Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #192 Guidance for Seekers Acquiring Inward Virtues
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We are continuing our look at Imam al
Muhasabi's treatise for seekers of guidance,
in which
he reminds us
of
guidance
from Allah and His Messenger
that enables us
to
seek and find and pursue the pathways
towards the good pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, the pathways of closeness.
And he
and what we're going to look at today,
he begins
by referring to
a prophetic statement
that,
And
this is
based in based on a hadith that is
related
by Ibn Abid Dunia and Abu Ya'ala and
Al Bazar and many others.
And
and the hadith has a basis.
Right. A hadith
has
a basic
has a basis,
at the least of it would be it's
a sound hadith.
That truly Allah Most High
places
the servant
with respect
to himself,
with respect to Allah,
in accordance
with where Allah places
in accordance with where the servant places
Allah with respect to themselves.
That truly Allah
gives the servant
the rank with him
in accordance with where the servant
places Allah
in their rank of priorities.
Right?
That your rank with Allah,
where you are with Allah is in accordance
with where Allah is with you.
And what is the sign
of Allah being
an active priority in you in our lives?
He says,
And this is in accordance with
one's degree of awe,
of our degree of reverent awe for Allah.
And knowledge
of Him,
particularly
the the conscious knowledge of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala
to know what one must believe about Allah
Most High, but then to strive to live
those meanings
by striving to be conscious of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
And one's gnosis,
one's experiential
knowledge
of Allah these are
this which is the realization
of faith
where
as Sheikh Abdulrahman al Shawouri would put it,
one of the great sage of Damascus of
the late 20th century,
that
what is Ma'rifah?
He said
that Ma'rifah,
experiential knowledge of Allah, is
knowledge
that is beheld.
So it's not only that you say yes,
Allah is near but you behold that meaning.
It's not just that you say that yes
Allah is merciful, you behold
mercy
that Allah is majestic. It's not just a
point of knowledge or something that you have
glimmers
of
awareness of that, but you behold
that meaning.
And then he
said,
And know well that whoever prefers
Allah,
Allah prefers them.
Whoever chooses Allah
over
all else, Allah chooses them
over all others.
There's many hadiths
related to this,
right?
And this has come even in the biblical
tradition.
As you are social you find.
As you are in your relating to Allah,
so will Allah be in His relationship with
you.
And whoever
obeys Allah, Allah loves.
That is the pathway
to the love of Allah.
Whoever
leaves something for the sake of Allah,
Allah will not punish them for that thing.
Because that is what repentance is, is to
cease and desist.
And if one leaves something for the sake
of Allah,
we know even if it was the worst
of sins.
The one who repents from a sin, leaving
it for the sake of Allah, it's like
they never sinned as the prophet said.
Leave all that would
cause you
unease.
Leave all that would make you doubt for
all that does not make you doubt.
And then
Because you will never find
loss
for anything that you left for the sake
of Allah.
For you will never
find loss
in
anything that you left for the sake of
Allah.
Right?
And all of these
are promises
made by the Prophet
But the proof is in the living.
The proof
is in the living.
Then he continues,
giving us this comprehensive advice, say,
He said, And guard your heart
from having ill opinion
by making good interpretations.
And there's 2 types of good opinion.
The most important good opinion is to have
a good opinion of Allah.
That when things happen,
to have a good opinion of why they
happen. And if you don't know,
then
to just say,
You Hakim, oh you who are most wise.
Right? To return it that this there's a
wisdom in it
even if I can't see it.
Guard your heart from having ill opinion through
making good interpretations.
As is come in tradition,
be expectant of the good and you will
find it,
even if
it may be
in loss.
And likewise to have good opinion of Allah's
creation.
Give them
good interpretations
in what they say, in what they do,
in the way they deal with you.
Ibn A'atayla's second that he mentions in his
Hikama Surah,
in his smaller collection of aphorisms,
There's 3 qualities
that from the qualities of the chosen servants
of Allah.
Salama to Sadr, having a clear chest,
and never harboring any ill at all.
And to have a good opinion of Allah.
And to have a good opinion of Allah's
servants.
And a good example of that
is there's
a young student of knowledge. He asked me
for advice whether to go to one university
or the other in a particular Muslim country
to study Islam. Now I'm not a fan
of beginning your Islamic studies at any university.
The teacher of my teacher, Sheikh Abdulakheel Darubi,
someone asked him
What university did you study with? Study at?
He said,
I'm of those who grew up
in the Jamiyah, in the mosques,
not in the
JEMIA
which
is in the feminine.
So what happened?
I said, you know, my advice would be
spend a couple of years getting a foundation
in Islamic studies before considering university.
He said, should I go to a or
b? I just repeated my advice. So I
don't know which one is better, but I
wouldn't advise either one.
Didn't tell me he'd applied to one of
them
and he paid the advance
before asking the question,
which is like Sheikh Abdul Fattahbuwudah
you say, some people ask a question when
they're already diving on the board.
Yeah Sheikh,
what do you think
about going
about diving off here? So all you can
say is, Yeah, Yadi, don't fall on your
belly or or you know by the time
they ask the question they're already in the
air.
So you know, you just make a dua,
tuk idi, like
Allahumma yasir.
So
he had already before asking the question, he
had already
paid an advance to one of them.
And then I said, I have no advice
to give on this. My advice is take
a year or 2
to to to learn your basics and then
see what you should do.
He went and asked, I don't know who
he asked, because he had to get the
money back. He said you know I applied
but then I asked Sheikh Faraz
and he said your university isn't good
And that you should go to University of
Jordan, which is a lie. That's why I
mentioned the country. It is a lie. And
the founder of that other
program
is an old friend of mine. We disagree
on some points.
Till last night we hadn't talked for a
few years because I decided to just keep
my distance for the sake of Allah and
just to keep my heart clear.
But he's an old friend, we may disagree
on a few points,
but Alhamdulillah
it increased me in respect and admiration of
him. He heard this from his administration because
they lost
a foreign student's fees.
So what he did, he contacted me
with
adab,
with love, because we're friends. It says, Say,
I'm confused about something. They say that this
is the reason given. So could you just
clarify this for me? Had a very beautiful
conversation. It was an opportunity to reconnect.
But that is when you hear something
wrong etcetera. You know, he didn't say, oh,
why is he warning against you know, it
didn't take it negative. He heard something confusing.
He didn't believe it right away. He just
said, I heard this. I'm confused. Could you
clarify?
And I with some diplomacy.
I wouldn't say I would still recommend this
place,
but, you know,
And I might be going to visit next
month, and I might be
meeting up with him. Change your mind. Yeah.
No.
Unlikely.
So by giving a good interpretation.
Right? Watsaa'il Hassad Bikisoril Amal. And he said,
and ward off envy
by not having excessively long hopes
in worldly matters.
Envy which is wishing for another to lose
their blessings.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam described it
that envy
consumes, burns away good deeds
like a raging fire
consumes
dry wood.
That is it's destructive
to have envy.
And negate arrogance from your life
with the Sultan of Allah by recognizing
the might and majesty of Allah. Who are
you before Allah?
As one of the poets said, bin nisbalakum
Adam
in comparison to you
pure nothingness.
And how does the Sultan of Allah
govern your life?
When the Sultan,
when the authority of his remembrance
takes over your life. Because you go from
constant remembrance
of the Most Majestic
to awareness
of the Most Majestic.
And leave every action that would cause you
to have
to apologize,
whether
you would have to apologize to Allah or
to Allah's creation. How? Ruayb Abu Ahmad said
Whoever is careful of consequences
remains safe. Anything you're going to do, think
through the consequences before you act.
He said, and keep away from every state
that would
place you in situations of takalluf,
of putting on airs.
One of the, you know, the sunnah
is about
beautiful
simplicity.
Because there is simplicity that is ugly that
someone comes to your house and say, you
know what? I'm not gonna make dinner for
them.
Here's the peanut butter
and this is the leftover bread.
If that's all you have, serve that.
But make it beautiful. Right? Cut up the
bread in in a nice way, maybe toast
it a little bit, you know, sprinkle some
salt,
make it beautiful.
But it's simplicity
that is beautiful.
And takaluf
has many harms, it keeps people away from
each other, because instead of just showing up
it's a neglected sunnah,
people no longer show up to anyone's house
because they have to go through all kinds
of things just to go ring the doorbell
and say Assalamu Alaikum, how are you?
People complain
life situations.
And there are many many other aspects of
the Kalluf, but avoid
situations where you have to put on pretenses.
Because the believer
is
true.
They stick to what is true and straightforward,
but with beauty
and tact.
And one should practice that.
You're planning on having coffee?
Invite someone over. Have coffee with another.
Make coffee for
your wife, for your husband.
There's there's a sister that sometimes comes to
the hub
who's Ethiopian.
Once I was visiting
a relative of hers, and so she she
was doing the Ethiopian coffee ceremony. So she
actually roasted the beans and so on. So
I asked permission to go to the kitchen,
I wanted to see.
So I said, I asked her, where did
you learn this? I said, I learned
the coffee ceremony.
They've been right from roasting to they have
this interesting pot they made. It's fascinating.
So I learned this from my grandmother.
Could you describe
how your grandmother used to make it? We
would never imagine making coffee for ourselves.
If my grandmother had the thought that she'd
make a cup of coffee for herself or
a mug or
it would be like dying, how could you
do that? She said you made coffee for
the neighbourhood.
It would be known who would make coffee
in the neighbourhood. If you made coffee, of
course the houses were open, everyone in the
neighborhood would smell it. Anyone who smelt your
coffee
had the right to have your coffee.
This is the beauty
of our deen. Don't
make yourself a cup of coffee and hide
it from people.
Or tune everyone out because I'm not here
because you've got your headphones on.
But rather
leave the kaluf.
Even if even if they didn't really want
it, you get the reward for it. And
if they don't like good coffee, they'll develop
a taste for it. Right?
There's there's many
many a person who's been convinced of the
merits of good coffee.
Right? And
so leave every state that would cause you
to put on airs.
Right?
It's a waste of life
and it's a waste
of your state with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And guard your religion through following.
What is deen?
Deen
is
that which the Messenger came with. So anything
that you do,
Even the most unexpected things, there are sunnah
of the prophet
has never had coffee.
But there are sunnah of the prophet related
to drinking coffee,
which are the sunnah of drinking things. The
Sunnas of food and drink is
to share with others,
is to drink with intention, with purpose,
to spread the benefit.
There are many many Sunnas.
And preserve the trust
that you have which is this trust
that is the gift of prophetic guidance,
the gift
of being a servant of God by seeking
knowledge because it is only knowledge that will
tell you how to truly be
a servant of God, how to truly be
a follower of the beloved of Allah.
And shield,
alright, fortify
your intellect
with the proper manners of the people of
forbearance.
Right?
Fortify
or buttress
your intellect, right? Because the intellect
is not only the rational intellect,
the the
truly illuminated intellect
is a mind,
is the rational mind,
and the spiritual heart and the soul
with the beauty of restraint
and the clarity of certitude.
How do you find
perfected intellects? It's in the people of forbearance.
And this is one of the distinguishing qualities
of our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
.' Imam Alakani says,
'Be as the best of creation was,
holding fast
to forbearance
and always following
what is true.'
And then He says,
Be prepared for patience
in every situation,
every place and situation.
Be ready with your patience.
And hold fast
to spiritual solitude
through remembrance.
It is against the suddah to be socially
alone.
The praiseworthy
solitude
is not to just drift alone in life.
The sunnah
is to be with people
and to be patient with them.
The praiseworthy
solitude is a spiritual solitude
in which you are 1 with the 1
in remembrance
of Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala.
And accompany your blessings
with gratitude.
There's an adab, there's a company you have
with blessings.
The company with blessings is gratitude
And gratitude is to direct your blessings
towards the good pleasure of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
So that's today's counsel. Every one of these
statements
is
a life lesson in of itself. But we
ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
that we take heed and we strive to
be of the people
who when we hear what is benefit, we
strive
to retain it, to live it, to embody
it,
and to be exemplars
of it. We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
for that for ourselves and for each of
us
and our families and our parents and our
teachers
and our communities.
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