Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #084 Good Company in Seeking Knowledge Seeking Supplications
AI: Summary ©
The importance of avoiding harmful consequences, seeking prophetic guidance, and being one for one's worship is emphasized. It is important to be mindful of one's behavior and express gratitude for the blessings and respect that come with it. It is crucial to pursue theals of Islam, including seeking knowledge and respect for those who have it, learning to balance remorse and routine devotion with seeking knowledge and seeking pleasing benefits for oneself and others. It is crucial to be mindful of one's worship and pray with the prayer of the creator and the creator's forgiveness, as it is a sound hadith. It is also important to be mindful of one's actions and intentions to achieve benefits. The Rawha program is a place for individuals to contribute to monthly donations.
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 continuing to look in our daily
roha at
some advice for seekers of knowledge, and this
chapter is very important on the importance of
scoopulousness
of warah in seeking knowledge. Because a seeker
of knowledge
is striving to attain virtue
and to guide people towards virtue,
and the basis of of being virtuous is
that you're careful about about your religion,
and you want to instill that in others.
Right? As one of the scholars said, any
understanding
any understanding of of Din that diminishes Din
in the lives of people,
right,
is deception and not deen. Right?
So
and we we we looked
after he highlighted the various areas where one
has to be careful about.
We
we saw some examples from some of the
great
scholars
regarding that, and he quoted
from the words
of one of the scrupulous
scholars,
in advising his
advising seekers of knowledge. Right?
That be careful of backbiting
and sitting with
those who speak excessively.
Right?
Because
those who speak excessively waste your life
because and
waste your time.
Right?
And this is, of course, from speaking excessively
is both in real company and in virtual
company.
Right? In virtual company.
Right?
And
one needs to be careful about that. Right?
Because,
and part of being a'atil
or being a person of intelligence,
right,
is to be added for what benefits.
Right? Whereas a lot of people,
because of their heedlessness
on awareness,
are,
you know, busy with with a lot of
things that really don't make a lot of
sense. Like, I'm pretty careful about my
Facebook and Twitter feeds, but all I I
I had to work late last night. All
these people talking
as if, you know, the greatest you know,
the,
you know, the the the great victories were
being won last night
for the cause of
human good.
Right? Because
some people won
Oscar awards and this and that. If you
think about it
yeah, like practically,
if if an atheist went and helped some
did some good deed,
should we
be happy about that good deed? Could it
benefited someone? Versus a Muslim went and did
something totally meaningless, and it was celebrated.
Right? We're not a tribe called
Beni Muslim.
Right? Beni Muslim.
Right?
The so those are things that not that
we should speak ill of what you know,
we have concern
for the good of people, but this is
part of and we sometimes fall into bad
habits. Each age has its
challenges.
In some societies, people socialize so much.
One of the scholars said that one of
the biggest shocks to the system for a
lot of Syrians was some of the scholars
would have practice from the sunnah
of encouraging people to go into seclusion for
some days to engage in remembrance. So that's
so difficult for Syrians because they're such social
beings.
And then if you can't meet with people
on a daily basis, you, like, lose it.
Right? So I find it, like, very
really break their routine.
But we have these tendencies that that from
scrupulousness is to look at where one's life
is. So he tells us,
Said from scrupulousness
is that one keep away
from the people of corruption
and sin,
and
what Taqil,
and those who are up to who are
up to nothing meaningful.
Right? And the word for keeping away from,
right, is to give one's back, one's gem.
Right?
To give one's back to
them. Right? This is unless
there is a clear interest
in doing so. They say good company
is company that's either in itself of benefit
or beneficial
because of the intent
and benefit that arise from it.
Right? So if one
keeps a company Like one has friends from
the old days, people of corruption or sin
or up to no good. But one keeps
their company with a good intention, in a
good way,
reasonably hopeful of good outcomes from it.
These are the 3 conditions from for good
company.
Kept
kept in with a good intention, in a
good way, with good right likely results.
With and the
those are the integrals of good company, of
company made good.
But they have a key condition
which is,
or you can break it into 2 conditions.
The 2 conditions being without
direct harm
and without harmful consequences.
Without direct harm, that you don't keep a
good that you're hopeful that the person will
come and get more religiously serious, but you
engage in direct harm. So you go,
you know, go with them to
do things that by the standards of our
deen are haram or makru,
or that result in harm. Right? Because it
keeps you away from benefit.
Right? So one has to be selective and
and aware of these things.
Rather,
and one should keep
the close,
you know,
the proximate
company,
and
literally
refers to,
you know, one should
be in the neighborhood.
Right?
The be in the neighborhood, the vicinity.
And here
meaning that that's where one should be found.
Right? Of the righteous.
Because proximity
has an effect
necessarily.
So this is one of the the keys.
Right?
They say a person is the sum
of the the 5 closest people they keep
the company off. Right?
And the sad thing, a lot of people
don't keep anyone's company. Right? Their closest company
is Netflix and Facebook
and maybe Amazon dotcom
and,
CNN,
right,
and hockey or something. Right?
So there's a
so this is the bigger picture. Right? So
he talks firstly, he gave us some principles.
Then he gave us some stories to highlight
those principles.
Now he gives some broad advice,
but then there are some
particular aspects that are expressive also
of being careful.
Being careful.
Right? And that one sit facing the qibla.
Why? Because
the
in itself, this is good.
It's good. It's not specifically
called upon, but the one who cares
does things,
goes above and beyond the basics. Right? And
it's the praiseworthiness of the qibla as a
direction
has been established. Right?
And this is something that is it's not.
The ruling of sitting when you have a
choice, like in this class, you you don't
have a choice. Like if you sit facing
the moon, you're just a fool. Right? It's
common sense. But when you have a choice,
it's superior to face the Qibla and there's
much that's come from the general merits. So
that there's general merit
in facing the Qibla.
Right?
For devotion, for Dua
and a praiseworthiness
is understood, and it was understood by many
of the companions. If you look at the
Athar, there's no explicit Hadith sit and study
facing the tabla, but from the general
idea that this is the this is the
direction in which one directs one's worship,
and from the tawveem, the respect for that
as an expression of respect for Allah,
you see a lot of the companions understood
this. They would strive
to sit facing the tibla, not just for
their dhikr,
but also for the seeking of knowledge, because
seeking of knowledge has been described in the
prophetic tradition as being from dhikr of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So this is
and then there are things that people tested,
and they found benefit.
And he will give us an example of
that in in a moment.
But these little things are also expressive of
a bigger reality. Right? Which is you care.
1 of the great scholars of Damascus, and
one of the gentlest souls, Sheikh Abraham al
Sharhuri,
once
he was going to
to it's part of his mentoring.
1 of his students
was going to,
you
know, sort of coach, as it were, his
students through a major step in their life.
When he got to the place where they're
supposed to meet, it was at at a
masjid this person was responsible for. When he
sat down on the ground, he put his
hand on the carpet and it and it
there was dust out there's dust there.
So he just said, oh, the carpet's dusty.
And
so he just went, greeted the person, had
small talk, and he left.
So people asked, like,
how come you're leaving?
So he told
that, you know, because someone can't take of
the little care of little things
that express concern, how could you do big
things?
Right? If you can't take care of little
things, how can you take care of
big things?
And one should be
one should characterize oneself with the sunnah of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Otherwise, what's
the point?
The whole point of seeking knowledge is seek
prophetic guidance.
So these are councils.
And one should make the most of the
dua of the people of virtue, and this
is a sunnah of the prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam.
Right? The prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam taught
us,
encouraged us to pray for others
and to seek for others to pray for
oneself.
Right? And this is something clearly understood from
Quran. 1 for us to pray for others
as is clear from the Fatiha,
from so many duas in the Quran that
are in the plural. But also told and
told the prophet told us is a great
merit
of making Dua for others.
Dua
The the Dua of a Muslim or of
a believer
for their brother
in their in their absence is answered.
So there's a encouragement there, number 1, 2.
Make dua for others
and there's many merits of doing so. That
the angels say may you have the like
of what you have asked for.
So there's a good return on investment, but
also to seek the Dua of the righteous
because it's answered.
And and one of the strange thing the
prophet, salallahu alaihi, said there's many several instances
of the prophet, salallahu alaihi, said I'm asking
companions to make dua for him.
And he asked, say, no Umar radiAllahu ta'ala.
My my brother, make dua for me. Okay?
He asked the believers, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Right?
After the event, Then
ask Allah for the waseelah
for the
station for the which is this Maqab Al
Mahmoud, the most praiseworthy station.
Right? The station of the one granted the
greatest intercession. Right?
Because and the prophet explained it, because it
is a rank that befits only one servant
of the servants of Allah, and I hope
it is me.
Right? So he asked us to make dua
for him. Right? But we see in that
an example that even the best of believers
should seek out
dua. Right?
So,
way after is
and one should guard oneself from the dua
of those wronged.
It
It is related that
2 individuals
went out together
to seek knowledge
in a foreign land.
And they were partners,
companions in seeking
knowledge.
And they returned after many years to their
homeland.
Waqadfakaha
ahaduuma
walam yaftahil akhar.
And one of them had attained
deep understanding of this religion,
which is what fiqh refers to. Right? Fiqh
is
It's understanding
of the subtleties of matters.
The other didn't gain deep understanding of the
religion.
So the scholars of the land
reflected on this.
And they asked about the state of these
two individuals. Right? What happened?
One attained knowledge, the other didn't.
And about how much they used to review.
And
how and their comportment.
But then for
Right?
So they found that
the person who attained the knowledge, attained deep
understanding,
in his study and review used to sit
facing the Qibla
and
facing the city where he gained knowledge. Out
of respect.
Out of respect.
And the and
the other had given his back to the
and their faith was to other
than their homeland,
and this is mentioned about Imam Abuha, and
this is and some expressions of
adab, of respect.
Right? And we took before the importance of
tawdim.
It's mentioned that Imam Abu Hanifa,
once he studied with Hammad ibn Abi Salam,
he never stretched his feet his whole life
towards the home of Hammad ibn Abishwema. Now
is this
specifically recommended? No.
Completely permissible.
And it's not it doesn't because the Hanifa
did it, it doesn't it doesn't become a
religious precedent.
The underlying meaning expressed is that one has
tawdim,
venerates,
and one has respect. One considers it a
big deal,
and if one does,
then naturally one's attitude towards it differs.
And if one's and benefit revolves around
intention and attitude.
So the scholars of that land
agreed that the one who gained the knowledge,
gained it by the blessing of facing the
Qibla,
because that is the prophetic example in sitting.
In land of Barura, except when there's a
genuine need.
And by the baraka
of the Dua of the
Muslims.
Because no city is bereft
of the people of devotion and the people
of good.
Right?
And it would appear that
some someone righteous
made dua for them at night.
Okay?
And also because if you're considerate, like because
the it's not so much the issue about
that, okay, sit facing.
Right? Like, you you don't have to make
complicated scientific equation. The pibla is that way.
I studied Damascus that that's way, so I'll
sit to sort of triangulate
between,
you know, but it's about that there's an
attitude of respect,
right?
Right?
And it's like,
you know, Majinoon Leila.
He used to find himself always
in Layla's neighborhood.
And he said,
It's
not the love of walls that's taken my
heart, but the love of the one who
dwells therein. The prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam, expressed
incredible amounts of respect
for anyone
associated with Halima Saadia
50 years after she nursed him.
Right?
Someone came
related to Hasaydah Halima Saadia and the prophet
found out he took off his cloak and
put it down for that woman.
Sayidah
Khadija, the prophet used to keep track of
her friends and give send them gifts too.
Why?
Because this added this
your recognition
and
appreciation
are,
you know, key components of gratitude. Right? And
it's only when one is grateful
that one will find benefit.
You recognize a blessing, you appreciate it, and
then you express your appreciation.
If you don't do those three
things, you're not grateful. And if you're not
grateful,
then that's how you lose
blessings as individuals
or as communities.
But you also see here
that the fuqaha,
right, the scholars, right, there's a idea of
communal obligation.
Right?
Because how did these students go to another
land to study?
Right. Because
they were supported. Right. They were supported, but
their sense of accountability. 2 people went, one
learned, one didn't.
How? Right. And this is something
that they took
seriously. Right? So to have this idea of
kisbah,
of public accountability,
right, which is an important
and beautiful
sunnah of our tradition because a deep sense
of trust that, you know, if if there's
a public trust, there's funds that we're directing
towards
the public interest. We have to look carefully
that we're getting,
you know, that that trust is being fulfilled.
The one engaging in it has to take
that as a as a trust, as a
farmkifei,
and those who are facilitating it have to
ensure
that the public trust is taken seriously. Right?
And that's the attitude we have to have
with all our institutions,
institutions of education,
of service,
of
knowledge. Right?
And in traditional Muslim societies,
you know, the wealthy
used to say it's a shame
if our houses
are better than our masajid, our madares,
and
our zawaiyah, and our places of spiritual training.
Right? Because the wealth
of a Muslim
city
or a Muslim community
or or even a Muslim neighborhood
is not by how big your house is,
but that won't preserve
good intergenerationally
for your children. Most likely your children are
not gonna live in your house anyway.
But if your community's
religious,
spiritual,
and educational institutions are weak,
right, the institutions serving the poor and needy
are weak, that's going to negatively affect,
you know,
not not just the broader community, but your
own family for generations.
So he says,
So it befits the seeker of knowledge not
to have
a
careless attitude when it comes to proper manners,
was Sunan and the Sunnas.
Because whoever is lax about proper manners
will be prevented
from the Sunnas.
And whoever
is negligent about the sunnahs
will be prevented from the farb.
Each protects
and perfects
the level before. This is general adab of
the deen. You take care of them. They
will protect and perfect the sunnahs.
The sunnahs protect and preserve the farb.
Right?
In both the performance
and in their completion.
And whoever is lax about the obligatory
will be prevented
from the hereafter.
Right. And
it befits the seeker of knowledge
to pray much
and the least of that you know the
seeker of knowledge,
you know should
your needs to uphold the emphasized sunnah and
have some share of consistent nafil that they
bring into their life. And the most important
of the nafil are 3:
night worship,
tahajjud,
and buha.
Right? Night worship is any worship done after
the sun has set.
Any extra worship above and beyond, we emphasize
sunnah.
Whether it's facilitated after Maghrib or Isha or
late into the night,
you know,
that's that's,
you know, night worship.
The subset of that is tahajjud.
Is night worship done
after sleep?
Salatulbuha
after sunrise
anytime.
And of course there's many others, but those
are the 3 most emphasized.
A subset of night worship is salatulawadeem,
the prayer of the penitent,
which is any extra worship done after Maghrib.
Ideally, 6 raka'ahs,
but it can be less or more.
And then there are the prayers of occasions,
particularly,
and
which should be
and the prayer and the prayer
of repentance.
Right? These are 3,
that one. That should be part of the
student of knowledge that if they make a
major decision, they perform Istikharah.
When they have a major need,
they perform
salat al Hajjah. Whether
the the salat al Hajjah as has come
in the sunnah, and you can find it
in
the chapter on the prayer of need, of
salat al Hajjah in Kitab al Al Khar
at Al Minawi,
and you'll be surprised by what else you'll
find there,
or the istikhara itself. Because the istikhara can
be used
for choice,
and it can also be used to express
need.
Right?
As it's clear from the meaning of the.
And the third is,
the prophet
said that there's no servant who commits a
sin, and then goes makes,
and does so well and then prays 2,
repenting to Allah and seeking his forgiveness except
that Allah forgives them. It's related by and
recorded by Ma'am Ahmed and others. It's a
sound hadith.
K?
So these should be from the basic toolkit
of the secret knowledge. If you're not doing
this, then what in the world are you
doing?
Right?
And
one should pray with the prayer of those
who have
have or presence of heart with Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
Why? Because this is
You know, it's about Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Right?
Because that is an aid for them in
attaining
knowledge.
Right? And knowledge is one of the
the true knowledge
is a
has been described
in many texts of of the sunnah as
being like a fortress.
Right? This is this is this the whole
purpose of creation is this guidance.
Right?
Because Allah cannot be worshipped or known without
knowledge. Right. So this is sacred.
This is the command of Allah.
Right. So there's a sacredness
to it.
Right?
As one of the poet says,
So remove your sandals when you come
to that
sanctuary
For in it
is our
sacredness.
Right?
This is and they use the metaphor of
Sayid Namsa when he entered the sacred valley.
He was told to remove his sandals.
That this is serious. Right? This is serious.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has and the final revelation,
this is one of the amazing
things that even the scholars
of innovation
whose knowledge was preserved
were people of righteousness.
For example,
Imam Azamal Shari was a Ma'at Azalite,
but he was a great, great scholar. He
was an imam
in Arabic language. He was an imam in
tafsir,
and we differ with him on many things.
But Imam al Zafakshari was known as Jah'alullah
as Zafakshari, the neighbor of Allah as Zafakshari.
Because he lived right by the Kaaba. It's
a long story. And and he's a hardcore.
Right? He's actually
because he lost
one one foot,
due to frostbite in Central Asia. And he
actually he had a certificate from the that
this foot was lost
due
to frostbite and striving to seek knowledge and
not because of any crime.
So he's to walk with a stick. And
he's to go into the haram.
And there were times when, you know, when,
you know, the people of knowledge would be
out for the for the.
So he used to go out at that
time,
and he used to hit the
hit the
the floor of the of the Haram and
say, who who will debate me?
And it was a bad idea to debate.
But
if you look at his life as a
life of great virtue, and there's other
people who differ
from from the mainstream on certain views, but
this characteristic. Right? Because the prophet said this
religion will only be born in each age
by its most exemplary.
In every subject, you have some books. Now
there are books that are better than that
in terms of order, in terms of precision.
But why did
last a 1000 years
in the Hanafi School?
The
in other texts.
Because
these are people
who guarded the rights of Allah. So Allah
guarded them and what they left behind.
Right? And this is from the divine promise.
Right?
So this this is the approach
that
that helps one, and then he'll quote,
we will look at it next
class. He'll quote some poetry to confirm this
meaning, and then after that,
he talks about some of the things that
strengthen memory. So we'll look at that
tomorrow. There's a beautiful
last year
at this program
in in in Tareem,
Habib Omar was asked this question
that how does one balance,
you know, remembrance and
and routines of devotion
and seeking of knowledge.
Right?
And the base the answer comes down to
that you have to consider
your seeking of knowledge to be from your
remembrance of Allah and your devotion.
Right? So someone is fully committed to seeking
knowledge.
Right?
The the balance that they achieve is that
you you leave
your worshipfulness,
etcetera,
only
to the extent that
you are sure that what you're doing
will be more pleasing to Allah
than the remembrance of Allah that you're engaged
in. Because the basis of the believer is
remembrance of Allah
You only leave it for that which will
have more benefit
in a manner that will be more pleasing
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Okay?
So because it's not about seeking knowledge. Right?
Seeking knowledge is a means.
Right? It's about gaining benefit
for oneself and others through it in a
manner that will be pleasing to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. Right? So the basis of the
believer is a believer had nothing else to
do and no other human being exists. What
do you what are you supposed to be
doing?
You worship Allah
Worship your Lord until
death comes to you. Okay. Anything that you
leave for that, whether it be knowledge or
work, etcetera,
the intelligent person will not leave
the purpose of their creation
except for that which will have at least
the same reward in it or more.
So it's not, okay. Do I engage
in do I worship my Lord or do
I go to work?
Right. If rationally, if generally worship of Allah
had more reward in it, then you should
just do that.
But everything else
needs to be done in a manner that
has at least as much benefit
or more.
And then at least as it's as pleasing
as the remembrance of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
It applies to work, etcetera. How?
One of the things is keep your tongue
moist
intention.
Right? The first thing is intention. Number 2,
keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Right? And always ask yourself, how do I
make this pleasing to Allah which is by
whatever you do, uphold the sunnah related to
it. So the same thing with seeking knowledge.
It can be very satisfying
to direct yourself to
just
just
gaining more for the sake of it.
Right? To impress, to please, but
you you strike the balance between your devotion
and your seeking of knowledge
in a manner that
you are sure that your seeking of knowledge
is with the right intention
in a manner that will be pleasing to
Allah and
to do that you need to have
some devotion that is fueling
the right attitude in life. Right? Because you
don't have that core of devotion,
then the other things
will start falling apart. We ask Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala for sincerity
and steadfastness and that he grant us
the highest of intentions and facilitate for us
the the best of meanings in the way
we approach,
our seeking of knowledge and everything in life.
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