Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #098 Seeking Reward Through Acting on Knowledge
AI: Summary ©
The importance of actions in rewarding oneself for knowledge and acting upon them is emphasized. Pritable actions are based on intentions and not personal. It is crucial to take oneself to account before being taken to account, weighing one's actions before being weighed, and loving to meet Allah's brand. It is also important to avoid assuming intentions and to seek noon's love. Consciously weighing one's actions is essential to achieve reward. A monthly donation for seekers with Sheikh PSI Benny is also mentioned.
AI: Summary ©
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with Sheikh Ruzro Benny.
Muhammad
in
our
daily Roha sessions in which we look at
guidance of the prophet
and some of the guidance
for seekers,
We
have we're cont well, today, we're going to
look specifically
at,
Imam Ghazali's,
his counsels for
a seeker of knowledge. For 1, seeking Allah
through their knowledge.
And it it's a slightly shorter than normal
daily.
Normally, we also read
from
a selection of 40,
a selection of sets of 40 hadiths. So
we've completed half a dozen of them. The
next one we're going to be looking at
starting tomorrow
is 40 hadiths
on what it means to love for Allah,
and what it means to hate for Allah.
So, Imam Al Ghazali,
in this address
to a a close student of his says,
He says, this is a very simple principle.
If you do not act,
you will not find reward.
The reward
for knowledge
is through acting upon it,
And the acting upon knowledge is of 2
types.
It's the personal action with the knowledge,
which is what you are directly
responsible for.
Directly and immediately
responsible for.
Another level of acting upon knowledge
is to benefit others through that knowledge,
and that you are indirectly
responsible
for.
You have a personal responsibility with respect to
the knowledge, and that's your immediate responsibility.
Is how are you to act with upon
this yourself?
And that's how you're rewarded for it.
And there's a
collective
responsibility,
but that's a that's a second level responsibility.
The first level of responsibility is your own
action.
And what is your personal and immediate responsibility
is given precedence.
So some knowledge
is of grave importance
collectively,
but it is not personally obligatory on you,
and it's not immediate. For example,
knowing
when
divorce
occurs and when it doesn't occur.
Are you personally respond if you learn about
divorce, does it mean you you go and
divorce somebody?
No. Right? It's actually best not to act
upon
it, but it's
from averting
it is there's great social wisdom in the
institution of divorce.
But such knowledge
comes after taking care of your personal responsibility.
Otherwise, things are imbalanced.
Alright. There's no reward except
through action.
The exception to this in one sense is
the intention.
Right? Is the intention
according to some olema,
that you are rewarded for your intention
even before you act.
But the response to that,
what would it be? What is the intention?
The intention is an action of the heart.
Right? The intention is an action of the
heart because the the the
your consciousness,
right,
thoughts occur to you, good and bad.
You consider them, you incline,
and then you resolve.
Right? The resolve
of your consciousness,
of your
heart,
right,
of the the
your spiritual heart, your resolve
to do something or not to do something
is an act is an action
of your heart,
of the subtlety within you that makes you
human.
That that where that secret reality of human
consciousness, of human choice has been placed. So
in that sense, what Imam al Ghazali is
saying is
is if you do not act, you will
not find the reward.
The first act is the act
of choosing,
the the act of intending,
and that's the greatest act.
All actions are by intentions.
The first act is intention, and it is
the greatest action.
So he says,
So it's related that
a a person from
the Israelites,
from Bani Israel,
worshiped Allah
for 70 years,
a whole lifetime.
So Allah chose to make his affair known
to the angels. So Allah most high
sent to him an angel
informing him that despite
that lifetime of worship,
he is not deserving of paradise.
Right?
So when he reached him that
when that reached him that
you're not
despite your worship, you're not deserving of paradise.
So he's so the servant servant this
devotee,
this said,
we were created to worship.
So it befits us to worship
even if
Allah weren't to grant this paradise.
Right?
When the angel returned, Allah asks the angel,
what did my servant say?
So the angel said, oh lord, oh god,
you know best what the servant said.
So Allah says,
then he did not turn away from our
worship.
So we,
with our generosity,
with our honor,
will never turn away from him.
Bear witness before him, oh angels, that I
have truly forgiven him
for any shortcomings
or remissness.
Right? So the what's the lesson here?
That we act
because Allah is deserving of our actions.
Allah deserves it.
And what is the underlying meaning of that?
Gratitude,
Which is the first command to creation
that has come in the Quran.
What's the first command in the Quran?
After the opening verses, Allah subhanahu says,
oh people. Because this applies to all
those all humans.
It does not apply only to the believers.
It's not
Oh
people. Worship your Lord.
Who has created you?
Right?
So
worship your lord. Why?
Because he because he created you.
Right? From that we understand
the Ulema tell us that
one of the guiding
motives or the principle guiding motive for worship,
what is it?
Gratitude.
And what is a fundamental gratitude? The fundamental
gratitude is
for being created.
Worship your lord,
the one who created you.
Were it not for him, you would not
even exist.
You would not remain in existence.
All who came before you, without whom in
the material sense, you would not exist. I'd
be alive were it not for my could
you be alive without your grandfather, your great
grandfather? All the things that came together
for you to
in the outward sense to be in existence,
when you came into existence. Right?
And that's, of course, that's verse
number 21 of surah of the second surah.
Right? So it tells us
about
gratitude.
Should I not be a servant who is
truly grateful?
Said the messenger
Returning to Imam Ghazali's text,
he says
that the messenger of Allah
said,
and this is sometimes ascribed to the beloved
messenger
though it is more authentically
established
to be from the words of
Sayduna
Umar,
Ibn Khattab
It's related by
Abdulla ibn Mubarak in his
and Imam Ahmed both respectively in their works
on zuhud, on renunciation, which are 2 of
the great works of Islam
on
early works of Islam on spirituality,
of a key quality emphasized by the prophet
and also by ibn Abi Sheba,
who's one of the teachers of Imam al
Ghazali of of Safra of Imam al Bukhari
in his
the of of.
But it's authentically established from the words of
sayin Omar. Its meaning is found in many
hadiths of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
K. Here,
the statement is
Take yourselves
to account
before you are taken
to account.
And weigh your actions
before you are weighed.
And say, of course, his words here. What's
I take yourself to account.
But
accounting
the Allah cautioned
that accounting has to do with both
benefit and harm. Yeah. You don't just look
at revenue.
Right? You don't just look at inflows.
You also look at outflows.
Right? Because sometimes and this is one of
the dangers of religiosity
without muhasabah.
Because if you become religious
and you start developing routines, before you thought
I'm a total loser.
I miss some prayers. I do this. I
do this. I'm such a loser. But you're
humbled by your loserness,
your perceived
state
of loserness.
Right?
But then
I pray,
I fast, I this, I this, I this,
and you be your ego becomes bigger and
bigger
till it starts bursting.
Why? Because you are you while you yes.
Your
your your
spiritual revenues
have been increasing,
it would appear.
But you're not looking at your spiritual liabilities.
What about
your showing off?
What about
your sins?
And the sins are not only open sins,
but hidden sins.
What about your backbiting, lying, slander, tail bearing,
mocking,
sarcasm,
hurting, insulting,
breaking promises,
not fulfilling trusts, etcetera.
So key to taking oneself to account is
not just to look at what's going well
and
whoever finds good, let them praise Allah.
But the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam also said
and whoever finds other than that, meaning
the sin and the wrong.
Let them only blame themselves, meaning take yourself
to account.
How?
Through
regret and remorse,
through
resolve not to return,
right, through leaving
those blameworthy things.
Right? So take yourselves to account
before you're taken to account. When are you
taken to account? On the day of judgment,
which is why the consciousness of death
is a key to change.
As the prophet
said, make much remembrance of the destroyer of
all pleasures. It gives you a sense of
urgency,
and you don't know when that moment is.
The basis of this, of course, directly from
the words of the prophet
is the prophet
saying,
The smart person is the one
who takes themselves to account.
Explains
It takes oneself to account.
And you can see in the chapter on
and.
Right? On taking oneself to to account, and
the one who actively takes oneself to account,
you're they're called.
Right? They are vigilant.
And that's one of the great spiritual qualities.
And the basis of taking oneself to account
is the active awareness that Allah sees you.
Right? Right?
And and the spiritual excellence to know well
that he sees you.
And the people of the spiritual path say
That whoever's
watchfulness
is great,
then their beholding of Allah will be great.
And weigh your actions
be before you are weighed.
And actions,
if we look at the hadiths that talk
about how our actions are reckoned,
your actions have two things
have two aspects.
There is a size
of your actions and there's a weight to
your actions.
Right?
And the weightiness of your actions
is not simply what you did,
but out the most importantly,
the sincerity by which you did it.
So don't be so sure of your actions
to begin with, because how sincere are they?
You don't know.
So you you're between hope and fear. You're
hopeful that they're sincere, but
you're weary that maybe they're not.
So you're never safe with respect to your
actions,
which is why our beloved messenger,
Ynei sallallahu alaihi wa sallam tells us
that a good deed is rewarded 10 fold.
To 700 times.
To many times thereof.
And the will of the direct meaning is
many times
700.
So the same hasana, a good deed could
be rewarded 10 fold,
a hundred fold, 700
fold, or thousands of times
its
reward.
Right? So the size of the action is
what you did.
Right? That's
the Hajmul Amal.
Right? The size of the action.
The weightiness of the act is
by
its sincerity,
by the intention and sincerity.
And
there's
and sincerity, of course, is the a branch
from which numerous qualities of the heart enter.
It's gratitude, it's hope, it's fear, it's love,
it's longing. They're all aspects of intention.
Why you did it?
So weigh your actions before you are weighed
from which the also took the indication from
this statement
that you are a sum you have a
form yourself,
but your reality is you are the sum
of your actions.
Right? You are the sum of your actions,
and your worth with Allah
is how you are on those scales on
the day of judgment.
Right? Said Ali said, may Allah be well
pleased with him,
that whoever imagines that
without
that they will reach,
meaning reach Allah,
reach closeness to Allah,
whoever thinks that without striving they will reach
Allah
is thinks that they they are owed something
by Allah, is
feels entitled.
Feels entitled
that
it's my right to enter paradise.
And whoever
imagines that by striving, they will reach,
right,
they are
they are
demanding.
They are demanding as if you have a
demand on Allah subha'ta'ala.
Right?
Rather and of course, when we what there's
different statements
in the Quran, in the sunnah,
and here as we see in the words
of the early Muslims about Wussul,
reaching.
Iba'Allah
is secondary said,
You're reaching Allah is reaching
conscious knowledge of him.
For otherwise, Allah is too exalted and transcendent
for him to be reached
by the traversing of distance
or by
the,
by the traveling
of
leagues.
Right? So when the the when this metaphor
of reaching Allah means reaching consciousness
of the reality of Allah's closeness.
And we ex in what a previous seeker's
hubs global study circle, we covered,
the meanings of what of
what it means for for Allah to be
near. Called I am near, understanding and realizing
the closeness of Allah. If you go to
seeker self dot org slash courses,
we have we have it now available as
a free
on demand
course. So
meaning
that
you must strive,
but it is Allah who grants
reward
out of pure, largest, and mercy from him.
Al Hassan, and generally,
when al Hassan is mentioned,
it is referring to
al Hassan
al Basri.
And
that's related that he said, seeking paradise without
actions
is a sin
from amongst sins.
And the reason
it's it's not in itself a sin directly,
but it entails
sin. Amongst them
is
that it is
how is it a sin?
They say, one, because without actions you are
sinful.
Simple.
Right?
So that entails sin. Because if you say,
I'll see I I I'll ask Allah for
paradise, but I won't do actions.
By not doing actions, you've you're you're going
to commit sin.
Secondly,
the resolve not to act, that's a sinful
resolve.
Thirdly,
seeking paradise without actions,
it's as if you are
challenging Allah. So it is lack of risk
lack of basic
respect
of Allah
and
respect of Allah or veneration of Allah that
he is your lord.
Right? As if you're challenging Allah
Oh lord, I dare you to enter me
into paradise without me obeying your command.
Right? And you do, you know, and you
do not challenge
your lord.
Right? Like if you work in a company
and you go to the boss and say,
I dare you to give me a raise.
Get fired. Like, you know, like, you that's
not if you want to ask for a
raise, there's a way to ask for it.
Right? That's basic thing. But you're nobody, and
you go and say, I dare you.
Otherwise, you will see.
Okay. We'll see.
Right?
So that's obvious.
Says and the scholar said that spiritual realization
is that you leave
be
leave focusing
on your actions,
not that you leave actions.
Right?
That
we realize we don't rely on our actions.
We rely on Allah.
Right? So we don't focus on our actions,
we focus on Allah.
But focusing on Allah does not negate
acting and acting with excellence.
And that's what affirms.
All of understanding
revolves around
You alone we worship,
that is Sharia.
That is
responsibility.
That is slavehood.
It is you alone
we rely upon, that is iman wa ihsan
wa'irfar.
Right? That is faith
and spiritual realization
and spiritual consciousness.
And now he quotes the hadith
that is the basis of this emphasis on
being vigilant.
The smart person is the one who
takes themselves to account or who disciplines
themselves
and who acts for what comes after death.
What is after death?
Depends on where where you put the focus.
After death
is
that you are taken to account
or it is the meeting of Allah.
Right?
Whoever
hopes for the meeting of their lord as
has come
at the end of
Let them perform actions that are righteous.
The prophet
reported and said,
Whoever loves
to meet their lord,
their lord.
Whoever loves to meet Allah, Allah loves to
meet them. But what is love?
Love
is true inclination.
Right? You you can't tell someone, I was
longing for you.
So what were you doing about it? I
was asleep
and
and
and not dressed up to see you.
No. Right? If you're longing for someone, you'd
be prepared.
Right? So loving to meet Allah means you
are you've done everything to be ready for
that meeting.
That is
the smart person.
Well, and
the fool
who
who
just follows their whims. What are you doing?
Whatever I feel like doing.
And then places
false hopes in Allah. And
is when you want the good, but you're
not going to take the means for it.
And that's the basis
of foolishness.
So this is his counsel
that you must act, but act reliant upon
Allah. Act
out of slavehood to Allah. Act out of
gratitude
to Allah,
but rely not on your actions,
but on Allah.
Seek not by your actions, seek
by Allah
That's why Allah says
and those who strive
for us
we
shall guide them
to our pathways.
And truly Allah
is indeed
with the people of excellence.
So why do
we strive for excellence in our actions? Because
we want to be with Allah.
But we realize
that that
attainment,
the effort
is
a gift from Allah and the attainment
is a gift from Allah. Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
says
Say, it is all from Allah.
Right? The prophetic
affirmation
as Allah tells us in the Quran is,
my
success is only
by Allah. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to be of the
successful believers.
Next
reminder from Ayuh al Walid, which we'll see
tomorrow.
He reminds us about the necessity
of having clear intent
and not just to assume
intention.
And he's talking specifically about studies, but it
applies to everything else as well. Don't just
assume intention.
Don't just go and serve your parents and
say, well, I have a good intention. Did
you make an intention? No. Did you examine
your intention? No.
Right? Intentions are subtle
and they're slippery.
Because one's
motives,
right, our motives
are
swayed
by the base qualities of our mere humanness.
Right? Our neediness,
our weakness,
our worldliness,
our fears,
our fears of poverty,
our fears for immediacy, our seeking of recognition,
our seeking of acceptance.
Right? So we have these base
human
tendencies.
And unless we are careful
and conscious,
determined, and deliberate
to make
intentions
that are sincere
and true for Allah alone,
we can assume
that
our mere humanness
will drag down our intent
intentions
into the base
and
potentially
into the harmful.
So we ask Allah subawata'a
to grant us insight, and we look at
Imam Ghazali's counsel
regarding that.
So tomorrow, we'll be starting
the 40 hadiths on
loving and hating for the sake of Allah.
So typically,
these daily are from Mondays to Thursdays from
7 to 7:30
by Toronto time.
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