Ahmad Arshad – Discourse At Khanqah #13
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
One of the ayahs that we just read,
again, goes back to the creation story of
the Adam
and how Allah
ordered
all the angels
and
as well to bow before
to bow before.
This time,
you're told
that a shaitan questioned or Iblis
questioned that,
why should I be required
or asked to resist that before the mahlooq
that you have created from?
And sticky clay.
That really goes
back to the understanding
of
theness of whether it's in sign or a
jinn.
That it really looks for opportunities
to
prove itself to be superior to others.
We know that it is in love with
itself.
And so one of the reasons was that
the couple
of Shaitan of Iblis,
that I am a higher
superior made from fire.
And he's
been created for matter.
And
it's a thief, right, Allah
does not negate that rationale because
if we think about it, that could be
true. Right? In the sense that one is
created from energy, one is able to have
much more
power and strength.
Because of that,
fire is
all consuming.
And
when you talk about dirt, when you talk
about, you know, it is it's a humble
beginning.
It is matter and it is
very
because of that.
So does not negate that rationality.
What will Allah does not like is
the to have this rebellious
nature,
to challenge Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that
is exactly what he does. It challenges Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And so
I think a couple of days back we
talked about how the of the that it
inclines towards
towards evil,
towards pleasure.
And so the process of
rectifying that, of controlling the nafs, this is
what we really call the of the nafs.
And all of these halal and
that we have been or that
we have been discussing throughout this Ramadan,
they are halalat and gafiyat and muqamat of
the heart and the gass.
So from one angle, we know that, you
know, some say that, you know, you start
with this, let's say,
to to to to to to to to
to You know, like, so on and so
forth.
So this is a journey
of control,
of making your nafs
submit
willingly to Allah
because it does not want control. It doesn't
want anybody's control.
It likes to control
and most of our life it has control.
Us. And so it's
it's necessary that we
learn
what to do. Because, you know, there are
2 ways of controlling themselves. 1 is through
the.
And through is that you justify yourself in
terms of what is good and bad for
you.
Well, if
I have this desire and if I go
out and fulfill it, then it's going to
result
in me being notorious, etcetera, etcetera. So you
convince yourself to not do certain things. It
doesn't mean that the nudge itself
has been subdued or has submitted. It's just
that
you have made or you have forced
your uncle to kinda take over your other
faculties. And this is why when their uncle
is gone, the control of the nafs is
gone as well.
And, you know, the biggest example is a
lot of, like, the western society is based
on that. It is a very rational based
society. And anytime,
you know, they
are
Mhmm. Trump or something else where
the loses control,
the loses control as well.
So
Allah wants us to really
focus on the and
and
really
subdue it, submit it on a very organic
way.
In a very organic and this is the
part of the disappear that we
keep on talking about.
And it's necessary. And so one of the
things that I remember we spoke about a
few days back was this concept of hof
and.
So hushu is interesting
because
that is related to this submissiveness
of the nafs.
Hushu is this
this calmness within the nafs, this subdueness within
the nafs.
When it comes to reverence of somebody else.
Right? So is that reverent. Remember, we're talking
about the hayva of
subhanahu wa ta'ala. Okay. So if you look
at all these these these they're very similar
but with nuanced differences. So taqwa is also
the sphere of Allah
But Taqwa is more like consciousness of Allah
Like this, is consciousness of
is a general gay fear of reverence.
It's a general gay fear where
you make your nafs
subdued docile
because of somebody's reference.
So this is, you know, an an eye
of the Quran.
Who had the time not come
that those who believe the believers
that
that, you know, their hearts have Khushu
or they have the submissiveness
due to the wick of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. And what the haqq whatever haqq has
been revealed to them.
So it's it's a question. It's a challenge
from Allah. Has the time not come yet?
That, you know, you submit your lives?
And
Abdullah ibn Mubarak
you know, it is said about him that
he fell in love with some some person
and that woman said that, you know, come
and meet me at some place and he
went there.
And it was nighttime, and he waited all
night long.
And, you know, in the morning, he
heard this,
and he said the time has come. It's
like I wasted so much time in running
after.
If I had spent this time in.
You know, when we talk about this, you
know, obviously, there's an on our character because
of that. The character itself become a little
bit docile and because of the reverence of
Allah
being,
you know,
of the haywah of Allah
But it has to be very natural,
you know, because it's a state of the
heart that has to come first.
And the other is a result of that,
not the other way
Sometimes we act in a manner that is
that pretends to be and,
you know, humble and, you know,
and and those are just words.
Those are just words. I mean, that it
it has to reflect the Hatika. If there's
a Hatika there, fine. You know, it can
have an an impact impact and outside it
influence on you. But if there's no hakika,
don't even
don't even,
you know, don't even do it.
Don't pretend.
There's nothing worse than pretending.
You know, like, bowed down,
you know, like people do in in humbleness.
And and said, let's straighten your your neck.
He said
is is in the heart,
not in your neck.
Right? I mean,
very straight
straight. So if it's natural,
if it's a natural effect
or a fruit of the the the kushu
that actually exists,
then you don't have to force it. You
don't have to use terminology
that reflects
it.
You don't have to do any of that.
So no.
None of these.
You know, art the subwoof, art the skia.
You know, it should be very organic and
natural.
People use this to differentiate themselves a little
bit.
They they use these terminologies to differentiate themselves
from the others.
I'm not a worried and murad.
You know, people like it. Again, that's enough
talking. It's enough talking.
So it's we have to we have to
be very careful of that.
And so is is is a higher. We
have we have been asked
to have in our salah. The
reverence of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, clears this
aspect of hayah, the shyness, this,
you know, the submissiveness. You know? You know,
when you have habit of something, you're just,
you know, it has an other. You know,
if a lion just comes here, a wild
one,
there's a habit of the lion.
And it's going to have an on our
on our existence.
Right? Even it's it's just comes natural. You
don't have to force it. You don't have
to say at that time. It will be
very natural reaction. And
Allah
so when that
then the the author of that is very
natural. That's why. Okay?
So that's something, you know, that's it's it's
a
Mahmood kafit to have.
You know, it helps a person to,
you know, really,
command of Allah because Allah matters. It keep
it helps keep an eye on our own
our own and the insignificance
of that.
It helps us keep our own in check,
our own in check. Right?
And that is a result of this push.
So
when we are making this journey
of our
nafs and hoping that, inshallah, it realizes a
little bit of, you know, we're trying to
submit it to the will of Allah,
Hushu is going to play a very important
role in that.
And this is what is required so we
don't look down upon other people. You
know,
It's
very interesting.
You know, Mit Mitra means to annihilate yourself.
It's like, go for kid. Annihilate yourself. Annihilate
yourself. Annihilate yourself.
If you think that you have annihilated yourself,
then you still haven't annihilated
yourself. These
robbers and, you know,
on the way, they they they have they
have robbed you by
praising you and and making you
they robbed
you.
Pretenses,
And sometimes, you know,
I was reading somewhere that there was this,
you know, there was one one shirk, you
know, who prayed
with the
for 40 years of his life. And then
one day he was late.
You know, he did not enter the masjid.
He did not enter the masjid because he's
like, oh, what will people say?
And then he said, oh my god. 40
years of my life, I have been praying
for
Mahlud.
40 years, I wasted it. So he repeated
those prayers,
and that is what Nas does.
That's
why it's here.
In this beautiful month of gifts upon gifts
in Ramadan.
We ask
that gives us
a taste of hope, keeps us on hope,
and
help us control the snubs that
has really controlled us.