Ali Albarghouthi – The Disease and the Cure #48- How Do We Control Our Thoughts 2
AI: Summary ©
The book of Allah's negativity provides insight into the benefits of avoiding misunderstandings and harms in the world. The speakers emphasize the importance of maximizing benefits of the d union, protecting individual behavior, and avoiding harms in life. They also emphasize the need for a "meditation" and caution against abandoning the d union. The conversation ends with a reminder to follow the announcement and warn against abandoning the d union.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah wa alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala
rasoolillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam
Allahumma a'allimna ma yanfa'una wa anfa
'na bima a'allamtana wa zidna ilman rabbal
a'alameen Allahumma a'aynna ala dhikrika wa
shukrika wa husni ibadatik amma ba'd First of
all an announcement inshallah.
We'll pause the halaqa for two weeks inshallah
after this one because I know that Some
or a lot of people will be out
of town inshallah, so I don't want you
to miss out on The benefits of the
book inshallah rabbal a'alameen.
So December 27th January 3rd when we'll not
be here.
We'll come back inshallah January 10th inshallah rabbal
a'alameen So by that time everybody should
be back inshallah if you will be out
for the break So We've learned from Ibn
Al-Qayyim last time when he's talking about
thoughts that thoughts Beneficial thoughts are ones that
bring the benefit of the hereafter or in
the dunya Or repel and protect from the
harms of the hereafter and the dunya.
These are the beneficial thoughts Anything else beside
that he has it has no basis and
no benefit in it So you should try
to restrict what you think about to these
things Remember that?
so something that will benefit you or will
protect you from harm any I think anything
other than that is harmful or wasteful and
He says the best of thoughts the best
of thoughts are the ones that Concentrate on
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and he gave us
examples.
He says when you think about Allah's revelation
Meaning the revealed book of Allah azza wajal
the sharia and when you think about Allah's
creation and When you think about Allah's bounties
then also when you think about your own
deficiencies and diseases and Problems of the self
which will Enlighten you as to how to
solve Your own deficiencies how you tackle your
own problems, but also it humbles you and
he also The fifth the fifth one.
He says to concentrate and think about your
immediate responsibilities and duties What is your obligation
at this moment?
Not to be distracted about thoughts of a
future that may not happen or a past
that is gone far gone So not be
trapped by the past or paralyzed by the
future, but rather focus on your benefit At
the moment, right?
So that's that's kind of a summary what
we talked about last time and I bring
this because he connects it now and he
says when I had a Heavy lock Sam
anything else other than what we've talked about
so far, which is the highest level or
top thoughts About Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala the
five ones that we just I just mentioned
or something that will bring you benefit in
the dunya Or we've hella harm from the
dunya.
It's also beneficial.
It is anything other than this For Emma
was always to shaytania, this is just it
would be whispers of the shaitan Oh, I
mean you bought it all a kid on
caddy But or false wishes and false promises
be meant Zeta Kawati little Musab in a
few cool him just like someone who has
an issue with his thought or issue was
with his brain Insane so he has what?
false ideas false whispers False assessment of reality
an insane person or a mental person according
to his expression though so someone is afflicted
mentally or Someone who's drunk or someone who's
high on drugs or unless was seen someone
who has what you could call a religious
OCD So says all of these people have
ideas that do not pertain to reality have
ideas that are false and So they should
fight them.
They should repel these thoughts.
They should combat them and not surrender to
them So here is the benefit beneficial thoughts
about allah azawajal About what benefits you in
the dunya anything else?
He says what comes from the shaitan or
is basically baseless and you should not listen
to it.
So someone who's drunk Well, of course if
he's drunk, he's not going to have the
capacity to ascertain what is real and what
is not But you looking at him you
would say what you shouldn't listen to you
these thoughts You shouldn't listen to your mind
because whatever is coming into your mind is
false, right?
So he's that's an example that is visible
that he can see and learn from Similarly
those who are high on drugs and hash
machine those who take hashish.
So their judgment is what flawed?
Their assessment of reality what they think they
can do or cannot do is flawed So
he says that does not it was not
related to reality So that should be also
dismissed similarly also someone who's has OCD obsessive
-compulsive so They perform full will do yet.
They say I didn't Something is wrong with
it or they purified themselves Properly yet.
They say no, I must have not maybe
there's a drop.
Maybe there's a trace so that also is
baseless as someone who is starting to feel
something like that or is feeling or undergoing
that type of Mental anguish should necessarily know
that these thoughts are baseless Should not be
listened to should not be affirmed confirmed Should
not be even entertained once you perform.
I will do You're done with it right
You're done with it.
And if you take a few, you know
the bottle the this one 500 ml you
need less than that for will do For
a full will do actually the Prophet alayhi
salatu wasalam would perform full will do with
water less than this So this tells you
that you don't need a lot of water
for will do Right and it also tells
you that you don't need a lot of
effort for purification Not to the extent that
it would paralyze you physically and Torment you
mentally so you can't even leave the bathroom
or perform will do so these ideas you
must know are not based on reality, they're
just in your head and They're not Beneficial
so if you fight them and keep fighting
them and ask Allah's assistance against them You
eventually will be able to overcome them.
It may take some time Varies from one
person to the other but it definitely be
even the law as though did it will
go away So he says any other thought
that the ones other than the ones that
we've talked about is harmful and it's not
beneficial and once you actually discover that they
are Non-beneficial have no reality you will
be Relieved or you will be frustrated by
the fact that you've entertained them No, he
says what he said.
Oh, how do you know you're cool?
We're in the kishaf al-haqqaiq he says
and those who discover that reality After spending
years and years or days and days with
these types of thoughts that are baseless He
says they'll be like the poet who said
in can a man's illa TV will hope
be indecimal My god lucky to fuck up
the yacht to a yammy Omniotron buffer to
buffer at NFC be has a man and
well you know I said, oh, yeah I've
got the ahlami it says if the love
that I'm gonna get with you is Reflected
by What had I had experience loving you
so far?
Then I indeed I have wasted my days
So what he's trying to say is what
he says so so and so is love
with another and He's hoping that one day.
They will be together But meanwhile he's saying
I'm experiencing a hardship with loving you For
instance I call and you don't call me
I Go after you, but you run away
from me.
I'm tormented by that love.
I'm troubled by that love He says so
if the love that I'm gonna get from
you eventually if I end up getting it
If this reality now is indicative of the
love that I will get from you, then
I'm wasting my days All right, like what
I want from you is what?
bliss and happiness and Companionship and all of
this but so far what I've got from
your love is what agony so If this
agony is gonna predict what is gonna come
later Then I'm wasting my time with you
or waiting for your love He says omni
a tune of a fear of mercy be
has a mana He says it's a wish
that I've enjoyed for a while, but now
I think it was a bad dream I
thought that I'm gonna get something and I've
covered up all the agony with the hope
that is gonna be different later But now
as I realize no this agony is reality
it seems that what I've Wanted to get
what I promised myself is just really was
bad a bad dream has no reality to
it That is whenever you entertain a thought
and that thought is false and it comes
like a drug Eventually when you wake up
you realize that you have wasted your time
that thing has no reality to it Hala
and this is like anything anything you say
as we talked about last week Anything that
you promise yourself that you're gonna get eventually
I will do this eventually I will be
that but it's based on no reality and
no effort It becomes like a drug that
you live on that could sustain you But
eventually will fail you and steal your life
from you So if that thought is not
based on reality not based on effort Not
based on sound a judge the assessment of
the world around you then that is what
a false troublesome Wasteful thought Kala, what I'm
and no rude al-khaatiri la yadur Oh,
well, you know my address did I who
am I had a tattoo and he says
and know that a passing thought is Not
harmful.
What is harmful is what to invite it
and engage it for al-khaatiru and this
is Important this image.
He says well khaatiru kalmari ala tariq.
He says a passing thought is like a
passerby like a traveler So in them to
study he what I wrecked.
Oh, man, I want Sara fan He says
if you don't invite them and you just
let them pass They will pass they will
leave and they will not harm you But
if you invite them, they will charm you
with their speech and then deceive you So
you're just sitting that's an image.
You're just sitting Somebody passes by it says
that's a passing thought if you don't engage
that person as they are walking by you
They'll keep walking and they will leave They
didn't harm you But he says if you
stop them and you start talking to them
Have nothing better to do you're bored.
Hey stop come What's your name?
What do you do?
Where are you going?
You're asking for trouble.
This is why did you stop him?
So he says just a passing thought it's
like that if it comes into your head
Let it go Don't hold on to it
Especially if it's harmful, it's haram.
It's wrong Don't engage and if you don't
engage you dismiss it you think about something
else you Preoccupy preoccupy yourself with something useful
that thing will not settle it's not designed
to settle it will come in and it
will go and If it goes it doesn't
harm you you don't need to analyze it.
Why did it come?
Where is it going?
Why do I have these thoughts?
Let it come and let it go haram.
Just let it go Harmful let it go
disturbing.
Let it go Just dismiss it.
Don't hold on to it He says what
but he says our problem is that these
thoughts because we are not aware or untrained
or Simply bored we stop it and We
talk to it and it talks to us
and it turns from a passing thought into
a settled thought and from a settled thought
Into something we're interested in then into a
will into a desire and then into an
act It's because we've stopped it and think
of a better or a different example think
of a Cook a chef even if you're
not a cook yourself, but you'll understand you'll
be able to relate to it So you're
you know standing over the pot and you're
cooking and you know the recipe you know
what you're cooking But you left the door
open Somebody comes in you know, or you
don't he throws in an additional ingredient into
your recipe Into your pot you don't stop
them But you keep cooking Somebody else comes
throws another thing into the pot you keep
stirring and cooking and you start smelling something
bad coming from the pot and your eyes
start to tear and You start to be
disgusted by this smell by the appearance But
you keep cooking and not only do you
not stop cooking but when you stop when
you end When it's done you actually start
eating it and You're agonizing over That taste
you're troubled by it.
You want to vomit you're crying and yet
you keep eating and the question here is
Why did you allow them to put something
into your pot?
And why did you keep cooking it?
Why did you keep cooking it so in
your mind sometime you can catch yourself Saying
why am I thinking about this?
Why am I thinking about this?
Why did I allow my thought to lead
me rather than me leading them?
How many times you can catch yourself fighting
with someone in your past?
He said this to me and I said
that to them and then that happened and
this that happened and if it were Another
way I would have said something different to
them and how dare they say that to
me and then you stop yourself saying But
this happened to the past and I'm angry
now and I'm still angry over it and
you revisit these fights and revisit these Insults
and you revisit different scenarios and what if
something different happened and then you wake up
and you say why am I thinking about
these?
Things who planted that into my head and
why did I agree to something that would
upset me so much?
Because you're angry at this moment or thinking
about something haram at this moment.
That should have happened might have happened So
it's a pot that we are cooking and
somebody else is putting in the ingredient and
we Known to us or unbeknown to us
We are cooking all of that and then
drinking it and eating it and then being
revulsed by it and sick because of it
so rather than Being led by your thoughts
stop and say why am I thinking these
things and lead your thoughts You know the
difference it says I should be thinking about
this Not that so you stop you catch
yourself and you say this is haram stop
This is harmful stop This is causing me
sorrow for no need for no reason stop
This is causing me anxiety for no reason
stop and think about what benefits you Hold
on to what benefits you run after what
benefits you and if your thoughts are harmful
Stop thinking these thoughts before they develop into
something that will truly torment you later and
be something out of hand and Something connected
to it Which people ask sometimes People sometimes
ask and maybe even in this halakha, you
might have heard that you might have heard
that question, which is Are these thoughts mine?
or the whispers of Shaitan Right like this
thing that I'm thinking did it come from
me or the Shaitan and I typically give
an answer But I want to refine it
and I'll tell you what the answer was
and why I need to refine it a
bit The answer was it doesn't really matter
where it came from deal with the thought
now Why doesn't it matter where it came
from?
Because it's hard to ascertain a lot of
times where it came from It could come
from you it could come from the Shaitan,
but either way if it is bad the
Shaitan is with it Either the one who
invented it or the one who's amplifying it
Right if it's something bad So it doesn't
matter if you want to investigate something that
is hard to investigate It doesn't really matter
if you want to trace it What you
need to do is deal with the thought
as it is right now And if the
thought is bad if you repel it if
you save yourself from it Then you don't
need to worry about worry about where it
came from Right now For some it really
troubles them Because they're stuck Like if this
bad thought had come from me, then it
means that I am bad versus if it
came from the Shaitan so Why the way
that I want to refine it is to
say there are thoughts that we know are
from us It's easy and thoughts.
We know are from the Shaitan.
It's easy and thoughts that are ambiguous You
don't really know where it came from Thoughts
that you know that they are from you
are thoughts that agree with your nature with
your fitra So you're attracted to something and
you see it and you feel that you
want to be close to it You want
to eat this thing drink that thing you
pass by a bakery and the smell Invites
images of cake and bread and you feel
I want to eat this is this from
Shaitan It's nature You see someone beautiful and
you're attracted just immediately attracted to them.
That is that from Shaitan?
That's human attraction.
Now Shaitan can take this and play with
it and amplify it until it becomes something
haram But the initial attraction is human Now
Shaitan can take your attraction to food and
manipulate that into an obsession with the dunya
so they can amplify it So it becomes
something bad But the essence of it is
what human so that's not from Shaitan There
are thoughts that are from Shaitan and you
can tell they are from Shaitan because they
go against your nature They repel you they
repulse you Thoughts of I want to do
this something that is bad.
So horrible so unimaginable when it comes into
your head You're disgusted by it.
Is That you?
It's not you why isn't it you because
your nature rejects it it's not from you
Because you are upset and Disgusted by it.
This is this is not this is just
an invasion from Shaitan and The Shaitan usually
would want to invite these types of thoughts
to distress you to alarm you And to
sadden you and that's the general objective of
Shaitan and you have things in the middle
Which you can't really tell if it's from
you or from Shaitan But they are usually
not those troublesome kind of thoughts like a
thought in your head about does God exist
or not Is that from you?
No That's from Shaitan is Their heaven is
their * is their angels or not anything
that doubts the Sharia is that from you?
No, it's from Shaitan, how do you know
it's from each time because you're troubled by
it You're troubled by it.
You don't really want that.
You did not invite it.
You didn't seek it It's from Shaitan, but
if you entertain it it becomes yours All
right, because you've accepted it But otherwise if
you reject it and you seek Allah's assistance
Allah saves you from it So going back
to what he says any passing thought any
passing thought you have power over it Doesn't
have power over you, especially if you say
that's from Shaitan either as an Originator of
the thought or as an amplifier of the
thought that's from Shaitan you dismiss it Right,
so he says these types of thoughts Especially
empty False thoughts He says this is the
easiest lightest thing Most appealing thing to a
soul that is idle and false loving like
a type of soul that Enjoys falsehood enjoy
trivial things if you talk to it about
trivial things is the best thing for it
It'll be enlivened by it.
It'll be attracted to it talk to them
about fashion Talk to them about sports talk
to them about anything that is trivial.
They say give me more.
I want more of this It's easy They
want more of it because it what corresponds
to their nature What's going on?
I'll tell you when that's a sheriff at
a Samaritan with my inner, but it is
heavy and distasteful to a soul and to
a heart that is noble and heavenly and
What's my inner that is contented with Allah's
love and worship?
So take a soul that is like that
and start talking to them about sports.
It's agonizing Start talking to them about movies
Entertainment, it's like it's poisonous.
This is where you taking me not only
that it is very foreign But it's actually
very heavy because that soul is so connected
to Allah as though Jill it lives by
it and through it so when you introduced
Introducing these black dots of ink into its
water it becomes bitter it can't taste it
It suffers because of it and it cannot
be around people who are talking about these
things So if they're in a mix in
a social mix around people who are just
talking about the dunya and only that and
it's excessively So it shrinks That's not my
my environment.
I Need something else so it withdraws to
the message it withdraws to solitude when reading
the Quran.
He says I find my life there or
in Salah That's what satisfies me, but the
dunya becomes like a poison to it Kala
waqad rakab allahu subhanahu fi insani nafsayni He
says Allah Azza wa Jal had installed in
humanity in each human two types of selves
The one that commands evil and the one
that is contented and assured al mutma'inna
Wa huma mutaAAdiyatan and they are enemies of
each other So what is appealing to this
is very unappealing to that what is heavy
to this is very light to that they
are opposites So here ibn al-qayyim rahim
Allah is talking about these selves as if
they exist at the same time in the
same person Like two components of the same
person not as levels So al mutma'inna
and al lawwama the one that commands evil
and the one that is contented you can
think about them as levels You exist at
this level and then you graduate to the
other but here ibn al-qayyim is using
them as what two opposite forces that each
human has You have this that commands you
to do good and this that commands you
to do evil So the one that commands
you to do good anything that is beloved
to Allah Azza wa Jal is easy for
it It wants it if it is strong
Anything that takes it away from Allah is
very heavy for it It doesn't like it
because it goes against it against what gives
it life and the one that is Awful
the one that is sinful loves every other
sin.
So if you feed it sin, it's happy
As do you want to go to a
movies?
Yes, wonderful You want to go out, you
know and do this haram and that haram
wonderful.
You want to go to the masjid very
heavy and You start finding excuses.
Why not to do this?
You want to spend this money on haram?
Yes hundreds of dollars.
No problem You want to give $50 for
halal you start finding excuses.
Why not to do so?
Why is halal heavy and haram very light?
The nafs Likes this and hates that is
used to this but not used to that
and what my inner is the flip of
it and what my inner finds virtue easy
and beloved and Why it finds sin distasteful
in heart?
So it's kind of like a magnet to
Virtue it pulls it and the opposite pole
to sin it repels it Calla Felisa on
a nipsey Amar at a shock.
Oh, man I'm a leader.
He says the one that commands evil finds
nothing harder than pleasing Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
and putting what Allah loves before what it
loves and that is the most beneficial thing
for it and the napsal mutma inna finds
nothing harder than Working for other than Allah
as though gel and answering its own desire
and it's the most harmful thing for it
and he says the angel is With this
good self on the right of the heart
and that's just simply an image He doesn't
actually mean the right of the heart on
the left of the heart it's just simply
an image that the angel is with the
contented self on the right of the heart
and the shaitan is with the other bad
self on the left of the heart and
There's a war between them that will never
end until a person is dead and all
of falsehood will be on the side of
shaitan and all of truth will be on
the side of angel on the son of
the angel will harbo do what in what
CJ and Harb, and this type of battle
will be a win or a lose Sometimes
a win and sometimes a lose and it
will be rotating like this When muscle massabri
and victory will come with patience women Sabara
warabata What the Allah fell?
I will occupy and this is a few
are patient and he have taqwa of Allah
azza wajal Allah will give you victory and
allah azza had made this a judgment of
his that al-aqeba Did taqwa that the
conclusion belongs to the people of taqwa when
aqeba to the mutakeen?
Allah will give them success.
So he's saying that in you rages a
battle between the shaitan and the angel between
the good self and the bad self between
the good thoughts and the bad thoughts between
the good path and the bad path and
It will continue to rage on until you
die.
It will never end That so you should
never lose hope Allah azza jillah is with
you.
It doesn't mean that the path is so
difficult that you should give up He's saying
that Allah azza jillah is always with you.
But yeah at times you're gonna lose But
if you stand up again and keep fighting
Allah had promised that he will give you
victory if you are a person of taqwa
and if you are patient So you cannot
let the shaitan have greater patience than you
Because you are dealing with your own salvation
here That's what you win and that's what
you lose So you cannot afford to be
complacent and weak and say let the shaitan
win this battle Because if he wins it
he destroys you What did what did he
lose?
He's already lost.
But if you lost you lost everything So
saying this battle Pay attention to it and
that it never ends and as there is
a battle inside of you This battle is
also on the outside exactly as it is
inside of you It's on the outside because
on the outside there will be people who
listen to Allah and people who will listen
to Who?
Shaitan and the battle between them rages on
and will never end till the day of
judgment or close to it But if you
give up they win and you cannot let
that happen But in order to be win
against them you have to win on the
inside Because if you're defeated on the inside
you definitely defeated on the outside You cannot
defeat an external enemy if the internal enemy
is stronger than you Right?
You cannot Because when you are trying to
fight an external enemy How many people or
how many things or entities are you fighting?
You're fighting your own shaitan and them and
their shaitan and Everybody else who wants to
join them as well, right?
So it's so the the counter battle or
the counter effort is gonna be great Qala
he continues Qala falqalbu lawhun farigh wal khawatirun
nuqushun tunqashu fih He says your heart is
an empty plain tablet That's an example.
That's a good example.
It doesn't mean by it that there's no
fitrah It doesn't mean that but he means
what it is open for what you're gonna
write on the heart The heart is a
tablet and this is your thoughts are gonna
be what you carve on that tablet What
you write on that piece of paper That
is your heart It says then how could
you be content or happy with the fact
if you are wise?
That what you what is written on your
heart are lies and deceptions and lies something
that wishful thinking false imaginations That have no
reality He says what type of wisdom what
type of knowledge could be written or carved
if this is what is already on your
heart What you don't under and you know
push a delicate fellow he called me he
can be manzilla Take it up until I
mean I feel him a * in my
school in Bill Kitab He says even if
you want to write something useful on your
heart.
It is already occupied You know if you
have just a blank piece of paper, that's
your heart and you start writing nonsense on
it Any nonsense that comes to your head
try it if you know Then the paper
is full Then you listen you want to
listen to a lecture you want to write
notes Take notes from that lecture, but there's
no space on the paper.
What are you gonna write?
It's already full It says what already you've
written on your heart has to be extracted
or that paper has to be where it
has to be cleaned erased Before you can
write something useful, so if your heart is
occupied with Useless ideas useless intentions useless aspirations
Useless goals low type of goals.
How could you write any wisdom in it?
There's no space you would not even want
it You would not even want it because
you're not used to it.
It would be bitter It will taste bitter
in the beginning like take anyone who is
just used to Social media right just so
scrolling strong ask him to sit for 5
-10 minutes listen to something useful It's very
hard And I've been trained like even physically
you can't sit still Mentally right your mind
is racing can't listen This seems too slow
too heavy But not until you retrain yourself
Then you'll be able to so you need
to erase what had been written on that
paper to have a space to write something
new That's what he's saying if
you do not empty the heart of bad
thoughts then good thoughts will have no space
there because they need an empty space He
says if you do not empty the heart
of bad thoughts then good thoughts will have
no space there because they need an empty
space As it was said All right, that's
your first love Why is your first love
always the strongest love by the way anything
your first home is the best home?
The first love is the best love the
first thing that you experience is the best
of it and the strongest love why because
he did Not love anything before it You
were innocent So after that any other love
has to build upon that other love Any
other home has to always to be compared
to that previous home it will never be
as good as the first home so he's
saying that love that of her that I
knew came before what any other love and
Because it was empty it took home.
So that's what he's saying when your heart
is empty meaning empty of distractions falsehood of
nonsense right I've just empty empty thoughts empty
ideas empty goals empty chatter if it's just
empty if it's clean and Then receives knowledge
from Allah Leslie receives the love of Allah.
It will take hold but if it's what
full of weeds and it's not cleaned it
Needs to be cleaned first before anything useful
can be planted in it needs to be
Erased before anything useful can be written on
it, right?
Kala, what a hack of that?
Cathedral mean our Baby Sulu keep an oscilloscope
home.
I'll have the kawatiri.
Well, I am a cure We'll have
to run you through the Coluba home had
to pursue the Coluba fairy the copy that
he cashed me Well, the whore he had
told you we had to fear her and
this is interesting It says and similarly a
lot of people of discipline.
We mean the one to discipline the soul
He says they built the discipline or their
spirituality on safeguarding their thoughts Wanting to make
sure that no thought will enter their hearts
until the hearts are empty enough for illumination
To enter and they will discover upper or
heavenly realities What is he talking about and
how this can relate to meditation?
He says there are some people who?
Did that they wanted to empty their hearts
of Thought any thought By sitting Concentrating and
dismissing any type of thought in Solitude in
darkness even it says what did they want
from that practice?
And these are Muslims and non-muslims.
What did they want with that practice?
It's a when they purify their thoughts of
anything external anything worldly Their hope was they
will reach a level where they will receive
illumination that illumination is heavenly Illumination where I'll
begin to know simply by Allah Depositing they
know that knowledge into my mind and heart.
I do not acquire it But just like
if you are a mirror, right?
If that mirror is dirty it reflects nothing
if you clean it starts reflecting light That's
the idea that if they become really clean
they start reflecting divine illumination they start knowing
things I know this I know his name
what he does.
I know what's gonna happen tomorrow.
I know this I know this I know
that that Of course that is not a
legitimate goal You do not safeguard your heart.
You don't clean it to receive the type
of knowledge, right?
But how is this related to?
Meditation Especially when he is gonna say later
shortly That if the heart is simply and
only empty without nothing in it the Shaitaan
enters So what do people do when they
meditate?
today When they sit for meditation They try
to do that simply sit still and then
Pause your thoughts Control your thoughts try to
empty your head of anything dismiss all thought
or Others would say because there are different
schools other would say you allow the thought
to come in and go don't judge it
Don't stop it Or others even would say
just feel everything more immensely Be very mindful
that's mindfulness be very mindful of every small
thing that you feel without judgment He says
when you empty the mind and empty the
heart of everything of every thought Shaitaan comes
and finds it empty And then he deposits
something in it He says this is their
problem because he's gonna describe what the problem
with what they were doing He says the
mind can never be empty.
Can it?
The heart can never be empty Think of
your stomach.
Can it always be empty?
You have to eat something and there has
to be something in it says the mind
can never be empty So if you just
try to clean it empty of all thought
Shaitaan comes in and deposit whatever he wants
in it and you are defenseless Because you
did not protect yourself Islam does not ask
you to simply empty your mind but empty
and fill it with All right empty and
fill it with fill it with what fill
it with Allah's love Allah's fear fill it
with knowledge Replace the bad with the good
don't leave it empty All right So he
says and they will come to this how
how you like half of the half evil
Oh, yeah, and why but on whom Asia
it says those people who are trying to
do this meaning empty their hearts empty their
minds Completely strip it of all thought in
order for them to receive that divine gifts.
He says They know knew one thing but
ignored other things because if they empty the
heart From every thought and they became or
they remain empty with nothing in them the
Shaitaan will find it empty and will put
in it the seed of Falsehood in molds
that he will fake as the noblest of
things So he will put in them what
You are special You are a worthy of
Allah as surgeon because the mind is empty
and the heart is empty.
You're a worthy of Allah You are special.
You are incredible, you know things you could
see the future you could do this you
could do this Why would he do this?
he says because he could play and He
could try to plant any sort of thought
and he'll understand you and understand what attracts
you For better if he held bottle if
he could open a woman whom and now
I'll let a shy Well, she'll have a
while while the woman he had replaced the
thoughts that are Wisdom and guidance with this
that type of type of falsehood and he
says and if the heart is empty of
thought The Shaitaan comes and he finds it
empty and will occupy it with what agrees
with the person So he understands you and
he understands what will attract you.
So he will Put the bait and will
swallow the bait He didn't have the ability
to use the lower consciousness, so he used
the will of the will And the emptiness
of the will that is not beneficial for
the servant or the farmer Unless it is
the will of the person's heart.
He says because he could not Destroy him
preoccupy him with bad thoughts So I can't
make him think about women and drugs and
alcohol and money and things because this thing
if this man is spiritual if we want
something higher.
Here's a path that I will give him.
Try to follow this path.
What is the path?
Path of meditation.
Path of that type of spirituality.
Just sit and think and meditate.
Think about nothing.
And then he'll start to attract him into
ideas that will destroy him.
And he mentions here a particular one, which
is التجريد والفراغ من الإرادة What is تجريد?
And what is فراغ?
What is إرادة?
And how could they be good and how
could they be bad?
تجريد is what?
تجريد is basically for you to want Allah
and not the dunya.
For you to want the pleasure of Allah
not the pleasure of people.
When it goes to extreme, it becomes what?
I don't want any of the dunya.
Nothing of it.
Including marriage.
Including work.
Including any type of money.
Including seeking knowledge because it distracts him from
Allah.
Including seeking knowledge because it takes me away
from Allah.
I don't want to get my knowledge from
the books.
I want to get it directly from Allah.
That's genuine knowledge.
Experiential knowledge.
You guys who are studying, you're wasting your
time.
I want my knowledge to be pure coming
to me directly from Allah.
Look at the prophets and look at the
Awliya.
How they get it directly from Allah.
That is excessive تجريد.
What is إرادة?
إرادة is to basically إرادة is having a
will.
The good إرادة is for your will to
be the will of Allah.
Meaning if Allah says this is halal, you
want it.
This is haram, you don't want it.
That's the proper إرادة.
Where your إرادة coincides with the إرادة of
Allah.
What is the bad one?
The bad one is for you to think
that whatever happens on earth is Allah's will
so it must be my will as well.
Meaning someone is sinning, let it be.
That is Allah's will.
Haram is taking place, you can't object to
it.
That is Allah's will.
You cannot fight against this.
This is Allah's will.
You cannot command this.
This is Allah's will.
So they go with Allah's destiny even though
they could fight Allah's destiny with Allah's destiny.
You understand?
Like if someone is sick, do you seek
medication?
Is it haram?
No.
But then they will surrender to the fact
that this is Allah's will.
So you surrender to it.
So they go with Allah's decrees or Allah's
destiny even though they could change it.
He says that becomes their إرادة.
They surrender to whatever they see in front
of them.
He says to the extent that they have
no will of their own.
What do you want?
I want nothing.
Right?
Like what do you want?
I want nothing.
I only want what Allah wants.
So they have, I don't desire to get
married.
I don't desire to succeed in this.
I don't desire to have that.
I'm just going along with whatever Allah wants
of me.
Thinking that this is what?
This is purification of one's desire.
And that is a wrong understanding of desire.
The Prophet ﷺ, he said he loved women.
He loved certain types of food.
He loved perfume.
He had an إرادة.
He had a will.
He had an intent.
And that was distinct of him personally and
also distinct of him as a human being.
So he says he wants to convince them
that this is the type of تجريد and
this is the type of إرادة.
Meaning think of yourself as what?
Nothing but what Allah wants from you to
happen.
Just go with the flow.
He says, but the proper thing is that,
that Allah, that a person should have a
will.
And that will that should overtake his heart
is to want what Allah wants religiously.
And to love what Allah wants.
And be happy with what Allah is happy
with.
And to occupy the heart with it.
And to know that in detail.
And to try to execute this and implement
it.
And to try to invite people to it.
And to fight the Shaytan when he's trying
to misguide you and take you away from
it.
But if you consider that all of this
is part of the dunya and you should
look at it with disdain.
Like commanding good and forbidding people.
Or this is what?
Preoccupying yourself with people.
You shouldn't be looking at them.
You shouldn't be distracted by them.
Focus on yourself.
Focus on Allah.
You have a wrong idea of what Allah
loves and what Allah hates.
And a wrong idea about good thoughts and
bad thoughts.
He says, No.
Perfection is when your heart is full of
thoughts and ideas and intentions that please Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and the ways to
reach it.
He says, the best of people are the
ones who have the greatest thoughts and ideas
and wills to please Allah azza wa jal.
And the worst of people or the most
deficient of people are the ones who have
the least of that.
Or the thoughts that concentrate on their own
desires and what they want to do.
So, the issue here with meditation is what?
Going back to it.
Meditation is not, is value free.
What do we mean by that?
Value free.
Is meditation on its own moral?
Is there any morality in it?
No.
It's just a mechanism.
It's just a mechanism.
Just to calm your nerves, to calm you
down.
But it has no morality to it.
So when a person meditates, just simply meditates,
and they just empty themselves of thought, they
leave themselves defenseless against the attack of shaytan
who comes and finds someone who is weak,
without thought, without intent, without a moral direction.
And he says, let me play with them
and plant with them this type of thought
and that type of thought.
And if they accept it, because they are
receptive, I can lead them into the ruin.
That is the problem with this type of
meditation.
In addition to the fact that meditation is
extracted from a moral system.
And that moral system is what?
Where does it come from?
Where does meditation originally come from?
Buddhism.
Buddhism and Hinduism.
It is extracted from a moral system.
And it is there to serve a moral
purpose.
But when you extract it from that, it
becomes what?
A tool.
But without direction.
What do you want to do with it?
Almost nothing.
It's almost nothing.
So you can meditate to do good things
and you can meditate to do really bad
things.
Depending on music.
Just like music.
Just like music.
Is music moral?
No.
You could listen to music just for fun.
Kind of to combat stress.
Or you can listen to music in preparation
for killing people.
Right?
There is no morality to it.
You could use it for whatever reason you
want.
Meditation, you could use it for whatever reason
you want.
You can meditate in order to assassinate a
person.
Just to calm your nerves.
Deal with your fears.
There is no morality in it.
So if the shaitan invades your heart while
you are meditating, he takes hold.
So our answer to stress or anxiety is
not meditation.
So okay, I have bad thoughts, bad anxiety.
What do I do with it?
You replace it with good thoughts.
Just like he talked about the heart.
If you have bad writings on your heart,
what do you do?
You need good things in it.
So you slowly start to erase or remove
the bad thoughts and introduce good ones.
And you keep doing this.
Take the example let's say of moving from
a bad diet into a good diet.
So you are eating bad food.
That's affecting you.
So you want to start eating good food.
What do you do?
You start buying more good food.
But still it's really hard to get over
your addiction to bad food.
So sometimes you're gonna cheat a little bit
and eat some bad food.
But you'll come back and eat the good
food.
But the more good food you eat, the
less desire you will have for bad food.
Especially when you see the results.
And especially if you are patient and if
you have the will to do this, you'll
continue to do it.
And you increase the percentage of good food
against bad food.
Until eventually the bad is minimal and the
good is maximum.
And then eventually there's no bad food at
all.
And it's all good.
Thoughts are like that.
Bad actions are like that.
So you're doing something bad.
Or you're thinking about bad things.
What do I do to stop it?
Or it's not gonna go away on its
own.
So Ibn Qayyim told you, think about other
things.
Think about the Qur'an.
Read it.
Think about the hadith.
Read it.
Think about Allah's creation.
Just go outside and walk.
Drive around.
Think about Allah's creation.
Even watch programs about animals and the animal
kingdom.
And subhanAllah, magnificence in it.
The wisdom that is in it.
And then relate this to Allah azawajal.
Think about what is wrong with you.
What is wrong with the way that you
think.
Why you think about these things.
How you could stop yourself thinking about the
past, the present, the future in harmful ways.
How you could think better.
How you could stop yourself from thinking these
bad thoughts.
How not to be led by your thoughts.
But leading yourself into better thoughts.
And then eventually, as he said, and think
about what you have to do at this
moment.
What is my obligation at this moment?
And you do this.
What is most beneficial at this moment?
And you do this.
And if you do this, you replace the
bad in your mind, the bad in your
heart, the bad in your body with good.
And that's how you fight your mind.
To be able to think better.
And the last thing he mentioned, he says,
وَهَذَا عُمُرُ بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ كَانَتْ تَتَزَاحَمُ عَلَيْهِ الْخَوَاطِرُ
فِي مَرَاضِ الرَّبِّ تَعَالَى فَرُبَّمَا اَسْتَعْمَلَهَا فِي صَلَاتِهِ
He says, عُمُرُ بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ
His thoughts would be so congested.
And this needs to be understood.
His thoughts would be so congested.
So kind of he combined them in ways
that would please Allah.
So maybe perhaps he would use that in
his Salah.
He used to, at times, not all the
time, but at times, he would prepare an
army.
Or think about how he would divide an
army in the Salah.
While he's praying.
So Ibn Khayyam says, فَيَكُونُ قَدْ جَمَعَ بَيْنَ
الْجِهَادِ وَالصَّلَاةِ So he was combining between Jihad
and Salah.
قَالَ وَهَذَا بَابٌ مِّن تَدَخُلِ الْعِبَادَاتِ فِي الْعِبَادَةِ
الْوَاحِدَةِ And he says that is a section
or a way of combining multiple Ibadat in
one Ibadah.
So, this is Ibn Khayyam's opinion in what
عُمُرُ بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ would happen
or would do at times.
What would he do at times?
This would happen to him when he was
what?
A Khalifa.
So at times when he's a Khalifa, he
in the Salah, he'd be thinking about the
army, how to divide, organize the army, how
to distribute the Sadaqah, how to do this,
how to do that.
So, Ibn Khayyam's opinion, that is one way
to look at it, he's saying عُمُرُ بْنُ
الْخَطَّابِ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ was doing what?
He was in two Ibadahs at the same
time.
He was doing Jihad and Salah at the
same time.
Similar to what?
Similar to physical fighting.
Like if you're in the battlefield and it's
time for Salah and you cannot delay the
Salah.
You pray at that moment.
So while you are fighting, you're praying.
And while you are praying, you're fighting.
You're doing two things at the same time.
Because you cannot separate them.
So he's saying عُمُرُ بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ was so
overwhelmed with responsibility he couldn't separate the two.
So while he was praying, he was thinking
about Jihad.
So he's saying that this is تَدَخُلُ الْعِبَادَاتِ
Ibadah being combined at the same time.
You can think about it this way, or
you can simply think about it that عُمُرُ
بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ was simply overwhelmed.
He was a Khalifa and he was commander
-in-chief and he was the chief economist
and everything.
So he had little time to be able
to organize and think and direct the Ummah.
He was carrying all that burden almost on
his own.
He had advisors, but he was the Khalifa.
So it's natural for him like when he
goes into the Salah, there's not enough time
in the day for him to think about
all of these things.
So he would have to take some of
that time in the Salah to think about
these things.
Not that he would do this every Salah
and every day and every week, but when
needed, it happens.
So Ibn Al-Qayyim's opinion is what?
Combining two Ibadahs at the same time or
you can think about it in terms of
what?
Simply him being overwhelmed.
رضي الله عنه According to some of the
editor's narrations here, sometimes he would forget to
read aloud in Salatul Maghrib for instance or
something.
He just would forget.
And why is he forgetting?
Because he was so overwhelmed by it.
Now this is not an invitation for us
to think, we're at that level so in
my Salah, I'll be thinking about how to
divide my money and how to study and
how to travel.
That's dunya.
He was not thinking about dunya.
And you're not really, you and I are
not overwhelmed by the dunya so much that
we have to think about it in the
Salah.
Delay it till after.
Because if you think about other thing in
your Salah, you're not gonna get much from
it.
You're not gonna get what you need from
your Salah.
And if you just simply concentrate in your
Salah, it will give you the insight the
wisdom and the energy to deal with whatever
is troubling you once you're done.
So if you're worried about anything and you
think, let me think about it in the
Salah, he says no no, you know what?
The solution to it is not to think
about it in Salah.
Because when you ask Allah, Allah will give
you the wisdom after.
So don't ruin your Salah by thinking about
the dunya or anything that is troubling you.
If you want, ask Allah in your sujood.
If you want, bring it into your sujood
and ask Allah for a solution.
But don't deprive yourself of the benefit of
Salah by thinking about the dunya.
Allah will take care of the dunya if
you just simply concentrate on your Salah.
So we're not like Umar.
But the point of Al-Mulqayyim is what?
He says, the most fortunate are the ones
who are able to do multiple ibadahs at
the same time.
Two things.
Okay?
Two birds, one stone.
Okay?
Not to encourage you to throw stones at
birds.
But the expression is what?
To maximize the benefit.
How can I do more with less?
So for instance, you know, and if you
have examples, let me know.
Somebody needs help.
He's talking to you.
Can you help me?
Can you do this?
He says, you want to help him.
He says, meet me in the masjid.
After Isha, we'll talk.
What are you doing there?
You want to help him.
But you're bringing him to the masjid and
you're bringing him to Isha.
You do two things at the same time.
So you start thinking that way.
So you say, okay, I want to teach
my kids Islam.
Why stop there?
Why not build something that would teach your
kids and the neighborhood?
And other people's kids.
Come up with something bigger.
So do two things, three things, four things
at the same time.
So the more that you could do multiple
ibadahs at the same time, the better you
are.
So that's what he's saying.
When you start thinking like that.
How can I please Allah Azza wa Jal
more?
That is to dakhulul ibadati fil ibadah alwahida.
You're doing one ibadah, but in fact it's
multiple ibadah at the same time.
This is a noble, delicate type of effort.
The only people who could enter it are
those who are honest, and they are smart,
and they are knowledgeable, and they have high
aspirations.
He enters one ibadah, and he gets a
lot from it.
And that is definitely something that you want
to work to.
So your salah is not just simply salah,
it's salah but other things.
Your zakah is not just simply zakah, but
many other things.
How is this going to come by with
asking Allah Azza wa Jal and thinking about
it.
So that you could have the greatest from
the effort that you put in.
Khair inshallah.
So we'll stop here.
That's the end of this section.
The next one inshallah will be about words
and preservation of the tongue inshallah.
I mean in two weeks inshallah.
Now, let me know inshallah if you have
questions.
And I hope I was able inshallah to
kind of convey what I think was Ibn
al-Qayyim's really thoughtful insights here.
And I would recommend that you kind of
go back, and you read it, because as
you read it, you'll find how relevant it
is to what's going on right now.
Right?
And I was hoping to be able to
kind of make these connections.
I hope that was clear.
Inshallah.
Yeah.
Wa alaikum assalam Wa alaikum assalam Force me.
He said, can I ask Allah azza wa
jal to force me to the right path?
Yeah, say Allah guide me.
That's enough inshallah.
Right?
Because force sometimes indicate unwillingness to go, right?
And you may have noticed from yourself stubbornness,
right?
That you say, I'm a stubborn person.
Force me, right?
But being forced sometimes is unpleasant.
Right?
It's not a pleasant experience to be forced.
Although ultimately if that's what a person needs,
it's better to happen than not.
Right?
So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said
in a hadith, I marvel or I wonder
at people who are being taken to heaven
with chains.
Like they are dragged, right?
To heaven with chains.
They are forced to enter heaven.
So people are forcing them to pray, forcing
them, but it's beneficial.
But that's the lowest type of motivation and
the lowest type of effort and the lowest
type of station to be forced to do
good things.
And you don't want to do it, but
you have to.
Though it's eventually beneficial.
So ask Allah azza wa jal to simply
guide you.
And Allah azza wa jal will do what
is best for you.
Yeah, inshallah.
Back.
As-salamu alaykum.
So it says, think of a practical way
where one can repel and avoid those harmful
thoughts, right?
So see, the first thing is that it's
interesting that you don't have really in the
Qur'an and the Sunnah one model.
Right?
To tell you, Allah a'lam, that there
are multiple models or multiple ways or multiple
approaches towards repelling these thoughts depending on the
individual and the thoughts and the gravity and
the personality and all of this.
But let's think about it.
Think, let's say, of Salah as the anchor.
The daily anchor.
Where a person is able to protect pre
-Salah, Salah and post-Salah.
So if you can protect that part, so
you enter in your Salah and you concentrate
on what you're going to be facing and
what you want from it.
And if you're going to be thinking about
something, you're only going to be thinking about
something that is useful, nothing that is useless
or harmful or distracting.
And do the same in your Salah.
And do your same post-Salah with the
dhikr of Allah azza wa jal.
So if you consider these as stations and
you're able to establish these stations, then you
add to them any other station where you
remember Allah azza wa jal.
So between Asr and Maghrib with the adhkar,
after Fajr with the adhkar, the time that
you spend with the Qur'an.
If you, at initial, at an initial kind
of effort, you're able to establish those stations,
then they have a reference.
Something that you could build on.
If that is available, if that is yours,
then you'll have a better handle on your
thoughts.
If you catch yourself thinking about something wrong
or it's causing the type of reaction that
you don't want to have, then you say
to yourself, I'm going to stop thinking about
this thing.
We're going to stop thinking about it in
that way.
And to try to catch yourself every time
you're thinking about it.
And to retrain yourself not to think about
it or not to think about it that
way.
And to do that again, and to do
that again, and to do that again, and
to ask Allah again, until you are able
to master that thought and to dismiss it.
Or subjugate it, modify it.
So, if you're able to win against that
thought, you'll be able to win against other
types of thoughts.
And it's useful also to trace the instigator
of a thought as well.
Like if you find yourself, and if you
did not do that before, maybe it could
be helpful, maybe.
If you catch yourself thinking about something negative,
ask yourself, why am I thinking about it?
What brought it?
Trace the thing that brought it before, and
the thing that brought it before.
Until you reach the point, you'd say, that's
the thing that brought all of this.
If you can catch it at the beginning,
and then stop the beginning of that thought.
And say, I'm not going to think about
it this way.
So, whenever I see my neighbor, and my
neighbor has a beautiful car, better house, better
wife, better kids, better everything.
I'm always envious, and because of this, I'm
always resentful, I'm always angry.
And then, if you're always angry, and you
don't know why, if you could trace it
to the comparison that you have with your
neighbor, then you trace it to the fact
that maybe you feel that you have missed
out on certain things in life, and you
did not get them, and you did not
have this, and you did not have that,
and you are resentful because somebody did you
wrong, and somebody took this from you.
If you could trace it back to this,
this, this, and you could learn it, I
mean, notice it.
You can relearn not to think this way,
not to be resentful, not to be sorrowful,
not to be angry with yourself, or angry
with Allah, or think that you got what
you do not deserve, or there are no
chances anymore for, etc, etc, etc, etc.
If you're able just to detect that, you
could correct it.
And if you can correct it, you can
stop yourself from progression into the type of
thought that you hate.
So, these things, inshallah, with the salah, and
then catching that thought, and then trying to
redirect it, you could try.
And there's always, always, always, which works better
than what we think du'a.
Allah, I'm thinking this way, help me not
to.
And I'm thinking bad thoughts, help me kind
of triumph against them, or understand them, or
understand why I'm thinking this way, and kind
of to trace it to its inception, and
to treat it from its roots.
In a sense, I mean, think about, without
even giving it labels, cognitive behavioral therapy, without
even giving it labels, look at what the
Qur'an asks you to do, like deeply,
and look at what the Sunnah asks you
to do, and it's actually treating you mentally,
right?
Like how you're looking at the dunya is
wrong, it tells you, right?
In the Qur'an, repeatedly, how you're looking
at the dunya is wrong.
Believing the promises of the shaitan is wrong.
Even believing your eyes at times is wrong.
You should believe in the promise of Allah
azza wa jal.
So it's always adjusting how you think.
Yeah?
Yeah.
That's what you're doing.
Can you push away the bad thoughts, the
space that you have reserved for the bad
thoughts, by instilling good thoughts and putting them,
instilling them into your day, five times a
day, or more.
Now, so the difference is, it says, I
mean, when do we go back tracing the
thoughts versus the passing thought?
The passing thought is simply a passing thought.
It comes and it goes.
It's not the one that is causing you
agony and distress.
The one that is causing you agony and
distress is one that already had settled into
your heart, you already interacted with it, it
already had caused you harm.
How do you, the passing thought?
How do you ignore the passing thought?
So, a passing thought gets ignored by simply
saying, Audhu Billah, go away, I'm not going
to be thinking about this.
And to think about something else, to concentrate
on something else, to move from your spot,
from your space, from whatever you're thinking about,
from your context, from simply just a shift.
You need a shift, to snap out of
it.
So when you do this, and do whatever
it takes, sometimes it's just to leave your
space.
Just leave your context, leave the people that
you're around.
Go and do something else.
But it's simply a transition.
And if you can transition out of it,
then you'll be able to overcome it, bismillah.
As long as it's just simply passing.
If it's not a simple passing thought, not
something that keeps coming and coming and coming,
that's not a passing thought.
This is something that already had settled.
And if it already had settled because it
already had spent time with you, it needs
more effort.
And the effort that it needs is that
salah.
Right?
So the more Qur'an that you have,
the less time that you have to think
about opposite of the Qur'an.
Because it's just going to consume you.
And it will find anything opposite to the
Qur'an to be distasteful.
So, fill it with good, and the good
will crowd out, inshallah, the bad.
Waswasa.
Probably waswasa.
Probably waswasa.
So, the fact that a person once found
out that he did not clean himself properly
once, definitely does not turn into a habit
where he always fails to clean himself properly
after going to the bathroom.
So that is slipping from one incident into
waswasa that this incident is the common.
Is the default.
And that's a mistake.
Because we always assume that if a person
does a job, they do it well.
At least at a minimal you know, efficiency,
that it is sufficient for the salah.
So, anything more than that, is the shaytan
putting extra demands on tahara that he knows
eventually will lead a person to give up
on salah.
So, he makes the tahara so difficult.
Like, what is the problem with you know,
OCD or with this waswasa?
Waswasa, by the way, doesn't need necessarily to
come from the shaytan.
Because the person can initially have an inclination.
They're just extra clean.
A perfectionist.
Or, it could be because of stress.
So, it kind of devolves into like this
focus on these minute things that always have
to be perfect.
So, I have to be completely in control
of this.
Because everything else is out of control.
Shaytan sees that he's very vulnerable.
So, he pushes.
He knows how to push and where to
push.
So, he pushes.
So, he makes tahara so difficult and salah
so difficult that the person spends hours in
the washroom, right?
Literally.
And hours in salah.
Eventually, they can't pray anymore.
It's just easier to stop praying.
So, we have to kind of introduce ease
into their life and say that's now how
the Prophet ﷺ purified himself.
And that's not how the sahaba did it.
And that's not how they performed wudu.
Why are you putting such a burden on
yourself?
So, no.
Introduce ease, right?
So, we tell them, like as I said,
something less than 500 ml is enough for
wudu.
Why are you spending so much water just
to make wudu?
And the sahaba, r.a, could you imagine
that when they were traveling, they had water
with them for purification?
And after they defecate?
Obviously not.
It's just stones, right?
That's what you have.
So, if you clean yourself with a stone
and the minimum is what?
Requirement is what?
Three wipes.
That's it.
So, do you imagine that you have cleaned
everything?
You can't, right?
With three wipes?
There will always be something, traces, right?
But still, that is what?
Permissible.
You've cleaned yourself.
This is tahir.
So, we shouldn't put extra burden on ourselves,
especially when you're experiencing that type of waswasa.
So, we don't assume that that person's default
or common practice is that he fails every
time at purifying himself.
Okay.
Let me just answer what we have online.
How does one remove the corrupted writings that
the person already had written to self and
to make it clean?
Is it difficult as we are used to
it?
We've explained how to do so.
And yes, I mean, there is some degree
of difficulty because you're going against habit, going
against custom, what you are used to, going
against society.
But you slowly replace the bad with the
good.
You add more good and you continue to
do this, inshallah.
More good writings until the bad writings disappear.
What is the simplest way to fill our
heart with Allah when the dunya attracts us
more?
The simplest way is to focus on the
obligations.
Start with an intent.
So, pray with intent.
Pray with khushu, pray with concentration.
If that's difficult, ask Allah for it.
Just that.
Just ask Allah for it.
Read the Quran.
If that's difficult, ask Allah for it.
And read the Quran with intention and with
understanding.
Difficult?
Ask Allah for it.
Like, eventually, just keep asking Allah for whatever
you think is hard or what is missing.
Ya Allah, let me read the Quran.
And maybe you need to ask Allah for
a month or two or six months until
He gives you that.
But keep asking Allah for it.
Eventually, He gives you the Quran.
When you get the Quran, you find out
that, I'm not feeling it.
You say, Allah, let me feel the Quran.
And keep asking Allah for it.
You say, Allah, I'm being tempted by the
dunya.
It is too overwhelming.
Too big for me to fight.
Ask Allah for power against it.
And keep asking Allah for it.
Ya Allah, don't let me love the dunya
more than the akhira.
Keep asking Allah for it.
Don't let that tempt me for the dunya.
Keep asking Allah for it.
The simplest way is to push yourself and
when you can, or even when you can,
ask Allah for assistance.
And that's the simplest way.
That's the simplest way, inshallah.
And knowledge.
And keep learning.
Right?
Keep learning, inshallah.
Because that's the thing that's gonna keep motivating
you.
And giving you directions.
And spelling out the way of how to
do what you need to do.
But for meditation, if you modify it to
go into the park and listening to nature,
for example.
The region's roots of it, region's roots of
it, are not present, so that would be
acceptable.
Right?
That wouldn't be meditation.
Like, I mean, whatever you wanna call it
then.
I mean, if you're simply going to the
park and observing Allah's creation, I wouldn't call
that meditation.
That's what Ibn al-Qayyim is talking about
in terms of tafakkur.
Contemplation.
Pondering Allah's creation.
So we wouldn't call that meditation.
And there would be nothing wrong with it,
inshallah.
Do you suggest a middle ground for people
when it comes to some only being interested
in dunya affairs and other people only being
interested in the hereafter?
Are both of those sides too extreme?
It depends on what we mean by it,
right?
So, if a person is only interested in
the hereafter, in the next life, and neglects
this dunya, then that's an extreme.
And we have examples of those extremes, right?
Past, present.
And if a person is only interested in
the dunya and nothing in the hereafter, that's
an extreme.
Now, where is the middle?
The middle varies.
The middle is wide.
But the middle varies.
And Allah has reserved a space for you
to occupy in that middle based on your
personality.
Some people's middle is closer to this side,
and some people's middle are closer to that
side, as long as what?
You're preserving both.
So, a middle that is closer to the
dunya, a person who tells you, I'll fast,
and I'll pray, and I'll give zakah, and
I'll go to hajj, I'll do the obligations,
and I'll avoid all the haram, nothing else.
Is that that middle?
That's middle, right?
That's middle.
Is it acceptable?
Acceptable.
But it's closer to that side.
But it's sufficient.
Another person who does what?
He says, I'll work for the dunya, but
only what is sufficient.
Kafaf.
As the Prophet ﷺ asked for.
Kafaf.
Only the sufficient.
I would not even keep anything for tomorrow.
I'm fine with this.
My wife is fine with that.
My kids are fine with that.
We're fine.
We're patient with this.
And I'll spend the rest of time in
da'wah, the rest of time in the
masjid, the rest of time of this doing
what pleases Allah عز و جل.
I'm not gonna neglect anything in terms of
the dunya and the necessities, but whatever extra
I have is for Allah عز و جل.
That's middle or not?
That's middle.
That's closer to the akhir.
So this is your middle, and that is
their middle.
And as long as you're within the boundaries
of what pleases Allah عز و جل, you're
fine.
So that middle, alhamdulillah, is wide.
And it fits various personalities.
You had the sahaba, those who hated money.
Didn't want money.
Right?
Abu Dharr.
And you had among the sahaba, those who
traded and were wealthy.
Uthman and Abdurrahman Ibn U'uf.
And both of them were among the sahaba.
And they didn't criticize each other.
But this person had that personality, and that
person had that personality.
And both of them were acceptable.
And the Prophet ﷺ did not condemn either.
Because he knew that society needs both.
So that's the middle, inshallah.
Okay, guys.
Any other questions you want to ask?
No?
Okay.
Khair, inshallah.
So we're done.
We'll see you, inshallah, in about two weeks.
January 10th.
سبحانك اللهم وبحمدك أشهد أن لا إله إلا
أنت أستغفرك وأتوب إليك والحمد لله رب العالمين
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته