Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #099 Love and Hate for the Sake of Allah Shaded Allah in the Hereafter Sincerity in Knowl
AI: Summary ©
The collection of 40 hadiths related to the message of divine oneness is a collection of hadiths on the belief of loving for Allah and hating for Allah. The definition of love is intense love for Allah and is sought with respect to the prophet. The importance of faith in love and the desire to love another person is discussed, along with the use of "has" in the context of the hadith and the importance of not wanting to be cast into the fire of fear. The importance of devotion to Allah is also emphasized, along with the need for intentions and not being in loss. The speaker encourages monthly donations and encourages support for the organization.
AI: Summary ©
You're listening to the Roha, daily guidance for
seekers with Sheikh Rasra Benny.
Muhammad
in our daily Roha, which which which takes
place at the hub
from 7 to 7:30,
Mondays to Thursdays,
we
have been looking at various collections
of 40 hadiths, of the hadiths of our
beloved messenger
And it's a great blessing that we have
now completed more than half a dozen of
these sets of 40 Hadiths.
The last of which we looked at was
40 Hadiths on the virtues
of
of the statement of divine oneness.
And
these are compiled by
Imam Yusuf al Nabhani,
one of the great
scholars of the 20th century. And the hadiths
in these
sets of 40 hadiths are all either
authentic,
rigorously authentic, sahi,
or sound, hasan.
Or if they have some weakness in them,
their weakness
is lifted
because
they have many authentic narrations that confirm their
meaning. So these are all hadiths that are
hadiths that have evidentiary
basis.
Today, we're going to look at
an important
topic
and 40 Hadiths related to it. This topic
being
40 Hadiths
on loving
and hating
for the sake
of Allah.
And loving and hating for the sake of
Allah
is
one of the highest meanings of our deen.
Right?
So the
8th
collection of prophetic hadiths in the collection of
with
on 40 hadiths on the virtues of loving
for Allah
and hating
for Allah.
And
we will see
why this is one of the highest meanings
in our deen
but
Imam al Bukhari in his Sahih
mentions
that
The loving
for Allah and hating for Allah
is
from
faith.
Right? That loving for Allah and hating for
Allah is from faith. That the person
is
only
complete in the their faith because faith
has a basis
which is that you accept as true what
the Messenger of Allah
has come with.
Then the faith
has qualities
that
relate to the soundness of faith. So we
have mere faith,
which is that you believe.
Then you have sound faith,
which you have the qualities
of the faithful
and the actions
of the faithful.
And to the extent
that you have those qualities
and actions,
you are
higher in faith.
Right? And faith has a perfection.
Faith has a perfection.
But faith entails
that you be a true servant
of the one
you have faith in. That you believe in
Allah.
So you
accept being a servant of Allah.
So the basis of being a faithful
believer
is that you embrace
slave hood to Allah.
And the slave
the basis of a slave
is as the slave
defers to their master.
The slave defers to their master.
And being and you can be a slave
either
out of
compulsion.
K? I don't have a choice.
Right?
Or you can be a true slave, which
you are con
committed and content with slavehood.
Right?
You're committed and content with slavehood. And the
true slave, the one who is committed
to being a servant
of their master
and content with that,
what
do they love?
What is beloved to their master? What do
they hate?
What is hated by their master? What do
they like? What their master likes? What do
they dislike?
What their master dislikes?
We also see from these 40 hadiths
that
the true
servant of God is the lover.
To be a true servant of Allah is
to love Allah and to love Allah
it entails
that you love all that is beloved to
Allah.
And they mentioned the example.
So therefore you would rush to all that
is pleasing to your master.
And they use the example of a true
servant
that once
and this of course a metaphor because Allah
deserves even better
that
a great king was on a journey
by so they're on a plain
and there's mountains
And the king was resting
a little
on the journey and he was looking towards
the snow capped peaks.
And one of his close servants disappeared
for a number of hours because what this
servant did
is that the servant considered
that maybe
the the king wanted
to have some snow.
Maybe he wanted to drink
ice cold water,
which before the age of refrigeration
was very difficult to attain.
So the servant knew which way the caravan
of the king was going. So the servant
went up the mountain,
rushed up the mountain, got the snow,
and brought it in a pail for the
king. Why?
Not because the king commanded it,
not because the king indicated he wanted it,
but because
the one who truly loves
rushes
to that which is pleasing
to the one they love.
So this is one of the meanings.
And this is why Allah
describes
the
believers
with the quality of intense
love
for Allah.
Right? And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
use
the
term
So it's intense love for Allah.
And loving for Allah is that you love
Allah
and you love all that Allah loves.
Right.
That's why
they mention what is love.
And we look at some of the definitions
of love as we go through these 40.
One of the early Imams said,
Love
is that you give yourself completely
to the one you love until nothing of
you
remains for you.
Because love
is not just
liking something.
Like you can you may like something
a little or a lot.
And you may like it sometimes and not
at other times.
But love
right,
is
Right? That they say love is a meaning
that when it comes to the heart, it
takes the heart over
such that no place remains in the heart
for anything else. That's why they say
they cannot be multiple
beloveds.
Imam Zaid used the example in Damascus of
the man who was in love with this
woman.
And
anytime she he used to always stand at
her door. Anytime she came out of the
house, he'd walk behind her and say, I
love you, and there's none more beautiful. There's
none more this.
And he would always
sing her praises.
He was madly in love with her or
so he said.
And she ignored him. But one day, she
turned around and she asked him, do you
love me? He said, yes. Do you think
of any other? He said, no. Do you
think I'm beautiful? Said, there's none more beautiful.
Then then that the lady said, my my
sister is there. She's even more beautiful. And
he turned to glance and she gave him
a big slap.
And she said,
The lover never looks away.
Which is why they define love
love
is intense inclination
with a heart overcome.
And that's how they define
and those who believed
are most intense in their love for Allah.
That's what is sought. And that's what is
sought for Allah, and that is sought with
respect
to the prophet
None of you believes until I am more
beloved to them than their own selves, their
own parents,
their wealth, and all people.
Right?
So the love that is sought is a
love that is
intense.
Right? Is intense. Right?
That's why it has come in hadith as
we will see
that
The best of actions is loving for Allah
and hating for Allah because that's a sound
sign of being a true believer,
a true servant.
And that is the sign of true love
and it is love
that distinguishes
those beloved to Allah and those
less beloved to Allah.
Right?
And there's many hadiths in that meaning,
as we shall see.
So let's see
what the hadiths that the author,
Rahim Allah, narrates from the messenger
The beloved messenger
relates
that
3 qualities,
whoever has them
will find by them
the sweetness of faith.
Right. So from this, you see that faith
is a meaning
and it has consequences.
Right? So there's the mere faith, which is
like a seed
planted
in
the soil of your heart.
But
faith, when sound, bears fruit and that and
the fruit
should be sweet.
Right? It's good fruit.
It's a it's a good tree that bears
good fruit.
Right?
It is pleasing, which is the and we
see from that that the true believer is
of pleasing qualities.
Anyone who experiences the believer experiences only
that
which is sweet.
Right. So faith has a sweetness and this
has been described in other hadith as well.
The first of the qualities is
that Allah and his messenger
be more beloved to them than all else.
So you just want to say that you
love Allah and you love other things
but that Allah and His Messenger be more
beloved
than all else.
That's the first quality of those who have
the sweetness of faith, whose faith is fruitful
and that fruit is good and pleasing.
The
second
that one love another
not loving them except for Allah.
And this is an area where people miss
out on.
It's natural that we incline towards people.
Parents,
spouse,
siblings,
children,
friends.
But Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and and his messenger have commanded us that
every other love should only be an expression
of your loving for Allah.
So why do we love? To love a
person, meaning any person.
Whether be those one has
inevitable love for
parents,
spouse, children,
or one has an acquired love for
friends,
others,
that any relationship
with any person
should be on the basis of loving them
for the sake of Allah. Why? 1 because
they're Allah's creation. So it's the creational love
you have for for all other than Allah.
Everything besides Allah is His creation.
So you love them at the at the
creational level because they're Allah's creation creation.
You love them out of gratitude to Allah.
Because who brought them? Allah. Who made them
pleasing? Who made them likable? Etc. It's from
Allah.
Then if there's qualities of good in them,
it's from Allah.
If it's a relationship that you have a
duty for it's a duty granted by Allah.
So you love them
and the Prophet did not say that you
love a person for the sake of Allah.
He said and
you love a person
whoever it is.
Not loving them except for Allah. Meaning
none of the inclination towards them should be
for any meaning except.
K.
And that's a high degree
that one's even the beginning of one's inclination
towards one's parents,
towards one's spouse,
towards one's
children, towards one's siblings, towards one's friends,
towards people one admires, even the beginning of
the inclination should be.
Of course, there's degrees of that. Right? But
the perfection of it is from the highest
of faith.
That's the second quality. To love another, loving
them only
for Allah.
The third,
The third is that one hate
returning to disbelief
after
Allah
saved 1,
after Allah rescued 1 from it
as one would hate
to be cast into
the fire.
Right? Meaning that one intensely
appreciates
and is grateful for the the absolute gift
that is faith.
Right. And that's one of the first things
the people of paradise will say when they
enter paradise.
Because it is not from you.
Iman is a meaning that Allah creates in
your heart, that Allah gifts to you
when found in your heart.
And it is an ongoing gift
that Allah
preserves in your heart.
And if you are grateful for it,
Allah will increase it.
But gifts are only taken
after
consistent ingratitude.
Gifts are only taken away after consistent
ingratitude.
So one, if you intensely
if you're intensely grateful
for for the most fundamental gift, which is
the gift of faith,
then you would hate its opposite, disbelief,
which is the loss
and rejection of faith
as you would
naturally
hate to be thrown
into a burning fire.
So this is
this is a reminder of loving for Allah,
loving
Allah and his messenger
more intensely than anything else.
Loving all other only for Allah
and loving
the gift of faith
intensely
because it's a gift from Allah.
And of course from the indication of the
text, the ulema tell us is that it
tells you that the the the key fuel
for healthy
faith is gratitude.
And when faith is slipping,
it is due
to either indirect lack of gratitude
or direct lack of gratitude.
So when someone is struggling with their faith,
one of the practical things all I must
say that to
you know how do you nurture your faith
is encourage them
to
praise Allah for the blessings.
Right. To to encourage them take a and
repeat
and think of specific blessings that you have
been blessed with.
And that's one of the and and that's
why the prophet so strongly encouraged
Hamd,
praising of Allah, because it's an expression of
gratitude.
And the prophet
told us that the bridge to loving Allah
is gratitude.
Love
Allah out of what he
nourishes you with
of his blessings.
Right? Because all that you have is from
Allah.
So in this hadith so the previous hadith
of course was related by
both Bukhari and Muslim.
And the second hadith is also related by
both Bukhari and Muslim. It's a lengthy hadith
regarding which
numerous commentaries were written. So we're going to
read the hadith and touch upon the key
part
that relates to here, which is the intensity
of love for Allah.
But
the Messenger of Allah
said there are 7 whom Allah shades with
His shade
on on the day when there's no shade
but His.
But the shade of Allah here does not
refer to a shade
of Allah himself,
Allah's shadow.
But it is a shade
granted by Allah, meaning
a place of
comfort
from
the intensity
of
the
blazing of the sun.
When the sun is drawn close
to to creation on the day of resurrection.
So close that people begin drowning in their
own sweat.
But there are those who are under the
shade
granted by Allah.
Right? This is the nisbah of jal.
Right?
A shade is Allah's shade because it's a
shade granted
by Allah.
Right? It is not.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is exalted
beyond
form
because all form takes space and space is
created and Allah is the creator
of both space and time.
On a day there's no shade but the
shade granted by him.
The first is Imam Un Adil,
the just
leader.
And this is both in the higher
imamah,
the one who's a Khalifa,
a president
in political
leadership,
but also a just leader in any situation
where they have leadership
over people.
The
second
and
and
Right? The basis of justice is to give
everyone
their due right and not to prevent the
rights of others from them.
What? The prophet
give all who have a right their due
right.
2nd, The second is a is a youth
who grew up
in worship of Allah.
Mighty and majestic.
And they say parents attain this by nurturing
this in their kid in their children.
Right. So someone may not have grown up
you know actively worshiping Allah, right, in terms
of being fully devoted but this is a
meaning to nurturing children and this is one
of the great errors of parenting in our
times that people worry
about what, you know, do we give them
a protein heavy diet or this kind of
diet
and do we do this kind of parenting
and that kind of parenting.
The only thing they don't nurture in their
children
is
devotion to Allah.
And Imam al Busiri says about the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
He
grew up
as a child
accustomed
to solitude
and devotion
and worshipfulness.
And this is the way of those noble.
For if guidance becomes rooted in the heart
then the limbs will follow thereafter
in
obedience.
And so inculcating
devotion to Allah is
one of the most important duties of Muslim
parents.
Out
of love for Allah.
And a person
whose heart
is connected
with the mosques.
And what and
you could the prophet said,
It is attached to the mosque.
It says
it is if it's hanging in the masjid.
Such that if they're not where's your heart?
My heart is in the house of Allah.
Hang my heart.
Right? Up
in the houses of Allah. Such that if
you're not there, your heart is missing.
Right?
Right?
Allah.
Because they're the most beloved of places to
Allah on earth.
And 2 people
who loved one another
for Allah.
They gathered
upon this meaning that we love one another
for
Allah. And they
parted
on this meaning, we love one another for
Allah.
Right?
And that's an amazing
And this meaning of loving
of loving one another for Allah
and deeply.
Because they say that
only someone who loves for Allah truly loves
another.
Because if you love another
because of them,
then they are limited.
So your love for them will be limited.
It will have weakness,
even if not apparent.
And if tested,
it will fail.
Either actually or potentially.
But if you love for Allah,
then the the
the reason for the love
is absolute and beyond limit.
So
it doesn't matter what the other does.
The love is there.
Right? The the love is there.
Right?
But that is a rare meaning because most
people, their love is very conditional.
We ask Allah not to be like
And a
man whom a woman
of of who was attractive and beautiful.
Yeah. Attract Hossan,
she had beautiful qualities.
And Jamal, and she had physical beauty. She
called him.
I
mean
And, of course, the opposite would apply with
respect to an attractive
man. So this person said
they refused. Why? Out of fear of Allah.
Not because sometimes one can leave the sin.
Leaving a sin could be so, oh, what
what if people find out?
You know? Our we have social fears.
And as,
Joseph Conrad said, most people were not for
society, they would behave like animals.
Right? But we
behave
nobly
for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Right? So
one's kept away from sin out of
reverent
awe of Allah.
And a person
who who gave
some great charity
and he and who concealed it
such
that his left hand did was unaware of
what his right hand gave.
Of course, this is a metaphor.
Because the hand doesn't know, but they hid
it completely.
And they themselves did not pay attention so
much to how much they gave.
Right? And they say the other meaning of
that he hid it so that left hand
didn't know, because normally it takes 2 hands
to count how much you're giving.
Right? So they gave it, you know, they
gave it so that their left hand didn't
know what the right hand gave. Because it's
the adab of giving is you give with
the right hand.
But one of the many meanings of it
is to give secretly, but give without too
much counting. Because you get an inclination to
help someone. Someone said, I had an accident,
you know, and let's say that you heard
it cost $500.
So the initial inclination is to give them
the whole amount.
So you didn't count it. You sent them
an interact transfer for 4 for $500.
But the left hand gets involved when you
start counting it. Oh, well,
will I be able to save my ideal
amount of savings and this that? Will I
be able to you know, so that's when
you go into accounting for it. So you
gave.
You gave without reckoning. Of course, but within
the bal bounds
of of balance that the Sharia
teaches us. But that balance is not a
balance of stinginess.
If one is generous
but without
losing the balance of fulfilling other rights.
And the final of the seven qualities
of those who are under that shade
of comfort
and serenity
on a day
when there is no comfort or serenity, no
shade but that granted by Allah
is
And a person
who remembers Allah
alone,
right,
in private
And their eyes
overflow with tears.
Right?
And faith is that which overflows with force.
Right? And their eyes are over
overwhelmed by tears overcome by tears.
Muslim. Right?
This is relate
by Muslim. Underlying all of the 7
categories of people
who are under
the shade granted by Allah
of the day of resurrection.
And if he grants you the shade there,
means you are under the eternal good pleasure
of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. The meaning contained
in all of them is
loving Allah above all.
Right. Loving Allah above all. We'll just quickly
recap these seven qualities. The first is the
just ruler. And the but they say
but what do we understand from it? That
the just ruler you can only be just
as a ruler
if you have intensity of love. You love
Allah
over your love for wealth, power or prestige.
The second quality, a young
someone young
who
grew up in the worship of Allah.
Okay. So if you are young,
you want the shade of Allah,
Prioritize worship of Allah
and devotion to Allah.
But also this is the sunnah of parenting.
Parenting is not about homeschooling versus public school
versus Islamic school. Homeschool
parenting is not about what diet you give
them. Parenting is not about
all these things. Parenting begins
with
instilling
faith
and faithfulness,
worshipfulness
in the heart. But instilling the meaning of
love of Allah in the heart and for
that to be manifest in their devotion to
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Right?
Intensely loving Allah.
And they say parents who didn't would did
not have the felicity of growing up themselves
in that way
have the reward of that if they nurture
that worshipfulness in their children
when they are young. 3rd is
a person whose heart
is connected to the mosque, literally hanging in
the masjid. Said that when you're not there,
it's as if your heart's not there.
2 people who love for the sake of
Allah, such that they gathered out of love
and parted out of love.
The 5th
is
a a man
called by a woman
who is
pleasing
and beautiful,
but who
refrained
saying, truly
I
fear Allah.
Right?
And as Sheikh Al Boutu said,
there's no fear
more intense than the fear of the one
who loves
at displeasing the one they love.
That is the fear of the believer. It
arises
out of intense love.
And a person who gives charity,
right,
and they say,
Here it's in the in-depth it's we say,
who gives charity?
But he says, give something in charity because
the it's
it's a considerable
charity.
Right? But who hid it
such that their left hand didn't know what
their right hand gave. And one of the
meanings there being, he he gave it generously
and they did not count because the counting
needs both hands.
Right.
Why?
Because their love of Allah
was more intense than their love of that
wealth that they let go. Right? They gave
it, and they use that metaphor
for love of duniya as well. One of
the the scholars said
that your love of dunya,
right, is what holds you back at the
time of death. Because you should hold on
to the dunya.
You have a sikham?
I have.
He should hold on to the worldly the
believer hold on to the worldly like dunya
like this.
Right?
So you tap and you let go. Right?
If you do that,
so you have something of dunya,
someone needs it, you give it away.
And we know every promise that Allah will
grant you more than that.
Whereas, if you hold on to tight,
you will struggle with the good in this
life.
And when time comes to go from this
life,
it'll have to be taken from you.
And that's not a good experience.
So, therefore,
like, have a light light connection with the
dunya.
And finally,
a person
who remembers Allah alone
and whose
eyes become overwhelmed with tears.
Right?
Why? This is intense love. But the sign
of love is you try to hide it.
Right. Love is
there's intimacy
in love.
Right. This doesn't mean you don't cry in
public.
But a sign of being sincere if you
cry in public is that you're also crying
in private.
And if you cry in private, then
doesn't matter because you don't leave something for
the sake of people either.
So we we'll continue with with the hadiths
on
love and hate for the sake of Allah,
many of which have to do with loving
others for the sake of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
We're just going to read briefly
from the
letter of Imam al Ghazali
to a student of his,
from the councils of Imam al Ghazali to
a student of his,
He
says,
He says, my dear child, how many a
night you gave life to by
by reviewing
your knowledge
and reading
the books of knowledge?
And you prevented yourself from sleep.
You sacrificed your sleep.
But I don't know what was the driving
force behind that.
Why?
Because
the people
of the spiritual path, the people who looked
at the reality of religion
said it is not the forms of good
that matter,
but the root of good, which is the
good intention,
which is the sincere intention. And if the
intention is not found,
then the action is empty
and without reality.
So he's cautioning the student
and everyone else that everything that you sacrifice
for,
was it for Allah?
And it applies to knowledge. It applies to
your work. It applies to your studies.
It applies to everything.
That
this question one should ask.
I don't know what was the driving force
in it.
Right. So he's addressing a seeker of knowledge
but applies to everyone seeking Allah in whatever
they're busying themselves with. Why are you doing
it?
Right.
As one of the poets said,
Oh, students in the seminary,
all that you have taken is mere misgivings.
It's just prattling.
If your concern
is other than the one beloved,
then on the day of resurrection
you have no
standing.
Right? So it all revolves around
intention. So he says,
Said if your intention
was attaining
some worldly
matters
or to gather
its
matter its things,
its poultry things,
and attaining
worldly ranks. I want to become an imam.
I want to this,
and to boast
before one's peers
and contemporaries,
then woe be upon you and then woe
be upon you.
Says and if your intention
is for the sake of Allah,
meaning
that your intention in seeking knowledge is to
give life
to the
the divinely granted way, the sharia
of your of the prophet, peace and blessings
be upon him. And to refine your character
and to break
the lower self that is ever commanding to
evil,
then
glad tidings be to you.
Glad tidings be to you.
But there are 2 ways.
Right?
And the
high
and there's a way of profit
which comes
through knowledge which is that your your intention
is
to give victory to the to the way
of the prophet
within you
and around you.
Or there's a way of loss
which is when the the motive
is anything worldly.
Right? So we ask Allah
not to be of such people. So he
closes with a line of poetry.
Says,
the wakefulness of eyes for other than your
face,
for other than
you are wasted.
And their crying
for for other than loss of you
is baseless.
Right? Meaning,
make your striving for Allah. Make your striving
with your with your knowledge because this is
a you know, with your religious efforts and
with all else in life.
Right?
And this is his
his his counsel
that
be very careful about intention. Without intention,
you're in loss.
Thank you for listening to the daily
guidance for seekers with Sheikh Farazrabani.
Help SeekersHub give light to millions around the
world by supporting us through monthly donations by
going to seekershub.org
slash donate. Your donations are tax deductible in
the US and Canada.