Ali Albarghouthi – The Disease and the Cure #36 There are Four Types of Hearts
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
As-salātu wa-s-salāmu ʿalá Rasūlillāh wa
ʿalá ālihi wa-ṣaḥbihi wa-sallam.
Allāhumma ʿallimunā ma yinfaʿunā wa-infaʿunā bimā ʿallamtanā
wa-zidnā ilmān rabbil-'ālamīn ammā ba'd.
So last that we've heard from Ibn al
-Qayyim رحمه الله تعالى was him telling us
how sins must have consequences.
And some people make a mistake when they
don't see the immediate consequence of sin or
the visible consequence of sin.
They think that it has no repercussions, has
no consequences to it.
And he is saying رحمه الله he says
what they do not see is that it
does actually have a consequence but it is
incremental, gradual, just like a poison.
Some poisons are immediate, right?
They just kill a person immediately.
And some poisons they're gradual based on the
dose and the intensity of that poison.
They're gradual but they destroy and they kill
in time but eventually they do the same.
So he's saying some sins are like that.
So he's saying don't think that if you
don't see the immediate punishment, you don't see
the immediate consequence of a sin that it's
not there.
He says every sin must have a consequence,
every sin must have a punishment to it.
Sooner or later it has to be seen,
it has to be experienced.
But some of them are gradual, some of
them are immediate, some of them are big,
some of them are small, right?
So that's the last thing that we have
heard from him.
Khala, now continuing with what we want to
talk about today.
Khala, so think about some of these punishments
that Allah عز و جل had made a
consequence of sin.
And consider that some of these things might
happen to you.
So he's gonna list some of them.
Qais says, فمنها قال الختم على القلوب والأسماع
He says, some of these consequences, some of
these punishments is for the hearts and the
ears to be sealed and there would be
a veil on the eyes.
And the hearts to be locked and to
be wrapped and to be completely sealed.
And for the hearts and the eyes to
be unable to see the truth.
So here he's beginning with what he's saying
that some of these consequences is the heart
will be engulfed and wrapped with sin, wrapped
with rebellion, wrapped with kufr, wrapped with whatever
it had chosen, that it cannot see the
truth anymore.
It cannot hear the truth anymore.
That's a consequence.
And that's a devastating consequence.
As we will see, as he'll explain it,
it's a devastating consequence.
Because as long as you can see the
truth, there is hope, right?
As long as you're awake, you know this
is right, you know this is wrong, but
you know you're weak and sometimes you do
the wrong thing.
But at least you know that what you're
doing is wrong.
There is hope.
You know what the right thing to do
is.
You know how to escape this.
And there is hope.
But if the heart is wrapped completely in
the love of that sin or in kufr,
وَتَقْلِيبُ الْأَفْئِدَةِ وَالْأَبْصَارِ is for the hearts and
the eyes to turn away from the truth,
so it cannot see it anymore, cannot recognize
it anymore.
وَالْحَيْلُولَةُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ And to have a
block between you and your heart.
To have a block between you and your
heart so that you cannot reach your heart
and your heart cannot reach you.
You cannot move your heart and your heart
cannot move you.
So there is a block, there is a
distance, unbridgeable distance between the two.
قَالَ وَإِخْثَالُ الْقَلْبِ عَنْ ذِكْرِي الرَّبِّ وَإِنْسَاءُ الْإِنْسَاءِ
نَفْسَهَا He says, and the heart to forget,
remembering Allah Azza wa Jal.
And for the person to forget himself.
And for him not to want Allah Azza
wa Jal to purify his heart.
For him not to ask Allah, not to
want Allah to purify your heart.
Because again, when you are weak, and when
you can't do what you're supposed to do,
at least you can do what?
Ask Allah to help you.
Say, Allah Azza wa Jal, I am too
weak, help me.
Ya Allah, purify my heart.
Ya Allah, remind me so I do not
forget.
Now, again, the calamity is for the person
not even to want that.
Not even to recognize that he need this,
to forget to ask Allah Azza wa Jal.
Ya Allah, help me.
And if you forget to ask Allah Azza
wa Jal, then where is this help gonna
come from?
Because on your own you are helpless.
And you're not asking the only one who
can help you.
So consider forgetting du'a as a punishment.
Forgetting to make du'a as a punishment.
Forgetting to ask Allah for help as a
punishment.
Because if you were connected, you would ask.
If you're blessed, you would ask.
Right?
If Allah wants the best for you, you
would ask.
If you fail to ask, and that tells
you that, something made you forget.
Something created a distance between you and Allah
Azza wa Jal, so that even du'a
is difficult.
Even that request is difficult, right?
وَتَرْكُوا إِرَادَةِ اللَّهِ تَطْهِيرَ الْقَلْبِ وَجَعْلُوا الصَّدْرِ ضَيِّقًا
حَرَجًا كَأَنَّمَا يَصْعَدُ فِي السَّمَاءِ And constricting a
person's heart as if he is climbing into
the sky.
So his chest gets tighter and tighter and
tighter.
Like you're out of breath.
You're out of breath.
So the heart is constricted, it's tight, it's
unhappy, it's unpleasant.
It says that's also a consequence.
Not a lot of things can make you
happy.
Everything around you though you may have it,
seems like nothing.
It's unable to bring joy to your life.
وَصَرْفُوا الْقَلْبِ عَنِ الْحَقِّ And dismissing the hearts
away from the truth and making it sicker
beyond its own sickness.
وَإِنْكَاسُهَا بِحَيْثُ تَبْقَى مَنْكُوسًا And turning it on
its head and it remains like that.
قَالَ كَمَا ذَكَرَ الْإِمَامُ أَحْمَدُ عَنْ حُدَيْفَةَ بْنِ
الْيَمَانِ It says as Imam Ahmad reported from
Hudhaifa and this is authentic to Hudhaifa.
رضي الله عنه and he is a Sahabi.
And he is gonna mention four categories of
hearts.
And that's important to know.
Because here it's a Sahabi talking about the
hearts so that you can understand that the
hearts are different.
And what these differences mean.
قَالَا الْقُلُوبُ أَرْبَعَةٌ فَقَلْبٌ أَجْرَدٌ فِيهِ اسْتِرَاجٌ يُزْهِرْ
فَذَلِكَ قَلْبُ الْمُؤْمِنِ It says قلب أجرَد.
A clean, cleansed, pure heart.
In it there is a lantern that is
bright.
That is the heart of the believer.
That's the first.
The second قَلْبٌ أَغْلَفٌ A wrapped heart.
That's the heart of the disbeliever.
وَقَلْبٌ مَنْكُسٌ An inverted heart.
This is the heart of the hypocrite.
وَقَلْبٌ تُمِدُّهُ مَدَّتَانٌ And a قلب, a heart
that being supplied by two types of supplies.
A supply of Iman and a supply of
hypocrisy.
And it is or it belongs to what
is dominant of those two supplies.
Right?
So he said the first supply, the first
heart is what?
The one that is cleansed and lit.
And being cleansed is also being pure.
And being lit is connected to being pure
and cleansed.
So where is this light come from?
Yeah, of course from Allah عز و جل.
But like what brings darkness to the heart?
Sin.
So sin completely blackens the heart.
So the person does what?
They clean the heart.
Just think of your house.
A dish, really a dirty dish or a
pot.
And you clean it.
You don't let it get dirty, right?
It gets used everyday.
If you neglect it, what happens to it?
Layers and layers, right?
Of dirt accumulate.
Becomes harder to clean.
But if you clean it everyday, it's easy
to clean and remains shiny.
Right?
Like new, remains shiny.
So this person because they clean their heart,
and again it has to be daily.
So what is this daily cleanse?
So you have your salah, you have your
dhikr, you have your istighfar, you stay away
from sin.
Remembering what that sin is, doing good deeds.
So that's kind of, it's a daily effort.
So when he's cleaning it and it's pure,
it's lit.
Because there are light that comes from the
salah, light comes from the Qur'an, from
dhikr.
So this is the heart of the believer.
Pure with light.
He says the second heart, the one that
is wrapped.
Nothing comes in, doesn't penetrate it, and he'll
talk about it.
Okay?
The other one is the inverted heart.
The one that had turned upside down.
That's the heart of the hypocrite.
Now the heart of the disbeliever is also
inverted.
But here that was specified as the heart
of the hypocrite.
Because that's what the hypocrite does.
The hypocrite is famous for inverting the truth.
Because he is with the believers and the
disbelievers.
So he takes what the believers have, and
he turns it on its head.
So that right is wrong, wrong is right.
So that's what he does.
So he inverts everything.
And the last one, and that's the second
most important one to know about.
Which is what?
Has two supplies to it, that coming to
feed it.
One of Iman and one of hypocrisy.
If you were to ask, what is it
then?
A believing heart or a hypocritical heart?
He says, Of the two, the dominant one
determines what type of heart it is.
So that is the heart that has both
Iman and both hypocrisy.
But in different percentages.
Different percentages.
So for some, there is more Iman than
hypocrisy.
And for others, more hypocrisy than Iman.
It doesn't mean that he is a complete
hypocrite.
But there is more hypocrisy than Iman.
And the other one, who has more Iman
than hypocrisy, it doesn't mean that he is
free from hypocrisy.
But there is more Iman than hypocrisy.
more iman than nifaq.
Now if you were to ask yourself, like,
what does that mean?
He says, you know the hadith of the
Prophet ﷺ when he said ayatul munafiqi thalath,
the three that are signs of the hypocrites,
when he speaks he lies, when he gives
a promise he breaks it, when he is
entrusted he betrays that.
Those are signs of hypocrisy, even though a
person, as it says in the hadith, وَإِن
صَلَّ وَصَامَ وَزَعَمَ أَنَّهُ مُسْلِمٌ even if he
prays and he fasts and he says that
I'm a Muslim.
So you can have a person prays, fasts,
says I'm a Muslim, he's honest about this,
but he has hypocrisy.
He has hypocrisy.
So that a person should assume, especially today,
that they are of the fourth category until
otherwise.
Because when you hear this, don't say alhamdulillah,
you're not a disbeliever, you know this.
And you're not a hypocrite who's on that
disbelieving camp and the believing camp.
You're not that.
Now you either assume that you're of the
first category, and that's dangerous to assume, because
it's not likely to be true.
Or you assume that you're of the fourth
category with some hypocrisy.
Because then that will push you to clean
your heart.
Alright?
And clean your character.
And clean your Iman until you achieve the
first.
So a person could have, and this is
from the belief of al-Sunnah wa-Jama
'ah, as we've kind of, in a different
series we've talked about, that a person could
have Iman and hypocrisy at the same time.
And eventually Allah Azza wa Jalla will put
them in Jannah, but they can have both.
So a person should try to rid himself
of whatever hypocrisy he may have.
He says, one of the consequences of that
sin is for him to be discouraged from
doing what pleases Allah Azza wa Jalla, to
be lazy.
So, if a person wants energy in Allah's
worship, he should obey Allah.
But one consequence of committing committing a sin
is not to have the appetite or the
desire to want to please Allah Azza wa
Jalla.
Ta'a, obedience, becomes heavy.
Too heavy to do.
Carry, continue with.
Will be uncontinuous, disrupted, weak, without a soul.
So when you notice that in you, sometimes,
it's simply human nature.
Right?
Experiencing that fatigue, that boredom, sometimes, it's absolutely
human nature.
And you have to simply to deal with
that.
Right?
Deal with it.
To understand that it's a phase.
Write it out.
Phase, and eventually, inshallah, Allah will end.
So you deal with it.
But, other times, other occasions, it's a consequence
of actual sin that has discouraged you, that
has weakened you, weighed you down.
Qala wa minha ja'alu alqalbi asamma la
yasma'u alhaqqa abkamu la abkama la yantiqu
bihi a'ma la yarah He says, and then,
also, of this consequence is to make the
heart deaf, cannot hear the truth, mute, cannot
speak the truth, blind, cannot see it.
That's the rapt heart.
That is the rapt heart.
He says then, the relationship of that heart
to the truth that it's supposed to comprehend,
the relationship of that heart to the truth
is like the relationship of the blind to
color, or deaf to sound, or mute to
language, spoken language, to speech.
There's distance between them.
And he's saying it's the same thing.
That heart and the truth, there's a distance
between it and the truth.
Qala wa bihatha yu'lam And through this
you know that blindness, muteness and deafness are
characteristics of the heart, essential characteristics of the
heart, not of the limbs and the body.
They're only so when it comes to the
body or the limbs in secondary non-essential
terms.
Because Allah Azzawajal says, فَإِنَّهَا لَا تَعْمَلْ أَبْصَارُ
وَلَكِنْ تَعْمَلْ قُلُوبُ الَّتِي فِي الصُّدُورِ It's not
the eyes that get blind, but the hearts
that are in the chests.
So, Ibn Qayyim here is kind of making
a point, and he'll continue to explain it.
He's making a point, which is what?
He says, blindness, essentially is the blindness of
the heart, not the eyes.
Deafness is the deafness of the heart, not
the eyes.
Muteness is the muteness of the heart, not
the tongue.
Even though, he says, the eyes do get
blind, physically.
He says, Allah Azzawajal described, لَيْسَ عَلَى الْأَعْمَةِ
حَرَجٌ There's no burden on the blind.
He calls them blind.
So, it doesn't mean that they are not
blind.
But he says, they're only blind physically.
But the ayah, Allah Azzawajal is trying to
assert and affirm something very important, which is
what?
He says, in comparison to the two, the
blindness of the heart is the real blindness.
The blindness of the eye is nothing.
It's as if the person who's blind only
in the eye is not blind.
If his heart is open, it's as if
he's really not blind.
Compared to someone who's blind in heart, that's
the true blindness.
And that's why Allah Azzawajal, a person may
wonder, he says, why does Allah Azzawajal says,
وَلَكِن تَعْمَى الْقُلُوبُ الَّتِي فِي الصُّدُورِ But, it
is the hearts that are in the chest,
it is the hearts that are in the
chest that go blind.
Why did he specify in the chest?
Even though everybody knows that they are where?
In the chest.
He says, that's for emphasis because Allah Azzawajal
is changing perception of things that people perceive
otherwise.
Because if you ask a person, let's use
these hadith that Ibn Al-Qayyim, Allah Azzawajal,
is using.
If you ask a person, who is the
one who is strong?
He'll say, the one who is physically strong.
The Prophet, he said, what?
لَيْسَ الشَّدِيدُ بِالصُّرَعَةِ The strong is not one
who beats or overpowers others.
وَلَكِنَّ الشَّدِيدُ But the one who is strong
is one who controls himself when he is
angry.
So the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, is changing
a definition.
It doesn't mean the one who is physically
strong is not strong.
They are strong, but strong in limited sense.
But in order to highlight that, he says,
this person who is physically strong is not
strong.
Compared to this other one.
Who is strong mentally and psychologically and emotionally
that he controls his anger.
He says, between the two, this is strong
and this is not.
This doesn't meet the definition.
He says another hadith also, he used.
رحمه الله He says, لَيْسَ الْمِسْكِينُ بِالطَّوَّافِ الَّذِي
تَرُدُّهُ الْلُقْمَةُ وَالْلُقْمَةَانِ He says, the miskeen, the
poor person, is not the person who goes
around asking people and is satisfied or he
is sent back with a bite or two.
He goes to ask, he says, here is
a little bit of food, and he goes.
He says, that's not the miskeen, even though
he is miskeen, he is poor.
But he says, that's not the real miskeen.
The miskeen, real miskeen is الَّذِي لَا يَسْأَلُ
النَّاسُ وَلَا يُفْطَنُ لَهُ فَيُتَصَدَّقُ عَلَيْهُ The real
miskeen, the real poor person is the one
who doesn't ask anyone and they don't know
about him to give him.
He says, that's really poor compared to the
other one.
So as if he negated the poverty of
the first to highlight the poverty of the
second.
So when Allah Azzawajal says here that the
eyes don't go blind, he is negating the
blindness of the eye to affirm the blindness
of the heart.
And he says, in the chest for emphasis
to change perception.
It's like, try to kind of think of
an example.
Imagine two people are gonna fight.
One person has a knife, he knows how
to use it.
Another person has a gun, he does not
know how to use it.
You'll tell him, his knife is mightier than
the gun in your hand.
Now what do you say in your hand
for?
It's obviously in his hand.
Where else would it be?
But it's for emphasis.
The thing that you have in your hand
that is supposed to be mighty is not
mighty anymore because you don't know how to
use it compared to that other person.
That's the same idea.
So here that the heart that is in
your chest that's the one that really goes
blind.
Blindness of the eye, you can overcome it.
And eventually what?
It ends.
And a person dies and he's resurrected and
he's not blind anymore.
But the blindness of the heart, that extends
into the grave and extends into the next
life.
قَالَ وَالْمَقْصُودُ أَنَّ مِنْ عُقُوبَاتِ الْمَعَاصِيِ جَعَلَ الْقَلْبِ
أَعَمَّ أَصَمَّ أَبْكَنَ He says, of the punishment
of those sins is that the heart becomes
blind and deaf and mute.
And if you ever wondered how is it
that people don't see the truth, are not
willing to accept it, are not willing to
hear it, that's the answer.
That there's a blockage.
Otherwise, everybody should be able to see it.
I would want to follow it.
But there's a blockage.
And unless that blockage is removed, and yeah,
there's a block, there are barriers, there's wrapping,
and unless Allah Azzawajal had put a complete
seal on the heart, that could be overcome,
that could be erased, that could be cleaned.
There's a stage, an eventual stage, and only
Allah Azzawajal knows about it when there's a
permanent seal on the heart and the person
is done for.
It doesn't matter how much du'a you
make for him, it doesn't matter how much
da'wah, how many reminders, that person is
done.
But you're not gonna be able to know
that.
Right?
Allah Azzawajal knows it.
So a person wants to...
You should catch yourself before you reach that
level, before you reach that stage.
But even if we're not at the stage
of the ultimate wrapping of the heart and
the permanent seal on the heart, if there
is sin, it's a barrier.
If there's more disobedience, a greater barrier.
So you can't see the truth.
Even though you're a Muslim, even though you're
a mu'min, even though you pray, even though
you fast, there'll be certain areas, you'll not
be able to see the truth there.
You'll resist it, you'll fight it.
And so he says, well, how will I
be able to overcome that?
Is by repenting to Allah and asking for
His forgiveness and cleaning the heart.
Cleaning the heart.
Right?
And we may talk about it inshaAllah Azzawajal.
But if not today, then next time.
قَالَ وَمِنْهَا الْخَسْفُ بِالْقَلْبِ كَمَا يُخْسَفُ بِالْمَكَانِ وَمَا
فِيهِ فَيُخْسَفُ بِهِ إِلَىٰ أَسْفَلِ السَّافِلِينَ وَصَحِبُهُ لَا
يَشْعُرُ He says, and also for the heart
to sink deep, just like a place, a
house on this earth could be swallowed by
this earth and it keeps sinking to the
bottom.
Right?
It sinks to the bottom.
So he says also the heart can also
be swallowed and it can sink.
وَصَحِبُهُ لَا يَشْعُرُ And the person doesn't know
that this is happening to them.
قَالَ وَعَلَامَةُ الْخَسْفِ بِهِ He says, what is
this sign of it being swallowed or sinking
down?
He says that it will roam around السُفْلِيَّاتِ
وَالْقَادُرَاتِ وَالْرَدَائِلِ It will roam around or will
seek anything that is debasing, filthy, dirty, haram,
vile.
It will seek it.
And by that it is sinking.
كَمَا أَنَّ الْقَلْبَ الَّذِي رَفَعَهُ اللَّهُ وَقَرَّبَهُ وَلَيْهِ
لَا يَزَالُ جَوَّالًا حَوْلَ الْعَرْشِ As it is
the case that this heart that Allah Azzawajal
had elevated and brought it closer to Him
will be roaming around the throne of Allah
Azzawajal.
So I just want to finish this part
then I explain it.
قَالَ وَمِنْهَا الْبُعْدُ عَنِ الْبِرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ وَمْعَالِ الْأَعْمَالِ
He says also part of the consequence of
bad deeds is to have distance or alienation
from good deeds and the noblest and the
best of actions and sayings and manners.
قَالَ بَعْضُ السَّلَفِ Some of the Salaf have
said إِنَّ هَٰذِهِ الْقُلُوبَ جَوَّالًا These hearts they
roam, they travel.
فَمِنْهَا مَا يَجُولُ حَوْلَ الْعَرْشِ Some of it
they roam or they circle the throne of
Allah Azzawajal and some of it they roam
and circle toilets.
They want to highlight the difference.
Some of them are so high that they
are close to the throne of Allah Azzawajal
and some of them are so low they
are in the dirtiest places on this earth.
So this is figurative but not only figurative.
And it's important to understand this part of
how spiritual proximity matters not only physical proximity
but spiritual proximity matters.
So a person could physically be away from
sin.
But what precedes the committing of any sin
is thinking about it.
You plan a sin or you think about
a sin before you commit it.
It just doesn't happen just like that.
So you think about it.
So in a sense you are spiritually getting
closer to it.
Your soul is getting closer to that sin
before your body does anything.
Now if you think about the world of
the souls which we previously talked about the
world of the souls as this realm where
the souls meet.
They get closer to each other.
When your soul is thinking about a particular
sin whatever that sin may be.
It may be meeting or getting closer to
souls of the same nature thinking about the
same thing as well.
So think about when a person is in
salah.
And the Prophet ﷺ he said, You are
closest to Allah عز و جل when you
are in sujood.
Okay, I'm in the same spot standing, ruku
and sujood.
How am I closer to Allah عز و
جل when I'm in sujood?
It's not a physical proximity.
What is it?
It's a spiritual proximity.
In ways that are been known to Allah
عز و جل, the soul gets closer to
Allah.
And you're still here.
But the soul gets closer to Allah عز
و جل.
And if you spend time in sujood, you
kind of feel that nourishment of iman.
That's proximity to Allah عز و جل.
So the souls just beyond what the body
is doing.
You know, I mean, these games that they
have where you would kind of go into
a city and in that city you would
build a house and then you would have
a profession and you may have animals and
you do this and do that.
I'm just kind of faintly aware of these
ideas in these games.
But it's like a different type of existence.
So there's this existence, but in that game
you're gonna build something else.
And it's you who's building it.
But it's not you physically who's living it.
But you're building, you're constructing something.
Spiritually, what you're thinking about brings you closer
to the people of sin or brings you
closer to the people of righteousness in your
own spot.
So if a person has iman and they're
trying to be thinking the best, saying the
best, doing the best, their spirit goes up.
So the nobler things are on its mind.
That's what concerns it.
And if there's any vile, wrong thought, they
dismiss it.
And they keep thinking about what I can
do better?
How can I help?
How can I choose a better word?
How can I dismiss laziness, wastefulness of time,
bad character?
How can I be closer to Allah Azza
wa Jal?
So their souls are like a soul close
to Allah Azza wa Jal, right next to
the throne of Allah.
So he's thinking about the best.
He is seeing the best.
And he intends to do the best.
And he is guided to the best.
Right?
The opposite of that is someone who allows
his soul to think about the worst and
to be attracted to the worst.
So it could be that actually the soul
is getting closer and closer to the souls
of those who are committing that haram.
So without you knowing it, your soul is
getting closer to the souls of thieves and
fornicators and killers and liars because you're thinking
about these things.
And so what you're thinking about is something
haram.
And to say something haram.
And you intend to do something haram.
So you're debasing yourself continuously, continuously, continuously.
So no one can see that from you.
But you're sinking lower or you're rising higher.
And it's all a matter for the soul.
And eventually the body will full follow and
must follow.
So that's what he's saying here.
There are people who when they think, they
think about the best.
And they're struggling to do the best.
And there are people who when they think,
they think about the worst and they strive
to do the worst.
And that's the discrepancy, the difference between those
who are next to the throne of Allah
Azza wa Jal and those who are in
the toilet.
And it's like literally in the toilet.
They're thinking about the worst things in life,
sexual things, the worst sexual things.
That's what they're thinking about.
That's what gets them motivated, excited.
It's sin that kind of brings life to
them.
And they're repulsed by anything religious.
Seems boring and lame.
So that's why he's saying, every soul wanders.
So now since you know this, you have
to ask yourself, where am I letting my
soul wander?
Because that is the beginning of an act.
A beginning of a direction.
So if you're gonna let it wander to
what Allah Azza wa Jal loves, then expect
the best, bi-idhnillah Azza wa Jal.
If you're gonna let it wander into what
Allah hates and you say, you're gonna indulge
it because you know what, I'm not really
doing it.
I'm just gonna think about it.
Eventually your body has to follow the wandering
soul.
You allowed it to love this.
So don't let anything haram invite it.
And don't let it follow anything haram.
Restrain it like you restrain your body and
more.
And pull it up to Allah Azza wa
Jal so it is always used to the
best of the best.
Think about food.
If you get yourself used to the worst
type of food, you'll find good food to
be distasteful.
Right?
The worst type of food that has a
lot of sugar in it.
A lot of processed ingredients in it.
Fake, fake flavor.
Not real.
Nothing about it is real.
It's all chemical.
It's just designed to deceive your brain.
If you get yourself used to this, if
somebody gives you the real thing, you'll say,
it doesn't taste good.
It doesn't taste good.
And then you have to wean yourself off
of that bad taste and re-educate your
tongue.
And the same thing with the body.
If you get yourself or if you are
used to the worst in this life and
your soul loves it, you have to wean
yourself off of it.
And when you wean yourself, you have to
experience some pain.
Just like a child.
He has to cry.
Till you get used to solid food and
only solid food.
It's the same thing.
You have to experience that pain.
And then eventually, you'll forget about it.
So, these hearts and these souls, they do
wonder.
And they do circle.
So think about what is your soul thinking
about?
What is it that it wants?
What is it that it desires?
قَالَ وَمِنْهَا مَسْخُ الْقَلْبِ InshaAllah.
We'll do some of it inshaAllah and maybe
the rest next time.
قَالَ وَمِنْهَا مَسْخُ الْقَلْبِ Also the disfiguring the
heart.
Also the consequence of sin.
That it can disfigure the heart.
As the image or the body could be
disfigured.
So the heart could resemble the heart of
an animal.
If it is like it and if its
manners and actions and nature.
So he says some hearts are like the
hearts of a pig.
Because the heart resembles it so much.
And some hearts are like the hearts of
a dog or a donkey or a snake
or a scorpion etc.
etc.
So he's saying what this means is that
the bodies could be disfigured.
And probably we'll go into this inshaAllah next
week.
The bodies could be disfigured.
المسخ Transformed into animal shape.
He said but before that happens the heart
is disfigured.
Because remember we just said it begins with
the soul.
It begins with the heart before the body.
And then the body has to follow.
So before the body is the body of
an animal the heart has to be the
heart of an animal.
So he says some hearts are like the
hearts of pigs or the hearts of dogs
or the hearts of scorpions or snakes.
Meaning they've adopted the worst qualities of those
animals.
And they became like them.
وَهَذَا تَأْوِيلُ سُفْيَانُ بْنُ عُيَيْنَ فِي قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَىٰ
وَمَا مِنْ دَّابَّةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا طَائِرٍ يَطِيرُ
بِي جَنَاحَيْهِ إِلَّا أُمَمٌ أَمْثَالُكُمْ قال Sufyan ibn
Uyayna interpreted the following ayah there is no
animal on earth nor a bird that flies
with its wings except that they are umam
or ummaz like you.
He said some of them will resemble or
have the character of animals, carnivores.
Some of them will have the character of
dogs and some of them have the character
of pigs or donkeys and some of them
are proud like a peacock and some of
them are slow or dumb like a donkey
and some of them are selfish like a
rooster and some of them are sociable like
pigeons and some of them hold a grudge
like a camel and some of them are
all good like sheep and some of them
are slippery and deceptive like foxes.
So, Sufyan ibn Uyayna in interpreting this ayah
and it has another interpretation.
When Allah says here there is no animal
on earth nor a bird that uses its
wings to fly but are ummaz like you.
So, what is the meaning of an ummah?
Ummah is a large group that has some
coherence.
They resemble each other.
There is something in common between them.
Right?
So, when you say Muslims are an ummah,
why are they an ummah?
There is something in common between them.
There are other ummahs among humanity.
Animals have different ummahs.
So, dogs are an ummah.
Donkeys are an ummah.
Horses are an ummah.
Cats are an ummah.
Why are they an ummah?
Because there is something common between them.
There is something in their nature.
There is something common which makes them as
a large group coherent more or less.
That's what an ummah is.
It says they are ummahs like you.
So, one interpretation of it is what?
Is that you are an ummah and they
are an ummah.
Meaning, Allah azza wa jal created you and
created them.
He provides for you and provides for them.
He guides you and He guides them.
Because these animals are guided.
These birds are guided.
Who guides them?
Allah azza wa jal.
You organize and they organize.
You see that among animals, right?
Sometimes they organize to defend and sometimes they
organize to hunt and attack.
To take territory.
You have hierarchy, some of them have hierarchy.
Levels, they take commands.
Some of them store food, you store food.
You have emotions, they have emotions.
Maybe not at the same sophistication but they
do.
They worry.
They don't want to die.
They protect their children, right?
So, that's an ummah.
So, they are ummah like you.
So, in everything where it's possible, noting the
differences between humanity and animals, humanity and birds.
But in everything else, they are ummah just
like you.
So, that's one interpretation.
And that is beneficial by the way.
For you to realize that they are an
ummah.
Because you could learn from them.
You could learn from them.
And one of the things I think that
we have lost in the modern age is
because of our disconnection from animals, we're unable
to learn from them.
Because we're not around them.
We're not around them.
So, one of the things that we can
learn from them is that we know these
characters that Ibn Uyaynah rahimahullah talked about.
You will see that animals can teach you
what to do and what not to do.
And that is, wallahu alam, one of the
reasons why Allah azza wa jalla had given
you animals is by observing them, you learn.
You learn what?
What to do.
And you also learn what not to do.
So, for instance, where do we get burying
the dead from?
Which is something that universally, yeah, the crow.
Universally done.
Every human being does it except for the
few who cremate.
Where do we get that from a crow?
If you think about it, all of humanity
have learned that.
Allah azza wa jalla, of course, taught him,
told him what to do.
But we learn it from a crow.
All of us have learned that from him.
Al-Hudhud from Sulaiman alayhi salam.
He came back and he knew what Sulaiman
did not know.
And he knew what an entire civilization did
not know.
And you had the queen and everyone who
consulted her, you understood they built a civilization.
And they were strong.
How many people were in Saba' then?
Thousands?
So, we're talking about thousands of human beings.
Men and women and children, civilization.
An army, a strong army.
All of them did not know La ilaha
illallah Muhammadun Rasulullah.
And Al-Hudhud knew.
So, that's amazing.
That he knew but they didn't.
Also observing animals, I remember, and we'll stop
inshaAllah with this because I want to give
this inshaAllah.
It's what it deserves.
So, we'll continue with that next week inshaAllah.
But I mean about observing animals and how
can we miss a lot when we don't.
Yeah, two things.
How the Prophet alayhi salatu wasalam, he said,
مَا مِن نَبِيٍ إِلَّا وَقَدْرَ عَلْ غِنَمٍ There's
no prophet except that he was a shepherd.
Amen.
It's like part of the training.
For every prophet, and for every prophet it
may mean most of them.
That still will be valid as an Arabic
statement.
That they had to be a shepherd.
So, because when you're a shepherd, you learn
how to be what?
Patient, compassionate, to recognize differences in personality, how
to care for them.
There's some of this sheep that's gonna have
a very unique personality.
It doesn't want to listen to you.
How do you deal with it?
Another one who is very nice.
And both of them are sheep.
But you still have to learn.
And how to care for them and worry
about them and, and, and.
So, it's kind of to qualify to this.
You gotta be trained and to be trained
is to be next to animals.
Now, we're distant from that.
We don't learn any of it.
And also the other story that, you know,
came to mind inshaAllah.
And then I'll stop here, talk about this
inshaAllah next week.
There was one of the scholars, I think
he was Al-Kisa'i, rahimahullah.
And he started to seek knowledge later in
life, but at a later stage.
And he's trying to study language or grammar
or something, you know, related to it.
And he's finding it hard.
So, he wanted to quit.
So, one of those days after he decided
maybe I'll quit.
He sat and he looked at an ant.
And that ant was carrying food.
Seems maybe like a lot of food.
And it wanted to climb a hill.
So, it started to climb and it fell.
Couldn't carry it.
And it tried again.
Carried the food again, went up and it
fell.
Went up and he kept watching.
Up, fell.
Until eventually it carried it.
Found the way to be able to climb.
He said, I'll keep trying.
And he went back and he kept trying
and he became an imam in his field.
Not just an average person, no, an imam
in his field.
But why was he able to be an
imam in his field?
Because he observed another being doing something, never
giving up.
And he must learn from it, I'm not
gonna give up.
I'm not gonna give up.
So, that observation came from animals.
So, I'll come back inshaAllah to this inshaAllah
next week.
And to understand how humans can have animal
characteristics.
Some of them are good and some of
them are terrible.
And how Allah Azza wa Jalla talks about
it in the Quran.
And how that is related to being disfigured
physically.
How that happened in the past and how
it's gonna happen in the future.
We'll leave this inshaAllah till next time.
Let me know inshaAllah if you have questions
to answer them inshaAllah before the salah.
Go ahead.
Give me the two and I'll see what
I can answer inshaAllah.
Yeah.
No.
So, the heart that we talked about, the
fourth heart that has hypocrisy in it, is
a heart that is infected and obedient.
The heart that is infected and that is
obedient.
Has strength and has weaknesses.
Loves Allah Azza wa Jalla but also loves
sin.
Yes.
Yes.
So that's why you have to assume that
there is hypocrisy, right?
There is hypocrisy.
You love the dunya more than the akhira.
What you're supposed to love the akhira more
than the dunya.
You don't love the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
enough.
You don't love him more than your parents
and your children.
And it's an obligation to love him more
than your parents and your children.
So, okay.
That's deficiency.
So you say that's most of humanity.
Yes.
But that is a sin.
Because it's a must.
So it's absence is a deficiency.
So that's why it's safest and actually the
more accurate thing to assume that all of
us have that element of hypocrisy to try
to work against it.
In terms of sin?
I'm not talking about the major hypocrisy.
Major hypocrisy is disbelief.
No.
I'm talking about the minor hypocrisy.
Where a person, as I said, loves the
dunya more than the akhira, lives for the
dunya, does not for the akhira, favors, you
know, his own self and his own desire
over Allah Azza wa Jal.
All that is, you know, symptoms of hypocrisy.
Yes.
How do you control the wandering mind?
By what you feed it.
Where you put it.
What you make it what it's occupied with.
That's how.
Because it has to think about something.
It has to be somewhere.
So you can't sit idle doing nothing.
Right?
Can you?
No.
Have to be doing something.
So how do I do good things?
Or how do I avoid doing bad things?
By doing good things.
So you have to occupy yourself with doing
good so you don't do bad.
So you read so not thinking about haram.
You sit with the righteous, so you're not
thinking about haram.
You read the Quran, you're not thinking about
haram.
You help others so you're not thinking about
haram.
When you wanna wander, you redirect that mind,
redirect the heart so it's thinking about the
best things.
So if you feed it well, it'll think
about the best.
And you restrain it.
I shouldn't be thinking about this.
Astaghfirullah.
I shouldn't be going there.
Bring it back.
With dua.
That's how you restrain it.
I did?
Okay.
The question here, how does a parent know
his deeper thoughts of the soul of the
child?
How do we balance having good thoughts with
checking it well so we could address it?
So I mean, you shouldn't concern yourself with
knowing the thoughts of your child or the
soul of your child.
You simply try to be a good example
to teach them and to make dua for
them and to offer advice.
This is where you're supposed to go.
But you can never have access into their
hearts, their minds, and what their soul wants.
So as the brother was saying, how do
we keep ourselves or our souls from wandering
to the wrong place?
You do all these things that we talked
about.
We do it to your child.
And then you hope for the best, inshallah.
Eventually, you hope for the best.
Last one, inshallah, if somebody has a question.
Okay, I may have one here.
So how can we recognize if the hearts
are in the fourth category so that we
could pull them to the first category?
I say, assume that your heart is in
the fourth.
Don't assume that they are in the first.
Because if you assume that they are in
the first, you're done.
There's no work needed.
Right?
Mashallah, you're bright on the inside, bright on
the outside.
What else do you want from me?
No.
Recognize who we are, recognize where we're living,
and when we're living, and tell me that
there's no hypocrisy in the hearts.
How is that possible?
Having a pet is good to build a
child.
They're training.
What is the opinion to have birds as
pets, putting them in cages?
I mean, having pets, if you are responsible
enough, is a way to connect with animals,
as we said.
Birds in cages, wallahu alam, I mean, I
think they are permissible.
I personally don't prefer that because because Allah
Azawajal created them with wings and you want
them to use their wings, right?
Just my personal opinion.
It's permissible to keep them in cages, but
if you're going to bring a bird, think
about kind of letting it out of the
cage once in a while so that it
can actually fly and use what Allah Azawajal
gave it.
I mean, Allah Azawajal gave you legs.
You want somebody to put you on a
chair all the time and force you just
to sit there because you're cute, and they
just want to look at you?
It's the same thing.
Yes, they're beautiful, but let them inshallah experience
that beauty.
They're sitting and they're not using their wings
at all.
Just personal, right?
But it's permissible inshallah to have them in
cages, and it's good to have pets if
you are responsible enough because you will learn
how to connect with somebody else and have
compassion for them.
Jazakumullah khairah.
We'll continue to talk about this, bi-idhnillah,
Azawajal, next week.
Subhanakallah wa bihamdik.
Ashadu an la ilaha illa anta astaghfiru wa
bi atubu ilayk.
Al-Fatiha.