Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #059 Being Upright What Unites Muslims Group Study
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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 Zarnoji's guidance for seekers
of knowledge regarding the ways of seeking knowledge.
We're continuing to look at the 40 hadiths
on the virtues
of Iman and Islam by Sheikh Youssef and
Nabhani And,
amongst the people I narrate, these works of
Sheikh Youssvaneh
from Ishaq Akram Abdul Wahab of Mosul,
who is a Muslim.
He is a scholar specialized amongst,
you know, the the many Islamic sciences he's
specialized in is a science of
of the chains of transmission
of the Islamic
sciences, and he
relates it from many of the the students
of Sheikh Yousaf and Nabihaani
who died in the earlier part of the
20th century.
May Allah grant
peace and protection to the people of Mosul.
So Shaikhus Subhana Waheani relates with his chain
of transmission.
So, hadith number 30.
So,
Sufian
Abila Thakafi, may Allah be well pleased with
him,
relates
that the messenger of Allah that
that he asked, oh, messenger of Allah,
tell me
in Islam, meaning regarding
Islam,
something
that I cannot ask anyone
but you.
Or that
that I won't have to ask anyone
after you.
And he was relatively recent as a Muslim
and in other narrations,
this is why it's important to see the
various narrations of a hadith. He said, tell
me something, and he asked for it to
be comprehensive.
And he said, and don't tell me too
much.
Don't tell me too much.
Right?
Tell me
about Islam,
some
meaning a statement,
right,
That I would not have to ask
after you anyone.
Meaning,
make it clear,
make it brief,
make it comprehensive.
Right?
Right?
So the prophet said,
say,
I believe in Allah.
And then be upright.
Right? Then be upright.
It's related by imam Muslim. So, of course,
saying,
there's a saying of the tongue,
but
say here in the sense of affirm.
Right? Affirm.
Right? Affirm.
Right? Because
what you affirm,
the the things that you
confirm
within you
are affirmations
of the heart and mind.
Right?
Their statements, like,
when you accept
something,
it's as if you're saying, I believe, even
though you didn't say it.
Right?
So
say, I believe in Allah. Right? And literally,
of course,
When we say,
right, it's in the past tense. Why? Because
the past tense
conveys
that is done.
I have believed.
It says as if if you put it
in sort of flowery
old
style English.
I have
I have truly believed.
Right? I have believed. Right? It's in that
sense.
I am meant to. Right? So the past
tense can conveys
something that is
complete
and done with. Right?
It's realized.
I truly believe in Allah.
Right? Meaning,
I I am
certain of it. It's it's an
unwavering
commitment.
Say, I have believed in Allah
and then be upright.
Because uprightness,
right, uprightness,
which is to
soundly
uphold
Islam.
It is a soundly uphold
Islam
in one's
actions.
Uprightness is this is
soundness.
You know, one way of defining
is istaqim,
the upright.
One definition of uprightness is
Islam.
Right? It's to a soundness of submission that
you submit
soundly.
Outwardly,
by
Right?
Outwardly, by your action
to be in accordance with the divine command,
that's upright. And inwardly,
and inwardly
by being true and sincere.
Okay?
So the
is soundness of submission.
The straight path
of that is that is Islam
is described as what? As being a.
It is the path of uprightness. You can
the straight path you can define it as
the upright path. It is straight. There's a
direct. There is a horizontal and a vertical
element to the straight path. Right? The
the the straight path is at least three-dimensional.
Right? It has a direction
which is towards Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Towards the hereafter or towards eternity.
Right?
It has
that's the horizontal dimit. It's going towards
a purpose.
Right? It
towards a goal. But it has a horizontal
aspect, which is the being true and sincere
in that.
Right? Right? And
Allah Subhanahu
wa
Ta'am
Is
the one who
literally crawls on their face.
The same
as the one who walks,
walks straight
upon an upright path.
And that's the the one who follows
that straight path
with inward uprightness.
Right?
You know, with the inward qualities
of submission.
So
and this is how we see the relationship
between
iman which is and
all that iman billah entails. Because if you
affirm
that I believe in Allah.
He is and the the way the theologians
would put it, Allah is.
Right?
Allah is the necessary existent, but he's necessary
necessarily
characterized
by all his attributes.
So when you say I believe in Allah.
Right? Allah is the necessary existent.
The creator,
the originator
of all that exists.
Who is necessarily
characterized by all attributes of perfection.
Necessarily transcendent beyond all imperfection.
Right?
The one characterized by being
The one who does all that he wills.
Right? So when we say Allah,
we are affirming
Allah's entity. We're affirming the attributes necessary for
him.
We're affirming also his actions.
Right?
That's
what right? Where of he is the one.
That it's the name of Allah who is
characterized.
He he has necessary being. He has all
attributes of perfection.
And he is also necessarily
transcendent beyond all imperfections.
And he is the sole actor,
the the the the
one doer.
And from his actions is the sending of
prophets,
the hereafter, everything. So all meaning.
So sometimes people think the poets are being
metaphorical and they're not.
Right.
Right. They say,
all meanings are encompassed in him,
in the one beloved.
And it's true because
all of
everything
is from.
So it is all from Allah. So all
the meanings of faith
are implicit not just in the statement of
but in the the divine name which is
called the
comprehensive
name.
Right?
Right? All the meanings that are affirmed for
Allah.
Right? Are affirmed by
this why it's
the greatest name of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Right? Although, when
asked, is Allah
the greatest name of Allah? He said, yes.
But with condition that you say that you
affirm it with nothing else in your heart
besides him.
So affirm meaning with
with clarity, with confidence, with certitude that I
truly believe in Allah,
that's
then be upright.
Because which
is soundness of Islam.
Right?
So Islam
is
what is necessarily entailed
or what should be necessarily entailed.
Morally, it is
required
for the one who has accepted faith and
be upright.
The
prophet told
us,
strive for complete uprightness,
but you will not be able to be
completely upright. You will not be able to
do so completely.
Because every moment
has
an outward submission to Allah and an inward
submission to Allah.
And there's a basic
submission to Allah.
I mean, so there's a sound submission to
Allah, but there is
a perfected submission to Allah.
So,
right,
the the basic submission
is to fulfill the outward obligations. Right? So
your your your action corresponds.
Any act that you do corresponds to the
divine command.
And inwardly,
it is done with basic trueness and basic
sincerity.
But true but
true uprightness is to be completely upright,
which is
for the outward action
to be
perfectly upright.
Right? To be perfectly upright and perfectly bereft
of any outward
crookedness
crookedness
or blemish.
And inwardly,
perfectly true, perfectly sincere,
perfectly
by the all by the inward qualities of
the action being
upright. Right?
The prophet
is. Right? That that is which is why
when
there's a sahaba notice that suddenly,
rather quickly, the hair of the prophet salaam
be went gray.
Not all of it. Like, you know,
they differed. What some of them counted 13
hairs, some counted more, some counted less, some
said up to 20.
Individual hairs that went gray, but they they
noticed that. So they asked him.
And
and the the prophet reported to have said
that
and her sisters
make made my hair go gray.
And the theme of Surah Hud and the
surahs surrounding it are
the striving for uprightness.
It has come there in those verses.
Be upright
as you have been commanded.
Right?
And especially if you consider in the command,
the one commanding,
then the response to the command
should be the the the response
is in accordance with the request.
And if the if the
if the request if the command is from
Allah,
then the response to it should be as
befitting Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Right? And that
so an uprightness
to the
in response to the command of Allah as
befits
a response
to Allah.
Right?
Right?
Is not
you know?
That's why
what we're responsible for is
to the extent that you are able.
Okay? But that's why it's a lifelong
struggle.
And this is, of course, this also explains
this this striving for uprightness,
the state
of the righteous. I heard from Sheikh Hassan
that because he went on on umrah with
Sheikh Adib Kalas,
and he was amazed.
Said at Arafat,
this righteous scholar who lived
60 years
plus of service to the deen and so
on. Right? He already hitting 80 at that
time. It was 80 in the Hijri calendar
already.
And then Arafat,
oh, Allah, don't prevent
your answer from the people of Arafat because
of my presence amongst them.
Why?
Because the sincere and true servants of Allah
don't look at what they have done, but
they look at what does Allah deserve from
me.
Right? That's why their sense of shortcoming is
not because they're slackers.
So they're not
obeying the command as it deserves, but they're
looking not at the minimal, but maximum. What
does Allah deserve?
And they don't feel that anything that they've
done is befitting
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
that he deserves far better.
Right?
And, O Allah, don't prevent the people of
Arafat because of my presence amongst them. And
this is the state of Saidai
Right?
Who's so beloved to the messenger
so learned,
so virtuous,
so devoted, so worshipful.
She would say,
I just wish that I was
forgotten
and and just
neglected.
Right?
That they felt the sense of deep awe.
Why?
Because what Allah deserves is far better.
And it's
similarly related
in other
lent here hadiths. So the say Nanas relates
to the messenger of Allah
said, whoever
whoever prays our prayer
and faces our
and eats our ritual slaughter, they're a Muslim.
This is, of course,
this is not a logical this is not
a rational definition,
but a practical
guideline.
Right? It's a practical
guideline.
Right? And this this this and similar hadiths
that the scholars
from that came up came with the the
concept of,
the people of the.
We do not make the the position of.
We do not declare
the people of the to be.
Right?
As a general principle, particularly
not individuals
amongst them.
Unless they negate
As long as they they don't
reject
something
clearly and necessarily known to be of the
religion.
Right? Whoever prays our prayer. And they say,
this is
right, as a whole. Right? The you know,
so it doesn't mean that okay.
So let's say sister Sadia forgot one of
the sunnah of prayer, so she's not praying
the prayer of the prophet. No. And there's
there's things that matter of each the other
matters internal. They'll be active
about
it overall. And whoever faces our qibla,
right, they don't necessarily have to face it
exactly as you face it
in the sense that the qibla is a
matter of each thehad, so there's, you know,
a leeway.
So if your
friend faces, you know, at their masjid, they
pray 5 degrees away from what you hold
to be the qibla,
they're
still facing they're they're striving to face the
same qibla. So it's not like exact so
it's people who don't face
the exact,
you know, the people try to argue
based on this hadith that if you if
you if your masjid faces even slightly away
from the Qibla,
you're not being proper Muslims. And that's simply
not true. That's not fiqh.
Right? You cannot the act of interpreting meanings
from the Quran and sunnah,
that's And unless you are don't do.
As
we're in university, we say we should make
t shirts. Let friends don't let friends make.
That,
and whoever eats our ritual slaughter.
Now ritual slaughter,
this, of course, this is that whoever is
characterized by all of these. This is a
descriptive definition. Right? This is not like because
someone
could eat, you know, like,
somewhat
restaurants are very popular in the GTA. This
means someone who goes and eats at whatever,
Qadiri kebab or whatever, that they're they're Muslim.
Of course not. But also because
only
the the the slaughtering
in in all traditions, the taking of a
life was considered something very sacred,
which was in most traditional cultures,
slaughter
is a ritual act.
There are
because the the idea
of, you know, the meaning of taking a
life is considered a big deal.
And people may have different standards and say,
but it's a big deal. It's not just
whatever.
And
there it's
sacred.
Right? So that's why, you know,
there's always an element of sacredness. So historically,
people would not eat the slaughter
of other,
you know, people of other traditions and so
on. However,
you know, so this is a sign of
someone being being a Muslim. Of course, Muslims
are allowed to eat the slaughter of the
people of the book on condition that it
is soundly slaughtered. It is soundly slaughtered. The
conditions of sound slaughter are fulfilled, which,
in prevalent,
you know, meat that's available
in non Muslim countries, that's certainly not the
condition. But kosher law, for example, upholds the
conditions of ritual slaughter.
So kosher
would in itself be halal. Right? In itself
be be halal kosher meat would itself be
halal. Right? Because the other things are there's
kosher wine. It's still wine. It's not permitted.
Those say that what
whatever food of the people of the book
is permitted for you,
then there's kosher wine.
Right?
And this is
they they allow
things made from alcohol. It's from the food
of the people of the book. Why?
That's a general expression
from which a particular meaning is understood.
The food of the people of the book
when it would otherwise be permitted for you.
Right?
So that those are the 2 two hadith.
So here, the call that whoever prays our
prayer and faces our qibla and eats our
slaughter, they're Muslim.
One of the implications,
do not
deem
a Muslim
a kafir
based on technicalities. Right?
And this is something the prophet upheld even
with the hypocrites.
Right? The hypocrites. Even
the foremost hypocrites, and he knew the name
of each of them. He did even the
hypocrites whose hypocrisy was known. And as we've
seen from the Hadith of Sayyidina Hudayfa,
the that category
in society of hypocrites ended with the prophet
because
we we cannot tell what's in the hearts
of people. Even then,
he he he established the principle of.
We we judge by the outward.
So we don't impute
disbelief to people.
We're also
exceedingly careful not to
call different people.
That's not from the characteristics of
balanced belief.
And then
there there is
the the next hadith, the hadith of Alfred
Bin Malik
which is
the counsel of the prophet
to these people who came to him.
Right?
So we,
with respect to to the faith, we'll look
at that,
in the next session.
We're going to read briefly from,
Talim Al Mutalim,
instruction of the student on the ways
of learning,
and we're looking
in the present chapter
at
how one arranges one study and some of
the counsel
related to that.
So he's given
some and some of this, it these are
not Sharia rulings. They're based on
experience.
So he says
It is absolutely necessary
for student knowledge to have
to have review
with with others.
Mutual review.
Is
when there there's
you can hear 2 parties. There's a mutuality
to it.
And
to to debate. And it's not like a
formal debate that you announce a public debate
on what requires but
meaning discussion.
So why to ask a question why, to
test one another. Right? To to debate,
but
the the condition for that debate is that
we done
in order to better understand things and to
clarify the truth. It's not to
trip up the other person.
Because that's
and mutual
presentation.
Where, you know, after a class or before
a class, one presents the topic. Because if
if you can present something,
cogently means to understand it clearly.
And these are 3 powerful means to review
together,
to discuss,
and debate things together, and to mutual presentation.
Right? That where there's one way of review
where you present the lesson or the key
points of the lesson. If you can do
that without having to read off anything, it
means you understand it.
Some of the scholars used to practice
the
practice this themselves
when they in their teaching.
So for example,
Sheikh Mohammed Jum'ah,
we were studying one of the comp comprehensive
meta
texts in Hanafiq,
and
he was teaching it very deliberately. Sheikh Mohammed
Jum'ah had these deliberate,
I call
them DLA, deliberate legal acts. Like, he do
certain things deliberately to make a point.
Very deliberately.
He actually point and said, have you seen
this copy of?
And we're studying Multih El Abhor. Now logically,
this is the most comprehensive one of the
most comprehensive
summary text in the Hanafi school. It gathered
all the other mutun,
all the other major mutun in one meta
metan,
meta
primer.
So the logical question that arises
is why aren't you teaching it from the
commentary?
He said, because he heard from his teacher
that if you can if one can present
all the issues, you know, in a subject
without looking at the commentary
soundly,
then you understand it
clearly.
So even the nuance issue, you know, he'd
say,
give the reasoning, etcetera. So it sort of
is a personal test. Can I do it
without having
to rely on the commentary in the explanation?
So he'd you know,
the always have this part of to be
able to present something. It's very useful
for for a student
as well.
Right? But this mutual
review,
the mutual discussion and the mute you know,
and presenting to one another,
is to
present something.
Right?
That it there's 3 qualities that it should
have.
You should be fair. Fair to one another
and fair in your question. Don't try to
and what example did he use about this?
The example is not the subject. Right? Or
that what color
shawl was he wearing when he like, you
know, like, it's not about tripping up. So
be fair.
What what
and to be thoughtful. Don't just rush through
it. Oh, we we review together. What do
we what do we do? We just read
everything like, no.
Be
circumspect, thoughtful.
And with reflection.
Right? So don't hasten it.
And this is one of the things Sheikh
Hamza
really said that, you know, a lot of
people
neglect
in education in our times is this
is the emphasis of independent
group study.
Group review and discussion and so on. Right?
And one ho holds on to be mischievous.
So mischievous ill intent
and and to get upset with one
another.
Because
debate
and, you know, discuss you know, mutual discussion
and review
is
is from mutual consultation.
Right? And this is part of the spirit
of Islam.
Their affairs through mutual consultation.
Right? So this is from the the the
broader ethos of our deen.
Right?
And the purpose of mutual consultation
is to bring out what is correct. That's
the purpose.
And that's also, of course, the underlying adab
of
musha'ura.
If you advise, be very because it's a
it's a the prophet,
the one consulted has been trusted.
Right? So let's say, see, the Imad is
asked
by someone about marriage.
So let's say Imad is a tribal leader.
It's not Imad Kamal, some other Imad. He's
a tribal leader. Someone asks you, who do
you recommend for marriage?
My
my uncle's 11th daughter
is available. So you recommend someone, but why?
Not out of the best interest of the
person you're advising, that's considered.
That's considered,
cheating, and whoever cheats is not of us.
Right? The basis when someone asks you for
advice is you advise them to what is
in their interest. At the very least, what
it what accords to their interest.
And it's recommended that it be accord to
their best interest.
Right?
So and the study is with that too.
Like, you you have to keep in mind
the best interest of all involved.
And this
bringing out the the truth,
the concern for truth,
and what's right
and only happens with these three qualities, with
reflection,
with thoughtfulness,
and fairness.
And it does not,
acquired by anger
and by mischievous ill intent.
But if one's intention is only to put
down
the other party, it is not permitted to
debate.
Because debate is only permitted
to manifest what is true.
And,
false impressions
and tricks It's
a false you know, it literally it's like,
when you,
do a
a a coating on something.
And so something is just a base metal,
but you
make it silver plated. You give a coating
of silver, say, oh, this is silver. It's
not. It's only silver
coated.
Right? That's.
Right? It's
giving false impressions.
And hila, which is tricks,
right, is not permitted.
Unless
the person you're debating with is
being
obstinate
and
is obstinately refusing to. Tan nut is you
obstinately refuse to accept the truth, then you
can trip them up.
Right? Because then the intent then the intent
of tripping them up is good so that
they come to accept
the truth.
But you don't deceive even your enemy. The
prophet the hujjah of the enbia, the proofs
of the prophets were always
clear.
Right?
Our duty is only to convey with clarity,
and that's and that's the underlying
concern
in these things. So the
the the lesson for today that he's emphasizing
is,
the
importance
of group study. It's important to even 2
people. Right?
It's very beneficial. And that's something students need
to take the initiative
to
uphold.
And the onus
there is is on them. May Allah make
us of those who take the means
to,
to seek knowledge and to understand it and
retain it
and
and
strengthen
it.
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