Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – The Power of Dhikr Even in Distraction [Hikam 47]
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Just a bit of a preamble, bit of a preliminary point about this is
that a lot of people, they start doing thicker. And then they say,
You know what, I don't feel anything.
I get distracted, I am doing my tests B or my moment and
meditation, but my mind is wandering.
I don't feel palpitations in my heart, or I don't feel some kind
of heat or I don't get that experience that I've read somebody
else get. And you know, you hear about how other people may have
had certain experiences. I don't get that so you know what, I'm
doing something wrong. It's a waste of time. shaytaan the devil
tells you don't don't remember Allah gone watch some YouTube
videos or some
Facebook something or whatever, right? So this is beautiful. This
is what he says. He says, Do not abandon do not abandoned
remembrance and invocation because you do not feel the presence of
God during
your job is not to feel the presence Your job is to just to
remember him basically,
our job is to sit there if we've dedicated 10 minutes, let me just
do that for 10 minutes.
His job is to carry on and accept it from us. Our job is just to do
that.
You just have to do it. Then he says for you. Then he says he
gives the logic behind it says your forgetfulness or your
heedlessness of the invocation of Him meaning if you didn't do it at
all
your absence if you missed it completely is worse than your
forgetfulness in your invocation of him
right for you not to do it at all is actually worse than you're not
concentrating on him while you're remembering him or while you're
actually uttering those remembrances of God
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hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam ala mobile Ruthie
Ramadan Delilah mein wider early he or Safi Abell Rocco was seldom
at the Sleeman cathedral either Yomi Dean Emeritus. So to continue
in our series on the Book of Wisdom by this Egyptian scholar
from several 100 years ago called if not artha, Illa Eskandari from
Alexandria.
This is wisdom or aphorism number 47. On page 129 It's actually one
of you have a few favorites. So this is actually one of them. It's
mashallah, it's amazing. This is what he says. He says,
let that rookie vichara Liao li either me hedonic Amma Allah
Heaphy lotta took avec they add me hadoo eurycoma Allah He fee Liana
Raflatac. And would you difficulty shut Dohmen of latika fee would
you decree
for Arsa your fac, mean Vicodin, ma we'll do these afflicting Illa
Victorien ma we'll do the coverting
Well, in victron ma we'll do the year coverting Illa Zichron ma
we'll do the Hurun
will mean Vicodin ma we'll do the whole Dorian Illa Vicodin ma
Mariah will do the rebirth in Ammersee Wilmoth cool.
Mama Daddy can Allah Allah He be as is
absolutely amazing.
What a stage by stage
description of the process.
Just a bit of a preamble, a bit of a preliminary point about this is
that a lot of people, they start doing pickle. And then they say,
You know what, I don't feel anything.
I get distracted, I am doing my test B or my moment of meditation,
but my mind is wandering.
I don't feel palpitations in my heart, or I don't feel some kind
of heat. So I don't get that experience that I've read somebody
else get. And you know, you hear about how other people may have
had certain experiences. I don't get that so you know what, I'm
doing something wrong. It's a waste of time. shaytaan the devil
tells you don't don't remember Allah gone, what some YouTube
videos or some
Facebook something or whatever, right? So, this is beautiful. This
is what he says. He says, Do not abandon do not abandon remembrance
and invocation because you do not feel the presence of God there in
your job is not to feel the presence Your job is to just to
remember him basically,
our job is to sit there if we've dedicated 10 minutes, let me just
do that for 10 minutes.
His job is to carry on an accepted from us our job is just to do
that.
You just have to do it. Then he says for your then he says it
gives the logic behind it says your forgetfulness or your
heedlessness of the invocation of him, meaning if you didn't do it
at all,
your absence, if you missed it completely, is worse than your
forgetfulness in your invocation of him.
Right for you not to do it at all is actually worse than you're not
concentrating on him while you're remembering him or while you're
actually uttering those remembrances of God. Right.
Then he says, perhaps, or soon he will take you from an invocation
with forgetfulness to one with vigilance. Stage by stage, you
learn it right to one with vigilance, and from one with
vigilance to one with the presence of God. Stage by stage thing, and
then from one with the presence of God, to the one where ruin
everything but the invoked one will be absent.
In fact, you won't even know you're doing vicar.
It's a very special status that is, you won't even know you're
doing vicar you're doing vicar is not even effect is not even
something your concentrate because you're in it. You're like you're
so in it, that you're not an outsider anymore thinking I'm
doing vicar, I am remembering God, you're so immersed in it that you
don't even think that you're just focusing on Allah afterwards,
you're not focusing on what you're doing anymore, because it's just
become kind of second nature.
That's ultimately the highest level. And that now it just in
case anybody thinks it's very psychological. So just in case
anything's that's too complicated. I'm still on the first level. I'm
not even at the first level, I don't even do it. Right. He says,
And he quotes a verse from the Quran. And that is not difficult
on Allah. He can give you that.
So that's the one I'm going to look at today. Agency is very
beautiful. It's very, very logically answers a lot of the
confusion and dilemma and the doubts that come into our mind. So
this is what the commentator is going to say. So firstly, what's
so important about remembrance? Why are we even talking about
remembrance? Why should we even focus on this? It's not prayer,
meaning it's not your ritual prayer that you do five times a
day or you're fasting and so on. So what is the remembrance of
Allah? He says, the Quran Covidien fita little comb,
vicar is one of the
the strongest one of the strongest integrals and foundations if you
want to walk the path to God, you have to remember him. What's the
point of having a god if you don't remember him? God is very jealous.
He wants you to remember him. He gave us everything. We owe
everything to him. So then why don't we remember him and thank
him Subhan Allah Allah bless a friend of mine, he gave me some
really special route the other day,
right? Don't want to distract us but I'm just giving you an
experience. It's the first time I've worn it today. It's a Mary
okie Ooh, that Sultan Caboose had made him for himself. So it's from
the 80s It's It's vintage. Sultan Club was one of the biggest
connoisseurs of who
in the last you know, he's, he's died now. So, this is a Mary yaki
audit of Ron rose that came out of a camel high bottom with a gold
plated container.
No, and a small bottle of that three mil cost 700 pounds. All
right, so I put some of that on. And
I mean Salaat. And I can smell this. And it sounded it's like a
distraction, right? Because you're enjoying the smell, I mean, smells
are more powerful than sight. Right? Because you hear something,
you you smell something before you can even see the purpose, you
know, good or bad smell. So
they're just stood for praying, I can smell this and I can smell it
now. And it's like, you know what this is? And then the way that you
deal with that, or the way I try to deal with is okay, who who may
who produced this wonderful smell is Allah. So it's a creation of
Allah ultimately. And thank Allah for giving us, you know, thank
Allah that he's allowed us to stand in prayer with this
beautiful smell, let's not focus on his Mac get from the smell to
God, because God is the Creator of everything of the smell, and the
fragrance and the beauty And the beauty behind it. How many
characteristics of Allah in that? The beauty of Allah, the
sophistication, the elaborate?
You know, if you understand perfumes is a very elaborate
perfume, right? All of that is the signs of Allah subhanaw taala. So
enjoy the world, but just think of the creator of it. Subhan Allah,
what else are you going to do?
You have to think of the Creator that he wants us to remember him,
he gives us this Subhanallah Allah gave it to me without me asking
for it. So why not thank him? Don't you get things don't Allah
give you so many things that you've never asked for? You don't
work for everything you get Do you hear that is the resistance of the
world is that you work hard to get what you want. But many times
things come to you that you don't even ask Allah for. So why not
think about that? Why not? thank Allah for everything and anything.
So remembrance of Allah is the absolute foundational integral, if
you want to walk the path to God, and it is one of the most, it is
one of the most virtuous of deeds in Islam, in Islam, remembering
God just sitting down, or walking around or at work and you're
remembering God, whether verbally with your tongue, or in your
heart. That's all our loved ones. He just wants us to remember him
and remembering him as multifaceted, remembering him to
thank him for something he's given us remembering he means asking for
something we want. There's a difficulty so it's literally
remembering Allah that Oh, God make this easy for me. That's also
remembrance Reverend is not just sitting down with the rosary beads
are just be, you know, and moving them along. That's not the only
vicar there is that's just the style of vicar of remembrance. So
then, Allah subhanaw taala says in Surah, Al Baqarah, verse 152,
first Caroni at corkum. So one of the benefits is you remember me
and I'm going to remember you.
So if we want Allah to remember us, then we have to remember him.
And what it means for God to remember us is that he looks after
us, He cares for us. He
takes everything into consideration that's happening and
he's there for us.
Then Allah subhanaw taala also says, Yeah, you will, Adina
hermeneutical, Allah has the Quran Kathira circle as a remember Allah
abundant me, that's why we have to do this as much as possible.
Remember Allah abundantly?
And what all the Quran cathedra some people have described, the
abundant vichara just means that you don't forget him.
That's a very good definition that you don't forget him. Because a
lot of people would think that vicar means I must sit down
somewhere. And again, you know, go through various different
utterances. No, it's remembering him is constantly having him in
the heart in everything you do.
Just recognizing that everything comes from him and everything,
must I must ask Him for everything there is because ultimately
everything is in his, in his possession and in his control, if
not above so the Allahu Anhu says, that, look, there's many worships
many devotions that Allah subhanaw taala has made obligatory, for
example, your five times daily prayer and so on. He says, for
them, there's a specific time, right? You're supposed to do them
in that time. If you don't do them, then you can make them up
later if you miss them, for example, but you're not supposed
to. You're not obligated to do them all times. They for those
specific times, and that's it. That's most of the worships right
your head your pilgrimage, your fasting, your your obligatory
prayer, and Zakat and so on. However, he then says, Except
remembrance except this remembering God. He says that
doesn't have a specific time.
Allah is not telling you you must remember me there is no further
vicar at all. I
except within prayer and so on, right? Obligatory so Allah
subhanho wa Taala says, for either called a tomo salata
when you finish your prayer, so you've done your formal prayer,
right, your five daily prayers, we've just done our Isha prayer.
Then Allah says first Quran Allah Now remember ALLAH, Hey, I just
remembered Allah. I've just remembered him in my prayer right?
says no, now remember Allah
Yemen war Kuru then why Allah Generico standing, sitting and on
your sides that shows you this is a very organic
second nature
right type of remembrance. We're talking about this just
remembrance with that I'll go into that a bit more. But you don't.
You've done your formal prayer. Now remember him just as a part of
your life.
Somebody said Yara swill Allah, O Messenger of Allah.
You know, there's so many features of Islam that I need to uphold me
there's there's many responsibilities in Islam that
I've got to uphold. And, you know, I've heard a lot of things now
what I want you to do these are talking about probably optional
acts. He said, there's so many different option legs. If you do
this, if you do that you get this virtue that virtue, so we're
getting a bit confusing to me. Right? Or getting a bit clouded
for me as to what I should do. So then he says for oseni be Amarin
would Rick be my first any wages? Just guide me and counsel me
regarding just one thing by which I can make up for everything I've
lost and make it very simple and concise for me. I just want
something just give me one small thing that I can do that will
allow me to
compensate essentially for all the time that I've wasted, right, what
can I do? The Prophet sallallahu sallam said it very simply said
laser, Lisa and Oka, Rotterdam, basically Allah, your tongue
should just remain mice with the remembrance of Allah.
Whenever you can stop fear Allah Subhana Allah Alhamdulillah all
praises to Allah, Glorified is Allah.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that if there is a
person who has in his lap, so he's got this huge stock, right in his
land of Durham's of money of pounds, or dollars, or whatever it
is, that he's distributing. Now, you know how distributing charity
is such a praiseworthy act, and he holds a huge reward, right? So
there's a person who's doing that. And there's another one who's just
sitting there remembering Allah.
He said that the one who's remembering Allah is superior to
this person. Now, this next hadith is an absolutely beautiful Hadith.
It's a very famous Hadith said, the Prophet sallallahu. Someone
said, shouldn't I tell you, should I not inform you of the best of
your leads, and the purest of your deeds, according to your God,
according to your sovereign, and the highest, the highest of your
deeds, to the most elevating of your status, at the most elevating
deeds for your status that will get you the highest. And
those deeds which are more superior for you than spending,
golden silver is more beneficial and virtuous than spending on
surveying the path of Allah. And it is also more superior for you,
then you meeting your enemy confronting your enemy. And then
you basically give them a good fight, he strikes you and you
strike them, right.
You know, you have to defend yourself, you meet your enemy, you
have to defend yourself, right? So
the they asked, what is that era sort of like what can be superior
to all of these things, and he said, remembrance of Allah. Now,
this doesn't mean that they're all mutually exclusive ideas that you
remember online, you don't do anything else. You don't spend on
others and so on. It is just that that is the powerhouse. And if you
don't have the remembrance, Allah you could be spending but you're
losing a lot of opportunity cost.
Remembrance of Allah what that remembrance Allah will do that
when you give charity when you assist somebody.
It will be much more potent, it will be for the right reason, it
will be much more altruistic for God rather than for selfish
reasons. That's what remembrance does, the heart softens. And then
you do things with more sincerity rather than for selfish selfish
gains. That's the benefit of liquor.
That's literally the benefit they get the more you thicker you do,
you will become less arrogant as long as you are because sometimes
you do think and you start getting arrogant, so you have to overcome
that first, right. But once you overcome that realize zone from
Allah, then your heart softens. And then after that you don't feel
superiority complexes such a
You attribute everything to Allah. So even if you have a lot of
qualities and abilities and capabilities, you react all that
to God, you thank God for that. So you're humbled by that. And you
realize it can be taken away anytime because it's from Allah.
So literally the light of Allah gets into the hearts and the
hardness of the heart disappears. And that's the benefit of it.
massive benefit of remembrance of Allah. It's the way to soften the
heart. Ali Karim Allah Who was your idea or the Allah one the
companion of the Prophet sallallahu sallam said, Once I
asked, or messenger of Allah,
which path is the one that will take me closest to God to Allah,
and which is the one that's most easiest for human beings to to
follow? And also the one that is seen as the most virtuous
according to Allah give me one path like that. So the Prophet
sallallahu sallam said to me it, just constantly remember Allah,
Allah, He can be more than a woman typically law constantly remember
Allah remember God. So it really alone said but everybody remembers
God. I mean, in his time, everybody's remembering God says
like, everybody remembers God. So what do you mean? Literally, we're
saying like, what? Everybody remembers Allah, so I'm asking you
for something extra. So the Prophet sallallahu sallam said it.
Remember the day of judgment, everybody does remember Allah or
lots of people do remember ALLAH, he said that the Day of Judgment
cannot occur, meaning the last day of this world cannot come until
there's somebody on the earth who's taking the name of God.
That's the nourishment of the earth. So yes, people have to be
remembering God, for this world to continue to sustain itself. The
day there's nobody left the day that the world will end it doesn't
get its nourishment anymore. I know that sounds a bit
unscientific because I don't think anybody's tested out. Hey, let's
do a test. So we want everybody in the world to stop remembering
Allah for one hour. Let's see what happens.
That's the only way you can test this out, right? To try to falsify
I don't think that's ever going to happen, is it?
Right. So it's very difficult to prove that scientifically, but
spiritually, that is the case. Okay.
So then, it really alone said, Okay, fine. K for us guru.
He didn't say that to the process was like, Okay, fine, you know, I
mean, like, that's just the way I'm saying it okay, for curiosity,
how can how do I do this remembrance? How do I undertake
this remembrance? So he said to him, close your eyes, allow me the
unique, close your eyes, and then listen to me three times. So close
your eyes and just absorb this from me three times. And then say
it, you say the same thing and I'll be listening to you.
So then the price also said La ilaha illAllah.
I don't know how strong this hadith is related by a Sufi right.
I wasn't able to check it out how strong this hadith is, I've never
heard it before. I've just mentioned that to you, but it's a
if it's correct, it's beautiful. La ilaha illallah three times very
powerful light ilaha illa. Allah is the most superior. Right?
So he said this three times.
And then it really Allah said it three times. Now the author or
rather the commentator whose name is ignore elgiva He says that Ali
really Allah one took this and related this same thing to hustle
bustle. Rhodiola one Rahima hombre
and hasn't bacillary Rahima hula he then
passed this on and communicated in the same way to a student of his
called Habibollah I Jimmy.
Then this Habibollah Jimmy did it.
Gave it to the oh the toy Rahima hula that's a more well known
name. He gave it to my rueful character
from Iraq from Baghdad Monroeville Karachi very famous
volley of Allah, He gave it to study a somebody, his students,
and he gave it to Junaid Al Baghdadi. And you should all know
today the Baghdadi. Right? And then after that it carried on
that's where these so called Sufis, they give you La ilaha
illa, Allah to read, and Allah knows best, right? It definitely
started somewhere because that is what the dude read, right? So it
definitely started somewhere. And La ilaha IL Allah is the most
superior vicar anyway. So, he says what is not what is necessary in
that case is for us to be remembering ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala
all times, as far as possible, make every effort to remember him
every time you get distracted. And remember, it doesn't mean that you
have to utter something. It's about being conscious of him.
So every work we do we start with the name of God, we start thinking
about Allah of how he would like me to do this when we're speaking
to somebody when somebody
He needs our help when we need help from somebody, we're asking
those things. Same thing. It's just about making it very, very
a companion of ours in everything that we do.
Because he says that look, if you want closeness to Allah, what we
call Wilayat Wilaya is closeness to Allah, like a close friendship
with Allah subhanho, wa taala. If you want Wilaya, then you need to
be given the portfolio for it. The job, job description, right? The
mature they call the in Arabic formula, that is the remembrance
of Allah.
Right? So he says that is necessary from the beginning of
your path to the end of your path. One thing that you will never
abandon is the remembrance of Allah. It doesn't matter who tells
you, there's no way you can remember ALLAH, because the more
you do it, the more you will see the benefit, and the more you will
never be able to abandon it, because that is your vicar. And
then he says that whoever is given the ability to remember Allah, you
know, as much as possible, whenever what or, you know,
whatever little is possible. That person has been given that
portfolio, he's been given that task, he's been given that job in
that position. And he says that whoever abandons dhikr is means
that he has been dismissed.
That's what sounds bad to me. That's what sounds quite
disappointing. If that happens, that when you don't do that, it's
like you've been dismissed. You're not on this job anymore, of being
close to Allah subhanho wa taala.
Now, what's interesting here, this is a bit of a slightly
complicated, slightly complicated, he says that what happens now is,
as much as you can remember Allah subhanaw, taala.
And as much as you can get engrossed in the Name of Allah,
that is how much closer you can become to God.
And as much distant you as much distance as you may have from the
remembrance of Allah, that's how much from the remembrance that's
how much distance you will be from Allah Himself. Of course, not
physically, but in that sense. So anybody who's serious about taking
the path of Allah has to remember Allah subhanaw taala, as much as
possible. And then he says that you're usually going to start with
your tongue. That's how most people start their remembrance is
reading certain, you know, certain remembering sins and formulas with
their tongue. He says, Don't ever forget doing that. And don't ever
abandon doing that just because your heart is not part of it. Just
because you can't focus because you're distracted, you're thinking
of something else, at least carry on with your tongue what you're
doing. So, do it with your tongue, even if your heart is completely
somewhere else. Because your negligence from the vicar itself,
meaning not doing vicar itself, is actually much worse than you just
being negligent. While doing vicar while remembering Allah with your
tongue, your heart is not present that's much better than your
tongue, completely being absent from the remembrance of Allah.
Why? Because if you don't remember him at all, even with your tongue,
that means you've completely ignored him.
You're completely dismissing him, at least in the other way. All
right, at least he's there, at least he's there, he's not
concentrating, but at least is there, at least he comes to class,
at least it comes to the prayer, at least it comes to work. The
other one guy doesn't even bother showing up. What are we paying him
for? He doesn't even bother showing up. Right.
And he says that, at least with that tongue, you've got some kind
of attention, you've got some kind of focus.
And even that's valuable, to be honest, it's valuable this way.
And he says that, look, you know, when you at least doing it with
your tongue, you at least adorning your tongue with the remembrance
of God. With the name of Allah, at least your tongue is being adorned
and embellished and perfumed with the remembrance of Allah subhanho
wa taala.
If you don't have that, then that means there's nothing of you. Even
if you can't do it with your, if you can't do it, even with your
tongue, then there's no part of your body that is engrossed in the
remembrance of Allah. It completely devoid of it, there's
nothing.
Somebody was asked, why is it that we remember Allah with our tongue
sometimes, and our hearts are totally devoid? So the person
said, forget, don't focus on that right now. Just the fact that you
already asked him that question is probably a good enough indicator
that you are concerned, right? But his answer was, just think Allah
subhanho wa Taala that he's giving you the ability to remember him
even with your tongue.
Because if he dismissed you even from that and occupied you from
doing that as well, then you would not be able to do that either.
Even that is a bounty from Allah that he's allowed us to remember
him at this time. That changes the whole thing now, doesn't it?
shaytaan wants us to forget that they think that oh, that's just
you trying and it's not worth it because not worth it. No.
Allah is the One giving you the ability to even say things with
your tongue. Take his name with his tongue with your tongue, even
though your heart is not there. In sha Allah will give you the heart
as well, just as the way he gave us his tongue, the tongue to
remember. So a person should carry on remembering Allah with the
tongue until Allah then we'll open up the door for him to remember
him with his heart as well. So one door is open, we just need the
other bigger door to the heart opened up that Allah will opened
up. But remember, he's already opened up one door for you.
So then, once you then do that, then you will remember Allah, you
will then be awake in your heart. That's how we'll start off first,
with wake with wakefulness in your heart. What that means is that you
will know you're doing something, you will know that you're
remembering Allah at that point, then after that, it will go from
there, that you will actually start feeling the presence of God.
First, you will just start knowing that yes, I'm talking to Allah,
I'm taking his name, I really am conscious of that, then after
that, you will actually start becoming conscious of a presence
of Allah, not physical, but it's just that you will feel Allah's
attention. First, you have to feel your own attention on Allah, then
you'll start feeling that Allah is attentive to you, that's the third
stage until you will then become satisfied. So one is, I know that
I'm trying my best for you. But I don't see you responding, that
when I see you responding as well, and I'm fully committed, and
you're of course committed, then how beautiful is that that's when
the union that's when the proper correspondence takes place, even
you know, with with somebody else had the yet to meet in the
cardinal booboo villa, that's when the heart will become full Mothma
in, you know, this enough sort of multimedia we speak about.
So then the person will be constantly remembering Allah
subhanaw taala. And he says that, though is the vicar of the dignity
of the elect, those have done a very, a lot of effort and have
gotten to that position. And he said that earlier Vickery talked
about where you're at least to doing remembrance with your tongue
and not feeling in your heart. Now, he says, Heather Thukral
awam. That's how you start. That's the laity. That's how they do it
first. But now you know which level we need to get to, which is
we can constantly do that enough to become focused in sha Allah. He
says, If you then carry on now, even beyond this higher status,
where you feel connected with Allah, and you realize that he is
present with you, he says, If you carry on like that, Allah will
then raise you, raise you, because you're still an outsider yet,
knowing that you're having this conversation, or this
correspondence or this intimate discourse. So far, you're still
conscious of that is that after that, what's going to happen if
you carry on, there's still a stage higher than that, which is,
you won't even be a nice outsider anymore, you will be so immersed
in it, that you won't even see yourself doing it, you'll just be
doing it, you'll be oblivious, you'll be in the zone, you'll just
be doing it
in this hardwired way, completely immersed in it.
And he says, what's going to happen is that you will then sense
the light. And you will get absolutely engrossed and drowned
in this light of Allah subhanaw taala.
Until nothing else around you will matter anymore.
At that point that you're into the status you want, you will notice
what's going on. We learn this very simply from the sahaba.
We had this sahabi, there's two of them, they were a night duty.
These two companions, they were a night duty
for their contingent of forces against the enemy anytime they
could have been attacked. So they had these two guys looking after
the boundary for them. So one set to the other, you know what you go
to sleep, I'll keep the watch. And in order to do that, I started
praying,
say pranks a lot.
Now, as you start praying one of the enemy guys who's come through
to find out what they're doing here, he sees him praying. So he
says, Let me test him, shoots an arrow at him.
And this guy carries on brain, he feels it but he carries on
praying. He's just so immersed that he carries on praying shoots
another arrow at him that maybe is a tree or something I don't know
shoots another error. And I think he was on the third error then he
quickly walk his company because now it's not about me anymore
because this guy is gonna think I'm some tree trunk or something
and they're gonna attack us. So let me wait the other guy up. How
can you how can you sustain three arrows and carry on praying? And
if you can do you want to try? Right? I mean, can you believe
that? Like how do you how do you do that? Because you're so
engrossed and what you're getting out of there is so
much more greater than the pain you know, silly example. But
sometimes you know when you have some really tasty food, but with a
lot of chili
so look, one is chili food. And the other one is tasty food.
They don't have to come together. For some people just loads the
chili with no balance in the other space is drives them I find that
silly because it's just chilly.
But if you have a lot of chili, but there's the spice is to go
with it a complex spice mixture that, you know,
wets you your appetite. And you get the understanding of that,
then it might be chilly, then your eyes will be watering and your
nose will be watering and you'll be sweating, but you'll be
enjoying that.
Pain, but it's enjoyable pain. I don't know if that explains the
the prayer. It's a bad example. That's eventually what people get
to. And then he says that
La ilaha illAllah la isla, he talks about much higher levels
than that, and I'm not going to go into that it's going to be very
confusing, right? This much, I think is quite comprehensible, at
least on a theoretical level. Right? And Allah make it a reality
for us. There's a lot higher levels that he speaks about. But
he does end with the fact that if not, Allah says this, don't think
this is complete. It sounds so far fetched. It sounds so a distant
for us to how much effort we're on the first stage. But keep carrying
on be regular. Fix the time for yourself that you're going to
remember Allah until that dominates and then we keep
remembering Allah each time. Right? We keep remembering Allah
subhanho wa Taala each time so something distracts you remember
Allah subhanho wa Taala you want something? Remember Allah subhanho
wa Taala we have to habituate ourselves to that. And then Insha
Allah, He says, and this is definitely not difficult on Allah
subhanho wa Taala for that to happen to us, may Allah subhanaw
taala make this an absolute reality for us and make this path
very easy for us. And protect us from the various different
confusions that go about and the distractions that we have. And,
you know, Allah shows that show us the path. The we asked, if we ask
Him, He'll show us the path. That's one thing that Allah will
definitely answer. So if you want X, Y and Zed of the world, right,
you may get it you may not get it, Allah may give you something else
for it, right? But one thing that he definitely always answers is
guidance. Because there's no other there's no compensation for that.
If I ask Allah for guidance, you know the three ways that your
dollars are accepted the he either gives you what you're asking for
straight away, or he removes a calamity and doesn't give you that
because it's not good for you to have that right now. Right? Or
hidden rewards. You have the here in the in the hereafter. When you
ask Allah for guidance, they can't be a replacement for that guidance
is guidance. So I don't think that works. The guidance has anything
to do with these three, you asked for guidance, you'll get it as
long as you know you're not opening the back door. You're
asking for guidance, but you're doing everything wrong. There is
you know, that's kind of wrong. But if you're serious about
guidance anybody, even a person who doesn't believe in God, but
somehow in there, there is a light and they they like God if you're
there helped me. They'll get it. Numerous examples, you know of
that. So God is always there to help if you ask him but we don't
think ask him enough. You know, we rely on our own our own
abilities and friends and things like that ask Allah subhanaw taala
so let's stop here.
I'm going to read to you what what the common the other common TT in
English says about this he says many people complain of a lack of
concentration in the invocations and the incidence of stray
thoughts. Some even abandon invocation on account of this. The
Sheikh Rahim Allah therefore advises such people that one
should not abandon invocation because of a lack of
concentration. The lack of confidence tration is only one
calamity, but at least the existence of invocation is with
one, even though it is uncomfortable, accompanied by
forgetfulness. Yet in the event of abandoning invocation altogether,
it will not be simply invocation without concentration, but the
loss of the invocation itself. This state of the burning
invocation is therefore extremely grave invocation with
forgetfulness is definitely far superior to the total abandonment
of remembrance. In the state of invocation with a heart that is
negligent, at least the tongue is involved with the navigation.
However, in contrast to the state where both tongue and Hatha in it,
having abandoned the invocation of Allah Most High, then even mere
verbal invocation is a valuable treasure.
providing encouragement the shape further adds that it is quite
possible that Allah Most time may improve the quality of one's
invocation. The initial invocation without concentration can progress
As to the stage where concentration will be achieved,
and stray thoughts will cease. It will then be the invocation of
wakefulness and concentration. In this stage of invocation, the
heart will not drift towards the stray thoughts of the ego. The
verbal invocation at this time will keep the heart alert, and one
winner will then taste pleasure in this very invocation, the progress
will then continue to the stage where the spiritual presence of
the heart accompanies the invocation. This is the
achievement of the hearts attention to the verbal
invocation. In a state of spiritual presence, invocation
becomes the attribute of the heart. That's what we want. We
want the vicar to become a characteristic of the hearts so
that he starts doing it by itself.
Just as seeing is the attribute of the eye? Do you have to tell your
eyes to see if they open they'll see, right? So we want our hearts
to always be remembering God without having to tell it to be
that to do that. This thus invocation becomes the permanent
attribute of the heart. However, in this latter stage, the heart
does still perceive itself to be in possession of the attributes of
invocation, this is the highest level, at least you're still
you're still going to be conscious that yes, I'm doing this. We want
to get to a point where we don't even we're not even conscious of
that because there could still be ego in there. Ego will be gone
when we don't even know that and we're just doing it purely because
of God. Right.
Here the spiritual traveler is conscious of his invocation being
with concentration, perception of even such a presence is still a
kind of forgetfulness. What do you mean? That means you're still not
fully concentrating Allah, that you've immersed yourself so you
don't even remember you're remembering him.
You understand you're not an artist, you're still an outsider.
You're not in the zone enough. You still know what you're doing. You
shouldn't know what you're doing almost like saying should be so
engrossed. You don't even know what you're doing. Because you're
so overcome and overwhelmed by Allah, that you don't even
remember your own part in it. Because the perception itself is
an object, your perception is an object besides Allah. Hence, there
is even a higher stage of invocation, where this inner
perception of concentration perishes, and is assigned to the
realm of Oblivion, it enters the domain of other deities that are
negated invocation of the one true Allah that also is idle that you
need to get rid of.
At such a juncture, everything else is annihilated. In other
words, invocation predominates, one, to such an extent that the
servants entire being becomes permeated by the invocation of
Allah, you're totally taken over. If someone expresses amazement,
thinking that such a lofty stage is unattainable. The Sheikh Rahim
Allah provides the answer for this doubt, he says that this status,
the attainment of this stage will be impossible by one's own
efforts.
I mean, I would say you have to keep trying, and one tip, but you
won't be able to scientifically get it by doing X, Y and Zed. It's
up to Allah to give that status. Once you've shown the effort. This
spiritual station is the consequence of Allah's Bounty, it
is not difficult on Allah, then once it becomes a bounty becomes
easier, because then he can just say yes, and it's done. No effort
needed anymore.
So it is not difficult for him to bestow His bounty to anyone,
therefore never despair.
I hope that was not too confusing. Some parts of it was higher realm,
but I can't fudge it over all the time. I think it needs to be
understood. And you may have come across these kinds of discussions
about doing vicar to such a degree that you don't even remember
yourself anymore in that moment. This can't be 24 hours because
you'd be you'd go crazy, right? That's when you're in that
remembrance because you have to eat and you have to do other
things as well.
allotment Salam I'm Monica Salon de barro theater jewelry regram
allow me a New Yorker you already kind of studying if you're new I'm
in lala land this of her okay now could nominal body mean
yeah, he Asalaam Yeah, naughty if you don't judge anybody Quran.
Allah have mercy on us. Oh Allah, we ask you for your special mercy,
for Your blessing for your special attention, for your love, for your
blessings of Allah for your forgiveness, for your generosity,
for your clemency of Allah for your pardon of Allah forgive us
our wrongdoings. Forgive us our excesses, forgive us our
distractions of Allah, Allah, Allah Allah, forgive us our
negligence of Allah forgive us, our confusions of Allah guide us
right? Our Allah guide us Alright, show us the truth and
As the truth and allow us to follow it and show us the wrong as
the wrong and allow us to abstain from it. Oh Allah strengthen us or
Allah strengthen our convictions of Allah strengthen our results
and principles of Allah protect us from being.
Without ethics without principles of Allah to be blown around in the
wind of the society that we live in our Allah, Oh Allah protect us
from being just absolute materialists, consumers of Allah
with no ethics of Allah allow us to be people of dignity and honor
people of humanity, of Allah, people of compassion, people of
empathy of Allah make us of those who are concerned about the
welfare of others and not just themselves of Allah allow us to
overcome our egos. And our selfish desires allow us to do that which
is the best for us and for all of humanity, of Allah allow us to
share whatever good that we have with others, allow us to become
allow us to be functional individuals, practical
individuals, allow us to leave a legacy allow us to be somebody
who's productive rather than somebody who's just constantly
consuming much of the
the things that others put out and not having anything to contribute
or to do anything and to become useful of Allah grant us halal and
lawful earnings and halal and lawful lifestyle and protect us
from all the unlawfulness that may be around what though that which
may include oppression of others or wronging others, oh Allah
protect us from that suffices in everything with what is lawful
away from what is unlawful of Allah, we ask You for our brothers
and sisters who are suffering and in subjugation and who are who are
who are suffering under very, very bad conditions that Oh Allah, you
grant them steadfastness. And Oh Allah, you grant them patience,
beautiful patience, and you give them a lot more back than what
they are losing and what they have lost. Oh Allah, it's easy for you
to do this. It's easy for you to do this. We can only ask you of
Allah. The world is full of hypocrisy. Oh Allah, the world is
just full of wrongs. Oh Allah, we ask that you set this right for
us. Oh Allah, you set this right for us. Oh ALLAH and you rectify
this imbalance that has come about in this world. And oh Allah these
wrongs that are taking place removed that grant dignity to our
brothers grant relief to our brothers and sisters of Allah
grant all these mothers and children of Allah all these people
who have been killed or Allah grant them shahada, grant them
martyrdom, status of a martyr, make them close to you, and Allah,
those who are injured, those who have lost those who are deprived,
Oh Allah, grant them a lot of steadfastness and give them a lot
more back and oh Allah make them grant them relief and dignity and
honor and Allah allow us to be productive individuals in this
world. And except our gathering here today Subhana obika robola Is
that the IOC fauna was set down and Marcelino Al Hamdulillah.
The point of a lecture is to encourage people to act to get
further an inspiration, and encouragement, persuasion. The
next step is to actually start learning seriously to read books
to take on a subject of Islam and to understand all the subjects of
Islam at least at the basic level, so that we can become more aware
of what our deen wants from us. And that's why we started Rayyan
courses so that you can actually take organize lectures on demand
whenever you have free time, especially for example, the
Islamic essentials course that we have on the Islamic essentials
certificate which you take 20 Short modules and at the end of
that inshallah you will have gotten the basics of most of the
most important topics in Islam and you'll feel a lot more confident.
You don't have to leave lectures behind you can continue to live,
you know, to listen to lectures, but you need to have this more
sustained study as well. JazakAllah Heron salaam aleikum wa
rahmatullah wa barakato.