Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #137 Treating False Hopes
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You're listening to the Roha, daily guidance for
seekers with Sheikh Rasra Behni.
We're continuing our lessons on healing hearts
in which we're looking at
imam
al Sulami's work on
the blameworthy traits of the self
and how to,
cure them.
Right?
And
Allah
refers
to the human condition
in medical terms.
Right?
That one has
and.
Right? One has well-being and ailment.
Right? The heart becomes sick.
Right?
And
they are
adwiya.
They are medicines
for it. And these medicines
are not only
medicines for the outward
states, but that inward states require medication as
well.
But our religion is one of hope.
Right? Hope in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the
all merciful.
And the prophet
tells us that Allah did not send down
any sickness except that there is a cure
for it.
And this sickness and cure apply not only
to
the outward sicknesses,
but also
to the inward sicknesses.
Right? To the inward
sicknesses
that affect
the human condition.
So we ask Allah
that he make us of those who just
as we strive to rectify
our
outward, we also take the means
to strive
to rectify
our inward
and give the inward more precedence because that's
where Allah
looks.
So the 6th trait
is just wishing for the good without taking
the means to change.
Imam
From the blame worthy traits of the self
is
that one
wishes good for oneself when attending gatherings of
good.
Whether they be the regular gatherings of good.
Right?
The Friday prayer, you go, you make dua,
you know, for good, etcetera, and you're, like,
you have a good feeling.
When you go to
the RAS conference, you're like, yeah. Now I'm
gonna take things seriously
or whatever other occasions you attend
your your sheikhs
special programs, you feel, yep.
I'll
that's what I'm directed to. However,
you don't seek the change. So what happens?
Right? If you really considered.
Right?
Right? If one was realized in one's own
state,
then one would deem that the people
one is attending with
of who are the people of the good
would
feel they would lose hope because of what
a bad portent you are for being present.
Right?
How do you behold the people of the
gathering?
Right? This is the ultimate gathering. He says,
says, there were people who were if only
I weren't present, I would be hopeful that
Allah would forgive them.
Right? And a person
they say that extent of your pride is
the extent to which you think you are
better than even one person.
That's a that's sort of pride has levels.
If you think you're better than anyone,
that's
one degree of pride. And then there's
and then it increases.
Says this is how
the people of wakefulness
regard
their own self.
Right?
That that you're the that you see
yourself as being of the worst of people.
And they're not I'm kinda fine but, yeah,
I got a few things to work on.
Right? But that you are simply existing
by the mercy
of Allah, by the lutf of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
But also the other part is you don't
base your
hope on yourself.
You base your hope
on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
It's not whether you're a loser or not,
it's
whether you believe
that Allah is generous or not. Whether you
believe that Allah is merciful or not. Whether
you believe that Allah is the caring or
not, the forgiving
or not, the generous or not, the raising
or not,
etcetera.
Right?
Right?
And this is very important, especially as one
dedicates oneself to the good, as one dedicates
oneself to the deen, as one dedicates oneself
to worship, as one dedicates oneself
to service, as one dedicates oneself to dawah,
as one dedicates oneself to knowledge.
If you have any degree of self worth
in it,
you'll have that degree
of
ruin.
And then the more you grow
in your
or the more the time passes,
the more
that that delusion of self consequence
can amplify.
You could be conscious of it and struggle
against it or
you could not see it and someday
it'll blow
up. If Allah is merciful, it'll blow up
in in in in
a way.
You'll be humiliated,
shamed, whatever,
and that'll be good for you.
Because you'll be able to deal with it
in this life.
And if you're not so fortunate,
you remain veiled from it
and
it'll be
it'll be,
you know, complete loss.
So this is why,
self this is this goes back to having
a degree
of your self consequence. I'm fine.
Every once in a while,
you know, when you're with good people, you
actually want it. But then you don't really
change, but rather you see that I'm I'm
pretty good. Whereas the attitude of the early
Muslims was
they they really
didn't see
themselves as being anything. Abu Suleiman ad Dharani
he's reported to have said
and
that,
That whoever
sees
themselves as having any value
will not taste the sweetness
of service.
Mean the sweetness of serving Allah.
Right?
Right?
So
the people of wakefulness don't see,
right, themselves of having any worth. The Sheikh
Abdulrahman al Shaghuri in one of his great
poems, he put it so beautifully
said Right?
By my soul, I am the sky.
By my soul, which is what? By my
connection
to presence with Allah Subha'ala.
I am the sky,
but you are beyond the sky. Right? You
know, I am in the sky and I
am
sky.
Right? That I'm beyond
any limitations.
And but but my mere body,
I am mere dust.
Like dust in the scattered in the wind.
Right? Closing of Surah Al Kahf.
Right?
So this is,
this is something very grave.
Right?
And
one of the other great
early Muslims,
Imam Hamd ibn al Fadl, also known as
Abu Abdullah
Al Balqi
or Balch,
He said
Whoever
deems good any of their states,
when they are still seeking,
then
then their
the resolve of their seeking will be corrupted.
Unless one returns to one's beginning.
Until one unless one returns to one's beginning
and you and you
wean yourself and discipline yourself from leaving self
consequence.
Right?
Why?
Because the beginning of the path to Allah
is that what are you doing? You
Amy, who are you and a fakir?
What is fakir?
Absolute need.
If you think you have anything,
you don't have absolute need. And if you
don't have absolute need, then you won't you
don't need then you don't absolutely
need Allah.
If you don't absolutely need Allah, then you
are not really seeking Allah.
Right?
So
you have to work hard one has to
work on this.
Right?
And,
so they say,
the intelligent person doesn't deem anything of their
own self to be good. The prophet said,
whoever finds good, let them praise Allah.
Whoever finds any good,
let them ascribe it to God and praise
God for it.
And don't be deluded by what people say.
Right?
And nor their praise.
Right?
And those flashes of of good,
are from that delusion.
Right?
So how does one deal with it? You
said to to know your own
shortcomings.
Right? That, well, at least I go to
name the gathering.
Well,
you know, like, it's still November. I'm
I'm gonna go to RIS, and, you know,
I'll I'll get that boost.
But that's not enough.
Right?
That's not enough either.
And it's a type of ignorance.
Right?
And the consideration
is, are you ready now to stand before
Allah?
Are you ready now to stand before Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala?
Right?
And people praising you,
people thinking good about you
have
no consequence, rather they are of the greatest
sources of misery.
The most ignorant of people
The most ignorant of people are those who
leave what they are certain of regarding themselves
for what people imagine
to be their state.
He saw this and she saw that and
this and that. Right? But you know that
that's not
how it is.
That's ignorant. It's compound ignorance because you know
and you
believe the opposite.
Right? So
how does one deal with it? He explains.
That this idea of thinking,
wishing good,
and being fine that well, when I'm with
people, people praise me, this and that. That's
not the attitude.
Right? And well I'll seek Allah's forgiveness,
this sort of lackadaisical attitude
that rather,
that even if Allah were to forgive you.
Right,
even if Allah were to forgive you
your sins,
he has seen you commit
So you're feel ashamed regarding that.
Do they not know that Allah sees them?
Right? And that he has seen them. Now
you feel shame before Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
You what is Haya?
Haya you know, Imam Al Junaid said Haya
is to consider
the tremendousness
of Allah and the tremendousness of Allah's blessing
upon you.
And then to
consider
how far you fall short
in
submission to him
and how far how far you fall short
in gratitude to him. And between these two
considerations
of the greatness of Allah's,
the greatness of God and his gifts,
and the tremendousness
of your sin
and lack of gratitude between these two considerations,
says there arises
a state that is
higher.
Face
where you see
and one thinks ill of oneself.
Right?
Right?
In Damascus, people had even common people had
a habit of saying,
I seek refuge from the word.
Right?
It's a good habit,
you know, so they'd say and some of
the poet said,
Sheikh Abraham Shahuari would quote this a lot.
Oh,
I
or o me.
Oh, you who are corrupt in form. The
it's a very strange word, like, what is
its root? It's like, behaves in funny ways.
Oh, barrier between me and my beloved.
So
you
it says,
Right.
The
he said,
what loss?
Right? Even if you are forgiven,
addressing his.
Right?
Right? What loss even if forgiven? This is
because of his being realized regarding Allah's knowledge
of him and Allah seeing him.
Man is indeed
in loss.
Right?
So this is
a
so the pureness is shyness before Allah.
Right?
Striving for gratitude. Right? Striving
for gratitude.
Right?
Right?
And and to not be deluded what people
say.
Right?
He says
right.
Particularly people who don't
count,
right.
Right.
Rather
if it's a quality that you have, you
ask Allah
to real if it's a quality that you
hope for, ask Allah to grant it to
you.
Okay. Make your dealing with Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
So if people praise you for something,
if you don't ask if you don't have
it,
then what do you do? Ask Allah for
it.
If you do have it
praise Allah for it
and ask him that to grant you gratitude
for that blessing.
Because did did you become said, he she
prays so well.
Yeah.
Nailed it. No.
You ask Allah.
You thank Allah
for that blessing.
Right?
Ask Allah that you that he grant you
gratitude for it.
Sincerity in it. Right?
So, you know, you make your they say
You make your dealing
with Allah
when you deal with people. So people
praise you.
What do you do?
You ask
you know, the you if you don't have
it, you ask Allah for it.
Right? Right? So
and if it's some good, ask Allah that
he make you attain it.
So Imam Abu Hanifa
used to pray
half the night. And
once he was walking down the street and
some people pointed to him, that's Abu Hanifa
he prays the whole night.
So he resolved
that from, you know, that that he would
do it.
But why?
Because it's a good
so he you know, his dealing was with
Allah that, no. Allah deserves better than what
I'm doing.
Right? So he asked Allah for that for
that quality. But it's not they don't count.
And you don't look
you don't look at at creation. Right? You
look at the creator.
Right?
And if
you know, so if you don't have the
quality, you ask Allah for it. If you
do have the quality,
you ask Allah for gratitude in it.
Sincerity
in it.
Being true in it. Because maybe, you know,
when you pray in public, you pray better,
but when you don't pray in public,
you don't pray as well.
So where's the in that? Where's the being
true? So you ask Allah for that quote,
you know, for, you know, for, you know,
if you do have the quality they praise
you, ask Allah. Gratitude,
sincerity,
trueness,
that Allah continue that blessing for you.
Right?
So you so those occasions, you know, you
you know, these are opportunity of turning to
Allah. That's one of the ways you ignore
what people say,
but turning to Allah therein.
And also,
unless one is really spiritually realized,
right, if they praise you, you should also
seek refuge in Allah
from
the harm of excessive praise.
You say,
Allah I seek refuge in you
from being deluded.
I seek refuge in you that I
be become conceited. I seek refuge in you
that I,
you know, be satisfied with myself, etcetera, etcetera.
Right?
So this is a very important,
quality.
Right?
And,
you know, and
the the the fear of loss. Right? They
say,
missing out
is true loss.
Right?
So
right?
And this meaning of,
once the prophet
told
the
Sahaba that
that
have
with Allah.
Have the shyness before Allah
that he truly deserves.
So the Sahaba said,
said we are
we have shyness with
Allah. And all praise is due to Allah.
And the prophet
reported to have said,
said that's not it.
It's not just the outward prescriptions of shyness.
In an of modest conduct, etcetera.
But then he says
Whoever has with Allah as he deserves, then
let them guard the head and what is
within it. Meaning your your your thoughts.
Right?
And your your tongue.
And let them guard their stomach and what
is within
it.
And let them remember death.
And when you are decrepit.
And whoever seeks the next life, leaves the
the mere adornments
of this world.
So whoever does this,
whoever does this
has been shy with Allah as he deserves
to be shy.
Right?
And
then
so this is this idea of just, you
know, what you wish for the good but
you don't you don't notice what
bad qualities you have, what shortcomings
you have. Right? And this is why sometimes,
you know,
you know, just finding certain religious things that
you attach yourselves,
itself to. Well, at least I do this.
Can be spiritually determined. Not so that you
don't do them,
but these are all supposed to be vehicles
for change.
The 7th
straight is not is failing to fight.
Right?
Failing to fight, meaning,
That from its blameworthy traits is the failing
the failure to realize that you cannot give
yourself
life until you cause
yourself to die.
Right?
Meaning
that you cannot give yourself
the life of
the next life
until
you cause it to die
from worldliness.
And there's a higher higher spiritual state that
you will not be alive
by Allah
until you are dead
to otherness.
Right?
That
you have to change.
Right? You have to change. Then if you
want to change,
you won't change
unless you
decide
on what you're seeking in life.
K. There are amongst them those who seek
the dunya and there are those who seek
the akhira.
And you cannot you cannot be seeking both.
What the Allah subhanahu tells us in the
Quran,
we have guided them towards
the 2 paths.
There's a high road
that life
is a crossroads.
Right? You can either choose the path of
the akhira
or the path of the dunya.
And they're 2 different paths.
Say, well, I'm kinda doing this and that.
Then you're still at the crossroads.
Right?
So you're even worse. At least the people
of
the are seeking out some worldly benefit.
We say, well, I kinda want the too.
If you want it,
Whoever seeks the next life and strives for
it with the striving that it needs.
Then their striving will be recognized
by Allah.
So, you know, you can
wing it
if you really want success.
Right?
So this is very eloquent from it. He
says,
You will not have life
until
you cause your lower self to die. What
is the lower self?
Your sinful desires,
your whims.
Right?
We will truly grant them the good life.
Right? And the good life is not just
in the next life, it is in this
life
and the next.
Right? The peep who are the people who
sublimate their self?
They're
They're elect servants of Allah, whom Allah Subhanahu
Wa'ala says,
Truly the elect servants of Allah, they have
nothing to fear for nor will they grieve.
Those who truly believed
and were ever mindful
of Allah.
Theirs is the glad tidings.
Where?
In this worldly life and in the.
Right?
Right?
So really,
it is the people
of the
who are truly alive in this.
Right?
Right?
Right?
Right? There is no life
in reality except for the people who
have closeness
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Right? They have no veil between them and
the real.
Okay? One of the other poets, what did
he say?
What is?
It's chaff.
True people are only those who know you.
All others are like chaff.
Right?
That when you harvest wheat, what do you
seek from it is the wheat itself.
The rest is you
find something to do with it,
but
it kinda missed out.
Right?
So so he quotes,
Right?
That whoever
draws closer to Allah by breaking their self.
Allah will guard for them their self.
What does it mean to break yourself?
Well, what is the definition of the self
in the blame worthy sense? It's your sinful
desires and your whims.
Right? So he explains,
and that is, how do you break yourself?
Telaf.
Is to break something.
Right? So if you give someone
a gadget and they break it, say
They broke it.
Right? So you break yourself. How?
To prevent it from its desires.
And to
make
it, to force it,
to bear
the things that it dislikes.
Right?
Right. So the nafs is the gathering place
of all blameworthy
traits.
The messenger of Allah said,
paradise is surrounded by disliked
things.
And the hellfire
is surrounded by desires.
Right?
Is what?
To go around something.
And you'll you will see the angels
surrounding
around the throne. What's the rest of the
verse?
You said
what? And
the just judgment will be
passed between them with truth.
Right?
So that's it's
surrounded by
dislike things. Right? These are dislike thing meaning
the ink you know, you you have it's
either
how is paradise attained
paradise attained by by
leaving the things you inclined to
or disliked by Allah. Leaving what you like
is disliked.
And by forcing yourself to do that which
you didn't want to do of what with
that which is pleasing to Allah. So in
both cases,
there
there's things that are disliked by the self.
So what is the treatment?
Right?
Says its
treatment.
Right?
Right? Its treatment
is,
He says a sahar is staying up.
Right?
Its treatment is
staying up
at night.
But we're staying up at night meaning staying
up at night in worship.
Right? Staying up at night and worshiping Allah.
Right?
Right?
And we have to be careful about this
because people it's now with especially with modern
lighting and stuff, they need to stay up
at night doing
something close to nothing or even worse than
that, you doing the useless things.
Sahar means,
you know that
staying up at night is to dedicate something
of the night
through
dedicating something of the night to worship.
And
well, juar and hunger,
which the sunnah of hunger is to fast,
number 1.
Number 2, to uphold the sunnah of eating.
Right?
Uphold the sunnah of eating, which is to
eat
at the very least, to eat less than
one's fill.
Right?
Better than that is to eat less than
one
inclined to eating.
Better than that is to eat only a
third of one's fill, about half of what
one inclined to eat.
And better than that is only to eat
the extent that you you need
to eat,
to maintain
your health
and well-being, and to be able to fulfill
your responsibilities,
worldly and
religious.
And thirsting.
But thirsting again is
avoiding
excessiveness
in drinking
because
it causes
one to be lethargic.
And to undertake things that go against
one's temperament
and one's lower self.
Such as what?
And one begins with the Sharia. Right? One
begins with the Sharia meaning that
some things you don't like doing. So for
example, you feel awkward visiting
people you don't know.
But it's soon not to visit the sick,
so you go visit them even though, you
know,
it's awkward.
But you force yourself to do it even
though temperamentally you kinda just leave me alone.
K? Or the nefs,
you know, you deny yourself
some things that are
permitted
to be able to restrain yourself.
Right? And that's just to train yourself to
be able to make bigger sacrifices. You make
little sacrifices that are easy, feel to make
bigger sacrifices that you know are needed.
He said,
So
the so Yaheb al Muadir Razi said
that
hunger
is
hunger
is the food by which Allah strengthens
the body
of the voracious.
Right? Prophet
said, No human being fills a vessel
more damaging for them than their stomach.
Right? But it's not that food is bad.
Right?
The
harm is connected with almel,
is filling it.
Right? It's filling it. And hunger is
to
do with less.
So do with less.
Right?
So these are some of the
some of the treatments for
spiritual complacency. Staying up at night in worship,
hunger and thirst, constantly opposing
one's temperament and lower self
in upholding
the
obligations and recommendations
of hunger
of,
you know, of recommendations
the obligations and recommendations
of the sacred law.
Right?
And
in these things, one also needs to be
gradual.
Right? One needs to be gradual
as the prophet said clearly. Because if you
you know,
the those who go to excesses will ruin
themselves.
Right?
So
this is something that one has to do
gradually.
Right? One has to do gradually. One needs
to prioritize what's most important,
which is why
spiritual
the
the the experience of the ummah
is that spiritual change
while a personal
responsibility
is aided
and facilitated
and more easily perfected
through
having
dedicated spiritual guidance
that helps one
prioritize.
That helps one
identify
what one needs to work on,
that helps one
deal with obstacles,
and that gives one mentorship,
training, and guidance,
in matters that are subtle
as spiritual
states are.
So
these are
some of the,
ways of dealing with spiritual complacency.
Right? But Imam
al Salami's point here is
you you can't just do it halfway.
You can't really do it halfway that you
need commitment. You have to commit
to change.
And then you have to take the means
to do
it. Because if you don't, you won't change
then you're just deluding yourself. And how can
you delude yourself? You show up once in
a while.
You show
up once in a while. So we ask
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to make us of
those of true.
You
know,
who
have
right?
Who have clear
commitment.
Right?
Thank you for listening to
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Rabini.
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