Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – You Dont Accept Advice – Hikam 230

AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the concept of "partily going to" and how it can lead to feelings of isolation from the world. They also emphasize the importance of avoiding promises and balancing negatives and positives. The speakers stress the importance of finding a better position for oneself and making good decisions, as well as providing services and helping people with their needs. They also mention a Rayyan Courses program for students to learn and become more aware of Islam's subjects.
AI: Summary ©
The wise one is who thinks for 10
years later.
Those university students, for example, who go into
university and they just take it a day
at a time, just enjoying the now newfound
freedom away from home and so on.
Because universities have their own little society, their
own culture, right, where everything goes and everything
goes.
Some guys in Muslim society are telling you
don't do this.
Maybe some Tablighi brothers are telling you not
to.
Otherwise, it's all cool.
That's where people go to escape.
Or they go to a world, Christmas parties
are happening.
That's a world.
That's where they're going.
But the person who knows that I want
to get something out of this, in 10
years I want to be somewhere else, they're
not going to be partying.
They're going to be focusing on something else.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala Sayyidina Muhammad
wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'ina amma
ba'd.
Continuing with our series on Ibn Ata'illah
Rahimahullah's Khitab al-Hikm, the Book of Wisdom,
with a commentary by Sheikh Abdullah Gengoy, we
are on page 140, which is wisdom number
230.
Wisdom number 230, this is where he says,
it's a bit similar to the last one.
He just said in the last one it
was just as a reminder that this world
has been made with lots of issues and
corruptions and problems, just so that you don't
get too excited about it.
So that you don't find too much comfort
in it.
So you don't relax too much and forget
Allah.
So this one is similar, he says, علم
أنك لا تقبل النصح المجرد فذوقك من ذواقها
ما يسهل عليك وجود فراقها.
علم أنك لا تقبل النصح المجرد فذوقك من
ذواقها ما يسهل عليك وجود فراقها.
Very interesting.
He knew you would not accept mere counsel.
Just advice and admonition wouldn't have been sufficient
for you.
Just verbally being told that you shouldn't do
this and that's better for you, and that's
worse for you, and this is what's in
store for you, and this is not good
for you.
That wouldn't have been enough.
Allah knows us, that's how He created us.
So He made you sample the world's taste
to a degree that a separation from it
would be easy for you.
Allah has made us sample the taste of
the world, meaning given us an experience of
the taste of the world, of how bad
it can be.
When it's bad, how it can be for
us.
So that the separation from it would be
easy for you.
And the separation here is that when we're
going from this world, we're prepared because usually
when you're going from one place to the
other, it's either because you're forced to do
so, you have to come back, or you
have to go.
The other reason is that the place you're
going to is much better than the place
you're leaving, so you're excited to go.
So there could be multiple reasons.
Now if the place that you are at
is much more enjoyable, but there's another place
where inevitably you're going to have to go,
and it's not enjoyable.
For example, you have to move from a
place that's really nice to a place that's
not so nice.
From a job that was wonderful, now they've
got some layoffs, so now you have to
go to a job that's not so good.
You had to downsize the car for some
reason.
You had to downsize other things.
You're not going to enjoy that.
Now what happens if the place that we're
leaving or the object that we have to
depart from is problematic?
Then it becomes easier to go to the
other place, especially when we know the other
place is even better.
That's clearly.
So Allah has said the next place is
going to be much better, far superior, multiple
times, multiple times better.
And also this place is, I'm going to
let you taste some of the difficulties of
this world, so you know that it's not
a place that you want to be forever.
I wonder what we would do, subhanAllah.
I don't know.
I've never had an experience of being in
the mind of somebody who doesn't believe in
the hereafter.
But the whole perspective changes.
Between a person that believes there's a hereafter,
like genuinely believes in it, and there's a
paradise and hellfire, and the difference between that
person, the way they deal in this world,
to a person who doesn't believe in the
hereafter, there has to be literally a difference
of heaven and earth.
Because what a big difference that is.
That's not a small difference.
You think that's a small difference?
That you operate in this world with the
idea that you only live once, you only
enjoy once, it's only one life, do the
best that you can to enjoy yourself, indulge
yourself.
That's where you get all of these different
ideologies from.
That it's all about you.
It's about me.
It's just about me because you only live
once.
With no focus on anything else.
As soon as you have the hereafter in
the picture, it changes the paradigm completely.
There's actually something...
You suddenly have more bandwidth.
You suddenly have more purpose, rather than just
indulge yourself.
There's a purpose.
Let's do something.
Then when there's lots of promises, and of
course there's lots of warnings, then there's boundaries
to work under.
Otherwise, it's just we do whatever we want.
We have to make our own laws.
Clearly, this world, just like anything else, is
all organized.
Even the cycles of a washing machine are
organized.
If that goes out of sync, it doesn't
do the job properly.
How can the world itself operate without any
kind of organization, and for it to fulfill
a purpose of something else, which is just
the place of the hereafter?
I've never had that experience.
I don't know if anybody's had that experience
here, of not believing in a hereafter, and
now believing in them, and the difference that
that would create to somebody, but it must
be a massive difference.
But here he said, we've given you a
sample of the world's taste, and here the
world's taste is not the indulgence of it,
not the exciting parts of it, but it's
the difficulties of it, so that you know
that this is, whereas you promised no difficulty
whatsoever in the hereafter, there is no difficulty
in the hereafter.
So that's essentially what this is.
He knew you would not just accept mere
counsel.
That wouldn't have been enough for you.
As he made you, so he made you
sample the world's taste to a degree that
separation from it would be easy for you.
That's why, when I asked a friend of
mine, when I asked a friend of mine,
who is an expert on love, 30 or
more years of research on the concept of
love, researched everything about it, read every book
on it, and now produced at least two
or three books on that subject.
How do you get rid of your attachment
to something?
Very simple, just focus on its negatives.
Because what keeps us with something and obsessed
by something are the perceived good qualities of
it, of what we see as good in
it.
And that blinds us of what is bad,
or it doesn't let us focus on the
negatives.
If we can focus on the negatives as
well, then it's easier to detach oneself.
I've tried it quite a few times, and
it actually works very well.
When you focus on the negatives, what that
does is it actually balances out.
When you focus on the positives and negatives
of something, actually it balances out your opinion.
So never let that emotion overcome us.
So this is the commentary of it then.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the true one,
he completely knew, because he created his slaves
and his servants, that they're not going to...
I've made them such that they have this
hastiness to them, this indulgence, this weakness about
them.
So I'm going to give them a few
other things.
It's all part of the design.
It's not a fraud design, that hey, you
should have just accepted the nasiha, and you
should just accept the counsel, that would have
been sufficient.
It's all part of the plan of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
This world could be no better than it
is.
Allah could have not created it any better
than the way it is.
What a blasphemous statement.
You're saying that Allah can't create anything better
than this?
Of course he can.
But he's already created it for a purpose,
and for the purpose that he's created it,
he has to have done the best.
He could have created another world.
This is getting to a bit of philosophy,
sorry.
But the idea is that the way he's
created this world with all of its systems,
you have to do this to get this,
and you can't do this, and you can't
do that, this is bad, and this is
good.
That system is completely perfect system for what
Allah wanted.
So he couldn't have done anything better because
he always does the best, so this is
the best.
You understand?
If Allah always does the best, he couldn't
have done any better in the design that
he wants, and the purpose that this world
needs to fulfill.
So now he said, when Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala knew from his servants that they're
not gonna accept just mere advice and counsel.
In fact, some of these things are told
to us to give us some incentive to
do things.
Otherwise, Allah knew all of these things.
He's completely 100% about everything because he
doesn't make mistakes in whatever he does, and
he designs it, and he sets up, and
what he knows, there's never a mistake made
anyway.
So there's a hadith which says that when
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created the children
of Adam, which means when Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala created the human being, he looked
and he said, if I'm gonna deal with
these people with just pure justice, that okay,
if you do wrong, I'm gonna punish you,
and if you do good, then I'm going
to reward you.
Right?
If I'm gonna deal with them with that
just pure justice as such, and pedantically like
that, they're gonna get destroyed.
They're not gonna survive because I've created in
them weakness.
And we're told this, right?
This narrative is told to us.
So then he said, okay, fine.
What I'm gonna do is, inna rahmati sabakat
ghadhabi.
You've probably heard that statement before.
My mercy is gonna overcome my anger.
So I'm gonna dominantly deal with people with
mercy, but yet my anger will be there,
but my mercy will dominate because I've created
them in a way that they're so weak
that they could falter quite a bit.
So I don't want them, ya Allah, Allah's
mercy.
He doesn't want us to fail.
He doesn't want us.
He's not there waiting for us to fail
so that he can punish us.
That's what some cruel people do.
That's what some individuals do.
They're waiting for people to fail so that
they can really punish them.
That's not what Allah.
He lets us go so many times.
He overlooks, He's forbearing, He's forgiving, He's patient.
He says, what I'm gonna do is, I'm
going to let my mercy dominate.
So my primary interaction with them is gonna
be based on mercy.
But the anger's still there just so that
people don't become complacent.
So likewise, we're told this thing to understand
the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
We're told that though so that we can
balance ourselves.
These are all things to balance us.
So then he says, just verbal admonition and
counsel and advice, people are not gonna listen
to.
So if they don't listen, then it's gonna
be an issue because they're gonna become indulgent
in this world.
And that's gonna take them away from the
hereafter.
They're not gonna focus on preparing the other
abode they're supposed to go to.
That region is amazing, but they're not going
to focus on that because this world is
just, gets you too much into it.
I mean, forget everything else.
A person has enough money.
He's got enough income.
He's got his house.
He's got everything that he needs.
But some people don't know why they're pursuing
money.
I mean, it's just a weird experience.
You have enough, but you have opportunity to
make more.
And what that does is that's gonna take
more of your time.
And it's going to give you less time
to focus on maybe even your own family.
And definitely Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
But we would actually still go even though
we don't need it.
We've got enough to get by comfortably, even
take holidays, go for an Umrah every year,
but you still want to make more.
Now, it's completely fine to make more for
a purpose, but for no purpose while sacrificing
responsibilities and what is gonna be to our
benefit for the hereafter.
That's silly.
But many people have not made, have not
thought about.
They've not made that calculation until it's too
late.
They don't make that calculation until it's too
late.
So think about it.
If Allah has given us sufficient to live
by, our bills are getting paid and we
also have enough on top of it to,
you know, to enjoy our life as such.
And we're still trying to do more for
no purpose that it's an issue.
And if we're trying to do more, to
acquire more, to assist and to do something
with it, we've got a grand plan.
And that's a positive plan.
Then bismillah, then Allah give us barakah.
Then Allah give barakah.
So that's why He say, if a person
is not gonna listen to the admonition, then
what's gonna happen is that he will not
desist from the dunya.
Meaning he won't renounce the love of the
world.
He won't renounce the pursuit of the world
just by listening to these lectures.
سِمَعِ الْوَعَى Listening to these advices, it's not
gonna happen.
اِذْ كَثِيرٌ In fact, He talks about the
people of knowledge.
And that means anybody who knows this.
It doesn't mean scholars only.
He says, اِذْ كَثِيرٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ وَالْفَهْمِ
يَسْمَعُونَ الْقُرْآنِ يُقَرِّعُهُمْ عَلَيْهَا وَيَحْذُرُهُمْ مِنْ غُرُولِهَا
وَهُمْ غَائِبُونَ عَنْ ذَلِكَ التَّذْكِيرِ مَشْغُولُونَ بِمَا يُجِبُ
لِقَبُولِهِمْ لِقُلُوبِهِمَ التَّذْكِيرِ He says, there are so
many people who have the knowledge, who have
the comprehension, who get it, who understand it.
They listen to the Quran.
They listen to the Quran admonishing them, you
know, admonishing them regarding the deception of the
world and how sweet it appears and ultimately
what it's gonna be and where you're supposed
to go.
It's also warning them from the delusions of
this world.
But they're completely still heedless from this advice.
The advices are coming at them.
They're reading them.
They're seeing them, but they're still heedless.
It's like we've learned to ignore them.
It happens so often, we've learned to ignore.
Maybe out of thinking of the mercy of
Allah or thinking that it's alright, it's all
gonna happen, it's all gonna go well or
that it's gonna become better.
Even though and they're occupied with that which
is not allowing them to take this advice.
So what they're doing is that their problem
is what they're involved in.
That's their problem.
The love of what they're doing is what's
not letting them take the advice.
They get calls from people who have broken
up with somebody that they can't marry, that
they can't have because of multiple reasons, family
reasons or incompatibility, but there's a love there.
There's an emotional attachment there.
Now what they're trying to do, it's a
haram relationship now, right?
Completely haram today is probably haram from before
maybe as well in some cases.
So what's the advice of how to cut
away from somebody?
I said you need to cut it completely.
If that means changing your phone number so
that you have no communication.
Just tell them this is what it's gonna
be.
Tell each other this is gonna be an
end.
Oh, but then she feels so upset.
It's like you are her counselor now.
That's what you think.
So I have to just make her feel
good.
You are her problem.
How can you be the counselor?
She's your problem.
How can she be your counselor?
The dunya can't be our counselor.
The dunya is what's making us Hitler.
So we're occupied in the dunya, which is
the reason for our blindness from the akhirah.
Yeah, I've lied so many times, but I
feel bad.
You feel a sense of responsibility.
I said, no, you're not responsible.
That was haram.
Oh, but I broke her heart.
You shouldn't have.
Should have got married to her then.
From a man's perspective.
It's the other way around sometimes.
You're her problem.
She's not gonna witness everything.
It's cut completely and she replaces you.
Or you replace her with somebody else.
You have to cut.
Otherwise, it just goes on and on and
on.
This is just a relationship.
This is just the emotions that we have
like that.
So that's what he's saying.
فَلَمَّا أَرَادَ سُبْحَانَهُ Now what happens is that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chooses certain pieces
of you.
I'm gonna...
Because of something you've done, or your mom
made dua for you, or your grandmother, or
your grandfather, or your teacher made dua for
you.
Or you know what?
You gave that sadaqa last week to Palestine.
I wanna do something for you.
Everything good that we do for ourselves that
somebody does for us is gonna benefit us.
So what Allah, He decides, أَرَادَ سُبْحَانَهُ أَن
يَسْتَفِيَ لِحَضَرَتِهِ مَنْ شَاءَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ When Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala wants to bring somebody
back, wants to choose somebody for being in
His presence and away from the dunya, what
He does is, نَغَّصَهَا عَلَيْهِ He intensifies the
trials.
There's an easier way to get to Allah,
right?
Without being forced to get into trials.
He's just doing it voluntarily.
This is where, that's if He even chooses
us and says, okay, I need to get
this guy out of here.
نَغَّصَهَا عَلَيْهِ Right?
I'm gonna intensify the trials on this one.
وَشَدَّدَ عَلَيْهِ الْبَلَاءَ وَالْمِعَابِ I'm going to really
make it very difficult for this person.
Lots of difficulties come their way.
There's gonna be a leak here, there's gonna
be a loss here, there's gonna be a
setback here, there's gonna be this issue, there's
gonna be that issue.
Guy's gonna feel miserable in the beginning, but
this is to take him away.
Let's take him away.
You get a call from somebody, how do
I avoid all the Christmas stuff that's gonna
happen?
What do you mean?
What do you mean?
I mean, I don't have that issue.
How do I avoid doing wrong things with
people?
So then I realized that they're just in
very bad company.
Their whole social circle is all about just
various different non-Muslim enjoyments and so on,
and Islamic enjoyments.
You're just gonna have to literally cut it.
But it's so miserable.
I said, yes, you just find new friends.
You're gonna have to literally make new friends,
new acquaintances.
Otherwise, it's not gonna work.
And there's so much trouble in that path
to do that.
You're changing your whole social structure.
It's not easy to do.
But once you do it, once that initial
in the ma'al usri, yusra.
Once that difficulty is overcome, then inshallah, it
becomes even easier.
And the pleasure is a lot more because
there's no guilt at the end of it.
So when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants
to bring somebody close to him and extract
them out of all of this filth, then
what he does is he intensifies the difficulty.
وَأَجْرَىٰ عَلَىٰ ظَاهِرِهِمْ مَوَاقِعَ الْفِتَنِ And in front
of them, they have to deal with many,
many challenges.
كُلُّ ذَلِكَ عِنَايَةً بِهِمْ But all of this
is a special care.
All of this is out of special concern
for them.
It's divine care that is.
Can you believe it?
The difficulties that are coming on you are
divine care.
But you will only know it afterwards.
At that time, you'll just think, man, what's
going on?
What's going on?
But if Allah is giving you the ability
to deal with those and not freaking out,
you learn how to control it.
That's divine care.
Because ultimately then you'll look back and say,
you know, that was so amazing.
الحمد لله, I went through that because he
taught me so much.
And remember everything in this world teaches you
something.
At least it should.
So all of these difficulties will teach us
something.
And then he says, كُلُّ ذَلِكَ عِنَايَةً بِهِمْ
All of this out of his divine kindness,
divine care for them.
لِيَذُوكُوا مَرَارَةَ بَاطِنِهَا So that they can get
the real taste of the internal aspect of
this dunya.
It's full of miseries and grief.
فَلَا يَغْطَرُوا بِحَلَوَةِ الزُّخْرُ فِي بَاهِنِهَا So that
they're not deceived by the apparent sweetness of
the outer embellishments.
One of the most prominent and obvious examples
today is are these poor, I feel sorry
for them, are these poor stars, the stars
in the heavens.
But who people make into stars, at young
ages, they have millions of people following them,
more than any other person.
And they are miserable inside, they're on drugs,
abuse of substances, and finally they kill themselves.
Many of them, not everybody, but many of
them kill themselves and then everybody cries over
them.
Well, you are very helpful.
You actually brought them to where they were.
That's why fans are deadly.
You're the ones who brought them up to
where they are right now.
It's weird, Allah ta'ala help us, Allah
help us not getting into that.
Because it's a difficult world to be in,
and the examples are there, it's very clear.
That's exactly is that a lot of people
think that must be such a wonderful life.
They can go where they want, they can
fly around, everybody's after them, it must feel
so good, the nafs is so amazing.
But no, you can't, the nafs is, you
can't sustain that.
The Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam was able
to sustain his popularity.
The Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam does not
mean anybody has a greater influence than the
Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam whose influence still
lives on.
And he could deal with it.
The Sahaba Umar, who doesn't like Umar r
.a today, he could deal with it even
in his time.
Imagine how many people wanted to see him,
the heads of the states wanted to come
and see him, and he's there lying on
a rock, sleeping under a tree.
Like, is that your leader?
Because for them this was different.
And it's a difficult thing to understand, but
without the focus on the hereafter, you can't,
if it's all about the world, obviously then
I want more of it, I want more
of it, I want more of it.
I know, you know, we're not influencers here,
we're not like big stars here, but it's
on a minor level, it's the same kind
of thing.
It's the same kind of thing, it's just
those are the obvious stories that we hear
about.
That's why once a pious person was asked,
مَنْ أَوْلِيَاءَ اللَّهِ مَنْ أَوْلِيَاءُ اللَّهِ الَّذِينَ لَا
خَوْفًا عَلِيهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ Who are these
awliya Allah, the friends of Allah, the saintly
people of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that
Allah always says that they're gonna have no
fear, they're never gonna grieve.
Who are these people?
What do you mean they have no fear,
they have no grief?
Because everybody has troubles in this world, especially
when we're being told that those people who
are closest to the prophets get more trouble.
So how come they have no fear and
how don't they have any grief?
So then the response was الَّذِينَ نَظَرُوا إِلَىٰ
بَعْضِنِ الدُّنْيَا حِينَ نَظَرَ النَّاسِ إِلَىٰ بَعْضِنِ الدُّنْيَا
The awliya essentially are those people who look
into the inner core of this world.
When other people are just looking at the
outer facade and the outer excitement.
They're the people who really understand what...
And looking at the inner means how eventually
it's gonna affect you.
That's what it means by looking at the
inner because that's what eventually will come out.
That's what eventually will manifest and that in
the long run, that's the inner part of
it is what's gonna manifest itself.
وَاهْتَمُوا بِآجِلِهَا حِينَهِ إِهْتَمَّ النَّاسُ بِآجِلِهَا And they're
the people who are focused on the later
world, while others are focused just on the
immediate world.
The wise one is who thinks for 10
years later.
Those university students, for example, who go into
university and they're just taking a day at
a time just enjoying the now newfound freedom
away from home and so on because universities
have their own little society, their own culture,
right?
Where anything goes and everything goes.
Some guys in the Muslim society are telling
you don't do this.
Maybe some tablighi brothers are telling you not.
Otherwise, it's all cool.
That's where people go to escape.
Or they go to a world.
Christmas parties are happening.
That's a world.
That's where they're going.
But the person who knows that I wanna
get something out of this.
In 10 years, I wanna be somewhere else.
They're not gonna be partying.
They're gonna be focusing on something else.
They're gonna be working out of their garage
to build the next supercomputer.
They're not partying.
So, that's what you have to understand from
this.
That's why another one of his aphorisms was,
All, everything but Allah, everything besides Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, it's apparent.
Status is always a delusion.
And in its core, you will find the
lesson.
So, if we don't focus on the lesson,
we're gonna get burnt by it because we're
looking at the outside.
فَكُلُّ مَا يَنزِلُ بِالْوَلِيِّ مِنْ هَذِهِ التَّعَرُفَاتِ الْجَدَالِيَّةِ
أَلَّتِي تُغَيِّرُ النَّفْسَ وَتَقْهُرُهَا فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ كَثِيرٌ فِي
حَقِّهِ So, every time with one of these
chosen people of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
whenever any of these majestic recognitions come to
them, which helps them to change their perspective
and their nafs, and purify them, then obviously,
in the long run, after when that difficulty
is surmounted, that becomes very good for them.
It's hugely beneficial for them in the long
run.
That's why the scholars have said الإمتحان بقدر
الإمكان Remember, your test will always be according
to the possibility you have of bearing it.
Your test will always be according to the
possibility of the way, of how much you
can bear it.
وَكُلُّ مِحْنَةٍ تَزِيدُ مُكْنًا And every difficulty that
comes to you, every challenge that comes to
you, is gonna increase your endurance.
If you've been able to undergo a difficulty,
then obviously the next time that difficulty will
be easier.
If you've taken a trip somewhere, you already
know the hardships of it, the next time
you already know what to expect, there's no
surprises, it becomes easier for you, not for
the person who's coming in you.
Not for the person who's coming with you
the next time.
The person who's been to the dentist and
knows all of that drilling and all of
that stuff that's gonna happen, he knows what
it is, he's not gonna have some issue,
but it's gonna be much more easier than
somebody who goes for the first time and
is dreading it.
Don't worry about it, don't worry about it.
It's just human culture.
And the same thing happens with difficulties that
come up, they strengthen us, they give us
more endurance, they help us do better next
time and deal with it and not freak
out next time.
There's always gonna be something, you know, we
try our best, but there's always gonna be
something of love for this world that's gonna
stay in and linger in our hearts.
We're still gonna be inclined a certain amount,
it's difficult to get away completely.
So what Allah does, Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala sets upon us something that disrupts that
confidence.
I thought this was a good job.
I thought this was a good area.
I thought these were good friends.
I thought this was a good car.
I thought this was a good way to
go about it.
I thought this was a good choice.
I thought this was a good investment.
Bitcoin's a good investment?
It seems like right now, in a month,
it's gone up by 35-40%.
I mean, I'm not saying you shouldn't invest,
but just remember, I mean, you never know
what's going on.
And one theory out there is that all
of this cryptocurrency is all engineered, not to
say it's haram necessarily, there's some aspects of
it out, but overall it doesn't have to
be.
But it was engineered to take people's focus
away from gold.
It's an interesting idea.
Because when people have seen the major currencies
becoming weaker, like the dollar and the other
Western currencies, because of all of the bad
decisions they're taking, very bad decisions they're taking,
people got money, they've got liquidity, they've got
investment power, so where are they going to
put that money?
The most stable thing you can put your
money in, literally, always, has been gold.
And there's a simple reason for that.
It's not because it sparkles, right?
There's other things that sparkle, but it's because
anything that can be a store of value
has to be limited in supply.
Because if you have too much of it,
then everybody gets it, then you don't get
a value.
And they can't produce more than 2%
on average gold a year.
No more than 2%.
With anything else, they can produce more.
And it's always been like that.
The other thing is that gold does not
rot or doesn't deteriorate.
As other metals, even silver deteriorates to some
level.
Gold doesn't.
So a lot of the gold that we
have in the world is thousands of years
old.
So you can't produce enough of it.
There's a limited supply which gives it its
value.
Now, gold would have been some crazy amount
of price right now, but all of that
investment has been pushed into cryptocurrency.
God knows whether it's a conspiracy or not.
That doesn't make it haram, right?
That doesn't mean that you don't invest in
something that is useful for you.
But ultimately, you have to remember, this is
just all the dunya.
Salt dunya, ultimately.
So anyway, somebody invests, and then there's a
bad choice, and he thinks, what's this?
He loses a lot of money, right?
He loses a lot of money.
Ya Allah.
So all of this is just to disrupt
our situation and unsettle us.
We're not looking for, ya Allah, give me
something to disrupt.
No, ya Allah, let me just be close
to you without disruption.
There's that way to go about it.
That's what we want.
We don't want.
We want the way of Aafia.
We don't want this disruptive way.
But either way, Allah make us close to
you, right?
Because that is the ultimate purpose, remember.
So he says that he disrupts and unsettles
all of this.
All of this again from his divine care.
لِيَرْحَلَ مِنْ هَذَا الْعَالَمِ إِلَىٰ عَالَمِ الْمَلَكُوتِ Just
so that he could be prepared to go
from the focus on this world to the
focus on the real kingdom, on the realm
of the real kingdom.
That is the realm of the hereafter.
And then once that journey of his begin,
فَإِذَا تَحَقَّقَ رَحِيلُهُ When that journey of his
begins, while he's still in this world, that
journey is beginning because all of that journey
we're talking about is a journey of the
mind and the heart.
The focus becomes different.
We're still gonna use the world.
The same amount of dunya will be with
us.
But now, we're just gonna use it to
our benefits rather than to our detriment.
You can still enjoy, right?
But the enjoyment there is different from what
the enjoyment before was.
That was for the nafs, that was for
the heart.
Now it's just that Allah has given it
to you, you're using it.
It comes your way, alhamdulillah.
Why say no?
Unless you wanna focus particularly on a way
to lead your life.
So then he says, finally then for this
person, once he's aligned in this direction, going
to the hereafter, you won't see a difference,
just some behavioral differences, attitude difference, that's all.
But otherwise, he'll simply be living in the
same house.
It doesn't force you to go and live
in a small house or live on the
street or live in a cave.
It doesn't do that.
It's just the whole mind.
You avoid haram, you avoid any haram dealings,
and you just focus on right, then eventually
what happens to this person is, Then
eventually for this person, sweet and bitter becomes
alike.
What that means is that, if there's something
bitter, but it's the right thing for the
sake of Allah, he'll do it.
He won't choose things just because they're sweet.
But if there's something for his purpose, then
he's willing to choose whatever it is.
And then for him, it doesn't matter if
people praise him or not, or if people
don't see his value.
His focus is with Allah.
There's a guy who told me that he
worked at a masjid as a volunteer.
They saw his qualities and how efficient he
is in doing things.
So they promoted him as a volunteer to
a secretary or something.
Say this while the masjid was being extended.
And mashallah, he did a good job.
Now that it's done, maybe he's made a
few mistakes in the past of maybe being
a bit abrupt, or maybe a bit vocal
or something.
So there's a few people who have gotten
him voted out of that position.
Now he's like, what should I do?
They still, overall, they still want me to
be a volunteer, but I'm just not in
that position anymore.
That was just, according to him, something that
one or two individuals did, the politics that
happened to be with, for whatever reason, good
or bad.
So what should I do now?
So what advice do you give a person?
Do you just leave it out of not
being happy with the one or two individuals,
whereas overall you're still able to benefit?
I said to him, I said, look, you
carry on.
You're doing it for Allah.
Allah has recognized you.
And your efforts and everything that you've done,
he will reward you if you continue with
that.
However, if you feel you can't, then don't
leave this unless you find a better position
where you can still assist the cause of
Allah.
Never leave any khidmah you're doing, never leave
any service that you're doing for Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, for things that happen unless
you can find a better service.
Otherwise, it's shaitan.
Shaitan's gonna use that opportunity that because of
a few foolish people what they did to
you, shaitan's gonna now make you make the
wrong decision.
Our job is to think of what Allah
wants from us and what I'm doing.
I was given an opportunity to assist this
masjid.
I'm gonna give it up because a few
individuals, it's not their masjid.
Everybody else is benefiting.
The people who pray there, they're benefiting from
what I'm serving, how I'm serving this community.
So don't ever give up anything unless you
can find something better.
Always, right?
Because if we're not even doing anything, we
should find something to do.
And you're already doing something, why leave that
for nothing?
Subhanallah, Allah put us into a position.
May Allah make it easy for him and
for all of us.
Now because eventually what will happen is he'll
be willing to take you in the difficult
way because he knows even difficult ways from
Allah and he knows that he's rewarded by
Allah.
He knows that's what Allah wants him to
do.
It just becomes easy.
It's a mind over matter.
The heart becomes focused on the right thing.
Once the heart becomes attached to Allah, that's
the true connection anyway.
And then everything becomes easy.
So because there is nothing besides Allah anyway.
There's nobody who can do anything for us
besides Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So that is the true knowledge.
That is the true knowledge.
Every other knowledge that is not taking us
in this direction is not true knowledge.
So now Shaykh Abdullah Gunguhi, the way he
rounds this off, in English he says the
Qur'an, but he didn't say it in
English, it was a translation.
The Qur'an, hadith and counsel of the
learned are adequate for a man devoid of
the love of the world.
If he didn't have any love of the
world, then reading the Qur'an would just
spark, would just ignite, would just assist in
carrying on.
But it doesn't.
It doesn't.
That's the problem.
The bayan inspires us for a moment and
then it's gone.
We have to do it all over again.
And so adequate for a man devoid of
the love of the world and whose intelligence
is sound.
However, Allah knows that the love of worldly
pleasures and pollution is firmly entrenched in the
hearts of numerous people.
The intelligence of some people is deficient.
Hence, good counsel alone is not sufficient for
them.
This is literally answering a question that I've
been to so many lectures, so many bayans,
so many advices.
Why can't we change?
He's finally telling us.
Somebody's finally telling us that.
And then, he always hits the hammer on
the head, doesn't he?
The nail on the head, rather.
He's always, mashallah, just amazing when he comes
up here.
Subhanallah, Allah bless him abundantly.
So, he then gives them, so for these
people, counsel alone is not sufficient.
He gives them a taste of worldly hardships
and trials so that they become disillusioned with
this carrier.
Abandoning the world, therefore, becomes a matter of
peace for them.
Right?
There's a lot of people, I've seen them
afterwards, and they're like, man, that was just
filthy.
I only realized the filth afterwards.
Alhamdulillah.
Now, for a person, the simple test is
this, that if a person is just gaining
more enjoyment, the world is opening more, and
the expanse of it is right in front
of him, and he's not getting any closer
to Allah, then that's a problem.
Then he's like one of those who's deluded.
That's scary.
To be honest, that's very scary.
Always worry when something new comes your way,
some new prosperity comes your way.
Like, is this a fitna from Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala?
Is this a challenge?
And then suddenly, some difficulty comes in, like,
okay.
As long as you deal with the difficulty
correctly, alhamdulillah.
Allah's putting me back, putting me on a
guilt trip.
That was because I did that last week,
or I did this issue, or I said
this.
Ya Allah, ya Allah, there are also such
people who fail to gain any lesson from
difficulties and hardships.
Oh, there's also that one.
Nevertheless, may Allah never put us through that.
Imagine, you have to go through difficulty in
life, and you still don't get anything out
of it.
There's no enjoyment in this world, knowing the
hereafter then.
Nevertheless, numerous Muslims do turn towards Allah most
high in consequence of the calamities that befall
them.
The iman, if you've got a bit of
iman, eventually a person doesn't turn back.
And thus, in relation to their former state
of degeneration, they progress in the direction leading
to Allah most high.
Sometimes not fast enough, but alhamdulillah.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept for
us, from us.
Today, one of our local brothers, meaning in
Walthamstow, I think the reason he passed away,
he was, his name was Shabir Ibiha, and
this guy, some of you may know him,
he has helped, I don't know, thousands, thousands,
not just Muslims, non-Muslims, Jews, Hindus, so
many different people used to come to him.
And he's there, bismillah.
So, he was one of those natural bonesetters.
He was one of those natural bonesetters.
If you have an issue somewhere, a pinched
nerve, some disc out of place, he just
gives you a little massage and then pushes
it in place.
Like, literally 10-15 minutes, it's done.
Usually.
Sometimes you have to go back, because if
it's been a chronic issue for a while,
then you have to go back.
But, amazing what he's done, and the respect
he had for ulama and other people.
So, he was suffering from cancer for the
last several months, and it's amazing, I went
to see, I called his son, I said,
look, I need to come to see you.
On, after Juma, I said, I need to
come to see you, just before, after Asr.
And I went, and ya Allah, there's ambulances
outside.
And I pulled in, and it just passed
away.
So, alhamdulillah, I got Friday, 20 minutes before
Maghrib, 15-20 minutes before Maghrib.
But he got Friday, and I was just
so happy that Allah chose me to be
there, because at least I was able to
help set up how the body should be,
and so on and so forth.
So, pray for him.
Inshallah, any reward we attain from this gathering,
I would like to dedicate it to him.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala granted him, and
he helped a lot of people, mashallah.
He was always really, just a very soft
-spoken, decent guy.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reward him,
may Allah protect his children.
They also do this work, may Allah allow
them to also assist people and help people
with this, because it's just a really good
service.
Anybody who provides all these different services, whether
you're a dentist, or a doctor, or a
bone setter, well, these are all services, you
just have to have the right intention for
them, right?
And then, mashallah, you get reward, and you
get your money with it.
If you're charging, you get your money with
it, you have to live your life, but
at least you get a reward.
You just have to change the intention, ya
Allah.
Allah, he was always like, Bismillah.
And he had shifa in his hands, mashallah.
He had shifa in his hands.
The way he would just do things, it
was just done very easily, it would just
happen.
And I know he was praying surat al
-Fatiha, and du'as.
Allah bless him, raise his status, elevate him
to Jannat al-Firdaus, and allow his son
and all of his loved ones, give them
beautiful patience.
One thing that we can do is, during
the day, it's a good idea to repeat
Allahu ma'in, which means Allah is with
me.
So, with the meaning, what that does is
that helps us stay conscious of him, Allahu
ma'in.
So every time, just think about that, Allahu
ma'in.
And just say it with the tongue.
In fact, say it with the tongue, Allahu
ma'in.
That helps us to, inshallah, stay focused on
consciousness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, because
we're constantly remembering that Allah is with me.
And inshallah, that should be a very anchoring,
balancing, inshallah, experience for us.
O Allah, keep us under your care.
O Allah, keep us under your attention.
O Allah, do not let us deviate, O
Allah.
O Allah, keep us with a'afiyah.
O Allah, keep us focused.
Voluntarily, O Allah.
O Allah, protect us.
O Allah, allow us to be among those
who do things that satisfy you.
O Allah, make all of our actions, those
that you are pleased with.
O Allah, make us like the way you
want us to be.
O Allah, make us like the way you
would love us to be.
O Allah, assist us and help us.
O Allah, allow us to see through the
dunya around us.
O Allah, allow us to see through the
fasad of the embellishments and the adornments and
the fancy things around us.
And allow us to only do things which
are productive and useful for us.
Only those things which will assist us in
the long run.
O Allah, make us prudent individuals.
O Allah, make us focused individuals.
Make us practical individuals.
O Allah, protect us from falling for delusions.
Falling for various different types of problems and
challenges.
O Allah, protect us from them.
And especially protect our children.
There are many, many people who are suffering
because their children are on the wrong track.
O Allah, we would like them to be
on their right track.
O Allah, accept our duas.
O Allah, accept the parents' duas for the
children.
O Allah, keep us all aright.
O Allah, guide us all aright.
Do not let our children make the mistakes
we made.
O Allah, allow them to do that which
is correct.
O Allah, make us all from the awliya.
Make us all from your friends.
Make us all from your close ones.
O Allah, assist us.
Protect us from the wrong type of fame
and the wrong type of attention and the
wrong type of riches.
Do not make what you have granted us
a burden for us.
O Allah, we thank you for what you
have given us.
Allow us to be constantly grateful and to
be perpetually grateful to you, O Allah.
O Allah, allow us to see the ni'mah
that you have given us and to value
it.
O Allah, O Allah, how misplaced it is
that the ni'mah you have given us, we
do not treat it as ni'mah.
We don't express gratitude to you.
O Allah, bless all of those who are
here and who are listening.
O Allah, bless the entire Muslim Ummah.
O Allah, relieve our Muslim Ummah from all
of the burdens that they have, all of
the difficulties they're facing, all of the challenges
that they are facing.
O Allah, these are all difficulties.
We know that difficulties all have a purpose.
O Allah, those who have departed, O Allah,
grant them shahada.
O Allah, grant them shahada.
And those, O Allah, who are left behind,
O Allah, grant them much better than what
they have lost.
O Allah, grant them their freedom and their
dignity and their honor and protect all of
us.
Allow us to make the right decisions in
our life.
And O Allah, bless all of those who
assist us.
The masjid project that we have, O Allah,
allow it to reach completion.
O Allah, remove the obstacles from our path
and make it beneficial.
O Allah, make this year's hajj well and
easy for people to go.
O Allah, allow us to go and take
us with us.
O Allah, allow us to go.
O Allah, facilitate the path for us.
O Allah, our brother who passed away, O
Allah, bless him.
O Allah, reward him for all that he
has done.
O Allah, elevate him.
O Allah, forgive him.
O Allah, protect him and in the hereafter,
protect his children in this world and allow
them to continue his legacy in the right
way, O Allah.
O Allah, O Allah, grant us all some
good acts to do before we go.
Keep us in the service of your deen,
O Allah.
Keep us in the service of your deen.
We don't know how we can serve you,
O Allah, but you know how you can
employ us.
It's all in your hands, O Allah.
O Allah, we're offering ourselves.
We're beseeching you to accept us.
O Allah, for the service of your deen.
Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Rabbil alaihi wa sallam.
As-salamu alaikum.
The point of a lecture is to encourage
people to act to get further, an inspiration,
an 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 their 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 organized lectures on
demand whenever you have free time, especially, for
example, the Islamic Essentials course that we have
on there, 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 listen to lectures, but
you need to have this more sustained study
as well.
Jazakallah Khair.
As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.