Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #158 Following Ones Whims

15 July 2024

File Size: 15.91MB

AI: Summary ©

The importance of following one's own path and not following whim is crucial to avoiding wasteful actions. The speaker also emphasizes pursuing one's own path and being a servant of Allah's, as well as pursuing good intentions and not seeking whim. The importance of good companies to support individuals and turn the world around is also emphasized. Monthly donations is encouraged for support.

AI: Transcript ©

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You're listening to the Roja, daily guidance for

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seekers with Sheikh Ruzra Benny.

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In our

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daily reminders, the Roaha,

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have been looking at Imam Soleimi's

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work

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on the blameworthy traits of the self and

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their cure. And this

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work

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very insightful

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because Imam al Salami

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is a doctor of hearts.

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So not only does he identify

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the things that ail the human condition,

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but he he identifies them like the expert

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doctor.

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There's a difference between

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doctors in how effectively

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they identify

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the the illness.

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And then

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there's a distinction between doctors

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in terms of how expertly they're able to

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prescribe

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the cure.

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Right?

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and both of these are manifest in imam.

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As Salami, who's one of the great imams

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of the Islamic spiritual tradition, one of the

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great imams of the salaf, of of the

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early Muslims.

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So he says in the 34th

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blameworthy trait of the self, he says,

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from its blame worthy traits is its following

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its whims.

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And Allah asked who is more misguided

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than the one

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who

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follows their whim

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and whose affairs

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are

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just wasteful.

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Right? Are just wasteful.

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And following one's whims is so bad that

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Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, have you seen

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the one

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who takes their whim

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as God?

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And why? Because when someone is completely

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in service to their whim, that whatever

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whimsical

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idea they have, they follow.

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What is? What does it mean

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to worship something?

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Is that you surrender completely to it and

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you submit completely to the object of your

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worship.

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So that's why

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it is and what's the consequence of

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of following one's whim? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

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says in the Quran,

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Do not follow your whim.

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Why? Lest it misguide you

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from the path of Allah.

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Right? So following whim

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is very dangerous, especially because whim comes disguised.

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Many of our whims

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are just because.

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It begins in the in the clearly permissible.

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Nothing wrong with it,

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but it

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it takes one down a path

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of whimsical action.

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And this is from the tricks of the

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shaitan.

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Right?

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That you know

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that if you go out at night

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on your own, you don't know what you're

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gonna do.

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Right?

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So we get this whimsical thought. Why don't

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I just go go grab a tonight?

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So you go down

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lane,

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but then

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there are many other lanes too.

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Right? So

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you slip and stumble. You know that if

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you,

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you know, surf the Internet,

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uncontrollably

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at night,

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you

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you end up

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making

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sinful choices.

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So then

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but that whimsical thing

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that well, let's just go on

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go to such and such website, CNN. Nothing

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wrong with it.

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But then let's go here. Let's go there.

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And then why? There's no reason behind it.

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You drift.

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Right? And whim builds up momentum.

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So one has to be very careful. So

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he says, from the blame only traits of

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it of the self is

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following its whim.

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And to correspond to its good wishes.

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And to

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ride

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its wishes.

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Right? Because then you are

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at the behest of

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this

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unpredictable beast

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that is your whim.

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And what does the believer do? The believer

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has a has principle. The prophet

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said in the hadith in the 40

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that

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None of you believes.

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Meaning none of you truly believes,

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none of you has truly embraced

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the implications

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of belief, none of you

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has

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fully manifested

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the potential and fruits of faith.

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Until their whim

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follows

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what I have come with.

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Until their inclinations

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closely follow what I have come with.

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Right. Because there are

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there are 2 paths in life.

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We have guided them to the two ways.

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There's the there's the straight path and there's

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the path of whim.

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There's the path of principle

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and the path of

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the whimsical.

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And one has to make a commitment

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to follow the path of principle.

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And the highest principle

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is the principle of messengers,

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our

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prophet Muhammad

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Because who is the intelligent person?

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Imam Zaruk says.

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Right? The intelligent person is is one

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whose

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conduct

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returns to

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established principles.

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Whether in this order, they be religious principles.

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Why do you do this? This is what

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my religion calls me to in specific or

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in general.

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Or,

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this is what reason

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would call me to do.

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This was clearly good. This is clearly beneficial.

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This is clearly

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fair, just,

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merciful, true.

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Choice based on the basis of thinking things

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through.

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Or customary.

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There are sound customs and the sound custom

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is one that passes the filter of religion

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and reason.

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There's nothing

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against religious principles in this custom, there's nothing

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against

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common sense principles.

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That even though you don't know what does

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a religion say, like, can I participate in

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tomato festival?

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Where they

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are? You know, everyone jumps into trucks full

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of tomatoes and

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basic religious understanding. No.

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That's wastefulness.

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Common sense says food is to be eaten,

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not to be,

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you know thrown around at a festival.

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you they pass by folly,

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they pass by

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gracefully.

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this is an important

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aspect right?

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The the intelligent person is a person of

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principle

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and then there's the fool

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is the one

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whose actions don't go back to established principles

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and the call of religion

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is from folly

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to intelligence.

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From

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whim to principle.

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And,

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from

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following one's

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self to following

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the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

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So how does one treat

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the whimsical? He says,

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Right?

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So he calls part of a verse from

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Surah

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Al Naze'at

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versus

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40 and 41.

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Ask for the one who fears the station

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of their lord

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and who is in awe

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of the greatness of their lord.

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So by if you wreck if you are

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in awe of the station of your lord,

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then you are conscious of the reality

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of your slavehood

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to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Because life is

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between

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lord and servant.

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put it,

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that's

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life.

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And who prevents

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their self from its whims from its whim.

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That indeed paradise

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is their resting place.

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And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

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tells us elsewhere in the Quran

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that for the one who fears their lord,

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is what?

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There's 2 gardens. What are the 2 gardens?

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Some of the early Muslims said the garden

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of contentment in this life

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because contentment is not found through whim.

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Contentment is

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found through

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one's actions corresponding to the good pleasure of

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Allah.

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Truly the the self, the human self is

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ever commanding to ill.

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So therefore, what would you do? You wouldn't

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just follow the inclinations of the self.

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That your

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if the self is ever commanding to

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to harm

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the the basis

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of your relationship with your

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whimsical inclinations is opposition.

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Right. Is opposition.

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Don't.

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Even if it seems to make sense, be

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wary

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of your whimsical inclinations.

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Now

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if you consider,

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can this be pursued seeking the pleasure of

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Allah in a manner pleasing to Allah? Can

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I turn it into something of good?

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Right. So you are going to go get

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on the highway and say, let's just go,

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you know, do this and that. Okay. Does

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this mean you just oppose it? No. You

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said consider no. This will, you know, this

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will if we get some stuff for the

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kids, they'll be calm for the ride. If

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we have a nice lunch they'll fall asleep.

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So one says okay give them a happy

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memory this that the other we'll stock up

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for the trip. You think of good intentions

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gratitude after a good few days in town.

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So you think of good intentions and you

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pursue it in a good way.

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That's not whim, that is considered and principled.

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And what's related from one of the early

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Muslims who said,

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Scratching away

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at the mountains with one's with one's fingernails

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is easier.

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Scratching away the mountains with your fingernails.

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Impossible. Like, very diff like, futile.

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Is easier

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than opposing one's whim.

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Once it becomes set

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in one's

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self.

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Right?

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oppose your whim quickly.

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When the foolish thought comes,

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right, you have to treat it like.

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Imam Al Sarakasi, one of the great Hanafi

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imam said,

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The way

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with misgivings

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and whimsical

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ideas

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are from misgivings

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is to cut them off and pay to

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pay no consideration to them.

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Right?

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So this is an important

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of being a servant of Allah's

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right? And

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the believer

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sees many lessons in the walk of the

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prophet

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Right? It's worthy of reflecting upon as we

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approach the month of the birth of the

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prophet

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The prophet walked

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with purpose.

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He walked as if he was coming down

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a mountain,

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as if it was a spring gushing down

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the hill.

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He was his walk was described like a

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that like a ship

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tacking through the ocean.

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He walked with majesty

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but also with mercy

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because he would greet

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anyone he saw. He would turn fully to

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people.

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He walked with purpose. The young companions this

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is in Madinah when he's already in in

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his fifties, approaching

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60. They describe we used to struggle to

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keep up with him, yet he was calm

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and dignified.

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Right? And that's the metaphor of that is

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the embodiment of the believer. And the believer

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walks in this life with purpose.

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As one who walks upright

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on a path that is straight.

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Right? Whereas the one who's walking, who's whimsical

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is like one who is

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walking

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with their face bashing into the ground. It's

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miserable.

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Following whim is misery.

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Following the prophet

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is honour, its liberation, its contentment, and joy.

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We ask Allah

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to grant us

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realization of this.

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The the

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the the the

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the

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