Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #072 Connecting With Manifest Blessings Singular Concern for Allah Leaving Worldly Attachments
AI: Summary ©
The importance of remembering Allah's teachings and setting up routines is emphasized in the spiritual path. The speaker discusses the importance of gratitude and understanding reality in graduation, as well as the concept of "Grader" and its connection to "Grader" in the spiritual path. The importance of investing time and focus in pursuing one's dreams is also emphasized, along with the importance of avoiding empty promises and working on one's life to reduce one's concerns. The speaker provides examples of the importance of seeking knowledge and not wasting time, as well as a study on the importance of facilitation and adab for the searcher of knowledge.
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.
We are resuming
our look at
the
40 hadith on the merits of the remembrance
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala as part
of our studying,
guidance
for
the one seeking
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
in our daily and
the hadith
on
the merits
of remembering Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala individually
and gathering to remember Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
collectively are tremendous.
And one of the emphasis
that you see
mentioned in these opening hadiths
is the great emphasis
on the collective
remembering
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And that's for a few reasons. One of
them
is
for a practical
purpose, which is
that
number 1, often,
the collective remembrance of Allah is neglected by
people. Say, I'll remember I well, I remember
Allah on my own. I like to remember
Allah myself.
But
so what happens?
They don't they don't get around
to engaging in remembrance of Allah.
The the coming together
with others,
particularly
to make that a regular habit,
facilitates
establishing
basic routines.
And if one establishes
basic routines,
one can build
on those
routines.
So it is a facilitative
element
that is
undeniable.
Secondly,
collective
dhikr
itself has great merit
in terms practically, in terms of the impact
it has
on
the person.
Imam al Shaarani and others before him use
the example
of the difference between
dropping,
between dripping water on a stone and
pouring water on a stone.
Right? The pouring water on a stone will
impact the stone much more than the regular
drip
and the coming together
of hearts and the effort exerted in going
to a gathering.
Right?
Has an impact and Allah has
has chosen
to place
great merit in it.
So that's why
we
we look at
this
Hadith
number 10 today.
So say the
relates that the prophet
went out
to a circle
of his companions.
And he asked them,
what made you sit together?
What made you sit together?
Islam. Said we are sitting,
remembering Allah most high and praising him for
having guided us
to Islam.
And for what he
showered upon of blessings upon us.
The prophet asked by Allah,
was there nothing else that caused you to
sit except that?
Said, by Allah.
Nothing causes us to sit together except that.
So
prophet said, I did not
seek
for you to swear
by Allah
because
because I am accusing you of falsehood,
but rather
it is because Jibril came,
Jibril, and he informed me that Allah, mighty
and majestic,
is
expressing pride regarding you to his angels.
Okay. He's expressing
pride, he's expressing
deep, good pleasure, and delight
with respect to you to the angels.
And
other similar narrations actually mention that what they're
sitting for, they're sitting to praise Allah and
for guiding us to Islam
and
for what he has blessed us of
sending you to us with that guidance.
Right?
And it's
related
in Sunan and Nasai,
and the same answer came. Right? Because the
Hadith of the prophet each explains the other.
Right? And that's what when people talk about
the,
right, people argue about words,
but
the we we express gratitude to Allah
for
the gift of faith and guidance
and
of guiding us to that which the messenger
has come with
For the sending of the messenger,
were it not for you, we would not
have been guided.
Right?
And expressing gratitude for that guidance,
right,
is the essence
of these
celebrations. And those the root of those celebrations
are those circles in which the Sahaba praised
Allah and expressed their gratitude for the blessing
of the guidance that came through the messenger
The 11th hadith,
So now moving on to other occasions of
remembering Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And so we
looked extensively at the merits of remembering Allah
in congregation.
And then no people gather in that house
the houses of Allah remembering Allah
except
that serenity
showers down upon them. Mercy envelops them.
The the angels surround them and Allah mentions
them in the highest company.
Right? I am as my servant thinks of
me and if they they remember me in
a by to themselves, I remember them to
myself and if they remember me in a
gathering, I remember them in a gathering
greater than their gathering and the other hadiths
that we saw.
Hadith number 11,
Jabi relates that he heard the the prophet
say, if a person enters
their
house
and remembers Allah
most high, when they enter
and when they eat,
the shaitan says, you have no resting place
and no
sustenance.
The shaitan says to the devils.
What would it say?
And
there's a Dal missing there.
Right? So
and if someone enters their house and does
not remember Allah, when they enter, the shaitan
says
You have found
your resting place.
And if one eats and does not remember
Allah when they eat, the shaitan says, you
have found both your resting place
and your dinner.
This is related by Muslim and Abu Dawood
and and others. Now there's a couple of
things here. The reason for this is simple.
This life is about
and It's about
many layers of darkness
and there is light.
And what is light in creation?
It is with the remembrance of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
Allah is the light of the heavens and
the earth. There's the existential light that Allah
is the one who has
originated
everything,
but you only
behold
that light. You only find that light if
you are in states of remembering Allah and
thereby being conscious of Allah.
Bereft of remembrance,
there is but
degrees of darkness.
Some greater than others
as Allah Subha Wa Ta'la describes in the
Quran.
So and
a particular
occasion for remembering Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is
when you connect
to any manifest blessing
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Why?
Because what is your house?
Is your house yours?
It's a blessing
from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And just imagine
if you had to spend even one night
on the street
rather than in your home.
Right?
Just one night.
Would you feel comfortable?
Would you be safe?
Could you even sleep? Could right?
Likewise with the food.
Right? We look at the food. It's mine.
I made it.
So and so brought it.
It's too spicy.
What is its reality?
It is a blessing.
That's why
the prophet
never criticized food
ever. If he liked it if he liked
some dish, he would
eat it, and there's some things that he
temperamentally did not incline towards.
The desert Arabs would eat certain types of
lizards,
and he didn't like.
That's not something Quresh ate.
So he avoided it. We never spoke ill
of it.
Right? So if your brother
makes some food and you could send it
to those who are
defending their homelands from the enemy as weapons
because it's so hard,
don't say that.
I just avoid it.
So this is why and if you don't
embrace the light,
then you are in.
And it is in the shadows
that you find
the agents of darkness, where you find the
shaitan.
K? Because when you distance yourself from the
light,
that that is where the
shaitan now whispers.
Right? Where it whispers.
Which is why every significant matter that we
engage in,
we begin it with remembrance of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
The prophet it's related from the prophet that
every
action of consequence.
Any matter of consequence that is not begun
with praise of Allah
it is cut off meaning
it is deficient and lacking in blessing.
Right?
So
the reason for this above all is gratitude.
Gratitude for your home,
gratitude,
the blessing of shelter,
the blessing of food.
And, of course, the same applies to other
things.
If you are not grateful,
that's how you find misery.
And then doubts creep in.
The other point in the Hadith that some
of the Hadith commentators point out is that
debate
and some of us were talking about this
recently.
Debate can refer to
your house.
So we know their sunnah of what one
says when one enters the house.
But the specific meaning of bait
in the usage
of
the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
and in early
Islamic usage.
The bait
refers to
where you sleep.
So literally also means
the bedroom, the room.
So
the Ullana is saying that those who wish
to be of the people
of
Iqbal, of turning to Allah,
the the sun the that
one recites
of entering
the
one should recite both when entering one's home
because that's where you rest,
but also
your bedroom
because your bedroom is a particular blessing.
Right?
And you see this clearly.
You know? I mean, you may once in
a while go to sleep in the living
room or
hopefully not in the kitchen, but
but the bedroom
is a particular blessing.
We'll look at the next hadith as well
on hadith number 12
So this is an amazing hadith.
Abureya relates that the messenger of Allah sallallahu
alaihi wasalam was once traveling on one of
the paths
to Mecca,
and he passed by
a mountain
named
Jamadan.
So he said,
continue
continue journeying.
This is Jamadan.
And why would he mention that part?
Several reasons.
One is because some of his companions were
not Madinan.
Right? There's the
Meccans,
and this was new to them.
And then there are non Meccans and non
Madinans who entered Islam as well. That's That's
one of the reasons why he would say,
well, that's Jamadan because there's amongst his companions,
those who are who are strangers to to
Medina.
And number 2 also,
reminding
them that despite, you know, now you're they're
returning home to Medina, you have concerns
that it is a clear sunnah
to pay attention
to one's surroundings.
Okay?
I travel
through the lands
and look with contemplation.
Right?
And that's one of the.
This
talk about the outward
of travel and the inward
of travel. And on the inward of travel
is
reflection.
Right? And then the prophet
now the prophet also always connected the outward
with the inward. So they continue traveling.
Right?
Because they're heading home. But then he used
that occasion to connect the outward
travel with the inward
travel.
And there when you're returning home, people want
to to get home quickly,
generally. There's exceptions. Someone's having family troubles. They
say, okay.
I'll I'll do the rear guard or whatever,
but generally, people wanna get home,
take a shower,
rest,
eat properly.
So the prophet
said
that the singularizers
have outstripped everyone else.
K?
The singularizers
are ahead of everyone else.
Is racing.
So
is when you outrace others.
This is a strange
term.
Literally, the singularizers.
So they asked,
who are the singularizers,
o messenger of Allah? He
said
those who remember Allah
much.
Now sometimes people
say
make objections to the people of the spiritual
path. They say they come up with this
strange terminology.
The Quran and Sunnah only talks about,
but they talk about
and this and one of the terms that
many of the people of the spiritual path
talk about is
That Tafrid is higher than Tawhid.
Tawhid is to affirm that Allah is 1,
but Tafrid is to singularize
him.
Right?
And so where do you you guys just
make work
make up things, and this is a terrible
attack
on the inheritance of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. Why? Because where do they take
this idea of tafreed from? There are many
hadiths of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Amongst them
this.
That amongst the people of Tawhid
are people who are mufarridoon,
singularizers.
They engage in tafrid,
right, which is you you make
you don't simply
affirm the oneness of Allah,
but you have
you make him your singular concern.
And how do you make him your singular
concern? The means of that is remembrance of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And that's where the famous
quotes regarding that.
And so and it is from this
idea that ibn Masih says in his famous
sending of blessings upon the prophet
and rescue me, oh, Allah,
from
being bogged down
in mere affirmation of oneness
to the vast expanses
of singularizing.
And many people short sightedly object to something
like that.
But this is based that there's one thing
to affirm that Allah is 1,
but another
to make him your singular concern. And that's
what tafrid is.
That's what,
you know, this is what the prophet.
Right?
The singularizers
are ahead of everyone else. Who are they?
Those who remember Allah
greatly.
Right? And, of course, we see all that
also from that. It's an important thing that
beware
of hastening to object
to
to the scholars. Because a lot of people
object to them because they don't realize. Partly
because they don't actually read the hadith.
They say some of them talk about Quran,
sunnah, Quran, sunnah. How much Quran do you
recite? No. Because I'm too busy attacking other
people. How much sunnah do you read? I'm
too busy
analyzing hadiths from actually reading some hadith,
right, which is with borders on absurdity.
And so and sometimes if we don't ex
understand some expression of the scholars,
we should seek clarification.
May Allah make us of these
of the.
Another narration of this, and we'll close it,
he says,
the narration in Imani,
they said,
In the narration of, they said, who are
the the singularizers?
The
Who are the singularizers
of messenger of Allah? He said, Alaihi Wasallam,
those
who are who give themselves
completely
to the remembrance of Allah.
So that remembrance of Allah
removes from them their burdens.
So they come to Allah
on the day of resurrection
unburdened.
Right? And this term,
imam
al Nabhani explains
The Mostahtirun,
those who give themselves the number are those
who are
who
are in
constantly engaged
in remembrance of Allah, who are devoted to
and constantly engaged in remembrance.
And they don't care what people say about
it because some you some people worry if
I make zikr on public transport, people will
think I'm crazy.
But people probably think you're crazy anyway. People
think everyone's scared.
Right? Might as well them think you're you're
crazy, and you're actually,
you know, crazy with purpose.
How about it? You know, because people look
critically.
It's like the the story of Johan. And
when he was riding the donkey
and his son, out of Adab, was walking
next to him, and he said, what a
terrible father.
He's riding the donkey and his son
is having to walk.
So the next town they went to, he
had his son ride the donkey, and he
walked. Says, what a terrible father. Didn't teach
his child any manners.
Son is riding the donkey. The father is
walking. Abe.
So then say, okay. Let's both ride the
donkey. So village c, they got to the
to the village. Father and son are riding
the donkey. So what a terrible
man.
Him and his son are riding the donkey?
So what do we do? So the 4th
village they went to, because they're on a
journey,
father and son both walked
with the donkey,
not carrying anybody.
So what what fools?
They have a donkey and no one's riding
it?
Finally, Johar got fed up. The 5th village
they went to, they carried the donkey
on on their heads,
right, just to make a point. And so
people are gonna criticize you whatever you do.
Might as well
remember Allah while being criticized.
Right? And then you won't care as the
hadith makes clear.
Right?
So we'll stop there.
For those of you who are catching this
for the first time, we are,
Mondays to Thursdays at 7 PM.
From Seekers of Toronto, we do the daily
roha.
We we're reading,
right now 40 hadiths on the merits of
the remembrance of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And,
normally, we also read with it
from Talim al Mutalim,
instruction of the student on the ways of
learning.
This is also good. It's useful. Arabic practice
as well.
So
we'll stop there.
Muhammad.
Actually, we will read briefly
the section
just for the purpose of continuity
from Talim al Mutalim.
He says
and Talim al Mutal this is a beautiful
work by Muhammad Zarrnooji,
which we're studying
systematically on Sundays,
on Saturdays at 10 AM here at the
hub.
But he says,
He says, it is absolutely necessary for the
seeker of knowledge to reduce their worldly attachments
to the extent possible.
And this is why
they meaning the those who attained
knowledge
chose
to be foreigners,
chose to travel to foreign lands
then there are fewer social obligations.
This has to do with 2 levels. If
you if someone's studying full time as a
student of knowledge,
then
one has to be careful about 2 things.
1,
to give the opportunity it's due by actually
studying full
time. So there's an aspect related to to
time and there's an aspect related to folk
to attention.
And
achievement
requires
both
investment of time and investment of focus.
Right? So you have to give it its
time. And how much time should you give
it?
It's very clear
from the Quran that
and those who believe are more intense in
their love for Allah. So that should be
the standard. Anything you do for Allah, you
should do better than anything
others do for dunya.
So if you're studying full time,
a full time job is minimally 40 hours,
typically. Do you put in more than 40
hours a week?
You
because they're student of knowledge. A lot of
people put in a lot more than 40
hours a week.
And people who are serious
go well above and beyond.
So one has to look at the time
one gives in, but also there's difference between
someone,
you look in worldly concerns,
who is fully into it.
K? And someone
who's got many other interests too.
K?
And people are inspired by this. There's someone
I didn't actually watch it. They said, you
should watch this documentary about Ronaldo.
So I read about the document. I was
gonna so I wasn't gonna spend an hour
watching a documentary about Ronaldo. One of the
interesting things
is the people who are sick they're always
working on what they're doing. Ronaldo now is
not like Ronaldo was 4 years ago. He's
picked up a whole bunch of skills that
he didn't have before.
How come? Always working on it. There's others
who are really good, talented,
but a lot of it it's effort, but
also the focus.
And what distracts from the focus? Worldly attachments
and concerns.
Right?
From the excellence of personal Islam is leaving
things that do not concern them.
Right? Also things that distract them
and other commitments
that one
gives to those commitments to the extent
that is of that is required and of
benefit and not beyond.
So someone's getting married,
you you you should go to the wedding.
But who said you have to show up
to every marriage function?
Who said you have to stay there all
night?
So you go, but the student all would
go to a wedding.
They'd show up. They'd fulfill the sunnahs
related to that,
but they wouldn't waste time.
They wouldn't waste time. Right?
And you learn how to do that, but
you reduce
your
range of concerns. And if someone is studying
part time,
similarly, you will only be able to do
it if
you diminish
worldly attachments. So I love coffee,
but I never go to a coffee shop.
Not because there's anything wrong with going to
coffee shop. I I get a subscription to
coffee twice a month. I get the coffee.
In months,
because, you know, friends don't reciprocate. You get
some friends do, but others don't. You give
someone coffee.
So you're short of coffee. So you order
some more coffee.
Right? You don't have to go there. So
even interest that you have, you you
you you have to your your time is
your capital in this life. So you have
to invest it in that which will give
maximum
ultimate return.
And
what's the standard again?
Those who believe are more intense in their
love of Allah.
There's many people who work full time and
they'll do an executive degree.
Many people succeed. How many people can succeed
in a career without getting doing further
whether degrees or accreditation
or certification,
and how much time do they put in?
If you do a part time degree
or accreditation or certification,
People put in a good 20 hours a
week, and they'll do it. Why? Because they
have a clear purpose.
Now to do that, what do they do?
They arrange their life so that they can.
Those who believe should be more intense in
their love of Allah. And a lot of
the greatest scholars
succeeded in seeking knowledge without
abandoning their careers,
but
they made the time. So you have to
carve out the time in your life, but
you also have to focus your attention. What
are you doing?
Well, I have a job, but
I'm seeking knowledge.
Right? And you have to.
Yeah. And because focus
is
almost as important as the the the time
invested.
Right?
And work
and a dedicated amount of time given regularly
with
focus on it
bears fruit.
Right?
You had your hand up?
Okay. So so this this is,
this is, you know, critical,
which is why
the the the
the
scholars chose
in the path of seeking knowledge.
They they found benefit in being
stranger, being
in a strange land
because there's fewer
distractions.
Right? There's fewer
distractions.
But, also, practically,
the
the to be a stranger in that you
have you're not if you're trying to seek
knowledge,
you have you're you're now not
like anyone else. You're trying to do something
precious.
So
you don't just show up where everyone else
shows up you become vigilant of your time
that is this worth it
or how do I pursue this in the
right way?
Right? You have to
be very
careful
about
about your time.
So we ask Allah
for facilitation
regarding that. And then he
then he talks about some of
the
adab of the one who travels
to learn,
right, who travels to learn,
and
that he mentions the case of Sayidna Musa
Alaihi Salam. So tomorrow we're going to continue
looking at that and we'll mention briefly
the
the 12 adab of the seeker of knowledge
that are found in the story of Musa
with
Al Khadr
in one question that he asked. May I
follow you,
so that you may teach me
of what
you have been taught of right guidance.
So we'll look at those lessons,
as we continue in this tomorrow.
Muhammad.
Thank you for listening to Naraha, daily guidance
for seekers with Sheikh Farozra Benny.
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