Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #191 Guidance for Seekers Making Moral Choices
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Great
seminal work of
spiritual
counsel in Islam
taken from the niche
of prophetic
insight
and wisdom.
The
the
treatise for seekers of guidance
from Imam al Harith al Muhasibi, who died
in the year
243 after the Hijra. So he's very much
from
the
from the Salaf al Salih of this Ummah.
And one of the great scholars, a contemporary
of Imam Ahmad and others.
So
he emphasized this point about
taking that part of the path to Allah
is to be careful
in what matters of religion.
To be careful in matters
of religion.
So He tells us today,
He said every matter
that is unclear to you,
what the truth is in it,
then
take it back
to
the book of Allah
and the sunnah,
the prophetic
teachings
and
the righteous
adab
the virtuous proper manners of our religion.
And of course, what does this presuppose
that the believers
actions
are based on
the firm foundation
of clear religious guidance.
Right?
The spiritual path in Islam
is
knowledge
that is sound,
that is
acted upon
soundly and with sincerity,
striving towards excellence
so that and it so that it becomes
a part
of who you are. This is spirituality. They
say the person of spiritual accomplishment in Islam,
who are they? Says
a person of, you know,
of spiritual accomplishment is someone of religious understanding
and this does not mean they're a scholar.
The fiqh
is to know yourself.
Religious understanding is to know
yourself. What counts for you and what counts
against you and then to live accordingly.
Right? So to gain that religious understanding.
Right? This is the religious literacy.
Someone very dear to me posted something really
absurd online.
Uncle Rubani wanted to tell him, what are
you saying? But
the rational me
to this one part we're all like sheep.
Right? Each of us is a shepherd and
each of you is responsible for the flock.
We ourselves are shepherds.
Within us we have righteous sheep and we
have wayward sheep. We have sane sheep and
mad sheep. We are a flock and we're
trying to herd ourselves before trying to hurt
others.
So the rational
sheep within me said, nay nay.
No. Just
let him be.
But hopefully, he'll watch this.
Try and say that Islam Islamic scholarship conceives
of the morally responsible person as having no
moral sense, which is nonsense.
Right?
Rather,
the prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, istaftiqalbek,
seek an answer from your heart. But how
do you seek an answer from your heart?
You had the there is an answer guide
to the
tests of life. The answer guide is Maja
Abi Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, what the Messenger
of Allah has come with.
Right? How do you know
what to do when things are confused? When
he says everything you're confused about, take it
back to the book of Allah
and to the prophetic teachings
and to the righteous
manners of this religion.
It requires
that the believer
one gain basic religious literacy, you know what
you need to know
of
religious guidance.
The lawful is clear and the unlawful is
clear Between them are unclear matters that most
do not know about.
To the extent that you learn
the clear guidance of the religion,
to to that extent you will have the
capacity to have moral judgment.
What can you do? What can't you do?
Then they will remain in the middle things
that are unclear about.
When they're unclear, take it back
to the clear teachings of Islam.
If you have clear guidance on it,
then act on it. And
the the proper manners these are what the
scholars
have deduced
of what is the right conduct in
every different circumstance.
So find out what do the how do
the scholars implement the principles
of the Quran and Sunnah to particular
life situations. They mentioned the adab even
you know, Imam Ahmad ad Dardir in one
of his street he says he has
adab al qawwal
the munshid
that
the munshid has proper manners.
Right? That you're in shad for it should
be for the sake of Allah. They derive
half a dozen core proper manners even for
singing.
Right? They have proper manners for the one
working, they have proper manners for the one
who decides to devote themselves to worship,
adab for every different situation.
So take it back to those matters.
Right? But also it requires
that every one of us, one we need
to ground ourselves in religious knowledge. So when
you're unclear what do you
do? Take it back
to
sound religious knowledge.
Number 2, each of us needs to have
a daily point of connection with the Quran.
Right?
This is the book, that is the book
in which there is no
doubt.
Guidance
for those seeking mindfulness of Allah.
Right? So when you're tempted to do the
wrong thing, etcetera, having a living connection with
the Quran would help you.
Know the way.
Having a daily connection with the teachings of
the Prophet SAW Alaihi Wasallam. Read something of
the hadith of the Prophet SAW every single
day. Every household should have riyalu salihim,
the gardens of the righteous
of ya'minawi
open it daily
read 1 hadith
and you don't have to read it cover
to cover
there's a one of the mashaikhs said there's
there's a there's a you know there's a
way for this this he said there's
there's a way of laziness in reading Riald
Salihin
which is what?
He says,
It's all good. It's all sweet.
It's all teachings of the Prophet What do
you do? In every section,
read whatever you want from the section.
Okay? Like if there's a hadith like
if there's a long hadith, it's heavy,
just go past it,
Just go past it. Right? But daily read
something. Read the short hadith and there's enough
of them. Right? And the most of the
hadith of Prophet SAW are short. And then
go back and read it later. Right? But
remain connected because this will give you
a moral compass.
It will give you a moral compass.
So he says
And then
despite
what you know
and
the general moral guidance of the Quran and
the Sunnah,
if something remains unclear
then
take
the the the opinion of someone
whose religious,
whose deen, whose religious concern and practice
and whose
sound judgment, whose intellect
you are pleased with. That they're someone
of diana,
of of religiosity,
of religious concern,
of sound religious understanding, and
aql because someone could be a pious person
but you don't trust their judgment. But there
are people who have both, they have the
religiosity but they also have good judgment
and take their advice. Right. And this is
one of the
important
aspects. Now
they mentioned many things here about
the hadith
of
seek a fatwa from your heart.
Ask your heart that when you have something
unclear what should I do? So he mentions
Know well
that the truth has a witness
within you.
How?
With your own nafs, with your own self
being accepting of it.
Do not see the words of the beloved
Messenger of Allah?
May Allah's blessings and peace be upon him.
Seek
an answer from your heart
even if
people give you religious answer after religious answer.
And a fitwa
you know the
the
most comprehensive
general definition of a fatwa is
It's an answer
to a religious matter or to a matter
of religious consequence.
See it says, seek an answer from your
heart.
And much has been said about this. They
say, okay, this only applies to the sound
heart.
Right? But the question,
What question does one ask if you seek
an answer from your heart? What question do
you ask your heart?
So one of the Indian scholar,
I forget which one it was, but it
was Indian.
Right? They're the most beautiful. He said the
fact that you seek an answer from your
heart means you ask your heart a question.
What's the question you would ask your heart?
He said first you notice the words of
the prophet SAW He said seek an answer
from your heart.
Within us we have multiple faculties, you could
ask your desires,
right? Your shahawat, what do I want?
And you want the haram,
You could seek an answer from your
from your caprice,
and it wants whatever,
right?
Whatever, like a lot of things. People get
on
some streaming service and they're watching a series,
and one of the weirdest things I have
people watch 2 seasons of some show,
and
it's really disappointing and a thorough waste of
time.
Now, why in the world have you watched
2 seasons of it?
Whatever,
right? Just because
you could seek an answer from your nafs,
you could seek an answer from
your from
your
ego, your lower self, your desires, your whim,
You could even ask your intellect, Istafi akhlaq?
Right? Then try to figure it out yourself,
but it doesn't say any of that it
says Istafiqalbaq
seek an answer from your heart. What is
your heart?
Your heart,
your spiritual heart. Yeah. Is the faculty within
you that turns towards
the good pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
1 who comes to Allah with a sound
heart.
So what is the question if that is
what you ask, you're asking your heart,
your heart is what you present to Allah.
So what is the question you would ask
your heart
when tested and you don't know what to
do? The question you ask your heart said
the
scholar is
what choice is most likely to be most
pleasing to Allah?
What
choice
is most likely to be most pleasing to
Allah? And then he said that in reality
you could ask your heart 3 questions
and any of them are fine.
The basic question to ask your heart is
what choice will be acceptable to Allah?
That is Adna
Assuaal.
Ask your heart is this acceptable to Allah?
There's a Jordanian scholar who call this The
playground of the permissible.
You're in the permissible.
Enjoy yourself, it's permissible.
Or you could ask it, so is
ask your heart is this acceptable to Allah?
Better than asking the heart that
is, Is this pleasing to Allah?
Is this pleasing to Allah?
Is there a reward in it? Which is
a sign of the reward is a sign
of what is pleasing to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
Higher than that is to ask yourself the
question and that question requires courage,
is what choice will be beloved to Allah?
What
choice will be
beloved to Allah?
These are the 3 possible questions you could
ask your heart. They're the only 3 questions
worthy of asking.
Right?
Seek an answer from your heart, but
you have to also be striving
to have a living healthy heart because to
the extent
that your heart is occluded
with lusts and desires,
with whims
and sins
as much as it's clouded
by heedlessness of Allah by Ghafla, to that
extent
the answer will be confusing for you.
Right?
But that's
the moral sense of our religion.
What does it require? Gain knowledge. So you
know clearly what is pleasing to Allah and
what is displeasing to Allah given your life
circumstances.
Number 2, have a living relationship
with the Quran, with the hadith of the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Number 3, have a living relationship with Allah.
How?
Through regular routines of remembrance
and supplication. Have Aurad, have spiritual routines. If
you do these three things, these are means
to have a sound heart and a sound
mind.
Then your moral judgment
will be much clearer, but when confused be
merciful to yourself. Consult.
Right? Consult those more knowledgeable and
have good friends
whom you consult
when you have difficult decisions to make
and their mercy.
And then we'll close because he links this
to
the next point that he says, He
says,
He said, And restrain your
limbs,
right?
Which are the
points of action in your life.
Restrain your limbs
with through
making
your knowledge
sound,
by perfecting your knowledge that anything you do
A person of knowledge is one who acts
on what they
who acts on knowledge,
even if their knowledge is a little bit.
And guard your concern
in life,
right? By knowing the reality of Allah's closeness.
He is with you
wherever you may be.
By knowing the reality of the closeness of
Allah to you.
Right?
And one of the great scholars of the
20th century Sheikh Abdulrahman al Shawouri, he came
to to Jordan in the early 2000s after
suffering
several life threatening strokes, and he was physically
weak at the time
but with mental
clarity and lucidity. A good friend of ours,
Sheikh Yed asked him a profound question he
said, Sayyidi,
what is the summary
of
your decades
on the spiritual path to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala?
And Sheikh Abdulrahman at that time was close
to his nineties.
And his voice,
although he used to be the lead singer
in his Sheikh's
majlis, his voice was gone.
But he said in a whisper,
he said
that, you know, that what is his the
sum of his decades on the spiritual path?
It
says, To be realized
in the reality that He is with you
wherever you may be.
Right? That He is with you wherever you
may be. Right?
So
so guard your concern
by knowing Allah's closeness to you.
Right?
And then he explains how one would
strive
to uphold that and will continue
from there. Right? He says, Stand
before your Lord
as a servant
seeking urgent
aid,
seeking
urgently to be saved,
to be rescued
would stand.
And you will find Allah
deeply caring
and deeply merciful.
Right? Deeply caring and deeply merciful. So we
will continue from there.
Alright. So guard your concern, he says. Right?
That whatever
increases you
in consciousness
of the closeness of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
embrace it.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us if your
servants ask you regarding me I am indeed
near and from the subtleties of the Arabic
language
that's here very obvious. The argument of tafsir
mentioned,
if my servants ask you normally
if they ask
it would entail saying
then say
I am indeed near
but to emphasize the degree of Allah's closeness
I
am indeed near
the tool of response
then say
I am indeed near that's omitted
to emphasize urgency.
I am indeed near
I answer the call of those who call
upon me when they call.
But there is a condition.
So let them answer my call.
And let them truly believe in me.
So that they may be rightly guided
back to me. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
realize us in that and may Allah make
us of those who take heed from what
we say and what we hear
and who strive to live up to it
as best we can. And may Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala forgive us for our shortcomings
for he is the most forgiving.
And may Allah have mercy on us and
you and our loved ones and your loved
ones And make us always gather upon
knowledge and remembrance and good. And may he
keep our hearts united
in love of him and love of his
messenger and love of all that is beloved
to him and beloved to his messenger.
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