Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #053 Hypocrisy Belies Truthfulness Foundations of Faith The Taste of Knowledge Holistic
AI: Summary ©
The importance of faith in one's actions and behavior is discussed, including the importance of faith in sincerity, lieging in faith, trusting commitment to fulfillment, and reducing one's eating habits. The importance of knowledge and experience in one's life is emphasized, as it is necessary to acquire knowledge and experience taste of knowledge. The practical aspect of bar ham is also discussed, including reducing one's health, respecting one's health, and reciting the Quran. excessive eating is a result of not wanting to eat at the moment, rather than advertising to everyone. A monthly donation is suggested for support.
AI: Summary ©
You're listening to the daily guidance for seekers
with Sheikh Farazrabani,
who will be covering Imam Yusuf and Abiheni's
beautiful collection of 40 sets of 40 hadith
of the prophet, peace and blessings be upon
him, as well as Imam Zarnooji's guidance for
seekers of knowledge regarding the ways of seeking
knowledge.
Alhamdulillah, we're continuing to look at
40 hadiths
on
Iman and Islam,
and
these hadiths highlight
the tremendousness
of
the mercy of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in
gifting us
with
faith in our hearts
and
gifting us with
the
concern
within to
submit
to him.
And we reached
hadith number
15.
Hadith number 15 of this collection by Sheikh
Youssef Al Nabhani
is related by Abu Hureira
The messenger of Allah
said the signs of a hypocrite
are 3.
If they speak,
they lie.
If they promise,
they break their promise.
And if they're trusted,
they betray
their trust.
And this is related by Bukhari and Muslim.
And there's a few things here. The signs
of a hypocrite are 3,
faith
entails
sincerity and being true. Because if we believe
in Allah,
it entails
that we are sincere to him, that we
seek him alone.
Because Allah has created us
so we recognize
that reality
and he has commanded us.
So we submit
to that command.
So faith entails sincerity
in faith and in practice.
Hypocrisy
relates
to
faith,
to iman,
which is that one claims faith,
but within,
one
does not have faith and that is the
hypocrisy of faith
and there's the hypocrisy.
So there's Nifaqul
Iman and there's Nifaqul Islam.
Nifaqul Islam is that one outwardly
claims
to submit,
but one's conduct
betrays
what the the trueness of one submission.
Right?
So the signs of a hypocrite
is 3, someone who claims that I'm a
Muslim, but they don't act accordingly.
So there's hypocrisy here in their conduct.
If they speak,
they lie.
And
the way
it is stated in the Arabic, if you
notice,
when they speak,
the consequence of the sentence is mentioned in
the past tense,
Right? In the past, literally you'd say, if
they speak, they have lied.
And the reason is put in the past
tense, it's
that it's it's a reality. That if they
speak, it's
inevitable
or it's common
that they will lie.
Right? It is their habit
that they lie.
Right? Means they don't care.
They're not concerned.
Likewise, if
and
if they
if they speak to people,
they
invariably lie.
Right? They commonly lie.
And
lying is affirming something that one does not
have good reason to believe
is true.
If they promise,
if they make a commitment,
I'll help. I'll do this. I'll do that.
They
break their promise
and that this is common.
And this is, of course, making
these are interrelated.
Why?
Because
and this is why they say
hypocrisy
Hypocrisy
in action
is the contrary of being true in conduct.
So
being true in conduct,
it's opposed by
falsity and the hypocrisy is being false.
So
the the opposite of being true as a
believer will be manifest in one speech
by signs. That in general, when one speaks,
what is the opposite of being true?
It's lying.
Because one is not committed
to do the right thing, one's not committed
to say the right thing.
It's that's what lying is. Lying
goes against,
which is why
the prophet
told us that one of the qualities a
believer could never have is lying.
Right? Lying, cheating, deception, all of these go
against
the very,
the very being true
that
the confirmation of truth that is iman goes
against.
So it's a lying is a very serious
thing.
Historians
comment. Many many a great historian
who
who was visiting Muslim lands commented.
Now one of the things they noticed about
the Muslims is that they don't lie.
There's a number of historians went entered India,
for example. Some of the Europeans when they
travel through North Africa. They notice this because
it just goes against what iman entails.
Affirming something that one does not have reason
to believe is true,
which of course
entails faith entails
sound speech, which is why so many spiritual
paths
begin
their
mujahada, their spiritual thriving
by trueness in speech, by not lying, and
by leaving
the other
corollaries of lying in terms of sound speech.
Allah subhanahu wa'ala tells in the Quran
or you believe.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells in the Quran
or you believe. Be mindful of Allah
and say words
that are
straight,
right, that are
purposeful,
that are right.
If you do so,
he will rectify for you your deeds.
And he will forgive for you your sins.
And whoever obeys Allah and his messenger
and
whoever obeys Allah and his messenger has succeeded
with a tremendous
success.
So this is
this is
lying
goes fundamentally against
being
true. A broken promise
is not in itself sinful,
but if one regularly breaks one's promises,
then
the promise made
when you did not have good reason to
believe that you would fulfill it,
it is essentially a lie.
Right? If if you think about what a
promise is, if I say, I will
help
you do this.
So you made a commitment and you don't
have good reason to believe that you could,
then
it is akin to a lie and it
goes against being true.
So to be
someone who's true to their word,
only make a commitment that you are sure
that you're committed to fulfill
and sure that you'll be able to fulfill.
And if they're trusted
if they're trusted,
they betray.
And again,
so in the past tense here.
They
and betrayal
is
betrayal of trusts
is a grave matter. Right? And these two
qualities that are corollaries of of sin,
the prophet said
in another hadith that
there is no faith in one who cannot
be trusted.
And there's no religion in one who does
not fulfill
their commitments.
This hadith is related by that narrations in
in the Muslim ad of Imam Ahmad and
elsewhere.
And one of the signs of the end
of times, the prophet
said, is
is
is
the lifting of trust.
Is a is a lifting of trust that
no longer
are people trustworthy
and they do and also they don't trust
one another.
So it's a serious
matter.
And the and in the narration in
Sahih Muslim, the prophet
added
even if they pray and fast
and
imagine
that they are
Muslim.
And this term zahana
is imagining something
to be one
one way but when it is other. It
is a false supposition
because
a a Muslim is not simply someone who
commits,
who accepts
to submit,
but
a a true Muslim would be someone who
accepts to submit
and
strives to submit.
Right? So this is these are three areas
that one should be very careful of. Right?
That we understand from it the opposite,
that to be
three signs of a person who is true
is that they speak only truth.
That they they speak, they have spoken truth.
If they promise, they fulfill their promises.
And if they ever make any commitment
that they're trusted in, they fulfill their trust.
And these are
qualities so one should strive to uphold oneself,
and
these are
the qualities of those
whose company we try to keep,
etcetera. Without judging them, but these, you know,
we we
act on the basis of judgment
and judgment is based on signs.
The hadith number
16
So Anas
said that the messenger of Allah said,
3
qualities are
from the foundation of faith.
Sorry.
So the prophet
said 3 matters are from the foundation of
faith.
Refraining,
holding back from any who says.
Right? Holding back
is holding back meaning that one does not
put them down. One does not attack them.
Right?
We do not deem them a disbeliever
by sin.
Islam be Amal, and we do not take
them out of Islam
by any action.
Right? And the prophet said,
jihad remains
from the time that Allah has sent me
until
the last of this Ummah
fights
the false messiah, the
the the the the the jail
was one of the importance of the last
times.
It is not
negated
by the oppression
of an oppressor
nor the justice of one who is just.
And
faith in destiny. So there's 3 things that
are foundations of faith.
The first is to hold back from one
who affirms
We do not deem them disbelievers
by sin nor do we deem them out
of Islam by some action that they did.
Unless that action, of course, unless
they do that which decisively takes one out
of Islam. What decisively takes one out of
Islam? Imam put it so beautifully. He said,
So nothing takes one out of Islam except
to deny that which made them enter into
it.
Because if Iman is,
if faith,
if belief
is to confirm
as true, then what is Kufr?
Kufr is Taqdib.
Kufr is denial.
Kufr is to deny. So if you do
not deny that which makes someone a believer,
which is to accept as true what the
messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam came
with,
then you're still a believer. You may be
sinful.
You may be seriously sinful. You may be
an innovator. You may be misguided,
but you're still a believer as long as
you do not deny
that which the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam came with or that which is
necessarily known to be of the religion.
That's the first principle.
The first foundation that we
have we
recognize the inviolability of any who say.
2nd, jihad remains,
right, until the end of time.
And jihad,
which is
the basis of jihad is striving
for truth. Right? Striving for truth.
Right? And that jihad has multiple expressions.
That jihad has multiple expressions. Sometimes it is
striving for truth, it is by calling to
truth.
And dawah,
calling to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is a
jihad.
Right? By calling to Allah.
Teaching the truth
is jihad.
Struggling against oneself is from jihad.
Striving to spread the good is from Jihad.
Likewise, striving against falsehood
is also from Jihad.
Striving against oppression
is also from Jihad.
And from Jihad
is fighting
falsehood
when fighting falsehood is called upon.
And that Jihad,
an expression of it
is
the the Jihad of the battlefield
with its conditions.
Its conditions
one of one of which one of the
situations is when it's a matter of self
defense
or Jihad in defense
of those being
wronged or attacked.
That's one expression.
And that's a primary
that's a fundamental
situation where
jihad is obviously
permitted or obligatory.
When someone is being attacked, you don't just
say, okay, kill me. Right? You have a
right to defend your homeland. Likewise, if someone
else is being wrongfully attacked, you have a
right to defend them.
But there's also the concept in Islam like
in other
traditions of
just war,
right, of just war, right,
with its
principles,
right, with its principles.
Right?
But it is it is not
a matter that one can just take on
oneself. Right? It has
its its conditions.
The jihad
being a public matter is a matter that's
up to either
the the ruler or those
in
position to give the judgment.
This is a situation where
1 must
where
the community
must fight. Right? Jihad is a matter
that
is
affects the public interest. It's not a private
decision.
So it the basis is that it is
the
a Muslim ruler
would make that decision
or
if they are not learned in
with due consultation.
And in the absence of a Muslim ruler,
it's something that is a matter of a
community
and then being a matter of of judgment,
they must have
engaged in sound consultation. So there's
process and procedure in this matter. It is
not that Fareed decides he's upset, so he
declares jihad
on his neighbors.
Right? You you can't do that. Why? Because
they
don't let me play the daf.
Right? Like, that's
it's not a matter of fickleness.
And finally,
and belief
in
destiny. That every
in destinies,
that everything
is by Allah's
decree and it is all destined by Allah.
This hadith is related by Abu Dawood.
And that's what we wanted to look at
today of of hadith, and they they remind
us, of course, of what qualities we should
strive to uphold
as believers. We're going to look also at
Talim al Mutalim by imam
Zernooji.
So imam Zernooji
is talking about,
the importance
of
having
high resolve
and urgency in seeking knowledge. And
he emphasized
in what we've been seeing the the importance
of appreciating
the benefits
of knowledge
and that
knowledge of religion is what is
truly fruitful attainment in this life.
Because if you acquire it and you live
it, this is what will eternally benefit.
Particularly, because most people are heedless of this.
Right? Nothing changes.
All the prophets,
right, their people did not you know, people
generally
did not respond to truth.
That's that's the human condition.
People did not respond to their prophets.
Only few believed.
Sometimes it
was numerically
exceedingly few,
but even if you look at
it was what happened to the prophet
that his people pretty much all believed
in the end,
that was the exception.
That was the exception.
Right?
Generally,
people did not accept. But even with believers,
the forgetfulness of the human being.
Right? Humans have been created weak,
heedless, etcetera. So if someone does have knowledge,
right, one has the capacity
to benefit a lot of people if one
is
if one takes it seriously.
And if one sees if one recognizes the
benefit it has for oneself,
one would appreciate that in what it represents
for oneself.
And if one sees the capacity of benefiting
others, one would appreciate
that, which is why Imam
It is sufficient
to
as a call
for the intelligent person in attaining knowledge
to taste
to have a taste
of the taste of knowledge in Fiqh.
And the taste of knowledge here, we don't
just mean
the
the amusement
of knowledge. The
the taste of something
is experiencing
its reality.
Right?
Is experiencing
its
reality.
Right? And what is the reality of
of knowledge?
That knowledge is
is light. Knowledge shows you the way. It
gives you clarity
and confidence and certitude.
What is?
So it's sufficient as a,
you know, as a caller
to the intelligent to acquire knowledge, to experience
the taste of knowledge.
That if you acquired a little knowledge, now
you know
how to act.
So if you acquired more, you would know
more how to turn to Allah.
Understanding of the religion that now you know
how to make
sincere intentions.
You know how to dis distinguish
between benefit and harm.
And that
that experience
should
as the prophet said to the companion,
either arafter or feldzem.
If you know,
then stick with it.
Right?
That that that experience,
that joy
arising out of gratitude. Right? This is not
just the mere
worldly satisfaction.
Right?
So this is something that you should see.
What does knowledge represent in in your life?
Or what could it represent in your life,
the potential it has.
And for those of religious concern, the people
we look up to,
right, what made them, what gave them the
capacity
to be transformed human beings? It is a
fact that
they were blessed to attain knowledge
that they
acted upon and were transformed by.
What gave them the capacity to be able
to benefit others?
It is their knowledge and understanding
that they acquired through striving
and then that they were transformed by through
striving.
So
that should
be sufficient motive for the intelligent person. He
said,
Right? That laziness can can also arise
from having
excessive
phlegm
and humidity,
and this has to do with
the,
idea of how we understand the human temperaments,
and which we won't get into.
The way of diminishing that,
diminishing
laziness arising from
an unhealthy
state is
reducing one's eating. And reducing one's eating meaning
bringing one's eating closer to the sunnah.
Bringing one's eating closer to sunnah. The sunnah
is
that
Arguably, the greatest summary of,
you know, of healthy living is the words
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
The the child of Adam fills no container
more detrimental
than a stomach.
It is sufficient for a person to have
a few small morsels by which they keep
their back straight.
Right? Meaning that gives them the strength
to direct themselves to fulfilling their
obligations
and responsibilities
to pursue benefit,
to keep from harm.
And if one must, then
And if one must, then
one has 1 third
of
for one's food. One third for one's drink
and 1 third to be able to breathe.
And a third of one's fill is to
eat about half what one would normally inclined
to eat.
And that's the taqleel, is to bring it
now most people go way above that.
Right? And that's part of the human instinct
for survival.
And part of the Allah has placed these
desires within us as part of the the
test
in this life.
So
it is
to bring that to realign that with the
sunnah.
So he said, it is it is said
that 70 prophets
all agreed, meaning in their teachings, that excessive
forgetfulness
is from excessive phlegm, and excessive phlegm is
from excessive drink,
and excessive drinking of water is from excessive
eating.
Right?
It is said.
The point being that,
you know, if you eat excessively,
one, just the act of eating excessively. People
are
always
busied
by
by these concerns.
What will we eat? What will we go?
Let's go here. Let's do rather than
prioritizing
what is important.
So one internal just how much
attention and focus goes
to the merely
mundane aspect of eating and secondly,
excessive eating results in laziness, results in ill
health,
etcetera, which all affect one's
the the health of one's mind.
He says,
says and dry bread
cuts
phlegm.
Right?
And part of that, of course,
is dry bread meaning, and there's also practical
element to this, there's a reality of barakah,
of blessedness.
That
it is clear in prophetic teachings that one
does not waste food.
Right? And people have bad habits. You know,
you get you get a loaf of bread
and when it gets towards the end, you
buy fresh bread, but those last couple of
slices,
they're
slightly stale.
If they're at the back of the fridge,
they may be slightly there's that slightly soggy
but not yet moldy
kind of state,
all those kind of things. Who wants to
eat that? Who wants to eat the ends
of the bread, etcetera?
But, practically,
we know that
the
finishing food, right,
is blessed.
That's a separate aspect to it. Right?
Likewise,
likewise, eating
raisins
you
know, directly,
meaning
without eating it with other things.
But one does not eat them excessively,
that one does not have to drink water,
too much water
so that one
increases in one's,
phlegm.
Excessive drinking of water,
the generally, we see the sunnah of drinking
water
is to drink in sips rather than gulps.
So I I asked
more than I asked several
Hakims,
traditional practitioners of medicine. And, you know, there's
this big fad of everyone walking around with
big jugs, like, you know, big these big
bottles of water that you have to drink
2 and a half water liters of water
a day or whatever.
I mean, there's little scientific basis for that,
but the reason I asked is because we
know that the sunnah is to drink in
sips and gulps. Now if you're gonna if
you're gonna sip water, it's pretty hard to
drink 2 and a half liters of water
a day.
But rather so what Hakim Archuleta,
may Allah preserve him, said that,
no.
Rather,
you you drink water when you're thirsty,
and you make sure you drink,
you know,
You drink in the morning and you drink
in the, you know, in the evening so
that you you you do
drink
and and the other guide guidance on drinking.
But excessive drinking of water is
is full. It just goes straight
through the system.
And, also, there's other detriments to excessive drinking
of water. Just drinking water all the time,
and you're going to to washroom all the
time.
That's
that's not where we wanna live.
He said, and the and
the tooth stick,
reduces
phlegm
and and sharpens memory
and eloquence,
and it is a radiant sunnah.
And increases in the reward
of prayer
and the reward of recitation
of the Quran.
And and the siwak,
you know, once you just make it a
practice to to keep a tooth stick with
1,
Because
while
the sunnah is fulfilled by brushing one's teeth,
but you you can't carry toothbrush and toothpaste
with you everywhere.
And brushing one's teeth, keeping one's teeth clean,
keeping one's
breath fresh
has a social benefit
because we interact with human beings,
but also it has a spiritual benefit that
this is pleasing to Allah.
Brushing one's teeth,
cleans,
the siwak,
brushing one's teeth,
cleans one's mouth
and pleases one's lord. There's social aspect to
it,
practical aspect, and there's a spiritual
aspect to it.
And it sharpens memory.
This is based on tajruba
and eloquence.
Right?
And many of these things sometimes are strange.
It's strange in the sense that sometimes,
you know, people have experienced these things by
Tejrubba. You don't have to believe it, but
you'll find that if you actually do it,
you'll find that it it's true. So be
careful how much you don't believe the scholars.
It's like someone said they they never
believed this
thing about
eating I forget he mentioned, I think, 21
raisins or something or 23 raisins.
They did it, and he found his memory
was significantly better when he's trying to memorize
the
And Allah has
these.
These
he has placed
these gifts of facilitation
in many different
matters.
And brushing one's teeth increases in the reward
of prayer. Right? So one should not leave
brushing one's teeth before,
you know, in one's wudu
because it's a sunnah
in wudu.
In the Hanafi school, it said emphasize sunnah
in wudu. But before prayer, we know there's
it's recommended before prayer
to brush one's teeth. You have to do
it at the moment before you pray. The
differ, but
in the time before the prayer, one brushes
one's teeth discreetly. You don't have to advertise
to everyone you're doing it.
And likewise increases the reward of restation of
the Quran. Before you sit down to recite
the Quran, you quickly brush your
brush your teeth
before you meet people in the other
places.
And then he also says,
likewise, vomit
reduces
phlegm
and, the the wetness with within, but
it's not a religious act. He that's a
sort of an aside. That also does it,
but he's not saying
go and vomit if you if you overeat
or anything like that.
It should be
The the the way
to reduce eating
The way to reduce
eating, meaning excessive eating, is to reflect on
the benefits of reducing eating.
And it goes back to 3 things. It
is health.
It preserves your own health.
Right?
They say
It is sufficient ignorance for a person
to be pleased by what harms them.
That is ignorance itself.
And dignified restraint.
Right?
And that part of it is by upholding
the sunnahs of eating and they say particularly
when very hungry.
So when you want to disappear in the
burger, that's when you take greatest care to
eat slowly,
chew completely,
reduce
morsel size,
don't lift don't reach for the food until
you've swallowed what you've already taken all these
many sunnahs.
So the the three fundamental benefits of reducing
excessive
eating is your own health,
dignified restraint,
which is a fundamental
quality that a believer should have. The prophet
used to make a lot of dua for.
He taught us.
Well,
and prefer and preference,
preferring others
to oneself.
And preferring others to oneself. Part of it
is that the prophet said the food for
1 is enough for 2,
and the food for 2 is enough for
4.
And then we'll close with these lines.
He says,
said, what blame? Then what blame? Then what
blame? Then what blame?
R is is something blameworthy.
Right?
For a a for a person to be
destroyed
because of food.
It's so foolish because food is meant to
be the means of your world for your
of your preservation.
Right? You don't eat, you'll die.
But but you die because you eat. That's
madness.
And then he says
So there's 3 qualities of people, said the
prophet 3 types of people that Allah
that Allah hates, it
despite them not committing a crime.
It's
like a crime.
Right? A crime meaning, like, because normally someone's
hated not by just committing a sin, but
by being a criminal.
Right? One is the excessive eater.
The second is the stingy person.
It's not a big cry. You don't actually
do it. You're just stingy. You're not spending.
You wouldn't you wouldn't think it's a big
deal. And part of it is because someone
who eats all no. Who thinks that
when they're eating a lot, they say, oh,
just a little more biryani,
a little more mansaf, a little more this,
a little more that. That becomes a habit
and you're harming yourself. It is a khiyana.
It is not fulfilling the trust that is
your body or the potential that is your
life.
Al Baqil, the stingy person. All you did
was not give.
So it's not considered bad, but it is
actually
of great detriment.
And
the arrogant person. A lot of people don't
recognize
the harm in
Alright? And said and from reflection,
in the harms of excessive eating
includes
all the sicknesses caused by it.
Right?
And
having a
weak temperament.
Right? Because you don't eat properly, you won't
have a balance
of temperament.
And it is said
that
a big stomach,
an increasing stomach
does away
with
a sharp mind.
A bloated stomach leads to a blunted mind.
Right? It is said. Right?
Imam al Sheff and this is not, of
course, an absolute. Imam al Sheff, he said,
no fat man ever succeeded.
Muhammad ibn al Hassan. Unless
it it it were someone like Muhammad al
Hassan. Because Muhammad al Hassan was
rather large,
but he was
remarkably remarkable.
And he expands on this significantly. Why?
Partially also because the nature of study
is that it is a passive occupation.
Right? And you see a lot of olema,
they're large in size not because they're they're
overeat, but just because it's a passive profession.
And the same thing applies actually to a
lot of people who now a lot of
people do
sit sit down, work.
Right? And they may not actually be eating.
They may not be
big eaters, but just they're very passive.
I'd met a
a I I had befriended a Bedouin, a
righteous Bedouin man in Jordan.
He said, I
I ate exactly like my father used to
eat,
but he lived to be 90
or 8
well, past 80.
And I don't know if I'll get to
50
because he was having serious health issues,
right, in his late forties. Why?
Because they used to eat. Like his father
he said that his father used to walk
15, 20 kilometers a day because they herd
sheep. They're bed wet.
So
I sit in my office. He had
a construction company and so on.
So if I if I ate like he
ate,
said, and he used to,
I'm dying.
Right? So one has to be
aware of taking care of one's health in
general because it's in a manner. But if
he wants to study, then one has to
maximize
one's
health
so that one can live long,
have
the well-being
to be able to focus, have the well-being
to be able to exert oneself
in the the way that seeking knowledge requires
exerting oneself.
And then he mentions
next lesson, we'll look at some of the
things that are related
from some of the
scholars to be of of benefit. So this
is, you know, taking care of one's health
is an important
duty for a believer in general and for
a seeker of knowledge or somewhat
calling to Allah
in particular.
And it begins
by reducing what one eats
and eating in accordance with the sunnah.
Thank you for listening to the daily guidance
for seekers with Sheikh Farazrabani.
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