Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #054 How Sound Faith Leaves A Person Hypocrisy in Our Times Harms of Overeating
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the soundness of faith and how it can be conveyed through various forms of communication, including "nafsulipping" and "nafsulipping". They stress the importance of understanding these concepts and caution in the use of actions and faith in one's actions. The speakers also emphasize the need for a library of books and small things to fulfill one's religious and worldly obligations, and emphasize the importance of avoiding wasting one's wealth and balancing the meal with small small things.
AI: Summary ©
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You're listening to the daily
guidance for seekers with Sheikh Rasra Behni, who
will be covering Imam Yusuf al Nabhani'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 are continuing our look at
40 hadiths
on the virtues of Iman
and Islam,
the virtues of faith and submission.
And we reached hadith number 18 in this
collection,
17,
in this collection by Sheikh Youssef Annebehani.
He says
So this hadith is very interesting because
some people took this literally.
Right? Some took it literally. And one of
the causes
of
innovation,
misguidance,
disbelief
and polytheism
is
Right? Is holding
just to the literal meanings of texts.
Of course, this does not mean that we
we under we interpret things figuratively whenever we
feel like it, but rather
that
words
are are there to convey meanings.
But what
is conveyed
by words is not mere words.
Right? They say
words are vessels
for meanings.
Right?
But they can the the meaning, it can
be conveyed in different ways.
Right?
So here,
we'll see this hadith.
This is a hadith that if understood literally,
it affirms a meaning
that would contradict clearly established meanings,
and that's not how it is meant. So
let's see the hadith.
Now a point in terms of reading hadith,
it says
it is related from Abu Hurairah.
Some people,
one translation wise, translate very awkwardly. They'll say
from Abu Hurairah.
Well, from what? Anhu?
Any it is related from him. Right? So
when one translates, one translates again, the same
idea. One translates meanings, not words.
Right?
From the messenger of Allah, salaam alayhi salaam.
But so if you translate from Abu Huraira,
from the prophet,
from them what?
What's
understood clearly,
implicitly in Arabic is
that he said.
Right? So one conveys the meaning. It it
is related from Abu Huraira,
and that's the the first an. The second
an from the messenger of Allah
that he said. Right? So when one
can translate something, one conveys the meaning because
that meaning is clearly affirmed.
Now in reading it in the Arabic language,
when it's related, for example,
you you can add there in reading the
hadith,
That's from the adab of reading that you
can add that for clarity
because it's clearly understood.
Just as sometimes I
say, right? You can add the
there.
That that he said. Why? Because it is
linguistically more
clear.
It is
left,
for the sake of abbreviation.
Right?
Similarly,
sometimes they'll quote hadiths and they say
Some people translate that, it's related from Abu
Huraira.
What does that mean?
Right? So you should one should just put
from Abu Huraira,
it's it's related from Abu Huraira, that the
prophet said.
Right?
Because
that's necessarily understood from the text. Right? That's
it's actually
in terms of
the principles
of linguistic understanding,
that's called
It
is,
necessarily implicit in the text.
So some people tell me, say, from Abu
Huraira colon. From him what?
Right? Does the common person, if they read
from Abu Hurairah, colon, do they understand that
that's said by the messenger of Allah sallaihi
sallam? No.
So one could put that in
even without requiring
brackets because it is
clearly
understood.
Well, if one wants to put brackets around
it, that's fine.
So, anyway,
that's just a
a point of method.
So he relates that the messenger of Allah
said,
if the servant commits,
commits,
engages in unlawful sexual *,
Faith leaves them
and is above their heads
like a shade.
So if
the servant then
leaves that action,
faith returns to them. And this is related
by.
So as we saw, some people took this
literally
with the hadith that the servant is not
a believer.
The believer is not a believer when they
do such and such and when they do
such and such. They took it literally
so that they said that faith itself,
egg leaves and then comes back.
But that would result in a lot of
absurdities.
Why?
One is,
let's say, a Muslim woman.
Is her marriage valid to her husband if
he becomes a kafir?
Is it?
No.
It would be annulled Actually, and the other
way around.
Right? Because if
a Muslim man is married to a Muslim
woman and she goes and commits a major
sin, well,
if we take this literally, then she committed
kufr. And if she committed kufr,
then what would
happen?
That her marriage is annulled.
Right? So she'd have to they'd have to
remarry.
Right? Because if someone commits kufr,
right, and a Muslim, if they leave Islam,
the marriage would get annulled. So it would
lead to many absurdities.
And what is iman itself?
Right?
If and even if you do the simple
test that if we say iman,
we understand from the Quran sunnah is to
accept,
is to know and accept is true, what
the messenger of Allah sallahu alaihi wa sallam
came with. Someone in the act of committing
the sin,
if
if we pause time and ask them, do
you believe in Allah and and what the
messenger has come with?
Will the person say, not right now?
Well, they'd say.
Yes. And they would feel nearly anyone would
feel ashamed at that time,
right, if reminded. And that very presence of
that shame
is a sign that
they believe
and that if you were to pause and
say, do you believe?
They they feel
that even that feeling that that's iman.
So what is meant by this then? That
if
a if a servant commits,
faith leaves them,
and this is not
faith itself. Right? Because as we said, faith
can be understood to refer to 3 things.
Right? It's nafsul iman.
It is faith itself,
sound faith,
and perfected faith.
So faith itself is that is that tasdikh.
Is to accept as true what the messenger
of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam came with. You either
accept it, you're a believer, or you don't,
you're not.
Sound faith is that you accept as true
and you act accordingly.
And perfected faith is you accept
truth,
you act accordingly,
and
you
have and you behold
the realities
of faith.
That iman
goes from acceptance
to beholding.
Right. Right. That
the knowledge of faith is now beheld
and that's why it's referred to in the
Quran as
the beholding of certitude.
From
to
From knowledge of certitude
to
beholding of certitude.
So when this is negated that if a
servant commits zina, faith leaves them such so
that it is above their head
like
a
an literally an umbrella, like a shade.
And then if the person leaves that action,
faith returns to them. What what faith is
this talking about?
It's the soundness of faith.
Soundness of faith.
The the we the because if if faith
itself left them, they are kafir.
Right? What's meant here is sound faith. That
is this how you should be? No.
Right?
Right? They say this is
you know, it's come in some hadith that,
you know, faith is like a clothing.
Right? But that's the soundness of faith. Right?
This hadith of, you know, of
someone who has faith without actions being,
being naked.
Right? But someone
walks out of their house thinking they were
clothed, but they were actually not. They're distracted.
Yeah. It it actually happened to a person
who prayed fajr and sent me a 2
2 page email that they prayed the best
fajr of their life,
but then it was at a big crisis.
And they described several paragraphs how they had
presence of heart in their prayer, and they
were weeping and crying and making du'a in
sujood. And after the prayer, they made a
big tawba and everything,
but then a crisis happened.
And he told it like a story, blow
by blow. When he got up, he realized
he was naked. He was wearing a
without a shawwar.
He's wearing a a long shirt without trousers.
He's naked. Said, will Allah accept my prayer
and my duas?
Duas says, of course, yes. Right?
So
we say if someone walks out like, they
they went to the washroom
and they walked out
unclothed.
Said they're not
he's not dressed like a believer. Doesn't mean
he's a disbeliever. It just means that
the
his comportment does not accord to the comportment
of a believer. Right? So that's what's meant
here. That faith leaves you meaning the soundness
of faith.
Right? Not that
you are a disbeliever.
Right? And this is where the early Muslims
used to say
Hadith can cause you to slip.
Except for the people
of understanding
that hadiths like this and if they're transmitted
particularly in times of confusion,
like when there are a lot of literalists
around, hadiths like this should should not
be translated
or transmitted
except with clarification.
As we know from the example of Sayna
Umar ibn Khattab that he cautioned
that you will explain what you transmit of
the hadiths of the messenger of Allah sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, and if you do not
do so, I'm going to kick your rear
all the way back to those.
He did not tell them not to relate
hadiths.
Right? And some people use that against say,
but it's actually a praise,
that continue to relate it, but you are
a person of knowledge.
So if you relate it, explain it. Otherwise,
people will misunderstand
and you will bear part of the responsibility.
The 18th hadith,
So it became very clear.
But I considered
and chose to ask him about the bad,
about evil
so that it may be known so it
could be avoided.
So he used to ask about these things.
And amongst the things that he used to
ask about
was nifaq,
about
hypocrisy
and what are the signs of hypocrisy.
And Sayidna Hudaifa was another companions most distinguished
for being trustworthy.
So the prophet had
entrusted
Sayidna Hudaifa
with the names of the hypocrites,
right, of the hypocrites.
And
so he knew who they were, but he
did not share that knowledge with anyone. Sayyidina
Umar kept going to him and kept asking
him
that, Yeah. Hudayfa, am I one of them?
And he Sayyidna Umar could not answer, so
he kept going back to him. Eventually, he
had to tell him, no. You're you're not
one of them. Right? Because Sayyidna Umar was
so concerned.
So he says,
hypocrisy is only what was at the time
of the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam. As for today, it's either belief or
disbelief.
And this and the commentary and this is
related by Imam al Bukhari. This requires some
contextualization.
During the time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam,
right, we have 2 phases. We have the
Meccan phase and the Madinan phase. In the
Meccan phase, there there were only 2
recognized categories
with respect
to iman.
There were the believers
who were all
sincere.
They're all sincere.
Because there were no worldly motives for which
you could become a believer.
Right?
You'd be ostracized
and
opposed
and boycotted
and, you know, there's no worldly advantage you
could seek by becoming a believer. So the
believers at that time were all
sincere.
So you had iman and you had kufr.
In Medina,
in terms of social
categories,
you had people who believed
sincerely
and you had people who disbelieved,
such as the Jews of Medina, for example.
But there was significant
social, economic,
and political advantage
in being a believer.
So many people
believed
yet
believed outwardly, but inwardly they didn't. And that's
the category
of
the Munafiqin.
There are those who
were
wavering hypocrites.
They were like,
they didn't really care. Right? Whatever.
But it was just advantageous to believe rather
than
reject. So they kinda went with the flow.
And that category, the, those who went back
and forth, when it was to their advantage,
they count they they stood with the with
the believers.
When it was disadvantageous,
they would
and this would include, for example, the 300
who
left at Uhud.
The army was initially a 1000 people, 300
left,
because of what, you know, the actions and
plotting of
Abu Dhabi
Ubay bin Salud. Right?
So the hypocrites were a distinct
category of people.
Right? So
Hudayfa says that
hypocrisy,
meaning hypocrisy as a distinct social category, was
only at the time of the messenger sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam. Right? In the sense that
they had they were dealt with in a
particular manner.
Right?
Says as for today, it is either belief
or disbelief.
Right? In that
in social categorization, publicly, someone is either a
believer or not a believer.
This does not negate the presence
of both lesser shirk,
right, which is
insincerity
and affectation,
right, people who do things just for show,
right, or who fall short of what sincere
true
belief entails
with respect to their actions. Lesser belief,
lying, cheating, deception, all these qualities
that the prophet
said are signs of a hypocrisy of not
being true to faith.
So this does not negate the presence of
lesser hypocrisy,
and it does not negate
that they could they can be some people
within the fold of Islam who are hypocrites.
Right? But
they are not treated
as a separate category,
but rather they are,
you know, in worldly terms, they're considered believers
if they
outwardly profess faith.
And in
next worldly terms, they're considered to be
disbelievers.
Right? We judge by the outward,
so we judge them as believers.
Right?
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala judges them
by their inward,
but we leave that to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
As Imam Shafi'i said,
We only judge by the outward and Allah
takes care of the inward.
So we cannot
we so Sayna Abu Hudayf is saying that
we cannot deal with people on the basis
that there's this known category of people that
are hypocrites because we don't know them. The
prophet knew of them by revelation.
Right? So there was a distinct group. That
does not negate, of course, that there are
people in
Muslim societies, in Muslim community who are hypocritical
and who are acting contrary to what is
entailed by faith. But you don't deal with
them as a group. Rather,
outwardly, we have.
Inwardly, we have caution.
Or outward sorry. Outwardly, we have caution. Inwardly,
we have. They say they're a believer.
We take we take them at face value.
But their conduct
seems to be detrimental.
We do not we do not
accuse them of being hypocrites.
Right? We
have a good opinion of them, but we
act with caution.
We act with caution. So some Muslim leader,
let's say,
they say I believe,
but they that their actions
both
their social conduct,
you know, they engage in
in open sin,
Their political conduct, they ally themselves
with those at enmity to the believers, etcetera,
or to the best interest of their own
people, etcetera. The actions are hypocritical, so we
act with
circumspection and caution.
But we have a good opinion that we
we don't
believe that they are kufar.
Right? If someone professes faith, we say they're
a believer.
But but so we have a good opinion
of them. That does not negate with respect
to their faith. That does not negate being
cautious
with respect to
what they're doing and what its implications are.
So that's the ambit of the words of
That
there is no distinct category of people that
we call these are the hypocrites.
But the the reality of hypocrisy
in both action
and in faith
is present. But it's not knowable, so we
cannot accuse someone of it because the reality
of hypocrisy is an inward matter and we
cannot judge the inward.
So we have good if someone says they're
a believer,
we hold that, but we exercise caution.
The same thing, for example, in the Muslim
community. If someone politically, they they're acting in
strange ways,
but they say they're a believer. Is it
a possibility that they could be an informant
and whatever? Yes. It is. I discovered
after many years of strange conduct that someone
I
who I used to consider a friend was
actually an informant.
And I found him a bit strange
because he'd show up at the most unlikely
places. I knew
that why is he here? Allah knows best.
We don't judge
someone's motives, but we exercise caution
with respect to them. K? We often make
the other mistake. We have the worst opinion
of people,
but we exercise no caution whatsoever.
So we'll continue
from hadith number
19.
And one of the really important things
that we we are in need of is
works in the English language that contextualize
the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam. Right? It's very important for to
provide for people ways to connect with prophetic
teachings,
but it's very important
to clarify
and contextualize.
May Allah
facilitate that for people
of
intention
and aspiration.
Okay. We are also looking at
instructing the student
or or instructing the seeker of knowledge on
the ways of learning.
So this is at the end of the
section on,
having high aspiration and seeking knowledge.
It
says.
Right? It is related from Galen, the great,
you know, the great Greek,
doctor.
The pomegranate is all benefit.
And fish is all harm.
Right?
It said a little fish is better than
a lot of pomegranate.
Right? Now we don't have any.
This is not a legal ruling in any
way. Right? The
attitude with, you know, other,
traditions,
yeah, etcetera, is that we can we we
look at it
critically
and look at
what what is from the prophet is.
What's called the messenger is pure benefit.
Other things, we we look at with consideration
with consideration.
Now what is its basis?
Okay? And the the two principles of
sound
thinking
are
that whoever claims something, let them bring proof.
And whoever transmits something should bring their chain
of transmission.
So this is a claim
we would you know, we we're not bound
to accept it unless we see
what is this based on. Is it based
on
sound research? Is it based on,
you know, recognized experience, etcetera?
So, and, you know, the Greeks and others,
they had good insights, and they had
other things that are not in error. One
of the ways we'd understand that fish is
all harmful is that fish
in
older times was quite dangerous to eat.
Why?
Because before refrigeration
and with little availability for ice,
it would spoil quite easily.
So that's how we'd understood that eating fish
is a risky proposition
because
it's quite likely to spoil
and,
you know, anything that could harm you
is
harmful.
Right? But even then, he said a little
fish is better than a lot of pomegranate.
That even the things that are beneficial,
you don't overindulge
in them. Of course, and,
pomegranate is mentioned
as one of the fruits of paradise, but
one of the interesting things, what
each time it's mentioned, it's mentioned last.
And one of the indications they get, one
has it at the end of a meal.
Right? But that's just an indication.
Habib Kabi mentioned that.
He said.
And Galen also
affirm that
wasting one's
one's wealth
and eating
more than one's fill
is pure harm.
And wasting one's wealth, part of it is
wasting one's wealth on
food,
right, by
extravagance and so on. Right? It's pure harm
and for the seeker of knowledge because a
seeker of knowledge
is careful with the the money that they
have that they're directing it
in the manner that will be of greatest
result and benefit. And of the things that
a seeker of knowledge needs to do, as
we'll see in upcoming chapters, is they need
to be building their library
of of books.
They need
to have to save,
to avail themselves of the opportunities for learning.
In that, if a scholar is going to
be in a in a nearby city, then
they go visit them.
If there's one of the righteous, what they
discover,
lives,
you know, in another town that on an
off day, what do they do? They have
they go and visit
the learned, the righteous.
They they have the the funds to pursue
their benefit. But if all their if they're
spending all their money
at have you know, going to premium steak
houses then
that's folly.
And eating above one's fill as we saw
from the hadiths about that, it's pure harm.
And through excessive eating, one becomes deserving of
punishment
in the hereafter.
Because
excessive overeating
is actually sinful. Right? Eating takes all 5
legal rulings. It's in itself permissible.
It is obligatory
to eat the extent
that would give one the strength to fulfill
one's religious and worldly obligations.
It is recommended
to eat the extent that one that would
that would give one
the well-being
and energy
to pursue
benefit,
next worldly and worldly, and to keep from
harm, next worldly and worldly.
It is
disliked
to eat one's fill
or to eat such
that it
holds one back
from
benefit and particularly
that whole that causes one
to fall into disliked matters.
So one eats so much that one doesn't
pray one sunnah.
Right? I've eaten so much, I can't do
my sunnah. Right?
You eat so much that you break your
habit of night worship, etcetera.
It's prohibited to eat so much that will
be harmful
to one's body or that would cause one
to be unable
to
fulfill
one's
religious and worldly obligations. From that is to
be able to pray while standing.
Right?
So one needs to be careful regarding that.
And someone who eats excessively
is disliked
by hearts.
K?
That it's in a in a worldly
sense,
people
don't look at it well. But even more
important, in hearts, there's a difference between
hearts are those faculties within people that incline
towards
what is pleasing to Allah. You know, that
righteous people, etcetera, they they don't look well
on that.
And the way to diminish one's eating
and there's a lot this is sort of
the
the present day fatwa.
Right? The the present day
you know, there was the attack on fat.
There's the way to diminish one's eating is
to eat
foods that are fatty.
Right?
Because
in classically,
a taam if you say taam,
the primary meaning of ta'am was bread
and or was the primary grain.
But people would eat would survive on
because it was a matter of survival.
And you could store grain. You could always
have access to whatever the local grain was
because whether it be wheat or barley or
rice or
or whatever other grain, you can store you
you can store them.
But as people would get wealthy, they'd be
able to do a lot more with
the the primary grain. You could eat a
lot of rice now.
You could eat a lot of bread. You
could eat much more refined bread. They mentioned
that the first bidah that entered into
the the ummah of the prophet
was
this is a social bidah,
is to have refined grains.
Which is to to to to use
the sieve to sift grain. So you could
have refined it was refined grains and the
other was the use of soap.
And it doesn't mean it's a bidah. It's
a social bidah. Social bidah's are not prohibited
nor nor even intrinsically disliked.
And
what
and when
presents
in eating
the subtlest things first, small things.
Right? And what's most desirable.
So small things. Why? Because, you know, if
if you space out your eating, you're going
to eat less because it takes about 15
minutes for the stop for for the mind
to realize the stomach is is full.
So if you
space out your eating, you begin by eating
small things and you space it out, you
eat according to sunnah, you converse with someone
while eating, you chew properly, etcetera. It'll give
your mind time to realize that the stomach
is full.
And what
and what would be more desirable?
And one should not eat with people who
are excessively hungry,
because one will
eat as one's companions eat.
Unless one has a good motive
in eating a lot.
Such as to have the strength to be
able to fast,
and to have the strength to be able
to engage in a lot of worship.
Or to engage in heavy work.
Right? Someone
is, you know, the the the nature of
their their work is that it demands
a lot of eating so that they have
the strength to do that. But that is
you know, so
so the ruling of eating
revolves around
its purpose and its consequence.
And why is this important for the seeker
of knowledge? Because the seeker of knowledge wants
to have a state of physical, emotional, and
spiritual well-being
to be able to focus
on their study
and to be able to give the time
for their study
while they're studying
and after their study to be able to
direct themselves
to benefiting themselves
by acting on what they know and by
benefiting others
by
transmitting what they know through teaching
and calling. So that's a section on
on striving, that the believer
is someone who and the seeker of knowledge
particularly is someone who is purposeful,
that they make purposeful
choices.
In the next chapter, which we'll begin
looking at tomorrow,
is,
how one starts
one's lessons.
And its extent,
and its ordering.
And some of it is also from
some some of the practical
experience, so when should one start a class,
for example.
And some of this is.
This is from people's
experience.
Sometimes
some of that experience can be
affected by social considerations.
K?
By social considerations.
What was a free day in particular societies,
for example,
etcetera?
And and we we we look at that.
May Allah
grant us high resolve
and purposeful,
directed
learning.
Thank you for listening to the raha, daily
guidance for seekers with Sheikh Farazrabani.
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