
horizons to experiencing
joy in more than just the simple
rudimentary pathways. It's the same with spirituality.
When we're younger spiritually, not always with age,
by the way.
When we're younger spiritually,
we may not appreciate
the the spiritual joy of sitting and reading
Quran.
It might feel like a burden to us,
but then something happens.
It could be something in life. It could
be a mentor said something. Could just be
a realization.
And now we open the Quran and we
no longer see a burden, but we actually
see a beacon of light.
And we say and if we go a
day without it, we feel actually,
like, disconnected.
Or when we're younger,
this is one probably resonates, prayer. I have
to pray. I have to pray. Even the
language we I have to pray. I have
to pray. And even fulfilling the prayer, it's
rushed. It's quick. Right? May Allah forgive us.
And that's a challenge that a lot of
us struggle with. And then you get to
certain points in your life or maybe it's
a certain point during your year, Ramadan, when
all of a sudden the prayer now is
no longer a burden, but now it feels
like a blessing.
So what is holding us back
from growing and maturing spiritually?
What is holding us back? He says, it's
your definition.
It's the way you're defining it. You're selling
yourself short. He continues. In general,
associating happiness only with pleasure and wealth is
wrong.
While one does
need
things to survive, you do need to have
wealth in order to survive. You need to
pay your bills. He says it cannot be
a criteria for happiness.
There are many people.
And he says it is even worse
when happiness is constructed
as only organically rooted in consumerism.
When people try to tell you, you know,
in all of the marketing, all of the
agencies
that are built
around
consumerism,
all of their cute little tag lines,
they try to correlate happiness with acquisition.
Alright. Snickers. Hungry?
Say it. Why wait? Nike. Just
do it. Right?
Mountain Dew. Do the dew. What does that
mean?
Right?
All of these,
all of these, subhanallah,
these brands, these they all are
they're speaking in the tone of the imperative,
the urgent.
They want you to get up and do
something. And they want you to feel,
look at the next time you see an
advertisement.
And I want you after you watch the
advertisement,
I want you to not
not identify
your wants. I want you to identify how
you feel emotionally.
Most people,
the marketing agency's goal is to make you
feel
incomplete and empty.
Because they want you to think
that if only I'm able to obtain that
thing,
I will feel complete and I will feel
happy.
But then, subhanallah, you get old and you
realize
that I've done this dance so many times.
I've bought that thing. I've acquired it. I've
done whatever it takes and I still don't
feel that happiness.
And subhanAllah, I was just thinking today. 1
of my teachers says something so beautiful.
I was driving on the highway, dropping my
kids off for school,
and this rock came and hit my windshield.
And, alhamdulillah, I thought I got out
clean. My kids were like, what was that?
We were looking and I said it was
a rock. And it was like a big
noise. And then I thought I got out
clean. And then today, you know, the crack
grows slowly overnight.
So I go and I see this giant
crack in my windshield. Now
I'm gonna be vulnerable with you guys. I'll
share. Right?
There are
My teacher once said this and I I
I, subhanAllah, I think it's so true.
Everybody
who experiences a test like that, something like
that. Oh, like a rock hit my car
or like, you know, my house had a
my house had a a leak or something.
We always attribute to what? Hassid.
Ain. Nazar.
So that was the first thing that when
I told a couple of my friends, oh,
yeah. My windshield got cracked. They're like, man,
you gotta read sort of on it, which
is true, by the way. It's true. Like,
you should. And it's of course, see this
and this. I agree.
My teacher one time, he said,
change your perspective.
He said, maybe when these things happen to
you, it's Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala's way of
breaking
your shackles
to the love of that thing.
Maybe you love that thing so much. And
the only reason why it bothers you
is that
you love it too much.
And only in experiencing
the crack of the windshield or the leak
of the house or whatever, you know, the
the kid drawing on your wall,
Only in experiencing
that
are you gonna be able to just break
that lock off of your heart
that is holding you to that thing.
And now you're gonna get to experience as
you have to draw like, imagine, like, you
have a new house, new painting, whatever, and
you invite your nieces and nephews over and
they come and they just draw all over
it.
And you have to walk by that for
the next few days
and look at that.
And you have to actually almost interrogate yourself.
Why do I feel
upset?
It's just paint.
And fixing it will take a few minutes.
Just get a can of paint and do
another coat.
The fact that I feel so irritated
by the imperfection that I see in this
material object is a sign that I love
it too much.
It's a sign that I love it too
much. And my reaction
is an indictment
against
the disease state of my heart.
That means that when something happens to something
that is just
metal and glass and wood,
yes, it's okay to be upset,
but it should not upset your soul.
It's okay to mentally be stressed out and
to call and say, hey. I have to
get this repaired and this and that. But
in your heart, it should not upset your
consciousness,
your essence,
derail you for the rest of the day.
I can't get work done. Why? I'm looking
up windshield repair.
Right? How many of us you don't have
to raise your hand. How many of us
have become noticeably more irritated with somebody that
had nothing to do with the situation?
Right? When I noticed the crack in the
windshield
my kids were in the car.
And I looked I go, oh my goodness.
And they go, what? I said, the crack.
They go, where? And I said, from yesterday.
And then, you know, the kids, they just
move on quickly. They start talking. Oh, guys,
be quiet.
I'm thinking.
What are you thinking about, dude? There's no
thinking. Call the company.
Replace the glass. Pay and halas. Like, it
was never your money anyways.
You know, Allah just put it in your
bank account for, like, 2 days and now
it's gonna go to Safelite. Right? So
the point being is we become irritable and
we push that onto somebody else. Why? Because
it rattled something much deeper
that it should never have had access to
in the first place. Right? And that's what
he's saying here. He says that people want
you to believe that the criterion for happiness
are these things. And all of these emotional
responses we have,
sometimes way too happy,
sometimes way too upset.
He says, these are signs that you've you've
taken the bait.
Right? You bought what they sold you. You
believed in the dream. It is even worse
when happiness is constructed as organically rooted in
consumerism. This leads people to continuously buy and
consume things in order to be happy, and
this has its own toll on the human
psyche. It may even become their very specific
source of misery.
Can you imagine your source of misery
is the fact that you can't stop getting
new things?
You would think that that's happiness.
The people walking and shopping, the people constantly
receiving shipments and walking in North Park Mall,
you would think they're happy. But actually, deep
down, Allah knows best, they could be miserable.
Because they're trying to find that thing that's
gonna satisfy their heart. But remember what he
said. You're never going to find a picture
that's gonna make your ears happy, and you're
never gonna find a sound that's gonna please
your eyes. So why are you trying to
find something that's gonna please your heart that's
not meant to please your heart?
And then he says,
Imam al Ghazali in the Ihya states that
human beings do not fulfill the purpose
of life
by biological activities or physical traits.
The example he gives is that there are
animals
who can eat more than
you, who are stronger than you, have bigger
bodies than you.
So, if your idea
of
self actualization and happiness was to be able
to enjoy food and be strong and this
and this, he said, there are animals
that are way more accomplished at this than
you'll ever be. Even the baby versions
of those animals.
He says, the human being, unlike the animal,
possesses
one trait that is specific
to the human
and that is the ability to come to
know Allah in a deep way
and to worship him as the result of
that knowledge.
He says everything else listen to the word
he uses.
Everything else in life
is just an accessory.
It's not the core.
It's just an accessory.
An accessory
to the car is not the car. An
accessory to the outfit is not the outfit.
An accessory
to your spirit is not your spirit.
Everything else that we obtain is just an
accessory.
And then he says here, Imam Al Ghazari
provides an interesting narrative about pleasure and happiness,
where each organ finds its own happiness in
life that fits its nature.
The eye finds pleasure and beauty
in the beautiful forms. The ear finds pleasure
and beautiful sounds. As for the heart, its
source of happiness is knowing Allah.
Elsewhere in the Ihya, Al Ghazari states that
the heart has only been created to know
Allah. This knowledge
necessitates
an intimate knowledge of the Quran
and the life of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
It follows
logically that there is no happiness without knowing
Allah.
There is no happiness without knowing Allah.
And this is this can explain
so many different phenomenon that we witness.
Their stories.
I mean, you can look and see
the the the tragedy and the oppression that
people are experiencing right now. Gaza, you can
see
that Muslims historically, despite all layers of oppression.
You know, one time I was sitting in
Oxford University.
I just gave a lecture
And I was they were serving food.
And 3 guys, I'll never forget, 3
guys came up to me. And these are
all supposed to be like the the academic
elite. Right? Oxford?
So I'm sitting there, major imposter syndrome. But
anyways,
and I I I remember the 3 guys
came up to me and they were all
from a Muslim country.
They were born and raised
from a Muslim majority country, I should say.
And they came to me and they say,
you know, we really appreciate your your presentation.
And I was like, it's kinda weird.
And then they said, but we have a
challenge. We have like a thing that's really
been bothering us. And I said, why? They
said, if Allah
if if Islam was true and Allah loved
Muslims,
why are Muslim countries
so
backwards?
So underdeveloped?
So oppressed?
So
hurt?
So
you can keep going. Right?
And they thought that they check baited me,
but they forgot
that the US won the revolution. I'm joking.
They were British.
So
I said to them, I said, you know,
we're gonna ignore
American imperialism.
We're gonna ignore the
the the the incessant pursuit of oil. We're
gonna ignore
all of
the the the fact that the table and
the books have been cooked
and changed and shifted against
these people.
I said, I wanna challenge your understanding
of what you're gauging as success.
I said, isn't success
in and of itself
being able to exist despite all of that?
I said, despite the fact that you have
people, like the prophet described, sadaqar
Rasool Allah. He said what? He said there
will be a time where the enemies will
come around you and they will start to
feast on you.
They will start to feast on you.
And the the the the companions said, how?
And they said, is it because we'll be
small in number? And the prophet said, no.
You'll be great in number.
They said, then what, You Rasulullah, how on
earth can we be great in number and
still be so weak? And he said, al
wahin. And they said, what is wahin? And
he said, love of dunya and fear of
death.
So they were essentially these brothers were kinda,
like, pushing that. And I said, isn't it
incredible that despite all the bombs
that you still hear the Adan call out?
All they have to do is just surrender.
All they have to do is just say,
we're not Muslim anymore. We'll leave.
And all the bombs will stop.
But
existence is resistance.
Isn't it incredible
that in the battle of Badr,
300 people,
313 against over a1000,
and they were able to exist
despite all of that?
The question that Imam Ghazali answers here is
what gives them the purpose of existence?
You see, the people on the other side
who have identified the Muslims as an enemy,
they don't share that same purpose. And so
they are completely
mind boggled
as to how these people can keep going.
But when you look at Muslims historically,
whether it is
classical history or modern history, and you look
at the ability that they maintain to remain,
you see that it's rooted in this very
concept.
It's rooted in this exact concept.
And so he says,
there is no happiness without knowing Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. It does not matter whom and
what you know apart from Allah.
One might know the names of many
athletes or actors and musicians
as is the case with people today, but
ultimately this knowledge
does not help in their godly pursuit of
happiness.
In fact, many of these same celebrities and
stars
lead unhappy lives themselves that are the epitome
of misery.
He says, in the Greek and modern western
world views, happiness is in the here and
now.
This is what we are told and conditioned
and massaged
to believe.
Happiness is here and now. That's why you
feel the urgency.
In Islam,
happiness encompasses 2 realms.
Life on this earth,
but more importantly in the hereafter.
And the real happy person is the one
who uses their life here to attain paradise
in the next life.
This is from doctor Mustafa Abu Suway. May
Allah to Allah give us this.
And just to share with you some narrations
that I think are really beautiful before we
do some questions.
One of the one of the rhetorical tools
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is that
in describing paradise, he would use experiences here
but he would say it's never gonna be
the same. So, listen to what he said
sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
He says, when he described Jannah,
Allah is saying, this is Halikudsi.
He says,
I have prepared for my righteous servant.
I have prepared for my righteous servant
things that eyes have never seen.
So he's saying your eyes, like, obviously, your
eyes see beautiful things. But he said in
Jannah, you will see things for the first
time.
Things that your eyes have never seen.
He says,
You will hear sounds
that you never could have imagined.
These sounds are so beautiful, you couldn't have
even conceived of them.
And he says,
and
you will experience things in your heart
that have never crossed the pathway of your
soul on this earth.
Emotions that you never thought possible. Levels of
happiness and fulfillment and contentment that you never
even dreamed of.
The next narration.
This is actually a a a narration attributed
to Issa, prophet Jesus. He says,
for the smart person, he's giving advice.
He says,
He said, take all of the things that
you treasure
and place them,
when it comes to, you know, where you
prioritize,
in the heavens.
Put them in the heavens. Meaning what? Don't
try to access those things here. They're gonna
be in Jannah. He says,
He says, because
the heart of a person is always with
the treasure that they keep.
And so the advice here that Issa is
giving is he's saying what? Look at what
you value, what you prioritize.
And then lastly,
there's a narration that's very famous about
the patience of a person who does not
was not given the the gift of eyesight.
A person who is blind. The prophet, alaihis
salam, he said,
If I have taken
the 2 noble,
the noble eyes, the sight of 1 of
my servants,
lam yakun jazauindi
illaljannah.
There is no reward for that person that
I can give them here except for paradise.
So Allah
look at the the juxtapositioning.
I love these narrations because
we are so limited in what makes us
happy, what gives us joy.
And Allah and his messenger
salallahu alayhi wasallam are literally removing the ceiling
and saying, in the divine heavens,
you have not even experienced
0.000001
percent of pleasure.
And if you want proof of that, there
are things that are waiting for you in
jannah
that will make you forget about the pleasures
here.
You won't even remember it.
Like when you experience a certain level of
pleasure as an adult,
a vacation that you've dreamed of,
and then someone on vacation is like, hey.
Isn't that just like Chuck E. Cheese? You're
like, man. What are you talking about?
This is not like Chuck E. Cheese, man.
We're in Hawaii. Like, yeah, but it's kinda
like Chuck E. Cheese. Right? Like, you're having
fun?
No. There's no comparison. It's offensive to even
compare the 2.
Wallillahi lmazaalala.
Allah's example is infinitely greater.
You go to Jannah, you're in paradise
and you're gonna be asked about the things
in this life and you will have trouble
recalling the things that you had here.
All you have to do, all we all
have to do
is keep the focus.
What is our purpose? What is our purpose?
And as much as we remember that and
as much as we experience that, we will
be consistent in our devotion to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And that is where we will
find true happiness, whether it is easy or
difficult,
whether it is sweet or bitter,
whether it is full of provision
or whether it
is deprived.
Happiness can be found in deprivation
and sadness can be found in provision.
One of the, one of the toughest moments
on a family
is the distribution of a will.
Isn't that interesting?
When a person passes
and they distribute their wealth, it's one of
the toughest moments on a family.
I've seen people not speak to each other
for years after that.
But it's wealth. It's money.
And everyone's getting some. But no, I wanted
more.
I wanted that. I wanted that.
Interesting how in provision there is challenge and
in deprivation there is ease. SubhanAllah. May Allah
make easy for us. Okay.
Let's do some questions and then maghrib's in
a few minutes and then we gotta run
to maghrib insha'Allah.
How do you deal with emptiness or feeling
something missing but you don't know what it
is?
This is a good question.
I always tell people that the best thing
you can do for yourself as a human
to ground yourself is go back to basics.
The first question that every Muslim needs to
ask
look. A lot of these vague,
confusing,
complex situations
come from
complex
lifestyles, complex thought frameworks.
Go back to basics. Ask yourself one question.
I know it's gonna sound really
Sunday school but, like, how's your 5 prayers?
That that's really the first thing. Any person
that comes to me, I'm struggling with my
relation with my wife or my husband or
my parents or my kids. I'm always like,
what's the situation of the prayers?
How's that going?
Okay? And usually, 99%
of the time, it's like, it's not. Okay.
Let's start there. Because if we're gonna build
this beautiful house, we have to start with
the foundation. Right?
So we'll do the we'll do this question,
insha'Allah, and then we'll do one more.
So start with your foundation, start with your
5 prayers insha'allah.
And then as you grow from there, as
you escalate from there, hopefully, you'll be able
to not find what you're missing but build
what you're missing.
Right? It's all within you. Like everything that
you need to feel fulfilled, Allah has promised,
it's within you.
But you have to cultivate it and grow
it. You're not gonna stumble upon it. It
has to be grown.
Yes. Armud Ad Din, very say, the pillar
of your whole faith. Right? The pillar of
your whole religion. Okay.
How
should you deal with heartbreak and that you
have to accept something, but has it affected
your soul and still affects you and makes
you sad?
There's a couple ways. I mean,
I like to take you can be gentle
with yourself for a while, but then I
like to take a more aggressive approach.
And I think that, yeah, if someone broke
your heart,
you need to not allow somebody to be
in a position where your heart is so
invaluable that they can break it.
Like, that's that's a real thing that you
have to build. Right?
And Islam puts in a lot of parameters
to protect us from experiencing heartbreak. It still
happens. There's no doubt. We have we have
hadith actually where Sahaba had their hearts broken
in in in, you know, proposals that went
south or divorce, etcetera. So it happens. I'm
not saying it doesn't happen. But you need
to then
get this to this point where you say,
you know what?
I'm going to use this heartbreak to find
Allah.
I'm gonna use this heartbreak to make myself
stronger. I'm gonna use this heartbreak
to learn from that experience
and become wiser and more intelligent and to
become more resilient
as I go through these experiences. And at
the very end,
I'm gonna use this heartbreak and maybe this
will be the sole reason why Allah will
let me into his paradise.
Maybe this feeling will be the only reason
why.
Because Allah didn't give me something that I
was hoping for.
And I had to live my life with
that little piece of myself empty.
No matter how big or small it was.
And now on the day of judgement, an
imperfect person will appear before his or her
Lord. And Allah will say, what did you
do to deserve
my jannah? And you'll say, Allah, I didn't
do much but Wallahi, I was patient.
I just bore patiently.
And Allah will let this person in because
of that. And there's many ahadith that corroborate
this. So for the, I mean, the hadith
about the blindness of the eyes, literally. Allah
says, for the one that I took their
eyes, there's no reward except for paradise.
That's the patience that he's talking about. Right?
May Allah to Allah make it easy.
Let's go ahead and conclude.
Okay. Let's finish on the last one. Happiness
is knowing Allah. What are practical takeaways to
know Allah and feel happiness?
Without a doubt, we said prayer. But the
other thing is from a from more of
like a,
so practicing wise, prayer, of course. But from
a
mental
place, from a framework,
adopting a deep, deep state of gratitude.
Gratitude that affects every layer of your being.
You know, I saw, you know, TikTok should
never be quoted in halaqa, but I saw
something that I thought was really nice. Okay?
And it was like some Christian mom, some,
like, white lady from Alabama. But she it
was really nice. SubhanAllah.
She
said she said,
I was gonna complain. I was gonna I
can't do the accent. I can, but it's
Maghrib and I we're gonna she said she
said, I was gonna complain about my dirty
house, but then I remembered to be grateful
that I have a house to even have
that is dirty. Like, my kids made it
dirty. I was gonna complain, but then I
realized my kids are healthy enough to make
this place dirty.
And she's it was just a framework shift.
So being grateful at every layer of your
existence
in some way, shape, or form.
Look. I'll be honest with you.
You can always find something to be upset
about.
Life
I apologize. There's kids here. Life is rough.
Life is rough. We can always be upset
about something.
I can either be upset that I have
a huge crack in my windshield
or I can say, alhamdulillah, it still drives.
That's the same car.
Right?
It's the same thing. I mean, when Allah
takes,
there's always something that he left.
He doesn't take everything.
And when he takes something, you say, oh,
Allah, thank you for at least leaving me
with this. Some people lost power when we
had the ice storm for the last couple
of years. Those people who lost power had
family or friends or neighbors that would take
them in. Alhamdulillah.
What if you didn't have that?
What if you didn't have that? So when
Allah takes, there's always something there that he
leaves. May Allah ta'ala give us that gratitude.
May Allah ta'ala make us those who live
this la ilaha illallah in a way that
is meaningful. Ameen Amin Yaruba Alemeen. Barakallahu akim
everybody. JazakAllah Khayran. We're going to go ahead
and head over to the masala for Maghrib.
If I can ask everyone who sat on
the back jacks just to do me a
favor and line it up here on the
front. And if you sat on one of
the black chairs, if you can fold it
and just put it on one of those
carts in the back, they stack nicely, so
you'll be able to see how they stack.
Jazakumullah Khayran.
I'll
see you guys in the masala. I'm gonna
head over from Motiv.