Ahsan Hanif – Exclusive Interview With Sheikh Alaa Elsayed Sheikh Green Lane Masjid
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of prioritizing one's time and learning to prioritize others' time. They emphasize the need to be a good steward of one's time and environment, and to make sure children have the right resources and opportunities to pursue their interests. They also discuss the importance of good character and skill in learning and networking with others. The influence of older people on their generation is discussed, including their respect for their own supervisor and the importance of helping people achieve their goals.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah like to welcome all of you back. The brothers are sitting at the back in the back part of the masjid can ask everyone to move forward
all the brothers in the back of the hall inshallah, if you could just move forward and move to the front of the most of the channels that are located.
Okay brothers, I'd like to invite you to welcome you to this feature session now with Jeff Allah hamdulillah we've been listening to him over the last couple of days and Mashallah myself have really been impressed and been enjoying the passion that I've been getting from him Mashallah. And also his his sense of humor, I'm sure you will be enjoying that. So the first question I'm going to ask him is check what really winds you up?
level hamdulillah salat wa salam ala rasulillah bad. What really winds me up with some of the so called Muslims when they actually started going against Islam, or writing Islam, and they start fighting or fishing for faults in Islam. And they still call themselves Muslims. I think it was not gonna mention names, but they're known
or some of them is this reminds me of the hypocrites around the time of Prophet Mohammed Salah. They would still call themselves Muslims, and they would just pray even in the first lines behind prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and they will do the exact opposite of what they appear. And that's what evocati are all about. So if you live in the West, especially when you need all the help you can get, and then you get these people that actually start
attacking Islam or fishing for fault or actually go against the hijab or go against the Kaaba go against the Sharia. That is, to me that's mind boggling what law he I don't know, I don't know what they will say in front of Allah subhanaw taala on Judgement Day. Because we deal with these people and you know, apparently, you know, killing them is not an option. It's illegal, still
a level Zilla homes.
But you can you don't have to, you go, you don't have to go far, you I'm not sure if they have it here in the UK. But we certainly have our share in North America, you know, in Canada, where people you'll find out the ones that are actually going to demonstrate the industry or the one that they're going to demonstrate, you know, against certain the rules and regulations. And the one that we're dealing with right now and Ghana and then GTA area, the Greater Toronto Area,
is that they're actually people do not want the Muslim youth to pray. Juma in the middle in the schools, and you'll find out the people are unboard against them, there are some of the Muslims and that's I don't know, what are you after yet here? Are you after this? dunya? Are you after the people in the West say, Oh, he's not a extremist, oh, that's a moderate Muslim. That's the one that we're after he's good. And you find out that are actually being backed up, or they've been, you know, paid or endorsed by some of the people that actually want that. And that's what really winds me up. But in the end, you're going to have to deal with these people and find out what the what the
answer is, was hamdulillah by the blessing of Allah subhanaw taala, we had about close to 50 Imams and leaders in the community and we came up with a game plan to to make sure that we actually deal with these issues and hamdulillah it's been it's been going well, but that's something that really is mind boggling and wyness porcelain, Allah Subhan Allah He May Allah forgive us and forgive them and guide us and guide them and shall allow Adam so I'd like to show you we didn't have a fair share of them here also, unfortunately. Okay, the next question is simply something completely different. Many of us we have incidents or something that's taken place in our lives, that really inspired us
or motivated or something that's just completely changed the direction that we were going. Is there anything in your life an incident like that something that really inspired you something that motivated you? Something that really affected you that you'd like to share with us?
Some level ham, the Los Altos llamado Salamabad something inspired this was live a lot I mentioned last year, but that was personal. But what inspired me
You know, this year will lie is what I saw the youth right here. That was very inspirational. I mean when I when I you know when I had the stampede I mean the youth session last yesterday and that's your yard or not. These were inspired you with men. They were zero I mean these are animals I'm talking these guys are serious about the their candy. You when you see the youth raising their hands when he's the the youth trying to seek knowledge like well, light look yesterday and today is coming up yesterday. What I was watching on the screen upstairs, the
The brothers May Allah bless them all and unfortunately I missed the last two and you know zamyla hater, those who want to become hot leaves or become dias when I see the nine year old and all these guys the young guys, they're doing the talk and they're trying to seek knowledge and they're actually even though they're speaking Arabic it's not their mother tongue and they're putting their effort and their time to strive for that. That's inspiring because when you think about even when when when this was live of Allah was a kid at that time, you're not even close to that. Right? I mean, nowadays a hamdulillah you are blessed and you have some imams that you have to somehow have
the people around you here we had to travel far you know I'm an old guy now i mean you know I you know, hidden a hidden network whatever you know, you didn't you'd have to eat it was not many of the scholars or imams around you to help you in the West especially you have to travel far you have to do things like you know look for somebody but hamdullah when you have it here in the masjid I see this guy the brothers telling me These are my students so it's going good for you well if I'm so proud of them then they start saying you know that they talk in the teeth which is this force level I even couldn't do it in the in the hood but because I was so so out to lunch because there was so
jet lag I can't even remember there yet. In the end, the verse was supposed to say the beginning of the hope. So I said I'm about that I moved on, I couldn't remember. But these brothers Mashallah they can the did the beauty of the inspiration on the talking the Arabic English It was beautiful. And today what happened today is um shall la later on around 515 I hear the there's a Korean competition. So Pamela, what a beautiful thing as the youth coming through. And that gives us a beautiful inspiration for the future. Once you have the youth up and running and they're doing good hamdulillah you have the comfort zone that the future is looking good. And I met some of the
brothers upstairs, the one that led us in the prayer last night and the one that gave the other one. I asked him they could have fooled me and I told him yes he Mashallah, what's your name? They said Abu Bakr, Omar man and the brother was joking it says you know I said how many of you says three brothers and four sisters? This is Masha Allah
and I said you know what's the name says? Baba, Mrs. Man this is what my sisters alley
the brother has Mashallah a great sense of humor so lucky you can go there Aliya then or something. But we're lucky I said, you know who's your father? Yeah.
He said one brother, he didn't tell me. Other brothers says he's one of the founders of this mustard I said to have to be it had to be happy. It had to be a man or woman a seed that is sown. That's what we're saying. You know, we had to be proactive. If you want to look after your children, you have to make sure that you actually marrying a righteous spouse number one look at the shapes right there. He's talking to me earlier says I'm
his father his other brothers dusum is the man is looking at how they were raised. Doctor now Masha, Allah inspired right here stiching one of the the moms here in this Masjid, born and raised here, that's unheard of you. Born and raised here in the West, and now they're now PhDs and shittier. And doing all this is amazing. That is inspiring. To me that's priceless, will lie. So what I'm asking you brothers and sisters, keep up the good work. Well, like Keep up the good work, keep this place alive. Make sure you look after your children. They are the ones that are actually going to be you held accountable for. We talked about this before. So I'm not gonna dwell on the fact. But that
slave of Allah is very inspiring. And lastly, when it comes to the youth, a brother told me the question regarding the brother and the sister 12 and 16 years old, this is these are my niece and nephews.
She's the ones that actually hold on to La la la la new parents are afraid for them to get you know, on the other side, you know, there are two there to celebrate. Stay away from these guys. Bad news past say they see a pile of love color so they hold on to Quran and Sunnah they don't want to do any bit as bad that's bad. Stay away from that amazing and that's inspiring when you have the young amongst us the youth amongst us fighting their own
their own battles within their own homes. Do you imagine like a young child has to actually like the look after their mother and their father as they're, they're, you know, they're they're like great heroes. They look like Superman to them when you're young. So now these guys that are the best for them to tell you not to and you have to fight and also remind us of that movie that Islam of arriba arriba comma worried that your Islam was being a strange when you pray you know you have to hide. It will go back to that being a few being a strange for to bother
Cuba is either good willing, a good wish, a glad tiding or a valley agenda. Whatever it is, is good thing little What about those who are holding on? Holding on so the sister now as he's telling me, they have to hide in order for them to talk to me and they have to hide the word that you've bagged the after. It's amazing. Can you believe it? Your own father and your mother You have to actually work around it in order for you to hold on to La ilaha illAllah Muhammad Rasul Allah where they're supposed to aid you and mn to LA Rosalie, how could that be possible? Yes. So we make dua for them. And the inspiration even last night, as he told me, Well, I didn't have the money, but she gave his
wife May Allah bless her.
Her own gold bracelets for the sake of Allah because this is what I love. That's dear to me. That's what I'm given. Yes. So let me get goosebumps. Yes, there is good in the oma there is good in the oma, that's inspirational. When I see this going on every time everywhere I go lie. When I see people come in the Shahada, and they see the people coming into, like Vince, and I've seen the brothers are taking the shot and the sister taking the chatter all the time, ongoing, that is inspirational, when I see that you will bring it in the other youth to become Muslims and so on the lead by example, that is inspirational. That's to us, well, if he there's like, these, like ice
cream for a poor sliver, like this guy will lay when I see this place, this place is inspirational. May Allah bless your lungs.
to that area, I think you touched on something really, really important, the youth or our children. And Mashallah, I know you've got children of your own. Is there any advice that you'd give us as parents, especially parents with young kids, or kids or going to normal state schools? What advice would you give us as parents?
Well, lay the advice as parents, if your children and go to regular schools, is to make sure that you have the surrounding at least the environment and the company to be righteous. Because you're now going against the current, it's an uphill battle. For example, they spend more time more time with their friends than you. Most of us have a job or some of us even have two jobs in order for us to make ends meet. So what do you do?
You put them to the babysitter, and the babysitter is either the school or the TV screen. That's it, that's their babysitter nowadays, they're busy, even when you come home, you're busy to write. So when you come home, what happens? They come running to you and says, I'm busy, I'm tired, go to your mother or do something, right. So I tell the brothers, if you don't have time for them now, guess what,
you will have time for them later, whether you like it or not. But unfortunately, you're going to have time with them in either in the hospital, the rehab center, in prison, or in the morgue, we're lucky if you don't have time for your children, which again, you know, I am going to change a few things around my life to make sure that I do that. The list travel. But it's very important. If you don't have the quality, the quantity of the time, you have to give them the quality of the time.
So what I'm asking you to do, when you go home,
turn off your laptop, iPhone, iPad, I think I everything, BlackBerry, blueberry, raspberry, every Berry, you just get d linked. You make sure that you're totally there's, you submit that said you give him all your time and your attention. Let them run to you not away from you. Make sure the environment is righteous. Make sure you know who their friends are.
Make sure you give him the tools to be able to go to battle, meaning bring him to the massage bring the * up as bringing the hook buzz, make sure that they actually give him the fuel to reach for seek for knowledge and all of that this is important. That's our job. Our job is to give them the tools to be able to do it you can be with them. 24 seven, you can police them 24 seven, you just give them a strong foundation and they ask Allah subhanaw taala make dua for them. And that's it. But the advice my brothers and sisters, for you is to make sure that they have the roadmap, the roadmap agenda, that's another course. But at least you have the heading straight, they're heading
straight.
And in order for you to lead by example, because they look at you right now you are it as a father and a mother, they see you as the example. So hopefully become a good example and lead by example.
And lastly, as I mentioned in saluton is that when Allah subhanaw taala will actually lead in an otaku. Kasim, Dorinda from halfway La Jolla, Taka La Jolla. Hola, hola. sadita. These are the two downpayments. My brothers and sisters as guardians allows apologizes if you fear for your lineage of your offspring or progeny. It's not like buy an insurance policy or give them all these things that you think
A materialistic or worldly position that's the mission stick for us successful or not successful, but allows upon failure Taku and the word in itself you have to explain as we mentioned before the Fat Fat right and aluminum parentheses mean right away haste rush immediately. And the lamb. That's the first letter is fat. Lamb is actually when it goes into amadora nonsense.
It means Allah tala
fell, yet tabula meaning is a command and a request when the lamb goes in. So allow someone else commanding and requesting is through that taqwa failure. So who has taqwa is us as parents we have to have Taqwa in order for our children to do this that's why when I asked the brothers last night Who's your father
when the brothers when the one of the Mashallah
Cora is learning in Saudi is about the Quran at what a beautiful voice it was enough I felt like while I was in Harlem last night well light on the ship here Masha Allah May Allah bless him the Imam Allah Beautiful, beautiful place. So whenever that says, you know, he's learning today he's learning karate is doing this, on the other hand was beautiful everything it says Who was your father, and I meant it.
Because I knew that they cannot come from a lineage because
this lineage come from the progeny comes from so on. That's the seed and that's the righteousness why Prophet Mohammed Salim says, look for the seed that you've sown, where is eating where you sowing the seed? Where you planting the seed
this evening, you go back and you'll find out what kind of a boo masala when the father was righteous, you'll find that was sad that
he was the seventh grandfather that allows one of the practices his grandchildren for the understand now. Yeah. So when I tell you,
it, the children are a reflection of you. So before you point the finger to children, point the finger at yourself.
Okay, so you've done your best will hamdulillah and you'd nothing came out, you're not held accountable in front of Allah as long as you've done your best. Because remember, you are part of the problem or the solution. You brought him here. I mean, I'm not talking about the third generation of the people bring your children here. You bring your children here, you better be up to the task because don't throw them in the ocean, say swim, baby swim, or bring him here part time and say just to get the guilt trip off, right? Most of us lose. Okay, well, you know what, I can't afford the full time slumming schools too expensive. I can't afford this. I can't afford that. Let
them just go part time here and get to know this and do this and I'm off the hook. No, it's much more than that. It's an investment. It's a commitment. So that's my recommendation to the brothers and sisters in that company you keep I remember the three things that you make sure that your children have the company of these three criterias the friends that you should look for they should have three criterias and the first one is either Idaho's Akaka bill or urea two I'm repeating these things because they are very important, especially what he noticed. When you see them they remind you of Allah.
Right. We explained that before if you haven't prayed for sama mentioned last night, Abu sama. He says, If you forgotten when you see somebody reminds you That's it. If you see that brother when they see that sister, they remind you of Allah number two delicado Allah Hello, they will actually guide you to the straight path of Allah. So nothing will stop in this in this dunya they will remind you they're embodied in the Quran and Sunnah they are walking around their habits their their the way they dress, the way they talk the way they walk according to Sharia everything their whole life is about that about Islam. And last one is is that a man or multiple? When they speak you a man
increases they remind you about the heaven * here after this life they grieved everything they remind you and that's increased. With that I asked Allah Subhana Allah to Allah to guide us in sha Allah to the straight path and help our you know our children to be steadfast till we meet allows apologia loving Allah Subhana Allah forgive me last night last night. We had like a late dinner May Allah bless them here.
The brothers here was really nice, ciao, Masha, Allah, Allah here, the food is always good, you know? But when we went to the hotel, as we're reaching, we're leaving this beautiful place and we're going to the hotel and you hear this loud thud what they call music is noise.
Right and you see things law via the sisters University man, Allah help us will light and shift Sajid Adama Baraka Lavie, he says he went down to a place Broadway or something.
And he says, well, law has shifted as if they're all other if they're not, they're not wearing anything. So panela
so especially out here in the West, you know, this is amazing when you leave a beautiful place that says Allahu Akbar, the environment here is
here. So these are the things that you know what Allah subhanaw taala
To protect them and hold them steadfast and that stuff, especially out in the West, may Allah protect them and keep them away from us and keep us away from them.
shudras like to apologize, I'm changing all the questions that I told you that I was going to ask.
One of the common complaints that you hear from a lot of the brothers living in the West is that we don't have time. We don't have time for this, we don't have time for that we're busy with our jobs, we don't have time for the children, we don't have time to seek knowledge. Someone in your position who, Mashallah you're very busy. You're, you've traveled a lot. How do you manage your time? And what what advice can you give us in terms of giving everyone their right
hand Allah, you know, I teach a course about called time management. And, you know, bottom line is the big rock theory, that's all I'm going to give you for now. The big rock theory is very simple. I'm sure some of you heard of it before.
I want you to imagine a jar, an open a big empty jar.
The obviously when we teach this course, we say you know what,
you put the big rocks in first bottom line of the you know, the moral of the story is that you're supposed to put the big rocks in the jar first.
And then you will think it's actually full, but it's not. You can actually put pebbles
after the big rocks. And still, if you think it's full, it's not, you can put sand, still, it will seep through.
And if you think it's full, it's still not you can still put water in
the, if you put it the other way around. That means if you fill it up with water, that's it, you can't put anything else is full, that's a wrap. So the idea behind it is that prioritize. You put the big rocks in first. So we put like a charts like, like a numerical chart and a little chart, right? So an A one, right? So you have an ABC, then you have a 123 this thing is an A one, this one goes on the chart versus this one, it has to be done. Okay, so you have to look at your criterias this thing cannot wait, there is no time delay, this has to go. And this one, I'll take care of myself. And you have to have a goal. And you have to have a vision. What do you What's your goal, if
anything else comes in your life that coincides with your vision and your goal take it on. If anything else is does not coincide with your vision and you go it goes back on the backburner, it goes to the B or the C.
If it can do not, if it's going to help you but it's not a priority, you still have to give it a deadline.
You don't you can't just leave it on the B you can put a B two or B whatever it may be. But you still have to give it a deadline. If it does not coincide with anything that you're you're have your vision and your goal on it doesn't even go on your chart. You actually apologize and you have to learn something you have to say no, very difficult to serve to say no, very difficult, but you have to learn to say no, nicely, of course, right?
You get asked to do certain things, but you know what you can be you can be everywhere. And you can be everybody. So you have to learn to do that. And you have to make sure that at least to learn the art of delegation, art of delegation, when you delegate responsibilities to someone, these are the things that are not as important, but it has to be done. You can empower somebody else and teach and learn and that's how you can actually
have more of you around so you can utilize your time possibly the best way to do it. And of course, when you spend the time with your family again we're lucky when I go home I like I told the kids you know I'm all yours. I'm all yours
you know whatever you want to do I'm there well you tell me what to do. You know where do you want to where do you guys want to go? What do you what do you what do you feel like? I'm totally there's and it reminds me which we will finish off inshallah with the Hadith
when
the Sahaba Dylan was vain
when you know when he was fasting during the day and staying up to pray at night, you know, after about an hour for the line when Sabbath was made. What do you do says I'm your guest today
says okay, I'm fasting don't break your fast. I want to eat with you. You're going to pray there's no no good you're going to sleep. Why? Because his wife was complaining. I mean a man that fast during the day and stays up during the night. That's a righteous man.
But that's what you think. But there are rights for other people. When Prophet Mohammed Salim says is good. He says in Alibaba gallega Cola, Coca Cola because Coca Cola Coca Cola the Hakuna Matata your body has rights upon your eyes as well as upon your Lord has rights upon you. Your family has rights upon you.
spouse's rights upon you. So give everyone the rights view rights. So I'm finishing off with that a four letter. My recommendation for you brothers and sisters a four letter. If you've been home sweet home, you will remember this revoke author course. My off.
And I'm not going to ask the brothers that I know they've been in the course because it's been a long time. What is that? Do you remember what my office
great I I knew that I can't remember what I ate for breakfast this morning. So now what happened?
Is my M YOF. My off, just remember that my the M stands for
my time.
Okay, you need your time you actually need your, your sanity, you need your serenity, that time is what we call it, your downtime. You just need your space.
You do whatever you like, that actually inspires you or revives you or gives you a charge to be able to continue whatever it is that you're doing is your time. If that's the case, if you go to the gym and workout, if you go to read if you go halaqaat whatever it is that takes that that's your time is my time. Get whatever makes you feel good. The y is for your spouse, it's your time, honey, you know what I look after the kids
you know what you go pamper yourself. You go you know, get this
halaal pampering thingy, whatever you want to call it. Have fun anywhere. Now you have to fork up some money, or you can be a cheapskate, right? I mean, this life, you will go go do whatever it is you like, honey, it's your time. I'll take care of the kids. That's what you have to do. It's an investment.
And then it's the Oh, is our time Meaning what? You take your wife out on a date?
Yeah, yeah, at least once a week is the recommendation. So what are you gonna do? You're gonna put that in your calendar.
In your calendar, you know, you have a meeting, you have a business meeting, you have this you have everything else. Guess what? Guess what I learned that I learned from my wife, my wife actually put herself in the calendar. I was going through the telecom said, hey, that's my wife's name. Oh, this looks familiar. She's trying to give me a hint. Yeah, I got it. So I can be taught, right? So you learn you put that date with your wife to rekindle this beautiful, you know, love story,
or whatever it is trying to forget. And they're very emotional. By the way. They want you to remember their their birthdays, their wedding anniversary. These are the days you're trying to forget.
To some of us, help us to like, but we're not saying it's Haram. I'm not saying that we don't celebrate them, obviously. But we're just saying you they're emotional. Right? So when you when you get with them, and that week on that, whatever that date with them. Do you talk about kids, they talk about problems? Do you talk about your job? No, nothing. You talk about the good times or the good time you had in the beginning of the
of the wedding. This is a tip revive, think on the positive have a good time enjoy. They deserve that. So last of the the for the my office, the F F is F family time. This is where you have your kids involved. And you actually do something as family you go bowling equal, do whatever it is inshallah spend time with your family before it's too late. They go quickly, they grow quickly. So invest the time with them before it's too late. You will regret it for the rest of your life.
And you give them with the family time I actually tell him to have a halakha at home. And he delegated responsibility. You know what son, you're teaching us about this verse, My daughter you doing this? Hadeeth you're doing that and stuff? Right? So Alhamdulillah This is something that we can hopefully help you with and hopefully it will you now you're empowered with it. But remember, you have to establish it. Because this becomes a plea for you or against you now, now that you know
I think we've gone over time. What does that look like for your time? The hamdu Lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah while early he was a woman Wallah about brothers and sisters. Welcome to the next session on the program, which is a feature session we share Eisen honey. So without further ado, I'll hand over to you as chief Jackson Hanif and he can enlighten you with some enlightening words in Sharla barroco FICO
mana Rahim. hamdulillah Hello bill Rabbil alameen wa sallahu wa salam wa barik ala
nabina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ultramarine about
I was asked to choose something to speak about for the next 15 to 20 minutes and inspirational event something which inspired me. And what I wanted to bring before you was
the inspiration that I took during my time in math
When I studied at the Islamic University of Medina, and I had the opportunity and the blessing of Allah subhanho, wa Taala, to be able to meet, and to be able to study and to be able to interact with many of the great scholars of that city, the city of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, whether inside the university or outside the university, whether it was studying during the day in the university classes in the university environment, or whether it was studying outside of the university in the mosque of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, or generally in the city of Medina, and on Hamdulillah, I had the opportunity to meet many of the scholars of Medina, many of
them were probably well known to all of you, maybe some of them are not well known to you as well. And our Hamdulillah, I benefited a lot from them, obviously, in terms of their knowledge, first and foremost, but also in other things which left an impression upon me. And that's really what I wanted to highlight for you today. And what I wanted to emphasize in this session,
one of the things that we noticed when we study the biography of the scholars generally, and one of the advices, the pieces of advice that they would give to people was that when you study knowledge, whenever you go to a gathering like this, whether it's a conference, whether it's a regular lecture, whether it's something which you do one on one, whether it's an intensive course, whatever is when you come to someone who's more knowledgeable than you, and you come to seek knowledge to learn about your religion, then one of the most primary benefits that you should attain, one of the most primary things that you should attain is benefiting your conduct and your character. And this should be a
benefit that you attain before the benefit of knowledge that you see a person's character. You see the way they are, you see their respect for knowledge, the respect for the other scholars, they respect for the fellow brother, brothers and sisters. And this is something that you take from before you take anything else. And that's why Emma Malik's mother Rahim, Allah tala, she famously said to Mr. Malik, when human to one of his early and first teachers, or br, she said, Go to him, and take from his character before you take from his knowledge. And the mother of Mr. Malik was not a scholar, she wasn't anyone well known. She's not someone that we know of today for her knowledge,
and the Hadith and so on. But she was a very wise and intelligent woman. She was someone who's very mature. And she knew that one of the main benefits one of the fruits of knowledge is character, so that your character and your conduct is also exemplary. And this is something which we see from our Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wasallam, before the knowledge of everything that he had that Allah bestowed upon him, he was exemplary in his conduct and his character. And unfortunately, many of us even though we study Islam, many of us have attended maybe hundreds of lectures, attended dozens of conferences, met dozens of speakers. But unfortunately, this concept of character, this this
journey, or this issue of character, and our conduct is still something which we lacking something which we need to work very hard in perfecting our current and making something more exemplary. And that's why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that nothing will be heavy on the scales on Yeoman piano, then good conduct good character, because of how we tear is in the sight of Allah, but also because of how difficult it is to attain. So basically, what I wanted to do was just mentioned to you some of the ways that I benefited from my teachers. And that was the first benefit that I attained the character of my teachers. And there were many teachers that we had, as you do in
University, and the University System in Saudi Arabia is somewhat different to the university system here, where you study a full day. So you don't just choose a course and have maybe like two lectures a day, or five lectures a week or something very, very minimal. There is five lectures every single day, five days a week. So you have 25 lectures. And so you're barely you're talking about roughly 14 to 15 different teachers per semester. And then there's two semesters a year. And then the course is like a six year course. And so you interact with many, many different teachers. So maybe like in the hundreds. And so one of the things that you benefit from them, and they were all famous scholars,
some of them were very famous, others were just normal teachers. They were professors at the university. But one of the things that I benefited from all of them collectively was the good character. We would have Mashallah some of our teachers who even though they were very famous, they were known in Medina outside of Medina, they were just professors at the university, not very well known, but they had one of the most beautiful characters that you would ever see. We would have teachers, for example, who, just before the holidays, they would say to us, all of you, and they would say like this, like all of the students is like 100 of us in the class. I want to see all of
you at my house on the death rate. All of you are invited. And we don't know him personally. He doesn't know us, and obviously he's busy with his family and relatives.
People generally are on the day of read. But they would say we want you all to come and visit us on the day of rate. We want you to be with us, we want you to visit and eat with us, we want you to spend time with us and our family. And so you would find these like pearls and use gems from them the way they had such a beautiful character. And many of our teachers never treated us like students, they treated us like like brothers. And I still remember to this day that one of our teachers used to consider us to be the scholars, the way he would address us, the way he would interact with us the way he would respect us. It was as if we were the scholars. And he was a
student. And he's teaching, he's a professor. He's the one teaching us and he's the one with the doctrine. He's the one that studied, but it was just a beautiful way of character. And they would say, and one of our scholars was chef, she'll be happy. lahoma was a great scholar of Medina, and a great scholar of our times, he would say that because you're holding knowledge, you've come to seek knowledge. And you're you're people who possess knowledge, you're seeking knowledge, then you have a great status in the sight of Allah subhana wa Tada. And that status is something which needs to be exalted. It is something which needs to be honored. It's not about the individual person, I know you
are, I don't know you. But the fact that you have knowledge that you've memorized the Quran, that you're learning about the religion and so on, and that in itself, we are exalting the knowledge, not the person. And that was something which I really benefited from, that when we respect our scholars is not because of the name of the person, or the tribe that they come from. But it is because of the knowledge that they possess. It is the respect of the knowledge, not the respect of the person that we have. And so that was something which I really benefited from something else, which I really benefited from, for many of the scholars of Medina was the humility and the humbleness. And so
Pamela, it's amazing how a person becomes older. And some of these scholars were in their 70s, the 80s really old, and they became older, and as they get older, and they get more knowledge and they become more famous, they increase in their piety, and they increase in the humbleness and humility. And I remember like, one of the best examples that I can give of this is our share of the national Ubud Haffield Allahu taala, one of the greatest scholars of hadith of our times, and a great scholar of Medina. And the chef is probably in his 70s 80s. Now, he's really old. He's nearly blind, he can hardly see. And even though he's so old, I have rarely seen a man, so humble, so humble, we would
come and we would sit in his class, and he would be in the university, and he would teach us and people would ask him questions, and he would answer with his own questions he would say, I heard shocked him by say, I read the Shanghai birthday mean, said, I heard so and so said this, and that. And at times, like, especially human questions would come, where there was a difference of opinion, or a question on an issue, which isn't very clear, he wouldn't give his own opinion, he would say I heard the other scholars say, and some of those scholars are his, like students, some of them are his contemporaries. Some of them are his teachers. But he would use their name, even though he's a
great scholar in his own right. And this showed me his humbleness and his humility. And I can't remember the amount of times that we asked him questions as a class. And he replied, allow them, I don't know, as someone else go, and so and so. And these are like much younger professors in the University. He is a specialist in this department asked him, and this is like one of the most senior if not the most senior scholar of Medina. And he would say, a lot of I don't know, ask someone else. And this was his humbleness, and his humility, may Allah subhanho wa Taala, preserve him. And this is something which I really benefited from the way that he was really humbled with his knowledge.
And even though he possessed this, and he would say to us, that unfortunately, today, people are so quick to answer a question comes up an issue arises, something happens in the world. And everyone's very quick to jump in and say yes, no halal Haram. Whereas we know that Amara, the Allahu Akbar, when an issue would come to him like this, he would gather the companions of all of them hundreds that participated in the Battle of butter, and he would say, give me your advice. And so the chef was very, very careful and conscious about this issue. And he would display his humbleness and humility. May Allah Subhana. Allah preserve him. One of the other things that I saw, which I really
loved and hamdulillah we saw an example of this yesterday in the debate that we had between our chefs Abu sama, Hossam was the love and respect that our teachers had for one another, the love and respect that they had for one another. I remember so many times the shampoo Mr. Bud was very old, as I mentioned, and he's nearly blind. He needs a guide to walk. So he can't just walk because he can't see where he's going. He needs someone to hold his hand and to walk with Him. And normally he has a son or a nephew that's studying in university or a grandson, someone that's in the university that will take him from classes to class.
Bring him into the university, they'll guide him from one class to another. And so that's what they used to do. But when they would come in the corridor, our other teachers would see the chef. And these guys are professors themselves. And chanson, about isn't a doctor, he doesn't have a PhD is not a professor. And he studied Islam, the old the old way, right, the old school method, which is that you go to the scholars, before universities and so on, became famous. And so he's a great scholar in his right. But then there's other scholars who are professors, now their PhD holders, the doctors, and so on. And they would see the chef being guided by one of his grandsons or one of the
students, and they would go and they would kiss him on his forehead, and they will take his hand and they would walk him to wherever he wants. And they would grab his hand and they would guide him. And this was a beautiful display of the mutual love and respect that they had for one another. And even though the chef is famous, like this person who's coming, he's probably a great scholar Association, pretty do this, and others, just grab his hand, kiss him on his forehead and take him. And because the chef was nearly blind, he can't really see who it is, who's grabbing his hand, and so on. And so they will say shadows is my is me so and so. And they'll mention that and they won't say his doctors
on so let's say it's Mohammed or Schumpeter, or whoever, whatever their name is. And they'll mention in a very beautiful, humble way, they'll kiss the chef on his forehead, they'll take his hand, and even though they have lessons to get to themselves, they're busy, they're teaching, but they'll go and they'll take him wherever he wants to go. And this is a beautiful display of love and respect to our scholars, and the respect that scholars have amongst themselves as well. And often it's something which we don't really see, because we see people come they come on stage, they do their lectures, they leave, and you don't really get to spend time with them. But when you see scholars
and many scholars in the same gathering, and in the same setting, you'll find the way that they respect one another. And I know that from my own experience, that in Medina Shahada, Mashallah but in his lectures, which is one of the biggest gatherings in the mosque of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam, one of the students in his lectures one of the people sitting at his feet is his own son. Shahab de Rosa Allahabad and Shahab de Rosa result, for those of you who know, is a great scholar in his own right, and he's someone who's a specialist in our data. But every single day, more or less without fail, he'll be there himself. And he will sit there, and he will wait. And he
will patiently listen to his father. And this is the respect that he has, not only for his father, but Likewise, the scholars as they respect one another as well. One of the other things that I really benefited from as well, from my scholars is how they made their knowledge easy, the love for the knowledge that they possessed, and how they made it very easy. They would make it really easy and simple for people. And so the vast majority of the manners in universities, you have good professors and bad professors. Yeah, people are very good in their teaching style. Other people who are not so good, not so gifted in their teaching style. But the best teachers that I had I found
were the ones who made things very, very easy. They make things very, very simple. And I remember one of the teachers that I had shipped, so remember, Rohini, may Allah preserve him, he would really make things very, very easy in a subject, which was very difficult. He would teach us karate, the fifth here, which is legal Maxim's, which is a technical subject, it's about rules, and, and Maxim's and principles, and so on. And it's a technical subject. And so he would teach this subject, and the way you would teach was that he would give 10s and 10s of examples for everything that he mentioned, he would just give example, after example, after example, where even the thickest student in the
class, he has to understand that so many examples he would give, and he will just carry on giving examples, after example, after example. And sometimes I'd be there writing examples. And I'd be like, I've got the point, right, I know, let's move on. But he would continue to do so. And it's a very beautiful teaching style. And so Hamdulillah, I benefited from this as well, the way our scholars not only love their knowledge, they respect their knowledge as well. And they have this humility, which is attached to the knowledge that they possess. And then they make it really easy for people as well. One of the other things, and perhaps I'll conclude with this, that I benefited
from one of our scholars as well, is the way they treated people who came to seek knowledge. They would never turn away questioners. When people would come, they wouldn't say I haven't got time, but they would always make time for people, obviously, within parameters, but they would come and they would give people time, and they would respect people. So for example, if they had a lecture and they found someone who was old, they would respect that person. I remember we would sit at the harem. And he had a very large gathering much larger than this probably one of the largest in the mosque of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And it's so big that they would have to put up
external speakers around this class, because there's so many people and the speakers in the room weren't catered for such a big gathering. So they will put up standalone speakers as well to cover the educator for his class.
So he would have his way of teaching, which is that he speaks, he teaches for about 15 minutes. And then at the end, he does q&a. But because he's such a famous scholar, there were many people who would come just to ask a question. Just average people, they would come, they don't really want to learn. They don't want to study the fact that the scholars teaching, they just want to ask the question, and they want to go. And I remember on more than one occasion, some of those people were very old, old in the sense that their back was arched that a very white long beard, they looked very old. And so these people as the shakers speaking, he, they would just stand up. Just imagine, like
everyone just sitting here now. And a really old brother, he just stands up. And he just says, just shouts out one of the shots speaking your chef, and then he wants to ask his question. And the shareholder him ask his question, and then he would say, normally, I wouldn't allow this. Normally, I'd say to him, sit down, or go out, go away, if you don't want to listen. And this is the time for my teaching, q&a is afterwards, but because he's someone older than us, we respect him for his knowledge. We respect him for his sadhana for his lunch for his age, we respect his old age. And so we'll answer his question, and then I'll carry on. And this was a very beautiful way of dealing with
the people. And obviously, it goes back to the Hadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, that from the glorification of Allah subhanho wa Taala is honoring the old Muslim, and the one who's memorized the Quran. And this is something which we saw in our teachers that they wouldn't just narrate is a hadith and say, these a Hadith, but they would implement them in a very practical way. It was something which you would see in their lessons, when these when these issues would arise when these things would happen. They would implement these Hadith, and they would respect them. And so to summarize, to conclude, one of the greatest things that I benefited from my teachers as well as the
knowledge, but I would say that I would rate this more is the character and the conduct. And unfortunately, it's something which we don't always take benefit from. We take from people's knowledge, but we don't really take from the character and that is something which is equally as important, if not more so in some respects to benefit from a person's character and their conduct. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant his exemplary character, and means to partner with Allah, allow us to follow in the footsteps of our great scholars that will allow them
to do
just that chakra law, her shift for enlightening us with those wise words. Mashallah, and barakallahu li come to you all for listening, so attentively