Calisha Bennett – Unlocking Hearts During Lockdown

			I'll be learning in a shape on a regime Smilla Rahmanir Rahim in Alhamdulillah in our men who want
to start in who want to start from when are other bIllahi min Cerulean Faustina Amin say at Yanina
Yachty Lofa La Molina, who am I? A little fella had yella eyeshadow Allah Allah Allah Allahu Akbar.
Hola Cherie color eyeshadow Anna Mohammed and Abu Rasulo fairly Oh praise due to Allah, we praise
Him we seek His help and we seek his forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil within
ourselves and the evil consequences of your actions. Whoever Allah subhanaw taala guides and and can
misguide and whoever is led astray and and can guide I bear witness that there is none worthy of
		

			worship but Allah he's alone and has no partner and I be witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam is his slave and messenger salaam, Wa Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh. My dearest brothers
and sisters who are tuning in to the connect the pills Islamic conference, on the theme and the
topic of lockdown. This is your sister, Felicia Bennett all the way from Australia. And I'm honored
and humbled to be able to present you humbly love for the second year in a row for this conference.
And may Allah subhanaw taala benefit and strengthen us all through the reminders that we learn and
gain from this conference. So Inshallah, what I wanted to share with you all, today is a reminder,
		

			very simple, short reminder, Inshallah, on the topic of unlocking hearts during lockdown. So we know
that globally, it's a very tricky, challenging time that we're in. And I understand that there are
different intensities of the lockdown happening in different cities, different countries around the
world, some are going, you know about it in a very challenging and restricted way. And some places
are a little bit more flexible and free moving. Either way, we know that we're in times where things
are changing, and that we are under immense pressures and immense struggles when it comes to
adjusting to that change. And being in a world where we are perhaps somewhat fearful of the unknown.
		

			The fact that we don't know what is going to happen week by week as we move forward into the future,
that can be a very unsettling experience and concern for many people. So inshallah we're going to
have a look at this topic of unlocking hearts during lockdown. How can we use the lockdown to unlock
our hearts and go into our our hearts into our souls, and in sha Allah to Allah purify ourselves and
strengthen ourselves and discover and remedy things that perhaps we didn't really know, were there.
So I want to start off with a story insha Allah for us to draw inspiration from luckily, you know,
this story, it's the amazing story of our beloved or not even a hot tub Rhodiola Juan, and how he
		

			became a Muslim. And this is a very powerful story of how Allah subhanaw taala can unlock someone's
heart, how Allah subhanaw taala can open up someone's heart, when previously perhaps there was no
hope for that person's heart to be opened. And likewise, you know, when it comes to our own hearts,
we might think that we no longer feel or we can no longer cope with or that we can no longer you
know, connect or we struggled to understand. But when it comes down to it, we have to remember that
Allah subhanaw taala is the controller of the hearts and if He decrees that a heart should be locked
or unlocked, then nothing can stand in the way of that Pamela. So to you know to recap and be
		

			reminded of the story of our beloved Omar ibn Al hotdog ready Allah Han. You know that at one stage
he went to go visit the Haram and he saw the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salaam praying in front of
the Kaaba and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was reciting Surah, Hakka the reality and when
O'Meara de la han was listening to it, he said, By Allah this is poetry as the Quran should have
said. And then right when he said that this is poetry that the prophets Allah Allah Allah sons
reciting the next is the prophets Allah Allah Allah son recited in a whole lot. olu Rasool in Karim
Allah ma Hua, because Malaysia is calling to me known. He said that this is verily the word of an
		

			honored messenger. It is not the word of a poet. Little is that you believe so? Subhan Allah or
motto the Lohan's doubts are being responded to surprise by this rather low and said, well he must
be a soothsayer. Another accusation that the Qureshi is to make about the Prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, as soon as he said that the next verse was then recited where the
Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam recited while being only Kahin Polylang teda Carone telent Zealong
Mirabella and I mean, no Is it the word of a soothsayer. Little is that you remember, this is the
revelation sent down from the Lord or
		

			Alameen so, you know later on in his life, speaking of this moment of when this incident happened,
Amara, the Allahu and he said, this is when Islam entered my heart. So in that moment, the little
seeds were being planted, as Allah subhanaw taala addressed the arguments and the rebuttals, and
that assumptions and accusations that Omar Abdullah one had about the the ayat of the Quran, the
prophets of Allah, Islam was recited. So we have to think, you know, hearts can change. And they
change gradually, sometimes in you know, in the, in the famous incident as well where we know,
		

			even on her blog, where he was well known for his determination and his anger and his short temper,
and he made the sudden sudden decision one day that he's going to kill the Prophet salAllahu alayhi
wasallam. So, even though Islam was slowly entering into his heart, the hatred that he had for this
religion, it still existed. So, on the day he, you know, decided that's it, I'm going to kill the
messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, on the way to kill the messenger, sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam, he ran into one of the companions. Now even Abdullah, the long run, who started to talk
to him, trying to slow him down. And when name found out that I wanted to kill the prophet, and he
		

			told me, maybe you should go talk to your sister first because I heard that she's become a Muslim.
So he used
		

			a strategy or distraction technique to be able to protect the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam. So
Omar went on a detour and headed over to his sister's house, and he noticed and he heard the
recitation of the Quran when he entered upon his sister, her husband, so even Zadara the law one
		

			he,
		

			he asked his sister and her sons, his sister's husband, have you left the faith of your forefathers,
and then he began to attack them both. And he actually made his sister bleed. And when he saw her
bleeding, he felt guilty that that's what calmed him down. So he apologized to his sister and
husband and then he asked them, show me what you're reading. Let me see what you're reading. And his
sister said to him, go and purify yourself first you have to purify before you can see these holy
words Holy Scripture. And then upon reading the verses of surah Taha Islam again began to enter
Amara do long runs hot so now he's back on the track to go to the profits that are low while he was
		

			alone right and confront the Prophet
		

			so the in this time you know name had distracted or Marathi Lohan sent him to his sister's house.
He's bought some time so name had gone to the Prophet salallahu Salam and warned him that one was
coming, and he's coming to kill you. So when I might have got to the prophets of Allah, Allah Islams
house, he had his sword in his hand. And the worry out you know that you know Hamza, even Abdul
Muttalib radula, Juan said, Don't worry, I'll kill him with his own sword. The Prophet sallallahu
Sallam told him no, go and hide. And when Ahmad entered the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the
prophet grabbed Omar by the collar and shook him and he said, Oh, even Allahu Akbar. Why have you
		

			not accepted Islam? I could demand strong demand. Why haven't you accepted Islam? Omar ibn Al
Khattab radula Juan responded, a chateau a la ilaha illallah wa Chateau ana Muhammadan rasul Allah,
He will witness that there is nothing worthy of worship of Allah and he bought witness that Muhammad
sallallahu alayhi salam is the Messenger of Allah, and he became Muslim. It's Pamela, the Muslims
who are hiding at this time staying out of the way of this incident, this altercation that was about
to take place, they started yelling, Allahu Akbar. So it was an immense and momentous moment. And
what do we learn from this journey of the Allahu ion is the progression of a heart which was once
		

			locked and assumed as locked and hard and closed, gradually opening up Subhan Allah, so much so
that, you know, we all know that later on, he became, you know, one of the greatest leaders of Islam
and of the OMA Pantalone so you don't know what is in store for any individual, let alone yourself
if you unlock the depths of your heart, the depths of your immense Pantalon just imagine what
potential you have. So when we look at the state of hearts, you know, there are different types of
hearts and different states that the heart can fall into. Some people have a dead heart. This is a
heart that is devoid of any emotion, any goodness. You know, it is a heart which is not living and
		

			breathing and surviving and thriving. We also have darkened hearts, we have hardened hearts, we have
blackened hearts, we have sealed hearts, we have locked hearts, we have blind hearts, all these
different types of states of hearts Panola that we constantly have to check in with ourselves.
		

			Oops and check the condition of our heart. No Is it beating? No Is it? Is it breathing? No. Is it
constantly moving and growing and purifying itself? Or is it becoming stagnated? unhealthy, dead,
dying black and dark and may Allah Allah protect us? When it comes even to blind hearts? Allah
Subhana Allah mentions kottam Allahu Allah coleauxv him Allah semi him, while the other sorry
humility SHA, Allah Hamada boo Nowlin. Allah says it is as if God has sealed their hearts and the
hearing and the vision is veiled. There is great chastisement for them. So a blind heart that sealed
it can't see the truth. It's locked, it's closed. You know, and Allah subhanaw taala can cause that
		

			upon a heart and the vision is veil you can't see the reality is from Allah. Allah protect all of
us. Our ultimate goal or ideal is to have a sound heart. We want to have a sound heart. What is the
sound heart, the heart that allows Matala mentions in Suraj Shura chapter 26. In lemon at Allah, He
will call me in Selim. It's about the one who comes to Allah, only the one who comes to Allah with a
sound heart. So this is the type of believing heart that we want to meet Allah subhanaw taala within
arterra, to be able to be granted entry into paradise, we want to have a sound heart, a heart, which
is in a state of peace in a state of tranquility, in a state of obedience in a state of balance and,
		

			and good health, and, you know, strong spiritual and connected hearts on a lot. When we look at the
lockdown situation that we're in, maybe check in with yourself, think about the people around you
some of the conversations that you've heard, even seeing some of the statistics of people's you
know, mental and emotional health and well being during the lockdown phases in different places
around the world. We have people, you know,
		

			explaining that they have symptoms of feeling very anxious, they feel very fearful. They have a
heart, which is very, it's stirred and disturbed. They might feel very sad or lonely or isolated.
They feel insecure, they feel unsafe. So hearts are in really a lot of hearts, many hearts, maybe
your heart right now, as you're listening to this might be in a very unsettled, undisturbed state,
you might feel extremely agitated, you might feel extremely insecure and unsafe right now, because
of the different things happening in the world. And you know, the state of being in lockdown,
especially if you're under very high isolation locked up at home, not able to leave the house except
		

			for you know, a few hours a day or move about no sense of community, maybe you don't have many
friends, maybe you don't have many people living with you in your home and you might feel extremely
isolated and highly anxious and disturbs Pantalon, may Allah Subhana Allah make it easy for you. So
going through the lockdown experience is going to force you to sit with yourself because of that
isolation. But through that sitting with yourself, it's so important that you check in with your
state of heart. And ask yourself what is my state of spirituality within my heart? What is my state
of emotional well being within my heart? What is my state of connection within the relationships
		

			that I have with others? How is that going? When it comes to my heart? Do I have any bad qualities
that I'm carrying within my heart hatred, malice, jealousy, envy, pride? Do I have within my heart
any negative feelings towards other people were when I think about someone, I have these very
negative feelings which arise within my heart. So this lockdown phase is locked down time Yes, it is
a big challenge and a big difficulty for many. But at the same time, it's an amazing opportunity to
check in with any locks that we have hanging on to our hearts preventing it from being truly open.
truly connected to Allah subhanaw taala truly free to explore the journey of of our of our spiritual
		

			awakenings, our spiritual connection, our spiritual learning, if we can unlock our hearts, perhaps
we can tap into the greatest Islamic spiritual Eman boosting potential that we have within us
panela. So how can you unlock your heart during this lockdown phase that we have and that we're
experiencing? But of course, as I mentioned, check in with your heart first, what state and
condition is it in? How is it feeling? Is it feeling settled? Or unsettled? Does it feel healthy or
does it feel diseased? Does it feel lighter? Or does it feel way down? What's going on with your
heart?
		

			So you have to gauge that within yourself? What gaps do you have in your heart? Is there anything
missing?
		

			What pain are you carrying in your heart? What wounds have have taken place? Who has hurt you?
What's happened to you that you haven't been able to resolve or reconcile? In what ways? Is your
heart locked? or blocked? Or closed or hardened? What are you holding on to that you need to let go?
What is it that you need to release? So just asking these questions are there for you to really
think about the state and condition of your heart and what it is that you're carrying within your
heart? So why do we want to unlock our hearts what's on the other side of unlocking our hearts, we
need to understand that when we unlock our hearts, we're going to be able to have a much better
		

			quality of life, the experience of our life, the spiritual connection that we have with Allah
subhanaw taala the relationship even that we have with ourselves being kind and loving and
understanding to ourselves merciful to ourselves, believing in ourselves, investing in ourselves,
honoring ourselves picking ourselves up when we're feeling down and low. And you know, we will also
have benefits in the qualities quality of our many relationships if we unlock our hearts, we have
locked hearts How can we truly give it and share it with others the quality of our of our you know,
our personal Islamic journeys is going to be greatly enhanced if we can unlock our hearts a lot of
		

			the time people say I learned Islam or I read the Quran, but I feel blocked like it's not going into
my heart I don't feel connected or when they make Salah they'll say I feel feel like it's not
connecting deeply within my heart. If you can unlock your heart, then inshallah Tada you'll be able
to tap into that greater spiritual potential that lies within you. So looking at the lockdown time,
we need to really focus on using the time during these these lockdown, you know, hours, these
countless hours where we have to be at home or restricted and use the time to unlock your hearts.
Now thinking What do you mean? How do I unlock my hearts? Now, the most important and the simplest
		

			step towards unlocking your heart is to ponder over the Quran. To read it and ponder over the Quran
to read the words of Allah subhanaw taala your Lord your maker, your Sustainer, who sent down this
divine book from the heavens and peace placed it onto this earth, placed on you know the most pure
of books the most pure of speech. The most pure speech of Allah spent Allah sent down to this earth
why? to guide us and to help us and to help us understand ourselves and unlock the mysteries of life
and unlock our minds and unlock our hearts. Allah smart Allah says in the Quran, chapter 47 Verse
24, a fella to dead Barone Al Quran and Marla Kulu bien acaba Lucha Allah asks this question, Will
		

			they not then ponder over the Quran? Or is it that they have locks on their hearts from which bar
them from reason? So I was asking, don't need don't a pond over the Quran? If I asked you do you
ponder over the ground? Don't you ponder over the Quran that you read a verse and try to sit on it
and reflect upon it and try to push it into your heart to impact you? And then Allah says, do they
not ponder on it? Or do they have locks on their hearts? Are their hearts locked? Are their hearts
locked? Do you ponder over the Quran? Do you read it regularly? Do you read it daily?
		

			Or are there locks on your hearts? So the cure to these locks the way to unlock the heart is to
ponder over the Quran. When we look at some of the beautiful names of the Quran, I want to share
some of these names of the current so you can understand why this is the means of unlocking our
hearts. And one of the names of the Quran is Nora, the light when you read the Quran, as a Muslim
you'll never feel the darkness you'll never feel like you're in the dark because the Quran is known
as the nor it is a light
		

			we have the Shiva the healing so Muslims should know that the Quran is a source of healing for yes
physical ailments but also spiritual ailments, psychological ailments, emotional ailments, we should
use the Quran as a Shiva healing. The Quran is also known as Houda the guidance so you should never
feel like you're lost or misguided you speak to people that I feel so lost. How can we feel lost
when we have the Quran known as the Huda the guidance for mankind? How can we feel lost when the
direction the roadmap the GPS is right there.
		

			It's also known as the Tenzin the thing which is sent down we know it's sent down from the heavens.
So the Muslims should feel confident in its authority. So when you read the Quran, you know this
came from the heavens on planet Earth and is telling you about the you know, the the way to live in
the purpose of your life. This is a big deal.
		

			This book is an absolute authority compared to all other types of self help books or guides. It's
also known as kitab. The book, so you should know that this is something which is permanently
inscribed and unwavering. It's a secured. It's a secured, collected book. As in, it's something
which is preserved. It's also known as we know the Quran the recitation, so it is a word which is to
be proclaimed the Quran means recitation. So the Quran is only truly the Quran when it's being
recited, which means it must be continuously recited in must be a book, which is not just visually
read, it should be recited out loud. It's also known as fat long funnel Allah, the funnel of Allah,
		

			the bounty of God, so you should know that it's a bounty and a mercy from Allah. It's also known as
pork on the criterion, and you should base your decisions on the guidance of the Quran without fear
or without doubt. If the Quran is the criterion, the good from bad the right from wrong, use it as
your guide. So that's a very important part. How do you unlock your heart, ponder over the Quran,
which requires you to read the Quran to spend time with the Quran and to sit with the Quran. Another
means of unlocking your heart is to be of service, be of service to the people, give to the people,
serve the people, help the people, support the people, when you do this, through what you experience
		

			through being someone who is humbled to do the simplest of jobs and tasks for the betterment of
others in society. This is what will insha Allah slowly unlock your heart and allow it to be open
and allow it to be humbled. And obviously connecting that to helping the poor and the needy. When
you see those who have less when you see the less fortunate when you are with the downtrodden. This
is another means of unlocking your heart, and other ways to reflect upon your blessings. Think about
how many countless blessings you have. If you started writing from the morning till the night for 10
years straight, you'll still never run out of things to write down, which are blessings of Allah
		

			subhanaw taala running through and through within your life within your body all throughout the day
without even asking Allah. So if you can reflect on your blessings, these can be a means of
unlocking your heart. And also to remember what's truly important in life. The heart gets locked
because it sometimes can lose sight of what the reality of life is, it can lose sight and lose focus
on why we're here, what we're meant to do, and what Allah Subhana Allah expects from us, and what
potential we have, and what our mission is, and what we need to sacrifice, and what we need to
strive for. It's so easy to forget it and get caught up in the dunya. But to unlock the heart, you
		

			want to strive to remember think what do I need to be doing. And slowly, slowly and surely you will
set your heart free from being bound to the dunya experience and the material experience and rather
striving for what's truly important, which is the everlasting accountability, that accountability
accountability we have in the author and an ultimately our everlasting destination in Africa.
		

			So I want to end with that in sha Allah, I hope you've been able to take some notes and benefit and
may Allah subhanaw taala strengthen all of us and allow us to ponder over the Quran number one and
use that as a means of strengthening and unlocking our hearts. And may we have healed, recovered
purified hearts by Allah subhanaw taala has permission and you know, to strip away all the darkness
and all the
		

			the tainted sadness within our hearts and to strengthen it, strengthen our hearts and make them pure
and more resilient and more focused and living according to our greater purpose than ever insha
Allah Tala and to end with a reminder of beautiful Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam to remind us of the importance of giving this heart focus. He said, Verily, Allah does not
look to your faces and your wealth, but he looks to your heart and your deeds. So focus on your
heart. You might physically be in lockdown, but it's time to unlock your heart and set it free to be
able to work and strive for allotments Allah and be connected to your greater purpose. May Allah
		

			Subhana Allah bless you all. Joseph, look out for listening everyone. This is your sister Felicia
Bennett. I look forward to inshallah Darla seeing you again perhaps in person next year. BarakAllahu
li goon Subhanak Allahumma will be handy here Subhanak along with the hamburger eyeshadow Allah Illa
Illa antenna Sakurako we like a Salaam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh Hill