Ammar Alshukry – Excellence
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Alrighty everyone,
and welcome back
to another day, day number 23 of Ramadan
360 with Almagrib Institute.
Jazakumullahakar
to those of you who've been consistent,
incredibly so, for the past 23 days, more
than 3 weeks, and coming up to a
month soon that we've been spending together. May
like accept from you all. And welcome, welcome,
welcome back to another beautiful session. Today, we're
gonna be having Sheikh Hamada Shoukri back with
us, and I think it's been a minute
since he's been with us
through rumble dawn 360's, like, official session if
I'm not mistaken. Because I know we had
Sheikh Hamar right in the beginning,
and then maybe in, like, the 1st week
or so, so, and we've been seeing him
in the webinars. We've been seeing him a
lot on the YouTube series, but
we haven't had him back for a full
session in a minute. So it's a pleasure
as always to have him with us. Alhamdulillah.
Wa alaikum Assalamu alaikum.
Aisha,
welcome, welcome. Jalila from the Philippines. Myri, please
forgive me if I butcher any of your
names. Hafsatti, the other Hafsatti.
Fazleen, of course, our amazing staff member
from the student support team, Nemo, Jazakam alaikar,
everyone for being here. As always, it's hard
to maintain the consistency of not only being
in the session, but being early.
So shout out to all of you guys
who make that extra bit of effort and
and have that eagerness towards seeking knowledge and
being in this beautiful community. I've just switched
the setting so you guys should be able
to turn on your cameras and, join me
with your beautiful faces on screen. So please,
feel free to do so Insha'Allah. Hafsa coming
in from Italy. There's a Hafsa in Italy.
Masha'Allah.
Welcome to the session Hafsa. I wish I
were you in your shoes right now but
alhamdulillah.
How are you guys doing in terms of
energy? I don't know if you can tell
by the dark circles, but I think we're
all kind of hanging on with these the
start of the last 10 nights. May Allah
give us energy. May Allah give us the
ability to worship Him with excellence and accept
from us Amin.
I know it's
hard to maintain
that level of sanity, and I feel like
but the speakers have said it, brother Abdirhman
who's with me on screen, Mashal has said
it before, Saad Sameer has said it that
sometimes you feel so exhausted before a Ramadan
360 session. You're like, I don't know how
I'm gonna do it today. And then SubhanAllah,
you you see the community, you feel the
energy, you feel the 5 o'clock, you know,
is coming up. And then all of a
sudden it just, it works out, subhanAllah. It
just it so somehow there's some barakah in
your in your energy, and it comes all
the way back. Alhamdulillah.
Jazakamullah Fairfaseline for dropping the links, of course,
to our WhatsApp and Telegram groups for our
important reminders and any interactions. I owe you
guys a couple of links, by the way,
there on Telegram. I haven't forgotten.
I have to get to them. I know
there was, some links to the clear Quran
and a few different versions of that, some
things that the the shuk have said. So
if there's anything that you're looking for that
I may have missed, let me know, Inshallah,
and I'll make sure that we put a
post together and share everything that you, that
that has been that has been missing. Rabia
Jazakkumalakher.
That's very kind of you to say.
So today is going to be day number
23 of Ramadan 360.
I don't know if that means we're on
the 7th day or we have 7 days
left, my math is never my strong suit,
but Alhamdulillah,
topic today is going to be excellence, as
I mentioned, with Sheikh Hamada Shukri. Of course,
Ramadan 360 is the Namal Group Institute experience,
where our goal has been for the last
22 years to make Islam easy and accessible
and provide you with this authentic knowledge in
a way that you can relate to, in
a way that's personal for you. And not
only is this topic,
relevant, but Sheikh Hamar Shukri is the best
example of someone who makes Islamic knowledge
so so practical, so easy, so so relevant
to our experience. And I I'm sure a
lot of you have experienced that just through
following along and getting a taste of that
through the Names of Allah
series. I was bingeing that once again, we're
watching a lot of episodes last night. Just
a reminder that lunch is at 3 pm
EST roundabout every single day, and today's name
is Al Quduz that has just launched.
But Masha'Allah Sheikh Hamar has a way of
just like using some contemporary examples, using humor,
using like slang and all that kind of
stuff. And then just some real
proper authentic knowledge and merging it together in
the best way possible. So I hope that
you've been benefiting from him as an instructor
in Ramadan 360 and poetry. Yes. He is
away with words that just Masha'Allah exceeds every,
you know, everything, SubhanAllah.
But that said, which by the way, he's
a poet and he's also got a book
book out, called What the Pen Wrote, which
is his collection of poetry. If you guys
ever wanna benefit more from it or see
the full collection of it, if you've enjoyed
Bricks and Pieces, I highly recommend that you
check that out. I believe it's available on
Amazon, Alhamdulillah.
That said, for those who are still newish
or who've been coming coming in and out
or who've been missing the intros and who
are not as familiar with Sheikh Hamar, he's
actually a director at Amalgib Institute. He started
from the very bottom as a student, as
a volunteer, then an Amir, which is a,
a president of one of our chapters in
the city of New York. And then, masha'Allah,
he worked his way up through education, through
knowledge, through perseverance as an instructor, and he
has that's why he has all these stories
of of pursuing, you know, people of knowledge
and asking them questions and engaging with them
that you've seen on his YouTube series and
in some of his talks. He's got a
dual dual bachelor's in Islamic studies and marketing,
and he is, Masha'Allah, really heavily taught around
the Amagr world. So he teaches classes on-site,
he teaches classes he's got an ill night
launching very soon that you wanna look out
for, Insha'Allah. He teaches a couple classes on
his majesty, the names of Allah, which is
the in-depth version of what you've been kind
of hearing or experiencing through the YouTube series,
which I highly recommend. It's linked in your
student portal, and I believe you get, like,
a sweet discount to it as well if
you're a registered Ramadan 360 student. So look
out for that. There's, like, a third section
after your resources section where you can find
that and you can find behind the scenes
with Sheikh Omar Suleiman as well. And of
course, Sheikh Omar has this famous class that
I mentioned, I think it was yesterday or
the day before, with Usad Adai Miya on
mindfulness in salah, which is a life changing
experience. If you, as most most Muslims do
at some point in their life, struggle with
having kushoo in your salah, struggle with, like,
dialing
in and finding that sweetness and that richness
in your salah and that relationship that you
have with your creator during that time, it
is incredible. And I go back to it.
It's like a salve. You go back to
it whenever you're struggling, whenever you're, you're, you're
not finding that, that richness in your salah,
and it's such an amazing experience. Those who've
taken it are like raving fans,
And finally,
Shekhar takes some of the most famous trips
that we have with Amagrib's blessed voyage, Tharbayyah
travel experiences
to Umrah. He used to take them to
Al Aqsa,
Insha'Allah those that can get revived soon may
Allah free Al Aqsa Amin,
but he's an incredible group leader when it
comes to travel. He somehow makes a bunch
of strangers from different walks of life, different
ages, different stages, everything,
into best friends immediately. That's like one of
his amazing strengths and everyone who takes the
blessed voyage, Umrah, like, puts it on their
resume basically,
because they're so they're so, like, excited about
that experience that they've been able
to to be able to facilitate,
that we've been able to facilitate. And, alhamdulillah,
Fazeen just dropped that link. By the way,
there's I don't know if there's anything available
open for a blessed voyage right now, but
keep an eye out because,
I know there are some exciting things that
are launching soon. Sheikh Yasir Bajas teased a
little bit about his trip to Bosnia that's
upcoming inshallah late this summer, and Sheikh Hamar
will soon be, announcing some trips as well.
So just keep an eye out there if
you've but if you like to travel, if
you're a travel bug like me, and you
like to kind of see the world and
you want to have a balance of an
Islamic perspective and have some thurbia and some,
and a beautiful community to go with inshallah,
you are absolutely gonna love the Blessed Voice
of Omar experiences. With that said, I know
we're just a little bit past the clock.
I'm not sure if Shaykh I saw him
come in already, so apologies if I've been
speaking over you Shaykh.
We're gonna get started just very briefly once
again for those who come a little bit
later, day number 23 of Ramadan 360. The
topic is excellence Washiachammarashukri.
And I wanna shout out again, and I
really wanna thank you guys because Masha'Allah.
When we said we're gonna exceed their goals,
we
hit that out of the park, subhanAllah, with
forgotten women's,
subhanAllah, fundraising yesterday for the people of Gaza,
for the food packs and hygiene packs, and
like, necessity kits that they were fundraising for,
Mashallah, Subaraka'Allah. Shout out to all of you
who are part of that experience.
I'm just I'm so honored and it's always
something that I have such so much confidence
in because I know when this community comes
together, we wow ourselves. We exceed our own
expectations. So please continue to give to them
and to all the other charity sponsors who
who are doing honestly all the hard work
on the ground. It is beyond difficult to,
as I mentioned before, to part people with
their hard earned money and to give it
to those who know you need who need
it desperately and urgently, especially in the situation
that we're in right now with our Ummah
and with the people in Palestine.
Alhamdulillah, there's so much good. They were just
sending me a picture,
yesterday, the charity was that or Forgotten Woman
was of a medical unit that they've just
opened up, and one of you those of
you donated to that specific tier that they
had available for their LaunchGood fundraiser is they've
just opened it up yesterday and now they're,
they're already in action. So
the work happens so, so, so quickly.
So I'm so proud of us to be
able to, to contribute to that and please
continue to do so whatever you have the
capacity for as many times as you're asked
inshallah, alhamdulillah, that we have that capacity as
a community to come together. And if you
don't, or you're a little stretched thin, then
share it with others as well. And the
same goes for Amagrib's
donation campaign that we've launched, of course, for
the last 10 nights. I know you guys
have been amazing with Give Daily, but if
you wanna maximize your evening times and you
wanna make sure that you catch the, you
know, the
with your donations, please make sure that you
check out amagrib.org/donate.
And for the Brits, I know there's, like,
a give something
k. I've forgotten what the name of that
is, where they give match or something that
they have. We're going to be linking that
as well in Charlotte so that you guys
are able to, support through that and get,
you know, maximize your donations as a gift
aid. That's what it is. JazakAllah Khair, our
resident Brit slash Canadian slash America,
has clarified for me.
I see that Sheikh Omar is with us,
so, without further ado, I don't want to
delay our session. Sheikh Omar and his what
was it? Fern? What, what, what, piece of
greenery was that? I don't know.
Sheikh Omar. How are you doing today on
this fine Tuesday? Alright.
Can you hear me okay?
Yes. We can hear you.
We can hear you okay, Shiv, but you're
a little crooked,
in terms of the the camera view. I
mean, you're straight, Shiv, but your camera view
is looking
Okay. So let me do this.
Let me do this. If my camera is
crooked, let me knock knock over my camera.
But Okay, miss Linda.
This oh, oh, oh, we're getting there?
How's that?
Better.
K. Better. Yeah. It'll it'll do it. I'm
I'm I'm okay with it, the social media
team or somebody else is probably gonna point
someone out, but this looks nice and even.
Alhamdulillah. As long as you lean your head,
I should be Yeah. Exactly. You can just
do that.
Alhamdulillah. Alright, Sheikh. How are you feeling going
into last 10 nights? 23rd night over down
for most of us, those of us in
the e in the west?
How are you feeling? What's the energy like,
and and, what are your thoughts so far?
I feel good.
Allah
accept from us all.
Obviously,
you just wanna make sure that you show
your best over the next couple of nights.
And,
don't listen to all the people who are
like, oh,
was last night. Yeah. We still got a
lot of Ramadan left, people. A lot of
Ramadan left.
Absolutely. Good advice, Sheikh. Let's jump into your
session so that we can start to benefit
inshallah, and we'll be I'm hoping to delay
it so I can take more of Ustadatemia's
time. Oh, no. That's the goal.
That's the because in the session, you know,
Ustadatemia comes in from the beginning. So she
knows when the speaker starts.
She doesn't miss it. Probably here before I
am.
Okay.
So we're keeping to 30 minutes then. Right?
Our
So our topic is Ihsan.
And we have the famous hadith, which is
a pillar.
2 hadith that are pillars. Number 1 is,
of course,
the hadith of Jibril
where,
it's reported by Muslim,
where
Jibril asked the prophet
of a number of things. What is Islam?
What is iman? What is ihsan?
And the prophet
when he was asked about Ihsan, he said,
To worship Allah as if you see him
and if you don't see him, to know
that he sees you. So we're gonna come
back to this in a little bit, but
this is a cornerstone
when it comes to tazkiyah
and muraqabah
and taqwa of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And
we know how important those things are because
we've talked about them in Ramallah 360.
But number 2,
you have the hadith of Shaddad ibn Aus,
which is also reported by Muslim in which
the prophet, salallahu alaihi wa sallam, he simply
says,
Allah has written ihsan over everything.
Allah has written ihsan.
And so
the question that scholars ask, is this a
statement that is kabariyah or is it insha'iyah?
This statement where the prophet
says that Allah has prescribed, Allah has written
ihsan over everything. Is it khabar, I e,
is it the prophet of Allah
simply telling us
of the laws that Allah
has placed in the universe? Like Allah
says,
Allah has prescribed
upon himself mercy, meaning that is the way
that Allah deals
with his creation. So you're talking about something
that has already been established,
or is it in sha'iha? Is it a
command?
Where, for example, Allah says,
Per, fasting has been prescribed for you.
So is it a command to have a
ihsan? Is it a command for the people
to have a ihsan? Which one is it?
And it could be
both. Could simply be both. And we see
that through the different hadith
that we'll explore.
But when it comes to Allah
having written Ihsan over
everything, you see that this world that Allah
created
is one that has been created excellently.
Allah
challenges us in Surat Al Mulk. He says,
Allah
says,
Allah
challenges us to look out in the world
and see. Do you see any any glitches?
Do you see any mistakes?
Do you see any discrepancies? Do you see
any anything wrong in the creation of Allah
You know, everything that we create, there is
some sort of deficiency. Even the video game
worlds that we create,
you have glitches. You go into this world,
this level, and you you end up exiting
in the wrong level. That's never happened to
you, where you walked into an airport
here in Houston, Texas, and by mistake, you
ended up just there's a glitch in the
matrix and you ended up being in Cairo.
That doesn't happen.
There's never been a moment in time where
the laws of physics glitched for you or
the laws of of chemistry glitched for you.
Allah
has created this universe perfectly. There are no
mistakes in.
So that's one aspect. Allah
has created this world with ihsad.
But then there's also the other aspect of
our
doing and our working with ihsan, our working
with ihsan.
Allah
is Ihsan for us. I'm gonna get to
how we interact with Ihsan in a little
bit, but Allah
is Ihsan for us is even in our
calamities,
even when we experience
what we're experiencing now in the Muslim world.
Umar ibn Khattab
says, and it's a beautiful statement. He says
that there has never been a calamity
that has befall me except that
in included in that calamity are 4 blessings.
Four blessings included in every calamity.
Number 1, the first one, is that it
was not in my deen.
That's the first.
Number 2, he
says, that I am not stripped of contentment
for it,
that I am not stripped of contentment for
it. Number 3, he says, that
I
seek reward from it.
And number 4, that it was not bigger
than it was.
These 4
are ways that Umar radiAllahu
experiences
calamities
and recognizes Allah
blessings in those calamities.
Number 1, that it's not in a person's
deen.
Any calamity that befalls a person's wealth and
their their their their loss of
of health, all of that, as long as
their deen is okay, then they're okay.
That's number 1, he says. And then number
2 is that it wasn't bigger than it
was. It could always be bigger. It could
always be more people that are lost. It
could always be more
more more ailments,
more frailty, more weakness, more,
more loss of wealth. It could always be
bigger.
And then number 3 says that I am
not stripped of contentment with it. You know,
the statement of
is an incredibly powerful statement. It is worth
1,000,000,000 of dollars in mental,
in
in
in
mental,
health. This statement, Inna lillahi wa nahihi ajoon.
That I can go through the greatest losses
of my life, and I can simply say
as I've lost a loved one,
we all belong to Allah, and we're all
going to return to him. They don't belong
to me in the first place. It's not
my
loved one. They belong to
Allah before they belong to me. And so
he says that and and that's a statement
of contentment, that I'm content with whatever this
loss is.
And then number 4 is that I'm
seeking reward in it. You know, the the
the dua of
Oh, Allah reward me. Like said,
reward me my calamity and replace me with
what is better than it. And she could
not imagine
anyone better than Abu Salima, but she married
Rasulullah
who is better. But the idea here is
the statement of, oh, Allah reward me in
my calamity.
Everything that happens to a believer
is good for them. As the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam said,
Everything that happens to the believer is good,
but that's only for the believer. And so
the question that people ask when they say
do bad things, why do bad things happen
to good people? The answer to that is
to look them in the face and say,
bad things don't happen to good people. Why?
Because the prophetess of said that. He said
everything that happens to a believer is good.
It's not that the believer does not experience
that which is painful or unpleasant, but the
believer's
experience with that thing that is painful or
unpleasant
transforms that experience to be something that is
rewarded by Allah
And so in the end, it is good
for them. And so
says,
the fact that I seek its reward
is a blessing
as I experience any calamity. And so how
do we how do we
how do we engage this concept of yiksa?
How do we be of the mihsidi in
whom Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala loves?
Number 1, it is and I'll mention, inshaAllah,
4 quick qualities.
Four quick qualities.
The first is,
Ihsan with Allah
Ihsan with Allah
in your worship of Allah.
How do you
show excellence?
You know? And when Ihsan was explained to
me, one of my favorite explanations was given
by my Sunday school teacher back in the
day.
And I every time I see him until
now, may Allah preserve him. You know, I
tell him and I say, you know, do
you remember this example you gave of Ehsan
in Sunday school? And, you know, I don't
think he even remembers me, to be honest,
from Sunday school, but I remember that example.
And that's also a shout out to our
Sunday school teachers, you know, these unruly high
school kids and middle school kids
that you think, you know, nothing is sticking
with them. It's very possible that something sticks
to them. And, alhamdulillah, a number of things
stuck with me. Although a lot, obviously, I
was definitely unruly and a pain. But
this example he said,
he was explaining to his son. He said,
your parents ask you for a cup of
water.
You can go and get them a cup
of water,
or you can decide that you're gonna do
better.
And so you're going to put ice in
that cup because you know that they like
their water chilled,
And you can still do better than that.
You can go put that water on a
tray,
and you can serve them on that tray.
And
that is more ehsan. That is doing it
with
doing it better.
And if they say to you, why did
you bring me this water in
a in a cup and a tray? You
could say you're you're you're you know, you
deserve cup and a tray lifestyle. You're not
a water bottle life. You're not a water
bottle mom. You deserve a cup and a
tray. Although, is also
fair warning, is also that you don't leave
the tray there in front of her and
go back upstairs. You know, leaving her with
the tray and the cup for her to
wash those things and put them back in
the dish. No. No. No. No. No. Yeah.
Sign is for you to take care of
it all. Five star service. Otherwise, it becomes
a nuisance. It becomes a headache.
So the idea here is just doing more
and more and more that you can. And
so when Aisha
has asked about the salah of the prophet,
she was asked about the number. How many
rakahs does the prophet pray? And she said,
he prays 11.
But
don't ask about husnihin na watulihin.
Don't ask about how beautiful they are, and
don't ask about how long they are. The
prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, salaam was so
beautiful. It was so long. It was so
metered. It was so it was so present.
Don't ask about how beautiful it was. And
Aisha she learned
she learned salah. She learned worship from the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And so Aisha,
she learned Ihsan from Rasulullah. And so when
she would give sadaqa, when she would give
gold coins or silver coins, what did she
do? She used to anoint them
with
with with, with fragrance.
She would anoint them with fragrance when she
would give them to the person who is
asking, and she would say they fall in
the hands of Allah before they fall in
the hands of the person receiving it.
It. And that is amazing,
ihsan,
that comes from
intentionality
and being conscious of worshiping Allah as if
you see him.
And so the question then becomes, how do
we increase our ihsan? How do we increase
the beauty of our worship
when you recognize that the one you're dealing
with is not this poor person that you're
giving money to. The one you're dealing with
is Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. When you're standing
and you're remembering it, the one you're standing
in front of is Allah, that you worship
Allah as if you see him. And so
my question for you very briefly, because I
don't want this to be a a a
crazy long monologue, but
I wanna ask you,
4 acts of worship. Let's say salah.
Let's say,
charity
in Ramadan, of course, let's say fasting. Actually,
let's just keep it to these 3. How
can you increase the level of ihsan in
these three acts of worship? So take these
3 as an exercise.
How do I increase the ihsan of my
salah? How do I increase the ihsan of
my,
my fasting, and how do I increase the
of my charity? You're not gonna be able
to anoint a gold coin right now. All
of us, we're all making donations through our
phones. That's how we're
Aasai, if you don't mind jumping back on
and just reading some of these answers, I'm
just gonna plug my laptop into my,
charger.
Yeah. Absolutely. In fact, I don't know if
we have someone can if we can do
it in, like, 10, 15 seconds. You guys
can also raise your hands and share on
on the mic in that time.
So many amazing so many amazing oh, I
saw a hand and then I I've lost
it.
Alright.
10 seconds. Go right ahead,
if you'd come to salah, I'll prepare myself
properly.
And,
like, SubhanAllah.
Leaving the best clothes for salaam, buying the
best jibab to pray when I have to
pray, especially for Ramadan.
Making sure that this is the best jibab.
This is my jibab for Ramadan. And,
preparing,
the the room where I'm praying as well,
make sure it smell good.
So inshallah, when the come, it doesn't smell
of food, and it smell it smell beautiful.
And,
the prayer mat as well, making sure that
everything is clean. And above all, preparing my
heart
Masha'allah.
That my heart is connected with Allah and
preparing the Quran that, You Allah, I'm doing
that. And correct me, You Allah, if I'm
wrong. If there's anything
I'm doing wrong, guide me and protect me.
That's first of all.
And if the rest of the other,
He's beautiful, beautiful reflection.
Let's do one more. Let's do sister Neema,
I think that is. Go right ahead.
So for salah, I feel like since we're
in Ramadan, we can actually,
increase our salah at night times, especially,
in in the last 10 days and increase
our Quran recitation.
So our,
salah will become fulfilled with zikr, Quran recitation,
night prayer. I'm sorry for my son. So,
yeah, all of those together. And for for
Zakah, our charity,
we when we give the I'm so sorry.
He's screaming. That's okay. That's okay. We can't
carry back on this. Keep going. So for
the charity, we can, like,
you know, what your right hand gives, the
left hand shouldn't know.
So we can give in,
secrecy
so that in
increases it as well.
So the fasting, of course, do it with
That was perfect. Great reminders.
You hit on on several several points even
from yesterday that was mentioned, as a reflection
as well. Give from your you know, with
your right hand, your left hand doesn't even
know,
what do you call it? I see some
great ones in the chat as well, Masha'Allah.
Let's see if you can take a couple
of these, if I can read them out,
as well. I see some some folks who
are echoing some of your sentiments as well,
to do the action with the knowledge that
Allah
is
how to help others and visit the sick
sick people during your fasting. That's such a
great reminder is to add on the good
deeds, stack them up while you're fasting. Sometimes
we get tired or we're trying to just
make it through the day and we take
we we we we don't engage that with
the community, we don't engage with those who
are maybe not having company in their fasting
as well. SubhanAllah, that's great Masha'Allah.
Let's see, someone said, Puris said for salah,
ironing and steaming what you wear so
that you can pray in it. Fasting, starting
and breaking the fast without overeating, great reminder
there. Charity giving it as an odd number
since Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala loves what it
odd what is odd. Masha'Allah. Amazing job there.
Let's see. Sorry. I have my my chat
is is needs to be scrolled up a
little bit because Masha'Allah, so many of you
guys have commented before that.
Leila says, for Salah preparing ahead and grooming
for the prayer, Masha'Allah.
Who else?
Samea says fasting by fasting from haram with
all your senses, so avoiding haram from all
your senses, being very diligent about that, doing
it purely for Allah's sake.
Christine says to have full concentration in Khushu,
masha'Allah. Great, great reflections, everyone, masha'Allah. I see,
Sheikh Omar is back as well with us,
so let's continue the rest of the session,
but that was a great impromptu Quran reflect.
You guys are ready for for a session
today inshallah. Sheikh Hassan I'm not with us
wrestling with his charger, but
I'm back. Okay.
So, so that being said,
we said, Ihsan, number 1, in your worship
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Number 2,
to creation.
Is your creation.
To the creation of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
rather. But there's just one last nugget that
I wanna share about Islam and the worship
of Allah and that
is Allah
says To those
who show Ihsan, they will have Al Husna
and more. They will have Al Husna and
more. And this is really
beautiful because
al Husna is Jannah.
But what's more? What's more than Jannah?
That is to see Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And so the reward
of those siddiqah. Very good. The reward
of those who worship Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
with Ihsan is that they get to see
Allah in Jannah,
I e, the prophet
said that Ihsan is to worship Allah as
if you see him. So if in the
dunya, you worship Allah as if you see
him, then in Jannah,
you get the reward of seeing Allah
in reality.
And that is just beautiful,
whatever that thing is called, you know, full
circle type stuff. It's beautiful.
So,
Ihsan to creation. Let's end with this. Ihsan
to creation.
Our first level or first manifestation is Ihsan
is showing a isan to
Allah in worshiping him.
Said Surah Ayah. Someone can find the Surah
and the Ayah.
Number 2,
ihsan to creation of Allah.
And the people who are most deserving of
your ihsan
are the people who are closest to you.
And so the people who are closest to
you absolutely are your parents. Allah
says
that you show
to your relatives, that you show to your
relatives. And then the closer they are
to you, the more deserving they are of
your.
And I just wanna make this,
point
that a lot of times, we
we don't pay attention to the rights of
our family or an extended family.
And in modernity, it's just very, very easy.
Even as we are doing good deeds, that
we do them to people who are distant
to us as opposed to those who are
close.
And so I might just go on if
I need to give in the last 10
nights, for example, I might just go and
and jump onto any website and make a
donation to some organization somewhere in the world,
and that's it. But you might have people
in your own family who are deserving of
sadaqa. You know, and Allah
says, you know, in Surat Al Badat,
a orphan taking care of an orphan who
is a relative of yours.
Absolutely sponsoring an orphan anywhere in the world
is a great, great act in the prophet
said
the I and those who, you know, sponsor
an orphan are like this in paradise, and
he brought his fingers close to another. But
you might have an orphan in your own
family.
If you talk to your parents, you talk
to your aunts and uncles,
they might tell you, oh, you have a
a second cousin over here who, you know,
is an orphan. Right? And so the the
idea of taking care of your family members
and showing Ihsan to your family even before
anybody else.
You know,
you know, the famous,
he said, for me to spend 1 dirham
1 dirham, 1 silver coin that I spend
in my relatives
is more beloved to me than spending $1,000
in a drought.
For me to go and make a donation
of $1,000 to support somewhere people all over
the world, he said, it's more beloved to
me that I spend a dollar on my
family,
on those who are close to me. They
said, Abu Mohammed, what if they're equal to
you in their wealth? What if they're as
as wealthy as you are, your family? He
said, even if they're more wealthy than me.
Right? The idea of maintaining family ties
and taking care of your family and creating
bonds of love amongst your family members. It's
very, very important. So that's number 2, Ihsan
to your create to the creation of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Number 3,
the third point that I wanna mention about
Ihsan is that Ihsan is independent of a
person's social status, and we see that
in the the Surah that describes Ihsan, which
is the story of Yusuf alaihi salaam.
Yusuf alaihi salaam is approached twice in the
story,
in the Surah,
and he is
approached by people who say the same thing.
They say,
They say, we see you to be of
the people of Islam.
And in the first time, Yusuf alaihi salam
is a prisoner,
and yet the prisoners come to him and
they say, can you interpret this dream for
us? We see you to be of the
mursinin.
And the second time, Yusuf is
in control of the treasures of Egypt. And
he's approached by his brother. And they say
to him, we see you to be of
the mhasinin. And so Yusuf alaihis salaam
is his ihsan, his qualities of goodness
are independent
of
whether he is a prisoner or whether he's
a king, whether he's a prisoner or whether
he's a treasurer of Egypt.
Your Ihsan
should be independent
of what is going on around you. It
should be independent of whether you are an
employee or an employer, whether you're rich or
whether you are poor, whether you're a student
or whether you're a teacher. You're always showing
esan to those people who are around you.
And then the last thing that I'll mention
is esan,
and a great, great manifestation of esan
is to do your work well. To do
your work well.
Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala
says,
The
the creation of Allah, the one who perfected
everything.
And Rasulullah
says in the hadith, he says,
Allah has prescribed ihsan over everything.
And then he gives two examples of 2
scenarios where you wouldn't think ihsan is necessary
at all. He says
He says that if a person is is
about to be executed,
execute him well. Don't torture that person. And
then number 2, if you're going to slaughter
an animal, slaughter that animal well
and let them sharpen their blade. You might
think this sheep, who cares how it goes
out? No. No. No.
Says don't pray in your pajamas 100%. Absolutely.
So the idea here is to show Ihsan
in the way that you do everything.
Show Ihsan in the way that you do
everything. And that is part of you showing
gratitude to Allah. I have a question for
you.
When you think of
hiring Muslim laborers,
Do you think of
Ihsan? Does anybody say, I wanna I wanna
hire Muslim contractors
because
they do their work the best?
Does anybody say,
I want to make Muslim clients? I want
my clientele to all be Muslim
because
they
they are the best customers. They're the best
clients. They pay on time the most.
They are the best tippers. They are the
they're the best clients to have.
In fact, my experience, I'll be honest, is
that it's the complete opposite. Muslims who are
who are offering services
complain about Muslim customers.
Muslim customers
complain about Muslim,
you know, vendors.
We complain about each other, and the reason
is because both of us are not showing
an Ihsan.
And then when you multiply that then that's
on the local level. When you multiply that
on the in the international level, when you're
looking at Muslim goods or when you're looking
at goods, whatever those goods are, whether they're
from? Or are we looking at European countries?
When you think of engineering, you're thinking of
German engineering. When you're thinking of clothes, you're
thinking of Italian clothes. Right? You're thinking of
of of
that which is best, that which is done
with Islam.
You don't think of the Muslim world.
Abdul Merik says,
Turkey. Okay.
We want more. We want more and we
need more because we are the ones whom
the prophet says
has written
upon everything, that Allah
has written over everything. And in fact, I'll
just leave you with this. This is a
beautiful story.
Al Manawi, he mentions
that Ihsan
and that you doing your work well is
a manifestation
of showing gratitude to Allah
Showing gratitude to Allah.
And how is that so? He gives the
example of a carpenter.
There was a carpenter or he was a
tradesman. He wasn't a carpenter per se, but
he was a tradesman.
This person,
he he he he has a trade and
he makes things. Whatever it is, he's a
craftsman.
And so someone
offered him something,
and it was as if he thought, like,
it wasn't that much money.
He deserved more.
And so what he did was when he
made that thing, he cut corners.
But only he knew the corners that he
cut. Only he knew the corners that he
cut.
That person receives that product and he's happy
about it. Looks great, fantastic, all that type
of stuff. But this man couldn't sleep.
He was so bothered,
and he said
he rebuilt it. He made it again, but
this time he made it perfectly.
And then he went and found the guy,
and he told him and he said, give
me the product. And he was like, no.
No. It's fine. He's like, I'm happy with
it. He's like, no. No. I'm not happy
with it.
And then he takes it back. He replaces
the product, and then he says, whoever
Allah
has given knowledge to
and then short changes it due to lack
of payment,
they have rejected Allah's,
teaching of them.
They have
They have this they have shown ingratitude
to what Allah has taught me. Meaning, if
Allah
has taught me how to do something at
an a level,
and then I offer a c effort just
because someone isn't paying me enough. He said,
I'm I'm not showing gratitude to what Allah
has taught me.
And, unfortunately, you see that a lot. Right?
And and we might sabotage ourselves a lot
where we don't give a 100%
in what we do just because we don't
feel like, oh, you know, this guy didn't
pay me enough.
You do what you do showing gratitude to
Allah
and recognize that Allah is a razza.
Yes. The idea of work your salary work
your salary. Right? These are non Muslim concepts.
Rather, our concept is Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
has written over
everything. It is independent
of who this person is and what they're
giving me. K? You're doing it because of
who you are, not because of who they
are. And Allah
knows best. There's a lot to be said,
but I just wanna shout out one last
person,
on this topic of Ihsan, and that's Sheikh
Mohammed Sharif Rahimullah.
Sheikh Mohammed,
for those of you who don't know him,
he's the founder of Al Maghrib, and this
is a person who loved, Ihsan and lived
Ihsan.
And Al Mavrib in and of itself is
a manifestation in our core, in our ethos
is this idea of Ihsan, and that is
because of his energy.
He wanted to change the way that Islam
was taught in the west.
We have to go back 20 years,
and it was just haphazard
lectures in masajid and, you know, it's just
never ending harakas and things like that.
And so he made it a point to
move out of the masajid back in the
day and teach in university classrooms and
higher
PowerPoint,
you know, graphic designers to make our posters
and just do everything differently and bring it
as make it as professionally as possible because
his slogan was always Islam deserves better. Islam
deserves better.
And that wasn't just with regards to, but
I'm speaking about the person here. Even when
it came to something as simple as,
you know, he he would write out his
like they were articles. You could imagine the.
I know we've all experienced this where you
the cup
you know, you experience the and you're like,
did this guy even prepare?
He would prepare,
and he would write out articles, and then
he would post them on on chutba.com.
And I remember being a teenager going and
and getting those chutbaas and and, you know,
reteaching them in my local communities.
But, again, doing it with Ihsan.
And then when it came to audio,
you know, he would be recording lectures in
a studio setting, and he created a company
called Emanrush
to again raise the level
of of the delivery
of our audio,
experience when it came to Islamic content.
And this was all 20 years ago. Right?
And so that's the idea of how do
you do things with Islam? How do you
do things with Islam?
And until now,
continues to ask that question, and I hope
that you see the Ihsan in all of
the things that we're doing. And I wanna
encourage you all inshallah as we're in the
last 10 nights to show Ihsan. I don't
know. I'm sure Hafsa made a plug at
the beginning, but I just wanna make my
own plug. And that's to support in specifically,
in these last 10 nights and support the,
support the work that we're doing. We're really
excited always every year
about championing
and bringing things to the next level.
And what I'm excited about most personally
is launching a studio here in Houston, Inshallah,
because I'm tired of traveling to other cities
to record
these series. I'm not going back to Dallas.
I know everybody loves the Masjid,
the So to House of Peace that the
names of Allah series was recorded in, but
I would much rather like to record in
our studio here in, Houston
with Sheikh Hoorid and Sheikh Tamar and Astad
Al Sarra and all of the instructors that
are here in Houston inshaAllah ta'ala. So make
sure that you support. Let other people support
as well.
Everybody.
I, I only made that last statement just
so I could take a little bit more
of time,
but
everybody, and I'll hand over the microphone to
her inshallah.
Jazakamal'aikir.
Sheikha Maharashukri
as always.
Actually, you know what? I think because we've
scared you straight from the first session, you've
been very timely since. So we should have
done this with all the instructors, masha'Allah.
I know we we try to give some
time to questions. So I've received a couple
questions from people in the chat. If anyone
else wants to sneak it in to please
send me a private message so that I
can, see it a bit more easily. Jif,
before you go, if we can just take
a couple of them, that would be lovely,
Insha'Allah.
The first question I have resubmitted to me
is, how do we manage the expectation to
carry out a job with Hassan with the
tiredness we feel of doing so for a
long time slash wanting to take a break
and beginning to fall short on the actions?
How do you,
I think that comes with honesty of setting
expectations.
So that comes with expectations. You know?
There have been lots of times with people
where I've requested things from them, and they
simply respond and say, you know, I'm sorry.
I don't have the capacity to do that
right now. And it's it's a little bit
of a zing, right, when someone says no
to you. It's a little bit of a
zing. But
over time, you end up respecting this person.
You respect that person, and you respect the
idea that they are honest about their capacity.
And when they have,
when they can't do something, you know, they
they have that boundary.
Because when they do do something,
they perform.
And so I think that's a a a
very healthy and important,
skill that people need to learn, which is
if I can do it with Hassan, I
can do it. If I can't do it
with Hassan, then I'm not going to lie
to you and tell you that I'm going
to do it only to be to to
to offer something that is subpar.
The second question I have submitted is,
how do you maintain a sign with family
members who constantly misinterpret your actions?
That is too general. I don't know what
that means.
Fair enough.
The next is okay. Well, there's another one
on family, so we'll do how can we
show esan with family when we feel we
are not being treated correctly?
Ehsan has nothing to do with how you're
being treated. It's not tit for tat. Ihsan
is for you to do well with those
who aren't necessarily doing that. You know, when
it comes to connecting the Kais of kinship,
a man told the prophet
said, you know, I have a person who,
you know, I
I show them,
you know, I show them,
warmth, and they show me warmth. And the
prophet
said, his son is, he said, you know,
connecting the ties with Kiship is not.
It's not reciprocity.
But it is that you connect with those
who don't connect with you. And so Ehsaan
is the eye show,
you know, that type of magnanimous
nature to those who otherwise wouldn't.
That's where Islam lies. And so that's the
challenge.
Perfect. And then finally, someone's asking the third
point that you made about independence of social
status. Could you explain that or clarify that,
please?
Meaning Yousef's goodness, he didn't become he didn't
absorb, like, negative qualities just because he was
in a prison.
He did it. He didn't let the environment
corrupt him. He was surrounded by prisoners. He
was he might have been surrounded by criminals,
but he didn't let that corrupt him and
make his nature, you know, criminal. In fact,
they recognized his goodness even in a
prison. And then when Yusuf becomes the treasurer
of Egypt,
he doesn't let that power corrupt him either.
So he doesn't have the the negative qualities
that come with power and come with you
know? Those qualities are also sometimes even worse
than the qualities of a petty criminal because
you can get away with everything, and you
can abuse people, and you can harm people,
and you can yell at people, and scold
people, and curse people. Right? You hear you
hear those stories from people in power all
the time,
how they become,
corrupt
because of their power. And so they see
Yusuf, alayhi salam, to not have any of
that also.
So,
again, you showing
and goodness whether you are in power or
whether you are overpowered either way.
Beautiful.
For that lovely session on Ihsan. I think,
someone said it best in the chat that
that was a paradigm shift. If we felt
attacked, let's hopefully we felt inspired by the
end of this session as well. Someone I
know quite a few people related to that
pajamas comment as well, alhamdulillah,
and I'm looking forward to us getting a
chance to reflect on it. As Sheikh said,
please do, as as investing in it in
an organization that that operates on Hassan, please
do support amagrib through amagrib.org/donate,
and be part of that journey inshaAllah with
us. Shaykh, any final words before well, I
know we're gonna see you very soon inshallah,
but before we close out for today's session
with you?
There's a lot of requests for a poem,
but I don't really have
on that here. I don't have an essay
poem.
But I'll just say, as far as the
poem goes,
Just very briefly.
Man.
I'm really out. But let's just, let's do
this one very quickly
as I I try to wrack my brain
for a poem here.
Okay. So this poem
goes
A divine rebuke
cast in a shade of love.
Hasn't the time come for those who believe
that their hearts be softened to the remembrance
of the above?
Hasn't the time come for them to stop
the play? Haven't they had their fill of
chasing dunya in every way? Haven't they seen
that all the faces and places they confuse
for oasis are mirages that fate, that none
ever stay? Are they done chasing falsehood? Are
they ready for the truth that will give
them happiness in this life and the next
eternal youth? The seeker knows that in the
remembrance of God is a lifeline to the
heart and a tongue moist with his remembrance
speaks light into the dark.
That is from,
So that's the reflection on that. Guys.
Sheikh Hamar, as he likes to say,
Drop your whatever those emojis are he asked
for in the chat, Insha'Allah.
That was an amazing end to an amazing
session. I hope that you guys all enjoyed
it. We're gonna have Shaykh Amar with us
again in a couple of days, alhamdulillah,
on the topic of generosity, Insha'Allah, so look
out for that. I think that's on the
27th night. We'll actually have we'll have special
session with him then. So,
do mark your Friday,
on your calendar that you'll spend a little
extra time. It'll be a larger session, but
we're looking forward to that with Sheikha Maher
Shukri, and that was, of course, our 23rd
day of Ramadan 360. Tomorrow, we're gonna have
Sheikha Mahersh on Love, Hope, and Fear. But
before that, you guys now have the opportunity
to reflect. And before we even get into
that, I wanna shout out, like, I think
Ramadan is such a perfect time for us
to practice Ihsan, especially as those of us
who who, you know, live in diaspora, who
live it amongst non Muslims. I feel like
I can sell which non Muslims in that
I see around me who have have positive
experiences with Muslims because they get excited with
Ramadan, they they're the ones who keep an
eye on the calendar, they wish
us Ramadan Mubarak, and then there's the ones
who are, like, a little they don't know
what to to think about it, subhanAllah. So
we should be that influence. Like, I have
my sister who's, you know, creating, like, little
gift packets for all the neighbors on the,
you know, on the floor to make sure
that they feel that that sweetness of Ramadan
even as Ramadan is ending. So there's still
plenty of time to have that impact. And
with Eid upcoming as well to have people
excited to have Muslims as part of the
community because they know that whatever, you know,
that that that we shared in that celebration
and that we're we're we're incorporating them in
that as well.
With that said, I do wanna shout out
once again the almagrib slash donate camp campaign.
Once again, Sheikh Omar said it best that
this is something that we've been working,
towards for 22 years, making sure that every
single project, every single effort that we put
out there, whether it's a Tajweed learning platform,
whether it's, a concise
library of courses on all the essential topics
that a Muslim needs to know, faith essentials,
whether it's an online class on a topic
that we wanna make sure that you come
out of it knowing every single answer on
that topic, feeling confident, feeling
empowered with that knowledge, whatever it is, whether
it's an in person experience or a trip
that we approach it with a sign and
you are part of that journey and that
legacy, when you're you're donating you're donating and
joining us in that experience. Alhamdulillah.
And that with that said, I still hit
that exactly the 45 minute mark. Usa'at Zeyemi,
I wanna bring you back on for
our 23rd day of Quran Reflections in a
row. What a marathon it's been. Assalamu Alaikum
How
are you doing today?
3 nights, SubhanAllah, 2 night I don't even
know anymore.
What any advice going into the final few
and how to maximize our efforts, inshallah?
I think
honestly,
these days what's really difficult is to focus
in worship because we're all
so sad
and so angry.
And we constantly wanna find out about what's
happening. What's the latest? Is there
good news, is there any improvement? And I
think in that, we
per I have personally caught myself
Mhmm. Spending too much time just worrying
and thinking. Or watching clips or, like Or
watching or checking the rabbit hole. Yep.
Yeah. And so I had to keep reminding
myself that, no.
This at this time, what is needed is
worship
and the rock.
So I am literally
physically separating myself from my phone. Like I
leave it upstairs. I leave it downstairs
so that I don't use it. Right?
And then I allow myself that, okay, after
I'm done for the car, after I'm done
this, after I'm done that, then I'll go
check.
But I I I think these days,
it's really difficult
because it's and it's understandable.
We're all grieving. We're all upset.
And I think the battle right now is
really with your own nafs.
You know,
you know, how in the Quran
Allah tells the prophet
that
perhaps you would kill yourself out of grief.
Yeah. Right?
That these people don't believe.
And I feel like
we're grieving.
I I were grieving and our worrying these
days is at that level. Yeah. That it's
it's it's coming to a point where it's
actually unhealthy.
Right? And
of of of course, we what else can
we do? We we we
of course, we're going to be sad. We're
going to be upset. Right?
Any the the reason is still there. And
every day, we have
another reason to be more upset, to be
more sad.
Right?
But, again, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is
is a perfect example for us.
Right? For him in Mecca,
the opposition,
the persecution was only intensifying
by the day.
Right?
And
what what is it that he was told
in the Quran Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells
him to increase in his tasbih,
right, in his remembrance of Allah, in his
glorification.
Right?
And to increase in his prayer,
to increase in his recitation of the Quran
and and and increase in dua.
So these days, you have to force yourself
that I have to make dhikr.
I have to make dua. I have to
recite the Quran. I have to pray because
this is what will actually help.
Yep. This is what will actually make a
difference.
Subhanallah.
Wow. Usala, I did not expect that answer
with that question. You that was hit the
nail on the head.
Looking forward to our reflections on today today
on the topic of Islam. Let's jump right
in, miss Milla.
Everyone.
So Ihsan.
Ihsan,
the translation that I like for Ihsan is
excellence.
Okay.
And I'll tell you why, and shall you
understand why.
The word Ihsan
is from the root
hasan, hasinun,
and this root occurs
just under 200 times in the Quran.
You say so and so, uhhsana, meaning
that he did that which is Hasan.
Okay? If someone does Ihsan, it means that
they're doing something that is Hassan.
Now what is Hassan?
Is anything that is good, anything that is
pleasing.
So if someone does a good deed, if
someone smiles, if someone gives charity,
if someone passes,
water to you, right, if someone is is
praying with hushur,
if someone is, you know, treating their parents
with respect,
if someone is saying a kind word,
all of these are what? Good things.
Right? So when someone does something good, you
say they did Ihsaan.
Alright? And ersaan is the opposite of
is to do what is bad,
and ersaan is to do what is good.
Now what exactly is good?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the
Quran,
do good.
Because
Allah loves the people who do good.
Now, again, what exactly is good?
Well, all of the religion of Allah is
good
because
in Islam,
right?
Either you are
worshiping Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you're performing an
act of worship like salah, like vikr, right,
or
you are doing good to Allah's creation.
So all of Allah's religion is
good.
So anything that is religious,
whether it is that you are smiling at
someone, you're giving sadaqah,
you are praying turakar, voluntary prayer,
you are reciting the Quran,
All of this is irsan.
Okay? Now irsan
is also used to
describe an action
as,
as excellent, meaning when it is done in
an excellent way.
Right? Like, for example, if you ask me
for water,
I can just toss the water bottle to
you. Right? Or
I can bring you water.
Right? And I can offer to you nicely.
I can pass it on to you in
a respectful way. And there's a difference between
the way you do things.
So when you do something
in a in an excellent way, that is
Ihsan. And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
when he was asked about what Ihsan is,
he said that you worship Allah as though
you
see him.
Now the thing is that when you,
or,
sorry, that you worship Allah as though you
see him. And if not that, then at
least you bring to mind that he is
watching you.
Now as human beings, this is something very
normal that when we know we are being
watched,
what happens to us?
All of a sudden, our actions become more
proper and more beautiful,
isn't it?
Even, you know, when it comes to putting
your shoes
outside the masjid. If it's just you, you
might just throw them off to the side.
But if there's somebody behind you, then what
happens? You put them neatly on the side.
You pick them up, and you, you know,
put them on the shoe rack.
Not that you should be doing it for
the sake of people, but it's a very
normal thing that when you know you're being
watched, you tend to do things in a
better way.
So the prophet is
teaching us that Ihsan is that you worship
Allah as though you see him or that
he is watching you. Meaning, everything that you
do, do it in an excellent way, in
a beautiful way.
Right?
Why? Because Allah is watching you.
Now
another, angle,
for of Irsan, Imam Raghib explains that Irsan
is different from in Iran.
Okay?
Inaram is that you you you are good
to someone. You give them a gift. You
give them something that is, that that that
is beneficial.
Alright? Let like even food. Okay?
But Ihsan is more than in Iran because
in in Iran, you're just doing good to
someone else. In
Ihsan, you are also doing good to yourself.
In Iran is all about
benefiting others.
But in ursan, you are benefiting others and
you're also benefiting yourself.
Right? Because
if you do good, you are doing good
for the benefit of your own self.
Right? When you give sadaqa to someone, it
appears as though you are benefiting them. But
in reality, who are you benefiting first? Yourself.
And then Ihsan is,
is that is is is the step after
Adil. It it surpasses
Adil. Okay?
Adil is that you give only what is
due, and you take only what is due.
So for example, when it comes to your
zakat,
actually, let's say you you,
you
okay.
Okay.
How about this? Let's go back to zakat.
Okay?
You have to give your zakat. Let's say
$500
is due as zakat.
Okay?
Now for you,
giving $500
is what? Is required.
Right? You have to do that.
But when you give more,
okay, more than what is due, that is
what?
If if you don't give more, are you
sinful? No way. If you just give $500,
you have fulfilled your obligation.
But when you give more than that, then
that is.
Okay? Likewise, when it comes to,
you know, your
your obligations
towards
other people.
Islamically,
for instance, a man has certain responsibilities towards
his wife. A wife has certain responsibilities
towards her husband.
Right?
And the prophet
has
has mentioned those.
But then when you do more than what
is required of you
just to
benefit someone,
just to make their life easier for them,
this is what Ihsan.
So Ihsan is more than.
K?
Now who exactly are the Mursinin? In the
Quran, we see that Mursinin are,
first of all, the people of Taqwa.
Allah
tells us in Surat that yet,
versus 15 to 19.
Allah
says,
Indeed, the people of Taqwa
will be in gardens and springs.
And among the gardens of paradise in the
gardens of of paradise where there are springs.
And they will be receiving whatever their lord
gives them.
Hey. Imagine they're constantly receiving the rewards
that Allah
gives them.
And Allah says,
They
used to be before that people of Ibsen.
So
muttaqeen
will be in paradise,
and Allah
says that these were
who?
Okay?
Now who were they? What did they do?
Allah
describes that.
In the night, they used to sleep very
little. Why?
Because they were standing in prayer,
calling upon Allah, begging for his favor and
his forgiveness and his mercy.
And at the time of, they would be
seeking forgiveness from Allah. Any at the at
the end of the night, just before fajr,
they would be seeking forgiveness from Allah.
And in their property
was
a was a a a share for who?
For those who ask and also those who
are deprived and and they don't ask.
So this means
that
are who? Those who worship Allah.
But which worship?
Is it just the obligations?
No. It's the voluntary worship as well because
the night prayer, is
not.
Right? It's it's not obligatory. It's voluntary.
So they're doing more than what is required.
This is
Ihsan. And then in their property is a
fixed share.
They they certainly give from their property
to those who ask and also those who
are deprived.
You need because there are some people who
who will come and ask you, and then
there are others who you know they need
more and they will never ask.
So they give to others and this is
their towards
people.
Then we see Allah mentions in Surat Al
Musalat,
that the people of Taqwa will be in
shades
and among springs.
And they will have whatever fruits that they
desire.
Eat and drink
to your delight
because of what you used to do.
Allah says, this is how we give reward
to those who do Ihsan.
So who are?
They are.
Alright.
Then we see
that the people who who have,
people of patients, they're also described as Mursini
in Surat Al Imran verses 146 to 148.
That Allah says,
Allah loves those who are patient, and then
Allah mentioned some more qualities. And then at
the end of the next verse, he says,
he loves
Because
means what? That you don't quit.
That you you you don't give up.
You you don't become weak.
Right?
You you carry on for the sake of
Allah.
Then we see are who?
Those who
who say
what is good.
Okay? So this shows us that Ihsan is
not just in worship.
It is not just in your actions. It
is also in your speech.
Verse 83, Allah says,
Allah rewarded them because of what they said.
What is the reward that Allah gave them?
Paradise.
And that is the reward of who? Those
who do Ihsan.
So who are those who do Ihsan? Those
who say what is good. Those who say
what is true.
So Ihsan is in speech, in actions, in
worship, in our dealings with people.
Now we see that in the Quran, Ihsan
is described as, again, islifa meanslifaatilla,
An attribute
among the attributes of Allah. Allah
is Al Muhsin,
the doer of good, the one who is
extremely generous,
the one who does not have to give
us anything,
but he gives us
more than what we can even ask him.
If you count the blessings of Allah, you
could not count them. You wouldn't be able
to. Is Allah
required?
Does he owe all of these blessings to
us? No. This is all his.
Right? And then we see that in in
different,
ways, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
does even more favor
to towards his slaves. You know, like in,
like Yusuf
said, Allah
did to me, and he was extremely good
to me when he brought me out of
the prison.
And and and then we see that in
the
Quran, Allah commands us to do ursan.
In Suratul Nahil, verse number 90,
Allah
commands you with justice and also with ursan.
So
give what is due.
Okay? Take what is yours,
but then also go the extra mile.
Don't just be focused on what is my
right, what is their right,
what do I owe, what do they owe
me, and then, you know, just be business
like. No. Go the extra mile. Do Iksan
also.
And in the Quran, Allah
especially tells us to do Ihsan towards our
parents.
Ursanah. Five times in the Quran, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala tells us to do ursan with
our parents.
And ursan with people
is in how you speak to them.
It is
in in doing acts of service for them.
It is in taking care of them.
It is in doing favors to them. It
is in spending your property on them.
It is in using your position, your knowledge,
your expertise, your status to benefit them.
So
towards parents and also to other people like,
in Surat Al Baqarah,
Do Ihsan to parents and to the relatives
and the orphans and those in need.
Then we see in the Quran that we
are actually told to do Ihsan in everything
that we do,
not just
when, you know, things are good and convenient,
but also in
any difficult,
tricky
situations like divorce.
Allah
says in Surat Al Baqarah
that divorce that is revocable is only 2
times
Then either
you retain the wife, you keep her with
you,
or you let her go with Ihsan.
Imagine,
you're parting ways,
and you let her go how?
With Ihsan.
Ihsan is also required when when paying blood
money. Imagine someone accidentally killed another Muslim.
Alright? And then they're paying the blood money.
Allah
says.
Give the payment with Ihsan.
So if Irsan is required in such tricky
situations, then what do you think about
everyday,
you know, interactions and especially
times when,
you know, we're happy, we're celebrating,
where,
you know, things are normal. Mhmm.
And we see that Allah
promises reward for Ihsan. What is the reward
for Ihsan? The first reward is that you
benefit yourself.
In verse 7, in.
When you do good, when you do irsan,
you benefit.
You benefit in this world. In Surat Zumar,
verse number 10, Allah says,
Those who do
in this world, they will have good.
They receive the love of Allah and the
help of Allah. In Surat Al Baqarah, verse
195,
Allah loves those people who do.
Those who do receive the help of Allah.
In
69,
Allah is with those who do good.
Verse 56.
The mercy of Allah is very close to
those who do good.
Those who do Ihsan, their efforts are not
wasted because sometimes we feel like we're just
constantly benefiting, constantly giving, constantly being generous, and
we don't receive anything from the other person.
When you do Ihsan, you're doing it for
the sake of Allah, and Allah
sees what you do, and he will not
allow your efforts to be wasted.
In Suratul Kahf verse 30, Allah says,
We will not allow to be wasted the
reward of those who do good.
And those who do Ihsan
will be
freed from fear and grief.
The one who does irsan.
They will have their reward with Allah.
They will have no fear nor will they
grieve, and that will be in paradise
where
Allah will give them
more than what they ever imagined.
And that is,
of course, the the reward in paradise
and the greatest reward seeing Allah
May Allah
allow us to help us to worship him
with Ihsan
and give us a tawfiq to do Ihsan,
to do good, to benefit others no matter
where we go.
Well, Allah help me to remember you,
to,
thank you, and to worship you in an
excellent way.
Allo'ma ami. Let's hear from you now.
Inshallah. I'm sorry it took so long. I
wanted to cover all of these points,
and I didn't realize
No. I have no time. Sorry about that.
No. You don't have to apologize. It's your
time, miss Sala. But, we ended on time,
so we still have plenty of time to
for reflections. I see Aviva
has her hand up. So let's hear from
Aviva first.
I want to, share about Youssef alaihi salaam,
that he became,
more wealthy later.
But before because sometimes we think that Ihsan
is just in your wealth, but it's not
just in your wealth. It's also in your
character and your manners and your behavior. And
I think
had your son first in his character and
in his own manners and behavior.
That is so beautiful.
For sharing.
Yeah. Okay.
Beautiful. Next, we'll take Tamia. Insha'Allah. Tamia, go
right ahead, miss Mila.
Give it one more try. There you go.
I was gonna say the same thing she
said. That's it. That's all. Thank you.
There's a second.
I had my hand up as well. Actually,
no. I'll wait another person in line. Inshallah,
Paris, let's hear from you, and then inshallah,
I'll share reflection.
So the people of Hassan are so excellent.
As you've mentioned that after a night filled
with prayer, they end it seeking forgiveness. So
their excellence doesn't blind them to their shortcomings,
and it isn't a cause for them not
to be humble. And when we pray our
obligatory prayers, we say three
times.
But for them, after a night of nonobligatory
prayers, night filled with nonobligatory prayers, then they
end it with.
So that's just a testament to their excellence.
That's beautiful.
Well said. Let's take, brother of Derhaman as
well. Go right ahead, brother of Derhaman.
Yes. This reminds me of the story. It's
a famous parable of a carpenter
who's on his last day at work or
his last assignment at work. Right? And the
carpenter is told by his boss, there's this
one more house we'd like you to build.
And he says, okay, but his heart's not
in it anymore. And so he builds the
house, but he cuts corners. He doesn't really
do his best work he's done over the
years.
He goes back to his boss and says
he's done. And then the boss gives him
the key and says, this house is for
you. You just build your own house. And
he realizes,
why didn't I put my effort into it?
And when I think about that story, I
think about for us,
that's what we're doing for our houses in
Jannah. Right? We're building
our own,
abodes.
And when we take those shortcuts in salah,
we take those shortcuts in wudu, we take
those shortcuts in sadaqa.
It's our own house that we're that we're
shortchanging. Right? It's no one else's.
SubhanAllah.
Exactly really really well said
I'll take the next one insha'Allah
so this is an example or or there's
someone in my life my brother actually I
think, Sadzemiya, you know him,
Usama, who Masha'Allah shows extent in everything that
he does to the point where it causes
him personal, like, loss or sacrifice. And that
that's the test of it is is if
you have to lose out, or if you
have to sacrifice financially, or in other ways
to make sure that you do everything to
the best of your ability, and that you're
not
that you can feel comfortable with yourself when
you go to sleep at night. So he
had a small business for a couple of
years and, mashaAllah, he would like all his
reviews, again working mostly with non Muslims and
this and that, would be by his extreme
honesty and extreme hicand that he did in
everything that he, in every interaction, every transaction
that he did. And a lot of times
small businesses sometimes they get targeted by scammers
and people who are just trying to take
advantage, and they're you know, so I remember
one time he had somebody contact him, like,
months after receiving a product or service, and,
like, you know, there was no issues or
whatever with it, and, like, coming up like,
making up something that was wrong with it
and asking him to fix it and all
that kind of stuff. And he just, like,
listened to it. He's, like, you know, gave
it a proper response of, like, you know,
this seems unlikely or whatever. They pushed back
and they said, no, no, no. They insisted.
And he's like, okay, I'll take you for
your word. I'll give you a full refund
of whatever you gave and whatever. And the
person got so embarrassed.
And they're like, okay. Never mind. I didn't
you know? No. I didn't actually it's fine.
It's, you know, whatever, because they didn't expect
someone to just give up, and it was
not a good time for him to be
giving out refunds. I was, like, I was
shocked. I was, like, that was a horrible
financial decision. But subhanAllah seeing that, like, you
know, I don't, I don't want to be,
you know, sending in for Allah SubhanAllah and
be accountable for any dollar, anything that could
potentially even put me at risk. I want
to make sure that any interaction that I
have, whether it's a financial one, whether it's
otherwise, it's done with excellence. It, mashallah, it
showed through, and it was such a form
of dawah for those we interacted with during
that entire
Sorry. Before, Nemat,
you know, it comes at a personal sacrifice.
Absolutely. This is why the reward of Ihsaan
is so great. That's so true. Right?
When
you your son is not just reciprocation, as
we learned earlier,
it's when someone is talking down at you,
someone is raising their voice at you. They
are being condescending.
They're being disrespectful and you still maintain your
decorum. You know, your you speak properly.
This is your irsan.
So
Allah
Allah knows,
and Allah loves the that you do, and
he will not waste your effort.
Right?
Go ahead. Let's hear from you as well.
So this reminds me of what is going
on currently in the world. The Ihsan
among the people of Gaza, people of Palestine.
I feel like how,
whatever situation they are in,
in the in that calamity, they are able
to worship Allah at at their best. And
they able to worship even though they do
they lost their body parts. They lost people.
They're able to worship with his son. And
I feel like even the children are, like,
reciting Quran, and they're still with the Quran
all the time. And where are we? I
don't think I am anywhere close to, like,
even a speck of dust or whatever because
it's just
so mesmerizing
and the entire world is, like, inspired by
their Ihsan and there are a lot of
reverts because of, the resilience and the sand
they are showing showing. So that's something which
is very inspirational to me, and it's something
that I can never even imagine. It's something
beyond my imagination, I feel.
Very well said name. Next person let's take
is, and I think we can make that
the final reflection. Go ahead,
So your reflection also reminded me of a
dealing I had in Amra. We were shopping,
and I really wanted, like, Palestinian clothes and,
you know, into, like, everything that's going on.
And we were shopping at this shop, and
the guy's like, oh, are you guys Palestinian?
I said, no. We're Syrian. And he's like,
I love dealing with Syrians because they're like,
his, like, his, like, his,
opinion was very high. And he was like,
you know, I
buy, a lot of my merchandise from them,
and they're very honest, and they're on time,
and it's just it's a great dealing that
I have. So he's like, please, pick anything
you want in the store. I'm gonna give
you a great discount.
And so, like, they dealt with him with
Hassan
and just his dealing we didn't even have
to you know, usually, you have to barter
and you have to, you know, do everything
that you have to and he just by
himself, he was like, no. Just because you
guys are from that place and I have
a good experience
and they're good people, I'm gonna give you
a good discount.
So it's good to do. Like, sometimes just,
you know, secondhand, you can get something good
out of it.
Allah
makes a promise that we we will give
more to those who do good. And that
more doesn't always come to you. It it
goes to the people around you. SubhanAllah.
Alright. Inshallah, we'll conclude here for today.
Shazak, and
to all of you who shared some lovely
reflections today. I love Vaseline's comment here is
that Ehsan snowballs. Indeed it does.
As we wrap up, I just wanted to
quickly shout out one of the first and
the best examples of a Hassan that I've
seen, in my experience, especially with the Muslim
community has been, masha'Allah, the almagrib volunteers.
So if anyone has ever taken a almagrib
class in person, I know brother Abder Haman
is the head of, of the kabida in
Ohio and is that Zaimia has taught us
around, the globe, Masha'Allah, is, one thing that
was always humbling and mind boggling for me
to see is classes it can be a
simple experience. You can find a hall anywhere,
you can go to an Islamic event in
many places, and they'll just they'll let you
come in. They'll let you come out. We'll
just we'll we'll speed through the experience, and
then it it is what it is. And
I found that as a child going to
Almagrib classes, the mad ihsan from the very
beginning, you walking into the hall, the registration,
the way that you were greeted, the way
that you were that everything was organized and
the presentations and the humor and the interactions
with the
you know, thought or care into. And that
is something that has been such an honor
to work with them. And one of the
ways that when you support a Maghreb is
you support the ability for us to thank
them, to give back to them on the
ground, to make sure that they
get positive classes and experiences as well. Alhamdulillah.
And it's just such a beautiful community to
be a part of. So I'm always super
grateful. I get the honor of working very
directly with all the teams globally and interacting
with these beautiful personalities who gift of them
their own time and their money and their
energy just to contribute to the dawah and
to make the experience better for other students
of knowledge. So, when you're making the offer,
the instructors and the staff and everything, don't
forget the among your volunteers
and those du'as and may Allah accept from
them and grant them all janatul firdos and
allow you all to meet and to benefit
from them in this world and the hereafter.
With that let's close off. That was day
number 23 of Ramadan 360. SubhanAllah
last week
coming up insha'Allah tomorrow is going to be
Sheikh Omar Khadrooj on the topic of love,
hope, and fear. Don't miss out. Join us
live. We'll see you guys same time, same
place. And of course, please always keep the
people of Palestine and your da'as. May Allah
keep them happy and healthy and safe. We'll
see you soon. Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi