Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #180 Guidance for SeekersTrue Faith & Belief in Destiny
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We're continuing
to look at one of the great
councils
of Islam,
the treatise for seekers of guidance,
Risalehat al Musarshideen,
by
Imam
Al Muhasibi
whose work
reflects
his name
and his name reflects
his approach.
He became famous
as being Al Muhasibi,
the the one
who was given to
Muhasaba,
to taking himself to account.
And
most of those who have come come after
him
in
the science of
Ihsan, of spiritual excellence,
have been deeply influenced by
his writing and his method.
Last
session when we read
from
the treatise for seekers of guidance,
we looked at this council of
Imam Al Muhasibis.
And when you pray,
pray
the prayer of 1 departing.
Pray the prayer
of one departing.
Because
travel used to be very dangerous.
And some of us who some people who
cross the border once in a while feel,
you know, it's a it's a bit of
a hassle. But in the old days, they
used to say that one of the proper
manners of traveling
is to bid everyone farewell. Why? Because you
may well not see them again. Travel was
a really risky endeavor.
And
this reflects
that the worship of the foremost
is as if
the moment they're in
is the very last moment.
Right? And how do we strive to realize
this in our worship?
1st, that we turn to Allah inwardly
before we begin the act of worship.
So that the meaning of Allahu Akbar
is present in our heart
before we say Allahu Akbar. And then we
mean what we say
before we say it. So mean it,
then say it.
And third,
strive for presence
outside the prayer.
Let's strive for presence
outside
the prayer.
There was a young man who went mad
in love
of woman named Leila so much that he
became known as Majnoon.
And finally,
everyone got fed up because it was kind
of embarrassing. He'd walk around the streets just
saying Leila Leila.
Her family complained.
His family was embarrassed.
They took him, and it's a real story.
The story of Majdun Layla is a real
story from the 2nd century of Islam.
They took him to the Kaaba to seek
forgiveness
that
repents to Allah, and he went straight to
the Kaaba, forgot to make tua, and he
was holding on to the drapings of the
Kaaba. And what's Majnoon thinking about?
Layla.
So it adds to the embarrassment because now
it's not just her family
feeling upset and his family feeling embarrassed,
it's all the pilgrims
see this whole
joke.
So they took him to one of the
hills overlooking Mecca,
then look at what the pilgrims are doing,
be like them, be sensible.
So he looked and
said, there are the pilgrims making all their
noise.
As for me,
I can smell the scent of
even though they're far away from his hometown.
So the the one who cares
is concerned
and the one who's in love
thinks of the one
they love. So this is a meaning that
we should strive
to stir,
to
keep
returning to remembrance of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And to leave the things,
leave the attachments
that take out the consciousness of Allah in
our life. And we talked about that.
Imam
Al Muhasibi today
gives us
a powerful counsel. He says
He said, know well
that you will not even taste
true faith
until you believe in destiny,
both it's good and bad.
It's an integral of
faith as we know from the prophet that
that from the integrals of faith is that
you believe
that
you believe in destiny,
that both it's good and bad are from
Allah. But he tells us that until you
are realized in this meaning,
your your iman
is not alive. And when he's saying here
that you won't find
you will not experience the taste of faith
because faith
is not merely an affirmation.
Right. You don't just say I believe.
True faith
is a faith that is alive.
Right. True faith is a faith that is
alive,
that takes over your consciousness.
And the sign that your faith is alive
is that when things happen,
you see things as they are.
Right? So that
if someone were to pour this cup of
water on me,
if my iman was alive,
I'd realize
first
that this is the creating of Allah. Then
I'd realize I'm wet and
my niece threw water on me, for example.
Didn't happen but just if it did.
So
if my faith were alive I'd see things
as they are
which is that it is all
from Allah.
It is all
from Allah.
And this is
and this is true joy because as we
know truly it is by remembering Allah that
hearts find rest.
That whatever is going on,
right,
it is all
from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Right? And it's all
in accordance with eternal destiny
unfolding.
And this gives the believer
serenity and contentment. The prophet
mentioned in the sound hadith
that
and know well that anything
that missed you was never going to hit.
And anything that hit you was never going
to miss.
Right?
So this gives 1
serenity and contentment,
but also it gives the believer confidence. Because
very often we know that there's something is
the right thing to do.
You want to
advise somebody, but you're scared.
What what happens? What will this? What about
this? What about that? How many a person
had
something they wanted to do in their life
religiously or even in worldly terms?
Right? They wanted to take a year off
and go and serve
in the community.
Go and
start their own company.
Do something bold that they felt would be
of greater benefit
for them or for others
in this life or the next.
But they're afraid. What's going to happen?
The believer,
right, the believer
sees everything as being in the hands of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And if everything's in the hands of Allah
and what's destined for you is going to
come to you, your question is what
will be pleasing to Allah?
What does Allah seek from me? And you
go that way.
It doesn't matter if it's the difficult route
or the easy route
because your journey is to Allah
So this is a quality
that we we must strive
to cultivate.
And
in regards to this, there's a beautiful Dua
of the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
And every dua of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam is a statement of faith.
And one of the mistakes we make when
we make dua
is that we make our duas stale.
How?
We learn some duas and we keep repeating
those same duas.
That's good.
But
we
should
always strive to refresh
our the body of the duas of the
Quran and sunnah that we recite.
Have spare duas. So let's say you have
a routine after prayer,
but have spare duas.
So you change it up.
Right? So no one is saying to recite
11 duas
after
prayer. But let's say if you typically make
3 duas,
right?
Change them up a little bit.
Right? Or have 3 that are constants and
try to insert
some extra duas because that keeps it fresh.
Sometimes we forget that even within the prayer,
in the ruku, in the bowing, in the
prostration,
before the closing salaams.
There are many different duas of the prophet
that one can say, but we make a
routine. You may
remember one other dua that you say, but
there's numerous.
Right? And
but also
the prophet taught
us to recite duas with our own
words.
It's one of the interesting things of why
if you see in the Quran Allah commands
us
to have certain states
and they call upon their Lord
in fear
and in keenness.
Now, how do you express your fear and
keenness? You can make dua for those qualities
that are praised.
Allah praises
certain prophets
with certain things.
What a great servant. He is truly penitent.
Now I'm sorry. Inahu Awaab.
Inahu Awaab. Inahu Awaab.
Right? He is ever penitent.
Now you can just make dua for those
meanings.
Things that are concerning you.
But also
in that we should engage in the in
the words of these du'as of the prophet
and this du'a
related to belief in destiny. The prophet
used to say,
I
O Allah,
I ask you for
faith
that
touches my heart
completely.
Such that I know truly
that nothing
will befall me except what you have written
for me.
And make me content
in my livelihood
with what you have apportioned for me.
Right?
O Allah I ask you for a faith
that touches my heart completely, that takes over
my heart, so to speak.
Such that I know with certainty,
right? That nothing will occur to me except
what you have written for me.
And make me content
in my livelihood with
what you have
apportioned for me. And this hadith related by
Al Bazar and Al Haythami said
that there's some weakness in it, but it's
a hadith
that
has basis.
So this is a a quality
that
we should nurture in ourselves. Right? To experience,
to learn, to see things from Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
Right? Something happens.
Right?
Zubayd goes
to uncle Jamil's house because he wants to
finally say,
I wanna marry Zubaydah.
Knocks on the door.
Uncle Jamil opens the door, and he's just
wearing his baniyan,
his, like, undershirt.
So what do you want?
Say, uh-oh. Uncle Jamil is in a bad
mood. Now there, if you have true belief
in destiny,
you'll see that from Allah
too. Right? So instead of reacting to, oh,
and Zubayr has been scared for years
about proposing,
instead of running or is it nothing and
going away,
See see that
moment as being from Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.
Right? Number 1. Right? That in these difficult
times,
see it as being from Allah Subhanahu wa
Ta'ala.
Then ask yourself the question
that
what
does Allah seek from me
here?
And the answer might just be, say, assalamu
alaikum. He was just passing by, thought I'd
give my salaams, or he might decide that,
you know, I'm gonna go ahead. Assalamu alaikum,
Jameel. I just wanted to come to discuss
something with you.
And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala destined the
good for us wherever it may be, and
make us content
with it.
Muhammad May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala nurture these
meanings of faith and bring us into the
month of Ramadan
with faith that is alive in our hearts.
The best of what we could prepare for
Ramadan with
is to get ready
in these. We have slightly over 2 weeks
for Ramadan.
Is get everything that you want to do
in Ramadan
start
from now.
Right? The prophet
said,
The one who's fearful
starts early.
The one who's fearful starts in the depths
of the night. The Arabs would generally would
typically start their journey with the first light,
and that's when the caravans
would
start off. But if someone was really scared
that I gotta I gotta get there fast
or the enemy is behind,
they would
start even the depths of the night, they
would
get going. So let's get going everything that
we could do.
Right? In Ramadan,
start paying
emphasis to it. You could it's still not
the second half of
of yet. You can still fast. Tomorrow's Saturday.
Consider fasting tomorrow.
Right? Consider fasting tomorrow or the day after.
Start giving
small amounts in charity early.
Right? Start
planning
your your Ramadan
spiritually. You know, sometimes we start making our
iftar plans and our social plans and and
all these other things.
And the greatest thing we could ask about
the greatest thing we could do in Ramadan
outside our obligations
is to ask ourselves the question
that
how do I
truly turn to Allah
in this month?
And the best thing you can do is
to remove obstacles
from your own path to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
Right?
The best thing you can do is not
to do more but to get rid of.
And remove
those things that are between you and Allah.
Between you and Allah. And all of us
know what are the what are the things
that we've put between us and Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala clear
our records, grant us encompassing
forgiveness so that we
rid ourselves of the ugly and unbecoming,
and we adorn ourselves
with all beautiful qualities of faith,
guidance, and good.
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