Ahmad Arshad – Discourse At Khanqah #16
AI: Summary ©
The concept of " tazel of the woda" is used to develop the heart to be open to certain things. Being cautious is essential for the right reasons, such as being a member of a religious or spiritual group. The importance of self-motivated caution and avoiding harmless behavior is emphasized. Success in achieving spiritual maturity is crucial for avoiding distraction and dispersion, and avoiding harm is also crucial. The third level of satisfaction is to attain a level of spiritual maturity, which is achieved through avoiding distraction and dispersion.
AI: Summary ©
Yesterday, we spoke a little bit about the
concept of zuhal,
the ability to
renounce
and their ability to abstain from certain things,
to
leave certain attachments, certain connections that are related
to the
dunya
and everything and everyone in the dunya.
And
we understood it, that
this is something that is a prerequisite
on the path
on the spiritual path, what we call
the
that one must attain
this.
Something related to
is known as,
which
we can translate
to,
you know, being careful,
being cautious,
being conscientious, you know, piety, extreme piety.
And this is also a kefir of the
heart.
The maqam of the woda.
You can call it the maqam, but it's
really
the development,
the nourishment of the heart to feel
certain things,
to be open to certain things. So
and the difference between the two could be
that
zuhal is
to leave things,
that have no benefit to us in the
day of judgment.
And what I is to leave things that
are harmful to us in the day of
judgement.
And Namath Shalit had mentioned that
when it
comes to water
or,
it is the the last maqam of the.
So meaning Zohud develops into water.
And
for a seeker, for a true mureed of
Allah,
this is really like the first.
They
essentially start from this and then they move
off and then move on.
So this is the first of
zuhad,
for the seeker,
this concept of zuhad.
And we find that we are people who
are careful
and cautious when it comes
to. For example,
when we are preparing for something, let's say
you have
an interview in the morning or you have
to catch a flight,
you always keep this buffer
time.
You know, you have to get there by
8 o'clock.
The distance is 45 minutes.
So, you know but you you make sure
that you have an hour, an hour 50.
What is that? This is being cautious about
it.
In Urdu, they call it.
Being a Muqtat person.
And so this is something that we actually
practice quite well
when it comes to.
And so this kind of is something that
is required when it comes to the matters
of deeds.
It is required. Now
whether we are cautious because
we are worried,
because we can have them just like
if you have an interview,
we are worried about it.
But that would really be
it is still water, but it is, let's
say, of a different quality.
Right? Because that is still
the motivations
behind it are very
selfish
in
nature. I'm going to do because
somebody might find out that I'm doing something
ugly ugly.
Right?
So in one sense, it's,
but the motivations behind it is are are
very selfish image.
My self image
might get affected by it. What people think
of me might get affected by it, so
I'm going to stay away from certain things.
Actually, this is the sort of thing that
people who have the outer,
outer
cloak of religiousness or spirituality, they're very good
at this.
But you can naturally see that this kind
of
if,
you know, you don't progress from that. I
mean, it's a good start.
But if you don't progress from it, it
can easily lead to.
Because
we will keep on being cautious
based on self motivation, be be you know,
based on just worries about
this person might see me, this person might
see me. What will they think of me?
What will they how will they judge me
if they find out? And so it's a
very different kind of
caution.
I mean, we should have it, but we
shouldn't
persist on it.
We shouldn't stay in this house. We should
progress from that.
That
our caution and our
care
and our conscientiousness
is based
in the Tazeem of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Okay? Masha'i actually say that it's not even
the love, it's the daraleem because
love without daraleem, you know, this
majestic kind
of presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it
does not
create the level of warah that is required.
Love
induces and produces different kind of kyphya.
Maybe not that, you know, that and that
care that we are really looking for in
this heart.
We need that alzumit of Allah
We need the ta'lim of Allah
Now,
of course, if you have love and of
Allah,
which is actually required, that creates the best
kind, the most beautiful kind of water better
person could hope for. Right? So it's not
just love. We need to remember, like, you
know, always say that
love and hope, they are the, you know,
2 faces of the same coin,
2 sides of the same coin.
So and, you know, so it's it's very
interesting to kind of
understand this and and
that we have been speaking about. So Tazeen
has to be coupled
with that Mahabbat.
Otherwise,
people can become careless.
Just like we
I can give you an example. It's not
it's a method, but it's not
it doesn't obviously fit
with Madhuk and Murk. But,
for example, you know, usually for fathers, we
have tawdeen.
Right? So there's that care aspect there.
Usually with mothers, we have muhabbat so people
can become careless there.
They can do batamizi. They can do bayadbi
just because this
is. Will forgive us. Oh, it's just.
So you can see that there's a
there's that laxness that comes with that
really small that we should have and we
do have with our mothers.
Usually, a father figure is you know, comes
with that little bit of distance.
We love our fathers. Of course, we do.
But the Taazim aspect is very valid there
too. So, you know, usually,
some boundaries that we cross with our mothers,
right, just go and
we may not cross those boundaries with our
father because of that sort of Tazeem.
So I hope it's clear. So Tazeem and
Mahabbat with Mahabbat,
somebody who's father in and somebody who's Malik
al Mulk, who's Khalek and Malik.
So it is required that we have that.
And so when we say you know, naturally,
it's very easy to understand. Like, what do
we stay away from? What are we careful
about? What are we cautious about? And, of
course, the haram.
Yeah? I mean, it's,
you know, it's it's goes without saying, of
course, the.
We have to stay away from that. But
then also things that
are that are dubious. Right? So we have
to stay away from that as well. You
know? And you will see that they're very
parallels between this. You know? Like, weird diagrams
between what are in.
K
Fiat, similar, but
it's like,
you know, chocolate and dark chocolate. They're both
chocolates, but different flavors.
And the third thing is also to stay
away from,
you know, excesses as well.
So, you know, be cautious about that as
well. You know, staying away from that as
well. That's required.
And besides, I've written that, you know, do
an assessment
do an assessment of what is ugly because
we are looking for ehsan, which is excellence,
Jamal, which is beauty.
So we have to stay away from the
opposite of it, something that is not excellent,
something that is ugly. Usually, they're amaal, they're
circumstances,
they're situations, they're halal, they're.
And we know it because it affects our
heart. We know ugly situations.
We know ugly ugly, you know,
without the.
We know the ugly.
Right? We know the ugly. We know the
ugly.
We know the ugly.
So
we know it. We have a lifetime of
experience
staring at it.
So we have to let go of it.
That is at least like the first level
that we should have.
And second is to really set some boundaries
around ourselves that things that are harmless to
us, we can stay within consumers because
avoiding harm. Right? That's the what I'm
so we know what's harmful to us.
And, again, this is every person is different.
You know? It's very idiosyncratic
for you something else, for you something else,
for you. Again, of course, the haram.
But those things that really affect our dialogue
with
Allah, it's it's, you know, different things because
people have different fruits.
Some are very shooey for nuffs, but they
might be very lazy.
Some
gets easily, you know, evoked, but, you know,
then
strengths and weaknesses in in every person.
So we have to draw that boundary.
I'm not going to put myself in the
situation that will lead to harm. And the
greatest harm is sin. Right?
In in which,
you know, we we destroy with our own
hand
It just destroys gets destroyed. It's like in
a building,
like a house of cards or, you know,
like Lego or something. And then,
you know, like, the domino just
pull, like, one thing and that's it. It
just falls down. Then you have to start
again. You have to start again. So that
does happen.
So it's important
that we do that but, you know, the
3rd level would be again, let's say if
a person
has attained certain level of spiritual maturity,
then it becomes really that, you know,
avoiding any kind of dispersion and distraction,
you know, the fall of that. And again,
you know, this is for the next month,
folks. The next Monday is we call, you
know, that,
and
attaining this
level
of
as well. All of this together, it's, you
know, it's avoiding
distraction.
So you can see it parallels. Right? We
can describe it from from this angle or
we look at it from this angle. And
all of these things are attaining those 4
things again. You know? Attain to miat, you
attain muduri,
meaning you avoid the opposite of it, distraction
and dispersion and whatnot.
And that leads you to
and whatnot,
which is, you know, what what we hope
for. The does that opens up our heart
to the miss about those
specific idea
that we want to see with ourselves.
Okay? So
we make Miya
and we make Dua because, again, this is
an of Allah Subha'a. Everything is an
makes us people of, makes us people
of,
make us people of, make us people of
in
reality, in.
Okay? In haqqiqah.
And may Allah
through only his father in haqqiqah
count us amongst those that he has forgiven.