Ahmad Arshad – Discourse At Khanqah #03
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AI: Transcript ©
When a person engages
in and
sincere
That is the beginning of a journey.
It certainly is not the end of it.
Now
to show that a person is sincere in
that,
they have to make sure that they create
a mechanism
of accountability,
a mechanism
of reckoning.
And so the have
called this kefir, and this is also a
metaphysical condition. It's called.
We touched based on this a little bit
yesterday,
but I think the the best way
that has been explained is by.
And he talks about this as a
stage by stage step by step process.
He says that, you know and I'll give
you an example of when we
wake up in the morning,
there is an idea in the mind that
we have to eat suhoor,
and then, you know, we have to pray
and then, you know, we have to not
eat every day,
not drink every day, and, you know, we
keep or we try to be mindful of
that.
And after comes and again, you know, we
are mindful that we can only eat after
Maghrib.
So there's a process. There's a step by
step, you know,
framework that we follow.
Similarly,
when it comes to Mahasibah, he says that
it starts by
you or the person, the salik, the person
who's traveling the path
of doing a or
kind of challenging your own lives.
And, again, you know, you don't challenge yourself
physically. It is a
discussion with your own self. It is
a conversation with your own self. It is
a reflection on one's own.
And so the
is that, you know, you do a
that you say that I challenge you that
you will stay away from certain things, and
I challenge you that you will be able
to accomplish certain things. So that is
the challenge of the nafs.
And so, basically, in other words, we set
up some goals for ourselves every morning.
Like every morning when we get up, we
thank Allah
for giving us life after death. And so
when this life, this gift has been given,
you challenge yourself and you set some goals
for yourself. Okay? So this is the.
And then he says that, throughout the day,
you remind yourself of
the challenge that you have made, the goals
that you have. And this is called.
Mhmm.
Is really,
to, you know, take care of those goals
and making sure that you are walking towards
them.
For example, if you said that today
I'm going to control my gaze,
you remind yourself throughout the day and you
you know, keep an eye on yourself. You're
mindful that
I'm going to do that. Or if you
say that I'm not going to,
say anything that is hurtful to others, so
you are mindful of your tongue and you're
mindful that you don't utter any words that
might
be considered hurtful or a lie or a
slacker, etcetera, etcetera.
So the whole day, we do this.
And at the end of the day, just
like we do after, the end of the
day is with this concept of that you
just
check yourself.
You check yourself. Okay. These were my goals.
Were was I able to attain them or
not? Right?
And
if you have to write them down, you
can write them down. You know, every person
to himself,
every person is different. Some people like to
write down their goals. Some people just have
them in their head.
You know, but it's it's important that they
are in front of you, that we are
working towards something.
And so the end is.
And maha'aseebah is kisab. Right? It's it's holding
yourself to account.
It's it's the, you know, time of reckoning
for ourselves. Right? And that's the best reckoning
we do we can do. Right? So rather
than having other people and, you know, some
people also do that that can you, you
know, keep me accountable?
But, you know, that's
not
doable in all circumstances.
So, you know, we start to hold ourselves
to account.
So, okay, was I able to do this?
Was I able to do this?
Or, you know, if I wanted to accomplish,
you know, praying this many times, nafal or
doing this, was I able to do this
or not?
That is muhasibah. That is why it says
that you have to hold yourself to account
before Allah holds you to account. And we
all know that that time is coming in
fast approaching for each and every one of
us. Right? You know, we are not growing
up. Really, our clock is winding down. You
know, this is a back calendar that every
single day is one day off of our
flight.
It's a very,
before we know it, I can guarantee you
that before we know it, you know, Malakul
Mote would be there and,
you know, he will be taking Abu, and
we'll be thinking, you know, what did I
achieve in this life and what did I
do or what was I supposed to be
doing?
And in the end, you know, sheikh says
that the last thing is called.
Is
that, you know, once you have,
you know, once you have done this process
of,
you you
you punish yourself if you find yourself lacking
in your own goals.
Again, you don't need anybody else's doubt. You
don't need anybody else's scolding. You don't need
anybody to come in and
and punish you or or
any of that.
You know, it's the reminder. And this is
where the maha'zaba comes in because it's not
only that we keep ourselves in check,
we keep ourselves in check-in in relation to
our our
connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so
when we find that the connection has weakened,
for example,
we do the that, oh my nafs, this
is your doing.
And because of your and because of your
weakness and because of your jahalat and, you
know and a lot of times, you know,
these are, you know, within the within the
nafs. For example,
we spoke about that I think last Ramadan
or the the time before. Is this procrastination,
this feeling of
Bezani.
Not feeling the longing and yearning and, you
know, this is a a very deadly kind
of feeling. And the naps has that. He
just gets tired.
It gets tired of worship. It gets tired
of dikka. You know, because ultimately, nuffs likes
enjoyment. Nuffs likes pleasure.
And so if you,
try to expose it to
too much of of sacrifice,
too much of
and whatnot. If it's not conditioned well,
it becomes, you know, this of
tired.
I don't feel like
it. You know? And,
you know, and it creates that sort of
within the as well.
So, you know, it's important that, you know,
we hold ourselves to account to do that.
And, you know, it it requires some in
that as well because we are mature, so
sometimes you have to really
do some intellectual conditioning that this is what
I need to do. Even if the nurse
doesn't want to do it or even if
the heart is not into it, you have
to do it.
But that that eye that keeping an eye
on one own condition and state is is
key because
that's a reflection of who we are, you
know, as as an Abdullah.
Right?
If we say that we love Allah
and we find that there the the longing,
the yearning is is is faltering, then,
you know, it's a it's a it's a
red flag. It's a red flag. What that
requires is, you know, that we do stefar.
What that requires is that we make extra
dua.
What that requires is that, you know, we
we seek out, you know, the company of
our elders of
of of
our hopefully with their duas and with their
sukva, you know, Allah rectifies the situation.
But it's not something that we should normalize
living with.
It's not something that we should just, oh,
you know, this is what's happening. But look
at me at least I'm praying because now
the heart is not in in it.
And then
it's it's good. You know, it's getting that
you're you're getting
the done, but
without the jazz or emotion or
without that real, you know, feeling of of
servitude and and submission,
you know, it becomes a very mechanical and
robotic thing. And, you know, Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala doesn't want that. Allah wants
a person to really have that.
Then
whatever we're doing,
we marinate
selves or we bask into that fragrance of
iman and and all of that.
So if you find that it's not there,
then, you know, that requires a little bit
of as well. You know, usually, it's some
usually, it's
some, you know, some kind of
You
know, some something like that of the sword
that that will cause a person to fall
into that.
So
also requires that we keep an eye, a
key keen eye and a close eye on
one's
own towards Allah
And if you find that, you know, somehow
they are
trembling, they're shaking, they're they're not what they're
supposed to be, what do we do? We're
going to the.
We're going to the. We ask,
you know, I cannot live like this. You
know, with with this kind of, like, heart
and with this kind of battle,
well, you know, it it's only your
that can that can save me from this
this and,
you know, you will find Allah
is certainly, certainly, without any doubt,
most merciful, most compassionate, and he loves to
give. Allah Allah Allah Allah loves to give.
He says that, you know,
that he says that ask me and I
will give. If Allah has saying in the
Quran that ask me and I will give,
so who are we to doubt that? Yeah.
So we should ask,
if we find ourselves in that situation. So,
this of
let's try to bring that
in in this Ramadan and make sure that
we are doing this every single day
and analyzing ourselves rather than analyzing others,
analyzing ourselves
and analyzing our situation and analyzing
our connection with
Allah. So may Allah make it easy for
all of us.
For a few minutes,
hold your eyes, bow your head.
In humility and humbleness,
let go of all the thoughts of the
and everyone in
this. Bring your focus and attention down to
your bulb, 2 fingers below your left chest,
and make intention. May du'a Allah
his father, he's cut up.
Mister jaliyah, and what are for you, za'at,
that descending upon us, entering our bulb,
and our bulb is absorbing those
and feel that all the darkness, hardness,
and all the lust is exiting, and then
feel your calling out to your beloved.
Feel that your
saying, Allah, Allah, Allah,
and that you're listening
to.