Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #178 Guidance for SeekersSteadfastness & Contentment The Treatise For Seekers Of Gui
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The hosts of Islam's teachise and advice for life change emphasize the importance of finding life changing guidance and not sueing. They stress the need for hard work and discipline in achieving success and sharing and respecting rights with others. The three types of rights of Islam are exhausting efforts, heedless, and conscious. The importance of personal spiritual, social, and collective responsibility is emphasized, and advice is given on managing events and responding to things. The podcast is brought to the audience through searches for worldwide Islamic seminary, and resources are provided for listeners to access reliable Islamic knowledge.
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Bismillahir
Rahmanir Rahim
Weekly, we've been looking at
Imam al Muhasibi's
treatise
for seekers of guidance.
And this treatise
constitutes important
advice on how to turn to Allah
And
we have looked at
many important
councils
on
how
we
can
refocus
our relationship with Allah
And turning to Allah
is not merely an an act of doing
more
but above all
it is
being true
in turning
oneself to Allah,
making the commitment
to seek Allah
We looked
last we began looking last week at the
advice of Sayna Ali bin Abi Talib
who said
that
He said
that,
oh, child of Adam,
don't rejoice
in wealth
and don't despair
in poverty. Why?
Because we attach our hearts
to Allah
not to wealth
and poverty.
Right.
We attach our hearts to Allah
The believers focus is not
on
seeking wealth.
The believers focus in life is to seek
what is pleasing to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
If it entails,
Allah facilitates for 1 to have wealth,
then one seeks it for the sake of
Allah. But if Allah puts us in a
situation
of poverty,
then one keeps one's focus on what will
be pleasing to Allah, where Allah has placed
me.
And don't
be saddened by tribulations.
And don't rejoice
in ease. Why?
Because the believer
sees
the tribulations,
the
as being from Allah.
Right?
As
That let it diminish
the pain
of tribulation to know that it is Allah
who is trying you, and are you accustomed
to anything
from him
except what is good for you?
Right.
If you if you realized what the reality
of tribulation is, you wouldn't be saddened by
it.
The believer,
what are they saddened by?
The believer
is saddened
out of
a deep sense
of awe of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
A deep sense
of how far they are from Allah subhanahu
wa
ta'ala. And ease
And in people's lives, it is ease that
is more dangerous than difficulty.
Right? Because in in tribulations
most people get it, gotta turn to Allah.
But when things go easy for us in
life
that's when we mess up.
And the believer sees the tribulation.
The difficulty is being from Allah. The question
in the tribulation is how do I turn
to Allah in this?
When easy times come,
what does one do? The question is the
same. How do I turn to Allah in
the ease?
Is to see it as being from Allah
The success
is not from you, it's from Allah.
The
facilitation
wasn't from you, it was from Allah.
So
we rejoice
in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Say in the bounty of Allah
and in his mercy.
In that, let them rejoice.
It is better than all the day themselves
amass.
Right. And then he explained
that
just as gold
is tested with fire, the righteous servant is
tested
with tribulations.
Right.
And then he said,
to read
You won't attain
what you seek
except by leaving,
right, except by leaving the things that you
desire.
Right?
And this applies even in life, people who
succeed in worldly terms.
Right? Worldly success
requires hard work.
Right. As opposed to
just the fleeting enjoyments.
It requires discipline.
But similarly,
Allah has created us not just for worldly
success but for next worldly success above all.
That too requires discipline.
The discipline
to wake up for our worship. The discipline
to sacrifice
our
rest, relaxation,
our shyness
at work
or in school to go and pray,
to to do those things that
we know will be a means to
closeness to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and true contentment.
And then he says,
Right?
Exert
your utmost
effort
in taking care of everything that has been
made obligatory
for you.
Exert your utmost
in
upholding all that has been made obligatory for
you.
And what's been made obligatory for you is
not much at all. There are some rights
of Allah
that we guard,
and that's the most important thing
that you have.
And then there are some rights of Allah's
creation,
and you
take care to guard those.
And there's 3 types of rights
that are the most
important.
They're summarized in a hadith where the prophet
was asked,
Right. That what actions are best? And he
explained
that the best of actions is
prayer
at its time.
Then he was asked then what? He said,
being dutiful to one's parents. And then he
was asked then what? He said,
striving in the path of Allah.
And the hadith commentators mentioned that these are
3 types
of of responsibility.
You have a personal
spiritual responsibility.
Right. The heart of which is the obligatory
prayer.
There are rights Allah has over you.
The most important of which is the prayer.
But then
you have
some
social
personal social rights.
The most important are the rights of your
parents.
And thirdly,
we are
part of a collective,
we are part of an ummah,
and we
have a collective responsibility.
A collective responsibility to do what?
To
call to Allah
to spread that call, to defend
the umma
of faith from those who would attack it.
And that is the embodiment of jihad because
jihad is not just
fighting in the way of Allah, it is
struggling
in every way
to
call to and to preserve
the call to Allah,
the call to God and all that is
good.
These are 3 types of responsibilities.
Look carefully
that you exhaust your efforts in upholding what
has been made obligatory for you. In your
personal spiritual responsibility,
in your the most important of which is
the prayer.
Like what are you supposed to be doing
in life?
The question.
There's 3 questions that the sunnah would ask.
How was your prayer?
How was your relationship
with your parents?
What are you doing
to strive in the path of Allah?
Yourself,
how much of your time are you giving
to serve?
And the ways of service are so many.
How much of your wealth are you giving
to support those striving in the path of
Allah?
By teaching, by calling to Allah, by assisting
the the poor and the needy and the
orphan and the oppressed. The ways of calling
to Allah are are many.
Right? And these are
and
the
exhaust your efforts in doing so.
And then Imam Al Muhasibi says,
Be content
with what Allah
seeks for you.
Be content
with what
Allah
seeks for you. Right? And this is an
an adab
with Allah
Right? There are 2 types of people
who
wake up every day.
The heedless
and the conscious servant of Allah.
The heedless person gets up,
and
at best, they'll they'll wonder, what am I
doing today?
And there's levels of heedlessness. There's someone who's
heedless
and pointless.
Right? There is like, okay. You're just sort
of this drifting without any purpose. But most
people are stuck having some purpose. See, I
gotta go to work. I gotta do this.
I gotta do that.
But they're heedless
of any real purpose.
The conscious servant does not ask,
what am I going to do today?
The conscious servant of Allah
asks,
what does Allah seek from me today?
And true success in life
is to do each day,
to strive to do at each moment what
Allah seeks from us.
Right?
Right?
That this is and if that's what we
strive to do, and that's what we should
be content with.
Right?
Ibn Masrud
who said,
be content
with
what Allah has apportioned for you, and you'll
be the wealthiest
of people.
Right. Which does not mean to be passive.
Right. Whatever is coming your way, you can't
do anything about.
Embrace it
and respond to it positively.
Whatever comes your way because you can't change
it. Right?
If the truck hits you,
you can't
press pause and go back and do an
Imovie edit
on the film of your life.
There's no edit button
on what's happened.
But if it hits you,
what you can do is, what do I
do now?
Right? And this is basic intelligence.
And this is basic intelligence.
He
says,
and keep away from everything
that Allah has prohibited, you'll be the most
scrupulous
of people.
And Ibn Nasrud continued,
And
fulfill everything that Allah has made obligatory upon
you and you be the most worshipful
of people. Right? In your religious
spiritually,
socially,
and also in your
share of collective responsibility
of collective
responsibility.
So this is a beautiful
advice of Sayna Abdullah bin Mas'ud. Right?
And this
reminds us, of course, as well that we
see things,
not how they appear.
And this is one of the advices of
one of the duas of Sayyidina Ali bin
Abi Talib that Allahumma'alil
alashiya akamahiya
that oh Allah show us things as they
truly are.
Right? Show us things as they truly are
because things are not as they appear
which is the form
of what happens
but to understand
their meaning
which is what does Allah seek from me?
By what has what he has sent to
me.
One of the great poets of
of the 20th century,
Sheikh Muhammad ibn al Habib, he said in
one of his famous lines of poetry,
That creation is nothing but meanings
existing
through forms.
Whoever understands this is from the people
of
insight.
Creation
is just meanings
that exist through forms.
The forms are just like cups.
Right. What is within the cup
is
the meaning
of what happens around.
Right? So whether something is good or bad
is not by its appearance,
but by how you respond
to it,
how you respond
to it. So we ask Allah
to grant us that understanding. We'll close
with a pretty tough counsel. He says,
Don't complain
about the one most merciful to you, to
those who aren't merciful to you.
Then why is Allah doing this and that
to me? Who are you complaining to?
Could
is is there anyone
but Allah who is merciful?
No. Are you actually merciful to yourself?
And the answer is no.
Right.
That if you think about what is mercy,
there's none merciful but Allah in absolute terms
because every other mercy
is just
from him.
So don't complain about the one most merciful
to you,
to those who aren't merciful to you, other
people, but also yourself.
How many times do we harm ourselves?
And this is not only with your words,
but also with your attitude.
This is why the ulama said that complaining
about the way things are is complaining
about the one who has made them the
way they are.
Would consider it to be extremely bad with
Allah to complain about the weather, for example.
That it's either
ignorance
because complaining about the weather is not gonna
change the weather.
Okay?
And foolishness because you don't realize that by
complaining about
the way things are, you're complaining about the
one who created them.
If it's cold, what you should do is
is wear wear a jacket,
put on a scarf.
Right?
And
and he says, and rely upon Allah,
and you'll be of his elect servants.
And then he gives the words of Sayna,
Ubadhib
ibn Samit
who who said
that
that have complete despair of what's in the
hands of people
because
that is true wealth. Don't be avid for
what other people have.
Seek what's good for you from Allah
and take the means. Very often people do
things just because other people are doing it.
And when they get it, it doesn't achieve
anything in their lives.
Have
complete disregard for what other people have because
that is wealth.
And beware
of
avarice,
of excessive
wishing for things,
or avidness.
And always seeking
perceived
needs.
I need this and I need this.
Because that is poverty.
A lot of you you ask them, so
how are things? Oh my god. I need
to get do this and
reality, you don't need any of it.
You don't need a I didn't need I
need a new car and this and this.
Reality is you have a car. You have
this. You have this. Right?
So don't
always be thinking about what you
need
because that is poverty.
Right? Rather,
the the believer
focuses,
right on what will be pleasing to Allah
in the moment they're in. And sometimes what's
pleasing to Allah is that okay my my
car needs too much repair etcetera,
so I'll get a good car. But do
it out of gratitude.
Right. That if you pause and think okay
now
this is an this is the right decision
to make.
But then you think about it that way,
oh I need to get a car, I
need to do this. You look, Allah has
blessed you with the with earnings. So you're
able to lease a car, You're able to
do this. You're able to choose which car
you want to get or what
decision you want to make.
These are great blessings.
Okay. So if you see things as being
from Allah
you'll see everything as being
sweet.
But if all you see
is what's happening
around you then everything will be bitter.
So we ask Allah
to
grant
us understanding,
to grant us to see everything
as
being from Allah
and to put our focus
that on how do I respond
in the best of ways, in the ways
most pleasing to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And
we'll begin next week by looking at his
advice
that then if you pray, pray the prayer
of one departing.
And
the commentator
on this work that we're looking at, Sheikh
Abdul Fattah Abu Gouda, gives some beautiful examples
from the worship of some of the early
Muslims.
And it's mentioned about the teacher of Imam
Abu Hanifa, Rahim Allah,
Hamad ibn Abi Suleiman.
That if Hammad were told that you are
going to die tomorrow,
he would not have been able to increase
in his good deeds.
And you see
many people like that of the righteous servants
of Allah. When I was in Damascus,
one of the senior most scholars of
Damascus, Sheikh Abdul Azakal Halabi, he'd be at
the Umawi mosque 45 minutes to an hour
before fajr,
in his late seventies.
Because he'd get there, pray a couple of
rakas, and there'd be people who'd be reading
Quran before Fajr.
We
counted the number of hours that Sheikh Adib
Kalas used to be teaching
and again into his late seventies.
And we stopped we were we counted 65
hours a week of teaching time.
And then we we and we didn't know
his whole schedule of duros. We've done it
spying to figure out most of it,
right, but that's
the commitment of 1
who is giving
their all. So we'll look at that next
week
and then he talks about being content
with destiny.
We ask Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala that we
be of those who
listen with consideration
and strive to correct our states
and to truly
return to Allah in our devotion,
in our
social relationships,
but also in our sense of collective responsibility
of what are we responsible for and how
can we strive
to be of service
to the ummah of the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
as part
of our discharging our duty to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
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