Abdur-Raheem McCarthy – The search for spirituality I Abdur Raheem McCarthy & Yusuf Chambers
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Alhamdulillah and we've got back with us due to popular demand. Sheikh Abdul Rahim, McAfee all the way from, well, USA islands, and now he's in Istanbul. So she extra modicum reconciler. Morocco ekeler habibi. How are you shaky? You're right. I'm good. I'm good. How are you? Yeah, good, good. Good. How's Ramadan shaping up under lockdown for you in Istanbul? First of all, Abdullah, I'm enjoying it. Honestly, you know, we talked about before, I'm keeping busy with all these are live lectures that we'll be giving on Baylor. And it's in a way I mean without having to get on the plane and travel around the world. And it's actually all I have to do is just take my laptop and come sit
at the side of the table.
I'm good. I'm there.
It's been it's been quite beneficial. I'm missing some of the things you know, I posted the other day just actually assist I don't know if you saw on social media, but it was it was very interesting.
I was walking to the mosque where the last time to walk through the Mosque, the Masjid here in Turkey. And as I was walking, I just felt like overwhelmed. It's like this wish, and I don't know where it came from. It's just weird, you know. And I was just there that was like this amazing feeling the atmosphere. So I took on my phone, I started to film. And I didn't realize that this was going to be one of my last walks to the mosque, you know, before. Yeah, that was so special. I was really, you know, emotional. And then as I was clearing out some videos on my phone just as like, Well, I remember that I filmed that. Yeah, walks up. I posted it yesterday. Subhan Allah. So I mean,
that obviously, you know, no doubt that those aspects you miss, being able to come together with your brothers break your fast, you know, three times a week together, obviously, we missed that. But we always had to remain positive and look at the positive and the good there and things will happen between now
and also that there's massive history there in Istanbul and that what was that the solar mania, that you were going yeah, we have money. And that's actually one of the things that miss it was actually one of the beautiful things that the brothers that we worked with there that they've done in Ramadan is to have a thought with non Muslims. Yeah, non Muslim tourists who are visiting, we invite them to have the Iftar with us and I remember one time we count it and it usually would be about 14 different nationalities and then when we would count them you know, sometimes 10 Sometimes 14 Maybe a bit more different nationalities all around the world who are breaking their fast and for them
they were a bit shocked and this is one of the great things is and how to build bridges is to do these type of events. You know, we're fasting Ramadan what does this mean I remember when we had the program, I don't know if you ever took part in Qatar, where they had the the breaking of the fast with the non Muslims. So we would invite different non Muslim community members who are living in Doha too fast with us and we would give the organization organize it they will give 400
Country rails it's a bit of $100 and charities whoever finished the day fasting obviously they wouldn't get the money in their hands that they would it would all be given as a group some to a specific charity, you know, whether it was building wells or feeding for whatever the project was, and any many of them took part and they and they felt with us and it was amazing and there would be like some reminders and we'd have to break our authority together. So when when people do these types of things, and they experience it for themselves it actually has it has a huge impact so they were coming to see the mosque and it's one of the many this mosque and even though I prayed there
all the time in the studio many but when I when every time I go in it's just like an all it's amazing the architecture of the Ottoman Empire is really amazing. And you see that all of the massage throughout Turkey but then he this was you know, they would come and they would see the mosque and we would invite them to have a thought we would always bring you know traditional what the Turks you know break their fast with so they were mashallah they were
you know, they really were impressed by that and it was a great impact that had on them to be able to sit down with us and really enjoy the moment as the data is being called. We're breaking our fast and we're explaining what it is today is what that putt is so it's really really so that's one of the things I really missed. I really enjoyed that last room alone and hopefully inshallah we'll be able to have it Inshallah, in Romans coming inshallah. Inshallah inshallah. Inshallah. Yeah, that's a very good point. So Ramadan is actually, one of the things we've been talking about to some of the other guests throughout the last 14 days, is the fact that Ramadan is the month where a lot of
people embrace Islam, a lot of people actually get more open, you know, I mean, you know, is it something to do with the fact that shade tans locked up and gates of Jahannam seem to be open and,
you know, more open in this month? Well, I believe that
that's actually one of the points no doubt about that. But I think something else, and this actually would have a huge impact on me when I first became Muslim is that the Muslims themselves in Ramadan, they become better Muslims, they become real Muslims, you know, so if that's the impact of them, and then you reply, so therefore, dope
Whether we're trying to control our anger, the teachings of the premises dilemma someone curses usually I'm fasting, I'm fasting. So this type of implementation of all of these things at one time, it's taking the Muslim where he were, Allah wants us to be throughout the year. And sometimes we don't realize this, we don't focus on enough that the objective Ramadan is not just, you know, one month, mashallah I'm doing a lot of good deeds, I'm a good person getting my sins forgiven, you know, way to Jana, to the paradise and then and 11 months, you know, on a highway to *, you know, this is unfortunately, what many, many do but so in that atmosphere, when people see the true beauty
of Islam in the month of Ramadan, I think it has a huge impact. And I recall when I when I became Muslim in 1994,
two weeks after I became Muslim was Ramadan. So you can imagine for me, I'm reading about Islam, what Islam is. And then I'm seeing the Muslims, like, in the books like, well, you know, night prayer, and no, it is cool. And you know, if people are practicing this, everyone's holding up Quran, publica, in the history books, I'm like, This is amazing, you know that you could feel the impact, huge impact on me, the fact that I was, you know, a new Muslim, and Ramadan really, really helped me out. And
I'm really lucky. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. Of course, that is true. And same thing happened with me as well. So the same thing happened to a lot of brothers and sisters have become Muslim in this beautiful month of Ramadan.
I wanted to focus today, Abdul Rahim on
how one would try to develop an inner the inner dimensions of the faith during this month, what are the some of the you know, the ways that they can promote this spiritual inner development because, you know, it's not just a set of rituals and bowing down and it really is just the Imam, going on another level during this Ramadan. So what is the way that we can promote a high heightened state of Imam in this beautiful month of Ramadan? No, I mean, if you look at what's happening on the lawn, Muslim in a minute of the things we just mentioned, and it's it's a complete way of like, there's so many different things, and so many different changes that are that we're going through, that it has
to have an impact on your mind as to an impact on your spirituality. That's why we see the changes in the Muslims. And in many, many non Muslims, Sunni will use it, some of them embrace Islam, when they see this, others they're happy. And Ramadan, because they see, and in the state of Muslims are much calmer, they're in a much better state.
During the month, they see the impact of the spirituality has on us. But something very interesting that I want to mention. And I've talked about this in many of my lectures, if you look on YouTube, and you look at the morning routines of all of the successful people around the world, they call them power mornings, you know, they focus in in the maybe the common denominator in these power mornings, of the successful, it focuses on three main areas. One of them is working out early in the morning, and in most of them, you know, because they realize they're gonna be busy during the day, you know, he's the CEO of a multi million or billion dollar company, he's not gonna have time to
work out during the day, most likely. So he gets his workout or in the morning, that also it also gives him energy throughout the day. And then they have a healthy breakfast. And after that, the third thing that almost all of us focus on is a spiritual time. And they do this in different ways. And this is any for Muslims. It's very interesting, because we have that spiritual morning, as part of our tradition is part of what Islam teaches us to do early in the morning, unfortunately, do we benefit from it or not? That's one question. The second thing is, have we promoted it to others. So they know because they're looking at, for example, if you look at
I saw that the morning of Oprah Winfrey, for example. And it was interesting, really, really stuck out to me about her morning is that she and her spirits think she has like a spiritual room. I guess when you have a few extra dollars, you could have a room for that.
So she had, you know, her spiritual morning. And she had, you know, different scriptures that she would read, you know, from different times. So she's insert search, because as a human being, and you no matter what your background is, no matter where you come from, you're in need of that spirituality, that just like now we know how to take care of our bodies physically. And we've gotten to a point now and 2020, we realize the food that we were eating in the 80s and 90s and onwards, it wasn't real food and we realize the harms, and there's been a big movement to come back to healthy eating. Okay, what about spirituality and what's missing there? And I remember I set with a group in
Ireland, and sometimes and it may be and as leaders or as an activist, as you call yourself, the Muslim community and in the West, sometimes we don't really realize the
the situation of other communities sometimes we're so focused on our own communities, we don't realize what's happening other communities. So it was actually a very interesting
It's for me, we were traveling in Ireland, and one of my friends, one of the brothers from the local community, and we need to stop and in a, we're going to pray. And we're in the middle of this village, you know, far away from where we lived. And it was time for us so so we ended up stopping and he said, My relatives, the theories and laws, you got married to an Irish lady that are family was non Muslim. So when they're praying, they're theirs. They're very hospitable, they opened up for us to house and put the dog outside, so we could pray. And, you know, as they were about to leave that I thought she had made his tea, you know, like the traditional Irish Wait, she made his tea,
and he had cake for us and all this. And we sat down, we talked and we kept talking, we ended up staying actually to slaughter Russia, then they're in their 60s, they were they were very active in the community. So they were talking about, you know, the Suicide Prevention,
the suicide prevention, you know, that,
how it happens, and how the people kill themselves. And it was just, it was just really for me, like, you know, mind boggling. And some of them like, we don't really have big bridges in Ireland, you know, you've been there, you know, you're like this 10 meter bridge, and he's jumping off and falling to heavy current and kill himself. And as he's drunk or something, I don't know. So just to put this it's a very high rate. And they when they start to explain things to me, right next door mosque, I didn't realize is that you see, the volunteers who are there all of the time, I said, Yes. He said, they're there for suicide prevention. I didn't realize how big it was. But when a person
and when third people have any, all of the good me, you don't have to have a job and Ireland and you can survive, the government takes care of you. So I mean, it's not like that bad, where you're gonna, you know, you're gonna starve to death or something like that. Even if your situation is not the best. It's not that bad that would, you know, make you jump off a bridge and kill yourself. So Subhanallah just thinking about that to the people there. They're missing something that no, we know how to take care of our bodies, we know it's gonna give us strong muscles and make us stronger. But what about the spiritual side, that's something that we're really, really missing. And that's
something that we have in Islam. But first of all, we haven't truly benefited from it enough ourselves. And secondly, we haven't been able to show the beauty of this and the impact of this on others as well. And like I said, Oprah and going back to her story, she even from the things she reads in the morning as the Quran. Sometimes you'll take the Quran, she read it, she hasn't she she showed a picture of capital, Quran, she was Hendo stuff, she reads, Christianity, Judaism, she reads everything. Because she needs that spiritual time any a lot of the non Muslims now for example, and this you've seen very famous, whether it be with celebrities, a lot of Westerners who are focusing
on on Buddhism are focusing on forms and different forms of meditation, even if they're not Buddhist themselves, they might take from their teachings, the issue of meditation. So we have those same things, which is the vicar of Allah subhanaw taala. And he and that's why Allah said in the Quran, Allah decree law, he took monopolies that indeed to the remembrance of Allah, the hearts find assurance. And he said, on the contrary, the ones who truly weren't why people are in such a, bashed up, you know, emotional and spiritual and mental state. Because if you win, what sometimes leads to the mental illness is the emotional illness that starts it starts before then leads to a mental
mental illness after that, what did the law say, say to us, and sort of fun in chapter 20, when he said, subhanAllah, what's on all my other than decree, in the law, whom I shut and conquer that overturns away from my remembrance, that he will live a miserable life, he will live a difficult life. And this is the reality of the Bible, so many people are living around the world. So we have the solution in Islam. But first of all, it's upon us to benefit from it, and then to show the video of that to others. And once they realize that in the dhikr, any proper ticular even a lot of times, if you give the example and this is a very important as well in Ramadan is to make a change, because
number one is a month of change. And when we make this change, one of the objectives is for us to do things properly to do things, right. If you look at something for example, making the dickeya
after we make this a lot after we make this a lot we have the sooner which is to say 33 times Subhanallah and 100 Download, and then to say let you know what to do we'll actually get the whole macloan him to Allah Felicia, for the the one we reach 100 All of us know the sooner but how do most of us make this decal
with the you know, the fully automatic machine gun decal, Salesforce also have the logo and like this, what does that mean? What do you think? What do you mumbling? First of all, and what is the impact? It's just it's something that's it's like hot air coming out of the mouth, but it's not having an impact on the heart. But if you have any, so how do we truly benefit from give you an example? First of all, we're gonna take it off fully automatic, single shot set, slowly, focusing on the target, where's our target, the target is the heart that it has an impact and shot on a heart and soul time. Then we focus on the word that was an even and it's that it's not rocket science,
even if you don't speak Arabic, to know what Subhan Allah means. You know what the word Allah means Japan, what does it mean? It means to glorify so glorifying Allah, we think about the glory of Allah and
We take about the greatest of Allah. And then we say Alhamdulillah, we know what it means as well. We know it means Allah once again at Hamdulillah. And it's the praises for Allah and Hamdulillah. And then we have Allahu Akbar, the law is great. So we think about the meanings. We think about the meanings. And at the same time, we say it's slow, something amazing that I've benefited. And sometimes you don't know where the benefits gonna come. I remember there was a amazing exhibition in Dubai, which was
run by some of our brothers, and it's a government exhibition. But it's one of the traditional houses. And it had they had a calligrapher inside, they had an exhibition about Islam as Bosnian Muslims. Very, very, very beautiful. And I took my parents when they came to visit me in Dubai. And there's something very interesting when he talks about, you know, giving, Dawa outreach for non Muslims and for tourists, what are they looking for? And if people think like the big buildings and these things that they stick out to the people, people don't want to see that. As soon as my stepmother arrived with my father, she's like, where are the cameras? You know, she said, I don't
want to see these buildings. These I want to see the cameras where the cameras, you know, she wants to see the traditional way the people using the phone, I took her these traditional houses. And I took her into this place, and they were amazed. But something really amazing is that the brother who is the calligrapher there, you know, he sat down first of all, they had the tea, the Arabic tea and the Arabic coffee, they loved it, and with the dates, what have you. And then as he's writing the words for it, he said, Look, he said, even how it's pronounced how it comes out a law and look at how it comes out the word Allah, and he wrote it for them. And you as you process it like that, it
comes from in the heart, even
Alhamdulillah it comes from inside. So if you say it properly and slowly, it's going to have an impact on your heart, just do it. And then if you think about the meanings, you think about how beautiful and the blessings of Allah so you start to make the thicker now different subpanel law well Hamdulillah you didn't fill it out for law you can feel it from inside Yeah, so you're feeling that they can you making a slowly and that's going to have the impact that's the spirituality that we're that we're looking for. That's the spirituality that we need to create in our lives. Once other once you have that spirituality, automatically, it's going to have an impact on others we're
going to be able to see any mashallah look at the impact that the spiritual side of Islam has the power mornings back to that what does the law tell us in the Quran? Well, Quran and budget in the Quran and for God Kanima Shuda than in the Quran and Fajr that it's witnesses witness by the angel mean, this is a time once again, for thicker for the remembrance of Allah subhana wa Tada, the first thing that we do we wake up in the morning, what do we say as Muslims Alhamdulillah he led the firing, when we were with the Hamdulillah, the any, we praise Allah, the One who gave us our soul back in our daily routine, he that he gave me my soul back was in a levy victory. And he gave me
permission to remember him, he gave me another chance to say Alhamdulillah we have another chance in this life and other chance to do good chance to come closer to Allah subhanaw If the first thing we do is remember a lot. And then what do we do after that, and then we go and we offer our prayer, we have our time with the Quran and the budget. And we have our morning outcome, which is which is in a if we make vigor properly. It's actually a form a type of if you if you want to say meditation, because that's what people are looking for that type of meditation and have a spirituality, we have that anymore, we call it addicted. And I even remember at the end of our sessions in with our
jujitsu club in Ireland, that one of the trainers would come from another city. He went through a transformation, you know, and in these people were sometimes they're looking for something. So firstly, he went to veganism. And from you know, veganism, that he went to Buddhism and it's just, they're looking for something just you know, because they're so empty. And Simon, you know, they're missing something aside. So he at the end of each,
you know, session or training session, he would do a form of meditation. And he would just kind of sit there and he said, this might be an issue for you. Because obviously in other things they would do, for example, like they would prostrate makes to do, they had a bowing they would do we wouldn't do this, and they knew that Muslims, Western students wouldn't do this. And they were cool with that. They were very, they worked well with us as it was a great club. Very, very beautiful people.
I mean, I mean, this is Pamela the,
the he was, and the Quran, and something amazing as I was reading the Quran the other day and saw that Eunice, which is chapter 10, verse 57. I want you to pay attention to the description that Allah mentions here in the Quran. When Allah says, Yeah, you harness all mankind, all mankind. Caja at kamoa to mirabito, a Maori that has come to you from your Lord alone is not described in the Quran for us as a more either and we know the word more either. And sometimes, for example, if I come to the family retreat, and Lester, and you say can you give a more either after a little reminder, so Allah said now this more either clear instruction, a clear reminder has come to you
from your Lord. But look at the other descriptions that Allah describes the Quran with what she felt only math is to do, and it's a cure as she found
But what is in the hearts? And he said, Well, who then and guidance were Ramadan and mercy little mini and for the grievous This is the Quran and this is going to any in Ramadan Allah is bringing us back to the Quran to have this source of guidance to have this shifa to have this, this cure for what's in our hearts. And I recall that and perhaps you've heard me mention this story before, when I was a teacher in Dubai, and I was teaching a bunch of, you know,
very, you know, wealthy rich kids.
And a lot of times the people more well off if other kids are a bit spoiled, it difficult to deal with, there were good kids that come the level, they know, some, some of them will be at work, teaching is not an easy job. And whether you're teaching good kids or bad kids, and teaching, it's, it's not easy. So sometimes I would, I would feel that no leaving the classroom and like, I was like, wow, that was That was intense, 4550 minutes, you know, you have to you get your lesson plans, and you're, you know, moving constantly making sure everything's going properly. And you know, that, make sure that this one that's a step out of line, make sure this one's paying attention, and make
sure everyone's involved in trying to fulfill your job properly. As a teacher, it's very, very difficult. So I would feel sometimes, just like I was, I was gonna go crazy, you know, as I leave the classroom. So what did I do, what was my, the things that made it easy for me is that
I would just go into the teacher's room, and I would open up the Quran. And I would literally get through half of the page. And I feel just like, just just just like, the pressure reliever, just all of it is gone. And I just relaxed and feel good again. And I was able to go back right back into the classroom with no problems and have the left. So this was my, this was my cue, it was boy back to the Quran. And he remember that the principal she was she was Scottish in the people at the time of the inspection, because our owner, she had high expectations, I mean, for her school, or for a staff and the first to perform at high levels.
So, you know, she would the people, the teachers would be so stressed out because everybody was scared that they would mess up. And so she comes in, and she was passing out these stress bowls. You know, actually, I had it here the other day, because I heard my favorite jujitsu stuff, they're using it for that now. So I did benefit from it, the end that she was passing, the stress was out for the teachers to deal with, deal with with the stress, but
she can't do it. And she did. And she said this another Muslim, she CCCC me, she said, you don't need one of these, she said, You're never stressed out so much unless
she's like, you're never stressed, you don't need this. And I said, Honey, there's just It's my nature, that first of all, as a Muslim, it's my responsibility to fulfill my duty as a teacher to the best I can is Amanda. So I mean, whether the instructions here or not, I'm not going to, I'm already tried to up my game as much as I can. So ma'am, I'm not going to do much more anyways, you know, it's just, it's just that that's how it is, it's how it should be. You have your good days and your bad days as a teacher as an employee all of the time. You know, sometimes you might not be as ready as you should be, but nonetheless, and we have a certain criteria that we must meet his
teachers. So I should be like this all the time as a Muslim because responsively that's the first thing. Second thing, I'm doing my job, right, I have a good connection with the kids. So I mean, I don't go through the difficulties as much as other teachers. There's challenges, obviously. And that is much. And then I had my cure, which was the Quran and Hamdulillah. So I was never really stressed out, like, like other teachers were. So this is the beauty that anyone you need to really find that connection that needs to have that spirituality, even something in a very amazing if you were to look into some of the smaller sorters. Yeah,
just to sort of we can we can focus on without the same meaning.
First of all, in sort of a shameless, yes. And if you don't, from the beginning of the sword, or something very interesting, that it comes with a custom which which will Allah swears, and sometimes, Allah swears by different things in his creation. And what's meant by this, as the scholars of tipsy who said, is for us to pay close attention to what's coming, what comes after the customer comes after the oath, or the swear that Allah subhanaw taala is making not necessarily any the oath itself, what's coming after. That's what's important. For example, if you look at one of the smallest chapters in the Quran, and Surah Kalasa, what Allah subhanaw taala says was that he
swears by that time of that asset. And then he says in that in Salah, who said that all mankind or in laws, and that is ill accepted. The exception to the rule is the one who has four characteristics. Liliana Amoruso for those who believe, well, I'm going to salejaw they do good deed, but also will help they call to the truth, but also the sub and they go to that, to having patience, and to be able to endure these these things of having Amen, and acting and calling to the good. So this is something a very small chapter. But what's meant by the customer in the beginning when the fellow swears is what's coming at the end to pay attention to ever you're going to be in
laws unless you have these characteristics. So now if you open up and you look at chapter 91 in the Quran, so the show
which is the sun? Allah subhanho wa Taala starts this this chapter by making some say seven oaths but actually if you if you look at it in more detail, it's actually 11 He swears 11 times by 11 things and all of these things that he's swearing by are from the greatest things of the creation of the law. So if you look at verse one was jumpsuits by the sun and the brightness the brightness of the sun, well primary that Allah and the moon when it follows it, when the hurry that Allah and by the day, as it shows up with his brightness well lately they have share in by the night when it covers it when it covers the date when covers the sun was somebody Wilma, banana by the sky and the
one who built it. So here you see this actually that like and this verse is actually two things in that one so my counted is one but it's actually two things. That's what I say when it comes to 11 different things, a lot of swearing by in these verses, without the WeMo haha, and by the earth and he who spread it. Well enough sin when NASA was we hear a lot any swear message from his creation, the fact that he spread out there and then he says, When neffs in the verse number seven will masa, and by the soul and the one who perfected it, which is almost a pan of water. Now the whole, all of these swears that was making all of these oats is being made the swears this person that was making
in and swearing by in this in this chapter, it comes to verse number seven where a law says and the neffs the soul and the one who proportionate, the one who perfected it. And then Allah tells us about the nature of the soul. What is the nature of every human being on Earth? This is the bedrock it's an every single human being. And her Maha pujara how Taqwa. So Allah inspired him a lot showed him he showed the nest every saw he showed it. What is for GA, what is the wickedness what is wrong, and Taqwa and that which is right and righteousness. So every soul you know, and that's something nature. If you give the example, if I walk into
a place, and I see someone forgot his iPhone on the table, and I said, You know what sort of paying $1,000 for an iPhone, there's a free one right in front of me. And the poor guy didn't even put his lockscreen on so I can benefit.
What naturally any human being no matter what religion you follow, what's going to what's what's what's, what's your net is going to tell you, what is your soul going to tell you that you shouldn't do this? Naturally, I'm gonna look around, look around, make sure there's no CCTV because naturally inside, you know, there's something wrong, your Creator, your maker who created you, he created this inside of you, you know, this is something as well, but then look at verse 10. And this all was mentioned in the beginning of verse, this is this is the, the TJ outcome. Now, in verse number nine, when law said, alpha Harmon Zakka, that the one who will succeed is the one who strives to purify
this soul, the purification of this the one who strives for it. He is the one who is going to be successful. And the next verse, we'll call Obama, the SIR, and whoever does not strive to perfect his soul and purify his soul, then he has failed, he has any innate and he has offended he has he has corrupted his soul. So this is an it is something as small verses but with a very powerful meaning that it comes to get you to reflect on all of these great things, that from the sun, the moon, the night in the day, the earth and his great creations of Allah subhana wa Tada to show you that naturally inside, you know what is right and wrong. And you're going to either fail by
purifying yourself, are you going to, are you going to be a loser by not purifying so one of the two, this is the outcome. And if you look at a chapter, that if we follow the Sunnah we should read almost every day, which is sort of Allah chapter 87. We resorted Allah in the winter prayer, like we're doing Ramadan now, and we're paying the winter throughout the year, then most of the time, we should read this and sometimes we can change it, but reading it most of the time also in Joomla, most of the Joomla has, we read this prayer, as well. So we're gonna get from the meanings that came in this surah when Allah subhana wa Tada said, that cared for in that gear in FRTB grow, to remind
because the reminders should benefit others, remind each other, remind others be offended, like we're doing now reminding ourselves or reminding others, but that good, innovative vehicle. And so remind if the reminder should benefit that let the reminder benefit other people that Allah said there's going to be two types of people when it comes to the reminder, like someone who listens to this show right now, someone who listens to our daily reminders. First of all, the first group is saying that Guru Moksha is the one who fears a fears a lot, and he's mindful of a lot. He's going to be reminded he's going to benefit from the remainder. But the second category, Allah says, wait,
agenne Naboo Hill Ashtar and the wretched one, the evil one he's going to avoid. He doesn't want to hear, hear good. They don't want to hear what you're saying. Don't Don't Don't talk to me about about the Rando talking?
I snapped on medical spirituality, I will live my life and will live my desires. Allah said about these individuals and let the yes land now run Cooper on. These are the ones who enter into the burn into the greatest fire to malaria movie what I hear and they will either die or they will be any living in this they will live in torment and the hellfire. Then the same meaning comes that came in sort of the shadows of lemon to zek that the one who purifies you purifies his soul with his Eman with his faith with his good and righteous deeds with it with the vicar the remembrance of Allah subhanaw taala that he is going to be the one who was successful, that Allah mentions how to do that
how to purify yourself, well that got us out of biggie for Salah that he mentioned the name of his Lord and he breaks through the vicar of Allah and through our prayer. And now we look at Ramadan, how we're building on the Dhikr of ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada remember salah, we're building on our prayer.
But then Allah tells us and he says and then Allah tells us the reality of human beings why they don't follow this, even though we might know what's good for us, even though we hear these reminders, but some so many people still turn away. Although I've been to the rune l higher to dunya. But you prefer the life of the dunya you prefer this worldly life, you prefer the glamour that you're seeing in front of you, you prefer the temporary pleasure, as well as in the next verse, while I'm here to claim
that, that when you prefer this life, while the Hereafter is better and more enjoy, it's more lasting, but still you prefer the temporary pleasures. And then it's Subhanallah any something any if you look even interesting, any the last two verses wouldn't law tell us in the head LF is Sofia, Lulu, Sophie Ibrahim, oh Musa and D, this is in the form of scriptures as well, not just in the Quran. This is the teachings that were in the, the Torah and the Gospel as well. And then the last that at the end is in the social and the scriptures of Ibrahim and Musa of Abraham and Moses, because at the end are the foundations and the basic origins that the same and one of the main
objectives of all of the religions is to come to purify this source, this is now the objective of all of the religions. So this is it shows us the importance and the only way to choose success and to happiness. And many people who are doing many things around the world are looking for happiness, people will go out to nightclubs, Fe, and people will go out and party and people who are drinking, what are they looking for, they're looking for a way out looking for happiness, sometimes looking for happiness, or they might be looking for a way out. I remember one of my first visits to Ireland.
And I'm always someone in the US spent some time with me and isn't always trying to be someone who, and he reflects on what you see in front of you. And sometimes I'll send you different different signs. And it's for you to reflect. So I remember a brother he was in one of the head, takeaways getting us some food after we finished our lecture.
And there was a lady who was walking down the street, she was going home. And she was a very beautiful lady. She was she was nice. You could see how she was very beautiful. But you could see her face that she was really just like
she was in big trouble. You could see you could just see that the trouble in our face. And she was really worried and really concerned. And she you could see and emotionally she wasn't well, what was she carrying, I mean, she didn't have a bag because you know, you have to pay for the bag. In Ireland, it's a bit expensive
to pay for a plastic bag. So and people who do that they kind of just carry things in their head. So she has one big bottle of whiskey in his hand, and a bottle of like Pepsi and the other hand, so she's going home, why to get smashed now, she's gonna only get you know, to get drunk, she's looking because she's looking at Whiskey and she's looking for a way out. And you can see this in her face the trouble in her face phenylalanine. And as I look at this image on the screen, how long she is, and she's looking for something, so people that once you and that's what Allah mentioned, we go back to chapter 20.
And sort of Baja when Allah said, Woman out of antiquity, when the Lahoma, Aisha and Blanca, and whoever turns away from my remembrance,
that he will live a miserable life. And this is the reality of these individuals. One of our brothers who's a pharmacist in Ireland, he was telling me about one of the cities where my clan is originally from that over maybe 25 or 35% of the people are up to 50 I think it was he said they gave me like big numbers, a huge amount of the people that are on these, you know, antidepressants and these prescription drugs to be able to deal with it. The difficulties I think, I think he said up to 50% the city and the other cities are 25 or more percent. There's just a huge amount of any people who are on these things because they're looking for a way out they're miserable, as I
mentioned, with the only way that we can truly be any happy and find peace of mind peace of heart, it says Allah said the decree law Allah ridiculous, wonderful to the remembrance of Allah, the hearts find assurance, and it's upon us as Muslims is the benefit from these times now the spiritual time in Ramadan, and he come out as a new person and a benefit yourself and if it's your family, and then you're gonna have we're gonna have a huge impact on the world as well. And he something you mentioned at the beginning.
Today is the 14th amendment.
Today is the 14th of Ramadan. There's a principle which you know from the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And many people I know another Hadith will say in the mail Armelle orbignya. Indeed, actions are judged by intention, but there's other Hadith, it starts with the same,
same the same words, but it has a different meaning in the man who built our team, the prophet Ali's assumption that, indeed, the actions are judged by their index, meaning even if you had a bad start, but you have a good ending, Inshallah, the actions can be good. So this hamdulillah gives us you know, glad tidings for those who weren't as serious as they used to be. And it's also a warning reminder for us who started off good that you still have the opportunity if you had a bad start, but to begin to make sure that you're consistent, and you when you go to the end, and one of the wisdoms of having later other in the last 10 days, is that you don't burn out, you have to stay consistent
to the finish line, is what Islam wants us to do all of the time. That's why for the teachings of the Prophet SAW Selim that he said, habla mal law, Adama one called the most beloved actions to a law are the consistent ones, even if they're small, a number, that consistency is the key. And so Ramadan, from the beginning, we should realize that it's a marathon, it's not a sprint, there's a difference between the two, you can run in a different way. It's true, we want to make sure we can do as much as we can, but we'll make sure that we don't burn out. So if we start off good, we have to make sure that we're consistent to the rest, and that we finish properly. If we had a bad start,
we became busy with other things. For example, those who are addicted to Netflix, they're, they're sitting around just watching movies all day. And, you know, because Oh, I'm so bored. I'm so bored. And people just watching movies and watching things on YouTube, they're not very beneficial. There's a lot of things that we're watching that are beneficial on YouTube. And unfortunately, a lot of times we choose the other path. So if we if we if we're from those people any remember that there's two
very scary Hadith, or steal the scare Hadith and the process of mentioned about Ramadan. And he said that,
you know, that RhoGAM of MDMA that he made, we actually means May the person be humiliated, and this is something Subhan Allah, the Prophet alayhi salatu salam he didn't used to make dua upon people, he didn't ever say negative things. But this this type of statement from him is very harsh. But why is it very harsh and he mentioned several different things in the Hadith about this. And he from them is the one who his parents become older. And he doesn't take care of them he doesn't fulfill his duty as as a son taking care of it as his mother and father. And that shows the beauty and once again, Islam when it comes to the status of the parents, but one of the things he said as well as
the one who Ramadan enters and then finishes in a sense hadn't been forgiven. That's scary to think about that that Subhanallah and he that I had this opportunity in front of me, but I was at MOCA was someone who was acted as a fool as I follow my desires I was doing things I shouldn't have been doing and didn't benefit from this Ramadan so they made up he made it something very scary process and him would say something like this and a two individuals who don't take advantage of the opportunity so this opportunity we have in front of us hamdulillah and the fact that it's the 14th about the middle of the basically the middle of Ramadan, we still have the second half so the key
thing is we focus on benefiting now. And always I say you know, make goals and always tell the people don't think like it's something traditional something old school, get out of pen and paper what what do I want to accomplish from the beginning of Ramadan? Check your goals if you already had them written down? What did I do? Where Am I Now I'm at the middle space this is the time to really sit down and reflect at the middle What do I want to accomplish in the rest of Ramadan? Okay, maybe it was a good start humbling I'm gonna I'm gonna build on that wasn't such a good start, no problem and hamdulillah make Tober and repent to Allah subhanho wa Taala and Allah will see from me, Allah
will see from me and my actions. That's why in the verse in the corner wasn't Oh tell us because we pay to see the people and in Ramadan, what did they say? Oh, Allah. Forgive what is the most do app and you will see this entire week and we're not praying now. But in the past, you would see that if someone was making dua, when the man was making dua, and he says no, Aloma Filipina, then Obon Allah forgive us our sin, people. I mean, I mean the thing because they they know that that's me. I'm the center he's talking about. If you ask Allah for the forgiveness of the sense, then went a long way and when he when people when he asked, Oh, Lord, give us gender mean, okay, no, no, and protect us
from the hellfire. And then what I need to do I mean, these are the most three things that you see has a huge impact on people in the DUA. Allah tells us and so LM Ron chapter three, verse 133. If you really want nothing, you want a lot to forgive you. And you really want to go to the Jannah Allah says was Sadhguru ill Mo Farah Timmy Ravi Kumar Jana to hasten.
to race, go quickly to the forgiveness of your Lord and to the agenda, another set of winning the race for it. So if you really have to, if you really want it, it has to show up in your actions. So now let alone seek Me if if you were true in the first half of Ramallah, let alone continue to see from you that you're going to be even more going to increase because the sooner that we don't need to we need to remind ourselves is that the privately select them will increase the last 10 days when just keep the same pace, he would increase. So you're someone who's been doing because you want to increase you want to read more Quran, you want to make a little bit your total wait a bit longer to
in the last 10 days, perhaps even spacing out like they would do in some countries where they make it two parts you have for your family. And it is without planning being ready, not coming into, okay. It's the last 10 days we're going to do guys now how we're going to plan it out with your family, we have our plan during the last 10 days. Our plan is that we're going to have a lighter away for example, like we've been having and reading one page of the Quran and each Rekha whatever your program has been half of a page, whatever it's been something like this is for the kids to join in with us and they can finish but then during the nighttime mom and Baba, instead of sitting in
front of Netflix, they're going to sit there going to Greece and they're totally having a longer prayer during the night is less than this 10 days is the time and it's one of the good beauty now let's say there's actually a blessing the prophet that is a lot of time will make it care which is a form of self isolation. It's a form of lockdown locking yourself down, isolate yourself and it's a form to have that that spiritual time between you and your and your rope between you and your Lord. So now we're in that situation in most countries around the world hamdulillah so it's actually a blessing in disguise where we can't any really waste too much time being outside of the house
inshallah and hamdulillah Subhanallah that was pretty comprehensive, masha Allah Tabata Kala and very beneficial about how to number one how to increase your spiritual awareness and inner dimension during this beautiful month of Ramadan by making vicar but but not just doing it like machine gun style, make it absolutely in, in depth from from your hearts, say it from your heart, and enunciate all the letters correctly and with meaning with purpose. And then Allah subhanaw taala will, you know, bless you, with the remembrance of true remembrance of the creator, the one who's not uncreated, the only one that's uncreated. That's amazing, as beautiful and then recitation of the
Quran and with real meaning, when making the dubber on the beautiful verses of the Quran. You know, just to end there, you know, a lot of people think that they've got to go and they've got to complete this Quran. Just read it, read it, read it, you know, again, like the machine gun and just get through it with, you know, isn't it better for us just to make just to repeat the verses we know, to repeat the sources we know and get some sort of real in depth understanding of those? Or is it the first sort of example that we should take? Now even I mentioned in the beginning of Ramadan, that it's actually better for us to focus even sometimes, because some people may not be be that
fluent with the Quran, he may not be read that well, so he's trying to read from the Quran so you can read more? Is that really good. So and even if any, maybe focus on the small solos, you know, if you're repeating them, but you can focus on learning the meanings, okay, I'm going to be reading this surah a lot during Ramadan, because it'll memorize a lot, let me go back to the English translation, understand what I'm saying some of the words, you can go to a quran.com. And they have anyway you guys have the program, you're learning the language of the Quran, after this. So if you if you're learning the language of the Quran, and you know some of the meanings of the words, and
you can also open up it's much easier when you focus on that what you know, and that you do memorize themselves. So that would be any even better, even some of the scholars mentioned that it's better to read one verse with the duck boat than to read the entire Quran.
It's true, we want to be able to read the opponent as much as we can, and we want to be able to read the code as much as we can, but the main objective or something even better than that is to reflect and then act on the meaning of Quran that's actually better than reading the entire Quran.
Mashallah, just
shake up the room McCarthy from Istanbul and I hope that we will go to Ireland together soon. And that and establish some data there because it's our obligation to go back to our original people. You know, my father, obviously, was from there from near Dublin. And I know you've got your, your ancestry in, in Ireland, no doubt, grandparents, I guess. And so I ask Allah subhanaw taala to establish us there and to call our beautiful brothers and sisters in Ireland and around the world to the beautiful blessing of this incredible faith. And when you're truly when you're engaged in it, and you're really starting to understand in this month of Ramadan and and through this talk and
other talks we've had, we really
And he realized that we were miskeen outside Ramadan were we so blessed and we've got so much, you know, such richness, you know, that we can gain from this month. And that's one of the reasons why we're doing this whole series is to really embellish ourselves with this beautiful blessing of the deen of Islam. And I ask Allah subhanaw taala to bless you check for your your endeavors and he spent a long time studying the deen and if you're an example to a lot of the reverts out there that we need to encourage many of them to take that similar path and to explain Islam, you know, very deeply
and not just, you know, surface scratching everything, which is what we tend to do, unfortunately. And we're going to be seeing you again next Thursday, right in shoulder every Thursday.
Yeah, well, it's been beautiful seeing you again shake and dissolve here. And I'll las Panatela acceptable you I'm a little slightly higher and you're all you're fasting. And you know, I hope you enjoy the rest of your time with your family, and you really benefit each other in the house as well.
I want to come on