Ahmad Arshad – Discourse At Khanqah #04
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The importance of shaitan and the use of one's voice in communication is highlighted, as it is a fruitful fruit that is inclined towards Allah. The heart is important in the spiritual process and transformation, and individuals should be made aware of the reality of the heart and be part of the process. The heart is seen as a part of the spiritual process and individuals should be made aware of it to reestablish it.
AI: Summary ©
It is narrated in some books that
they used to live
a person with a very beautiful voice,
and he used to play a musical instrument
and used to sing for the public.
And because Allah
had given him this talent of a beautiful
voice and being able to play play that
instrument. In his younger age, he became very
popular.
And so
fame, popularity,
as we know, these are
tools of shaitan,
and it makes it very easy for a
person
to
become
to live your own life.
You have everybody giving you attention,
Everybody
praising you all the time. You're getting money
from just singing and playing the musical instrument.
So this is how this
his
life. But
as it so happens that
life does end. Does it not?
So this person, when he became older,
obviously, now his voice
was not as beautiful as before,
and he did not have the energy, the
vigor to play the instrument anymore. So all
the people
all the people who were giving him attention,
all the people who were attached to him,
slowly
and gradually, they started to move away from
him.
And such a time came that
this person
started starving because he had no money. He
had nobody to take care of him.
And, you know, this is where the heart
breaks, you know, when you have nobody
to look up to, you have nothing left
in your life.
And so
when he tried and he tried, but, you
know, he could not make a living, so
he eventually decided, well, if my end is
my death, so why don't we just go
to the cemetery, to the graveyard?
And so he did. He went there,
and
he dug a grave, and he
laid in the grave. And,
you know, he said that all my life,
I used my voice
to communicate with the public, and now I'm
going to use my voice to
talk to my Mahabou Behatiki,
to my love that I have ignored and
I have been ignorant of and heal myself
throughout my life.
So he started making guav to Allah
in that
hall that he was in.
And
some time passed, and he looked, and he
saw that there was this
tall man walking toward him. And
he paid attention and it so happened that
it was.
And now this person is afraid because everybody
knew
that, you know,
was a a strict person.
And so this person, you know, he is
afraid. He doesn't know what to do. He
doesn't know what's going to happen to him.
And and when who comes to him, you
know, he asks, you know, meaning
what brings you here?
Said
that
I have been told in a dream of
mine that
a person is hungry that
I should go and feed him.
And this person when he heard this that,
one of the greatest
the Zayn Allah
sent him to feed him, you know, that
really affected him deeply.
And in some books, it says that, you
know, he
screamed in this wajah that he passed away
from that.
Now
this is a very interesting story, and our
sheikh Hazrat
Sheikh used
to tell this story a lot as well.
What this really shows are, again, some of
the that a person goes through. We spoke
about what is known as
which starts with this nidama of the heart,
this event of the heart,
this decision that a person wants to change
themselves.
And
so this person, after living a lifetime
of of hawa, of of basically his own
desires, his own whims,
towards the end. And he was forced into
the situation a little bit because
had his voice remained the same and his
ability to play the
musical instrument, he probably would have just kept
on going. But this is how Allah arranges
things as well.
Opportunities are created in our mind, in our
eye. Why am I not being able to
eat? Why is this happening to me? Why
is that happening to me?
But Allah
knows best.
You know,
said, They don't protect your heart because
this mirror is that mirror that when it
is broken into pieces, that broken mirror
is Mahabhu, is beloved to the to the
one who has created this mirror.
So sometimes we don't know, like, why things
are happening,
but
it may actually end up that this is
the door for Tawba and the hard, the
kedfi that we want to talk about today
is inaba.
Is this again, it's a stronger form of
returning back to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Tawba is also returning back to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, but in,
you know, in our regular
language,
we associate Tawba with istighfar, which is asking
for forgiveness.
Iramat is like the next step in the
that once you have made the niyyah, once
you have asked Allah
for forgiveness,
now you you make that new turn.
Right? Now you
tilled and inclined towards Allah subhanahu wa ta.
This is what Inamat is.
And this word is used in the Quran
in various various
places.
This.
This
this turning back or going or moving towards
Allah
Such a person is called an Ardu Munib,
a person who inclines towards Allah, a servant
of Allah, a slave of Allah.
And
the inner self of such a person
is that this person has a heart that
inclines towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So why are we saying this? Because this
is also something we have to ask Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because if you look back
at that story, everything was kind of arranged
for him,
for that just for that
pull towards
towards Allah
and the fact that he actually asked for
forgiveness.
He realized his true Maqam, oh God, which
is nothing.
And
with that now he's inclined, even though he
doesn't really know what to do, but he
in his own words is inclined towards Allah,
he's making gua.
And Allah
is such a khadardaan,
you know,
Allah sends his auliya and the sahaba quran
for Qur'an. And you know, these are there
are many stories like this.
Many stories like this. For example, has Sophia
Atsuri
said about him that
one day he,
you know, he was doing and,
you know, he saw in his dream that
he's been ordered
that, you know, go and
pray the janaza of 1 of my.
He wakes up and he asks around, like,
did somebody pass away? I guess, one of
the neighbors did.
And when he heard about the neighbor, he
knew that this was an open fascik.
This person was an open sinner.
And so he, you know, he's naturally
curious. And he goes and he asks, you
know, he asks the wife, what happened? How
did this person die? What was his condition?
He stayed when he was dying.
And so the wife basically says that,
you know, this person had been an open
sinner throughout his life, but
when he was on his deathbed, when he
was
breathing his last, he turned towards the sky.
And he said, oh, Allah, have mercy on
that person
who neither has this dunya nor has
Have mercy on that person.
And what was that? That was the breaking
of the heart
that was making of the because he has.
Why why else would you say that, oh,
have mercy?
Because you feel that I have I have
nothing to show to Allah
And in those moments,
when a person turns back to Allah
This is Ruju.
Who is he speaking to?
There's no nobody in between. That's it. It's
you and your hub.
That Allah
not only accepted the Tawba,
but
the of Tawbaq,
you know, he's been ordered to go and
pay the salah
of. So this is, you know, this is
the mercy of Allah.
And we can ask
Allah that Allah give us this
and make us that
that servants and and slaves will hide to
you.
And, you know, one of the signs is
that,
Rebada and Zikr
and following of the Sharia
becomes
easier for such a person.
The dahri, you know, aspect of the Sharia,
it becomes easy for a person to do
that. That is
a sign that such a person is getting
pulled,
otherwise it becomes very hard, very difficult,
it becomes a must be about that I
have to do this. It's, you know, you're
just kind of pushing yourself and,
really, you know, it's the heart is not
there, and
and, you know, this is it's it's burdening
yourself. And that might be a sign
that, you know, it's it's artificial,
not to say to leave it,
but maybe
increase in the
allows the heart to incline.
Makes the heart desire, make the heart want.
May Allah fill the heart with those emotions,
you know, that's wanted, you know. Like, when
if somebody is starving, is hungry, nobody has
to convince such a person to eat
at the start, do you?
You have your biryani in front of you,
and
it's ready, and nobody has to convince you.
It's it's right there, you just can't help
it.
Because your whole being is prepared, is ready
to consume it. And so this is how
we should this is really one of the
goals as as we said, we want to
make this a goal oriented, Ramadan.
But we should ask Allah, Allah, then make
us like that,
that that our heart inclines towards him.
And it's not artificial, it's organic.
And it's not forced, it's something that we
want, and the heart desires to do it.
You know? This is a true mureed, right,
who makes such an girda for Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
So, you know, we we should ask Allah
gives us that that feeling
as well.
And, you know, such a people these are
the people who are devoted to Allah, such
people have wafaa in them, They are loyal
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And
it's a good state to be in. It's
not the complete jazb as we know it.
These are all stages of jazb if you
want to call it. Starting with the Tawba,
and you know, Inaba, and being an Allah,
and etcetera. We we have spoken about that
this before, but, you know, in Ramadan it's
just a reminder
that, you know, this is one of the
things that we have to ask Allah
that that oh Allah that, you know and
usually what happens, I'll tell you what happens
is that sometimes
the heart becomes so hardened,
It has become so desensitized
to to sins, to, you know, things we
have normalized that now just loses the ability
to feel.
It's very jib. It's very jib hal.
That kind of washa, that kind of hardness
and harshness, and
since you can see the vast there. Like,
even though you might be reading the Quran,
it's just the heart is not
there. You might be doing sajdah in front
of Allah, but the heart is just not
there. It's so deep.
So deep.
And so, you know, we should again, what
do we do? We we try to cry,
and if you can't cry, just make the
face of Christ.
And, you know, this is it's again, it's
Allah Allah's mercy to whomever Allah Allah wants,
Allah Allah softens her. And, you know, this
is one of the signs of the Sahaba
Qaraam, that they used to cry a lot.
They
used to cry a lot.
Abu Bakr Siddiq Rasirata. He used to read
the Quran and he used to cry and
cry and weep and weep. Abu Bakr Rasirata
used to weep so much that he had
like
permanent marks on his cheeks. I mean, how
much crying was there?
That you have permanent marks on your cheek?
Others used to cry so much that grass
would grow from the ground where they used
to cry. Allah would cry. What was that?
It was a sign of a soft heart.
It was a sign of a heart
that was qalbimunib,
that it was inclined towards
Allah. So inshallah, if you find crying has
become hard for us for whatever reason,
we should cry over not being able to
cry.
We should weep over not being able to
weep and, you know, we should again make
dua to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Just open
up your heart.
And if you look at my heart, and
now and now I cannot live like this,
this
this embarrassment that I am in Allah.
I am ashamed to even look at me,
Allah, and you look at me all the
time in my heart and my heart.
You are not
such a despicable person that, you know, this
is what I've become. You gave me a
life, and I've spent 40, 50 years, and
this is this is what I've become.
Like, how am I going to present myself
in front of you on the day of
judgement? What will I say
when I see
And if I'm rejected
or my heart is rejected in this,
what will become of me? You know, this
whole life that has been given to me
and this
the chance that you gave me, and you
made me a Muslim. I mean, there was,
you know, I was a Muslim,
and I used to sit with Muslims, and
I used to go to Masjid and Hanukkah
and this and that, and still,
you know, how is like this?
You know, you have open up to Allah
in this Ramadan.
So this month of rahma,
barakah, this
ashram
of rahma as well,
Allah
looks at us with that, you know, with
that with the gaze of of mercy
and changes us.
And that we are loved. And just look
at us once with that, with that ish.
And, I love you want to feel again.
We want to change and make
it easy.
So
today we make that
we will want to become of the of
Allah
and rediscover our
And if it's not there, then we'll ask
Allah
to give it to us.