Ali Hammuda – Change of Heart #02 – An introduction
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From the labor market,
the Smilla Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah. He, early he also have a human who either
welcomed your brothers and sisters Wonderful to see you again in week two of our series titled change of heart.
If you remember last week, we covered several headings. We started off by looking at why we've chosen this particular topic.
I introduced it by saying that post lockdown conversations with certain brothers of ours and neighbors and friends made it clear that there was a lot of grime that had accumulated on our hearts collectively due to lockdown,
and that the real struggle was not so much the physical one, but the internal one.
And then if you remember, we went on to cover seven headings as per why this topic is of utmost importance.
And then we concluded that section by saying that this study of the hearts is therefore not our sealer means it is an end. It is something that you study in of itself not to get you to another science, the value is intrinsic.
Then we opened up the topic to speak about the different Arabic terminologies for the human heart, and we spoke about which words
and then we spoke about the second one which was
for and then the third one, which was
which was it darker, the center of reasoning.
Now we start a new session for me to be comfortable in order to really begin this study, which will be next week. I really think that at least two sessions in terms of an introduction to this topic was key. So this is the second introductory topic.
Our predecessors lived their lives almost literally, with one eye on the world and the other eye looking inwardly focusing on the heart,
not allowing their internal state to play tricks on them.
For them, the condition of the heart was an existential priority.
Much more than our efforts are focused on searching for a physical doctor, a physiological doctor, a financial expert,
a career advisor.
They placed however, a huge level of importance of tracking down a spiritual heart doctor that can help them clear away the grime that accumulates from the heart, and they wouldn't have it any other way. And I want to share with you a few examples, starting from the greatest of them all our Nebby Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and how conscious he was towards his heart and then we move our way down chronologically.
Imam Muslim the rates on the authority of 100 No. Olga REBNY, Assad Museveni that our beloved Salah Allah Allah who has sent him said in the hula, Johanna Allah can be
I sometimes feel that my heart is covered with veils. We're in Neela stockfeed Allah Hi, Phil Yomi me at Amara and I asked Allah to forgive me 100 times a day.
Focus on his consciousness of his heart and he said, even me who is connected to the heavens with respect to Revelation, I communicate with angels. Allah has chosen me I feel sometimes clouds are obscuring my heart, and I ask Allah to pardon me 100 times a day.
As for the companions of the beloved sallallahu alayhi wasallam, they display the same level of keenness to ensure that their hearts remain pure.
Look at for example,
how the Companions would ask the prophets Allah, Allah, Allah who was sent to various questions taking the initiative. They wouldn't wait for an advice to be given to them. They would say to him, I'll Sunni please give me advice.
How can we improve our internal state of affairs? What can we do? Give us advice? One of them. He said to the Prophet alayhi salatu salam.
I asked me what is
your messenger of Allah gives me advice, but please keep it concise.
He gave him a three part bit of advice. If you adhere to it, watch how success will come into our lives.
He said to him either come to in solidarity for Saudi Salah tell me
when you get up to pray, treat it as if it's your farewell prayer.
Number two, let the column B column into the Roman haggadah beware of seeing something
that will necessitate an apology tomorrow.
Why Jimmy Elliot semi fee at Mass and never look at what the hands of people possess.
Be callous towards it. So look at how the Sahaba they came to him. advise me on Messenger of Allah. Let me know either no Ella goes to the heart Wakulla comfy and footsy him Conan Bella
another Sahabi said Aw, z the last day
he comes to the Prophet alayhi salatu salam he said Oh see me advise me on Messenger of Allah look at the keenness.
He said to him, also you can understand him in Allah He can notice the Haiming originally sorry.
He said My advice to you is that you are shy of Allah, Be shy of Allah. The same way that you are shy from the righteous man in your community.
Do you see dear brothers and sisters
and Abu darda the companion he said that Abdullah have not Allah has a companion, by the way, footnote who is Abdullah him not our her. The Sahaba who died in which battle? The battle of Moto so here you have a Shahida Mata who's talking. You want to know how he ascended those heights. Listen to what his day to day look like.
Abdullah he ignored Allah who would take the hand of Abu Dhabi
and he would say to him to Allah. Nope means
come with me. There is increase our email together for a moment. Maha Akbar many Companions would say this to one another. Come with me for a moment. Let's just interrupt the business for just a second.
Let us increase our Eman for a moment.
Sheikh who does not even know Tamia, he said the Companions would sometimes gather in a halacha
and Ameerul Momineen Omar he would say to Abu Musa mashallah you know Abu Musa who would recite Quran and angels would make themselves present.
And he would say Abu Musa recite to us for some Quran. Help us soften our hearts
and our will the been there he means shaytani R rajim Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim he begins his resuscitation and the Sahaba are just they're absorbing the kalam the speech of Allah subhanho wa Taala Did you see their keenness brothers and sisters to never allow that internal compass to go south.
In fact, even though it'd be more like a TVI, he said about the Companions directly to Salah see, and I mean as Harvey Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Kulu, whom yah hoo Neva Allah and FC
I met 30 companions of the Prophet Alayhi Salatu was Salam, every one of them feared hypocrisy for his heart.
Every one of them feared hypocrisy, the prospect of being a monastic.
These are human higher, lively hearts, that are brimming with life and light.
When you move down to the dead behind the second generation, those who came after the Companions, you see the same level of attention to the hearts.
You have Arabia Agudo Hoceima tarbiyah, your second generation Muslim
who actually dug for himself a grave in his living room. Imagine that. He dug for himself a pit a grave in his living room that he would use to soften his heart when that wherever he felt that he was going course.
When he felt a hardness in his heart, he would go to the living room, he'd removed the plank and he'd sit inside and close it.
And he stays there.
imagining what the grave is going to be like.
And then he says,
are big on rugby or Jianghu? The Ali Amma Lusardi hand female direct my Lord returned me. My Lord returned me What is he doing? He's reciting from Surah to be known that Allah tells us that when they go into their grave, this is what they will say, My Lord, allow us to go back to the dunya he would say, My Lord returned me, my lord return me Lolly Amma no Solihull female direct so that I may do good deeds in the life I've left behind. And then when he begins to sweat and he's suffocated, he can't take it no more. He kicks out the plank and he leaves. And then he says to himself, and dakoda Rajat Robbie, you've come back Obeah
you said, My Lord returned me. You've been returned, family, learn a copula and nurture. So do good deeds right now. Change your ways before a day comes you will call and you will not be returned.
Lower.
And then you have Al Hasan Basri
Al Hasan Basri tour guide. Despite being a scholar, and Professor next CGT
scholar of fic, a judge, a counselor, an Imam, he decided to dedicate a Halaqaat a private halacha in his home for the likes of these topics that we are discussing this evening. Purely to speak about the Imani yet the internal spiritual dimensions of worship hearts, how to rectify them how to draw near to Allah subhanho wa taala.
And whenever somebody would ask a question in that halacha in that circle that was not related to that topic, he wouldn't like it.
He'd get flustered
and he would say to his friends in the mouth, hello, Nana is Latina and DACA. We are here to remember the actions of the heart. We're here to allow our email to grow. Please leave that question for a different gathering.
And once a man called my modibbo Mahan said to his son hammer
take me to the house of Al Hassan bursary.
So they made their way to Al Hasan Basri they knocked on the door they open the door they're greeting each other.
And then Allison says to him What brings you here my mon he says yeah, but Shaheed father offside.
Called unassuming. I'll be real verten For Sterling Lee Minho. Oh, Imam Hassan II feel that my heart has become a little bit harder than usual. I'm not the person I used to be from an Islamic perspective.
So can you help me soften it please?
What did that person do? You said to him Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Quran straightaway. This is going to feature a lot in our discussion this evening. He said to him Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim
Allah ADA in Medina home seen in
some Naja whom can who I don't know.
Home caribou humid their own three vs. modibbo Mahan passes out.
And he's on the ground. His son, his son, Ahmed, he said my father was behaving and moving his feet like a sheep that had just been slaughtered.
Lost his consciousness. What did you recite? He recited three verses from the chapter of the poets where Allah subhanaw taala said,
tell me
if we were to give them enjoyment for many years,
then
the punishment that awaited them finally arrives.
Will they be benefited by all what they enjoy?
These were the verses he had and he passed out.
Anyway, he regained consciousness and they made their way out.
And his son said to his father on the way home, was that I'll hazard almost read the great email we hear about he said, Yeah, that was that was a hazard I will say. He said one and two are covered. I mean, VALIC said, you know, I always had like a bigger picture of the imam in my mind, I thought he'd be something bigger than that.
So his father stopped, and he prodded his son in his chest, he said to him, you know, your son
Nakara Alena is then loaded about the hub, you can pick up a car like if he had Kulu. He said, My son he had just recited from the Quran, which if you properly understood them, they would have left so many wounds in your heart knows the power of the Quran.
So this Dear Brothers and Sisters is a quick snapshot of how our predecessors approached this topic, and gave it an utmost attention. When was the last time you visited a heart doctor? When was the last time you went to a brother, a person, an individual who you feel is a specialist in the field or even half a specialist who can give you advice about your state of affairs and your Imani at your spirituality? When was the last time you felt the need to do that?
They did that and that is why they were ahead of the game.
The second question we'd like to ask now let's keep this as logically progressive as possible. The second question is,
what are the signs
of an ill heart?
What are the signs that hardness Casa remover has slowly started to creep into your heart? And we said success on the Day of Judgment is coming to Allah with a sound out what are the signs? See before I answer this question, brothers and sisters allow me to take as to say this
the greatest punishment for a crime
What is the crime itself?
Why because the person who does that sin
now needs to live with the consequences of that crime for the rest of his life.
You have committed a crime. And now there is a guilt that lives inside of your heart.
And it brings about the worst type of pain that is spiritual agitation. So people they do all sorts to mask that pain to cover it up, don't they? They try all sorts of they try. They try alcohol, they try drugs, they try fame. They try music. They try to socialize.
They try perversity they try sexual experiment, all in in an attempt to do want to cover the pain that they feel
and some people turn to cover to mask the pain because after all, what is cool for rejection of Allah or disbelief? What is cool for from a linguistic perspective it is to cover and that's where the Arabic word of cover comes from. It comes from the Arabic of cover the English cover comes from the Arabic of cover.
So the greatest crime
or the greatest consequence or punishment for a crime is the crime itself.
And that is why he called a snap am He says ma glory bear I've done all that in oven mean casa, what can be one body hernia? One A hula cutting now to elderly either, but you know, because here.
He said there is no punishment in existence that is more severe
than being given
a hard heart and feeling alienated from Allah.
And then he said the Hellfire was only created to melt those hard hearts.
A rabbi from Benissa eel.
He once said, The FBI can seek ALLAH to hack the body. He said, Lord, I disobey you so much, yet you don't punish me.
So Allah subhanho wa taala.
Sent revelation to a local prophet of that era, to go to that Rabbi and say to him, that Allah Almighty says to you
can or have people? What antibiotic free?
I have been punishing you for so long that you just don't realize it. Lm as Luca Halawa Mona Jannetty. Have I not taken away from you? The sweetness of being close to me?
That is a punishment. Some people don't realize it to have that hard heart.
Think about it. Remember those days when maybe some of you
used to pray at night.
And it was a night in night out type of thing and nothing could stop you and you enjoyed it. You love it. Where has that gone? Now?
How come some of us can't do that anymore? Is that not enough of a punishment?
Or do you think that a punishment always has to take the form of a thunderbolt? Or an earthquake or sudden death
alarm as Luca Halawa Mona Jetty Have I not taken away from you? The sweetness of being near to me of calling upon me. Remember those days when you used to call upon Allah make dua and we you enjoyed it so much. You can do it for an hour maybe to
where is it now?
You can't wait some of us for the Imam to finish his Salah quick enough. As if we've broken free from chains. What happened? Is that not enough of a punishment in of itself?
When was the last time you had a hadith or an IRA and your eyes spilled with tears? When was the last time you said that for the sake of Allah if you can't feel it realize
that's enough of a punishment in of itself.
So we are talking now what are the signs? What are the signs of a heart that has become hot? I'm going to give you a self diagnosis kit that has maybe four or five components presented against yourself and measure whether this fits you or not as a description. Where is your heart?
Sign number one to look out for?
How does your heart react when the Quran is recited upon a life of our Eman? May Allah preserve him who recited heart trembling ayat from Surah Baqarah and the story of Duluth Angelou is allowed to question how do you react when you hear the Quran recited upon you
in me know in a Latina either do Kira Hola Hola, Gina todo.
The believers are those Allah says whom when Allah's name is remembered their hearts tremble.
Why they are totally, utterly
him as to who's added tominaga and when the verses of Allah are recited upon them, it increases them in Eman. We're allowed to view him yet our Cameroon and they rely upon Allah. Where is your heart facing when you hear the Quran?
Think about a mural Amin Omar. He is walking in the middle of the night in Medina checking upon his flock. And he hears a man standing up in prayer and pm
and he is reciting the verse
in the Barbican, Lavaca the punishment of your load must happen.
Marla who means the affair, no one can repel it. Speaking about the punishment that has to be folded too far on the Day of Judgment, Omar, he said, a sermon what a bill cavity. I swear this is the truth from Allah.
And he rushed to his home and he felt ill.
And people spent a whole month visiting him. He couldn't leave his house he was bed bound or Johann Raj, visiting him as a sick person not knowing that he wasn't sick. It was just the majesty of the Quran. So this is number one from your self diagnosis kit.
Where is your heart when Quran is being recited? Number two, when was the last time you shed a tear in the Cause of Allah Mallesh I'm not here to entertain you my dear brothers, my dear sisters, we want to find answers from the house of Elijah and let you know
when was the last time you recited the Quran you heard the Hadith you were in a lecture you saw something in the streets. And you said that you're in remembrance of your Lord, dear brother contact me not too long ago. He said to me people are saying that maybe my repentance will not be accepted because I haven't cried about it
is crying a condition of repentance is made it clear to him that weeping is not a condition of repentance. The scholars have made it clear how Toba is done and what the conditions are. Regret is the most important thing. You don't necessarily need to cry but at the same token weeping in the Cause of Allah has its place in Islam. They didn't Allah say in Surah to an era when they hear the Quran where your Karuna will fit your boo and they fall to their faces crying Allah said Boise to home haha and they increase in submission
and in an Allah Almighty say about some Christians who heard the Quran
will either send me Alma on Xena EULA Rasul, Lita, are you in a home TV You don't mean that then I mean are awful Miniloc
and when they hear the Quran being recited, that which was revealed upon their eyes overflow with tears, because they have just recognized the truth.
So it has its place. And that young man who remembers Allah privately, and so he Christ, Allah promises to him a place under his shade on the Day of Judgment when there is no shade but his so it has its place in November, he said, For me to shed a tear for Allah is more beloved to me than to give 1000 dinar of golden charity.
Because it means something. So we said, Sign number one. How do you behave on Quran is recited. Number two,
when was the last time you shed a tear in the Cause of Allah Allah, Allah Jalla Lu, from his love, from your set sense of indebtedness to him, your gratitude for him, your desire to be near him, you're yearning for him, your sense of warmth and being close to him. As one brother told us recently in a aamra trip, he said he I thought it was so strange. He's a river brother. He said I was making dua, when I was doing the life you remember he said I was making dua and he I felt as if God was saying to me, okay, okay. He said, it's like, I could hear it. Everything I was asking for. It's like I could hear Allah saying to me, Sure, no problem. You've got it. It's all yours.
When was the last time your eyes shed a tear in the Cause of Allah number two, number three.
Test your heart with this.
How do you behave when advice is given to you I can carry
How do you behave on someone calls out a mistake in your dress,
in your tone of voice
in your salah, in your hijab. In the way you talk to Mom and Dad, how do you behave when truth is presented to you test the softness of your heart on that basis? Alone Yahweh the imam who says
Whirlpool Cassie Leia Kabbalah will help cover in Cateura direct you do? The hard heart will reject truth, even if the evidence is are many. It's not about evidences. The heart can't receive it. There is a veil
You say to him, My dear brother, may Allah preserve you, Allah subhana wa danas said, ABC, this is not correct, bro. This is why you Why are you even talking to me?
Why are you calling out my faults when you look in the mirror and do deal with your own faults? What about your brother? What about your wife? What about your family? He can't hack it. Or you say to our sister, my dear sister, the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, ABC, she said, Why are you judging me? Don't judge me. You take your male patriarchy out of here, you speak to somebody else. Right?
That is a sign of a hard heart.
That you're unable to accept the truth or advice and you resist it.
Number four, test your heart with this.
How do you feel when it comes to the topic of death?
In Amazon, he complained that people during his time were seen laughing and joking in the graveyard that's as early as email because Ali's time, he says people are laughing during the funeral procession. They're talking and we really mean you and I have seen people smoking on the graveyard. And the man is being buried right in front of them transferred to the hereafter.
He said people instead of discussing death, they're discussing the inheritance of the man who's just dying. Yeah, Allah.
Whereas Barack Obama was if he said that I remember seeing the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam sat on the edge of a grave, looking inside of an empty grave, and crying, his eyes out tilled, the soil beneath him was wet.
And then he raised his head to us, and he said, It Kalani brothers, maybe it's really hard for I do this is what needs preparation.
This is what I want you to prepare for.
How do you behave on Quran is recited? How do you behave? When
advice is given to you?
How do you behave? When you see the sight of death?
These are some of the questions that a person can ask himself or herself to test where your heart is. Is it hard? Is it soft? Does it need work? Now, if you're like me,
you come out of an exercise like that thinking in that in that, Roger?
Right, I've got some work to do.
My heart is somewhat hot.
What's the next step? Let's go to the next step. Now. The next step, dear brothers, their sisters
is to
test and trace.
Have to use terminology that's in at the moment, right? It's all about testing, trace test and trace, trace the cause of that hardness. Where is it?
Because if you do it, you will find it. If you ask Allah to help you, he'll show you. Allah gave you a healthy set of lungs, healthy set of kidneys, healthy set of limbs. He gave you ever healthy Islamic heart, I and you we have corrupted it somewhere down the line. So if you feel that it's not the heart, you want it to be you and I need to go home and check in with ourselves and think right where am I going wrong?
Don't blame Allah, God rather
blame yourself.
Because what does Allah say? Allah told us you started it.
You started it. Bell Kleiber Allahu Allah because Rahim Allah said their hearts were sealed because of their disbelief.
So what came first?
What came first, disbelief and as a result, what happened?
How to see it.
We started it. Allah gender Juliana who said Fela Mirza Zog Allahu Luba, when they first deviated we then deviated the heart. So who deviated first? We did. So what happened then?
The heart deviated and Allah subhanaw taala said Febi ma Nickleby him Meetha hula and home Madonna perubahan Cassia because they kept breaking their covenants. We curse them, and we made their hearts hard. So what happened first, they broke the covenants so their hearts became hard. What I'm trying to show you, dear brothers, their sisters is that we started this war.
If you think honestly, sincerely, deeply, honestly, unapologetically,
you will discover the cause of that heart that had become hard. You or I have introduced a sin between us and Allah or between us and the people somewhere along the lines. So tracking down test and trace you'll find it. This is the first step. Think about it. Could it be
my salah
that I'm praying half heartedly three a day two a day max
or my
Salah that is not being done on time that has an effect on the heart.
Could it be my finances
my Commerce haram business be honest with yourself Habibi, don't go back to our shopping because you will find whatever you want. It will not save you from Allah
haram money you put into your system. It affects the heart.
Could it be
a fallout that you've had with a relative? You're not speaking to Auntie to uncle to cousin,
a sibling of yours. You guys are not on talking terms that affects the heart.
Could it be because you're spending too much time in town?
Could it be Could it be because
you raised your voice at your mother, instinct blackening of the heart careful. Where is it? Where did it start? If you are honest, Eola Mila who ficolo become Kira, Allah sees good in your heart, you'll give you good search for it. You will find it one brother he told me
recently
I have been doing everything under the sun to soften up my heart I am not seeing really the result that I want.
So on one day Subhan Allah He said here in this Masjid in the front row,
I am making dua.
I think I found the problem. There is a person who used to work for me and I think I didn't do him justice.
Please place mercy in his heart allow me to allow me to ask him for forgiveness just for the sake of my heart. He said Allah brought him to the very first role. As we were praying, we put our hands together, we had an I forgave him and he forgave me. And I am beginning to see Hi, I am beginning to see goodness, see, test and trace. Be honest with yourself. Don't be selective, flush it all out. When you have found it, you've isolated it, you've made a plan to get rid of those sins, or to act upon the obligations you haven't been acting upon. Now we're ready to speak about the last section from this talk, which is what are the rectifiers of the heart?
What are the things that allow the heart to flourish?
If that's the type of heart you want, then pay attention to your brothers, your sisters, you've taken out the illness you've identified it you've removed the obstacle. Now the heart is ready to receive the why the revelation of Allah subhanaw taala the vessel is clean. What are the rectifiers where do you find them? I will give you I will give you seven inshallah.
The first of them, and I told you it's going to feature a lot in this lecture, Al Quran, Al Quran, Al Quran, my dear brothers, my dear sisters and the remembrance of Allah agenda gelada
nothing in existence will have a greater impact on your heart if you give it attention, and you recite it attentively with some understanding. Nothing will reform that heart more than the book of Allah Digilab
why is that? Because Allah Hoonah Zilla is another Hadith, Allah has brought down the best of all speech. Detailed motor shall be him a tiny book of perfect consistency with repeated lessons that the shadow Minho julu Lady in Iraq shall not have the home that causes the skin of the people who fear Allah to tremble. Some Adelino Juno Doohan home Mako NAWBO home Eliza Kirinda, then their skins and their heart both soften at the remembrance of Allah. This is the effect of the Quran.
And I remember the amazing words of Abdul Hamid dipinto, baddies the contemporary reform of Algeria.
He said
Wallah he never you know,
I swear by the one who no one is to be worshipped but to him.
Mer are you to wanna do nafcillin Mel Arby's done Obi Wan? Oh, Alana Ilan. Ilana. Tenille can be wasted on Linden, London hacia T. What it told the team in Tila watching Quran walk there it was America. He said I swear by the one besides whom None None should be worshipped in my life. I have never seen anything despite my sins he said and deficiencies. I have never seen anything that is better at softening the heart and bringing down the tear and producing fear of Allah and encouraging repentance. Then there is citation of the Quran and hearing the book of Allah Subhana Allah.
This is number one, the bulk of Allah general general rule number two.
Be wary
of becoming obsessively attached with dunya.
Easier said than done right?
Careful here, your brothers and sisters, because you are the Muslims of the 21st century. And you're living in a very strange era.
The offerings of dunya have not just increased in terms of quantity and availability because of what you see on social media and exposure. No, there is another problem that makes it a little bit more complicated.
The offerings of life today more than ever before are personalized to fit your nest, your soul
dunya
is tailored.
It's ergonomically designed.
It's bespoke to what your desire craves.
There's nothing standard anymore about the offerings of life.
And you're telling me with all of that, your heart My heart is going to be unaffected.
Impossible Murgia Allah Allah Julio Rajamouli mu, Kobe UniFi JioFi Allah said, I have not placed two hearts in the chest of any one man.
It's the one heart that you and I are the most keen repossessed if there is filled with dunya Holosun there's no space for ALLAH SubhanA Medina.
Dunya has opened itself up for us, especially here in the West, we by the way, in the West, the average person is living a higher standard lifestyle than kings not too long ago.
So not only is dunya available, it is tailored to your taste tailored to your desire. What do you want? Because it's about you.
Think about it.
Take coffee, for example, back in the days, maybe our fathers know this better than us and our grandparents. You just go into any old shop and you say, Can I have a cup of coffee, please? That's it. There wasn't there wasn't anything about that discussion. That was complicated. Because there was maybe two or three dominant brands of coffee at the time. They all tasted the same. No real competition in the market. What is it? Maxwell coffee house. Good to the last drop right? That's it. Can I have a coffee done? Bob's your uncle? Nowadays God help you. You want a coffee? What type of coffee? You're there waiting for a long time just to get to the end of the queue? Because everyone
has a particular way of customizing his coffee. What type of coffee do you want? Well, I mean, what do you want? You want your Arabic coffee when you're Americano?
You want your your espresso you're single shot your double shot you want your cappuccino you want your Frappuccino you want your latte you want your mug? What do you want? And then do you want it with milk without milk have it filtered milk unfiltered milk semi skim full fat or just skimmed 2% Milk What do you want? You want throw them on the top you want chocolate sprinkle in the top? How do you like it?
And then and then you get to choose your ambiance you know if you if you're from maybe do a little Khadija Leia thought come somewhere from the Gulf right? We'll see brothers they're drinking their coffees maybe in the in the Nero the caffeine euros they like that and five and then maybe if you know you're young man like yourself, maybe it's to Starbucks. It may be for an old man a Grammy like myself, you know you prefer you prefer the Costa kind of vibe. It's all there tailored to your desire. You telling me it's not blinding after a while?
Only boil. My father in law was saying to me you know, Annie back in the days when we first came to this country. That's just my father. No, no, my granddad one generation before me. He said back in the days when we wanted to eat olive oil because Middle Eastern cuisine is heavily based on olive oil.
He said you don't get it in your Tescos and you're asked to go to a chemist.
It's like a medicine to find olive oil nowadays and hamdulillah it's a household product, right? What do you want your your normal oil, cooking oil, your olive oil, virgin olive oil, extra virgin olive oil and then premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil unfiltered, unfiltered, normal pressed cold pressed, what type of oil do you want? It's all that tailored to your desire to your taste.
You're telling me that it's not distracting
doesn't affect the heart at all.
And then Subhanallah these varieties, this tailored design of your desire. It's not just in the halal things. Unfortunately, it's gone to the prohibited things in all of their variations. Take music for example. Back in the days What options did you have? I mean, traditionally, traditional cultural society was divided into upper class lower class and then you had music to reflect upper class music to reflect the lower class so you
had the upper class type of music, they call it high music.
And then you had the, the kind of the commoner type of music what they call the popular music that's sacred.
To genres.
Or in Europe, they call it
they call it
classical music, and folk music. Classical folk. Nowadays. Subhanallah it's an explosion of variety, tailored to what you want to hear. Look at the genres, there's no enter them. You want country. You want rock,
hip hop, blues, right? Jazz, Oprah, what do you want rap metal. It's all that. And then each one of those genres can be opened up into many sub genres, right? So you take metal music, then you get under it, why? Heavy Metal, black metal, gothic metal, viking metal, pagan, metal, speed, metal, power metal.
This is a reality. And then each one of those sub genres has a particular clothing that you wear and a certain type of identity for that genre of music and a certain being of how you present yourself and certain vocab that you use to identify you telling me that these things don't distract us. These things don't occupy us. Come on. How is it that all of this access and availability and ergonomically designed desires to fit your preference doesn't somehow end up producing this little mini monster who's always on a tantrum with with anxiety and stress issues, because he wants to get what he wants right now and how he wants it. And if there is a slight delay, she can't take it. He
can't take it.
That's what we've become brothers and sisters. We're dazzled by dunya. We we can't help it. We've become like that deer that's looking at the headlights of the car. And he's just gaping it in the car is about to hit him but he can move.
That's how so many of us are behaving with the offerings of dunya today, especially here in the West,
staring at it
waiting for a collision course with death to take us by surprise.
It does affect us.
And it is distracting.
And some of us are so entangled within the nets of dunya because you see it in their conversation. They can only talk about business and trade and commerce and Bitcoin. They can do anything and shoes and makeup. It's a multi billion dollar industry.
It's not district it's distracting brothers and let's be honest, and that is why I'm huge on what meaning Omar who said she know
that in the Nana letter.
He said train yourself to live a life of coarseness
because blessings don't last forever.
Live a harsh lifestyle. He is saying from time to time learn how to be course rough because blessings don't last and Fabiola tribunaux obey to the companion he said. Amara and Wu sallallahu alayhi wa sallam with the haffi ohana.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam instructed us to walk without shoes sometimes Subhana Allah tarbiyah he instructed us to walk barefoot in at times. Why? To remind yourself you're a poor traveler to Allah. That's what you are.
We are poor, weak travelers to Allah. Take off your shoes. Remember the reality don't get too caught up with your platforms and your Jordans and your air forces. Take them off remember where are you going? Who you really are panela
so we said number one, the rectify of the Quran. Number two be wary of becoming obsessively attached with dunya
number three beware of excessiveness in general
excessiveness equality, a Herati mubadala going overboard with everything. It affects the heart manage. I mean, I'll give you just one example eating.
We have an issue with obesity. And it's one of the signs of the Day of Judgment
that we have how to feed humans see Mad People become fat. It's a sign of the Day of Judgment.
Right.
And the first thing that is affected are not your veins or your heart or your capillaries. The first thing that is affected if you overeat is the heart. You feel it. Imam Muhammad he was asked the question, how do you go Raju to feel and behave the pattern where he or she can experience a softness in his heart when his belly is full? He said
I don't think it's possible.
And Imam Shafi he's
said for the last 16 years of my life I have not eaten to my phone
except once and so what put my finger in my throat and I vomited out everything.
And look man, there was a surah in the Quran named after him. Look man, he said to his son, a boon a sun, sun didn't tell her at night in there if your stomach is full
nematic vichara your ability to think to contemplate will fall asleep.
While Hara settle hikma and your wisdom will be silenced. Work it out while in a bag and your limbs will be unable to worship Allah subhana wa.
And it has an adversity he said whoever wants to close his eyes to weep and his heart to fill with who? submissiveness to Allah, then you have to eat half full of your stomach Fill only half of your stomach with fruit.
So we don't know of any influential Muslim reformer who was praised for being a big eater by the way, right? This made this clear, but we're dealing with GEMA he said, We don't know of any imam or any scholar of the religion who was praised in his biography for being a big eater. He said the only things that are praised for eating a lot are animals
that are fattened up and then they are slaughtered because they have no minds.
But in our culture is different I don't know in the Indo Pak culture how it is brothers but with us he's like Malala Mashallah.
Ah this much Masha Allah Habib, you're not gonna hit him with 18 with have said nothing to envy there. That's the curse that's not praise.
You praise a cow for eating a lot. You praise the dogs for eating a lot. You don't praise a human being for eating alone. Stomach is this big. It's because you fist that's always
if you want to have a big meal, it has to fit two liters, it grows 40 times the stomach does not want to do that.
And instantly the effects of that goes to your heart. So avoiding excessiveness in everything. excessiveness are in eating
excessiveness, in socializing Maresh excessiveness, in sleeping excessiveness, in working excessiveness in browsing the net,
excessiveness, shopping, spending time in the market too much of it
excessiveness with laughter all of these things affect the heart excessiveness of everything hardens the heart except one thing and that is worship. The more you do it, the softer your heart becomes achieved. Subhan Allah
so this was number one brothers.
This was number number three,
avoiding excessiveness in all things. Number four, let us hurry up now.
For those who want to rectify their hearts be in the companionship of good people.
You know where to find them.
By Allah there are certain faces out there just by looking at them. Without them opening their mouths or saying anything. You feel that your anxieties have left you
and your stress has departed. Your chest has expanded. Your heart has illuminated just by looking at them Allah
some of them are in this room I swear
without them speaking.
And that is why in the hadith of Ibn Rob does the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said oh Lea Allah hinda Deena either Oh, look here Allah,
the allies of Allah the saints. They are those people whom, when you see them, the name of Allah is remembered. You look at him, you can't help but say, Now, where did that come from?
You look at him. You Say Subhan Allah.
Right. What is the saint Awali somebody who walks on the water flies in the air cuts himself without bleeding Habibollah shaytaan that's not overly you're saying.
A saint is somebody who when you see from the many characteristics you remember Elijah and Angela.
They said about Joakim Noah Jarrah, who is the shape of evolutionary theory that
when people would look at his face, they would say Hi, I'm Alex. That's an angel.
Yeah.
And Mohamed mousseline, the famous interpreter of dreams, servant of aniseed nomadic
when they would see him, they would glorify Allah because of the radiance of light that was emanating from his face. Jeeves, you might have no claim you also discusses how they felt when they were anxious and scared and afraid. And they would go to their teacher so you go to snap, you know, Tamia just by looking at him and hearing his words and all of it
transforms into strength and certainty, and determination and resilience and Ema.
Some phases, you look at them, you remember ALLAH, and there are some phases, you look at them, what do you remember?
You remember Shangela. And you remember scenes, and you remember your past ways. And you remember laziness and you remember urges and cravings and yearnings and haram.
These are the faces to be avoided.
So we said number four is what? Being in the companionship of what good people find them and be with them, just looking at them is healthy. Number five, being in the companionship
of those who are dying, and those who have died.
If you hear of somebody in your locality, who is going through the pangs of death colors, yada, yada, he's dying, the process of transfer has begun.
If you can gather your nerves, go
and seek permission from their family. If you can sit in that room for just a moment. And listen and hear the noises. And tell me if you come out that room is the same person or not.
Tell me if you will struggle to keep your desires at bay after that or not. Try that.
No third raka the Quran moutier will be satin lacquer sheet two and you have steadily side Hebrew debate. He said, If the thought of death disappeared from my mind for just a moment, I would fear that my heart was going corrupt.
So you can't find somebody who is dying. Go to the places of people who died, sit with them go to a graveyard, please spend some time there. And I remember growing up as a teenager, one of the biggest things that affected me and helped me start to to any we hope we are practicing. We don't really know. But one of the things that really put us on a path was seeing certain brothers in the graveyards on a weekly basis. Even during their wedding days. One of their brothers was there in a graveyard in his hoodie, just sat there thinking about death on the day he would get married.
That was just seeing someone who was at the graveyard. What about if you are at the graveyard yourself? Do it brothers and sisters, that is number one.
Number five.
Number six.
Being in your own private company,
especially during the depths of the night,
there has to be a point in your life, a point in your night, or in your day where you disconnect. Throw away your phone, from everyone and everything you've disconnected. You're connecting only to the Creator of the heavens and the earth to think about the big meanings of life. Why am I here? Where am I going?
And you will be rewarded.
One of the things that began prophethood was an intense desire that he had alayhi salatu salam to make his way up to God Hara
almost a 45 minute track
to sit in a small dingy cave. They're going up for maybe one or two people max. And he'd spent days upon days there with no social media, no internet, no phone, just to be alone, to think about these values and these meanings of life. And Allah Who rewarded him He sent him an angel and he became an IV a prophet.
And if you do the same, you find moments that you sit with yourself by yourself with no one but yourself and you'll note Allah will reward you and He will give you a station of nearness to him.
What better what is the best time to do this?
In an Asiatic lady here I should do what will work. Well. Mikayla, Allah said the rising of the night
is the best way of subduing yourself and giving you upright speech.
If that last third of the night was able to speak,
it will tell you of the sheer number of sins that were forgiven during it.
And the number of people who were given gender during it and the financial burdens that were alleviated during it and the faults and the crimes and the sins of man that were covered during it. And children from barren parents that were given during it and anxieties and where he's our alleviated during it. Remember brothers and sisters give yourself time to disconnect with everyone everything but your Lord and don't allow the grind of life to confuse you or to occupy you even if that grind is Islamic work. You need the time to move away from Chef Milan and Imam Poulin and book Falange and sit only with your Lord Subhana wa Tada which will bring about a light and a tranquility
and a comfort and a strength and an excitement and
In a contentment that no one can describe, but those who have experienced it, try it.
Lastly, and I will leave you with this.
This is number what? Number seven.
For those who are searching for a soft heart
beware of using your heart for other than what it was created for.
Your heart was created to do big things. Your heart was designed
to glorify Allah.
And if you do something with your heart other than what it is compatible with, it will ache and it will start to throb and you will be scared you will be doubting
your heart. Imagine that it is like a key that has certain ridges, it only fits perfectly when it is near Allah.
Put it in a sin, it is out of place, and it begins to burn with pain.
Because you're not using it for what it was intended for. Imagine, imagine somebody's trying to drink by pouring the water into his ear.
Imagine somebody trying to eat using his eye.
The outcome of both is what damage
because the ear was designed to receive sound and not water and the eye was designed to receive light, not food. Similarly, your heart was not designed for those DMS those private conversations, to sell drugs to Mississauga to mess it up with your hijab. Your heart was not designed for that your heart was designed to be close to Allah to glorify Him.
And when you don't do that you will feel pain according to the size and the length of time that you've been engaged in that crime.
Remember this
you want to know what a good deed and what a sin does? Listen to the words of Abdullah hypnotic bass
in Al Hasan ethelia and Phil can be when we were on Phil YG well who was and Phil Bethany was a risky one the hot button ficolo will help good deeds they bring about a light in the face and luminosity in the heart and strength in your body and expands in your money, your risk your provisions and love in the hearts of the people for you. Mashallah, what is the opposite? We're in an ICU at Walmart and Phil Albee was Awad and Phil Berger, he will often feel bad any walk in that and furious be wobbled and feel colonial health and since they bring it out, he said, darkness in the face. gloominess in the heart, weakness in your body limitation in your risk your provisions and
hatred
in the hearts of people.
Brothers and sisters, we have finished the lecture for this evening.
I just want you to do one thing.
I want us collectively to not give up.
Do not despair.
If you're knocking on that door, and it's not opening your Habibi, you've got two options. Either you turn away from the door and you leave Allah or either you keep knocking, which one is more profitable.
Some of our predecessors they said we learned patience. For a living it out. He said, I learned patience from a young boy I once saw standing
in the doorstep of his mother's house when I was making my way to sign. His mom was beating him up punishing him that she kicked him out the house you get out of the house.
So he came out the house and he was very upset.
And then he sat on the doorstep and he realized where am I gonna go.
So he started to cry. And then he put his head on the doorstep. And he was saying to his mom, I'm so sorry. Speaking from behind, forgive me. I made a mistake. He said by the time I came back from Salah she'd open the door and let him back in. He said so I stopped and I cried. And I said Subhan Allah.
If a person keeps knocking on the door of Allah soon enough, that door will open. Soon enough it will open
Mozilla to Asuquo NFC Illa Allah he will he attempt ki Hatter Sukra alayhi wa he atopack One of the predecessors said i i kept dragging my soul to come to Allah whilst it was crying. It didn't want to come with me. It was crying until it finally surrendered. And it came to me towards Allah smiling, happy laughing. Who will win? Keep knocking it may take you a year it may take you two it may take you 10 It took some of our predecessors 20 But you will get there in the end. You will get there and the heart will soften and light will come in and you will be the happiest Muslim.
On planet Earth. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to soften our hearts and to illuminate them with the light of Eman. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to forgive our sins, to rectify our affairs and to forgive us and our
our mothers and our fathers and our children our teachers and all of those who are there right upon us or some alone into Vietnam have made 100