Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #205 Worldly Responsibilities and Spiritually Stagnant
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We will begin
with a question
that someone has submitted here
that I feel
that I'm stuck in this
in dunya.
That I'm just going
from work
to family responsibilities
to just getting by, and I feel really
stagnant.
So what do I do?
Right? And this is an important question.
This the scholars ask what is the first
responsibility
of the human being?
And of course the first responsibility
absolutely
is to know Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
But some of the
Ulema said that the first responsibility of the
human being
is
being is al insiyaaj,
is
to feel discomfort.
Because
it's only when you stop and say, what's
going on?
Then you reflect,
then you take the means of finding out
what is the purpose of life.
Only then will you come to
almarifatubillah,
to knowing Allah
that That, oh Lord, you did not create
this
in vain. You did not create this without
purpose, wisdom and benefit.
So alhamdulillah,
this feeling that I'm just going through the
motions
and
feeling the apparent meaninglessness
of material living is a is a blessed
feeling.
But
this blessed feeling has a purpose
that one should realize.
Right? That this life is not an infinite
jest.
It's not an infinite jest
but rather
it has
an infinite purpose
which is
that you live this life for the next.
And
to appreciate how we live this life for
the next,
one of the great summaries of Islamic wisdom
is the hikam of ibn Ata Illah,
a secondary.
And in that, in hikma number
42,
he says
Do not
just go around.
Don't just travel
from one created thing to another created thing.
Lest you become
like the donkey
going around a mill.
The donkey travels.
The donkey goes around.
But they're just going in circles.
The place that you traveled
to was the place you traveled from.
You're always back where you started. And then
you go round again.
And that's what we feel when we live
a worldly life.
You go to work.
You come back home.
You eat, you drink, you sleep.
Right?
Once in a while,
you know, you watch some things on
on on TV or online,
you go on social media but just it's
the same things on repeat.
And you start wondering why.
And that's a good feeling because that's not
why you were created.
So what does one do?
Does it mean we leave our work, we
leave our family,
we leave our interests and habits? No. He
says,
right?
Don't travel from one created thing to another
created thing, lest you be like the donkey
that goes around the mill.
The place that it travels to is the
place that it traveled from.
Then he continues.
This is imina attaillah,
secondary.
He says, Rather
travel
from created things
to the creator
of things.
Then he alludes to the Qur'anic verse. He
points to the Qur'anic verse
from Surat Najm
verse 43 42.
Surat An Najam verse 42.
And truly
to your Lord
is all ending
and truly to your Lord
is all ending.
So don't go from one created thing to
to another created thing because things have 2
faces. Everything in life has 2 faces.
It has
because what is a created thing? A created
thing,
its essence is nothingness.
All things
in existence besides Allah, their point of origin
is nothingness.
They,
in of themselves, have no intrinsic
worth whatsoever.
It is Allah who creates them. It is
Allah who sustains them.
In of themselves, they're absolutely
bereft of meaning.
Nothing about
anything existent
besides Allah has any inherent
meaning or benefit
in of itself.
But
all created things
have significance and consequence
in so far as they are the creating
of Allah.
So things have
2 dimensions.
There is a
there is
the the lower dimension of things which is
their mere creativeness.
Okay? Which is
essentially worthless,
essentially meaningless.
But then there is the second
dimension of those things which is the relations
of those things
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And in that
sense,
everything
is light.
Everything
is light. Why?
Because everything in creation is a sign of
Allah.
If everything is pointing towards
the beauteous perfection of Allah Most High.
Right?
This is the creating of Allah.
So your your work,
if you just see it as work, it's
meaningless.
People doing useless things day after day, and
they'll die and so will you. And the
company will go soon too.
Right? One day the apple will get eaten
up.
Right?
But if you look at it as being
from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
it's from Allah
and it's a potential means to Allah.
Then everything is like Allahu Noor Samawati'u Arb.
Allah is the light of the heavens and
the earth.
Things in the heavens and the earth, when
you consider them in so far as they're
from Allah and you can turn
through them to Allah, they have
significance. Your work has significance. Why? You see
your work not simply
as something mundane that you have to go
through, but rather this is a blessing from
Allah. It is an opportunity.
So you pursue it in accordance with the
pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. You work
with purpose. Rather travel
from
created things to the Creator. Don't go don't
leave home to go to work.
Leave home
going to Allah.
Leave home going to Allah.
How?
Through intentions.
Through intentions.
In everything, the believer should have at least
3 intentions.
The first
is
the intention of seeking the pleasure of Allah
through this action.
Right?
Number 2
is to fulfill
an obligation.
Your work is an obligation. It's a
Whatever line of work that you're in, you're
directly or indirectly fulfilling some human need
that is required.
So intend
to to to seek the pleasure of Allah.
Number 2,
to be a to fulfill a communal obligation.
Number 3, to benefit Allah
creation.
To benefit
Allah
creation.
So for example, you go you work
as a teacher.
That you're fulfilling a communal obligation.
Right? Then you intend to excel in your
work, seeking the pleasure of Allah, seeking to
be of the greatest possible benefit to Allah's
creation.
So it's not mundane. Whatever it is, you
collect garbage.
It's a deeply noble thing.
Whatever you did, there's no work that is
worthless.
If it's unless, of course, it's something that
is prohibited
or
seriously disliked in our deen.
No work is worthless in that sense.
Though, of course, as an aside, one of
the great scholars of Damascus of 20th century,
Sheikh Badruddin al Hassani,
and in from the early 20th century, Damascus
was in a very complicated situation because the
Ottomans had declined, and
and the period after that was of great
grave economic difficulty.
One thing he used to do in Ramadan
was that he used to send money
to the prostitutes
of the red light district.
That please at least in Ramadan, take some
time off
to have have some money so you can
take care of your families and so on
without engaging this haram act.
And countless of them
left the profession
as a result.
But
any work that you do is meaningful. So
travel,
don't just go for one mundane thing to
another, but rather
every
worldly act that you direct yourself to, direct
yourself to it with intention.
And it's no longer mundane. Your work is
worship.
Your work is worship.
The Prophet
said, Seeking a lawful living is an obligation.
After
the
religious obligations, after the devotional obligations, it's an
obligation.
It's fulfilling a communal obligation.
It's a means of great good
through excellence in your work, through benefiting creation,
through upholding good character
with purpose.
Similarly, you come back home,
now I have to eat and drink and
family and this and that, all of it
do it with intention. Don't return home.
There's
my big husband. There's my
bigger than marriage
wife.
There are my annoying kids. But rather,
you go there intending
to uphold this again seeking Allah Subhanahu wa
ta'ala. I'm returning home seeking the pleasure of
Allah. How?
By fulfilling my duty
as
a husband, as a wife,
as a child, as a parent,
which is an obligation.
By maintaining a good Muslim family,
which is a responsibility.
By upholding good character.
Right? By upholding love and mercy which have
been commanded in marriage and all relations.
So that family time is not
a burden
and the mere mundane. You went from work
to family.
You go to visit
relatives.
I have to show up to another iftar.
No. You intend
maintaining family See, again, you're not going to
visit
uncle Jamil. You're intending
You're traveling to Allah
You are seeking the pleasure of Allah through
going to iftar and uncle Jamil's.
How?
By maintaining family ties.
By bring by honoring your host.
By strengthening relationships.
By upholding good character.
So that's not mundane.
You go hang out with some friends. After
all, it feels meaningless. No.
All those little things. Taking them out for,
you know, a rubri kulfi after,
after taraweeh
is not mundane.
You have you're you're not going
to the kulfi shop. You're going
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That is just
a
a signpost in your journey to Allah.
Right? And then the author continues in this
amazing hikmah, but rather travel from the creation
from created things to the creator. He says,
And truly to Allah are all endings.
He says, 1 zur ilaqawlihi sallallahu alaihi sallam.
Says, And reflect
on the words of the Messenger sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. So whoever's migration
was to Allah and his Messenger, his migration
was indeed to Allah and his Messenger.
Right? Why? Because
the migration
outwardly
was a worldly act. It was going from
Mecca
to Madinah.
But
whoever's migration was
to Allah and His Messenger. How?
Nobody
went on the migration and disappeared.
Where did where did Sayyidina
Umayr go? Oh, he went to Allah and
His Messenger. We can't find him anymore. No.
This was a migration of the heart
through purpose and intention.
Whoever's migration was to Allah and His Messenger.
Likewise, your work
can be to Allah and His Messenger. You're
driving, you're shopping
to Allah and His Messenger. To Allah
in your ultimate purpose and to the Messenger
as
the means
to your eternal end.
And whoever's migration
was for some worldly matter that they sought
or for a woman
they sought to marry, then their migration was
for whatever they migrated for.
So our actions
are
meaningless
or with only little glimpses of meaning.
Unless they have the life giving reality of
Ikhlas,
which is that you do those things for
Allah. And in that case,
everything has meaning.
Everything
has meaning.
So he's and then ibn A'la says,
Sorry.
So
then understand His words, salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
So their migration is to whatever
they migrated for. What do you get
from your life?
You get what you seek.
You get what you seek.
So what should
the intelligent seek? They should seek Allah and
His Messenger,
should seek Allah in the hereafter.
Whoever seeks
to meet their Lord,
let them do righteous actions.
So reflect on this matter if you're a
person of understanding.
So may Allah grant us
the success of contemplation
and reflection.
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