Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Study, Study, Study, Until You Depart
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Muhammad
Surah Al
My dear respected
friends,
this is a topic
which is not being covered, obviously, for the
first time.
Online,
you'll see numerous
treatments of this topic
covering it from
every angle, lots of experiences. That's why
when this topic was first suggested to me,
I
wondered why this topic would be chosen again
because if somebody's choosing
such an essential, such a basic, such an
elementary, such a fundamental
topic, then there must be a very good
reason to choose that topic.
And I don't think it's a topic that
we can have enough of because
most of what we speak about, generally speaking,
since this is not some kind of academic
seminar, academic seminars
generally tend
to go towards cutting edge
research,
new findings in the field, new investigations,
new solutions and researches.
That's generally
when you speak about academics, that's what it's
all about. It's about a new contribution,
something original.
But when we're speaking about
the real fundamental
talk,
lecture
with the believers, with the mumineen,
advice and naseeha is as Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says, Wa dakir
fa'inna thikratan fa'ul mumineen,
remind because reminders benefit the believers.
So this is all about a reminder.
So as many times as this topic may
have been covered from as many angles that
it may have been dealt with, it is
still something Insha'Allah that we can Insha'Allah benefit
from because it's just to remind us again.
And the reason for it is quite simple,
it is
extremely important.
Without Ulm you can't have Tawhid,
you can't have the Oneness of Allah without
knowledge, you need a certain amount of knowledge
and guidance and light
to recognize the Oneness of Allah,
Divine Monotheism,
you need to have knowledge for Risaalah.
And that's why the first Wahi, the first
revelation as the verses that I recited earlier,
Recite in the name of your Lord who
created.
So creation is the
first
act by which we're in this world.
If there was no creation we would not
be in this world.
It's only after creation that everything else can
happen for us. This is where we start
becoming relevant.
Otherwise,
we're in the realm of the unseen, we're
in the realm of un existence.
Who knew who we were before we came
into existence?
If Allah had chosen not to bring us
into existence,
what would he have mattered?
Who would have missed us? Do you understand?
So if you really think about it, that
the fact that you
and I,
every one of us
was chosen by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala out
of all of
the possible creations,
possible beings,
possible insan and human beings that could have
come out of non existence into existence,
you and I were chosen.
So one of the most essential things is
Iqra
Bismi Rabbikal Lali Khalaq. Read in the name
of your Lord who created.
Very fundamental aspect. And then Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala says,
expressing how the human is created.
Procedure,
created from a clot of blood. Not created
out of nothing, but created out of a
clot of blood.
Of course the first human was created out
of nothing in a sense, but everything goes
back to its origin.
But Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala speaks about that.
Then to carry on,
again read,
and your Lord is the most honorable,
most benevolent.
Akram kareem, kareem generous,
benevolent,
open hearted,
honorable,
the most giving in that sense.
And He is the most giving, Akram.
And then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, what
did He say next?
Who taught
by the pen. The pen is being spoken
about after creation.
What a significance the pen has. But imagine
it, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is
receiving his first revelation.
The first wahi is coming to him. And
the first
point that's being made here after talking about
creation is the pen, writing. And what does
writing do?
It provides knowledge, it allows the transference of
knowledge,
that's what the pen does.
When it allows the capturing of knowledge, it
allows the recording of knowledge,
it allows knowledge to become etched forever,
it allows certain wisdoms
of knowledge
to be recorded
and then to be preserved for others.
You can only speak to so many people
at once,
But then to record it by pen and
then today with all of these other modern,
modern media,
instruments that we have, then that's another method
of getting knowledge to others. So
He taught the insan that which he did
not know. So now
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is not being
talked,
addressed in this in these
series of verses, this cluster of verses that
he first listened to, there was no discussion
of Tawhid,
no discussion of the oneness of Allah.
There's no discussion of that, as Allah speaks
about that one of the major themes of
the Quran is
This biggest theme in the Quran is One
of the greatest of the themes in the
Quran is
No is mentioned here, the prophecy of the
Messenger
That's not mentioned.
None of these things are mentioned.
The Akhirah, eschatological
realities, the unseen world, life after death,
the day, such an important aspect. Again that's
not mentioned in the first revelation.
These are what we consider to be the
most fundamental
important aspects of our religion but none of
this is mentioned. What is mentioned is
how the human is created, the fact that
he's created now, he has existence,
He's a being and now knowledge.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala taught and the pen
is spoken about here.
Anybody
that means anybody who's involved with the pen,
for the sake of the deen,
then this must be truly a blessing.
And the juxtaposition here is that the Prophet
is unlettered,
he is Ummi.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala teaches him, and
he brings his verse to him.
So in this verse Wahi there's no mention
of Tawhid or Isalah or the day of
judgment.
You
have so many verses about that but not
in this verse, It's about knowledge.
The first
message. This proves something,
that if that is the first receipt
of divine revelation
by the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is
about knowledge, then what does it tell us
about knowledge? It tells us the importance of
it. And the prophet
was not a younger man when he received
this first revelation.
How old was he?
He was 14.
And in this is a sign that knowledge
never ends.
Unfortunately, unfortunately,
I've heard so many people, I've heard so
many people, I've gone and given speeches in
areas.
And I'll get compliments from adults, from parents
generally,
and they'll say, really thank you for coming.
We need to hold more of these programs
for our youngsters.
As though it's the young people that need
these things and not the old people.
Seriously, there is an idea out there
that all the people it's all the focus
is on the younger people. Yes. The younger
people, there's a focus. We know now
that that the it's it's it's already tried
and tested that the older people where they
are. They know where they are. Right? But
now we wanna make sure we preserve our
young people. But if the entire focus is
all about what we can do for our
children, what we can do for our children,
not what we can do for ourself, then
it's almost as if we are outsourcing this
to others.
It's almost as if we're outsourcing this to
others. For example, just to bring the relevance
of women into this, there's
a really nice saying in Urdu, I'll translate
it for those who won't understand it. It's
that,
Right? It means if a man studies something,
then it means an individual has studied something.
In the general scheme of things, I mean
of course.
But it says, if
a woman studies
then
Right? The entire family. And it's only through
families that you will eventually get to the
community.
Because the amount of power that a single
woman have, the mother has, right from
the quality time that she gets with her
child,
at her breast, in her lap, that quality
time and the transference of that knowledge, the
more she knows
the better she will interact with this child.
And in Islam we also believe,
we also believe in the power of induction,
transference of spirituality,
Baraka, blessing through induction,
which means heart to heart.
Being in the company of people with strong
hearts, strong knowledge, strong understanding, strong connection, Ma'rifah
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. It's only through
knowledge you're gonna get Ma'rifah of Allah Subhanahu
Wa
ta'ala. That's why they say that when you
do study, what should be the intentions of
your study?
Now when we say study,
let us break it down.
Unfortunately,
in, because we have so many formal ways
of study,
it's become reduced
to formal formality.
Let me explain that. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says in the
Quran,
Those who remember Allah standing, sitting, and on
their sides.
Those who remember Allah standing, sitting and on
their sides.
If we tell people do dhikr of Allah,
most people as understand that to go and
sit down in a place quietly, head bowed
down,
close your eyes or whatever it is and
just immerse yourself in
a special session of the remembrance of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. That is definitely a method
of remembrance of Allah and a very Mubarak
way of doing so. However, Allah wants us
to remember him more than on special occasions
and more than in a formal setting. Allah
wants us to naturally remember him all the
time, to be constantly connected with him. That's
why Allah says here, that those who remember
Allah standing, sitting and lying down
on their sides.
If we understand this from the perspective of
one who understands dhikr to be a special
sitting,
a formal gathering, then can you imagine what
kind of bad adab the person has what
Allah is speaking about who's lying down on
his side and remembering Allah? Have you got
no adab?
Don't you have any etiquette? Don't you have
any respect for Allah that that's how you're
doing dhikr? But that's
obviously a criticism based on misunderstanding.
The misunderstanding is that dhikr needs to be
done in a formal setting. It doesn't. Dhikr
is a state.
This sitting down in a special session in
a formal
state helps to develop a constant state of
remembrance which Allah wants from us. Those are
the ones closest to Allah And thus knowledge
needs to be like that as well. Then
a person is not going to reduce their
knowledge to something only taught in Maqdabs for
their children.
But it's going to be, I wanna teach
my children, I want my husband or wife,
my spouse to be studying, and I wanna
be studying.
That's why if you look at some of
the successful ulama of the past, not all
of them but a lot of the most
successful ulama of the past,
they didn't all necessarily start young.
Many of them were inspired later in life
and still Masha'Allah broke all
records in a sense.
Against all odds, Imam Abu Hanifa is one
of the biggest examples. Starts off as a
wealthy businessman,
a trader.
And how many of them do we have
out there? You know somebody who set up
his business, who just needs to manage it
now, you know, without wanting to you know,
because today, unfortunately, we're in a race game
today. You have a bit, you want more,
you want 3, you want 4, you want
5. Today, it's a crazy game out there.
It's a crazy game out there. Believe me.
I feel I I I feel the pressures
of it because I'm from a business oriented
family.
So I feel the pressures of it. There's
just so many things that I see that
I could do business in. I just have
to withhold myself because I've tasked myself with
something else, and I know that getting into
business is going to
encroach on my study of the knowledge and
trying to disseminate it. The paths that I've
chosen, I hope there's Tawfiq in there.
So
for those out there who are established,
the example of Imam Abu Hanifa is wonderful
it's a perfect example for them. That they've
got a business,
they can continue and oversee and develop their
time. If you're successful in establishing a business,
it means you've got the mind.
You've got the mind to study knowledge, to
remember facts, to correlate between ideas,
to provide some analysis,
to
take out the best possible meanings in in
cases.
If you're a person out there who likes
to remember everybody's bad points,
you're the repository
of everybody's liba,
you know about everybody the low downs,
you've got the ability to memorize the Quran
it means.
But what you've used your mind for? And
again I'm not talking to anybody specific,
I'm just speaking to the heart.
Different types of people, whichever category of people
a person may fall into. If you've got
that ability to remember everybody's good or bad
points whichever side you fall, doesn't matter.
You've got the ability to memorize hadith.
To remember those facts of hadith and knowledge.
Go and start studying.
Studying doesn't have to be formally in a
madrassa.
It can be by attending duroos and lectures,
then demanding from your ulama to provide,
to upgrade that to more focused durus and
lectures. Many masajid are still on lectures and
bayans and in spirit just to get people
inspired.
We need to move beyond that and provide
classes as well as many Masajid are doing.
You attend those things.
In our local area where I was Imam
for five and a half
years, Alhamdulillah, there was a demand from women.
I mean, there's, in that area, Masha'Allah, they've
got a lot going for
the the the guys anyway, the the men.
But there was a demand from the women
and they were, you can say, underprivileged in
that regard. They were deprived. This was a
deprived borough for women in a sense. There's
many deprived boroughs for women, we only talk
about it monetarily.
But in this case it was religiously deprived.
They had general piety but in terms of
solid knowledge that was a difficulty.
So we started a class for 2 years,
a 2 year class, a 2 year class
for older women and we had students in
there from the ages of 17
to 50 something, up to 60. Masha'Allah. A
range. The idea was a 2 year class,
4 days a week, 3 hours a day,
3, 6, 9, 12 hours a week. In
the morning, they were wondering, these were women
who were either not yet married, but weren't
going to university or not doing anything and
wanted to study but didn't want to pull
themselves in a full time madrasah and alima
course as such. Right?
And these were also women who whose children
had gone. They were either going to school
or they're already done, and now they wanna,
you know, instead of watching TV or going
and shopping, surfing,
doing a lot of gossip or whatever the
case may be that people use their time
making sure they keep on top of EastEnders
and all these other weird things that people
do nowadays just to pass their time, right?
They,
they they, MashaAllah, attended these classes. So 1
year was done,
2 year was done,
and they said we don't wanna leave.
What is this 2 years? We don't wanna
leave.
Okay, fine. So we developed a syllabus for
them for the 3rd year.
We don't wanna leave again.
So a 4th year, I believe they're in
their 5th or the 6th year now.
They don't wanna leave. This is a lifelong
thing. Yes. They determine when their holidays are
and, you know, and all the rest of
it. They they
basically
designed their own class there but we provide
it.
I've left them, it's still being provided Alhamdulillah.
But the main thing is that
they don't want to leave it once you
see you understand what knowledge is all about,
once you get that then and once you
feel the real benefit of it then you
will see that it's a never ending process.
SubhanAllah.
If I get the tawfiq to read a
book, a new book, new topic, you know
the amount of fulfillment it gives you, the
amount of elation it provides,
it's a ajeep. That's why I can understand
what Imam Shafi'i is saying. Imam Shafi says
that
the the the pleasure you get from learning
something new
for your Deen, learning something new. And this
may be the case across the board in
general, but obviously he's speaking about Deeni knowledge,
religious
knowledge.
He said, it's more pleasurable than sleeping with
a virgin.
New virgin each day.
It's a crude example, but it's a very
apt example.
And those are the pleasures that you get
from this. That's the only reason why people
can dedicate hours and hours and hours on
end to this thing.
That's the only reason people can do this
because knowledge is so powerful, it has that
attraction once you get into it.
I've got a friend who's,
in a pathology department
and his sheikh
in pathology,
his teacher in pathology, he's a non Muslim.
Right?
He is so dedicated to his area of
study. It's a university hospital, so it's not
just an occupation,
but it's also
research based.
So when his wife will
really
prevail over him to take her on a
holiday, he'll call this is in America, so
he'll call one of
the hospitals closest to the beach in Hawaii
and he'll say, let me speak to a
junior pathologist there, one of the young trainee
guys. Do you want a holiday? I'll say
to him. Do you want a little vacation?
He says, Yeah of course I do. So
say, Okay you go for a vacation. He'll
organize that, he comes and works in his
place. The hospital is fine because they've got
a world class pathologist working in their hospital.
The junior guy goes off, he goes and
sits in the hospital and works there while
his wife enjoys herself from the beach.
Now that example just reminds me of the
people of iman like Imam Bukhari who wakes
up 17 times in a single night, goes
and performs wudu, and then goes and writes
down something because it's something that occurred to
him in the middle of the night about
hadith or something.
It's Ajay, today we just pick up our
phones next door better. If If that happened
to him, just pick up my phone and
either do a little memo recording or, you
know, do a little,
note electronic note in my computer, but he
know he has to go and kindle the
fire so that he gets some light,
voodoo because everything he did generally with voodoo,
and then he goes and writes it down,
records 17 times because there was somebody who
slept with him once and this is how
it happened on that night.
It's that dedication. Now I'm not saying you
and I both have to have that dedication
today, but come on, we can't have ignorance
either.
We need to get to a level
where at least we are studying and it's
not just something restricted to our children and
our young folk.
Knowledge is forever.
Knowledge is literally forever.
And if there's a demand that you create,
then this will happen. So when you go
back to our area where where I was
Imam at Stanford Hill, so then we started
that class.
Now it's reduced to 2 days a week
because we started another class after that. Aside
from
this first batch who are still continuing,
there's another batch that we, we we brought
in and it was difficult for a lot
of them to do 4 days. So okay
we reduced it to 2 days. I think
3 hours each day or 2 and a
half hours each day for 2 days. That's
very manageable.
Alhamdulillah, it gives you time to do other
things as well. And Alhamdulillah, that's continuing.
Then we had a, we had a lot
of pressure from women who are working in
the daytime that we can't benefit ourselves from
these classes because they're in the daytime.
So then for them, we organize the class
in the evening, 2 and a half hours.
One day a week only. Cause when it
comes to evening, the demands from the rest
of the family are too great. Cause generally
most of these women are married as well.
So you know it's difficult to give a
to go for an evening class for a
woman, very difficult. But Masha'Allah, we started off
with 20 women in that area.
Right?
So that was that. We had 2 Tajweed
courses for women,
you know, running concurrently,
because that's how many people. So
you it's it's there. You have to have
the desire and somebody will provide.
Don't sit back and complain that nothing is
being provided because in certain areas nothing is
being provided. You have to take the meds
and today An'Allah you can do a whole
'Alim Alimah courses online.
There are so many people who are studying
online nowadays.
And Masha'Allah, once this knowledge thing kicks in
for example in Pakistan,
one of our Sheikhs told us that last
year, I can't remember the exact figure but
it's around a 140
female
female medical doctors who are doing medicine at
university, one of the most, you can say,
challenging
or most,
engrossing
studies that you can have where it takes
away your whole life. Medicine takes away your
life, you know, 7 years, 8 years, 9
years. It it really like governs your entire
life for that time.
They,
while they're doing their medicine, complete Alima course.
A 140 of them. A few years ago
I heard another 70 had done it, last
year was
440 graduated.
And that's not impossible.
It is all a possibility
if you want it, if you desire it,
if your connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is there that you want it. If you
understand it's the fundamental aspect of it. And
because it's so important and such a blessed
thing that's why a number of things happened.
Let me explain. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
in the Quran,
Right?
Allah bears witness. Allah testifies.
Allah testifies that there is no God except
He.
Allah testifies to that fact.
Who else testifies? And
the angels also testify.
Now anybody that Allah mentions in this case,
there must be of some honor for Allah
to mention them. Allah is enough, Allah testifies,
halas, end of story.
If Allah testifies to something why do we
need anybody else to testify?
But when you just tag on a few
more names, what does it show? Are you
going to bother tagging on names that are
irrelevant?
If there's somebody that
you want to add into the merits,
do you add people who are significant that
matter? Or do you just add every everybody's
name? Well it's generally people who matter especially
when you're short of space or when it
has to be a very succinct knowledge a
succinct point and a succinct delivery of that
point.
So Allah says, shahidullahahu
He bears witness and so do the angels
and then He says,
and the people of knowledge.
Allah is putting them at that level that
it matters when they bear witness and when
they testify because
they will do it properly.
Which will be free of shirk, which will
be free of any other kind of blasphemy.
It'll be a pure, pure testification.
Based on all of that, now you understand
something that anybody who studies knowledge, look at
the Maqam, look at the status, look at
the status that they get.
Now
Allah makes a number of things happen
for a person who's studying knowledge.
Now again,
going back to my example of the person
doing Dhikr and what Allah means by Dhikr
is somebody who's constantly remembering Allah and not
somebody who's formally engaged only.
So do not, again, do not understand somebody
who's studying knowledge to be just somebody who's
sitting in a madrassa or a seminary
studying, you know, for this many hours a
day. You could be studying 2 hours a
day and you will be at Tanibuluill,
you will be Ululuill
as long as you gain some knowledge and
it's taking you close to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
Somebody who's spending 20 hours but is not
taking close to Allah is not as superior
as somebody who spends 2 hours and is
taking you close to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Because the objective of knowledge is to recognize
Allah by him. Otherwise there's a lot of
knowledge out there. There's a lot of 'ilm,
there's a lot of data, there's a lot
of Ma'lumaat
out there. But the ilm is that which
gives you an understanding of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
And you see the description that Imam Ghazali
gives in his
in his Bidaatul Hidayah, the beginning of guidance,
the 'il is that which gives you an
understanding of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So yes,
you could be studying pathology, you could be
studying psychology,
you could be studying
philology, you could be studying lexicology, you could
be studying whatever you want. It's all
good as long as
your main knowledge is there and these additional
supplementary forms of knowledge are beneficial if you're
studying them for the Dunya, but they're only
beneficial for your Dunya.
If you're studying them to give you an
understanding of the Quran and Sunnah, then suddenly
they become even more beneficial,
even more Mubarak.
If you're studying,
philology and sciences of language, so that you
can get a better understanding of the Quran,
then suddenly that becomes
more beneficial than just studying something to earn
a living. Earning a living and studying something
for earning a living is also a blessed
thing because because the prophet
said that. It's a faridah that you have
towards
people. But again, do not think of knowledge
as a formal method of study, but also
a very casual method of study as it
used to be in the traditional lands.
And Alhamdulillah, Syria still had that.
When I studied in Syria it still had
that, most other Arab countries lost it but
Syria still had it.
Egypt became very formalized.
Egypt, Cairo, once you know the house of
Azhar became very formalized, you had to go
to Azhar, you had to go to a
madrassar.
But Masha'Allah, Syria still had high class Durus,
high class lessons going on in the Masjids
every day of the week.
You had Wahba Zuhaili, Rahimahullah now,
booty in another place, you know you had
the Abdul Fattah Bism, you had Sheikh Abdul
Razaat Al Halabi, you had Sheikh Adib Kallas
teaching in the morning numerous different types of
students that used to go, SubhanAllah.
Literally
with Sheikh Adeeb Callas, we used to go
in the morning,
He used to live in Muhajiri. Muhajiri is
on a mountain. It's on a hill, and
you had to they've made steps to climb
up outside,
right, on the side of the hill, And
it must be like a 100 steps and
you are dead by the time you get
to the top. Right? So that's that's how
you got up there. And then you went
in with your book and he taught you
and there were others waiting.
And then they then the next guy came
and said, okay, I wanna study the shahra
of, I wanna study Tafsir Khabir of Horazi.
So okay, he sits and teaches with him
teaches him for 15 minutes. And then you
can listen on to that. So you know
you get a whole range of sciences that
you can listen in on to and then
have your own book that you're studying with
him as long as he allows you.
Quite quite amazing
the way that that whole setup used to
be and I hope Allah gives them this
the stability again and removes the oppression and
the problems that they've been going through. It
is a very mubarak. Very mubarak. Very blessed.
Very blessed. That's what I mean casual.
So for example, on,
he had given me,
certain days to come in on the week.
I had only a few months to stay
in Syria, right? I was there in 98.
And
I was very pushy.
Right? And sometimes I did get onto the
wrong side. So, once I turned up on
Monday morning with my book because I wanted
to finish my book.
I was studying a commentary of Al Fikul
Akbar. Right? And I turned up on Monday
and the sheikh did
get upset.
Because that was a day when there was
a special dars
for the Ibnu Aabileen family, the famous Ibnu
Aabileen family descendants, they would come on that
day. Right? And he would be teaching them.
So I literally encroached in their space.
But what I'm trying to tell you from
this is most of those who would come
there to study,
right, would be
not just Udama who would come to study
but there were also doctors who also were
Udhamah in a sense and who were coming
and studying books in Arabic.
So these were not Bayans he was giving,
like just general inspiration lectures. He was actually
speaking he was actually teaching books to,
I believe this doctor Samir
Nas,
who comes to the UK quite a bit.
Right? He was originally Syrian. I believe that
he used to come also to Sheikh Adi
Qullas from my recollection.
So I would go in on different days
and there would be different older people down
there. Some would be doctors, some would be
others. Right? And they would be coming and
studying.
Very casually. Unfortunately, here we don't have that
situation.
El never stops.
That's why,
for the last 5, last five and a
half years or something, we've been having classes,
now in my house before we had in
Stamford Hill when I was imam there, but
now in my house, with a group of
Ullama, every once a week we get together
and we've been studying,
you know, the right now we're studying Bayadis,
Ishar'at, maraman, ibarat, and imam a commentary
of on the
5 books on aqid of Imam Abu Hanifa.
Before that we've done Bajuriz,
Tuhfatul Murid, Aja Juharati Tawhid. Before that
we did a book on logic and mantik,
Isa Goji before that. So you have to
continue.
You can't say you stop.
And
you can't say I haven't even started. You
have to start.
How long are you gonna continue just to
go to Bayans for?
Right? You have to go beyond that, you
have to get some serious study.
You have to get to some serious study
and unfortunately in some, you know, in some
of
our areas,
in some of our circles,
the the Awam have been crippled.
What I mean by crippled is
the emphasis
on leaving everything to the Ulamah has
become so much
that they feel that all
and knowledge has to be outsourced to the
ulama, and it does.
But they think they can't do it anyway.
It has to be those who spent 7,
8 years.
And yes, they are the masters, they are
the
authorities.
But
they have to just stick to Fadail.
They just have to speak to,
to adhere to virtues and they don't learn
any Masaiil
or anything. They must not feel confident about
giving a, you know, of of of knowing
the halal and haram. It's it's just being
crippled.
It needs to be more casual. Now obviously
somebody who's gonna spend hours,
years,
a decade
on the feet of scholars, at the feet
of scholars, and a mother of salah definitely
is gonna become an Alim and get Ijazat.
But people who are spending 2 hours a
week, 3 hours a week, and going and
studying a darks on hadith or aqeedah or
fadail or whatever it may be, in a
dedicated study of a book or a text
or a proper dars, right? That's still gonna
be beneficial.
So do not underestimate
yourself.
Very important
to get whatever you can.
So
the benefit of such an individual
is this,
anybody who goes on to the path of
knowledge.
And that's why the prophet shalallahu alaihi wa
sallam kept it general, he never said, Whoever
studies this much, whoever memorizes the holy Quran,
the entire Quran,
whoever memorizes this many words of mine, whoever
studies this book or that book, he never
said that.
He
says,
Whoever takes on a path Now for those
who understand Arabic to some degree,
Not as in the path.
And when when anybody says the path, it
means in their mind they've got something very
specific.
That's a very particularized term, isn't it? When
you know when somebody says the house,
what what do listeners understand from that? They
mean he's talking about a particular house, Oh
I need to buy the house.
Which one are you talking about?
Right? I need to buy a house, I'm
looking for a house. Prices are going up,
I need to buy a house. Okay Falas,
we know he doesn't have particular money, he
just needs a house.
The prophet said, Whoever
follows a path
And again it's a flexible path. Somebody could
be doing 2 months, sorry, 2 hours of
study a week. Somebody could be just logging
in once a week or maybe every day
1 hour,
you know, onto an Alim course online. You
know, for women there's that Zainab Academy, for
guys there's what, Tazki Academy or something, right?
There's numerous of these, you know, there's Zamzam
Academy, we've got select courses. You can start
off from there you know the book of
salah, the book of tahara, the book of
the book of fasting. You know at least
you know your masal of a particular area,
Right? I'll talk about how to study afterwards
a bit maybe. But the main thing is,
whoever follows a path in which he is
seeking knowledge,
and it could be any knowledge of the
shayyah that takes you closer to Allah, Allah
makes the path of Jannah easy for him.
So Jannah is beginning to welcome this individual,
okay. So that's one of the greatest benefits.
The path of Jannah becomes easy, it becomes
facility. Allah Saa Allahu
Allahu Allah facilitates and makes easy the path
of Jannah. The more you know about your
deen the closer you can be to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala because you just know more
ways ways to do it.
Right?
I was
looking
online,
and I fell across this blog about people
who travel a lot
and how they maximize their travel at the
lowest cost.
And it's ajeeb things. I'm a major traveler.
I love traveling. Right? That's my hobby.
It's part of my vocation as well. But
when I looked at that I thought, SubhanAllah,
look at the knowledge and the experience that
they have in this thing.
Right? The experience that you can get
that you thought you know everything, you know
the ways to travel and the best ways
to travel. And I learned so much in
a single day just looking at that blog.
Knowledge
that that that tells me
there's another website that we have, in the
UK,
Hot UK deals.
Right? People go on there. They find, you
know,
hot products that are going for a really
good deal. If you want to find, for
example,
maybe a USB drive or something like that,
you go on there, you check, and it
gives you some of the best deals out
there because the guys who are out there
looking for deals, this is their hub. This
is them. This is I mean, I hate
to use the word Mecca, but Mecca has
become this kind of word, unfortunately,
a place where people gather. Right? Unfortunately, we've
got Mecca bookmakers as well, but that's a
different story. So it's that we need some
hot u hot beanie deals
where you can get the best out of
these things.
But what I'm trying to say is that
when you start looking at these things,
you and you start studying knowledge,
if I benefited so much from that one
day or one one visit to that blog,
can you imagine how much I can how
much anybody can benefit by just studying a
new set of hadith?
Suddenly the world opens up to you, possibilities
open up to you, and then it takes
you closer to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So
what else happens? What are the other perks
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala provides for people
to study? Another one is Allah gets the
angels
to lay down their wings
in honor of the people of knowledge.
So when they walk,
angels have lowered their wings
in respect and honor for them. We can't
see this but we're being told this and
our belief is on this. What else happens?
Suddenly when you start studying knowledge, you start
getting Baraka,
you start being blessed, things start happening. Allah
makes things easy. There is an initial test
period sometimes,
Allah wants to test us. But Allah then
provides in Namal Ursuli Yusa.
So what the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said
that the birds in the skies pray for
the students of knowledge.
The fish in the ocean
pray for the students of knowledge.
You know how many fish we're speaking about,
that fish kingdom,
any program on the deep oceans, Allahu Akbar,
amazing.
The birds,
they pray for the Shurzal, for them it's
all beneficial.
The reason is that anybody with knowledge will
be expected
to keep the equilibrium of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala in this world. Allah says
Allah has placed a balance in this world,
do not
disturb this balance,
do not go over this balance.
If you have knowledge then you will keep
the balance of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in
this world. When When you keep the balance
of Allah
in this world now, this world is quantum.
Everything is linked to each other, whether we
see those links or not.
Everything
links to others. That's why Allah says in
the Quran,
Beware of a fitna, a trial, a test
that will come to you or a punishment
in this case
that will not
only
afflict those
who were oppressive.
It's not only going to be targeted at
those among you, 1, 2 people who are
oppressive, but it will reach all of you
because of those oppressive people. Allah says in
Surat Al Isra, Allah says,
When we want to destroy an area or
bring punishment to them,
That when we want to destroy a place,
we just get the first kin in the
area, the transgressors in the area to do
their transgression
and then the the decree comes upon them.
The decision is made and then we just
destroy them.
So remember, everything has an impact on others.
If you start studying and you're a businessman,
you start studying and you're a doctor, you
start studies and you're a street cleaner or
you're a taxi driver, you will add to
the benefit of this world,
the equilibrium and the balance of this world.
And that's why the angels make Dua for
you and lay down their wings.
The birds,
the animal kingdom makes
Dua for you because
when there is Baraka in a place,
the Baraka is
spread beyond the individual.
When there's even in a place, it spreads
to others as well. That's why we have
the whole concept, Amrul Ma'ruh Vandayyanil Munkar. You
know, to assist each other and to prohibit
each other Because it's a whole quantum theory
you're dealing with. So if some people are
if more people are studying in an area,
then the birds benefit because there's more food
and sustenance out there.
Real sustenance out there.
Allah doesn't put away the sustenance because of
the sins that people commit.
So there's huge amounts of benefit and that's
right one statement Allah makes in the Quran,
Can the people who know
be the same as those who don't know?
It's a question, it's Allah asks this question
in the Quran to make us think, can
they be the same?
So when we know something, can we be
the same as when we don't know something?
Forget about comparing people to people. Those who
know, those who don't know. That's obviously what
the verse means but it also can
mean the people who didn't know and now
they know.
Can they be equal? So which state do
we want to be in?
Huge amounts
huge amounts of these benefits.
That's why in Madinah Munawwara to finish off,
in Madinah Munawwara there was a madrasah.
I heard this from our Sheikh recently, there
was a madrasah in Madinah Munawwara.
With it had sleeping quarters
but not dedicated ones.
People slept anywhere,
wherever they found space.
There were no rooms or dormitories,
there were no beds,
there were no special mattresses
like the way we have them today.
You know take
your son to a Madrasa, you look at
all of these things today. In that madrasa
there was nothing of that nature. There was
no kitchen,
there was no refractory,
no dining hall,
no refrigerator,
no supplies.
They used to stay hungry for days on
end sometimes.
It's whatever came, full lesson on Tawakkil.
So the lessons
were being learnt as they studied,
and that was a lesson in Tawakkil as
they continued.
And
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was told, ordered
by Allah
to focus on these individuals, keep himself with
them. So Allah says in the Quran,
Restrict yourself,
withhold yourself, keep yourself
with
these people who call on to their Lord
morning evening,
seeking just Him.
This was the state of these people, they
were in a constant state of Dhikr with
their knowledge.
They weren't just
formal students
in the way we understand as formality.
And
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
used to stay with him.
Then
what was their syllabus?
They had a very simple syllabus,
but it was rich.
And their syllabus was the Quran.
Their syllabus was the Quran, as it was
being revealed fresh fresh.
And their teacher was Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
So they had the teacher as Rasulullah,
the Quran was their syllabus.
Time table,
24 hours.
No sleeping time this time, and this time,
and this time, 24 hours schedule,
That was their study.
Because their study was not from a book,
their study was heart to heart.
Their study was full on observation,
experience,
induction
and benefit like that. Good companionship
with the sahbab of Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa
sallam, 24 hour timetable.
Who was their examiner?
They had an exam, and you know their
exam wasn't once a year,
wasn't twice a year, wasn't 3 times a
year, there wasn't a test every week, there
was a constant state of tests.
And their test
was given by whom? Who was the examiner?
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Allah is their test,
Allah test them day in and day out.
That's why Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says about
these people,
These are the people who Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala has tested their hearts for their God
fearingness,
for the purpose of knowledge,
for the purpose of the knowledge that they
were
withholding themselves therefore.
But SubhanAllah
the teacher had trained them well.
Did they pass in their knowledge? Did they
pass in their exams? Of course, every minute
of it they passed. Because their teacher was
Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
So
they passed and thus Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
gave them graduation,
a certification.
What was their graduation?
It wasn't a graduation
that will happen one day and you have
to
remember it somehow,
It was a graduation that was to be
remembered forever,
that the entire population of those, the entire
readers of the Quran until the day of
judgement
will continue to sing their graduation
RadiAllahu
Anhu Baradhu Anhu. Allah is pleased with them
and they are pleased with Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
This was their graduation.
So this is, you can give it the
name,
Jami e Tu Sufah,
Madras e Tu Sufah,
the Sufah University,
the Sufah College,
whatever you want to call it, give whatever
fancy name you want to it, but that
was it.
The one that Sufah which means
that platform. That was the crude,
essentially the setup,
but rich in content, rich in experience,
rich in benefits. And subhanAllah,
look at what they get,
Even prophets have been sent to study.
As
and the points that he derives from there,
it's amazing. Maybe for another time. But for
now all I will mention is that it
doesn't matter what age you are, what you're
doing,
dedicate some time to some serious study of
knowledge. Find some classes out there and Allah
has made it easy.
You know, Allah has made it easy in
this time
of dearth of scholars.
It is time when we don't have enough
scholars to go around and teach.
Well, in England we're blessed anyway, we have
that. But in America, for example, they don't
have that. And in some areas in England
we don't have that. But what we do
have, especially subhanAllah, in those places that are
deprived of ulema,
they have online
access.
You know, cheaper than anybody else.
More available than anybody else, like in American,
many western countries where there's maybe a dearth
of scholars, SubhanAllah.
So access online, this class is at your
disposal, put it on when you want. How
in history, if you told somebody in history,
you know, 2 centuries ago, that you can
make the Sheikh speak when you want, and
stop him when you want, rewind him when
you want.
They say, What are you talking about? Subha
Allah. What are you talking about? Can you
imagine it? In those days, the sheikh said
something, hundreds of people in the class, you
had to write it down or memorize it.
You lost it, you lost it. It. But
now you can rewind the shaykh,
take him back, start him again, listen to
him 10 times,
put him on repeat,
He's yours Allahu Akbar.
The shaykh is yours today,
do whatever you want with him, use him
Allahu Akbar, just don't abuse him.
So it's made it so much easier, so
much easier. So dedicate whatever time that you
have. May Allah
help us. May Allah help us. That's why
these are the
keep these points in mind. Why do you
wanna study knowledge? Right? I've got 6 points
for you.
6 is kind of like this magic number
you have a lot of 6 points right?
So this is a very important 6 points
as well.
Number 1, why would you study? Because it's
a worship.
Alright? It's worship. You will be rewarded for
every moment of your study if you have
the correct intention.
That's why Ulama said to study one new
Masala, one new
ruling is superior to a 100 Nawafid, 1000
Nawafid
because you can get that much closer to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with that and avoid
harams and wrongs. So number 1 is worship.
Number 2 because I'll be rewarded for it.
So you're getting reward from Allah. Number 3,
because it will give me Ma'rifah. That has
to be one of the main pillars of
Ma'rifah of Allah. It'll give me recognition of
Allah, I'll begin to know Allah the more
I know.
Number 4,
I want to then convey it to others.
That's a huge benefit.
Others, it doesn't mean becoming a big shake
necessarily
to your children,
to your family,
you know, to other people, your friends, colleagues
or whatever.
Keep your broad mind, keep a broad mind
in this. Don't be restricted.
Number 5,
so that all of these creatures will do
is step far for me.
I get the reward of the angels, the
the the birds, and the and the fish
in the ocean. I don't mind that, SubhanAllah.
Right? And number 6,
have a intention of practicing upon the knowledge.
And if you have these 6 intentions,
it'll become easier for you.
Sit here,
whenever you hear this, make this knowledge, make
this intention, make these intentions.
And you will see that Allah inshaAllah makes
the path easy for you. Get the whole
family involved.
Allah make it easy. Allah accept us. Allah
accept us because on the day of judgement,
as many of the ulama have mentioned their
experiences,
one person, one great,
scholar was seen after his death
and somebody asked him what happened.
I think it was Imam Muhammad al Shaybaan
He said, Allah told me
that
if I wanted to deprive you and punish
you, I would never have given you the
knowledge that I gave you. Go into Jannah.
If I gave you knowledge in this world,
if I gave you that opportunity and that
ability,
and I gave you the opportunity to do
it, Obviously, I gave it to you for
a reason because Allah gives
this opportunity to people he loves. So ask
Allah for tawfiq
because this means inshallah guarantee
of Jannah inshallah.
Allah accept all of us.
The the question is that there's a balance.
Allah has placed a scale, a balance.
Essentially, this is the equilibrium of this world
where everything needs to stay in the way
that Allah has wants it to to stay.
Anybody who's tyrannical,
anybody who's excessive,
anybody who's oppressive
upsets that balance. Killing somebody unjustly is upsetting
that balance. Domestic abuse is upsetting that balance.
For a person to do Haram is upsetting
that balance. If a person is even sitting
in the confines of his home privately, it's
still upsetting the balance.
Right? Because the balance
is
pain free.
Well, when I say pain I mean,
perpetrated pain, it means
a sin free,
a virtue filled
dunya. That's the balance.
Did you understand? Anybody who goes against that
balance
will be upsetting that balance.
So the people who know what's right and
wrong and what Allah wants,
then they are obviously
helping to maintain that balance. That's where the
ulama come in. They have a better understanding
what's halal and haram,
Right? Sometimes a whole community may be doing
something Haram or maybe wrong or maybe blameworthy
and they don't know because
it's just become tolerated. It's the island who
will go and try to look at these
things and figure these things out.
Do you see what I'm saying? Just one
question from my sister. How do we, as
students know we are sincere or if we
are not?
Sincerity has to be learned. I mean this
is
sincerity
is a very difficult thing, right? But it's
not an impossible thing, but it has to
be learnt.
So it's just like sincerity, Shaitan is always
on our case.
We have to learn to defend ourselves from
Shaitan
corrupting our intention.
So when you start studying and you learn
something new, one thing that's going to happen
is knowledge. Al always
ascends,
rises.
So what it does to a human being
is
when you start you know,
I felt this myself. Right? You study something,
you've got your head around it, you go
outside, you think you're on top of the
world.
You think you're like, man, these guys are
all ignorant.
Right?
I'm
exaggerating it a bit. I'm exaggerating it a
bit. But
you actually feel super.
Like this is what knowledge does to you.
But it's supposed to do that in the
right way. It's supposed to make you closer
to Allah not make you arrogant.
That is one of the pitfalls, it's a
very very important question, right?
So
you never what the ulama mentioned is you
never abandon something because you think you don't
have Ikhlas.
That is what Shaytan wants.
Don't abandon it.
You start studying,
you may start thinking all of these things
or whatever, that's fine. Fight that thought
and try to correct that thought.
The way to correct that thought is look,
Allah is the one who gives me this
tawfiq to do this study and get this
exhilaration and all these benefits.
If it wasn't for Allah I wouldn't have
done it. So is it me doing it
or is it Allah?
As soon as you start understanding that Allah
is in the picture here, he's the one
behind all of this, what's the point of
being arrogant? Allah could give this to somebody
else?
So thank Allah, shukar
shukar
shukar. Thank Allah for he's doing this. Now
still, Shaytan will keep coming and encroaching, you
just keep doing that, you just keep orienting
yourself. It keeps going wrong, you keep getting
right. And eventually you will notice that one
day you will be more right than wrong,
you'll be more clear and less polluted.
And that is when you know that you're
getting somewhere but don't ever leave it because
you're never going to learn Ikhlas without
the trial,
without training yourself. You can't say I'm gonna
pull this many weights and never train for
it. Do you understand? You have to get
into the field and start training for it.
Otherwise, you'll never learn your Ikhlas and ask
Allah for Ikhlas.