Ahmad Arshad – The Paradigms Within
AI: Summary ©
The "nafs" of Islam are a range of lifestyle categories that can be broad-based and rewarded with pleasure-driven lifestyles. They can manifest in various ways, including physical behavior and drug consumption. The speakers emphasize the need to avoid hedonism and avoid rationalistic thinking to avoid negative emotions. The "has been in there" lifestyle is a norm and difficult to embrace, where people try to serve others and win. Everyone should pursue hedonistic and pleasure-based lifestyle, rather than self-crafted ones.
AI: Summary ©
We have often discussed
the concept of when
it comes to the worldview of the deen
of Islam,
this
esoteric, this inner self of a person.
And we've also defined that it consists of
various faculties of a person
just like our physical form, our physical adjusted,
our physical body has different organs
and different faculties.
Our inner self also
has those faculties,
and we have discussed that
it is made from the nafs of a
person.
There's nafs that
also has the I am ness.
You know? That's,
ana,
and, you know, how we identify ourselves.
Right? The nafs is a center of
every desire that a person has, good or
bad.
And then it comes to the of a
person.
As we know, the intellect of a person,
it is
a source of planning
to,
discern what is good, what is bad for
us, what has profit in us, and what
has lost. You know, we use our for
that.
Last but not least,
you know, what we call our or what
we call our.
This is the faculty,
that has to do with our emotions, the
ability to love, the ability to connect.
This is present
within one within one's.
So
in an abstract, obviously, it makes sense because
when it comes to
our rectification
and
achieving cleanliness and purification,
you know, we can understand how do we
purify
our nafs and purify our aqal and purify
our gal
in order to achieve
this complete purification.
So
when we
meet Allah
on the day of judgment,
you know, we have tried our best. We
have tried our best to have physical purity
as well as metaphysical purity.
But the question becomes
that just like with our physical self,
you know, sometimes you recognize that,
people who are right handed, their, you know,
right arm is much stronger.
And so if they want to lift something,
they'll use their right arm. People who are
left, you know, left handed, they will lift
things with their left arm.
Different aspects. You know, some people have upper
body strength. Some people have strong legs. They're
they're able to run. They're able to climb
things.
You know, I'm reminded that in one of
the that I went,
to with with Mohammed,
you know, we decided that one day we're
going to go and climb,
and,
you know,
a person like me,
you know, ending their life, you know, it's
it became very difficult. You know, we'd climb
literally, like, 10 or 15 steps, then I
had to, like, stop and take a rest.
Muhammad
on the other hand,
you know,
protect him. You know, he was able to
go much much farther than he had to
stop.
Thankfully, there were cats
on Jabali Thors. He was able to play
with them.
And, you know, we came across a Hafizah
from Kashmir.
This Hafizah that I didn't know, you know,
we just said
there.
Masha, he was barefooted,
and he was literally running up
without even breaking a sweat,
without even breathing heavily. And, you know, we
were looking at him.
K. How ajeev is this person? But it
was very normal for him because, you know,
he was from Kashmir
and people who have been to Kashmir, you
know, the beautiful valleys and mountains.
People are very used to
going up and down. So he had very
strong legs.
And, you know, he had such jazbin, you
know, he's like, you know, Hazrat, you know,
I can pick you up.
That's the last thing you should be thinking.
And so,
even with our physical body, you know, some
people have different aspects that are strong.
So when it comes to our metaphysical existence,
it it also is true that some people,
naturally, their nafs is stronger than others.
Right? And for other people, the nafs is
what we call,
that the nafs does not bother them. Right?
Some people are very rational in their approach.
Their their uncle, their intellect is very.
Other people don't care about that. Right?
And then there are some people,
whose heart is very
or whose emotions or
whose are
is very, and they have a certain way
of looking at the world. Right? So if
you look at this
and we accept this premise, then, you know,
there are certain kind of lifestyles that emerge.
And it's not a black and white kind
of division,
but broad categories. We can we can find
these categories exist within in as well. So
for example,
if a
person submits to their nafs,
meaning their nafs is so galed, so dominant.
And here by nafs, we mean,
enough that inclines towards,
enough that inclines towards evil,
That, you know, the person, the insan, does
not resist. Right?
So what kind of lifestyle emerges from that?
Naturally, it's a very haivani kind of lifestyle.
Right? Very instinctive
lifestyle, like base instincts,
base desires, what we call carnal desires,
desires.
You find that, for child,
is usually
very Right?
So for a child, usually, you know, they
have a very existence.
In a sense, it's always very,
stubborn.
Right? They'll start crying and
throwing tantrums
without any concern. They will not get you
know, they will not see where they are.
You know, it could be in the middle
of a jum'ah. If they want something and
you don't give it to them, that's it.
Like a tantrum, they will fall down on
the ground and then they'll right?
And it's a very
kind of thing that, you know, I I'm
hungry now,
and my instinct
is,
and that has to be fulfilled.
For an adult, you know,
they they're usually able to control themselves.
But for a child, because the instincts are
so
then, you know, it's it's very difficult to
your self control becomes very difficult.
So in this kind of haiwani lifestyle,
people usually grow up physically, but they do
not grow up mentally or spiritually.
You know, when they become adults, these instincts
are very, very hollow. So,
for example, they
they are very much all about
self centeredness.
They are all about
selfishness,
me, myself, and I.
All my desires need to be fulfilled
when I want, how I want. Right?
These are such people that they are unable
to control their.
Right? They're unable to control their lusting because
it's a very base instinct. Right? Just like
an animal
cannot control their hunger, they're very territorial.
You know, these are very things present in
in pretty much all the animals.
Right? Territorial.
Right?
This is my territory and they will, you
know, start growling if somebody crosses over,
you know, as as as when it comes
to shikam shikam, you know, when they're hungry,
doesn't matter, you know, it could be night
or it could be day. It doesn't matter
what time it is. They'll just go and
eat and eat and eat. And when it
comes to procreation, shahawat as well, it's doesn't
matter. You know? They're they're very much
when when their desire overcomes them, they will
try to fulfill it.
So those
those
that
metaphysically,
their their nafs is very valid upon them.
They will usually
manifest
or their lifestyle will manifest a very nafsani
kind of lifestyle.
Nafsani, hahesha, the desires, the hawa,
will be extremely
relevant.
What that also means is that because of
the selfishness,
they will not care about others.
It doesn't matter, you know, that he's my
brother, he's my sister, he's my father, he's
my mother, doesn't matter.
And relationships don't matter.
Families don't do not matter. Communities do not
matter. As long as I am getting the
benefit,
nothing else matters.
And so, you know, we see this nowadays.
I mean, I don't have to give you
examples. You know, it's so and a lot
of well, you know, it's slowly starting to
creep into Muslim
lifestyle as well. You find people who will
live a very Haivani, instinctive lifestyle. They're they're
called Muslims, but
is
is really ruling them.
It's driving them.
It's it's in the driving seat.
And so there is no concern about, you
know, halal haram and what's right, what's wrong.
No concern for the ummah. No concern for
the community,
family. It's just me. You know, they will
fornicate. They will drink. They will do drugs.
They will whatever can gives them
pleasure. So this is, you know I mean,
there's a word phrase called a hedonistic lifestyle.
Hedonism.
Hedonism is what? Hedonism is a pleasure
driven lifestyle.
Pleasure centric lifestyle.
But you maybe you
find sometimes, you know,
I'm bored. Right? A lot of times, children
will say that,
actually, they say it all the time.
Right? They're always looking for small pleasures, playing
video games video games, you put it down,
and then, like, what do I do now?
Because now the wants more pleasure. So it's
looking for something else. You you put on,
like, a computer or, like, you know, people
have TVs at home. They'll put that on.
They'll start watching it.
And after a while, they'll get bored of
that too. And then it's like, what's next?
I I need something else. So it's pleasure
driven lifestyle, enjoyment driven.
Video games, Internet,
TV,
when they're done with that is eating,
always just,
you know, grazing all the time, chips,
then where's my lunch?
Then where's my
this?
So it's always right? It's you can you
can see how, like, a cow, for example,
it's always grazing.
That's exactly what it is. They'll sit down
and just, like, I I need to munch
on something.
Right? I need to munch on something.
And, you know, when they're even older than
that, I mean, you know, though those
I mean, it's a disease. It manifests itself
in in, like, other ways. Right? So this
is a Taiwanese lifestyle.
Now it doesn't mean that they don't have
aqal, doesn't mean that they don't have a
heart. They do.
But mainly, you know, what happens is who's
driving? Right? If like 3 or 4 people
are driving in a car, usually one of
them is the one driving.
It doesn't mean that not everything is not
moving. Yes.
But one is active, the others are passive.
So here,
nafs is very active,
and this is a nafs, which is out
of control, which is called nafs
or the Quran calls it nafs
Right?
And that's it.
And, obviously, this is you can imagine. I
don't have to say this. This is something
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala dislikes.
It invites Allah ta'ala's displeasure.
Right?
And when the nafs is like that, it
has an effect on the as well as
on the heart.
And you can imagine what that effect is.
Anything that brings your, you know, your bloats
up or that, you know,
that feeds your nuffs, obviously, is going to
make your heart and throat very weak.
And the effect on the is that because
it's hedonism, you know, it's the also starts
to just think and think and think about
negative and pleasure oriented things. So this is
an that cannot think pure thoughts.
It's always consumed
with bad thoughts and filthy thoughts and
pleasure
focused oriented thoughts all the time.
So that's a sign that nafs is in
the driving seat. So,
you know, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and, you
know, we have spoken about this,
many times before
that, you know, this is this is something
that we have to turn away from as
a Muslim, as a.
You know, even if a person is not
engaged in, you know, the process of purification,
they should at least know
that this kind of purification is actually required
by our deen of Islam.
The second, for example, the broad category is,
where the aqal of a person is in
the driving seat. Now this is,
obviously a little better
than us in the driving seat because ACL
itself,
you know, ACL itself can be trained.
It can be trained some more values.
This is what we call a very, like,
humanistic kind of or rationalistic kind of lifestyle
that we we see.
And this lifestyle emerged in the west as
well,
you know, with the process of what we
call, you know, this whole period of enlightenment
and and that modernism and, you know, so
on and so forth, in which they decided
that our rational faculty is supreme,
that we are going to focus on that.
And, you know, they,
associated themselves with a scientific method
of understanding the world.
And, you know,
again, the people can say, well, what's wrong
with that? There's nothing wrong with it. But
understanding that the Akal itself,
Allah ta'ala has created aqal
with this quality
that it is based on self preservation.
So it may not be self centered, it
may not be selfish like, like the nafs,
but it is also very, like, self preservation.
Meaning, you know, when we think of
of nafah versus nafah, right, when we think
about profit versus loss,
we are making a judgment.
We're making a judgment. We are seeing what
is beneficial to me.
Right? So this is all about self
preservation.
Right? So it's not as bad as the.
It is definitely better,
and that's the least we should be aiming
for, that the is in the driving seat.
But because
itself cannot
discern, cannot judge completely
between what is good and what is bad.
It is a very subjective
thing.
Akal can be, you know, what is good
and bad for you may not be good
and bad for me, you know. You may
come from a different culture, so you have
a different upbringing,
you know, your Akal, your mind thinks in
a in a specific way. I come from
very different. You come from very different. So
first, people can they can have general kind
of, like, natural what they call, like, natural
morality and whatnot. Right? But in general,
morality is not is very subjective. What is
good, what is bad is very subjective.
And and, you know, it's,
ultimately, you know, it cannot it cannot really
be used to create, like, these meta narratives
about morality, about how to live your life.
So if you look at the west,
most of the west is actually based off
of this. Most of the west. Right? It's,
you know,
your nafs is supreme
and as far as your uncle and your,
is concerned, as long as you do not
harm others and hurt others, you know, do
whatever you want. Right?
So whatever your uncle, your mind, your intellect
thinks is good for you, go for it.
Pursuit of happiness.
Whatever
makes happiness, you make that determination and then
go for it.
One aspect of, this kind of lifestyle, this
insanity lifestyle or a lifestyle in which is,
you know, there's a there's a there's a
sense of Jamal and beauty that aesthetic sense,
what is called aesthetic sense that also develops.
Right? And so the aqil, the person with
aqil will actually use that
to
create things around them that has beauty, that
is beautiful to them. Right?
And so if you look at the world,
you know, all the art that was created
during renaissance and and, you know, in the
west and, you know, you have similarly calligraphy
and architecture in the in the eastern part
of the, you know, in the Muslim lands
too. All of that was
because the
is is thinking
and and planning and with that sense of
beauty, you know, it creates all of this
beauty that we we see around us.
A society based off of will, for example,
you know, decide for itself that, you know
what, we have to take care of certain
people.
So, you know, you see that in a
lot of western countries. You know, there's a
welfare
net when people, you know but it's not
based off goodness of a self. It's based
off of what they call, you know, utility
for the wider society. Well, if we do
not take care of them,
they will become a drag on the society.
Crimes will
arise. So you have to make that sort
of again, based on benefit and loss.
Please, you have to give taxes
because these taxes will be used to take
care of those people because if you don't,
then crime is going to go up and
it's going to affect your lifestyle.
And, you know, the houses in your areas,
their value will go down. Right? So it's
it's all based you know, it's still based
on what's good for you and what's bad
for you. It's not like, well, that's the
good that's that's the right thing to do.
That's a virtuous thing to do that, you
know, you take care of others. Right? It's
not really based off of that. It's based
off of, again, how is this beneficial to
me?
That's Akal.
That's Akal. It's me, how is it beneficial
to me?
I should not be burdened with with any
other person's, you know, problems.
So, you know, it's a very lonely lifestyle.
You know, this individualism also comes out of
that too, you know, because Akal is about
just self preservation. So it's a very individualistic
lifestyle.
You know, societies based off of that can
become very lonely societies and
and the the ultimate, you know, if you
if you just because there there's no, like,
moral grounding in the Akkal itself,
you know, even in
there were some within
within, you know, Islam as well, you know,
who who
who were very rationalistic
in their approach.
And they would say that,
you know, like, why is is the sharia
telling us to do this or why is
sharia telling us to do that? This sort
of why why why usually comes
when the aql is not trained properly.
Right? Once su'al comes when you're like, I
really under need to understand, you know, what
what is the mansha, what is the so
I can better myself. That's a good way
of thinking.
The other is like,
this sharia and means like, it doesn't make
sense to me.
Why is this given?
Why do I have to segregate? Why do
I have to do this? Why do I
have to follow the sunnah? Why
that is an that
is
that is
Right? And there's a philosophical, you know, backing
for that too, what we call skepticism. Everything
is like, you know, question everything.
Right? Like, why is this like this? Why
is this like why do I need why
do I why should I do it?
Why do I need to follow this and
that?
Why do I need to pray? Why do
I need to do this? Like, usually, people
ask you, what benefit
is praying doing to me?
Right? Following this and why why do I
need to dress this way? Why do I
need to, you know
like, what benefits
does this give me? Right? So this is
the. Right? It's all about the benefit and
the loss kind of thing. Right? So people
will start thinking like that.
And so a lot of, like, rationalist will
will come from this and they'll question, you
know, they would from because they are very
skeptical in in their, you know, in their
outlook on life.
They're they're very much they're they're questioning every
aspect of the Sharia,
leaving a lot of aspects of, you know,
of the deen,
because of that
because of that. So, again,
as I and I also mentioned, you know,
some of the you know, nowadays, a lot
of
discourse around, let's say, gender and this and
that.
That is the logical end of a purely,
intellectual,
rational kind of discourse
with the with
a mixture of.
Right?
That's exactly what it is. It says, like,
you know,
if I say something and if I feel
something subjectively,
then
that is the reality for me and nobody
should really question me. Right? This is an
article that does basically saying that I can
be
whatever
I want to be, and there there are
people now who
pretend to be animals. Right? And this is
not, you know, this is not a, you
know, this is not a joke. There are
people who will wear collars and they will
bark.
Other people will walk them. Right? And they
will be barking at each other,
pretending to be dogs because
their mind,
is telling them that that I'm I'm a
dog or I'm a cat or I'm a
wolf.
Right?
What they call, like, trans species. Right?
So, again, this is
like, how do you negate that from a
rational perspective?
Right? You could say I mean, you could
say, well, that's very wrong. It's like, why
is it wrong?
I'm not I'm not doing anything wrong to
anybody else.
I'm not harming anybody else. You know? If
I want to be a cat, I want
to be a dog. You know? What business
is this of your see, this is what
it's based off.
This is the, actually, this rationalistic approach. And
as I mentioned, you know, they were several
100 years ago.
You know, there was a that was very
rational, not the you know, there was a
different that came. And, you know, they basically
justified, you know, there are a lot of,
relationships that that are extremely haram. They they
basically said that, you know
you know, if you have some in your
homes, why can't you just marry them?
Right? Because it's they know you the best.
They know what what you like. They know
what you don't like. And and so why
go outside and look for somebody for companionship
when you have somebody at home?
Very rationalistic. Right? There's the that comes from
within, right, because that's the that Allah has
given us. But if you put that aside
and rationalistic, you start thinking, it's like, how
do you how do you negate that?
Right? How do you negate that?
People will bring in, like, you know,
genetics and and this and that. But you
see,
if you base your life and if you
base your world, you're just on this,
you know, it can lead to a lot
of problems. And this is why
Islam uses
intellect as a stepping stone
that you some sometimes need,
shortitude. So, yes, you can you can have
some rational proofs. This is why we have
the whole,
you know, rational theology, what we call kalam.
Right? Kalam is rational theology,
understanding the theology in a rationalistic way. You
know? You can have questions and he'll answer.
You know? The, the and the,
you know, we
we
follow. They're very similar and with some differences.
Right?
They they are rational schools of of theology.
Right? So they're like, okay. Yeah. You use
this if you want to understand
the deen, you know,
because that's how your mind is. Fine. You
can understand it like that.
Some people are like, no. No. I don't
need to understand. That's fine. They are very
literalist, so they're like very kind of approach.
Fine. You can do that too. Right?
So this is this is also a lifestyle,
and so we can see people. You will
all always come across people who will also
always try to challenge you,
want to debate you.
Right?
But when it comes to actual good actions
or, you know, there's nothing there. They're just
like debating people because that's that's how the
mind works.
Debating for the sake of debating.
Right?
That's that's what it likes to do.
So,
again, this is not something that Allah
prefers.
Right? This is not something does want us
to use our intellect,
does want to use our mind, but just
as a stepping stone till you reach a
level of
and certitude
then your becomes
and this is the 3rd lifestyle.
And in this lifestyle,
the
that
Allah has put within us, the which is
part of the
which
is the place of one's iman that has
in it, that, you know, that that has
that has in it, that has in it,
right, that is the of a person.
In this lifestyle, you know, because
is
has this aspect of and
empathy and compassion
and
and, you know, so a lifestyle that has
in it or that
is very strong in it, meaning it's in
the driving seat.
One thing that you will always see in
it
is that these people will be extremely generous.
Why?
Because nafs
is self
centered.
Akal is self preservation, still mimas.
When it comes to qalb, it's about self
sacrifice.
They find their happiness
when others grow and others develop and others
are happy.
So they are very generous. They're very generous
with their,
with their wealth. They will do a lot
of sadaqas and naturally.
Right? They are very generous with their time.
So if somebody comes, they will give them
their time. They're very generous with their energy.
You know? So whatever Himmat people have, they
will assure you know, they will give it
to others. Right?
If they have any ability, they will use
it to benefit others. Right?
So that is a that that is a
a lifestyle,
which is what we call the lifestyle.
Right? So you have the, then you have
the Insani
sort of thing, and
the lifestyle is
in the driving seat,
in the driving seat.
You know? It's based on
on self sacrifice.
You know?
And it's it's about others. It's about serving
the others.
Right?
And this is this is, you know, something
that you you find
very much in all the Ambiyyah,
especially if you look at the of
our beloved mister Muhammad
and all the
If you look at their lives,
it's filled with this. It's filled with this.
Life is filled with this.
Sacrificing for the
Right?
Are others. Right?
But Nabi says some is sacrificing his his
time, his energy, his family, his wealth,
you know,
his personal well-being. Right? He's doing all of
that. Same thing with
his mind.
Very much givers,
generous people.
And, you know, this is not just something
in this is something mentioned in the hadith.
Nabi says some mention.
People who perfect or complete their faith, who
love
for the sake of Allah. You know, they
overflow.
Whatever and even if there's both, there's that
so there's that connection. It's not driven by
their own nafs.
It's not just driven by their own thinking,
and it's driven by something external
based on Allah
Giving and take
all based on that.
And so you question, you ask, why is
it that,
like, why would he spend so much money,
buy a well? He could have made so
much profit.
Why is it that he just gave everything
away?
Because his.
This is the imani life.
Asked, you know, that, you know, during one
of the expeditions that, you know, you have,
you know, given the path of Allah, why
did he just bring everything?
Heart is.
That's the generosity showing.
You know? If we put ourselves honestly, put
put yourselves in in those shoes. If we
were there
and if there was like a
spend in the path of Allah because for
us, usually, the aqal or nafs is very,
you know, that
we'll say, oh, you know what?
Okay. Well,
I have a 100, so, you know, let
me just take 5 or 10
and give because I need to
save this for whatever.
But
when people are purely driven by their heart
and heart is filled with iman and they
have this nur, it just enlightens everything about
them.
And so this imani lifestyle is you will
always find you know, the famous example of
Ali
and Hazif Fatima to Zuhr
You know, the most beautiful people in the
world. Right?
One time, you know, when, either Imam Hassan
or Imam Hussain was and and Humad, they
they one of them became sick, and so
they made a min manat. Right? They they
said that if
gives them that
we will we'll fast for 3 days.
And so gave them and so they
fasted the 1st day.
And, you know, they they drank some water
in the morning
and did not really have anything and by
after time, you know,
they they only had dates. They're about to
open and somebody knocked on the door.
It's like, who is this person in need?
Now, again, if you are
driven by a rakkal, what will you say?
You know what? I have given, I gave
yesterday, I gave the day before,
I deserve this. Right?
Right?
And, you know, I've been fasting the whole
day, I'm really hungry.
You know what? Let me just take half
of it and no. But they are purely
driven. This is the the the that
their their roar
was so strong
and their heart was so strong. They just
don't even think about it. They just gave.
Next day, next morning, they they fasted again
with water.
And at the start time, again, somebody came,
and they they had, like, 1 or 2
dates. Again, they just gave it away. 3rd
day, same thing happened.
Now imagine just
fasting for 3 days with just water.
Right?
Who would do that?
A person who's driven by their their Imani
heart.
They would do that.
You know? That another example of, you know,
there was a Sahabi who who came, who
was in need, and the didn't have anything.
So he asked, can can somebody take him,
and can he be a guest in somebody's
house? And, you know, there was a a
Sahabi said, yes. I'll take him. And he
went home and he said, you know, there's
food. And the the wife of that Sahabi
said, you know what? There's only food left
for the for the children.
We don't have anything else. He's like, okay.
Again,
what does the akhil say? Well, you know
what? We can't really do anything. You know,
just say salaam.
Maybe just give them a little bit.
Make some excuse. You know, children, you know,
you can't just,
you know, leave them hanging. Right?
But here it's like, no. No. No. Put
them to sleep, you know.
Now when they go to sleep,
what what do they do? They turn the
light off
and they present everything to the to the
guest.
And the the, you know, the host, they
are, you know, moving their their their mouths,
pretending to be eating. Right?
So the guest can eat all of it.
What is this?
Like, who does that?
Again, somebody
who who are filled with iman would do
that.
Whose is
so strong and his is really in the
driving seat.
Right? Nothing about their own needs.
Well, I'm hungry too.
You know, what about the kids? The kids
are hungry.
What about them? What about none of that.
None of that.
Right? Pure love. You know,
when you read about some of the Sahabaqram
and
and how they protected Rasool Allah SAWSUM during
Ghazwah,
you know, it's amazing.
That arrows are coming and they're using their
hands.
And mothers are saying, you know, that I
will not forgive my my milk if you
don't protect
to their own children.
But it's amazing.
It's like wake up, you know, your your
nabi needs you. Right?
And they're stopping. They're stopping.
Again, if we put ourselves there,
I don't think we can take those arrows.
Right?
It's coming my way. Maybe I can move
a little bit or
right? Because, again,
the the the self preservation is like, you
know, protect yourself.
But the heart is saying protect your
your beloved.
Right? And so it doesn't matter.
Right?
What whatever happens to me or if there's
harm coming to me or
it's a very different lifestyle.
Very different.
I mean, you read about it in the
Seera books and, you know,
about, you know, the stories of the and,
you know, the earlier
it's very difficult to experience it nowadays because
we live in a society in which
spiritual
development
and heart and
it's usually not
we don't really work on it.
We usually work on just this, like,
rationalism
or or just, you know so for example,
who do we who do we usually respect
or somebody with more wealth?
Doesn't matter what kind of
disgusting person that is. No.
A person who has a, b, and c,
you know, you know, people will respect. What
about the person who's who has great
and who's this or
so things are warped in our own minds.
So we prefer for ourselves the Haiwani lifestyle.
We want
hedonistic,
pleasure based, or even, you know, just self
centered lifestyle based on, you know, me, myself,
and I in my bubble.
Lifestyle
usually you can just find them in books
nowadays.
Very few people you will find. Very, very
few
people who have really purified themselves, who have
their nafs under control.
Even their mind is what, you know, it's
it's
It's like a sound
intellect that does not interfere. That's not really
becoming like a hijab,
you know, when it comes to sacrifice.
Right?
That's I mean, you see that in Palestinians
now nowadays.
A lot of, you know,
preserve them and protect them.
And, you know, from from the oppression
of of of these vile
people who are who are oppressing them,
You know, you you find people, you know,
doctors and and peep you know, the
who who are at great personal peril to
trying to to save others. They they know
that they themselves can be sniped anytime. They
know that they're in danger.
But to to save 1 child and to
save 1 person and, you know, it's a
jib
it's a jib. This is this is Imani
lifestyle.
This is when the is is so strong
that, you know, it's like,
if I can serve others, I'll serve others.
And when people are seeing this, you know,
there's so many people
who are picking up Quran, who are reading
about this deen, who are, you know, like,
you know, I want to understand what this
is. Honestly, so many people have asked me,
what is this?
Like, how how can people act like this?
But this is this this this is, like,
norm for a moment
or should be the norm of a woman.
That's that's that's how every Sahabi was.
Early generation, every person would act like that.
Every person would act like that.
I mean, really, like, look at the life
of any Sahabi.
I was reading about our mothers,
you know, umaha'atul mumineen.
You know, so it's amazing, you know, it's
all about, okay, how did Nabi salallam
get married to them and then it will
be about personal characteristics like, oh, she she
was so generous.
Our mother was so generous.
Like, they would get a stipend, and the
same day, they would just
amongst the
the.
I mean, you know, it was a jib.
They would they would be so generous. They
would just whatever Allah is giving them, you
know, they had a stipend because they're.
They're just giving it away. The first day,
Nabi salallahu alayhi, you know, he did not
like anything hoarded in the house.
So anytime there was something there, they collected,
he would just if there's something, by the
end of the day, he wanted to give
it in sadaqa.
Right? Very cheap.
Like, very cheap.
Right?
So the whole idea
and the whole hope,
you know, behind this science of the is
maybe we can awaken that heart,
that spiritual heart, and maybe we can get
a glimpse
because, you know, it's very difficult to really
embrace it and experience it 100%
because we're just living in a society and
which is very different
which is very different.
But, hopefully, this wakes up and, hopefully, we're
able to
exercise it and practice it
at least on a smaller scale.
Okay. What if we don't have, like, you
know, where
everybody's like that and, like, an Islamic state
where everything is like that. But, you know,
in our own communities,
you know, we can become those people in
which
we are always
being extremely generous.
Right? Like the
like
Right? That we become people of our heart.
Right? And this this has the the best
you know, people of heart will be people
of Ikhlaq,
you know,
the necessity is having a good Ikhlaq because
Ikhlaq is also giving.
Right? You're giving some you know, rather than
just
being stingy
with with with goodness, you're you're giving, you
know, giving somebody, you know, giving a smile,
giving. That's good.
Right?
So what I would
invite us to do
is, k, you know, when we say we
are people of iman and, you know, people,
you know, whoever Islam is our worldview,
there are certain
things that are necessitated by that.
And so we should bring it into our
experience, in our children's experience.
So they
become they become, you know,
people who are able to sacrifice for others,
who are able to serve others,
organically.
Right? It's not something that you're forcing them.
It is like something
that is part of their getting the,
when when you when you when you give,
to to a child. Right? So it becomes
part and parcel of who they are.
So inshallah, we make
dua that Allah
truly allows us to become people of heart,
a heart that is filled with iman, a
heart that is filled with Allah Allah's muhabbat,
and so we can, you know, truly be
successful in this
as well.