Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #186 Guidance for Seekers Keeping the Hereafter in Mind
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The podcast discusses the importance of prophetic guidance and the use of the act of praising individuals for their actions. It emphasizes pursuing one's interests and not letting anyone's wishes fall through the cracks, visiting graveyards with their heart, and reflecting on death. The podcast provides advice on various ways to respond to evil and avoid becoming Remembered, including rethinking one's behavior and learning from actions of others. The podcast is brought to the audience by searches for Islamic knowledge and monthly contributions.
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We are continuing to look at
Imam
Al Harith al Muhasibiz, Risalehat al Musar Shideen,
the treatise for seekers of guidance. And these
are reminders
taken from the niche of prophethood
on how we can cultivate
and nurture
our relationship with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And Imam
Al Muhasibi tells us
He says
in words
that are very similar to a statement of
Ibn Abbas
as related in some of the works of
Hadith amongst them. Ibin Abdul Bar's work, Nusatul
Majalis.
That act with the actions of someone who
knows
that they are taken
to account and rewarded
for the good that they do.
And
they
are taken to account
and held to account
by their contraventions.
Act with a sense of responsibility,
that you are rewarded for any good that
you do.
Whoever does even in atoms
of good
shall behold its consequences
in the hereafter.
Right? Or Allah beholds
even the smallest action that you do, and
He will reward it in the hereafter.
And whoever does an atom's weight of wrong
likewise
will behold its consequence
eternally.
And this applies
both to the limits of Allah
and his obligations,
the prayer,
sticking to the halal, avoiding the haram, but
it also applies
to all other actions in life. Work
conscious that if you work with intent
Allah will reward you for that. If you
do good in your work,
if you have nus,
one of the key qualities in the work
that one does is to have the spirit
of naseeha,
just seeking good for another, facilitating
good for another.
You are rewarded for it.
One of
the book publishers in Damascus,
and I won't mention his name,
frequent like the most book publishers
had also their own bookstore.
And often people would come to the bookstore
to buy a book,
and you would tell them
that
go
go to to such and such bookstore, they
have a better edition.
And there's one book, it's a large book,
Lisan Al Arab, it's an encyclopedic
dictionary.
You know, well over a dozen volumes, they're
different editions.
Right? That's like
the profit from selling that one book is
like a weeks
several days worth of works profit.
One man came and he said
young student of knowledge came, said, I'd like
a copy of
of this book. So he started talking to
you. You're you're a student of knowledge.
He said,
you
know,
you don't need this edition that I have.
Go to Darib and Kathir, one line
So he forgot selling it.
So I used to go to his bookstore
a lot because,
you know,
when I was in Damascus, I'd feel down
a lot. And one of my consolations was
buying books and also hanging out
with Usad Mahmud al Beiruti,
at his bookstore.
But then a wealthy looking
man from the gulf
came and he asked,
do you have a copy of
Lisan Al Arab?
He said,
he just pointed to it. The man
took it, paid for it,
and what? So I was surprised.
I said, Sayidi,
a little while before,
a person came, asked for a copy. You
didn't sell it to him.
But now this other man came and you
you sold it to him. Why? Said because
I looked at the first person,
and they're a student of knowledge.
Getting a good edition of the book would
make a big difference to them.
The other person
said there is no indication that he's a
student of knowledge.
It's his responsibility.
This edition is not bad. Otherwise, I wouldn't
carry it. But it's not the best.
I didn't think it would affect him.
And this is balance that you pursue your
own interest,
but where it counts,
you take care of the interest of others
as well. Right? And this is a recommended
sunnah.
Right? Why? Because you
you
this
that you act
knowing that you're rewarded for the good that
you do. So you make intention
and
to make this action pleasing to Allah and
you have the spirit of
seeking good for others where it matters.
And that you are taking to account
for your contraventions,
your shortcomings.
Right? And then he says,
So he said in in one expression he
gives
4 councils. He says,
be constant
in your gratitude to Allah
Be constant. Everything.
Allah
Subhanahu wa Ta'ala,
say it is all from Allah,
Allah tells us.
You have no blessing except that it is
from Allah.
So everything,
right? And having constant blessing is to see
both the pleasing and the displeasing as being
a blessing from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And reduce
your worldly wishes,
The things that you you know, your wish
list,
like people have long Amazon wish lists,
although now with just one click you just
buy it, but
your your worldly wish list should be short.
Should be the things that matter,
that are part of some plan
of seeking the good pleasure of Allah.
Right? Your worldly wish list should be short.
Your next worldly wish list
should not have a limit.
Yeah. But what's the prophet's
wish list
for the hereafter?
Allah asks you for the good, all of
it.
It's immediate and it's long term.
What I'm aware of it and what I'm
not aware of it.
That's where your wish list should be.
Visit the graves with your concern
Because visiting the graves is not
a merely ritual act that we visit the
graves. Although it's an important act,
it's an important act. We should take time
to go visit the graves. You have deceased
relatives, you should have
a routine
in the months of your year
to visit them occasionally. Why? Because from the
sunnah of our beloved Messenger sallallahu alaihi salaam.
But visiting the graves with your concern, with
your ham,
that you should make much remembrance
of the destroyer
of your
wish lists
which is
death,
Which is which is the reality
of death.
Right?
And visiting the graves and stopping there
and reflecting on death
is a is a very important act.
Some of the early Muslims even dug their
own graves
right in their backyard.
And once in a while they used to
go sit in the grave. Well, I have
a friend who did this
and his neighbors called the police on him
because he just thought like he wasn't doing
something.
He heard that some of the righteous
did
this from the Salaf.
So he decided to go. He dug a
grave in his backyard,
and he
went, laid down in it, and the neighbors
thought
that our neighbors buried
has buried someone in the grave. And he's
sitting there for a few moments. He's gonna
put it up. It's not something he did
all the time. He just
figured good exercise on the weekend,
and they called the police on
him.
And, again, like, they actually took him to
jail and, like, you know, they didn't put
him in jail. They let him go because
he's a respected community
figure.
But
to remember death
right, and particularly visiting the
the the graveyards of the believers,
but if you pass by a graveyard, stop
for a moment
and reflect. And most graveyards in a place
like Toronto
have Muslims there too. You may not know
where they are, but even if you're in
a rush, you pause there
and make dua.
One of my teachers, Sheikh Mohammed Juma, he
mentioned in Damascus,
the Christian population of Damascus used to be
much bigger
than it was in the late 90s. And
sadly now it's even smaller than it was
then because of all the turmoil.
And
around the Umayyad,
around the Grand
Umayyad
Mosque,
there was a large Christian quarter, Babtuma,
the Thomas Gate.
But it shrank
from
the turbulence in the late 19th early 20th
century. A lot of Christians from Syria
migrated to South America to Europe elsewhere.
Anyways, keep that in mind.
One of the mashaikh used to come to
the Umayy Mosque and daily he passed
by a grave between 2 houses
in the old quarter. So he'd stop there,
recite the Fatiha. And he was doing this
every day
or, you know, 6 days a week
for 20 years. Then he had a dream,
And he saw a Christian man wearing like
the, you know, Christian he said,
my my brother,
thank you for stopping at my grave every
day.
But I am Christian,
and my name is such and such, and
you can find out about me.
And when he inquired, actually that neighborhood used
to be Christian.
But the Christians moved out, the Muslims moved
in, but the grave remained.
But you know, if you pass by a
grave, stop there and think about the reality
of death.
And then he says,
and go around
the
resurrection
with your with your heart.
So
be
visit
the graves with your concern
and remember death,
and go around the resurrection
with your heart.
How?
In reflection.
One of the things that we reflect upon
after prayer.
One of the things we should reflect upon
during Fajr time,
night
in one's night worship before going to sleep.
One of the things to reflect upon is
the reality of death,
the reality
of the lives
that you will be living after this life.
You're only in stage 2 of your life.
Stage 3 is the life of the grave.
Stage 4 is the resurrection.
Stage 5
is heaven and *.
And each of those, the grave is more
worthy of your thought
than this life.
Now out of mercy,
we live in this life but give it
at least a few minutes
in your day and your week,
the resurrection.
To think about the events
of the resurrection, Allah tells us about them
in the Quran.
One of the ways
we implement this is that travel in the
resurrection with your heart. When you read the
Quran and all the short surahs talk about
the resurrection,
pause for a second
because this is not just something that will
happen.
You're going to be there.
You're going to be in the grave.
You're going to be resurrected,
you will be gathered,
you will be brought
on the plain where everyone will be drowning
in their sweat except those who are under
the shade of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
You will be standing
in judgment
alone
with nothing to speak for you but your
deeds
unless you are
of the small minority
whose deeds are such that they are not
held to account.
And we ask Allah to be of those.
Right?
You will cross the bridge over *
and you will either fall in
or you will find yourself on the other
side at the pool of the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, etc.
And heaven
and *.
Right? All of these
right, that when they're mentioned in the Quran,
pause
at each one of them.
Right?
And many of the early Muslims and,
yeah, Sheikh Abdul Fataha Abu Gouda commented
on this work, and we're not gonna expand
too much on it, but
he mentioned
many examples. The early Muslims who when
a verse about the hereafter would be mentioned,
they would be so moved, they would faint.
They would
faint.
Because it's a big deal.
And that's why the scholars sometimes
if you imagine like, you know, Egypt went
mad.
The the scholars would say it went mad
long ago.
But Egypt went mad when
some some person scored a goal,
you know, a year ago or whatever.
Right? And there's this whole commotion.
It is said it was
this, you know, seismic impact of Cairo was
heard,
like, was could be measured.
Like, because people jumped up all at at
the same moment. It's not big
impact, but it could be registered.
But people get so excited about something that
ultimately doesn't matter. Someone kicked a round ball
in a rectangular
target.
What about
the commotion on that day? How do we
respond?
So these are these are ways we can
cultivate our relationship
with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. We close with
his quoting of the words
of
Abu Zar al Ghifari, Radiallahu Talanhu,
a noble companion of the beloved messenger, sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, and one of the the most
distinguished
of the pious
amongst the companions of our beloved prophet, peace
and blessings be upon him, who said,
so
and So he he said and many of
these words are taken from various sayings of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, which he gathered
with, you know,
with purpose.
He said,
Act
as though you behold.
Why? Because who are you acting for? You
are acting for Allah. Act as if you
behold
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
because He is real.
Right? He is real.
And count yourself along the dead, you're gonna
die.
It's simple,
it's true, you're gonna die. So count yourself
that okay, if I'm gonna die am I
ready right now? If I am not, whatever
makes you not
ready, have,
make it a project. Let me
deal with the things that make me unready
to die.
Count yourself amongst the dead.
Know that evil is not forgotten.
Wrongdoing
becomes many layers of darkness on the Day
of Judgment, warned the Prophet
Right?
So what do you do? You have to
repent
and redress the wrongs of others.
Redress the wrongs of others. And one of
the most
damaging things that people jump into
unthinkingly
is to get into
riba.
Poverty is superior
to Riba.
Though poverty is not an option.
There is no barakah
in wealth that is amassed through Riba.
Those things that you are financing
through ribba etc.
They
cause
deep
spiritual damage. Why?
Because much of the economic oppression in the
world
is due to
ribba,
due to the nature of the
economic
*
of certain individuals. Much of the political fitna
in the world
is because of
the financial interests of a few.
Right? So it is the most evil
of institutions.
Now we can't change everything,
but we act with the principles that our
lord
and our prophet have granted us.
Right? So know that evil is not forgotten.
So deal with it.
Get rid of it from your life.
And the good
is never extinguished.
Any good that you do,
its multiplier effect continues to grow in this
life. Because everyone who acts upon it, everyone
who's inspired,
right,
it continues to grow,
and its reward
is eternal.
And
so
this is
a beautiful
advice.
Its closure is.
Know well, says Abu Zar
that a little that is enough
is far better than a lot
that causes you
to turn away.
Right?
To turn away, to become neglectful of your
duties.
Right?
So know
the right amount
to seek of worldly matters.
And beware
of the supplication
of one wronged.
And beware of the supplication of the one
wronged.
So we ask Allah
that He rectify our affairs,
grant us
the light of reflection
in our life, in our lives because that
that is light
that opens
our hearts to to light from Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
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