Ahmad Arshad – Discourse At Khanqah #17

Ahmad Arshad
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The speaker discusses the importance of cutting oneself off from the culture of fear and desire in order to achieve a professional career. They explain that this is not something that is encouraged or discouraged, but rather something that is highly desired and highly encouraged. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of cutting oneself off from oneself and showing a focus on goals in life to achieve a professional career.

AI: Summary ©

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			As
		
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			we discussed
		
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			the,
		
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			the
		
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			that a seeker
		
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			goes through,
		
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			One of the things
		
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			that we aim to get in our lives
		
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			is what the Quran calls.
		
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			What's
		
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			Tabatul
		
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			means,
		
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			a very pointed devotion
		
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			that a person is committed to something, that
		
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			some you know, that the person is devoted
		
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			to something.
		
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			And so Allah
		
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			wants complete devotion
		
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			from his servants and his slaves.
		
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			And some of the moshai explained this as
		
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			the cutting yourself off and
		
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			attaching or reconnecting yourself with them.
		
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			So when we say cutting ourselves up,
		
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			if you look back at the concept of,
		
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			at the
		
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			concept of,
		
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			you know, renunciation
		
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			with which is.
		
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			It's cutting ourselves off as far as our
		
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			heart is concerned,
		
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			that we cut our heart off
		
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			from this dunya and everything in this dunya.
		
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			And we make sure that
		
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			it is pointed towards Allah, the
		
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			direction of Allah.
		
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			And so we know that
		
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			the complete devotion is
		
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			with
		
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			our body, you know, our eyes, our ears,
		
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			our tongue, our hands.
		
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			But
		
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			this this kind of devotion cannot happen all
		
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			the time.
		
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			But it is only the devotion of heart
		
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			that can be done all the time.
		
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			And one of the that we heard today
		
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			was about
		
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			That
		
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			these are the strong
		
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			men, women, you know, the the real men,
		
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			the real women are those
		
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			that trade and commerce does not distract them
		
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			from the zikr of Allah. Meaning, their heart
		
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			is so devoted towards Allah
		
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			The remembrance is so
		
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			strong in their heart
		
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			that even something as busy
		
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			and as consuming and as distracting
		
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			as trade and commerce does not distract them
		
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			from the.
		
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			So this is something that we have to
		
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			bring into our lives, cutting ourselves off.
		
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			Our
		
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			explained this in other words, you know, which
		
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			I mentioned yesterday about,
		
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			which is to find seclusion and solitude in
		
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			our hearts
		
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			even when a person is in a gathering.
		
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			So naturally, when a person is in gathering,
		
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			what happens?
		
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			You get distracted,
		
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			you are attentive towards other people.
		
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			But when you have this
		
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			connection,
		
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			the batul in the heart or this inside,
		
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			then even when you are in jalwat,
		
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			it doesn't distract you. And this is what
		
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			is really required.
		
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			So monasticism
		
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			that in our deen of Islam,
		
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			physical monasticism
		
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			is neither required
		
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			nor is it something that is encouraged. It
		
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			is actually highly discouraged,
		
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			Right? Because we have to live in communities
		
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			and families and establish
		
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			Allah in this world.
		
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			But when we talk about that seclusion and
		
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			solitude in the heart, that is actually highly
		
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			desired.
		
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			Highly desired, it is highly encouraged, it is
		
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			something that we need, and it is something
		
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			that we
		
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			are, a lot of times, not really good
		
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			at.
		
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			So that is why it becomes easy for
		
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			us to to even be distracted in our
		
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			salah
		
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			rather than not to be distracted
		
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			outside of salah.
		
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			So it means that that practice is not
		
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			there.
		
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			So,
		
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			you know, it's it's important
		
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			that we bring something in our lives,
		
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			some extra
		
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			some extra
		
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			some extra
		
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			that would help us in this school. It's
		
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			a hookah from Allah
		
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			It's not something that we can ignore, we
		
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			can choose not to do, so that cutting
		
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			off is required.
		
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			So there are a couple of few kinds
		
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			of steps. You know? The least of which
		
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			is that we cut ourselves off
		
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			from the duniya, from our
		
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			own self interests, our own passions.
		
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			And our marbela with this duniya is not
		
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			that of hope or fear or concern.
		
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			So that is one level up.
		
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			Of that we shun it in a way
		
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			that
		
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			we shun it, we get it that our
		
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			our hope is with Allah
		
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			and our fear
		
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			is also with Allah
		
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			not
		
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			about
		
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			fear of the dunya or any concerns.
		
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			That is something that we need to step
		
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			back from.
		
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			And all of our hopes, all of our
		
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			fear, and, Allah ta'ala, his pleasure,
		
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			and agha becomes our only concern. So this
		
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			is one level of the that we should
		
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			aim for.
		
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			The second level you can consider is maybe
		
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			a higher level, which is
		
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			the disconnect,
		
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			from oneself.
		
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			And this is, you know, what we in
		
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			the suburb, they will call, like, fanatical or
		
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			fenilepsy,
		
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			in
		
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			which, you know, the,
		
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			the annihilation of self, not in a physical
		
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			sense, but annihilation of our own desires and
		
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			whims
		
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			as far as submission to Allah
		
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			will and command that occurs.
		
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			Right? So the heart naturally submits, organically
		
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			submits to
		
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			Allah And so this is what we would
		
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			call that. You know, this is the level
		
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			of or cutting off from our own self.
		
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			You know, we reconstruct
		
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			our self image
		
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			in the light of the Quran and the
		
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			sunnah. So it's a reconstruction
		
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			process. So it's not that deen is a
		
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			part of our life,
		
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			deen is our life.
		
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			So that kind of reconstruction
		
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			happened.
		
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			And on another level, Tabatul, we also,
		
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			you know, this
		
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			strong kind of
		
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			focus
		
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			on certain goals in life
		
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			and showing
		
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			the and showing the
		
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			the strength to achieve them. So for example,
		
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			a person shows that, you know, Allah is
		
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			my purpose. So everything, all the efforts and
		
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			all the striving
		
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			becomes Allah
		
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			That is also because you have devoted yourself
		
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			fully and completely to the goal. And this
		
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			is what we make du offerings, you know,
		
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			Allah, that you become
		
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			our which really means that all of my
		
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			struggles, my
		
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			my passions in life, and, you know, my
		
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			wants and desires, and that you become that.
		
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			And so the natural result of that would
		
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			be that all of my efforts,
		
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			all of my triumphs, all of my,
		
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			striving,
		
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			becomes
		
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			that. And through Allah
		
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			I define myself.
		
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			That is also
		
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			one angle of of tawbatul that we can
		
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			we should aim for. And so this is
		
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			the perfect time.
		
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			This is the perfect time, mama'at, to achieve
		
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			this tawbatul,
		
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			cutting ourselves off, you know, those who are
		
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			doing whether
		
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			or
		
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			they should aim for this, they should make
		
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			this a goal of theirs And, you know,
		
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			when they sit down in that
		
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			should be the aim that
		
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			I really want to
		
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			cut myself off from the
		
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			and really
		
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			bring that
		
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			in
		
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			my heart. So may Allah
		
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			make it easy for all
		
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			of
		
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			us.