Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #183 Guidance for SeekersExpressing Concern
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Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
Alhamdulillah.
We have been going through
one of the great
councils
of Islam,
Risalehatul Mustasuddin,
by Imam
Harith al Muhasibi,
a treatise for seekers of guidance.
And
as Imam Al Ghazali says
that counsel is easy.
What's difficult is accepting it. Because accepting counsel
is to act upon it as the counsel
entails
in your action.
So
we saw last week his counsel,
become constant in the remembrance of Allah and
you will attain
His closeness.
And he mentioned
the key to that.
It has come in tradition that
the
sitting companions of Allah on the day of
resurrection when people will be
drowning in their sweat, those under the shade
of the closeness
of Allah
will be
alkhadayoon,
those who are humbled
And who have humility.
Those who have
fearful awe of Allah.
Those who remember Allah much.
And we expanded on that.
The importance of the right company is critical
to the remembrance of Allah.
Which is why Ibn 'Azza'illah
said,
Keep the company only of those whose state
uplifts you.
And whose words
point you towards Allah
So today
he because the believer
balances
spiritual concern and social concern.
Right. And our social concern is
from our spiritual concern.
Right?
So he he mentions
the essence of religion being
concerned for the good. And the prophet said
religion itself
is
sincere concern.
So he says,
and
give
sincere
express sincere concern
for Allah,
and for His Messenger,
and for the believers.
Right?
Which
is, as we know,
sincere counsel, but it it comes from
deep concern for the good with respect to
another.
So express
sincere concern
for Allah. How?
In your intentions,
in your aspirations,
in your goals,
in your intentions,
in your actions.
By responding to the call of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala
and express
sincere concern for his Messenger
through nurturing
love and reverence for the Messenger
in your
life,
through nurturing
prophetic character,
through striving
to increasingly
embrace
the sunnah of the Messenger, salallahu alayhi wa
sallam.
To answer the call of the Prophet,
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam when he calls you to
that which gives you life.
And express
your sincere concern
for the believers.
Is to give.
Concern isn't watching the news.
Concern
isn't talking
about what's going on.
Concern is lived.
It's expressed.
Right? A lot of people are talking on
social media that, Oh,
Murabit Al Hajj passed away. Oh, this. He
was so righteous. Good. That's all good. But
what should what are you doing about it?
Right?
Saydna Umar
had on his ring
that, death is enough
as an admonishment,
O Umar.
And when others die, okay, you make dua
for them, but the
sign in the death for others is how
are you living?
A person of knowledge died,
where are you with respect to knowledge of
the religion?
A person of righteousness died, where are you
with respect to your righteousness?
A great
teacher of this religion died. Where are you
with respect to benefiting
from the living teachers of our deen,
of supporting
the living
institutions
of our deen,
of striving to acquire some of that prophetic
inheritance
and yourself spreading it? What uses it to
mention that Murabit Al Hajj would not only
teach scholars
but that there are people who saw him
and when he was already in his nineties
children would
come and he would teach them the alphabet.
Alifba
Ta teach them to read a and oo
and e like the different and you teach
even those things.
That's great.
Who have you taught?
Say, well, I don't know then go learn.
There's so many in our community who don't
even know how to read the Quran.
What are you doing about it? Our deen
is not a spectator sport that we sit
and watch.
There's people who we don't put on nasheeds
while they're doing work.
You know to put on a gathering of
dhikr. That's nice.
When's the last gathering of dhikr you went
to?
You're listening to praise of the prophet are
you sending blessings on the prophet
right? So all true concern
only matters if it's lived.
Right? This is a living religion.
Likewise,
to say that you care about the state
of the believers.
How are you expressing that in your life?
Right? How are you expressing that in your
life? The true inheritors of the prophet
were people
so
invested
in the good
that for example the teacher of Imam Abu
Hanifa,
That if Hammad were told that you're dying
tomorrow, he would not be able to increase
in his good deeds because he was going
full tilt.
And there are people and say that Abu
Bakr would have seen scholars like this. Right?
You don't understand where they get the energy
from. They're not little kids. They're in their
seventies and eighties and beyond.
Right?
Like you couldn't imagine that someone could do
all that.
1 of these scholars when he came
to to North America, he started
in Montreal and Ottawa, and then when he
was driving from Ottawa to here,
several of my friends were with him.
Usad Usama Canon,
Sheikh Yahir Otis, see Mustafa Davis. So I
Sheikh Abdul Karim Yahir. I texted all of
them the same message,
and they told each other that, oh, Sheikh
Farah's message. Oh, you messaged me too. I
customized each one with the same message. They
called me.
Said, do you need anything?
Each one
said, I need sleep. I'm exhausted. This is
a two and a half week trip. This
is the first two days,
and they're beat,
all of them,
more than, you know, a decade or 2
younger than this this
scholar,
Halabi Umar bin Hafeeb, and today they couldn't
keep up with him.
Right?
Because, you know, this is concern.
Right?
As one of the poets said,
This is how love is, otherwise it is
mere pretense.
Right? So we have to ask ourselves that
question, if I care, how am I expressing
that I care
about others?
Anything you care about, the question is, what
am I doing about it? That's what matters.
Which is why they say that each door
of the good, you should have some
share in doing the good in it. The
door of charity, have some charity that you
give and make it consistent.
The door of
the social virtues,
strive
to every door of good to be connected
with it.
Right?
Be expressive of your sincere concern for the
believers. And one of the best ways of
that
is
to always
make du'a for the believers
that is
there is du'a, Mujmal there is summary du'a.
For the believers
But make detailed dua, those things that concern
you.
You only really care if you make dua
in detail.
We see so many examples of the prophet
making very specific dua
for things, for people.
So with your dua, but also
ask yourself,
what aspect of my time
is devoted
to ways
of expressing my sincere concern
for the good of the Ummah of the
Messenger.
Whether it
be religiously, socially,
economically,
the doors of good are many.
What door of good are you standing at?
And the best of actions are those that
that are done continuously.
Right?
Those that are done continuously.
And if you are connected
with good works, amongst the most blessed of
actions are those in which there is no
share for the nafs in it.
One of the great scholars of Damascus of
the late 20th century,
Sheikh Shukri Al Luhafi.
And he was one of the foremost Qur'a
of the time. He he'd authored a book
in the 10 Qira'at
and known for his knowledge and righteousness and
a and a learned scholar.
But he used to to keep a plastic
mug,
a plastic jug, and cups with
him. And in the in the in the
he would serve water
like he was someone's servant
even though he was very elderly.
Initially, I thought he was some like, you
know, some simple guy, like,
you know,
extremely learned man from of great standing amongst
the scholars.
But this is what he would do.
Because if you are going to be at
the gathering anyways, you might as well do
something of the good. And one of the
greatest goods you can do is to suppress
your ego.
And so to have a plan
of how you will express your sincere concern
for the believers.
And then he gives one more advice that
we'll look at for today
he
says,
Consult
in your affairs
those
who have
Kashia of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, who have
awe in their hearts for Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
Why?
Allah is only
held in reverent awe amongst His servants
by those
who have knowledge.
That the knowledge that matters is knowledge that
instills
reverence and awe in the heart.
Religion is sincere
concern, sincere counsel.
But of course this is not just to
give counsel,
religion
is to seek counsel
and to live it.
Allah has given you
comprehensive counsel in the Quran, seek it. His
Messenger has given you counsel,
embrace it.
There are those
both from the leaders of the Muslims,
the people of learning and from the common
person in our circles of concern
who are able to advise you, your parents,
your siblings, your spouse even,
your children,
your friends,
who may have something to tell you
regarding what you're up to. So seek
their counsel.
This is one of the most important of
the sunnah's.
The message of the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
came
and one of the first actions
that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam engaged in
was he
consulted.
To someone worthy of concern,
his beloved wife, Sayyidah Khadija Khubra radhiallahu ta'ala
Anha,
at every stage in his life he consulted
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. When he was commanded to
call his family, he consulted
at that time a child, Sayyidna Ali binabitalib,
right?
Consulted about the arrangements. And actually Sayyidna Ali
is the one who
as a child
helped arrange things.
And likewise at every stage of the Messenger's
life,
the bat before the battles, at both Badr
and Uhud, he consulted.
At Hudaydiyyah,
when the Sabah were shocked, and they didn't
want to come out
of their Haram,
that we've put on the Haram. How can
we get out of it? They were shocked.
Out of love for the Messenger salallahu alaihi
wasallam, how could these people prevent you?
He went and consulted his wife,
and she gave good counsel.
And this is the most brilliant of human
beings. But who is worthy of consulting? When
you consult there are different aspects in a
decision.
There are worldly considerations
as to if you're looking to move for
example,
and you may ask for the practical worldly
consideration.
What's a good neighborhood? What's this? What's that?
But also don't forget that even your worldly
decisions have
religious aspects to them as well.
You may not be asking them what kind
of house you should get, but maybe they
will help you think about some religious considerations
as to where you should move.
That if you are going to move try
to be close to a masjid,
think about this, think about that. There is
many practical
religious considerations
in worldly choices.
Should I accept this job? Yes.
Consult
the people who help you make a better
and more beneficial
worldly decision,
but also consult those who will help you
make a better
religious decision
and make a true consultation
and embrace
that naseeh.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make us of
those who take heed,
may we
express
sincere concern
and be people
of Naseeh to Allah
by
embracing what they call to, but also people
of Naseeh
who accept
the counsel of others by consulting
and by reflecting.
And then he will detail
what Naseeha entails in upcoming sessions.
We ask Allah
that he enable us
to accept
the counsel
of
of others
and who listen
daily to the counsel of Allah
that is the Quran,
to the counsel of the Messenger, Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
I remind myself and you let no day
pass except
that you've heard
through your own recitation
something of the divine council that is the
Quran.
Every day even if we have one hadith,
listen to something
of the light of prophetic teachings
and strive daily
to take even one step
to be closer
to
answering the call of Allah and His Messenger.
Connect weekly to the wisdom
that the scholars have
and strive to embrace it and live it.
Have something that you are reading
daily
of religious guidance or weekly
so that you are taking
consistent steps.
The Hadith Qudsi
that the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam relates
from his Majestic Lord
that
Whoever draws close to me by
a hand span, Allah Most High says, I
draw close to them by an arm's length.
Whoever draws close to me by an arm's
length, I draw close to them by 2
arms lengths.
And then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
And whoever comes to me walking,
I rush
to them.
I rush to them.
How do you come to Allah walking?
By making consistent
your acts of turning to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
May Allah facilitate that for us, and may
we find Allah
for He is with us wherever we may
be.
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