Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #134 Self Satisfaction and Its Cure
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You're listening to the RoHa, daily guidance for
seekers with Sheikh Rasra Behni.
Muhammad.
In our
Roha sessions, we are looking at
healing hearts,
covering Imam Soleimi's work on
riyub Unnaf's, the blameworthy traits of the self
and their cure, and looking at at an
explanation
of this
topic.
Just to recap
on the importance of the subject and the
text,
There is no subject more important than the
health of one's spiritual heart because Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala describes
the day of resurrection
that
It's a day when neither wealth nor family
will will benefit 1.
Except one who comes to Allah with a
sound heart.
So what do you strive for in this
life? People strive
in this life for wealth
and the things that relate to wealth, status,
security,
etcetera.
Family, these are their future aspirations, what they
want,
from the fruits of their work,
from the fruits of their wealth.
None of that will benefit
unless one comes to Allah
with a
sound heart.
So we looked
at
the the different types of heart or the
different types of self.
Right? And we saw that there is the
perfected
self, which is the
the self that is at rest. It has
disciplined itself,
curved
its sinful
tendencies,
and attained
praiseworthy qualities.
And then we saw that there is the
reproachful self. The self that is seeking the
good
but it is giving given to erring. But
when it errs, it does reproach itself. And
we looked at both positive and
a positive reproach
and reproach that is not
particularly positive
because it doesn't produce change. Just saying I'm
useless, but then you won't do anything about
that.
And then we saw the nefsel,
No. Nefsel. Loama and the nefsel.
Amara bisu.
Right? The self that is ever commanding to
evil. This is the unrestrained
self.
And we looked
at the fact that as,
in life,
unless one strives to nurture the positive,
the nature of duniya is that it drags
one down
in accumulating
negative
qualities.
In part 2,
which we're starting today,
this is the the actual heart of the
book.
We look at the blameworthy traits.
Right?
So
the first of the blameworthy traits that he
mentions
is being self satisfied
being self
satisfied.
And
this self satisfaction
is considered the greatest of ignorance.
Right?
The
says for example in his hikam,
That for you to keep the company of
an ignorant person, an unlearned person
who's not content
with their
with them with their self is better for
you than keeping the company
of a learned person who's content with their
themselves.
Because what ignorance
does one who's not content with the with
themselves have?
And what knowledge does one have who is
self
satisfied?
So
this is one of the
and if you're satisfied with the way you
are, how are you going to change?
How are you going to change?
And whom has
guidance been guaranteed for?
And those
who strive
in us, Allah says,
we shall surely guide to the pathways
leading to us.
Right?
29th Surah verse 69.
So the this is a logical statement. If
you strive against strive
in us, meaning strive against
the things that keep you distant from Allah,
which are the blame worthy qualities
and states from which blame worthy actions
result.
That's the Allah has guaranteed that we will
surely guide you.
But if you don't
strive against your lower self,
against the things that keep you from Allah,
then there's no there's no guidance.
Right?
This is why
how did he put it? He said the
basis
of every
desire,
lust, and sin
is being satisfied with oneself.
And the basis
of every
wakefulness,
restraint,
and virtue
is being
is being not pleased with oneself.
So let's see see what the author has
to say.
He says, so
from the blameworthy traits of the self.
Yeah. So this is and he so he
begins with the fundamental thing. Because change happens
when you recognize
that you have that you have things that
you need to change.
Right?
When they talk about
even in from a worldly sense
of
when they talk about
you know, there's many shortcomings
in positive thinking and so on.
The best per you know,
so how how do you improve
yourself?
How can you be successful?
Even from a worldly perspective, they talk about,
you know, having
a wish to change.
Right?
But then to
and certain
objectives
that you set for yourself.
But then you identify what are the obstacles
within
you that prevent you from attaining onto your
wishes,
onto your objectives.
And then in light
of your wishes and objectives
and the recognition of your obstacles,
you come up with a plan
of what what you will do
to change.
Right?
And it's just one system. I mean, we
don't just embrace whatever
fad that people have, but this
this is a much better way of looking
at change.
You're much more in line
with,
values.
Right?
Then just saying you can do it kind
of thing. Right? The identity, what are the
obstacles within you
preventing you from attaining what you seek,
what you
your what your objectives are in life.
So
and this system called WOOP.
Right? W o o p. And it's it's
a useful tool. It's nothing to get too
excited about, but so
from the blame worthy traits of the self
Right?
That from the
blameworthy traits of the self
is that it imagines that it is standing
at the doors of its salvation.
I'm fine.
Right?
That you are knocking on the door
of salvation
through different acts of remembrance and obedience. Well,
whether it be, you know, depending
whether you're saying, well, I I do so
many good things or, well, at least I
pray.
Right?
Whatever.
Wherever you are, you feel satisfied
at whatever state state you're at.
Right?
And
whichever state you're at, like, the you know,
at a basic level, the states
of good are 3.
Salvation,
righteousness,
and excellence.
Right?
Right? So whether it's a minimum,
say, well, at least I'm I'm doing what
I have to do. If if that's your
attitude, you're not going to go from the
minimum
to righteousness.
But if you
go towards the path of righteousness,
of salah,
but you say but then you start becoming
self satisfied, then you won't
you won't
want to improve,
but you'll also not recognize that you have
shortcomings.
Right? So this is
you know? And this is where the danger
of
happens on the path.
Right?
Right? And that's one of the things that
Imam al Busiri
points out when he in his discourse on
the self.
In the second chapter of his Buddha, he
says,
that and
and be
and shepherd it. Shepherd yourself
when
in it states, it starts just grazing.
That you have a journey
of change,
a journey of seeking closeness to Allah
Guard yourself because when you attain some state,
right, what happens to the self?
The self
has its appetites.
So whatever you attain, even if it's a
miserable minimum,
you're you're not even doing the basics.
Say, well, at least I believe.
And even if you have, like, struggle with
iman, you'll be, well, at least I'm not
harming anyone.
Right? So whatever state you're in, be careful
because yourself is given
Be guard yourself when it is in its
states
just grazing.
Right? That we're fine where we are because
self is lazy. So we're fine, though. It's
not so bad here.
Right?
And
right?
And then
that it imagines that the door is closed
is open. That the door of salvation is
open. I'm fine. If I died,
all good.
This one of the errors of the self.
From self satisfaction,
you recognize
actual or imagined good that you may have,
but you do not recognize
all
the sin,
the disobedience,
the wrong, the the
falling short that you have.
But it has closed the door of returning
to Allah
through its
many contraventions.
Through its many contraventions. Contraventions of what?
Falling short when it comes to iman.
How? That yes, you believe,
but you have weakness
in your faith.
You don't have
the positive qualities of the faithful, what I
call the.
Where is your hope?
Where is your fear?
Where is your gratitude?
Where is your good opinion of Allah? Where
is your trust in Allah?
But also
by avoiding
the the opposites of the good qualities of
faith. Right? So it's contraventions in faith. It's
contraventions in submission.
Are you actually
fulfilling your obligations
in worship,
in your material dealings,
in your social dealings,
in your relationships,
in the halal and haram?
But also,
are you upholding
sincerity
in your worship?
Are you upholding
good character? Are you upholding
sincere concern?
Right? So what do you have to be
self satisfied about?
Let alone in terms of spiritual excellence.
Have you attained the qualities
of the righteous servants of Allah?
Have you attained
the qualities of the people of closeness?
Right?
Are you conscious of Allah?
Right?
So then he has
right. So the lesson here really is don't
just focus on doing good.
Right? Also, recognize that the key to good
is avoiding harm.
Right?
The key to good is avoiding the harm.
And the basis of taqwa is leaving sin.
Right?
That's the operational definition of taqwa.
What is taqwa?
Operationally,
operationally is
to leave disobedience of Allah.
And the basis of harm is heedlessness.
The basis of harm
is
heedlessness.
And then he quotes with his chain of
transmission,
right,
from
Hussein ibn Yahya, the Shafi scholar,
from Jafar ibn Muhammad
who said,
I heard Masrukh who said,
So say the
passed
by
She passed by the gathering of
Right?
And he was one of the the great
righteous who died in the year
172
after the Hijra.
Right?
And Rabbi al Aduiyah was a great
say both. These are 2 of the great
righteous of Islam. Say that Rabbi al Aduiyah
who lived in Basra,
and she died in the year 185
after the Hijra. Or
the great
female imams of the Salaf.
And
Salih Hilmiri,
who was
who also was bus run,
and he died in the year, as we
said, 172.
He was older than Rabi al Adawiyya.
So she passed by and say that Rabi
al Adawiyya believed in
the guidance value of shock.
Right?
So she do often quite shocking things,
right, to make a point.
So he said something very intelligent.
Right?
Said, whoever keeps knocking on the door,
it is to be expected
that the door will open for them.
So so she called out.
The door,
oh,
lazy one
is open.
The mercy of Allah is close
to those who do good.
But you are fleeing from the door.
The door,
She's not, of course, addressing with
this.
Right? Because he was trying to make a
point. The door is open. Keep knocking.
But she's saying, oh, you you guys are
sitting around doing nothing.
The yes. The door may be open,
but you're running away from the door.
Right?
But you are running away. You're fleeing from
the door.
Right? And she continued,
How can you reach
a
a goal
whose path
you've
veered away from with every step you take?
And you seek a
you seek a goal. But how can you
reach
what you're seeking
if on every step,
you are turned away from where you're trying
to go?
Right?
And how can the servant
rid themselves
of
the blame worthy traits of their self
when they have just let them go let
themselves go in their
in their sinful desires. The
here refers to sinful desires.
And how can you be saved
from
following your
your capricious whims?
When you haven't admonished yourself
from
your sinful contraventions.
Right?
That, yes, you need to keep docking on
the door with acts of good, but they're
not enough because you're not at the door
if you are in disobedience.
And what is the basis of disobedience?
The basis of disobedience is
your
following your sinful desires
and your whims.
Right? Your your
right? Your your sinful desires,
and your whims.
Both of which cause you to disobey
the command of Allah outwardly or inwardly.
Right?
So so the key to this is
the key for not fleeing from the door.
To quote
say
the
is
stop
sinning.
And what is it that causes you to
sin?
Your your sinful desires,
your whims, your worldly
inclinations.
Right?
Embracing
the whisperings of the shaytan who just whispers
you to follow your desires or your whims
or your worldly inclinations.
Right? The key to taqwa is restraint.
Right?
Right? The key to taqwa is restraint,
which is
that and that's why we will see throughout,
the emphasis on leaving
some permitted matters
at least a little bit. Why?
To develop restraint.
And restraint,
the capacity to desist
is a underlying value
in the sunnah.
That's why we have been prohibited from Israf,
from wasting
even the permissive
permissible.
Right?
That is blameworthy. If you drink milk, for
example,
and you leave a little at the bottom,
that's wastefulness.
You're supposed to drink it till the last
drop.
You don't leave even a few pieces of
rice on your plate. Why?
That's slight waste. Yeah. You
restrain.
That's why you have you you leave waste.
You leave even though it's a matter of
just end up, it's not significant whether the
last piece you ate it yourself or you
threw it, but it breeds lack of restraint
and it breeds heedlessness.
Right?
Similarly,
many other sunnahs inculcate
this restraint such as
the emphasis on adab. There being a particular
way you do different things
because you restrain yourself. How do you eat?
Not however you feel like, but you follow
the adab of eating.
How do you drink? How do you talk?
How do you walk?
How do you dress? There's adab,
and that inculcates restraint.
So then he
then he quotes
that
with his chain of transmission
from
ibn Abid Dunia.
Right? In ibn Abid Dunia,
some some people call half of the Duniya,
Ibnu Abid Duniya.
Right? The half of the world, the great
great imam of Hadith, a distinguished Hanbali scholar,
who died in the year 281
after the Hijra.
And
Ibn Abi Dunia wrote
amazing
treatises
on matters of
you he compile you know, compiled amazing treatises
on matters related to to the praiseworthy virtues
to to the virtues
and the vices.
Right? From the sunnah
and from the words of the early Muslims.
Right?
And they're one of the primary
sources
for a lot of the quotes from
a lot of the the the, you know,
of the early righteous.
And his books,
in any subject that he wrote on and
they're gathered.
They're amazing,
and full of great wisdom from the early
Muslims.
So
said,
He said, some of the wise said, how
can you Don't
don't
don't be avid.
Don't be don't think
you you can have hope of salvation.
Don't don't have hope of your heart being
awake if you have blameworthy traits.
And don't
feel hopeful that you will be that you'll
attain salvation
when you are encumbered
by sin.
Right?
Right? Don't
that base meaning, how can your heart be
awake if you have blameworthy traits?
And don't
and don't expect salvation
while you're while you still sin.
Of course, the one
who does not accept their blameworthy traits and
is striving to change them, they're considered not
to have the blameworthy trait.
The one who does not accept
their sin and is striving to change it
is like one
who is not sinning.
And that's rahma from Allah
Right? This is the importance
of repentance.
Right?
Right?
And he'll mention
3 qualities that are required for this, but
at the heart of it is
that change
begins with
repentance.
Change begins
with repentance.
And repentance
is fueled by recognizing
that you fall short,
that you are falling short
with respect to what Allah deserves.
Which is why before we look at what
are the specific cures that imam,
the Sharani mentions,
sorry, imam mentions
with respect
to this blameworthy trait of seal feeling self
satisfied
is
that,
you know, the beginning of change is repentance.
Right? And
repentance,
right,
is
requires
feeling
remorse
for one's sin
or one's
state or one's shortcoming,
even if it'd be for a moment
even if it'd be for a moment.
Right?
That that the the the
recognition
of your shortcoming,
right,
is the beginning of change. Right? Allah
tells us
about Sayna Adam alaihi salaam.
Right?
And
and he simply
recognized
what he his perceived shortcoming
and he regretted it.
And
that
recognition
and regret
is the beginning of change. That you recognize,
I have
things that require need change.
And you regret
to be in that state.
And then from that, you seek
the means to change.
Right?
Right?
Right? That you seek the means to change.
But as soon as you recognize this, you
are on the path of change.
You are on the path of change
to recognize that I have
to work on myself. But you're not to
put yourself down, but to go from where
you are to where Allah
wants you to be.
Right? So he says, so how do you
what what is the fuel for this change,
for this negative
for the blame worthy quality of, self satisfaction?
He says,
The cure for this
state,
right, of self satisfaction
is what the great
imam of the early Muslims,
one of the great imams of the salaf,
who said,
It is traveling
the way of guidance.
Right? That's the first,
traveling the way of guidance. What does that
entail? It entails
learn
beneficial knowledge.
The knowledge that enables you to draw closer
to Allah.
Right?
And then to act upon that knowledge.
How?
Through developing
spiritual routines
outward and inward.
That's number 1. You commit
to traveling the way of guidance.
That's where the importance of books like the
beginning of guidance,
for example. Right?
That's how guidance has a beginning
which is to to gain knowledge of what
you need to to do and how you
need to change
and then to operationalize
that through spiritual routines
of
doing certain things
in your worship,
in your remembrance,
in acting upon the sunnah, and in desisting
consistently from certain things.
Right?
And you commit to that.
Secondly, it says
2nd is wholesome eating.
Right? Wholesome
eating.
To eat only the tayib.
Eating only the tayib is not on
the halal
is that which contains no haram in itself.
The tayib,
the wholesome,
is that which neither contains haram
or is not and is not
related
to the haram or blameworthy.
Something is halal
if there's nothing directly prohibited about the thing
itself.
You go to eat eat an animal, it's
been legally slaughtered. It's halal.
The tayib
is what not only is the thing itself
halal
but permissible,
but it does not relate to the
sinful
nor to the disliked.
So for example, if you want to eat
the wholesome,
you eat
things that contain no
connection
with
For example,
harm to animals,
harm to the environment.
And to the extent that you can, you
seek out wholesome eating. You don't buy food
from companies
that are polluting the world,
that are destroying,
our water reserves and making money out of
it. Right?
Certain multinationals
are have
have harm has significantly
depleted and harmed
water reserves on every inhabited continent.
Right?
Right? They have destroyed
local industries.
One such multinational,
I'm very tempted to mention his name. They
completely destroyed
local,
you know, pesticide free,
natural
milk industry
in Pakistan,
for example,
by for a period of 3 to 5
years, they sold well above well below the
market price. They're multinational,
it'll cost them a few $1,000,000 and they
took over pretty much the whole milk industry
in Pakistan.
Before
anyone who wanted milk,
milk was supplied by local farmers
to local milk shops
Where the milk would be bought on a
daily basis
from small farms
with and there's no antibiotics
used, nothing. It's natural.
Milk is a natural
product.
And the milk would be freshly boiled and
locally delivered.
This resilient
local industry,
this multinational
sold milk
for several years under market price, forcing
not only these milk producers out of business,
but other competitors
took them out of business.
And then just took over the whole industry
and turn it fully into,
you know, in a factory
factory farming,
and it's all,
you know,
you know, active use of antibiotics
and this and that. And the quality of
the milk now is significantly worse than what
it was previously.
Right? And the lives of
tens of thousands of people who are working
in that industry have been ruined.
And the health of tens of millions
have been harmed and are being harmed through
this. Now when you're when you're
buying that kind of milk willfully,
heedlessly,
do you not think the harm associated with
that will affect you? Of course, it will.
Right? And we have to be very we
have to be conscious consumers
now.
Right? And to the extent that we can.
Most restaurants pay
well below
minimum wage for their employees.
Right?
Most, you know, one of the categories of
people that have the greatest rates of depression
in the world and one of the highest
rates of suicide
are cooks.
Even in fancy restaurants because they're all underpaid
and have terrible
work hours and and rights.
So when one is dealing in these things,
these things affect 1.
Right? So one has to be conscious of
the consequences
of our actions
in eating
because that affects you most directly,
but also in our other consumption, where we
get our clothes from.
Right?
Right? Where we shop,
etcetera. So we should we must consider the
consequences
of our actions.
Right?
Right? Because
that basic caution is to consider our personal
benefit and harm.
But proper caution is to consider
the benefit and harm of our choices on
others.
Right?
And that's
that's wholesome
consumption.
Begins with wholesome eating,
but then eating,
then your dress,
where you get your clothes from.
Right? Your purchases
to the extent possible.
Right?
And then the third
key
is.
You leave self satisfaction by striving to perfect
your taqwa.
Right? Because taqwa
is to leave sin, but sin is outward
disobedience to Allah and inward disobedience to Allah.
That's the beginning of taqwa.
Because just as Allah has commanded and prohibited
that you do certain things outwardly,
he's also commanded that you be a certain
way inwardly, such as having a good opinion
of Allah, having good opinion of people, and
that you leave certain qualities
such
as have having envy for others,
having ill intent for others,
such as greed,
such as having a bad opinion of Allah.
Right?
So
so to strive to perfect taqwa and that's
just the beginning of taqwa. Then taq higher
level taqwa is to not just
leave the the sinful,
but to leave the disliked,
then to leave heedlessness.
To leave you know, so to to to
to always be striving to perfect taqwa.
The the most honored of you in the
sight of Allah are those who have most
taqwa.
So taqwa has
infinite has limitless
degrees.
Right? So that's self awareness that you have
enemies.
You have shortcomings,
but you also have a beloved.
That you're that the the the sincere lover
always feels that they're falling short of what
their beloved
deserves.
Right? They they're fall short
of what their beloved
deserves.
So this is
a little
of what is mentioned with respect
to self satisfaction. We ask Allah
to be of those who recognize
our
shortcomings
but who have a good opinion of Allah.
In that
in that because the the door of change
is
always open. Right?
The door of change is always open and
it doesn't matter where you are.
Right?
And how many faults you are?
Your station with Allah is not in accordance
with how you are.
But how you are striving to be.
That is the mercy of Allah.
Allah will not take you to account for
how you are,
but how you are striving to be.
So as
Iba
Iba
took some lines mentioned by one of the
great early Muslims was quite
controversial
about the state of the servants calls to
Allah. Then he quotes a line as if
on the tongue of the divine.
If you seek
if you seek to attain these high meanings
then change yourself
a little for our sake. It's a Allah
is addressing
the servant.
Right? So we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
to
leave
you being self satisfied that I'm fine the
way I am, but rather to seek to
be the way that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has commanded us to be.
On Wednesday, inshallah, we'll look at the next
few blameworthy traits of the self. This was
a slightly longer one. Many of them are
shorter. The first is crying without commitment to
change.
Every once in a while, I say I'm
useless or but you don't doesn't change anything.
It's,
if you've been a kid, you know, sometimes
you think you can get away with it
with your parents,
just create some drama.
But drama without change
is
just is delusion.
And then
another
common and the third blameworthy trait is to
seek
to to seek to lift harm from those
who don't who can't benefit or harm you
in any way.
Right? So complaining to other than Allah
because no one can benefit you or harm
you but
Allah.
And and that's an important
that's an important trait.
You know, this idea of not seeking
benefit
and not fearing harm and not complaining
to other than Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So
we'll look at those
on Wednesday.
Thank you for listening to Naraha, daily guidance
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